LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Mayoral gift sale can aid city

2/13/2014

When my father, Ben Schultz, was mayor of Rossford, I was amazed at the things he got at Christmas time from businesses and people he didn’t know (“Gifts Bell got on travels paid by city not in office; Ex-mayor gave some away, took some home,” Jan. 4).

Our tree was surrounded by boxes of candy and fruit baskets. Now I am wondering whether it was illegal for us to eat that candy and fruit. Should we have stored it in a closet?

A gift is a gift, and as long as it isn’t money — and for us it never was — I think it is intended for the personal use of the receiver.

When my father no longer was mayor, we didn’t see so much as a card from those people. I always wondered why that was.

If the City of Toledo has old gifts lying around, why not have a community sale and let people who want them buy them? Then Toledo can put the money toward something the city needs.

JUDY SIKORSKI

Rossford

 

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Got a gift from Bell? Return it

Anyone who got a gift that former Toledo Mayor Mike Bell received during his overseas trips should return it to the city. Those items belong to the city. Mr. Bell had no right to give them away.

MARTHA VAUGHT

Leybourn Avenue

 

Put focus on local control over taxes

I get a kick out of local lawmakers’ views on projects in Lucas County. They say they can get federal or state grants, and it won’t cost local taxpayers anything, or only a portion of the project cost (“Collins offers initial plan for street projects,” Jan. 18).

Where do they think state and federal governments get this money? That’s our money.

Why don’t lawmakers reduce state and federal income taxes, and leave it up to local taxpayers to decide which projects need to be done?

I doubt that President Obama knows that the intersection of Holland-Sylvania Road and Heatherdowns Boulevard needs to be repaved.

JACK GULVAS

Holland

 

‘Harvest’ delicate way to say ‘kill’

The writer of the Jan. 28 Readers’ Forum letter “Outdoors columns way too graphic” was offended by the use of the word “harvest.” I too think “harvest” is inappropriate. Game animals are killed.

If the number of deer are not thinned out by hunters, there would be more deer-related vehicle accidents.

Supermarkets sell beef, pork, chicken, fish, and shrimp in neat little packages that won’t hurt the writer’s sensitivity. But whether the animal is wild or domestic, you can’t grill it until you kill it.

FRANK KOCZOROWSKI

Graytown, Ohio