Newbury/West G/Trustee Board Meetings
For those who have attended the virtual meetings between the Newbury school board and the West Geauga school board, I offer my apologies. They are truly an exercise in futility for the citizens of Newbury.
Newbury’s school board continues to try to show tax savings and push the property onto the Newbury Trustees in a feeble attempt to save face with the citizens, stating, “we just want something for the community,” while trustees (knowing they don’t have the money available to purchase or maintain any of the properties) ask for more time to make decisions based on weak data from a survey.
One trustee rightfully stated, “You (Newbury school board) have had over a year to look at paths forward and now you ask us in a meeting to make a decision on whether we are interested in the property or not?” Does it really matter?
The Newbury school board will be dissolved at the end of June. It can play Pontius Pilate, wipe their hands clean and walk away. They did their damage; they got the school closed. It will be left to someone else to determine how long it sits vacant as an eyesore in the center of town.
They can cry crocodile tears (except Mrs. Rice who has yet to say a word except “present” when roll call is made) about how they “wanted something for the community, but it just didn’t make financial sense to burden the taxpayers with yet another levy to purchase and maintain it,” while watching it go to the highest bidder in an auction.
Even though potential numbers (51.7 mils was the last one in the paper) for an impending bond issue for a new school for West Geauga, their school board dodged that question by a Newbury trustee like a prizefighter saying, “it is too premature to determine any projection on those numbers at this time.”
Interestingly, one of the advocates for the “It’s Time” group that pushed for closure, quickly commented that they don’t want trustees to take on the property because that would increase taxes. Understandable. These are the same folks that will vote against any tax increase, including levies for West Geauga, and combined with those against the closure of Newbury from the start who will also be voting against levies for West Geauga, should make an interesting conundrum for their next election.
In the end, this is pomp and circumstance for the citizens of Newbury. Most, if not all, of the property will likely go to auction to a private investor. Newbury will get to see either another senior living center go in (I think we have more than enough already) or apartments (for any kids that want a one-hour bus ride to their school each day), or a strip mall with shops that don’t increase the tax base enough to make an impact. Newbury “The Center of Geauga County” will be the crossroads to get somewhere else.
I hope Maggie Zock, Kimya Matthews, Terry Sedivy, Dave Lair and Terri Rice (Newbury school board members) are happy with the results of this debacle in the years to come, when they drive by a dilapidated school building that so many cherished as their alma mater.
Phil Paradise Jr.
Newbury Township
Exercise Your Rights Carefully
The right to peaceful public assembly, even if it is loud and energetic, is a fundamental right guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution.
The current George Floyd issue is one of great significance due to the apparently blatant homicide we have all seen on the video. No one who sees this could not be moved and offended to the core at the violent denial of Mr. Floyd’s constitutional right to life itself.
Peaceful protest is one thing. But when further senseless homicide, violence, property destruction and looting begin, that is not a constitutional right. This current rendition of public protest, prominently characterized and marred by well-coordinated rioting, is the work of opportunistic anti-American anarchists.
There are several groups that fall into this category, a prime example of which is the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement. It is highly instructive to consult their web site and I challenge every American to read their 10 Points of Action seen there. That truly says it all.
The current generation of anarchists are even further to the political left than communists, who at least champion a form of government, albeit unacceptable and a failed totalitarian one.
The Founding Fathers designed the U.S. Constitution precisely to prevent anarchy disguised as democracy. It is why we are not a democracy, but a representative republic; a land of laws versus the whim of man, which protect the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority.
Anarchy invariably and inevitably devolves into mobocracy which is non-stop violence and disorder. People simply cannot survive in mobocracies because there is always some group seeking power in a never-ending eternal state of revolution against one another.
Eventually some group overcomes the others and a dictator arises. Note that whether an individual or a “proletariat” tyranny is still the ultimate product of anarchy as well as extreme violence, many deaths and a shattered economy. In short, mega-misery.
Be very careful if you are considering protesting. Do your homework to ensure the group(s) to which you join yourself are not simply anarchists looking to exploit your well-meaning emotional outrage to help them promote and carry out the violent overthrow of the greatest government mankind has ever produced, the Constitutional United States of America. That constitutional government is by design not a democracy but a representative republic and has produced the highest standard of living for all its citizens of any civilization in the history of mankind.
Exercise your right to peaceful public assembly and attend one of the most important American cultural events of all, the Independence Day Parade. The parade in Chesterland was cancelled, but is back on, of necessity, under new leadership. It will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 4 along Ohio Route 306, followed by speakers and hopefully food in the park.
Exercise your constitutional rights by attending and practicing common sense social distancing and mask use as you are free to do.
Happy Birthday America!
James R. MacNeal
Troy Township
https://g.page/Best-Natural-carpet-cleaning?gm
Do Black Lives Really Matter?
The tragic death of George Floyd has again generated an untold number of protests, riots, graffiti, signs, internet postings and news narratives around the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” If one seriously evaluates this phrase in light of the current state of affairs that exist in America, I contend the majority of Americans do not believe that “Black Lives Matter,” including many black Americans.
If black lives really mattered, then why is there no prayer, outrage, protest and rioting throughout northeastern Ohio over the mutilation and savage killing of over 8,000 black babies that occurred last year in Ohio at abortion mills like Preterm and Planned Parenthood?
Why are we not praying, protesting and rioting throughout all of America with the same passion as we are over the death of Mr. Floyd, knowing that last year an estimated 295,000 innocent and defenseless black babies were murdered for profit in America?
Why are we not outraged by the genocide of the black race in America, where over the last 48 years an estimated 20,000,000, yes, 20 million black babies have been indiscriminately torn apart?
Why have many of the religious leaders and their flocks, celebrity sports figures, Hollywood celebrities and other public figures remained silent and failed to stand up to protect black babies waiting to be born?
Why, as a country, do we support political parties and individuals who are insistent upon killing black babies, even after they are born?
Why, as a member of this great society, have I failed to take any action to defend and protect the lives of these defenseless and innocent black babies?
Why, because in our hearts, black lives really do not matter as evil is running rampant in America and has ingrained itself within our hearts. All morals are now relative and we no longer respect and cherish life itself. I see very little hope for a society that respects the life and dignity of pets more than the lives of our brothers and sisters waiting to take their first breath of fresh air. I see very little hope that the racial divide in America will ever be resolved unless All Americans change their heart, our signs and our news narratives from “Black Lives Matter” to “All Human Life Matters.”
Peace and unity between the races will only begin when all Americans start to respect all human life, from the moment a human baby is conceived until the time of natural death.
Michael Hollowell
Newbury Township
