LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Sterling didn’t get due process

5/9/2014

People are attacking Donald Sterling, the 80-year-old owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, for making racially insensitive remarks while his much younger girlfriend was secretly recording him (“‘I should have paid her off,’ Clippers owner says; Sterling’s self-proclaimed ‘silly rabbit’ says he is not a racist,” May 4).

The Clippers players were outraged by his comments and protested by turning their team shirts inside out. They didn’t tear up their multimillion-dollar contracts.

The punishments imposed on Mr. Sterling — a lifetime ban from the National Basketball Association, a $2.5 million fine, disassociation from the Clippers, and a push to sell the team — were done without due process. These punishments might have been reasonable if they were issued by a court of law, not a mob.

DON GOZDOWSKI

Franklin Avenue

 

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Higher gas tax would help roads

If you have driven recently on Bancroft Street between North Reynolds Road and Ottawa Hills, you know what a joy it is to drive on a well-paved street. What would it take to have that experience as we drive on the majority of our streets in Toledo?

Fixing and replacing roads is incredibly expensive, but we have to start somewhere. Increasing the state gasoline tax by five cents a gallon seems a small price to pay not to have damaged tires and skewed alignments, lost business opportunities, diminished civic pride, and a psychologically demoralizing outlook for the future.

Would paying that extra tax hurt? Yes. Is it going to kill us? No.

Public officials need to step up their leadership and challenge us to be a great city in which it is a pleasure, not a chore, to drive.

TIM HARSHMAN

Campanile Court

 

Sylvania Schools made up time

This winter took a toll on Ohio schools. Many districts scrambled to devise ways to make up school days lost because of harsh weather. Sylvania Schools’ administration, with the support of school unions, decided to extend the academic year by a couple of days, cancel remaining staff in-service days, and add one hour to 11 school days in April.

I am a paraprofessional at Sylvan Elementary School. Quality time that children spend at home with their families is important, which is why blizzard bags never were considered as an option. Teaching is the school’s responsibility.

Taxpayers in Sylvania Schools should be pleased and proud to know that the last hours of the 11 extended days in April were filled with valuable instruction. The welfare of these students always has come first and will continue to do so.

KAREN RIEGER

Sylvania

 

Barra takes rap for predecessors

I feel sorry for the new chief executive of General Motors Co., Mary Barra (“How GM handles crisis will show whether it has changed,” op-ed column, April 10).

GM’s former chief executive had to have known about the ignition switch issue, along with the government. But now she has to take the rap.

FRED GIBSON

Perrysburg Township