Democracy Annihilated
Yes, Virginia, there are rigged elections! Where? Right here in Ohio! How? Because our state’s Redistricting Commission, with a majority of five Republicans, has purposely violated our state’s Constitution and ignored the will of the people by drawing four (yes, four!) redistricting maps that were all grossly gerrymandered, and then went against the ruling of a federal court and accepted one anyway for this upcoming election.
It has become obvious that today’s Republican party is not the GOP of olden days. Now, they will do anything to win. No matter that it’s illegal and/or immoral. They don’t care. They just want to win and their current actions show it loud and clear.
Meanwhile, too many voters don’t pay attention and think they are voting for their favorite “team.” Our democracy is being annihilated and our country is being turned into an autocracy.
So sad for our state, our country and the people.
Rosemary Balazs
Chester Township
Teach Both Sides
In response to Dave Partington’s very perspicacious letter: Bizarre Thinking. Holocaust survivor, Gena Turgel, died at age 95, comforted Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp hospital at age 22 as Anne Frank age 15 was dying from typhus. Anne’s sister, Margot, 19, died of typhus shortly before Bergen-Belsen was liberated on April 15, 1945, by British soldiers. About 50,000 people died at Bergen-Belsen.
Anne, her parents, her sister and four other Jews who hid with them in a secret annex of an Amsterdam house. The Frank family members hid in the annex from July 1942 until they were taken away on Aug. 4, 1944, and deported to concentration camps. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived. The building housing the secret annex was turned into a museum in 1960. The videos, which can be viewed on YouTube, were previously available in Dutch.
Anne’s mother, Edith, died in Auschwitz in early January 1945. In “Denying History: Who Says The Holocaust Never Happened And Why They Say It?” by Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman, a convincing and patiently stunning case that denies the deniers. On April 13,1945, when General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived at the Buchenwald concentration camp, he declared that here was “indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency.” Yet with eerie foresight Eisenhower augured how the Holocaust might come to be denied in the future: “I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at firsthand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda.
“Some members of the visiting party were unable to go through the ordeal. I not only did so, but as soon as I returned to Patton’s headquarters that evening, I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.”
But in the closing weeks of the war, as Allied soldiers liberated concentration camps across the continent, it became simply impossible to deny what had happened. Or did it? How is it that so much physical evidence can come to be doubted? For that matter, how do we know anything happened in the past? Holocaust denial is a harsh lesson in historical skepticism gone down the slippery slope into nihilism.
Do you think Sarah Fowler Arthur and Diane Grendell HB 327 have read Anne Frank’s Diary or Denying History? Have they visited any history classes? They should be invited as guest speakers for a panel discussion at all Geauga and Ashtabula county schools. We need to teach both sides of the Holocaust. Mission accomplished as George “W”ar Bush said.
Dave Hancock
Chester Township
The Care and Feeding of Your Politician
Once you have trapped your politician using ingratiating praise, complimentary overseas vacations, dark campaign contributions, escort services, lobbyist lunches and/or the lure of power unconstrained, keep it caged for several days before the care and feeding begins. This will tamp down its feral edge and base inclinations.
While this seems harsh, the citizen must diligently reinforce with the politician who is boss. It will try to escape, it will whine, it will throw its excrement at you. Be vigilant, these behaviors are the de-tox taking effect as the politician comes down from its intoxicated high of privilege, expectations of deference, power and public affirmation. I have cleared this training regimen with PETA.
It is irrelevant if your feral politician was captured in a national, state, township or local park. Politicians are all alike regardless of where they come from.
There are a some who seek to serve their master and protect their master’s home. These appear to be a mutant, less dominant strain. Many politicians, regardless of breed, size, gender or color, revel in pulling their masters leash, controlling the walk and defecating on any lawn if it meets their needs.
Stay strong new owner of your untrained politician. You are about to enter the rewarding world of the care and feeding of your chosen pet!
STEP 1. Anesthetize your politician so it can be given all its shots, immunizing it against loquaciousness, avarice, pride, a desire to extramaritally copulate and rabies. Neutering is recommended but optional.
One exception, performative politicians are like bizarro poodles, doing tricks for perverse attention. Owner beware of this breed! Neutering is the only alternative.
STEP 2. Muzzle your politician before it wakes up. You need to do this because the immunizations will not take full effect for several weeks. Place an electric collar on your pet. Test it . . . several times.
STEP 3. Upon awakening, feed your politician a simple diet twice daily and fill its water bowl with fresh tap water. Your pet may refuse to eat food not prepared by a celebrity chef. Starvation will tame that arrogant palate. Your pet may refuse to drink water from the tap, insisting on Perrier. Thirst will cure those coddled taste buds.
STEP 4. When your politician is consistently eating and drinking what you offer, remove the muzzle. This is a sign of some subservience on the politician’s part.
STEP 5. Wearing protective gloves, open the cage and present your expendable, non-dominant hand so your pet can smell its master’s scent. Be ready to activate the electric collar in case the politician was waiting for its chance to spring.
The male politician has a greater tendency to behave aggressively, although the female politician is not below waiting for her chance at revenge. Remember Mark Twain’s advice about the difference between a dog and a man. It applies to politicians also: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” If compliant, reward your pet with a vote of confidence.
STEP 6. Using a combination of a rolled-up newspaper, a spray water bottle, the electric collar and rewards, you are ready to begin the exciting world of training your politician. Again, early, consistent consequences and rewards will pay off for you and your neighbors (society) in the future. Politicians must sit when you say “Sit.” Politicians must heel when you say “Heel.”
Here are the recommended behaviors your politician needs to thoroughly learn and put into action.
- Briefly and honestly answer the question asked. No pivoting.
- Vote with the will of the voter, unless more compelling information becomes available.
- Spend more time legislating than raising money, accepting no dark money.
- Align more with the citizen than with the party.
- Think independently, compromise willingly.
- Schedule lunch with voters instead of lobbyists.
- Run for president on your own time.
- Maintain a monogamous, faithful relationship.
- Have faith in something larger than your own ego.
- Write a book about actual history instead of your “fabled” upbringing.
- Unburden yourself of the delusion that corporations are persons to be represented.
- Invite a member of the opposite party to your home for dinner.
- Obey your oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution of the United States.
Be brave new owner! With this intensive program, your politician can work for you. You are the boss. You hold the leash, the vote, and the Bill of Rights!
Will you succeed?
Remember Benjamin Franklin’s words . . . it is a republic “if you can keep it.”
Yank that leash!
Sheldon Firem
Hambden Township
Support West Geauga Commons
I have lived in the West Geauga area, specifically Chester Township, for over 45 years and had driven past the West Geauga Commons many times before my youngest son started to play soccer there. I had always been impressed with how well manicured the fields were and how clean the other areas were kept.
Over the past years I have had the pleasure of volunteering my time and services to the West Geauga Community Joint Recreation District Board. I have worked with many other citizens who were also willing to offer their time and services to help maintain the park.
The idea of the park was started in the mid 1980s through the efforts of Pat Jaski (Miss Pat’s Daycare), who felt that the local children needed a recreational area locally. Now the Commons has become a valuable asset to the community and a site for the sports groups to utilize. It is funded primarily through real estate taxes of 0.2 mills, or $2.70 per $100,000 valuation per year. This is used for maintenance only with capital improvements being funded through fees, contributions or grants.
There are three soccer fields, a baseball field, basketball and volleyball courts, a walking trail, cross-country skiing, a children’s playground, a pavilion complete with grills, and free doggie bags for the many dog walkers .
This Nov. 8 there will be a RENEWAL tax levy on the ballot (Local Issue 2). There will be NO INCREASE IN TAXES.
Please support the West Geauga Commons and please use its facilities . . . it belongs to everyone.
Linda Palchick
Chester Township
Vote ‘Yes’ on Issue 2
West Geauga Soccer Club (WGSC) supports Local Issue 2, the renewal tax levy for the West Geauga Commons.
Many local sports clubs, churches, summer camps and individuals regularly walk, run, picnic or play at this beautiful park
The pavilion and the playground are great for family events. The park trail, for both walkers and joggers, circle the park and runs along the Chagrin River.
All the sports fields and courts are well maintained and regularly used by the community.
In winter, the Commons allows cross-country skiing throughout the park.
Access to the park and all of its amenities is funded primarily through a real estate tax of 0.2 mills, approximately $2.70 per $100,000 of property valuation per year.
This renewal levy will NOT INCREASE TAXES.
Please support the West Geauga Joint Recreation District, commonly known as the West Geauga Commons, and vote Yes on Local Issue 2.
Jack Ackworth
President, WGSC
Bill Patterson
Vice President, WGSC
Bill Byran
Director of Soccer, WGSC
It’s Time to Do the Right Thing
It has been seven years since the Geauga Park District squelched public comment during its public meetings.
Our park district stands unique in that all 57 Ohio park districts have public comment.
Many people believe it is a requirement to have public comment at meetings. Not so. The only requirements are the meetings be open to the public and recording of the meetings be permitted.
Mailed or emailed questions rarely get a response.
Public records are provided, but only if you know exactly what to ask for.
Data and documents shown in the monthly board packet (distributed to board members)
are “done deals.” By the time the board and the public see them, the projects have started and the money has been spent. There is no opportunity for public comment prior to beginning projects.
The Geauga public has a wealth of knowledge, information and expertise in everything from astronomy to zoology.
It’s time to not only permit public comments, but to actively seek out our community’s expertise prior to expenditures and projects.
At the last board meeting I spoke up, asking them to consider reinstating public comment. The board agreed to put it on the agenda at the next meeting on Monday, Oct. 17.
Will the park district board choose to be transparent?
Will they vote to re-institute public comment?
Will they do the right thing?
Dave Partington
Munson Township
