On-line comments by the handicapped

Impolite kids and cowards hiding behind anonymity are today’s Number One threat to ideas and debates of intelligent on-line commenters.

Lots of folks used to contribute serious comments and blog entries to the Advocate’s web site. Their numbers have dwindled considerably because too many abrasive and uninformed people attack others from behind “user names.”

These days you can tune into almost any string of comments that follows on-line news reports or blog entries and observe what appears to be the intellectually disadvantaged at work, most of whom are impolite without provocation.

Comments sections have become showrooms for what these people think is wit, rather than a discussion about the news report or bloggers’ subjects. These snipers are trying to boost their self-esteem by bullying the more intelligent and more peaceable readers. They’ll never have to look their victims in the eye, and that’s the ultimate shield for cowards.

The level of their writing ability often indicates they are very young people - from grade school to teenagers. Prolific, too, are sophomore-level pseudo-intellectuals, some of them apparently up in years.

Normal people can survive and enjoy it if they will recognize these youngsters and bullies and know-it-alls for what they are. Remember the source of their courage and they won’t seem threatening.

You don’t have to respond, or defend yourself, from the little people bent on trying to get you embarrassed or angry. It isn’t personal and shouldn’t be perceived as such. Be gentle because likely your adversary is a seventh-grader or some hillbilly who’s slammed back four beers. Keep your balance and you’ll enjoy the humor in on-line comments by the handicapped.

C-TEC’s problem is management

Both of our sons graduated from Licking County Joint Vocational School and I am forever grateful for JVS instructors’ expertise and administrators’ patience and wisdom. My boys’ aptitudes were far better fitted to tradesmanship than academics and the long-term employment outcome has been a success, so far as that training contributed.

Since then, the school has changed a lot - different administrators and a whacky new name: “Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County.” Maybe that name has to do with marketing and prestige; it sure doesn’t tell anybody what the institution is or does.

Because I am now and forever a cheerleader for vocational education, I let slide an Advocate report on 10/25/09 that addressed some of the financial miscues that have occurred and are occurring there. In view of the most recent operating levy failure and the excessive compensation for its new superintendent, taxpayers may wish to review this report: C-TEC at critical financial juncture

The long-overdue court decision on a lawsuit by Claggett & Sons regarding construction contracts could break the C-TEC bank. Even if it doesn’t, the matter likely will prove costly to taxpayers and may be read as a signal that the school board and administrators were careless in oversight and weak in judgment when they let all this get to lawsuit status.

On 11/15/09 the Advocate editorialized that C-TEC's problems require complete review, and demonstrated bad judgment in its idea for “a new Western Licking County strategy” because folks out there are “killing C-TEC operating levies by wide margins.”

The Advocate’s solution? Cut those people out of the C-TEC district and let them get their vocational education in Columbus, which would lessen the number of anti-tax voters. Such a solution fails to acknowledge that it would also lessen the number of taxpayers supporting Licking County vocational education, requiring each property owner in the smaller district to bear even more of a school-tax burden.

Meanwhile, C-TEC’s operating funds are substantial enough to pay the new superintendent, Joyce Malainy, a $113,262 salary. There is enough in the kitty to pay her $471.93 per day between now and her Jan. 4, 2010 start date as reported by the Advocate 11/18/09 Board approves superintendent's contract

When C-TEC goes back to voters, this example of hog-trough-ery will be remembered, if only by me. Paying anyone $471.93 a day is a slap at property owners who are tired of enriching the estates of school adminstrators.

Before C-TEC returns with another request for more money, it should not be predicated on finagling the voter base by cutting off students from Western Licking County. Consider instead - simply - better management of its affairs, especially concerning the use of our tax dollars.

Criminal aliens want their rights

This morning I read at the Dispatch web site “Immigration activists start reform push in Ohio.”

Two hours later I receive one of those e-mails, the facts in which are unattributed, but the thrust of which is on the money. It says:

“If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard labor.

“If you cross the Iranian border illegally you are detained indefinitely.

“If you cross the Afghan border illegally you get shot.

“If you cross the Turkey border illegally you spend the rest of your life in prison.

“If you cross the U.S. border illegally you get ...

“... a drivers license

“... a Social Security card

“... welfare

“... food stamps

“... and free health care!”

I have written about giving our millions of criminal aliens their “rights” many times and you can link to all of them here. But if this subject interests you, please at least read Criminal aliens: The losers are Mexico and Mexicans

Hebron Road: How much inconvenience is needed?

Some Heath council members and the mayor have been voted out of office, effective in January, for failing to heed the wishes of most Heath voters on the traffic cameras issue. Now a new and important question is before council: what to do about traffic safety on main street? They have a new chance to listen to citizens, but will they? Or might they do the honorable thing and leave this decision to the newly elected replacements?

On 11/17/09 Heath council heard about two options for building something down the middle of Ohio 79. One is a big planter for trees and bushes; the other is a six-inch-high hunk of concrete. For details, read the Advocate report here.

Calling it “a one-time opportunity, using someone else's money for the most part, to make it aesthetically pleasing," Zoning Chief John Groff wasn’t about to listen to some other alternatives being promoted by citizens, according to Ronnie Kidd, who led the Redflex-camera revolt.

Their idea is to at least try a much less expensive fix - using curb cuts along the highway, one that would allow left turns FROM THE HIGHWAY by shoppers and emergency personnel, while eliminating left turns FROM BUSINESSES ONTO THE HIGHWAY where lots of drivers meet sideways or rear-end-ways with other vehicles. They say just try it first and see if we couldn’t save money while allowing a more free and convenient flow of traffic.

Kidd says the city is “pressing for a vote Dec 7 to beat a ‘deadline’ that we are researching. From what I can find out, the deadline can be extended. With two new council members coming in, the vote on Jan 4 could be FAR different from the vote on Dec 7. I already know two council members would vote against the median and believe that the two incoming members could be swayed to get the 4-3 majority we need.”

Kidd backs up his statement about the deadline with a memo from the Federal Highway Administration that says time extensions may include cases “where the public involvement process has altered the State's plan for satisfying the project's purpose and need.”

So again, the eye of local citizens, perhaps Central Ohio, and particularly Heath businesses is focusing on the behavior of Heath officials. This time those officials go in knowing you can’t vote someone out of office twice. We’ll see whether they use that knowledge or do the honorable thing.

Reform versus Big Insurance

Cutting through the smoke screens and confusion caused by the insurance industry and media reports, here is the present status of what has become known as “health care reform:”

According to the Office of Health Reform, the present House and Senate versions of reform share a variety of measures that will reduce the rapid growth in health care costs while also providing Americans with higher quality care, including:

- Improve methods used in hospitalizations to prevent mistakes and unnecessary readmissions.

- Create incentives to reward quality care rather than quantity of procedures.

- Give physicians incentives to collaborate in patient care.

- Reduce infections and other health problems acquired at hospitals by use of rigorous reporting and transparency.

- Reward care that focuses on wellness using an integrated and coordinated delivery system.

- Eliminate some of the insurance bureaucracy by streamlining the payment system to save time and money now spent processing claims and navigating the out-dated insurance system.

- Establish a health insurance exchange with a public insurance option, allowing individuals and small businesses to buy lower-cost insurance and create competition.

Read the entire report from the Office of Health Reform at this link.

I think President Obama is more concerned about the quality of my health care than is the insurance industry and I think the insurance marketing machine is lying.

A Goldman Sachs analysis for health insurers concluded that “if no reform is passed, earnings per share would grow an estimated ten percent from 2010 through 2019, and the value of the stock would rise an estimated 59 percent during that time period.” Otherwise, not nearly as much. Read the article at this link.

AARP also has endorsed the U.S. House Health Care Reform bill, which Zack Space, our Congressman, voted for. Read about that endorsement at this link.

Zack Space is listening to me

Who is it, exactly, that Zack Space isn’t listening to? The question is germane to Newark because Zack is scheduled to appear at The Works at 10 a.m. today and someone called an acquaintance and asked her to show up and yell at Zack: “You’re not listening to us.”

I really dislike people who cling blindly to either party’s line - in this case the GOP’s - and make their “intellectual” points by yelling inanities. If this demonstration went as planned, it was just another ruffian shout-down at a U.S. Congressman who came to Newark to honor veterans.

The Democrats, particularly before the Obama presidency, were no less ignorant and annoying. In fact, I give them more credit than Fox “News” for instigating piggish behavior, though Fox has improved upon it to the point where I strictly avoid exposure to it. I avoid exposure to those of both parties who preach from behind political-party blinders.

For the record, Zack Space is listening to me and to people like me. Anyone who yells otherwise at him from the street is ignorant and boorish.

Casinos - The fine print

If you want to know what Ohioans really approved when they voted 11/09 to allow big gamblers to move into our state, read the analysis of Thomas Suddes in a Columbus Dispatch column at this link.

Lesson learned - Election Reflection #3

The lesson to be learned from the overthrow of the Heath regime is that it is indeed possible to rein in government. That is a lesson worth remembering, worth repeating, worth applying.

We are by habit and training cowed by the political thickness of government bureaucracies. Consequently, we sigh, grow more angry and frustrated - and give up, go along. That’s how we are contained by the system; it makes us simply give up.

Most of the time.

Except when along comes a leader like Ronnie Kidd who demonstrates how wrong it is to simply give up.

I suspect he was motivated by anger at the injustice of what was happening in the city where he lived. But he was smart enough to harness that anger in a constructive way, to summon self-control and strike at the problem with facts.

Astoundingly, Ronnie wielded these facts against the power of the entire community establishment, including the Advocate. The facts won, the knowledge of the injustices won.

Not that Ronnie worked alone. He would likely be the first to credit those few very dedicated and brave individuals who joined the battle, and also the businesses who offered quiet, behind-the-scenes support. But this is another lesson to be remembered: Once a leader steps forward, if that leader is believable and dedicated and has a righteous goal, others will join.

What Ronnie and his small band of Freedom Fighters won can also be won in Newark, in Licking County government, in the Statehouse, in the U.S. Capitol and White House.

That is the lesson Ronnie Kidd has taught us.

Dismantling of the Zoo - Election Reflection #2

A political scientist likely would find a great case study in how and by whom Heath voters were recently motivated. How did the great Waugh Zoo muster its support for the shakedown of motorists? And how was it shot out of the saddle by a few Freedom Fighters?

I don’t have the answers, particularly as regards the endorsement of the Waugh Zoo by the Chamber of Commerce when anyone with any sense knows Heath businesses were getting hurt by the lowered traffic flow and money spent on traffic tickets. All the Chamber had to do was to ask the right people instead of hiding behind a half-baked member “survey” to find out what was happening in Heath.

Several business owners, it turns out, were donating dollars and moral support to the Freedom Fighters, but precious few had the courage to openly buck the Good Ol’ Boys.

The business shake-out won’t be finalized until next year. After Christmas we’ll know the effect of removing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Heath economy and sending it to Waugh & Co. If it’s as bad as I think, there may be a lot of retail space for rent along Ohio 79.

The Chamber and it’s flock of sheep (including the Advocate) chose to ignore all this - and that, I think, is a tribute to Mayor Waugh.

Mr. Waugh is a man I never heard of before he teamed with the Redflex Aussies. So how did he merit such a noisy, if not wide, backing? Well, follow the money ...

Every single employee of the City of Heath stood to take a cut of the pie. Every vendor and every potential vendor for Heath stood to get fatter. Every person who dines at or uses or admires the Davis-Shai House could look forward to getting more public money poured into their little country club; all these individuals plus their relatives and friends, living in and out of Heath. Then there’s the most obvious of beneficiaries: Redflex employees.

Quite a web, just interested in the profits. Throw in political cronies interested in maintaining power, allow all these folks to comment anonymously from behind user names, without even identifying their personal associations, relationships, or profit motives, and you have created an unbridled, loud-mouthed, unreasonable cheering section for “traffic safety.”

In view of all that, isn’t it rather amazing that one pissed-off individual could muster a little group of Freedom Fighters that dismantled the Waugh Zoo?

Yes it is. More on that later.

I am uncomfortable in Heath - Election Reflection #1

For the first time since June or July, I shopped at Giant Eagle today because there is a deal on turkeys.

It was like a homecoming except there was no joy. Giant Eagle is just like it was, but so is Meijers and the north-end Walmart where Rosalie and I are now accustomed to shopping.

Heath’s comfort level has bottomed out.

The bloodied Ohio 79 - with its strip malls and billboards - stands as a monument to the city where people will scam people for money.

Heath is where representatives of the people have stolen election signs and have ordered election advertising towed from an empty parking lot, costing the owner $135 because he was using the First Amendment.

Heath is where councilmen have laughed at people who bring their concerns before council. Heath is not resident-friendly, not visitor-friendly, not even business-friendly.

Heath is Good-Ol’-Boy-Club-friendly. Heath is where Club members cluster and cling and write nasty newspaper comments to those with whom they disagree. It’s where the power structure has no notion of fairness, nor a willingness to listen to non-Club members.

It shouldn’t have taken a revolt of peasants to make corrections. It should have taken only a small measure of decency from little Good Ol’ Boys who fancied themselves as bigger than any possible consequences.

The cameras and some Club members are out because peasants won the election. But because peasants scarcely outnumber the Good Ol’ Boys, I am uncomfortable in Heath.

Salute to Wildcat spirit

Those who’ve earned admiration are people who voluntarily enter a place where they know they’ll come out with a beat-up body and a bruised ego - who know that, but who enter anyway.

At the top of the list of those who’ve done it recently and regularly are the Newark High School Wildcat footballers.

To march week after dreary week into the teeth of a new and nearly certain defeat is the mark of heroism, more so than those who go with hope.

These Wildcat footballers deserve our respect and our thanks as much, maybe more, than the sure shots of better years.

These guys demonstrated class and self-discipline and hard work and the willingness to take a thumping in the name of Newark High School. They are heros, really.

I hope the community will now rally on their behalf; build a bonfire; cheer for the Wildcat spirit - because this is where next football season begins.

Word from the street: Fact or rumor?

Mayor Diebold’s recent proposal to give raises to the civil service commission does not pass the smell test. Is it a coincidence that Diebold and Company have a crucial civil service appeal hearing under way (Ketter), while he is pimping for a raise for the civil service commission?

What are the ethics concerning this? (And why isn’t the Advocate asking?) Since the mayor gets to appoint the entire commission, how could a city employee have any chance if they have to appeal to a commission appointed by the people who fired the employee?

Greg Ketter is being railroaded by Diebold and Carr for blowing the whistle on others as a part of his response to a reckless write-up. His career is being ruined for telling the truth. Meanwhile, the city is spending heavy bucks for an attorney to help with the last nail in Ketter’s career coffin.

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The City is risking another lawsuit by laying off Tom Wolfe and then writing new property maintenance job descriptions to avoid bringing him back. Tom has already filed an appeal and if he can afford the legal expense has a good chance of winning in court.

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The city’s general fund deficit is far worse than the mayor and Lehman will admit. The revenue estimate may be off by $1 million or more.

The Advocate’s kiss of death

“Don't just listen to those who want to break the law.”

With that editorial advice to Heath voters, the Advocate editorialist demonstrated her juvenile mentality and inherent Good-Ol’-Boy bias. No longer can anyone doubt that the Chamber of Commerce rules over the local newspaper: The foolish editorial of 10/25/09 urging voters to support the Heath Good Ol’ Boys and their red-light cameras proves it.

Throughout the months’-long controversy regarding the legality and the fairness of a foreign corporation issuing traffic tickets to local motorists - and doing so without oversight, and behind a cloud of allegations about entrapment, increased danger caused by the cameras, and cost to Heath businesses - the Advocate steadfastly failed to investigate.

Meanwhile, the information and facts dug out by Ronnie Kidd and a group of freedom fighters has been distributed in the Advocate’s print edition, blogs, comments, and on a well-publicized web site banthecameras.com

The Advocate’s response? Don't just listen to those who want to break the law; vote to keep the cameras.

What the editorialist can’t get through her head is that everyone - EVERYONE - knows why the Advocate supports the Heath Good Ol’ Boys. It’s because the Advocate wants to be in the Club, likely a considerable advantage in ad sales, probably juicy personal props as well.

But selling the Advocate’s editorial soul is exactly what she’s doing - and the Advocate’s kiss-of-death-by-endorsement grows stronger as years under Gannett ownership wear on.

DUI in a La-Z-Boy

Our local folk hero who was arrested for DUI on a bar stool has been one-upped (more than once) by a driver of a La-Z-Boy in Minneapolis. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1112026/

NCS board election: Bringing truth to the rumors

From behind the scenes of local politics comes an interesting hint from a Blue-Ribbon observer: Molly Ingold is being groomed by local Republicans for a run at the mayor’s seat when it comes up for vote in two years.

If this is the case, the immediate GOP strategy might be to give her experience at city-wide campaigning in a difficult race and, if she wins, keep her in public view for the next two years.

Such might be the real reason why Molly decided to run for a two-year seat on the NCS board of education, rather than to try for one of the open four-year seats.

It might be. Or not. She previously explained her decision like this: “I began to think about the transition from one superintendent to the next and realized it was important to have some consistency and experience on the Board. I decided it was important for me to continue...”

To provide transition from the King Richards’ regime to the Ute superintendency seems self-defeating if voters are aligned more against Richards than not, as am I. The sooner we get out from under the Richards’ mentality at NCS the better. If Molly is offering more of the same old same old as a returning board member, and if voters perceive it as such, I think she’s going to follow Keith out to pasture.

If establishmentarians (represented in local elections by the GOP) are backing her, she’ll have a bunch of money and a bunch of ads.

I see it as a showdown between those business-oriented establishmentarians and the blue-collar, earthy, church-centered, property-owning, and elderly voters who will be attracted to Tim Carr.

I’ve mentioned here before that Tim is talking the kind of talk that older people have been waiting to hear from the city school board. He is holding out the hope that property owners and pensioners could see (some of?) their NCS property-tax burden shifted elsewhere.

All the above speculation aside, it isn’t fair to simply speculate. What is fair is to ask Molly what her long-term political aspirations are. And if that’s fair, it’s also fair to ask Tim. So I did.

My questions to both:

There has been speculation that one or both of you might be considering a run for Newark City Mayor when that election occurs in two years.

Since you are both running for the two-year-seat vacancy on the school board, I wonder if this speculation has merit.

In the interest of having all cards on the table before the coming election, I am asking you to tell Newark voters:

1) - Are you considering running for mayor, or for any other non-school-board office in two years?

2) - Has either local political party approached you and/or encouraged you about this option?

Molly said:

“1.) While it is my understanding there are rumors out there I am running for mayor in two years, I have not at all considered this as part of the reason I am running for a two-year term on the school board. As for the future, I am not always sure what tomorrow will bring so I try not to get too far ahead of myself.

“2.) Neither political party has approached me or encouraged me to consider any political position.”

Tim said:

“I'll answer the questions in reverse realizing that what I don't say is as important as what I do say. I want to be very clear. Nobody from any party has talked with or contacted me in any way about any political aspirations. In fact, nobody at all has talked with me about such things.

“Second question: I absolutely love my job as Pastor and can not see myself trading it for any political office. If I still feel like I can be a resource for the people and an effective advocate for the children I would consider running for school board again in two years. I consider my spiritual calling to take precedent over all others and see my political aspirations no higher the the school board.

“Thanks for your continued interest in the campaign, and for bringing truth to the rumors.”