VIEWPOINTS A10 • MILFORD-MIAMI ADVERTISER • JULY 17, 2013
CommunityPress.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR In an attempt to bring the historic Milford Public Library, established in 1900, into the mainstream of life in this century, I ask your help. Many of your I know well, other by reputation only. The need is for thinkers, planners and “outside the box”ers. Since the early 1900s, the library “ladies” have talked about establishing a “Friends of the Milford Public Library,” and 2013 is the time to do this with your help and ideas. Do come to Milford Public Library for a talking lunch at noon July 30, but RSVP as the caterer needs a head count. Call 5617765 to respond. Do come when you can and stay as long as you will. I know this may seem like at strange choice of day, but Milford Public Library is not open to the public on Tuesday, yet. I look forward to seeing those interested July 30. Colleen Binning Milford
Why ignore the obvious?
Why is it that our courts and government struggles so much with making common sense decisions? Answer: There is too much politics and political correctness in our system. This is why we have arrived at the point that everything we have done for 200 years is suddenly wrong and unconstitutional. Some sound advise for the Supreme Court would be simply to “look around you, what do you see?” 1. At the top of the capital building that houses the Supreme Courtis an engraving of a group of people with Moses and the 10 Commandments in the center. 2. The two huge oak doors as you enter the court room have the 10 commandments carved in the lower panels. 3. On the wall behind where the justices sit is a display of the 10 commandments. Why do you think these things are there? Simply because they were meant to be a reminder to future justices where their wisdom should come from. There are bible versus etched in stone all over the federal building and monuments in Washington D.C. and yet nothing is more ignored by our leaders and government than these. Claude Cornell Williamsburg
Thank you
The family of George Cox would like to thank the community for their outpouring of support during the death of their husband/father. A special thanks to Matt Rose, Stonelick Township, Jackson Township and Milford fire departments for your beautiful tribute to George. It was very heartfelt and appreciated. Dottie Cox Owensville
Dream on
CH@TROOM Last week’s question
ABOUT LETTERS AND COLUMNS We welcome your comments on editorials, columns, stories or other topics. Include your name, address, cell and home phone numbers so we may verify your letter or guest column. Letters may be no more than 200 words and columns must be 400 to 500 words. Please include a color headshot with guest columns. All submissions will be edited for length, accuracy and clarity. Deadline: Noon Friday E-mail: clermont@community press.com. Fax: 248-1938. U.S. mail: Milford-Miami Advertiser, 394 Wards Corner Road, Suite 170, Loveland, OH 45140. Letters, columns and articles submitted to The Milford-Miami Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
being wrong? Cutting taxes actually increases government coffers. Businesses prosper and hire more employees. Employees prosper and pay more in taxes instead of sucking off the system. The trickle-down theory works. Yes, the evil rich get richer. But so does everyone else. Look it up. It’s a proven fact. Unfortunately liberals don’t like facts. They’d rather dream. And as we’ve seen for the past five years, dreaming can be very costly. John Joseph Goshen Township
Ohio gynoticians
Governor Kasich and our state legislators have decided that control of Ohio’s uteri is an integral part of our state budget. The result will be unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds, elimination of options in our ability to obtain birth control, and dangerous delays in lifesaving treatment for Ohio’s women. None of this helps to eliminate unintended pregnancies or benefits children after they are born. While we are left to decide in private what constitutes the end of life, the gynoticians of our state have decided for all of us that a heartbeat alone constitutes its beginning. As you make decisions concerning your health and family, they have decided who will be available to council you and exactly what will be said in the process. Small government looms large in utero. As women, aren’t we fed up with political cowards who sneak their narrow religious interpretations and control issues into legislation? Do we deserve to make our own reproductive choices based on our own beliefs and circumstances or will we allow the self-righteous, who believe they are earning brownie points toward heaven, to continue to practice divine obstetrics from Columbus? In the words of Planned Parenthood: Stop the gynoticians. Karen Marotta Batavia Township
Doesn’t Len Harding ever get tired of
PRESS
Editor: Theresa Herron, therron@communitypress.com, 248-7128
EDITORIALS | LETTERS | COLUMNS | CH@TROOM
Friends of the Library
COMMUNITY
Should the morning after pill be made available to women of all ages? Why or why not?
“If it prevents unwanted pregnancies it should be permitted for all ages.” T.B.
“Christian and Right-to-Life groups will often deny women’s rights to reproductive health, but the morning-after pill should be available as a matter of mature, responsible use for any woman over 18. “It can help avoid over-burdening the already heavily laden social programs for the poor.” T.Rog
“Regardless of what some people think, when a woman is old enough to conceive she is old enough to make decisions about her potential to have children. “Although there is a common assumption that parents of minors are entitled to be involved in such decisions this is a religious belief that should not be embodied in public law. “The reason is simple. Most young women who are concerned with pregnancy instinctively talk to their parents. Those who do not usually have good reasons not to – either their parents hold strong religious beliefs which they have not transferred to their child, one of their parents is responsible for or somehow is involved in the child’s sexual activity, or the young woman is actively threatened by some aspect of the situation. “A compassionate society is not a rigid one. If there was more compassion for those who have been born in certain quarters than for the ‘unborn’ there would be fewer abortions because those with unplanned pregnancies would have more support and more options, and less harassment and irrational confrontation.” N.F.
“It’s a tough question, but sex does not follow age anymore. So yes, a woman should determine if she needs the pill, not some male dominated legislature.” Walter
NEXT QUESTION Do you agree with the new abortion laws that were included in Ohio’s recently approved budget, such as prohibiting public hospitals entering into written agreements with ambulatory surgical centers that perform abortions to accept their patients in case of emergency, and requiring doctors to test for a fetal heartbeat, then inform the patient seeking an abortion in writing of the presence of that heartbeat, and then provide statistical likelihood that the fetus could be carried to term? Why or why not? Every week we ask readers a question they can reply to via e-mail. Send your answers to therron@communitypress.com with Chatroom in the subject line.
“As long as it’s also available to the gay and lesbian community and I don’t have to pay for it I say go for it!!” D.J.H.
“What’s the point in asking? Some obscure judge somewhere ruled that the morning-after pill must be made available to females of all ages. Who are we mere mortals to question the dictates of the high and almighty?” R.V.
July 3 question What do you think about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling invalidating a section of the 17-year-old Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to married gays and lesbians in a dozen states? Do you agree or disagree with the decision? Why or why not?”
“I absolutely agree with the strikedown of DOMA. DOMA was a form of discrimination against citizens of our country in the form of law. “In our Constitution, it declares that all are created equal, with no mention of sexual orientation. All Americans should be granted the right to be treated fairly and equally, and this is a step in the right direction. “There undoubtedly constitutionally exists what this country was founded upon, the separation of church and state, and that remains as important as ever.” D.P.
ELECTED OFFICIALS Ohio Rep. John Becker - 65th House District
Phone: 614-466-8134 Email: District65@ohr.state.oh.us Address: Ohio State Rep. John Becker, 77 S. High St., 12th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215. District: The 65th House District includes Goshen, Miami, Stonelick, Union and Wayne townships, the cities of Milford and Loveland
inside Clermont County and the villages of Owensville and Newtonsville.
Ohio Rep. Doug Green - 66th House District
Phone: 614-644-6034 Email: Rep66@ohiohouse.gov Address: State Rep. Doug Green, 77 S. High St., 12th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215.
A few Clermont Countians defiant during Morgan’s Raid July 12, 1863 - Ohio Governor David Tod called up the state militia in response to John Hunt Morgan’s move into the state. More than 500 men from Clermont County reported to General Ambrose Burnside in Cincinnati. Morgan skirted Cincinnati, passing through Sharonville and Glendale. A Glendale resident reported, “They looked very strange. Some were wearing women’s hats and veils. They came into our homes, raiding our kitchens for food and looking for valuables.” The raiders had been riding for many hours. The horses were jaded; the men exhausted. Some dropped out to nap and were captured. By the time they reached the Little Miami River, Morgan had lost 400 men. The “fresh air of the morning” cheered the raiders as they crossed the Little Miami into Clermont County at Three Island Ford near Branch Hill July 14, 1863. A barricade was built across the
tracks of the Little Miami Railroad. Dismounted raiders, hiding in a cornfield, unleashed a volley of gunfire at an approaching train. The train, racing at 40 mph, hit the obstacle. The locomotive Gary Knepp COMMUNITY PRESS leaped from the tracks, plunging down an emGUEST COLUMNIST bankment - killing Cornelius Conway, the fireman and severely injuring John Redman, the engineer. Five cars, decoupled from the locomotive, careened wildly around a curve before coming to a stop. The 150 recruits bound for Camp Dennison were captured and released after swearing an oath not to fight against the Confederacy. The cars were burned. Morgan’s pickets skirmished with Camp Dennison’s Convalescent Corps and Loveland’s militia. They torched
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government wagons at Camp Shady near Mulberry and tangled with Tod’s Scouts, before splitting up and fanning out across the county. Most, but not all, residents quickly capitulated to the raiders’ demands. Teenager, Oliver Rhodes of Batavia, grabbed his shotgun and ammunition and concealed himself in the woods at the edge of the road leading to Williamsburg. When the raiders approached, he blasted away - hitting nothing. Rhodes was quickly overpowered, disarmed and captured. Rhodes, who later joined the army, was released by Morgan himself, who apparently admired the youngster’s pluck. The raiders rendezvoused in Williamsburg around 4 p.m. While Morgan and his commanders “checked in” at the Kain Hotel, his men bivouacked near the East Fork. Solomon Merschon, a 48-year-old Williamsburg farmer, “visited” the 394 Wards Corner Road Loveland, Ohio 45140 phone: 248-8600 email: miami@communitypress.com web site: www.communitypress.com
camp searching for his stolen horse. He found it and defiantly demanded its return. The Rebel who had taken the horse proposed to fight for it. Merschon agreed. The combatants squared off to the amusement of all. Merschon charged. The raider swung a broken piece of fence rail, but missed. The local wrestled the “grayback” to the ground, scraping “nearly all the skin off Mr. Reb’s face.” The contest ended when Merschon put his thumbs to the Reb’s eyes, threatening to pluck them out. Merschon left with his horse, bruised but triumphant. Before leaving Clermont County, Morgan burned the Williamsburg covered bridge - reportedly in retaliation for all the fugitive slaves Williamsburg businessman Charles Huber had helped escape before the war.
Gary Knepp is an attorney from Milford who teaches Civil War history at UC Clermont College.
Milford-Miami Advertiser Editor Theresa L. Herron therron@communitypress.com, 248-7128 Office hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday See page A2 for additional contact information.