Portman and the JOBS Act; mandatory vaccination
In support of the JOBS Act: On behalf of Sinclair Community College, I thank Sen. Rob Portman for his strong leadership on the important issues facing community colleges at this critical moment in our history. I appreciate his work on the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students ( JOBS) Act, which will make high-quality and shorter-term education and training programs eligible for Pell Grants. As Ohio emerges from this pandemic, it will be more critical than ever that we not only invest in our systems for higher education and worker retraining but also that we make sure these systems are flexible for the students of today and the careers of tomorrow. This legislation is a common-sense measure that fits with Sinclair’s goal of providing more students, more education, for less cost and likely will make the biggest difference to students with the most needs. I appreciate Senator Portman’s thoughtful and responsible approach to these critical issues and urge support for the JOBS Act in order to close the skills gap and to give Ohio’s businesses the skilled talent they need. STEVEN JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
We don’t have a gun problem: What we have, here in America, is a mental health problem, not a gun problem. Guns do not kill people, people kill people. Firearms are just the instrument that criminals and the mentally ill use to kill others. Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens will not fix the problem. As the old bumper stickers said, “When guns are outlawed, outlaws will still have guns.” GARY T.
Heck’s decision is a good one: Much like a TV courtroom drama, the real-life debate on the purported rights of those opposed to vaccination versus mandated vaccination fall to the separation of individual rights versus the actual public health laws and policies enacted to protect the masses. Mandatory vaccination of those working on behalf of the public such as our prosecutor’s office is a good thing. The local Congressmen who repeatedly refute the established laws that support preemptive and prophylactic public health mandates are doing their constituents no good and indeed seem to flout the very laws they have sworn to uphold. A remedial course in the Tenth Amendment, the concept of “parens patriae” and other basic premises that formulate public health protective measures would serve these representatives well. Continuing the ill-founded argument of individual liberties ad hoc regarding vaccination is harmfully delaying a more rapid herd immunity level. After all, these are real lives our elected officials are dealing with, not characters on TV.