“NOW MORE THAN EVER” 1

Recommendations

Info

“NOW MORE THAN EVER” 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, People are talking. Here’s what your You probably recall a couple of Native Facebook friends have to say American rallies during AmeriFlora, and the changing of the city’s name being mentioned? Thanks Lady Monster and The Columbus Free Press for this Every year I mention this and my liberal friends still glare praise for The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories! “For at me like I am crazy, even as I recite the horrible things more insight and inspiration for your orgasms, and the various done by Columbus and his companions. One of the reasons I types of orgasm that can be achieved, I recommend reading differentiate “liberals” from “progressives,” and yes I get glares this brand new anthology of erotic short stories, The Big over that too. Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories by prolific erotica writer/ So how about a name change to Geebus. Very close to Cbus, editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. Each story is about achieving and seems we are stuck with (E. Gordon)Gee, even after his orgasm. Short, hot and steamy revelations. An excellent bedside humiliation and the way he embarrassed the city. Even (Woody) companion for yourself or story time with a partner.” Hayes and (Jim)Tressel had to quit, or were fired. So just cave in and name it after him! Rachel Kramer Bussel (author) Or (Leslie)Wexner will want in on the ego, so maybe just “Wexner, Ohio.” Or Wexnerton, or Wexnerapolis? And there are those Hayes worshipers, so might as well throw Excellent full-page Q&A in this week’s [Oct 31] The those variations in. Columbus Free Press. Willie Phoenix of Blues Hippy and The I do think some day, (in a)decade or two, the name will be Soul Underground answers 5 questions in Technicolor (no one changed, because it was an awful choice to go on forever. I word answers here) and the pic by Rachelle DeClue Shearon understand in 1800 that people did not understand the truth of t’ain’t too bad, neither!! the history of Columbus. I will have to think on about other “serious” names. But I go Myke Rock with Geebus for now. Charles Preston PS-I have been reading ‘The Free Press’ since the ‘80s, and like the new format. Good Work! Dear Editor, November 30, 2013 from 7:00 until 9:00, Blue Dublin will have a seminar and introduction of candidates at the Dublin Library, 25 North High St. Dublin OH 43017. The topic: The importance of the 2014 and 2016 elections. The speaker and leader of the seminar will be Dale Butland. He is with Innovation Ohio and is a most effective speaker on progressive issues on central Ohio talk shows. He was Senator Glenn’s legislative assistant. We are inviting the five Ohio-wide candidates for 2014: Ed FitzGerald for Governor, David Pepper for Attorney General, Nina Turner for Secretary of State, Connie Pillich for Treasurer, John Patrick Carney for Auditor and Scott Wharton who is running for Congress in the 15th District. Each of these candidates or their surrogate will be asked to give their stump speech. Since parts of Dublin are in Franklin, Delaware and Union Counties candidates for Ohio-wide, county and city offices in these counties in 2014 and current office holders will be introduced. Schedule: 7:00 PM register and network 7:30-8:45 PM speech and seminar After 8:45 PM talk to candidates Albert A. Gabel Chairman Blue Dublin [Referencing “Diebold Indicted” article in Oct. 31 issue]: They’ve been busted so many times I’ve lost count. But instead of focusing on them, focus on the two party criminal syndicate that’s been playing us all for the past century instead. Rustifari Satori I would like to know why the American people are not up in arms about the absolute foolishness that is taking place in our nation’s capitol at the moment. How can we call ourselves a democracy, when every piece of legislation put forth by the Republican Party is solely to the detriment every of every social program that is currently in force?This party( gang of terrorists,more like it) is destroying our economy when its at its most vulnerable point. And, the real sad truth of the matter is that when all is said and done, we’re going to all be affected in one way or another-- especially minorities, whose fortunes have been grievously damaged already. I propose that the Black Caucus of the Congress, of both houses, call for a referendum to bring these facts to light. Gregory Gartrel Let the NSA know what you think about the Columbus Free Press. Friend us on Facebook and make your voice heard. SEND US YOUR LETTERS The Columbus Free Press is eager to engage our readers. Letters to the editor are not only welcome but encouraged. Have a comment, gripe or criticism? Send your letter to: letters@columbusfreepress.com. Include your name and city of residence. Submission does not guarantee that your letter will appear in the Free Press, but every submission will receive due consideration. a word from Managing Editor Michael Alwood We have seen this act before. It always appears innocent to the untrained eye, but those who pay close attention can sense when something is rotten in Denmark, or in this case Dennison Place. Concerned citizen Frank Zindler smelled something foul in his neighborhood when he was notified that this year he wouldn’t be voting at the Thompson Community Center, where he’s cast his ballot for three decades. Instead Frank was told to go to the Ohio Student Union on campus to exercise his franchise. On the surface it sounds like a reasonable replacement for his usual polling station. It’s public, it’s open and easy to find. How can anyone complain they are being inconvenienced, as Frank did? Frank saw a fly in the ointment when he launched a recon mission to scope out the new polling place. What he found caused him to write a letter to the Columbus Dispatch. In that letter he explained a clear and present danger to his neighbors’ voting rights. There’s no place to park. Sure, there’s a fairly large parking garage attached to the Ohio Union. But, as Frank pointed out in his letter, there’s just one itty bitty problem. Turns out those garages are only open to those with key cards. The general public can’t enter them until after 4pm. In Frank’s mind, that’s the sort of thing that just might keep some of his elderly neighbors, and perhaps some less motivated voters, from casting a ballot. And so he wrote a letter to the Dispatch, who called him to verify he had written the letter, something they do if they think they might publish a letter. But the Dispatch did not publish the letter. Frank believes that what the Dispatch did do was call the Franklin County Board of Elections. He can’t prove that, nor can we, but soon after hearing from the paper he got a letter from FCBE. “To alleviate this concern, we have worked with The Ohio State University [not the private company now running the parking business?-Frank’s question] to provide vouchers to every person that needs to park in one of the university parking garages in order to vote. When you sign in at the polling location at the Ohio Union, please mention to poll workers that you are parked in one of the university garages and they will provide you with a pass to exit the garage at no cost.” In an email to me, Frank wondered about a few things. “How nice!” he wrote. “If you can’t get into the garage in the first place, how will you get a voucher and for what will you use it? “I am worried that there may be a wider importance to this case. The consolidation of precincts may not be important for off-year elections, but if it is primarily in Democratic areas during a major election it may produce the outrageously long lines we experienced preceding the accession to the throne of King George II. I admit that the closure of the Thompson Community Center gives a slight justification for changing the voting site, but why wasn’t a small, accessible alternative site chosen? An oversight? I doubt it.” You are not alone. Frank emailed me several times Tuesday afternoon. He was on another mission. He found that the first entrance to the parking garage still prohibited public parking before 4pm, while the second entrance had no such barrier. However, as Frank pointed out to me, there was no way of knowing if his neighbors were also told by FCBE about parking vouchers. “It would appear that my letter to the Dispatch did in fact ameliorate somewhat the situation in my precinct. I am certain that this would not have happened if the editor had not contacted the FCBE. I doubt that any letter was sent out to all registered voters. If it had been sent, surely it would have told them to look for the second entrance to the parking garage, wouldn’t it? Even so, it is hard to underestimate the impact on my elderly neighbors during an off-year election of the specter of having to go to so forbidding a site as the Ohio Union. My guess is that some of them have never been in a parking garage.” Thanks, Frank, for caring enough about the election process to have taken as many steps as you did to uphold your neighbors’ right to vote.
Post election issue By: the Free Press Staff by big business and the power and social CITIZENS TO SUBMIT CAMPAIGN elite. FINANCE REFORM LAW Seattle Proposition 1 was a companion Using the citizen initiative provisions of proposal to fund elections through property the Columbus City Charter that allows citizens to propose legislation, the Columbus In Columbus, the Columbus Coalition taxes. It failed 54percent to 46percent. Coalition for Responsive Government (“the for Responsive Government announced on Coalition”) announced it will file signatures Thursday, November 7th that they would be in support of a proposed law to reform political campaigns in Columbus on Thursday. reform law. In addition, the Coalition is submitting signatures for a campaign finance “As progressive people, in the wake of the collecting signatures for a proposal to move Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, we recognize the pernicious influence member council with 4 members elected At from a 7 member At Large council to an 11 of money in our political life. Because all Large and 7 members elected from Districts. politics is local and we think globally but act ELECTION RESULTS locally, we are addressing this issue in Columbus,” said Coalition committee member Education Plan Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Coleman’s Denise Benning. In a stinging rebuke to Mayor Coleman “Governance should be about more than and big business, voters rejected Coleman’s staying in power. True public servants will signature Columbus Education Plan proposal to increase Columbus City School prop- want to ensure we have a robust, competitive, and fair electoral system, and we are erty taxes by 24 percent. Despite spending hopeful that the individual members of over $2.4 million on a campaign with glossy Columbus City Council can see past their mailers, non-stop radio ads and television short-term political goals and approve this commercials with cute kids, the Mayor’s ordinance based upon the good it provides to Columbus Education Plan (Issue 50) was residents of Columbus, present and future,” trounced by voters at the polls, losing with said Willis Brown. 69percent in opposition to 31percent in “This will be a test of our priorities. support (44,417 to 19,548). The companion Council approves casino tax money to fund issue, Issue 51 which would have created a a bailout of an entertainment venue -- Nationwide Arena. Now, citizens are asking also failed, losing 61percent to 39 percent. new auditor position overseen by the City, for a small fraction of that amount, every The ball of string started unraveling in other year, to be used to make more and September, a month after the pro levy forces better information available to voters, so we started running commercials and sending can have the best representation and the best glossy mailers. In a first for Columbus, governance possible. The Coalition believes organized opposition to the levy came from that having a strong local democracy is newly-formed citizens groups named “No worthy of some public investment,” said Cheaters No Charters Columbus,” “It’s Denise Benning. OKAY To Vote No,” and “Citizens Against “Over time, we have watched as elections Issues 50 and 51.” In a preliminary rebuke, have become more irrelevant. In the 2013 the Columbus Council of PTA’s refused to primary, about 4 percent of the Columbus endorse the levy, and one PTA member’s electorate voted. We’ve got to get people statement that the Columbus Education to trust that elections matter – that their Commission did not listen to the people vote matters – and we’ve got to stop letting prompted an emotional Coleman to melt money and influence buy elected office,” down and yell at a parent “I didn’t have to said Suzanne Patzer. engage in this ever. I could have let it float SEATTLE VOTERS APPROVE DIS- off and then it would burn down.” Further, homeowners and landlords organized TRICT GOVERNANCE LEAVING COLUMBUS ALONE in objection to the increased tax on their Seattle voters adopted Amendment 19 by properties. a vote of 64percent to 36percent, moving In his concession speech, Mayor Coleman Seattle from the out-dated all At Large City said “it is clear to me that the District must Council format, to a District led governance continue to restore trust … while at the same format. Seattle’s current city council consists of 9 members, all elected in city-wide the voters are saying.” Alex Fisher, CEO time changing in the process. That is what elections (At Large). Voters supported of The Columbus Partnership wrote “today, the initiative led by citizen’s group Seattle voters expressed a lack of trust in our school Districts Now, to move toward a Council district … the voters are asking for reform that will consist of 7 members elected from before new taxes.” Council Districts, and 2 members elected At This public assignment of blame to the Large. With Austin’s similar vote last year Board of Education is stunning, since this to move from 7 members At Large to 10 appears to be the first time the campaign members from Districts and one member At mentioned the Board of Education in Large, the Seattle vote leaves Columbus as connection with the levy and because the the only remaining big city that retains the community leaders had been stunningly outmoded At Large council format favored quiet about the Board’s ineptitude prior to the election. While pro-levy leaders cast blame for the loss at the feet of the Board of Education (and certainly the Board deserves a share of blame), this was a campaign run by the Mayor’s Office and local business community, under the Mayor’s banner, with the Mayor’s plan, and with the Board of Education having no presence whatsoever, which was a deliberate part of the planned duplicity of the pro-levy campaign. So, although it was the Mayor’s plan and campaign, blame for its loss went immediately to the District. Broad Spread Opposition Opposition to the levy came from all quarters of Columbus and for many reasons. Observers remarked that putting Issue 50 on the ballot was a strategic blunder by the school board and the community’s power elite because there was something there for everybody to hate. Board of Education member Mike Wiles, who was not re-elected, had advocated that the issue be split into several separate issues; however, he was out-voted. Columbus City Schools parent Miriam Bowers Abbott from the Northwest side of Columbus objected to the lack of specifics in the Columbus Education Plan saying, “I won’t support a plan that simply sucks up more public money to fund vague platitudes. ‘Give us more money’ is not a plan.” Prior to the election, Gail Burkholder of the Near East Side said, “the Columbus Education Plan offers us the opportunity to pay the largest property tax increase in CCS history. The proceeds would fund non-union charter schools, a whole new level of bureaucracy and more. This is to be entrusted to a school board currently under state and federal investigation and a mayor’s office with no educational expertise.” Amy Harkins, mother of a 7th grader in Clintonville objected to Issue 51, saying, “I cannot support removing Carolyn Smith as internal auditor, the only person brave enough to speak out against the data manipulations happening in our district.” Parent Heather Rouse said “I urge you to look more carefully at the money spent per student…it varies greatly depending upon the school. For example, at Champion MS the district spends $21,000 per pupil. Champion MS is a new, state of the art building…. at Ridgeview MS the district only spends $12,000 per pupil yet it is an older run down building, filled to the max with a wait list of students that wanted to lottery in….which school has a better performance index? Ridgeview is one of the highest rated middle schools in the district. I guess that proves that throwing money at the problem isn’t the solution!” Larry Spencer wrote to levy opponents No Cheaters No Charters Columbus, saying “according to the state impact website the only districts that spend more per student than CPS are Grandview & Upper Arlington. Grandview and Upper Arlington both earned A ratings. CPS earned an F. How do you justify asking for more money for CPS considering its already high per student cost. At this point it does seem to be about money but using resources more wisely i.e. reducing overhead, etc. It’s also hard for me to support this very large levy when schools such as Beechcroft and East High are well below 100 percent occupancy.” Black Clergy Bucks the System The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the oldest alliance of historically Black churches, broke with the orthodoxy in advocating a “No” vote. Forming a group called Citizens Against Issues 50 and 51 and led in partnership by Elder Dale Snyder of Bethel AME Church; Pastor Frederick La- Marr of Family Missionary Baptist Church on the south side; and Rev. Joel L. King associate pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood, this group of community-based ministers stated the proposed levy was too high and that it would be a burden on the poor and fixed income seniors. Further, the group noted the data rigging scandal, and the lack of accountability shown by Columbus City Schools and the Board of Education. In a written statement, the group called upon: “[School Board President] Perkins and the school board to direct Mr. Trafford to compile a comprehensive report to the public on behalf of the Board of Education about the data scrubbing and other misdeeds over the past decade. This report should detail exactly what went wrong, who was responsible, what the consequences were, and what has been put in place to ensure this breach of the public trust never happens again. Complete disclosure to the public is a necessary precondition before a return to the ballot once Issue 50 is rejected. We ask for Mayor Coleman to support our call for complete transparency from this scandal-plagued and corrupt school system, before he advocates for any more money from the citizens of Columbus.” Prior to the election, a representative of the Mayor’s Office had dismissed this group of Pastors as being “small churches,” and bragged “we just released a list of fifteen big churches that agree with us.” It appears as though those small church pastors understood the pulse of the community. In contrast, sources tell The Free Press that Pastor Timothy Clark, of big church First Church of God gave an endorsement of Issues 50 and 51 from the pulpit. According to sources who attend the church, while such a testimonial from the pastor would normally result in thunderous applause, sources say after he issued the endorsement you could hear a pin drop in the sanctuary. Attorney Byron Potts of Citizens Against Issues 50 and 51 said, “now it’s time for them to come back to the table and do reform properly. They must clean up – clean house -- before they come back asking for more money.” Maria Kozelek and Christina McMenemy, organizers of ItsOKAYtoVoteNO, wrote “The community has rejected The Columbus Plan. Now the real work begins. Community and parent activists defeated the Plan with less than $4,000. Can a cost-effective, continued on pg.17 “NOW MORE THAN EVER” 5
Page 1 and 2: “NOW MORE THAN EVER” 1
Page 3: THE COLUMBUS FREE PRESS .....THE ON
Page 7 and 8: Ain’t no love in the heart All Qu
Page 9 and 10: Give a Little TENDERNESS ® Save 67
Page 11 and 12: “NOW MORE THAN EVER” 11
Page 13 and 14: microrems per hour.” After the pa
Page 15 and 16: TAKE A SEAT TAKE A STAND JOIN EARTH
Page 17 and 18: Continued from pg. 5 Schools? Toget
Page 19 and 20: WFP/Rein Skullerud/Pakistan Fightin
Page 21 and 22: One foot rooted in the South By Joh
Page 23 and 24: Wing’s, a scotch drinkers paradis
Page 25 and 26: DJ Pos 2’s love movement By Wes F
Page 27 and 28: “NOW MORE THAN EVER” Musical ta
Page 29 and 30: PUZZLE ON PG. 26 personalized gifts
Page 31 and 32: with Sue Harshe Sue Harshe is a fou
Page 33 and 34: Maybe the Blue Jackets could try th
Page 35 and 36: “A Contest for Supremacy: China,
Page 37 and 38: Community Festival GENERAL PLANNING
Page 39 and 40: WE WANT YOUR VINYL Every Monday is

“NOW MORE THAN EVER” 1

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?