I oppose the death penalty for same reason I do abortion

My son Brian Muha was murdered when he was 18 years old.

Brian was asleep in his college dorm room when two boys broke in and tortured Brian and his roommate before murdering them. I can't describe the pain we suffered, knowing what our son went through.

Some would say that my son's killers should be executed, as if their deaths would ease my suffering. But my Catholic faith tells me that justice demands so much more of us when faced with the unexpected.

I'm a cradle Catholic.

I grew up going to Mass, hearing stories about Jesus, and wondering what the Catholic faith meant for a woman like me today. But when I lost my son, the stories and images I grew up with came alive. After Brian's death, I let my Catholic faith show me how to respond to suffering with love in all situations.

I asked how Jesus responded to the suffering he encountered.

The Catholic Church showed me the answer: he healed the sick, gave food to the hungry, and consoled the sorrowful. Jesus suffered with people, he never masked suffering with violence.

It's the Catholic Church that taught me that God made every person to love and be loved. And true social justice answers a world in need with love.

That's why I responded to my personal suffering by starting the Run the Race Club, where young people come for food, clothes, play, friendship, and love. We offer a place where violence is replaced with love and attention, so that we can break the hold of generational poverty.

This is the love that Brian's killers never had. Once these young people know that they are loved and cared for, they want to love and care for others. The death penalty is the easy way for our society to respond to crime, but compassion and sacrifice are the response I offer as a Catholic.

In the same way, abortion is seen as the easy answer to an unexpected pregnancy, especially for those struggling to make ends meet.

My Catholic faith compels me to bring love and compassion to the vulnerable, from women in crisis pregnancies to unborn children. This is why I oppose the amendment appearing on the ballot this November as Issue 1.

No one should be left alone in their need. As a Catholic, I believe that we owe love, respect, and compassion to our neighbor, but Issue 1 gives up on compassion and love, abandoning the women in our state.

Issue 1 threatens every health and safety standard protecting women who seek an abortion.

This proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution would permit abortion through the point an unborn child can survive outside the womb in cases where a doctor thinks it is necessary to save the life or health of the month.

What concerns me is that this amendment says to pregnant women in Ohio that instead of meeting their need with love, our society's answer to suffering is more violence.

I have learned a lot about suffering and love from my Catholic faith in the years since I lost my son Brian. I have learned that the easy answer is not the right answer. We don't need to enshrine easy answers to suffering in our constitution.

We need to enshrine love for our neighbor on our hearts, a love that moves us to support women when they need it most.

Rachel Muha, The Brian Muha Foundation, The Run The Race Club, www.brianmuhafoundation.org.

A letter to the editor writer recently took issue with the perspective attorney Terry Gilbert expressed in his Dispatch guest column about the shooting death of Ta'kiya Young.

“Highly charged language does more harm than good in Ta'kiya Young police shooting,” a headline on Greg Wourms' letter reads.

Take a close read of Gilbert's piece and you will be hard-pressed to find any such language. What I did find however is a thoughtful piece grounded in the attorney's years of experience.

Was deadly force the only viable option in Ta’kiya Young shooting?

True, Young exercised extremely poor judgment on multiple levels the day she was shot and killed by a Blendon Township police officer.

To be clear, the pregnant 21-year-old should not have been shoplifting nor should she had tried to drive off as one of the officers positioned himself in front of her car.

No argument there.

Gilbert's main point I believe is, was lethal force necessary?

Was deadly force the only viable option?

Shooting Ta’kiya Young was not the only option

After the officers made contact with Young and observed the make and model of the car (sans license plate), there would have been little chance of her evading prosecution had officers simply allowed her to drive off unimpeded, especially once police officers gained access to the store's video camera that clearly showed Young stealing one item after another.

Would tracking her down hours or days later have been that difficult?

No, it's done all the time.

Gilbert called the officer's decision to stand in front

Columbus schools should have to prove they deserve money

American's are enduring the effects of persistent inflation. The cost of everything has gone up. Everybody is worse off for it.

Union's represented workers across many major industries have or are currently going on strike demanding significantly higher wages and benefits.

The high cost of gasoline and diesel fuels translates into higher input costs for all products. Most of the higher wages and input costs are passed onto the consumer. Electric bills have increased. Now, the county is raising our property taxes.

On top of all that, the Columbus City Schools has decided to put forward a levy on the November ballot.

Unfortunately, the recent Ohio Department of Education release of school district report card data shows that Columbus City Schools made no improvements over the previous school-year while actually declining in two of the measurements.

I suggest we incentivize the district with an offer for a future levy increase by setting a goal that they improve from the current 2-star rating to at least a 3-star rating.

Once they achieve that, then they would deserve an increase. Let's not forget that this is about student's education.

Alan Bumgardner, Columbus

Don’t let the education oligarchy fool you

The Columbus school board should be ashamed to show their faces.

Voters are being asked to approve another large levy right on the heels of a state report card which grades the district not only as failing, but even worse that the catastrophic years before this.

When will the voters start to understand that we are being treated like patsies by the board, the superintendent and the teachers' union.

Ours is one of the very worst performing districts in the United States of America.

Time after time the district has put up levies, each time promising progress and each time failing abysmally.

Leadership is more concerned with producing “inclusive structures” — in the words of the superintendent — and socially progressive policies, than with the fundamentals of a basic education.

The millions of dollars granted by the inattentive public are being wasted. Voters , save your money, educate your kids at home.

Don't let the education oligarchy fool us once again. Thomas Dugan, Columbus

No excuse

I was saddened to read about the annual report card for Ohio's public schools and Columbus City Schools' slippage in some ratings. CCS has no excuse for this poor performance.

CCS is well funded and spends more money per student than other high cost cities such as Chicago and New York. What is more disappointing is the reaction of the CCS'S superintendent to this report.

She bragged about the “progress” the CCS made in the last couple of years. The superintendent and the board should concentrate their efforts on improving student performance and graduation rates instead of campaigning to pass the proposed levy.

George A. Elmaraghy

Are they spending wisely?

Perhaps the Columbus City Schools Board of Education should look at the optics of two decision

● Proposing entering into a contract with the Columbus Crew whereby CCS would PAY the Crew $175,000 for the Crew to "equip students with the skills & knowledge they need to succeed academically." No specifics mentioned as to what the soccer team would offer the district.

● The school board is urging voters to back a $100 million levy. Board President Jennifer Adair said the district needs the permanent levy saying "it's about keeping our lights on.."

Maybe some lights could be kept on if the Board didn't GIVE away money for non-specified assistance from the Crew.

Spend wisely.

Diane Cottrill-miller, Gahanna