Letters to Editor
Thank You
The general election has come and gone. Congratulations to my opponent, Blake Rear on his victory.
I fought a hard fight running as an independent candidate in Geauga County and was pleased with the almost 9,000 votes that I received.
I would like to thank all my supporters who were there for me; it will not be forgotten.
A special thanks to the staff at the Board of Elections for all their help (and patience) in assisting me during the election.
Brian Johnston
Burton Village
Good Neighbors
On behalf of the Newbury Veterans Memorial Park Committee, we’d like to thank Pat Preston for his generous donation.
When Pat learned Newbury Town-ship was building a Veterans Memorial Park, he donated a 2014 car to be raffled which raised $50,000 for the park. Not only did he donate the car, but also paid the sales tax and transfer fees for the raffle winner.
Pat along with Wayne Impulitti, president of Impulitti Landscaping, who donated his time and talent to design the park, have taken our dream closer to a reality.
These “good neighbors” join the ranks of many in the township who have already donated personal resources to build the future park honoring the men and women who sacrificed to ensure our freedom and security.
A simple thank you to all seems pale in comparison, but know that you will forever change the face of Newbury while building a permeate memorial to those we honor most.
Newbury Township Officials
Glen Quigley
Jan Blair
Bill Skomrock
Marcia Mansfield
Anti-Obama Fervor
I’ve read a few letters characterizing President Obama’s executive action on immigration as “amnesty” that’s “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”
It’s none of these.
First, some basic facts. For all of Congress’s posturing, it provides enough funding to deport just over 400,000 people per year. The Obama administration deported a record 400,000 people last year.
There are 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.; deporting all of them at this rate would take 28 years.
Since the Congress has chosen to fund the deportation of only a tiny fraction of illegal immigrants, the executive branch must make decisions about who to deport.
Current immigration law, passed by Congress, vests the executive branch with great enforcement power — greater than other areas of law. The executive branch, by statute, has wide latitude in determining enforcement priorities: deciding who to deport first.
The law also explicitly grants the executive branch discretion to temporarily shield classes of people from removal, which several presidents have used.
The law defines a specific mechanism — deferred action — to do this. Deferred action is temporary and can be revoked by a future presidential action.
Since the available resources can only support deporting a fraction of the total, the executive branch has to make policy decisions that prioritize deportation targets and ensure clear and uniform enforcement. President Obama’s executive action does this. This exercise of prosecutorial discretion is clearly legal and is compatible with “faithful execution of the law.”
John Boehner has shown no inclination to tackle any of this, even with a bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate 68-32 out there, one that would probably pass the House if he brought it up for a vote.
It seems to me that opponents of this action are mostly relying on their anti-immigrant or anti-Obama fervor, instead of an actual legal framework.
Chet Ramey
Russell Township
No Comment
I’d like to apologize to Park Commissioner Gertz for stating in a recent letter to the editor that he had an unlisted phone number. He called me and stated that indeed his number is listed and has been for 60 plus years.
My hats off to him as most public figures do not feel it is important to have a listed number.
His name was misspelled below a news photo showing him being sworn in which is why I could not find him in the phone book.
However, my hat is back on when it comes to my concern about communicating with the park board.
At a recent park board meeting, questions or comments to the board were very limited. Mr. Gertz could have spoken up and suggested more time for comments, as many folks could not make their views known.
Earlier this year, the park board changed the park board meeting times and moved the meeting locations to different parks so more people could attend board meeting … and it worked. Many more folks have been at board meeting this year than in previous years.
However, next years meeting times have been moved back to the middle of the afternoon when most folks are at work. Again, no comment at the meeting on this from Mr. Gertz or the other board members.
Could it be that the board really does not like to see great attendance or maybe they don’t like what they have been hearing from the public.
John G. Augustine
Parkman Township
For the Record
This letter is in response to a recent letter of Debbie Mayo. Be it known to all, I, Tom Jones, am not a spokesperson either for Tim Grendell or the Tea Party.
The only person for whom I am a spokesperson is Tom Jones of Auburn Township.
Finally, Debbie Mayo, I live in Geauga County by choice. It is where I share the legacy of seven generations of my ancestors.
Thomas Jones
Auburn Township
Why?
The Geauga Park District announced that all 2015 meetings will be held at
3:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Big Creek Park’s Donald W. Meyer Center.
My question is why?
The Geauga Park District board stated they were concerned for their employees’ working conditions. Why is the board not concerned about the county taxpayers who are most likely working at this time of the day and can’t make the park board meetings?
And then putting it at only one location which happens to be at the upper most northern part of the large county is not a concern to them?
This past year they alternated between Big Creek and West Woods, which are in different ends of the county. And they held them during evening hours (at 5:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m.) so that most taxpayers could try to make one or the other.
I applaud thinking about an employee, but do not forget who pays the park bills.
I would suggest the park board go back to evening sessions and giving those two or three employees who have to attend the board meetings time off during that morning (as an example working 1-9 p.m. instead of 9-5 p.m.).
Plus, the park board should go back to alternating the places of meetings so that all taxpayers in the whole county can attend at least some of the meetings.
Katherine Malmquist
South Russell
