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Loveland Herald
January 6, 2010
VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS
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LETTERS
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COLUMNS
Editor Dick Maloney | rmaloney@communitypress.com | 248-7134
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Your Community Press newspaper serving CH@TROOM
Loveland, Miami Township, Symmes Township
communitypress.com
VOICES FROM THE WEB
Party affiliations Visitors to Cincinnati.com/ Symmestownship posted these comments to a story about former Symmes Township resident Jack Greenberg stipulating in his will that a trust pay for a special birthday annually for 20 years or until the $1.5 million runs out. The party includes: lunch and limousine service for 37 friends and their guests, a nice speech about himself, group photographs, and gifts of $1,500 for each invitee: “What a way to go! More power to him. If I had the money, I’d do the same thing!” ter61 “He would have enjoyed it more if he had done it when he was alive.” skylight “I want to be this guy’s friend!!”
thejerk
“Not mentioned in the article is that Jack Greenberg was a strong Republican and shared his conservative views with people when asked about politicial opinions. You sure wouldn’t find a liberal in this world who would be anywhere near as generous as Mr. Greenberg.” KWVeteran “Good thing for Greenberg to give to his pals $ every year, but he could have helped poor people ... and other organizations beside his own race! To do so proves one is a true Christian!” Bugaboo2 “This is so true, a liberal actually understands the meaning of the expression ‘let not the right hand know what the left is doing.’ You hear about the Republicans because they’re like the rich man in the temple who ‘devour widows’
houses, and for show make lengthy prayers.’ LanceGose “Yes, Jack Greenberg was a very good conservative Republican and a generous person. However, I do not confuse one’s political views with their tendancies towards generosity, humility or kindness. Jack Greenberg was all of those, but I cannot say that either party has a corner on those markets. Good people come from all persuasions, races and political views. I would resent any other opinion, as would he, as it would be bigoted and unjust. “Great article, though. Great man.” Bearcats83 “Did anyone notice that the sun is shining brightly today?? Maybe Mr. Greenberg is smiling down upon us. What a great story!!” CoastalFun “Replying to Bugaboo2: “What part of ‘In addition to bequeathing millions to Jewish charities” did you not understand? By the way, other than lip-service ... how many millions have you personally given to the poor? “Exactly!” govtsux
The bills come due Visitors to Cincinnati.com/ hamiltoncounty posted these comments to a story about how local municipalities and governments are cutting their budgets because of the economy: ‘Well, of course the ‘public servants’ make the cuts in the way that will be most visibly painful for the taxpayers. That’ll show ‘em for not paying enough in taxes to support our government. “But the plain fact is that there has been too much spending in good times, because political folks feel continuing pressure to spend what they have – and
CH@TROOM Dec. 30 questions
Loveland Council Member Mark Fitzgerald was recently hired as North College Hill’s new city administrator. Do you have any concerns about Fitzgerald taking that job? Why or why not? No responses. What advice would you give to new Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr? What do you think should be his top priority? What is his greatest challenge? No responses.
Next question New Hope Baptist Church is celebrating 15 years in Loveland. How has the church benefitted the community? Do you think requiring passengers to go through a body scanner, which produces an image of one’s naked body, at airports would help increase security? Every week The Loveland Herald asks readers a question they can reply to via e-mail. Send your answer to loveland@communitypress.com with Chatroom in the subject line.
GOVERNMENT CALENDAR LOVELAND CITY
Board of zoning appeals – meets at 5:30 p.m. the last Wednesday of the month, as needed. The next meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 27. City council – meets at 8 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month in city hall, 120 W. Loveland Ave. The next meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 12. Call 683-0150. Environment and tree committee – meets at 7:30 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at city hall, 120 W. Loveland Ave. The next meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 21. Call 683-0150. Mayor’s court – meets at 6 p.m. the first and third Thursdays of the month in city hall, 120 W. Loveland Ave. The next meeting is Thursday, Jan. 7. Call 683-0150. Planning and zoning commission – meets at 7:30 p.m. the third Monday of the month in city hall, 120 W. Loveland Ave. The next meeting will be Monday, Jan. 18. Call 683-0150. Recreation board – meets when necessary and members are available. Call 683-0150.
LOVELAND SCHOOLS
Board of education – meets regularly at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month in the Loveland Intermediate School media center, 757 S. Lebanon Road. The next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19. The board will not meet in December. Call 683-5600. Board work sessions are at 7 p.m. the first
Tuesday of each month, in the board office. The next work session is Tuesday, Feb. 2. The board will not have a work session in December.
MIAMI TOWNSHIP
Trustees – Business meeting at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month at the Miami Township Civic Center, 6101 Meijer Drive. The next meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19.
SYMMES TOWNSHIP
Board of zoning appeals – meets at 7 p.m. the first Monday of the month (only if there is business) in the township administrative building, 9323 Union Cemetery Road. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 1. Call 683-6644. Historical society – meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of every month in the township administrative building, 9323 Union Cemetery Road. The next meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 21. Call 683-6644. Trustees – meet at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month in the administrative building, 9323 Union Cemetery Road. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 2. Call 6836644. Zoning commission – meet at 6:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month in the administrative building, 9323 Union Cemetery Road. The next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20. Call 683-6644.
more, rather than to conserve. I suggest a review of every program that did not exist 25 years ago to determine if it was/is really necessary to continue them at present levels, or kill them entirely. We have to distinguish between what’s necessary and ‘what would be nice to have,’ and make cuts accordingly.” NOTaMajorMarket “Budget cuts bring layoffs, except for the Cincinnati Police Department, they get ‘overtime.’ This has to stop asap. No reason for this waste of taxpayer money.” skylight “Of course, if it were you working overtime, I’m guessing, you’d want to get paid for it.” MrWhipple “Even in good times there is not enough money to do all of the things necessary to improve the quality of life in any community. Much of the fluff has already been cut. Public employees are being asked to do more to cover shortages of personnel. It’s often cheaper to pay overtime than to hire or recall employees. “I recall that the Enquirer posted the city expenditures by department. I wonder how many reviewed those with suggestions for cuts. I’m sure that community leaders would welcome NOTaMajorMarket’s review of unnecessary programs. A good start would be one of the communities cited in this article.” CincyTom “Why no mention of Cincinnati $51 million dollar deficit? City streets have been in disrepair for years! “Garbage pick up is spotty, and winter salting of streets is minimal! Problem isn’t the bad economy! The problem is all departments’ overhiring of city employees, police, firemen thru nepotism, poltical paybacks and past/present city councils doing nothing to cut the deficit! They just announced no layoffs in 2010, and will borrow $27 million! They caved in to the
FOP/Firemen’s strong arm unions, (police get a 2 percent raise Jan.1), which adds to the deficit). Next year by their coward actions, taxpayers will be forced to pay a tax increase in order to keep the non caring above elitist happy!” Bugaboo2 “You mean you actually cut spending when revenues are down? Has anyone contacted Washington about this approach? As a country we’ve been living beyond our means for decades, and the lesson still hasn’t been learned. We’re all in for a rude awakening when we realize this socialistic utopia the left has promised won’t work here anymore than it has in France, China or Russia.” billvor ‘Billvor, you need to check some facts. For the last decade this country was run by the right and China is doing quite well. FWIW, China is considered a communist state, France is a republic and Russia is a federation. The last time we had a budget surplus was under the ‘leftist-socialist’ Bill Clinton. Go figure.” CincyTom “For once these municipalities must deal with problems that the private sector has dealt with all the time. The solution is simple. Layoffs, pay cuts, benefit cuts and going non-union are possible solutions. But most will chose to discontinue vital services that harm the people in order to extort more money in the form of higher taxes.” FriendlyRider ‘Why is it that Blue Ash was able to secure some of the $1,000,000,000,000.00 ‘stimulus’ to repave parts of Reed Hartman, but we are going to forego getting a couple of roads repaved in Springfield Township? With that much money being spent by the feds there should be a front loader doing work on every street corner.” just2comment
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“Problem is that bureaucrats and politicians become comfortable with the status quo. Every program is ‘necessary’ to someone, and officials are reluctant to cut anything, for fear of losing support. It’s easier to whine about being ‘underfunded,’ or to point the finger of blame elsewhere. In many places, voters have yet to elect people who actually would do much to reduce spending. “So the people choose and have chosen the course of inaction, punctuated by ‘emergencies.’ That’s probably best for the politicians, and so it’s likely to continue.” NOTaMajorMarket “I went over the Cincinnati city manager’s budget line by line. I found not only fluff, but plenty of fat, gravy, dessert, frills and glitter. While other cities larger than Cincinnati are cutting out the handouts, city hall fudged a budget to keep the libs happy and in their pockets. The crisis looms closer.” TalkTalk “Yeah, as a result of Clinton, this country is in a mess. Does the palatial housing boom with big SUVs in the driveway ring a bell with you? How about the fuzzy math on mortgages and consumer loans back in Bill’s day, refresh your memory? Pay up time has come and gone. What’s left is a nation barely moving & the politicos in DC pile on more debt. Tax and spend a country’s way out of a fiasco. I guess the thinking is China has more money to put up for financing. Eventually, they’ll be able to buy the U.S. at a fire sale price. And the libs keep blaming Bush & hold Willie harmless.” TalkTalk
Sick penguin harbinger of a healthy future for rest of us A new year is upon us and it is probably safe to say that not many of us are sad to see 2009 draw to a close. We are a nation at war that has serious economic woes, and are facing some critical issues, including healthcare. Despite all of the bleakness, I am optimistic, and it is because of a penguin. Many of you will have read about the penguin at Newport Aquarium that has cancer, and is being treated with the help of donations, including donated rides to and from his treatment clinic in a refrigerated truck.(Newport Aquarium, by the way, is a fine institution, but is for profit.) Why does our sick penguin friend make me optimistic for tomorrow? It’s simple really. You see, I figure if we can come together to help the penguin get over its cancer, surely we can come together to ensure that the most needy in our communities get adequate health care? I know that there must be plenty of people in Northern Kentucky with cancer in desperate need of treatment and financial help, but they did not make the front page of The Enquirer. Not one of them. And yet, I have hope that our penguin friend is a symbol of our caring, deeply, for other living beings, and that we would not deny our fellow
humans the same chance as the penguin. Surely we would not. Our penguin also gives me hope for other reasons. If in these tough ecoBruce Healey nomic times, Community companies can ways to Press guest find squeeze in a free columnist round trip for the penguin in a refrigerated truck to the treatment center, for example, surely things are on the mend. There is hope in this economy because someone cares enough to spend some of the profit on a penguin. There is a profit and so things must be picking up. Someone sees a light at the end of the tunnel. That sick penguin shows me that we are capable of joining hands over something that matters to us. What is my wish for 2010? That we, as a society, join hands to show the world that we are strong; that we are strong enough to care for a penguin, and strong enough to care for our fellow Americans, be they someone poor, someone without healthcare, and especially, our veterans.
About guest columns
We welcome guest columns on all sides of an issue. Include with your column your name, address, daytime telephone number, and a two-to-three line biography outlining your expertise related to this topic, and a color headshot of yourself. We reserve the right to edit for length, accuracy and clarity. Columns may be no more than 500 words. Deadline: Noon Friday for next Wednesday’s issue. E-mail: loveland@communitypress.com Letters, columns and articles submitted to The Loveland Herald may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms. I want the world to see that we are not only strong enough to join hands over a sick penguin, but strong enough to unite and dispense justice, on our terms and on our soil, to terrorists who want to destroy us. I want the same cando attitude that is treating that penguin to pervade every level of American business: let’s do it, get it done, and start now. The details will sort themselves out along the way. This is the attitude that will pull out of this recession. That will make for a very happy 2010. Bruce Healey lives in Blue Ash.
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The Rev. Bill Hounshell Pastor, New Hope Baptist Church, A1
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Your Community Press newspaper serving Loveland, Miami Township, Symmes Township
HERALD
Loveland Herald Editor . . . . . .Dick Maloney rmaloney@communitypress.com . . . . . .248-7134
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A WORLD OF DIFFERENT VOICES
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