August 29 Letters to the Editor

Dear Edi­tor:

Democ­rats and Republicans

It is twenty to eight and my Demo­c­rat and Repub­li­can hum­ming birds are still try­ing to get enough to eat before they go to roost for the night. I know one is a Demo­c­rat and the other a Repub­li­can because they both want exactly the same thing. When one hum­ming­bird lands to drink the sweet water and the other sees him, he chases the other away. If he lands on the oppo­site side where he can’t be seen by the other, they both drink together. If one notices that the other is get­ting some of the sweet water, they both fly away fighting.

This is exactly what the Democ­rats and the Repub­li­cans are doing. They both want peace and a pros­per­ous Amer­ica but they con­tinue to fight each other like the hum­ming­birds because they do not under­stand that money is a pub­lic util­ity and must be intel­li­gently managed.

Dr Ken­neth L. Russell

Pro­fes­sor of Edu­ca­tion, Emeritus

Sam Hous­ton State University

To the Editor,

The 2012 pres­i­den­tial cam­paign has reached a new level of media bom­bard­ment with the nom­i­na­tion of Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Paul Ryan as the Repub­li­can vice-presidential can­di­date. Because Rep. Ryan authored a deficit reduc­ing bud­get plan for the coun­try which would dras­ti­cally change seniors’ Medicare pro­gram, Medicare has moved to the front and cen­ter of the cam­paign dia­logue. Since Medicare is such a pop­u­lar pro­gram with the Amer­i­can peo­ple, both pres­i­den­tial can­di­dates want to claim the title, “Medicare Sav­ior.” How­ever, Pres­i­dent Obama and Mr. Rom­ney have two dif­fer­ent visions for the future of Medicare, and every Amer­i­can cit­i­zen needs to under­stand the dif­fer­ences between these visions.

Pres­i­dent Obama wants to con­tinue Medicare as a pub­lic, single-payer health insur­ance sys­tem that will pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive cov­er­age to Amer­i­can seniors. Mr. Rom­ney, fol­low­ing Rep. Ryan’s bud­get, wants to change Medicare to a voucher pro­gram for any­one 55 years old or younger, in which seniors would receive a gov­ern­ment voucher to buy pri­vate insur­ance to cover their old age health care needs. These pri­vate com­pa­nies could cap the amount of money they spend for your care, leav­ing you to pay all expenses beyond the cap. The change to the voucher pro­gram could cost seniors an extra $6,400.00 per year.

Mr. Romney’s plan would require all seniors on Medicare, even cur­rent ones, to pay out of pocket for pre­ven­tive care, such as mam­mo­grams and can­cer screen­ings. Pres­i­dent Obama’s plan now cov­ers 100% of these costs.

Pres­i­dent Obama’s plan cuts 716 bil­lion dol­lars from the Medicare bud­get by remov­ing iden­ti­fied waste and fraud, cut­ting tax­payer sub­si­dies to pri­vate insur­ance com­pa­nies, and grad­u­ally slow­ing the growth of pay­ments to hos­pi­tals and nurs­ing homes. None of the 716 bil­lion is taken from patient ben­e­fits. In fact, Pres­i­dent Obama put these sav­ings back into patient ben­e­fits, using them specif­i­cally to close seniors’ pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion “dough­nut hole.” Seniors are now sav­ing $600.00 per year on their pre­scrip­tion medications.

Rep. Ryan included the same 716 bil­lion dol­lar cut in his pro­posed bud­get. Mr. Rom­ney wants to return the 716 bil­lion dol­lars to the Medicare bud­get, which would not give patients one cent more in ben­e­fits but would return the elim­i­nated waste to the bud­get and give insur­ance com­pa­nies an extra $150 bil­lion dol­lars of tax­payer money.

Accord­ing to Medicare’s own experts’ study of the plans, Medicare under Mr. Romney’s plan would be bank­rupt by the end of his first term. Pres­i­dent Obama’s plan, which includes rais­ing gov­ern­ment rev­enue by let­ting the Bush tax cuts for the wealth­i­est Amer­i­cans expire, extends the life of Medicare by eight years.

The changes to Medicare and its ben­e­fits pro­posed by Mr. Rom­ney and Rep. Ryan are an effort to avoid rais­ing tax rates on the wealth­i­est of Amer­i­cans, who already pay lower rates than mid­dle class fam­i­lies. Like many of you, I have seen the ben­e­fits of the present pro­gram in the lives of the seniors in my fam­ily. My grand­par­ents’ and par­ents’ lives were extended and improved by the health care they received from Medicare. I know which of the two visions of Medicare is bet­ter for me and my family.

Diane Fara­hay, Peru Township

Dear Edi­tor,

I com­mend Con­cerned Cit­i­zens for Your Safety in their quest to have the bill­boards on the US 42 curve removed because of the safety haz­ard which they present. I came to their infor­ma­tion meet­ing after lis­ten­ing to entire tape of the 8/13 Trustees meet­ing on www.billboardsafety.org.

As we go about our days try­ing to pro­vide an enrich­ing envi­ron­ment in which to raise our kids, to bal­ance our check­books, to con­tribute to our com­mu­nity, and to reflect our faith in all we do, we face enough prob­lems which need to be over­come. We do not need yet another one – one which we know before­hand could cause unnec­es­sary suf­fer­ing to an unfor­tu­nate motorist or pas­sen­ger – with which to deal.

Until Con­cerned Cit­i­zens for Your Safety brought to my atten­tion the inher­ent dan­ger in this curve (22 acci­dents in less than 6 years, includ­ing one less than 3 months ago), I had no idea it was that bad. Now I know. And now the Trustees know. And now the bill­board com­pany knows.

This will be a true test of char­ac­ter and integrity for both the bill­board com­pany deci­sion mak­ers, who are now in the posi­tion of hav­ing to choose whether to pur­sue their agenda in light of this infor­ma­tion, as well as that of the Town­ship Trustees, who are being called upon to truly pro­tect their con­stituents and lis­ten to and rep­re­sent their voices.

As they choose their respec­tive paths, per­haps they should reflect on this … “Be shep­herds of God’s flock that is under your care, serv­ing as over­seers – not because you must, but because you are will­ing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve.” 1 Peter 5:2

Thank you.

Kirsten Stafford, Marengo

Dear Edi­tor,

I agree with Randa Wag­ner that “good par­ent­ing is hard work”, from her opin­ion arti­cle a few weeks ago “Par­ent­ing just ain’t what it used to be”. I am a par­ent along with my hus­band to our two girls, ages 2 and 4 months. We are try­ing to do the best we can along with many other par­ents of young chil­dren in the county. I am sure my chil­dren have been scream­ing in Kroger at one time or another. In fact, recently at McDon­alds our 2 year old screeched glee­fully in a booth with her friend, and by the end of the meal my drink had been spilled all over the floor. It was a mess and I was embar­rassed at the noise. I apol­o­gized to a cou­ple sit­ting nearby, but they gave us warm smiles and said that they had grand­chil­dren and enjoyed see­ing kids. What a great per­cep­tion. Where I could have been judged as a bad par­ent for hav­ing a louder child or even eat­ing fast food in the first place; I was encour­aged that I am blessed with a joy­ful 2 year old!

There are so many choices in the way to raise our kids and how to be a good par­ent. I would like to make a sug­ges­tion or two. Let’s build our com­mu­nity of par­ents up with encour­age­ment and under­stand­ing. Maybe it’s been a rough day. Let’s smile and give them a hand. I think we need to be under­stand­ing as we never know what sit­u­a­tion a fam­ily has come from when we see them in pub­lic. We all make mis­takes when we par­ent. It is a chal­lenge to help chil­dren remem­ber their man­ners and give instruc­tions that must be repeated over and over through­out the day. Another sug­ges­tion is to have a col­umn for par­ents from the experts. I know my hus­band and I need sup­port to be bet­ter par­ents. The Sen­tinel could be a great resource of news and advice for our com­mu­nity parents.

Jen Trainer, Chester Township

Dear Edi­tor,

Thank every­one who came out for the Com­mu­nity Meet­ing hosted by Con­cerned Cit­i­zens for Your Safety! With so many oblig­a­tions demand­ing our time, we really appre­ci­ate that you chose to spend that hour learn­ing about the bill­boards on the US 42 curve.

When we started this inquiry less than three months ago, we knew vir­tu­ally noth­ing about bill­board leg­is­la­tion, state and local zon­ing reg­u­la­tions, or the process by which dis­putes are resolved. We have learned a lot, and have got­ten to know many of the state, county, and town­ship employ­ees and elected offi­cials who work or have an inter­est in this area. We have also con­tacted and ben­e­fited from the expe­ri­ence of per­sons in sim­i­lar orga­ni­za­tions, both national and local, whose focus is mak­ing sure that gov­ern­ment enti­ties com­ply with bill­board leg­is­la­tion and regulations.

The bill­board per­mit has been with­drawn by Card­ing­ton Town­ship because it does not com­ply with their zon­ing reg­u­la­tions. If the bill­board com­pany chooses to pur­sue secur­ing a valid per­mit, a for­mal process is initiated.

If the bill­board com­pany chooses to move for­ward even now know­ing just how dan­ger­ous this curve is, two enti­ties have “seats at the table,” namely the bill­board com­pany and the Town­ship. What voice is miss­ing? That of the people.

The appeals process includes a pub­lic meet­ing, but with no pub­lic com­ment. Any court pro­ceed­ings which are under­taken allow both the bill­board com­pany and the Town­ship to state their cases, but there is a legal ques­tion as to whether the peo­ple – in this case the peo­ple who drive through the US 42 curve each day – have legal stand­ing and there­fore a voice. This is unfor­tu­nate. If you are an attor­ney read­ing this let­ter who could find case law which would sup­port our abil­ity to have stand­ing as an “aggrieved party,” we would be most appre­cia­tive of your help.

The peo­ple depend on their elected offi­cials, in this case the Card­ing­ton Town­ship Trustees, to make deci­sions based on hav­ing heard their voices. The Trustees have a seri­ous respon­si­bil­ity to lis­ten to and reflect the con­cerns of their con­stituents in their deci­sions. Here, that respon­si­bil­ity is to every motorist – whether that per­son is a town­ship res­i­dent or not – whose life could be severely impacted should an acci­dent occur on the curve.

We encour­age every­one to voice your con­cerns to the Trustees so they can truly rep­re­sent you in this as well as any other issues which arise in the future. The impor­tance of this can not be under­es­ti­mated; it’s the only way your voice can be heard and changes-for-the-better made. If you missed the meet­ing and want to know more so you can be knowl­edge­able when you talk with them, please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us. You can find our con­tact infor­ma­tion on www.billboardsafety.org.

Vicki Ker­man, Cardington

Con­cerned Cit­i­zens for Your Safety Dear Editor:

I am encour­aged by the lat­est devel­op­ments con­cern­ing the bill­board at the curve on rt.42. The per­mit has been revoked. What a relief that the trustees recon­sid­ered their deci­sion from last March. Unfor­tu­nately the sign is still up. The legal issues could pre­vent it com­ing down for an extended period of time. I am hop­ing that Lind Media will decide on the side of safety and remove this haz­ard quickly. I ask all those con­cerned to let the trustees know how much you appre­ci­ate their recent deci­sion. Keep informed by check­ing the web­site billboardsafety.org. The efforts of Con­cerned Cit­i­zens for Your Safety will be well worth it when that bill­board has been removed.

Linda Har­vey, Card­ing­ton­Dear Sir or Madam:

This past Sun­day, Robert Gibbs, Pres­i­dent Obama’s for­mer Press Sec­re­tary and now his Cam­paign Man­ager, actu­ally admit­ted that under Oba­macare, there would be a fif­teen per­son panel, des­ig­nated as the Inde­pen­dent Pay­ment Advi­sory Board (IPAB) which would be appointed, not elected, with no Con­gres­sional over­sight and not account­able to any­one, who would over­see the imple­ment­ing of this new Oba­macare, and they would decide who would be eli­gi­ble for med­ical treat­ment, depend­ing on what their prog­no­sis was. Gibbs as much as admit­ted that this woutd cause some folks to lose their health care. This sounds an awful lot like DEATH PANELS to me.

I know there were many folks who voted for Mr. Obama because they wanted to be part of his­tory in that they could say that they voted for the first African Amer­i­can Pres­i­dent, and I guess that’s ok, but now that they have that out of their sys­tem, per­haps they can look at the upcom­ing etec­tion more prag­mat­i­cally and vote, not to be Polit­i­cally Cor­rect, but to keep Amer­ica the Amer­ica the Sign­ers intended it to be and steer it away from its present course of becom­ing a Social­ist nation.

Darl Mills, Mt. Gilead

Dear Edi­tor:

In a pre­vi­ous let­ter I stated Obama has not and never will do any­thing pos­tive for Amer­ica and, true to form, he con­tin­ues his assault.

In July he gave amnesty to 800,00 illegals.

There are 15 mil­lion uni­vited ille­gals in Amer­ica with most get­ting fed­eral assis­tance with the major­ity hav­ing lit­tle, if any, education.

On August 23, Janet Napoli­tano, head of Home­land Secu­rity, was ordered by the Obama admin­is­tra­tion to cease any fur­ther depor­ta­tion of ille­gals, regard­less of their background.

Through his deter­mi­na­tion and out of des­per­a­tion, he will give amnesty or a free ride to any indi­vid­ual or group to gain their votes.

He now has the D.O.J. (Dept. of Jokes) again fil­ing suit against states for not giv­ing dri­vers licenses to ille­gals. If they have the license, which would be their form of I.D., they would be allowed to vote. Obama will see to that.

For all the ‘bleed­ing hearts’ who agree with King Obama, like it or not, the whole world can’t live here. Amer­ica maybe the melt­ing pot of our uni­verse but the pot’s run­ning over and the money’s gone.

With all the hand­outs and tak­ing care of ille­gals, on any give day there’s 67,000 vet­er­ans go home­less in America.

There are 25 mil­lion unem­plyed, 1 in 6 peo­ple live in poverty, 1 in 5 chil­dren go to bed hun­gry every night and over a mil­lion are on food stamps or other assistance.

Obama is now blam­ing Rom­ney for the death of a lady who died 5 years after Rom­ney sup­pos­edly closed a plant pro­vid­ing her insurance.

It’s just another move by Obama to sway from the fact he squan­dered 800 bil­lion tax­payer dol­lars on his green jobs which cre­ated no jobs but resulted in plant closings.

Obama also harps on Rom­ney not pay­ing his taxes for the past 10 years. Who cares? If the I.R.S. isn’t com­plain­ing, that should pretty well end it. The law says he has to present 2 years returns. He has done so.

Obama sup­pos­edly pre­sented his birth cer­tifi­cate, which is sim­ple enough to do but did any­one ques­tion the age of the paper it’s typed or writ­ten on? It should be over 50 years old.

You need to know your his­tory to under­stand your future.

There’s been sev­eral print­ings depict­ing great and not so great indi­vid­u­als in our his­tory, but two in par­tic­u­lar, is the auto­bi­og­ra­phy of Adolph Hitler and Death of a Nation.

Read and com­pare them to then and now. Not in Ger­many, but in America.

Sev­eral years ago, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of Rus­sia, made the state­ment that Amer­ica, in all its power and glory, would be defeated with­out fir­ing a shot.

The ground­work has been put in place and it’s just a mat­ter of time if we con­tinue with the present administration.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t be fooled again.

Hol­lis Eastep, Mt. Gilead

Posted by Taylor Kaser on Aug 28 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.