OK, everyone--I announced a break too soon. There is also, as of 5:44 p.m. on 11/6, an additional clarification at the end of this post for those who are just coming to it.
This morning, heading west on Rt. 82, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a bunch of red, white, black, and blue signs for school board candidates, Jason Carlton, Matt Parsons, and probably Vote No as well. I noticed people's names a lot more.
They may not be technically illegal, but they are not proper. They are in the right of way, just off the gravel at the edge of the road. They constitute a legal liability if someone damages a vehicle by hitting one or a bunch--it would be hard to avoid wiping out a lot--if s/he ran off onto the shoulder. The rest of us who put out signs made a point of (a) asking the homeowner and (b) putting the signs out of the right of way, even if that made them less noticeable.
So--here is my question for any of you who happen to read this post:
What sort of government do you expect from someone who will pull or condone such behavior in order to get elected?
Oh, you may say--they didn't know the signs were going up. Really? Why not? Their names are on them--and not just the candidates for trustee.
Oh, but those signs were put up by their supporters, not the candidates.
OK, and do you think those supporters are just going to go home and munch nachos after the election? Or are they going to figure that by contributions or effort expended they own a piece of the people elected, and will, by gum, take that pound of flesh or know the reason why?
The township should not be the personal sandbox of people like that.
If you ask, I'll tell you what I really think.
Clarification: Mantua Township zoning regulations prohibit putting signs in the right of way. So the people who put them there have violated a local resolution, and everything in the above post stands.
About This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to give an accurate account of what is said during Public Comment at Mantua Township Trustees meetings.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Principles
Two ideas guide and support me:
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
