Letters to the Editor
Legal Way to Come Here
In response to your article, “Never Again Is Now,” appearing in the Aug. 1 issue, for the life of me, I’m trying to figure out how anybody can compare and say that rounding up specific nationalities by gunpoint and taking them and loading them in a train against their will, and putting them in concentration camps and forced labor and executing them, separating husbands and wives, sons and daughters, even comes close to what your referring to.
When you have parents voluntarily bringing themselves and children across the border and the parents are forcing the children to cross illegally, knowing what will happen to them if they are caught or detained coming across the border illegally, knowing they will be separated, the parents of these children are the ones with the proverbial gun forcing the separation.
They know just what the children will be put through if they are detained or caught at our borders.
There is a legal way to cross into the United States. My grandparents did this as well as my wife’s grandparents. They were not placed in detention camps; they followed the laws laid out for legal entrance into the United States, which is the way that should be followed.
For those of you who have a short memory, President Ronald Reagan and the rest of the elected officials passed a law that created a pathway to legal citizenship for the people coming into this country and for the illegals who were already residing in the United States. The statistics show that those choosing to come into the country as well as the illegals who were already residing in the United States, and choose to use the new pathway and laws that were created with them in mind, were very, very few.
William L. Ferritto
Huntsburg Township
Newbury Community Vote Needed
The territory transfer between Newbury and West Geauga is not final, contrary to what you have been led to believe.
The due process of this transfer allows for the community losing their district to sign a petition. The petition would put the issue on the ballot so that the community can oppose or agree on it. It gives the community final say on this issue instead of bureaucrats, along with peace of mind.
You should sign to have a say in which municipality your tax dollars are spent. You should sign so every Newbury citizen can feel better about the end result. We need to make sure this is the action of the community instead of individual agendas.
Now is the moment to let Newbury Schools board know that their idea needs to be backed by the people of Newbury. If you want to make sure the majority agree with Newbury BOE on this issue, sign!
Residents of Newbury, no matter your position on the topic, make sure you register to vote then sign this important document today. Do not let anyone try to suppress your right, and the right of your neighbor, to have a day at the ballot box specifically on this issue.
Please visit Let’s Go Travel Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to sign now. It will also be distributed door-to-door in the coming weeks.
J.T. Joyner
Newbury Township
Don’t Prolong Newbury Uncertainty
To all Newbury Residents: You may be approached in the next few days and asked to sign a petition for a referendum initiative to put to Newbury voters the question of a territory transfer of Newbury Schools assets to the West Geauga School District.
While encouraging the community to have a formal vote on the territory transfer question sounds fair, everyone needs to understand the true situation that Newbury faces regarding its school district.
Census data indicates that there are approximately 1,000 school-age children currently living in Newbury Township. The Newbury School District served approximately 350 of those children during the last school year, and it is estimated that this number will continue to decline in the near future, as more families seek better educational opportunities to better prepare their children for the future.
These numbers indicate that a sizeable majority of families with children in our district have already in effect voted on this issue, sending their children to another district while they and the rest of Newbury taxpayers continue to pay very high property taxes to support a failing district.
Referendum proponents typically support their desire to retain an independent Newbury School District by describing the advantages that they feel a very small district gives THEIR children. That is a valid point, but only underscores the fact that what matters to them is THEIR own self-interest, not the interests of the community as a whole and what is best for a vast majority of Newbury children, and their families.
A referendum might make sense if proponents could describe in any form a VIABLE plan to sustain and develop an independent Newbury School District that provided a high quality education for ALL students in the community, while not overburdening taxpayers with property tax rates far in excess of what residents in surrounding townships pay. The fact is that proponents of requiring a referendum have NO VIABLE PLAN to save the district that we ALL love. Signing the referendum petition only prolongs a process that has been extremely stressful for all in the community, especially our children, and we are at a point where we need to reject an entirely emotional argument and move forward to secure for our township a partnership with West Geauga that ensures we will remain united as a township served by ONE great school district that will provide our children and generations to come with the very best education opportunity.
If you are approached to sign the referendum petition, I urge you to express your love for Newbury Township, and for our beloved Newbury Local School District, and respond that it is out of that love that you respectfully decline to participate in a process that will prolong the uncertainty we have all faced for some time. Thank you very much for your time in reviewing this information!
David Lair
Newbury Township
Editor’s Note: David Lair is running for a seat on the Newbury Schools Board of Education in the Nov. 5 general election.
