Trust the grand jury Ideas are scary
Prosecutors do not like grand juries because they have minds of their own. I don’t trust prosecutors. They are political beasts, and sometimes will use the announcement of a case going to a grand jury to score political points.
However, they can’t control who gets selected to be on a grand jury and can’t control what a grand jury will decide. When I served on a grand jury, a couple of times we were not convinced by the evidence that the local prosecutor presented. Those cases were withdrawn.
The Republicans are right to not trust the prosecutor in Trump’s indictment, but the people, both Republicans and Democrats should trust the grand jury because those people serving are the same as us. They are average people taking time out of their lives to perform a civic duty necessary to the successful maintenance of democracy.
I took my time serving on a grand jury seriously. I am sure that the people who voted to indict the former president were fully committed to getting it right. Trust the grand jury.
Fred Mcleod, Pataskala
Republican-dominated legislatures around the country, and here in Ohio, continue to raise culture war issues rather than work to solve actual problems (like Ohio’s shameful maternal death rate). A current thrust is “Anti-woke” legislation. The term “woke, “of course, means being awake to, and aware of the reality around us.
The reality that human-caused global warming has created a climate crisis that threatens human civilization.
The reality of unequal access to health care between urban and rural communities. The reality that banning books is what the Nazis did in the run-up to World War II.
Ideas scared them. The reality that U.S. history is
more complex than most of us ever learned in school. The reality that the legacy of slavery is still with us in our economic and governmental systems. The reality that gender is not binary – and never has been. The list goes on.
By saying they are “anti-woke,” what these legislators are really saying is that they are opposed to reality – not a good position to be in to move the country forward.
Tom Baillieul, Columbus
Require a ‘radon-resistant” requirement
With environmental health concerns making headlines related to the recent disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, we should also be paying attention to an environmental health issue impacting residents right here in central Ohio.
Radon, a naturally occurring colorless, odorless gas released from the ground, seeps into buildings and causes lung cancer.
In fact, according to the Ohio Department of Health, radon is the “leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and the second leading cause among individuals who smoke.”
Ohio Department of Health data shows that Columbus has an “average radon concentration greater than the EPA action level.”
In Ohio, radon testing is encouraged but not required.
Schools are not even required to be tested. This means that tens of thousands of central Ohioans are being exposed to radon in their homes and businesses every day. While the EPA recommends testing and mitigation to reduce exposure, a best practice is to use “radon-resistant” techniques when building new construction.
These techniques use common materials and do not require “special skills” to add radon-resistant features to new homes and buildings. With an unknown number of residents at risk for radon exposure and booming construction in Columbus, now is the time for policymakers to mandate these common sense, affordable construction techniques.
By adding “radon-resistant” requirements to city building codes, radon exposure would be reduced, and lives would be saved.
Elizabeth Fries, Dublin
I am ashamed to live in this pigsty
I get around a bit.
Nowhere in the United States, Canada or elsewhere, have I seen a city that was even close to as trashed out with so much utter waste — debris, auto bumpers and litter — as is Columbus and the surrounding areas.
It is appalling that any government could allow this. Columbus has absolutely no pride in its appearance. The fences around our freeways are covered with yards of billowing plastic, there are couches, mattresses and just plain trash everywhere.
There must be 1,000 abandoned orange and white barrels and cones on roadsides around our city. And at every exit and intersection are hundreds of cigarette butts, plastic bottles and cans. I see trucks hauling construction debris, dumpsters hauling trash, and their loads are never covered with tarps as required by law.
Plastic and papers fly out like confetti. When visitors land at John Glenn International Airport for a visit, on their ride downtown on I-670 they must wonder what on Earth such a filthy, trashy city could have to offer. Great for economic development. Once a year clean-ups obviously don’t cut it. We need daily trash patrols everywhere. And, since the police are no longer enforcing traffic laws, namely running red lights and speeding, they should have time to hand out littering citations.
Mayor Andrew Ginther: in the last year, how many citations for littering or illegal dumping were issued in Columbus? It looks like the answer is zero. Maybe we could pay the homeless panhandlers at every exit and intersection to pick up the trash.
I am ashamed to live in this pigsty. The city administration, Ohio Department of Transportation and Franklin County commissioners should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of thousands of us work our butts off to make Columbus a great city and this is what we have to show for it.
Jerome N. Smith, Columbus