Newark High School is in the 8th percentile for toxicity in the air among 127,800 schools nationwide. Only 9,296 have worse air.
Carson Elementary is in the 3rd percentile, with only 3,210 having worse air, which is an improvement over the former Conrad Elementary, in the 2nd percentile with only 1,103 out of 127,800 having more dangerous air to breathe.
These facts are from a report by USA Today, a summary of which was published by Editor & Publisher.
Polluters most responsible, according to the report, are Owens Corning, Modern Welding Co. of Ohio Inc., Safety-Kleen Systems Inc. of Hebron, Meritor Heavy Vehicle Systems Llc of Heath, and American Electric Power of Conesville.
Chemicals most responsible, the report said, are formaldehyde, 33%; chromium and chromium compounds, 31%; lead and lead compounds, 10%; ammonia, 9%; and cholorine, 5%.
This is ironic in the extreme, after so much was made over second-hand smoke that smoke-haters pushed through a statewide law to clean up their restaurants' air.
That Newark's air is crappy has never been a secret, something everyone can see and smell, but nobody has the guts to square off with the polluters. Nor will they until citizens get up and make it happen.
There was never a more urgent or important service we could provide for our kids than to give them good air to breathe.
Showing posts with label cigarettes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cigarettes. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Stealing for the sake of bigger government
State-level Republicans and governor and Dispatch are trying to abscond with $230 million in stop-smoking funds.
Protagonists in this latest scam claim they'll "create jobs" (hooray for more jobs, as usual!) if they can only get their paws on the pot full of money paid by the tobacco industry as punishment for - what? - selling tobacco products? (As for "more jobs" please read Magic Nanny Strickland should cut government slop, not sell bonds.)
The money was ear-marked for the people trying to influence other people to quit smoking. Like they've been doing any good anyway. What do these people do with all that money?
Still, the purpose of the financial punishment of tobacco companies was to do battle with smokers.
But big state government can't stand to see any stash of change not being spent on the creation of bigger government, which is exactly their plan - a plan sketched in today's Dispatch editorial entitled "The greatest good."
And, by the way, this plan for "stimulating the economy" entails not just scarfing money that doesn't belong to "stimulating the economy," but also a vast new debt of $970 million in bonds which every Ohio taxpayer will also provide to this "stimulation."
True to form in this matter, the state legislators, governor and Dispatch never saw a government spending plan they didn't like.
Protagonists in this latest scam claim they'll "create jobs" (hooray for more jobs, as usual!) if they can only get their paws on the pot full of money paid by the tobacco industry as punishment for - what? - selling tobacco products? (As for "more jobs" please read Magic Nanny Strickland should cut government slop, not sell bonds.)
The money was ear-marked for the people trying to influence other people to quit smoking. Like they've been doing any good anyway. What do these people do with all that money?
Still, the purpose of the financial punishment of tobacco companies was to do battle with smokers.
But big state government can't stand to see any stash of change not being spent on the creation of bigger government, which is exactly their plan - a plan sketched in today's Dispatch editorial entitled "The greatest good."
And, by the way, this plan for "stimulating the economy" entails not just scarfing money that doesn't belong to "stimulating the economy," but also a vast new debt of $970 million in bonds which every Ohio taxpayer will also provide to this "stimulation."
True to form in this matter, the state legislators, governor and Dispatch never saw a government spending plan they didn't like.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
The plight of county smokers vs. the plight of those who just breathe county air
As though further proof is needed, yesterday's Advocate page-one report on the plight of smoking county employees proves again that we live in a society gone mad. Let us count the ways ...
... anyone who would deliberately suck into their lungs any quantity of tar, ammonia, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and about 4,000 (really!) other ingredients, most or all of them unhealthful, has gone mad.
... anyone who would pay $4.45 for a pack of killer cigarettes (Ohio average) has gone mad, especially when you can roll your own for a lot less.
... anti-smokers who are so artificially touchy about the tiniest waft of cigarette smoke in their presence have gone mad.
... voters who passed the state smoking ban in public places, making them now only partially public, have gone mad.
... smokers who didn't do anything much to preserve their freedoms before that election proved themselves to have gone mad.
... health "gurus" such as as Joe Ebel, county health commissioner, and County Commissioner Doug Smith, who continue to do a war dance over miniscule amounts of second-hand smoke, while continuing to ignore the colossal dump that Fiberglas takes on Licking County 24/7, have gone mad.
... Advocate reporters and managers, who think the plight of a few county employees without a smoking haven and the reaction to this plight by gone-mad health "gurus" - and not Fiberglas pollution - merits a page-one report, have gone mad.
... anyone who would deliberately suck into their lungs any quantity of tar, ammonia, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and about 4,000 (really!) other ingredients, most or all of them unhealthful, has gone mad.
... anyone who would pay $4.45 for a pack of killer cigarettes (Ohio average) has gone mad, especially when you can roll your own for a lot less.
... anti-smokers who are so artificially touchy about the tiniest waft of cigarette smoke in their presence have gone mad.
... voters who passed the state smoking ban in public places, making them now only partially public, have gone mad.
... smokers who didn't do anything much to preserve their freedoms before that election proved themselves to have gone mad.
... health "gurus" such as as Joe Ebel, county health commissioner, and County Commissioner Doug Smith, who continue to do a war dance over miniscule amounts of second-hand smoke, while continuing to ignore the colossal dump that Fiberglas takes on Licking County 24/7, have gone mad.
... Advocate reporters and managers, who think the plight of a few county employees without a smoking haven and the reaction to this plight by gone-mad health "gurus" - and not Fiberglas pollution - merits a page-one report, have gone mad.
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