Archaic Adventures as an Amberite, Avengerphile, & Ancestral Agent

Welcome... I am Cal Westray. A fan of various TV shows. A player of Role Playing Games. A computer programmer and web designer. A husband. A father. A grandfather. And perhaps a little more. I focus specifically on Amber Diceless Role Playing, The Avengers TV show, and Westray Genealogy. And a smattering of other things.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

State and Local politics

Hello all,
There are some things regarding elections that restore my faith in humanity and others that show me that people haven't a clue about what they are voting on.

Ohio Issues 1,2,3,4,5 went exactly as I anticipated and hoped. Issue 1 passed and 2-5 failed, all by a nearly 70-30 percentage. I'm glad that Ohioans saw through that voter manipulation plan by outside forces, and backed by the pocketbook of the likes of MoveOn.org and combined Union groups. Under the guise of fighting corruption, the people behind 2-5 were planning to replace what we have, by an even more corrupt group who wouldn't be accountable to the voters of Ohio.

That is how "I" saw it and fortunately that is how the vast majority of Ohioans saw it too. And that was good. Ohioans restored my faith in the democratic process.

Now to local politics. I am very saddened and disappointed by the election results in our little community of Jamestown, Ohio.

I, like many others feel that we pay a lot on property taxes, and there is no end to the growth. I 'see' that. I 'understand' that. I 'agree' with that. I 'know' that.

Having said that all that, one must remember an important and unquestionable and undeniable fact of life.

Local agencies depend upon the passing of local levies. And the community's very survival depends on that as well.

Regarding 'all' local levies, I look at them very closely; I want to understand the need and the impact of the levies. And nearly 100% of the time I vote 'for' the levy. We should 'always' support our: Police, Fire Department, Hospitals, and most importantly our Schools.

Our Greeneview School system is run very well. The administrators care about the children and the community. A lot! If anyone doesn't believe that, give me proof. Because I won't take their word for it, I know better. They've had to make difficult decisions and they haven't been afraid to make cuts, as painful as they always are. And the levies have forced them to make painful decisions over the decade or so.

Unfortunately this levy failure may result in some school layoffs. Not all positions, classes, and functions are 'state mandated' and as such are not required to function. However, if you ask anyone in the school system if they could do without 'any' of these things, they will tell you 'certainly not!'. Any thing that isn't state mandated is vulnerable to cuts and it is uncertain how much the school will need to cut to meet its budget. People would have to double up on their responsibilities to cover these other positions and some services will suffer greatly. That would be unfortunate.

The folks that voted against the school levy (or 'any' levy in Jamestown), I have to refer to them as knuckleheads.

What these knuckleheads in our community don't understand, is that the entire staff at Greeneview spends a lot of their own money to cover items that the school can't afford, so that they can make sure that everything they need is available. They don't get many perks that most in the private sector businesses get and take for granted. Even if the levy passed, they would still be purchasing these needed items, but what 'would' happen is that the needed staff may not be there to take care of the children of the community.

And if some of the knuckleheads 'ever' use the excuse that 'I don't have any kids, so I see no reason to pay for school levies', I hope they enjoy a community that will continue to worsen financially from this reasoning. I've heard that before and these people are severely short sighted.

We need bright young minds to be educated, so that they will get excellent jobs, live in the community, and contribute to society by paying more taxes to support others. Then, these knuckelheads will enjoy what the community provides. Because without future generations of thriving tax payers, these knuckleheads will enjoy poverty and poor community services. And good luck to them all. They will need it. Then it's too late to do anything about it.

I can understand voting against a school levy, when there is mismanagement. The Dayton City School system was an excellent example of that a few years ago. But that is 'far' from the case in Greeneview. So, there is no reason to vote against a levy when our school's administrators asks for one. They don't do it lightly and without a serious need. The price of materials continue to increase. Salaries need to increase as the level of inflation does. And we need teachers that are fairly paid and well trained.

Regarding the Police levy, I sincerely hope there aren't serious cuts in staffing and resources. The vote against it was rather disappointing, our local police deserve anything we can give them. And I feel the same about our fire department. I'd like to be certain that they have the resources they need to keep our community safe.

If I ever need the help of the police or fire department, I'd rather not discover that they can't spare anyone to stop by, because of the failed levies. I want my local brave police and firemen to be happy, well trained, well manned, and prepared to respond in case I 'ever' need them. To that end, I vote for their levies and encourage others to vote for them as well.

Cal

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