Blame Jordan for lack of health ed standards

Buried in last Wednesday's Dispatch story "Antiabortion push in schools panned" is the alarming sentence "Ohio is the only state in the nation without health education standards." If Ohioans are shocked that Ohio does not provide oversight for this fundamental aspect of education, they might not be surprised at the person who is responsible for this lack of state standards.

U.S. Sen. Jim Jordan was a young state representative when he single-handily derailed the Ohio Department of Education's attempt to create a comprehensive health education curriculum that would have covered everything from healthy eating habits to exercise to issues such as anatomy, healthy relationships, sexually transmitted infections, avoiding risky behaviors and even — gasp, yes — contraceptives.

Jordan's work in the 1990s against efforts to develop statewide standards brought Ohio's health education to a standstill. This is the kind of education that has been shown to drastically reduce the unplanned pregnancies the current Ohio lawmakers are concerned about.

Jordan claims he knew nothing about any kind of sexual abuse going on in the athletic department at Ohio State. His work in stopping comprehensive, dignified, necessary health education suggests he really knows nothing about how to educate and support the young people of this state in this crucial matter.

Annie Ruefle, Columbus

Are feds lowballing the Piketon contamination risk?

I cannot agree more with Jennifer Chandler, Piketon Village Council member and Piketon resident Elizabeth Lamerson in their concerns regarding the U.S. Department of Energy’s calculations that contamination from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant remains far below EPA limits. (Dispatch stories, May 15 and Friday.)

Which limits are they using? The ones before the Trump administration redefined the standards in order to save money? As a recent post on Commondreams. org puts it, “If you’ve got a problem with radioactive waste, you could clean it up, a costly and onerous process, or you could just change the definition of it. Guess which one the Trump administration has decided to do?”

The change in definition reclassified waste into a lower-level category that allows it to be buried in shallow pits rather than disposed of deep underground to avoid contaminating the surrounding environment.

President Donald Trump’s slash-and-burn policy of deregulation has gone too far. He couldn’t care less about the health and safety of our citizenry.

Elizabeth A. Johnston, Washington Court House

Let's use space program money here on Earth

Jack D'aurora's June 7 op-ed advocates more attention to poverty through government economic planning. Coincidentally, the U.S. it is the 50th anniversary of the first humans to walk on the moon.

What if the dollars spent for space development had instead been devoted to human poverty reduction?

With proper planning, the latter dollars should go a long way toward eliminating poverty. With increases in debt, population and poverty, 50 years from now would we regret having done so?

William P. Allman, Columbus

House ignores fact that clean energy is cheaper

On the same day that the Ohio House voted to get rid of clean energy via House Bill 6, Forbes.com released an article disproving the lies that Firstenergy politicians had presented as facts. Worldwide, clean energy is cheaper than dirty energy and is getting cheaper.

As glad as I am that the article points out the base cost, I regret that it doesn't point out the cost of health care associated with the different energy sources. When the health care cost is factored into the cost analysis, I would go out on a limb to say the overall cost of dirty fuel is significantly higher.

I hope the Ohio Senate will do better for our health and future by saying no to HB 6. Natalie Woods, Columbus

Equality Act would destroy Americans' religious freedom

The U.S. Congress is attempting to eliminate our First Amendment right of religious freedom. Our constitution was written for limited government.

The proposed Equality Act (HR 5), if passed, would destroy our First Amendment God-given right of religious freedom. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."

This bill was passed in the House in May.

Please encourage your U.S. senators to cast a “no” vote on the HR 5 Equality Act bill.

John H. Hughes, Columbus

Slight hassles of wind sure beat fossil fuels

Sam Gerhardstein’s Sunday letter “City dwellers wouldn’t tolerate wind turbines” covers the same tired “stick with fossil fuels” territory that has been bandied about for years.

Personally, I think wind turbines are awesome for what they represent: harnessing a limitless, clean energy source and energy independence — but yes, I might choose not to live right underneath one. So OK, they are not perfect (whatever that is), but what would you rather have here? All the fresh water in our region tainted with coal slag and fracking waste? Or maybe a few more nuclear reactors sprinkled about the countryside, conveniently forgetting what happened in Japan a few short years ago?

You can’t really see carcinogens in the water and food and that nuclear plant is on the other side of those hills so it’s not your problem, right? When it comes to energy sources here in Ohio, are you really going to choose widespread, all-affecting environmental scourge, carcinogens, toxins, climate change and possible radioactive disaster because it is “quiet and invisible” over merely noisy and unsightly to an extremely small percentage of the population?

Steve H. Prescott, Dublin

Clueless lawmakers, not the poor, are lacking in dignity

I wish to comment on the topic of the Sunday editorial “Lawmakers: Don’t make it harder to feed hungry families.”

So Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-wooster, thinks that Ohio’s SNAP applicants need that little extra motivation provided by his House Bill 200 in order to “restore [their] dignity by moving them from public assistance to work,” does he?

In my view, those in dire need of dignity restoration are not Ohio’s poor. They are legislators such as Wiggam who attempt to portray SNAP recipients as parasites in need of tough love. They are disingenuous policy makers such as Ohio Solutions Project Director Sam Adolphsen who want to keep SNAP benefits out of the clutches of millionaires.

But finally the biggest culprits, those with a dignity and integrity deficit the size of a black hole, are the wealthy corporations — and we all know who they are — who refuse to pay the human beings working for them a living wage.

When are we going to start demanding that these employers live up to their responsibilities to their workers and to the community at large? When are we going to start demanding that they not expect taxpayers to subsidize their bottomless greed?

Gina Patacca, Columbus

Gun background checks are just common sense

I'm so glad Ohio is taking steps to have universal — common sense! — background checks on gun sales. Twenty states already have passed such legislation and on an average, gun deaths have gone down 35%. Suicide decreased by 49%, women murdered by intimate partners 38%, police killed by handguns 39% and crime guns trafficked to other states 64%, according to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Those who can't pass background checks and really want a gun will find a way, but let's make it harder. All our laws are broken by someone — murder, rape, speeding, driving under the influence — but that doesn't negate the need for the law to make it a little bit harder. Marian Harris, Columbus