A Man Not of His Word
Surprise! Surprise! Seems like Ralph Spidalieri is going to run for reelection. It’s my distinct recollection he promised us his present term would be his last when he last ran. Those of us familiar with politicians are not surprised, as they are prone to flip flops, deceptions, lies . . . whatever seems to benefit them at the moment.
Ralph is good at embellishing his tenure with fancy words about cost saving, goals achieved, how wonderful the county now is or the like.
Many of us would like the county to stay low density, rural, a place with rich biodiversity, no traffic jams. Sure doesn’t seem like that’s in your agenda, Ralph. Farms and large acreage continue to disappear, being turned into subdivisions, parking lots, etc. More traffic than ever. Any plans from you to halt that?
Tell us Ralph, have you ever heard the old phrase “Think globally act locally?” Tell us what you have accomplished to make the earth better. What is the most serious problem we face? Likely global warming and the environmental crisis that is upon us? Any leadership from you in that area? Anything other than grow, grow, grow from you? An old saying is the only thing that thinks it can grow forever is a cancer cell. We all know where that leads don’t we?
Reports indicate this July was the hottest month on earth in the last 120,000 years. Think globally act locally Ralph? What are your thoughts? Sell more guns? Increase profits?
Fires burning out of control all over the planet. Any thoughts, Ralph? Sell more guns? Make greater profits?
Did you know at least half of the Great Barrier coral reef — the largest on this planet — is now dead due to ocean warming? Do you care? Think globally act locally, Ralph.
It’s easy to cut costs. One just does not finance efforts which need to be supported. The sheriff’s department had an officer that handled open burning complaints. When he retired, he was not replaced. Consequently, there is basically no enforcement of open burning regulations in this county and people die of asthma attacks, cancer and other maladies often caused or aggravated by toxics produced in open burning. Did you know that? Do you care?
Since Ralph Spidalieri is not planning to keep his promise to us, maybe we should keep it for him by replacing him with a different county commissioner come election time. He can then spend more time selling more guns and making bigger profits in an already over gunned country — more guns than people the last I heard.
Maybe we can get county commissioners that really think globally and act locally.
So Sad!
John G. Augustine
Parkman Township
Shameful Public Display
On Aug. 22, I attended the Regional Climate Action Planning Engagement session for Geauga County convened by the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA). I was excited about the possibility of lending my voice to NOACA’s planning to bring human-induced climate change under control. I was looking forward to an educational and productive meeting.
My expectations were, to a degree, dashed. The people in attendance (perhaps 100) seemed to me to be evenly split between those who believe in human-induced climate change and those who don’t.
I was struck by the disruptive tactics of a minority of the latter. In their actions, I have never witnessed a more shameful public display of bad manners. They interrupted the moderator at will. They held up signs that blocked the view of others. When the moderator sought to break the plenary session into three focus groups, some in this group refused to comply. I heard one person mutter “fascist.” This group felt they could make up the rules of the meeting as they saw fit. Their behavior was worse than childish.
In the Q & A that followed the focus group meetings, the “disrupters,” as I’ll call them, seemed to be laboring under at least one of the following misconceptions about climate change:
- Scientists are divided on the question of climate change. Mr. Claypool, who was part of this group, held up an article that cast doubt on the question of human-induced climate.
Some scientists may disbelieve in the phenomenon of human-produced climate change, but they represent a fringe element in the scientific community. According to a reputable news source, 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is at least partly due to human intervention in the global environment. That’s an overwhelming consensus.
- According to one member of the disrupters, NOACA represents not science but, in his words, “political science.” This represents a serious misunderstanding of how science works. All scientists have political views, but the reputable ones (the vast majority) don’t bring their politics into the lab. They’re interested in doing good science — not political science.
- Prominent proponents of action on climate change just want to make money from a hoax. One member of the disrupters mentioned a former leader of a local non-profit who now leads the campaign to build wind turbines on Lake Erie, a situation that represents, to his mind, a clear instance of a conflict of interest. There may be some truth to this story, but it’s a cynical slander to tar with the brush of greed all leaders in the attempt to combat climate change.
On a brighter note, the members of my focus group were, despite differences in opinion, well-behaved and informative. I enjoyed hearing their personal experiences of this region’s climate over the last several decades, whether those were the result of human-induced climate change or, in the view of some, just the usual, eternal cycle of good and bad weather.
John McBratney
Munson Township
