[Column] Keep on ignoring the obvious
October 21st, 2007, 5:01 pm · Post a Comment · posted by rlederman
How long are we going to keep our heads down here?
“Down here” meaning buried in the sand.
A couple of headlines on Associated Press stories from last week to demonstrate what I mean:
• “Senate speeds ahead with bill to quash gambling machines.”
• “Ohioans head to West Virginia as table games debut at tracks.”
The first headline came Wednesday, as the Ohio Senate moved to kill slot-like machines that have popped up across the state. Senate President Bill Harris — who, you might note, is a Republican — said fixing the loophole in state law that allows the machines is legislators’ task. Of course, it is. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann have been unable to stop the machines, so it’s up to the Republicans to do the Democrats’ bidding.
The Republican-majority Ohio Senate wouldn’t even let gambling proponents offer public testimony during a committee meeting on a House proposal to ban cash payouts and noncash prizes worth more than $10 from gaming machines. The Senate rules committee voted 9-2 to pass the proposal.
Imagine that: Ohio lawmakers doing even more to chase money out of the state even as all manner of gambling — legal and otherwise — takes place here. That second AP headline above is from a story about West Virginia’s move toward “full-fledged casino gambling,” with Ohio ans there to help make it happen.
“Wheeling Island, in the Ohio River just south of Martins Ferry, attracts many Ohioans unable to play casino-style games legally in their home state,” The Associated Press reported.” Three times since 1990, Ohio voters have overwhelmingly defeated ballot issues that would have expanded gambling beyond the state lottery and horse racing.”
So those on the eastern side of the state have somewhere to go to gamble. Over here, we have tour buses running people up to Detroit or down to Indiana’s portion of the Ohio River, so why shouldn’t those in Eastern Ohio who want to gamble have an outlet?
And, why should any of that money stay in this state anyway?
Illinois audience
My running disagreement with Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck’s not-so-subtle use of racial fears to drive policy has found an audience in the same place Beck will have one. First, the Illinois Minuteman Project — a group that, in its most flattering description, opposes illegal immigration — found me via the Internet.
Beck was set to explain all the “success” he’s had getting “all unions, community groups and businesses working together fighting illegal immigration in unity,” according to the group’s Web site. The group had some issues with paperwork and being completely honest, so Beck had to scrap his August visit to Crystal Lake, Ill.
Come Friday, the Beck show will go on as planned.
The McHenry County Latino Coalition was in touch this past week looking for information on Beck’s “successes.” What has happened to the crime rate, wage increases/drops and such since Beck started his scare campaign 18 months ago, was pretty much the line of questioning.
A quick answer: I was able to pull up court records with more DUIs and driving under suspension in a day or two than Beck deportations have averaged per month since it began. Perhaps skin color makes it easier to scare people with stories of Mexican gangs than to instill any fear about drunken driving.
Getting the last word
With the Nov. 6 election coming, a word about those letters you’re sending about candidates and levies. We set a deadline for election letters a week ahead of the election so we are able to print all the election letters we receive. If this election is anything like elections past, the Tuesday, Oct. 30 deadline for letters means we’re going to get a lot that Monday and Tuesday.
Regardless of whether we use an extra page to print letters — we’ve tried to avoid that, but we do print every letter meeting our guidelines that we receive — we have limited space. When you’re writing that one candidate has a lot of experience or the other gives of his time, or other points already made many times over, you can guess what we cut first in order to fit all the letters.
We’ll print election letters through Sunday, Nov. 4. Waiting till the last minute of the last day does give you a pretty good shot at being among those who get the last word.
It also could mean that your last word will be much shorter than you intended.
Ronald Lederman Jr. is editorial page editor of The Lima (Ohio) News. E-mail him at rlederman@limanews.com.
