'Twist of Faith' needs to be shown

7/3/2005

Nine bite-size Lemmon Drops to nibble on while waiting for Paula Creamer to finish atop the leaderboard in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic:

  • Calling it a "business decision" is a convenient excuse. It's akin to the standard "we don't discuss personnel matters" line when a high-profile employee gets fired.

    The objective, of course, is to squelch scrutiny and hope the issue quickly goes away.

    For the city of Maumee, which owns the Maumee Indoor Theatre, to reject a public showing of Twist of Faith doesn't pass the smell test.

    To say the Oscar-nominated documentary, set in Toledo, wouldn't be as financially viable as A Lot Like Love, Ice Princess, Sahara, and Monster-in-Law the four films currently showing at the two-screen theater is laughable. Especially since people have offered to help with expenses should the theatre lose money on it.

    This is a special film worthy of special treatment. It's not unlike what the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is doing for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the main library is opening at 10 p.m. on July 15 so that it can hand out copies of the book at midnight.

    Just because four films were already booked for this week doesn't mean the theater couldn't have fit Twist of Faith into the daily schedule. How about showing it at noon or 11 p.m.? Something is better than nothing.

    Talking about the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic church makes some people squirm. And make no mistake, Twist of Faith can be unsettling at times. But, having watched it on HBO, my sense is that it will have a cleansing effect for many.

    Compelling and thought-provoking, the story of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes needs to be heard.

  • Welcome back to the political arena, Carty Finkbeiner.

  • Now that Mr. Finkbeiner has entered the mayoral race, Toledo City Council may want to pencil in more money for the 2006 "legal" budget. Just in case.

  • Karen McConnell Hancock is quite the name-dropper, isn't she?

  • By reinstating fall sports, funding them with private donations, and keeping winter and spring sports in limbo, pending the outcome of a November levy, the Lake Local school board made another shortsighted mistake. If the levy fails, and the private-donation well runs dry, a great disservice will have been done to those involved in winter and spring sports.

  • Didn't I read five months ago that Sherman Dreiseszun was "motivated" to sell or redevelop Southwyck Shopping Center?

  • Mention a smoking ban and politicians in Toledo's suburban communities are likely to stare at the ground and shuffle their feet. That's why it was so refreshing to read this quote from Susan Hill, a member of the Village Council in Paulding: "I don't feel I would have been doing my job if I hadn't at least brought this up."

  • Of the four major candidates in the Toledo mayoral race, only Keith Wilkowski is solidly in favor of an arena being built downtown. From a strategy standpoint, he has positioned himself well on what will be one of the campaign's defining issues.

  • Toledo Mayor Jack Ford jokingly referred to himself as "Smilin' Jack" during the 2001 campaign. I'm thinking he's going to be "Sweatin' Jack" this time around.