LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sparks not easily replaced
8/18/2014Your Aug. 14 editorial “Double dipping” states that if Dean Sparks, the executive director of Lucas County Children Services, does not repudiate his pay, the Children Services board should “show him the door.” A similar sentiment was shared in the same day’s Readers’ Forum.
I am a pediatrician who has participated in child-abuse teams at Toledo Hospital, worked with Children Services caseworkers, and served as a member of the agency’s citizen’s review board. I would argue that Mr. Sparks has done a superb job supporting the neglected and abused children in this community for the past 17 years. That kind of leadership is not easily replaced.
DR. ERNEST G. BROOKFIELD
Chapel Drive
Editor’s note: The writer is a professor emeritus of clinical pediatrics at the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio.
‘Double-dipping’ isn’t a problem
Dean Sparks retired as executive director of Children Services, then returned to the same job. So what?
Mr. Sparks’ pension is not paid by Lucas County taxpayers, but rather by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. He and the county contributed to this system while he was working. Someone, either Mr. Sparks or a successor, would collect the director’s salary, so that expense is irrelevant.
I would think The Blade would prefer to have an experienced director at the helm during a levy campaign, rather than exploit this nonissue.
HOWARD WILLIAMSON
Oregon
President gets economics wrong
The Aug. 8 guest editorial “Tax dodge goes on” illuminates the backward thinking of the Obama Administration, which clearly does not have a grip on history or economics.
Multinational corporations have about $2 trillion sitting offshore because we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world at 35 percent, plus state and local taxation. Imagine how much we could jump-start the economy if we cut the corporate tax rate.
JIM BOEHM
Drummond Road
Water crisis not Kasich’s fault
Your Aug. 12 editorial “Waterworld” places too much blame and responsibility for Toledo’s water supply crisis on Gov. John Kasich and other state officials.
Lake Erie’s pollution problems, especially in the western end, aren’t just caused by Ohio. Michigan, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada, are to blame as well.
The Maumee River drains thousands of square miles. A tremendous amount of raw sewage is discharged from southeast Michigan into Lake Erie via the Detroit River.
Calling for the governor and General Assembly to enter a special session, as you did, is a waste of time. The contamination of our waterways is a federal problem that President Obama has done little to correct.
GREG AUBELL
Waterville