Letters to the Editor
Open Enrollment Mistake
Open enrollment is the reason we are sending our child to a parochial school.
Bringing in more outside kids is a mistake.This will cause more West G parents to pull their kids out and create a downward spiral for the school district.
What the commissioners should do is close one elementary school and consolidate. Plenty of capacity exists at Westwood to handle the Lindsey students, but they won’t face up to the tough choice.
Their job is to educate West G kids, not the general Northeast Ohio population.
Timothy Botti
Russell Township
Veiled, Dangerous History
Fracking has been used in gas and oil wells for more than 60 years. So, what’s the big deal now?
Many of the old type of wells were drilled only vertically. Now, wells are often drilled vertically, then horizontally for one to two miles. The big deal, now, is that fracking is used in horizontally drilled wells, which means the fracking takes place along half or more of the borehole.
So what? That means that the amount of fracking which takes place in each well is many, many times what it is in a conventional vertical well.
Fracking in horizontally drilled wells is recent, used only in the past dozen or so years. About six million gallons of fluid is pumped into each well each time it is fracked. A well might be fracked multiple times. The result is an explosion in the amount of toxic chemicals used and the amount of toxic and radioactive waste fluid which must be disposed of.
In Ohio, over the past two years, we have had major contamination incidents from highly-toxic, radioactive substances being released by oil/gas extraction infrastructure that have gone largely unnoticed throughout the state. In Vienna, April 2015, 2,000 gallons of toxic, radioactive “brine” liquid spilled from a storage tank associated with a deep underground injection well. All life frogs, turtles, fish was killed in two ponds, and a stream as far as 2/3 mile downstream.
In Monroe County, June 2014, a frack well fire burned for three days, engulfing 20 large trucks on the pad. The toxic, heavy smoke release resulted in all 25 families living within a mile being evacuated. Toxic chemicals, spread by the water sprayed on the fire, caused a fish kill for for five miles of Possum Creek. For three days, the firefighters were not told what chemicals were involved in the flames.
In Barnesville, on March 9 around 3 a.m., a brine truck rolled over while navigating a road curve, spilling 5,000 gallons of radioactive, toxic frack “brine” into a field that led into one of Barnesville’s drinking water reservoirs. Months later, that reservoir remains closed.
Do we trust the Ohio EPA to verify that radiation levels in the reservoir are at safe drinking water limits? I don’t. They use a radium testing protocol that has been shown to indicate as little as one percent of the radioactive levels that exist.
Since 2014, there have been at least 17 serious-to- locally-catastrophic incidents in Ohio, involving earthquakes, extremely toxic spills, facility explosions/fires and fatalities. The industry cannot tell us that the old days of relatively-safe oil and gas production are a reality today.
Fracking is an industry with a veiled, dangerous history, which creates a long-term legacy of water, soil, and air contamination in its footprint.
With deliberate speed, we need to move from oil and gas as our energy sources to alternative energy such as wind and solar. It is time to reduce and eliminate the hazards which drilling brings down upon our communities.
Fred Welty
Newbury Township
Mark Your Calendars
Chardon’s Memorial Day observance was truly memorable.
His name was not in the program and he was very briefly introduced, so I’m not able to give the identity of the young man who gave Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” That’s a shame, because he deserves recognition. I presume he was a local high school student.
It was obvious this good man studied Lincoln’s words and pondered their meaning and power. His delivery was as if the President himself were speaking. The observance was beautifully honored.
Likewise, LTC Brian Brandt USA (ret.), guest speaker, gave a personal and relevant speech, honoring veterans present and past. It was a fitting tribute to the occasion, evoking memories and appreciation of those who sacrificed so much to preserve our freedoms.
Chardon’s Memorial Day observances have grown over the recent years, both in feeling and in attendance. It is gratifying to see the packed Park Auditorium, and the ceremony exhibited by the veterans, Scout troops, the Pilgrim Brass and the community who care to recognize this special day.
Please mark your calendars now for next year’s observance. You will be moved. So will your military veterans.
Steve Wick
Chardon
