toledoblade.com --

"The mall is a magnet now for teenagers who don't have anything better to do with their time," Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said. Really? What other things are there for the teenagers to do in Toledo? Beware of running off those teenagers; the majority of money spent inside that mall is from them. The taxes they pay also go to the city.

We already lost half the smokers to Michigan and, yes, Michigan gained those tax dollars. Honestly, what else can the city push away that has not already been taken?

Maybe, once we pave more roads and add a few more flowers, the teenagers will be in awe at the sight and won't want to hang out at the malls. Sure, that will work.

Gerry Weills

Central Avenue

Adult stem cells give just part of picture

A recent letter to The Blade that promoted research only on adult stem cells was factually incorrect. The letter said that embryonic cloning would be needed to supply embryonic stem cells for research purposes, when it has been documented that about 400,000 frozen embryos are currently stored at fertility clinics, which is more than enough to fund research programs. The vast majority of these cells will end up being discarded instead of using them to discover cures for diseases.

Research using just adult stem cells will give scientists only a partial picture of the actual potential of stem cells for curing disease and extending life. Those who say that research on embryonic cells is "morally untenable" need to show us a human being that can survive in a freezer, as that's what these cells are capable of doing. Embryonic cells are simply genetic material, just like adult stem cells, and do not represent "life" until successfully planted in a woman's womb.

Those who are politically blocking embryonic research for so-called "moral reasons" are potentially turning the United States into a scientific backwater. They also could be extending the pain and suffering of real, live human beings who are desperate for a cure that stem cell research could provide.

Todd Smyth

Maumee

A single tree doesn't represent the forest

I was disturbed and appalled by the term used by The Blade's Dan Simpson in his Jan. 2 column, "Iraq, energy, China crowd future U.S. foreign policy agendas," referring to the Chinese as "blindly greedy."

I wonder how many Chinese Mr. Simpson has known to justify his generalization that 1.3 billion Chinese people are blindly greedy. As a Hong Kong-born Chinese myself, and having traveled frequently to China, I have known innumerable Chinese people who live their lives with contentment.

To use a single tree to represent the whole forest is misleading, provocative, and dangerous. It only shows the writer's ignorance and narrow-mindedness. As a Chinese saying goes, it resembles a person looking into a well and thinking the world is as small as what he perceives from his narrow perspective.

Anti-Chinese sentiment is not going to help the Unite States repair its economy.

I hope The Blade can do a better job overseeing columnists so they don't use biased and far-from-truth terms when referring to particular racial groups.

Grace Chan

Kedron Street

Hospitals support reporting on quality

The Dec. 26 editorial, "Comparing Ohio hospitals," regarding public reporting of hospital quality did a disservice to the cooperative efforts of Ohio's 170 community hospitals to provide information to consumers.

The Ohio Hospital Association supported hospital-quality reporting legislation that provides reliable, cost-effective data to consumers. House Bill 197 requires the state health director to provide Ohio's consumers with measures on hospital quality from four national entities.

During legislative deliberations, OHA did ask the state to consider "excessive or financial implications" when considering the measures to be reported by hospitals. However, The Blade failed to mention that some data collection requires nurses to leave the bedside and manually comb through patient charts. Studies suggest that some nurses spend as much as 40 percent of their time on administrative work. Adding to this paperwork burden is bad for patient care and it is bad for Ohioans' health-care dollar. State officials must at least consider the administrative burdens when requiring additional hospital reporting.

Finally, the editorial was blatantly incorrect that Ohio hospitals strong-armed the health department into not providing the public with quality data. Ohio hospitals are equally frustrated that quality data has not been readily accessible to the public in a meaningful format.

The Ohio Department of Health has never been provided funding for hospital-quality Web sites. Ohio hospitals are pleased that the new health director is committed to making valuable information on hospital quality publicly available.

Jeff Klingler

Director, State Policy and Advocacy
Ohio Hospital Association

Private beaches rest along public waters

My view of private ownership of beach property is opposite to that of Judge Eugene Lucci and Gov. Ted Strickland. Beaches along public waters should be open to the public whose tax money has developed, cleaned, and improved these waters. Property owners of waterfront property should not be the sole enjoyers of the benefits for which this public tax money was spent.

Allowances must be made for others in the state to have the joy of digging their feet into the sand, wading and splashing in the water, or enjoying the peacefulness and the serenity of the view. The property owners are the recipients of all of this, which has been made possible through public tax money.

Is this not taxation without representation?

Judge Lucci should realize that his decision has sacrificed the many for the selfishness of the few.

Perhaps these owners would prefer to take over the full cost of the waters' upkeep. Then the average Ohioan would have no claim to being able to access the beaches.

Adele Federman

Mockingbird Lane

Maumee teachers deserve fair contract

I am a 2007 Maumee High School graduate. My first semester at Kent State University opened my eyes, not to the world beyond high school or to the "real world" but to my education through Maumee City Schools.

I was shocked by how many of my classmates, some of them honors college students and all of them intelligent, did not know the proper uses of punctuation marks or the concept of paragraphs. I surprised all of my professors and the test administrators by testing out of College Writing I.

Another surprise for me was how few of my classmates had not memorized simple equations and concepts, such as the quadratic equation. Because I was so well prepared, I was able to earn eight credit hours in both Spanish and German through the CLEP tests.

These learning experiences for me showed that my success in education before college should be greatly credited to my teachers of the past. The teachers in the Maumee schools go far beyond what their job requires. They have motivated and encouraged me through 13 years of my life.

Maumee teachers really care about their students and their education. I developed close bonds with a few of the teachers. I want to thank them, not only for teaching me but for counseling, mentoring, inspiring, and even just listening to me. I have more respect for my Maumee teachers than other individuals.

Maumee teachers are exceptional. They deserve more than the simply fair contract they are asking for.

Laureen Tanner

Maumee

Evolution's missing link found

As a lifelong believer in creationism, I must confess that the writer of The Blade's Jan. 9 editorial "In defense of Darwin" has caused me to lay down my "religious ax."

Why? Well, the author of the editorial has undoubtedly (and unwittingly) proven Darwin's theory of evolution and transitionary life forms.

The proof? The editorial's author is the missing link.

Jim Hoops
Wauseon

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