Letters to Editor
Disregard for Laws Causes Families to Suffer
Republicans feeding at the government trough of social services are not better than the welfare recipients many of them condemn.
Some Republicans in this county express overt hostility toward the poor and struggling in this county and this nation. Some try to conceal their hostility but it becomes evident in their every day actions.
Their party line is, “I made it and it is your own fault if you have not. After all, this is America!” That is the real underlying reason the number of kids being placed outside families has tripled, in my opinion. Geauga County, Ohio is now on www.childrensrights.org’s radar because I reported this county to them. I hope someone can do something to change this current environment.
That money, if passed, should be used for PROPERLY training people to help families in crisis and for more effective and immediate Alternative Response and Community Based solutions, and then to help better train foster parents to deal with challenging situations. And to make sure kids aren’t labelled and locked up in residential treatment centers where they aren’t being properly cared for or monitored.
The peer literature and Ohio law is clear. Children belong with family first, even families that might not be perfect in some Social Darwinist’s eyes and then a properly trained foster family. As a state, we should strengthen Rule 48 of the Ohio Supreme Court by passing a law requiring a state-wide checklist system, so there isn’t room for ambiguity.
Have you ever read Rule 48 of the Ohio Supreme Court? It couldn’t be more explicit or specific, yet Geauga County CASA/GALs can ignore it without consequence to themselves.
The children and families pay the consequences whenever government officials of any kind opt to not follow state laws and regulations that were wisely crafted to protect fundamental rights. What is more important than our families in our “pursuit of happiness?”
There is a disconnect in this county between those whose emphasis is on healing families, and those who make decisions about the state of a family in the system. The gap should be bridged and the emphasis should be on healing and health for all. Politics be damned. We should be moving ahead in our thinking as a county, not backwards.
Robin Neff
Chardon
Secret Geauga Park Budgets
Up until the creation of the 2015 Geauga Park budget by the Grendell/ Shumway park board, budgets were created in public forums by departments presenting their upcoming projects and were guided by the board’s and the public’s inputs.
The 2015 budget was created behind closed doors and was ultimately deemed inadequate by the county budget commission with a suspension of the publicly adopted levy. The Honorable Judge T. J. Grendell and the Park Board ballyhooed the savings of almost a million dollars in park expenses by their new budget.
Because the 2015 budget failed to include things like replacement vehicles for an aging fleet and treated vacant job positions as though they would not be replaced, ultimately we have seen cost overruns this year of approximately $530,000.
Moreover, money for land acquisition was completely eliminated. Because of this, at least one opportunity to bid on a prime property was missed. It was all political smoke and mirrors.
The Grendell/Shumway Park Board is now repeating their sad history. The 2016 budget process has begun and the preliminary numbers will be submitted to the county budget commission on Aug. 11.
There has been no public board meeting; repeated attempts to get data under Ohio Public Records Requests have been stymied, apparently because we don’t know the proper terms the park uses when creating their proposed budgets.
Documents gathered to date seem to show many of the same issues — don’t budget for something, claim a savings and later quietly requisition the funds and run over budget. Some projects long in the planning stages, e.g., the Ellerin Trail, do not show up as upcoming projects. The monies projected as needed are less than the park income, making them a target for another levy suspension.
The hard working staff of the parks and the people of this county deserve an open, professional budgeting process, not one worked out in someone’s closed chambers.
Ed Buckles
Troy Township
Deteriorating Values: Rebuttal
I’d like to respond to Ms. Laurie and through her, Judge Grendell, in regards to her comments in last week’s Maple Leaf with this thought.
Ms. Laurie stated, “Rather than blame those who are mandated to address the symptoms, perhaps efforts to influence the court of public opinion should be focused on mitigating the escalation of this societal epidemic.” Ms. Laurie was referring to the decline in moral and family values in society that are causing increased costs in the courts.
Judge Grendell, I understand your keen desire to do right by society and stop the decline of values and morals. I share that same desire however more pragmatically I believe than you do. I think everyone that reads a paper or turns on the television feels the same desire for “The good old days” when life was simpler and kids had more respect.
Consider however that the court of public opinion bases it’s often fickle outlook from what they are given to work with from often uncooperative officials such as yourselves.
When you want to enhance the level of morals and family values you should try leading with being honest and transparent. To wit;
While the Judge eliminated seven position total within the court because he “could no longer afford these people” as Ms. Laurie stated; the public should note that Ms. Laurie and John Ralph, both APPOINTED to positions created by the judge without following the proper hiring process’ kept their jobs despite being on the job for far less time than those who were dismissed.
I find being preached to about moral character and values by people that ignore those same precepts whenever it suits them akin to being lectured to about fidelity by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
I can be reached for comment at rallengcgop@yahoo.com.
Rob Allen
Claridon Township
Risky Test House
I surely wish that everyone now addicted to drugs and/or alcohol could make a total recovery and become productive members of society. So many die at a young age, others are in and out of prison their entire lives.
There are a handful of the liberal minded who believe that the City of Chardon will be a great location for an experimental “recovery house.”
Four or five men will reside in this home at 114 Water St. Some of these men will be convicted felons. They all will be (hopefully) recovering addicts.
No one knows if they will actually recover, but we know who they will be living next to while going through their struggle.
Their neighbors will be the hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying patriotic families of small town America. These recovering addicts will be sharing the streets with the children of these families.
Certainly, there is a suitable location for a “recovery house.” Why don’t the few who are forcing this dangerous experiment on us put their collective minds together to find that special place?
This trial run of reforming the addicted needs to exist outside of Chardon’s city limits.
Most everyone deserves a second chance to straighten themselves out.
The Lake-Geauga Recovery Services needs another opportunity to do what is right also.
Larry A. Greenlee
City of Chardon
