LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Common Core not worth time
11/7/2013Your Oct. 25 editorial "Keep Common Core" described opposition to Common Core as driven by “demonization, disruption, and destruction” tactics of the Tea Party. This illustrates the sort of double-talk that has citizens greatly concerned.
You referred to the Core as a “curriculum” multiple times — not just standards — while also writing that districts “will select their own curricula.” So is the Core just standards, or curricula?
You also argued that state adoption was “voluntary,” then almost immediately identified “strong” federal coercion to get states to adopt Common Core. So was adoption truly voluntary, or federally pushed?
Most Common Core opponents would just like some straight answers. And once they get those answers, they’re likely to find that Common Core is not worthy of support.
NEAL McCLUSKEY
Associate Director Center for Education Freedom Cato Institute Washington, D.C.
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Wealthy should buy art for Detroit
The possibility that city-owned works of art at the Detroit Institute of Arts might be sold to pay off Detroit’s massive debts would be a tragedy for the Motor City and for the world of art (“Detroit goes ahead with art appraisals; Collection may go to pay off debt,” Oct. 4).
Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr challenged stakeholders to come up with an alternative to satisfy creditors. It would be a fine gesture — and good public relations — if the super-rich, some of whom are interested in art and American culture, would buy Detroit’s city-owned art treasures, with a proviso that the collection remain at the institute in perpetuity.
SAM SNYDER
Hammond Drive
State investigator needed elsewhere
Why was an agent for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation present with a Sandusky County Humane Society animal cruelty investigator at a Woodville farm (“Sandusky County man arraigned in assault; Animal cruelty charges coming,” Oct. 10)?
It would have made more sense for the humane society staffer to have contacted the state Health Department or the state Department of Agriculture’s animal disease diagnostic laboratory.
BCI resources should be directed toward investigating serious felonies.
KATHLEEN RETY
Troy Township
Lifetime license for dogs is no deal
I am amazed by the new Lucas County dog license fees (“Dog owners have new license options; Pets can get lifetime registration,” Oct. 7).
Maybe the Ohio General Assembly should have developed an actuarial table for dogs. The lifetime fee is no bargain, because some dogs don’t live more than 10 years.
I’ll keep buying a dog license year by year.
TOM GARCHER
Barbara Drive