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ESPN clears up a key to tonight's game
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Browns may interview ex-Broncos GM
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Mangini takes command
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Gameblog: Cavs vs. Celtics
CavsHQ: A Fan's View:
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Five things you should know about Miami
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Ignatius’ Kyle has busy offseason
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Volleyball players earn All-Academic honors
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January is auction time
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Chicago Chic?
All Da King's Men:
Obama's Economic News Conference
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Why Israeli Leaders Terrorize Palestinians
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The Psychology Channel, Interesting Videos, Jobs in I-O, and Happy Birthday Elvis
Akron Gamer:
Games in '09: Resident Evil 5
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Does Ohio have an Andy Warhol Museum?
Sound Check:
Axl Rose speaks on Guns & Rose(s)
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Extended
Published on Monday, Mar 24, 2008
In his March 9 story headlined ''Summit casts primary votes along racial, economic lines,'' Beacon Journal reporter David Knox seemed to suggest that those who voted for Hillary Clinton only did so out of ''the racial bias of white working-class voters.'' This puzzles me.
In the article, Knox also reported that Barack Obama won in the four Ohio counties with the largest black population, but the racial issue was not mentioned. Nowhere did he say that those who voted for Obama did so out of any sort of racial bias on the part of black working-class voters.
It seems as though Knox had a bias of his own in this article.
When did it become a racial issue if a voter decides to vote for any candidate other than someone who happens to be black? Why, for instance, did a vote for Clinton have to indicate the voter is a racist? We seem to have a double standard on this issue.
How does Knox know for sure why voters choose or don't choose to vote for a particular candidate? How can he be sure it is simply racial bias?
Is it possible that those who voted for Clinton were possibly biased toward women? Or perhaps those who voted for Obama did so because they were biased against women.
Either argument is foolish, since we do not know what went on in the minds of the voters. Articles like this one from Knox do nothing to further possibilities of bringing people together and are based on unsubstantiated opinion, not fact. The article was not balanced or well-thought-out. I expect better from the Beacon Journal.
Lora Schweikert
New Franklin
Ready or not
In her March 13 letter headlined ''That 3 a.m. call,'' Mary Alice Rauber wrote that John McCain's response to an attack on the nation would be, ''We're coming after you.''
We can only hope that unlike his mentor, George W. Bush, he would go after the right country this time.
James Lees
Ravenna
Remembering
Judge Roulhac
Judge Joseph D. Roulhac was unique, as a person and as a judge. His retirement as a municipal judge was a loss to the community, as was his recent death. I first worked with him in the early 1970s, a fresh-out-of-law-school city prosecutor. Judge Roulhac taught me that a defendant is not a name on a summons or complaint, he or she is a person — neighbor, sister, brother, wife, mother, husband, breadwinner, grandparent, son, daughter, a member of our community.
Judge Roulhac abhorred recidivism and as such would take the time to communicate in a soft, modest, humble manner with the reluctant visitor standing before the bar. His conversational style as used in court was extraordinary, and soon he would receive a guarded admission of the infraction. He wasn't finished until he was assured that the offender fully understood how the proscribed behavior caused harm to the community and that he or she exhibited a sincere desire not to repeat the offense. He was a quick study and knew just how to enlighten one in a way that was not disparaging, belittling, patronizing or condescending.
There may have been exceptions, but he would appear undaunted and his kind temperament would not change.
Charles Wm. Zindle
Akron
Standing
by her man
I suspect few blushing brides realize on their wedding day just how many dimensions there are to the words ''for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.''
Eugene Robinson's March 16 commentary (''What was Silda Spitzer thinking?'') suggested that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer should have faced the media alone. If his wife, Silda, had enough brains to graduate from Harvard Law School, she should have enough brains to decide how much her wedding vows mean to her without Robinson's advice.
I commend her for being there.
Elizabeth B. Wilson
Barberton
We can't ban
everything
Concerning Jane Grover's call for a handgun ban in response to the killing of students at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University (''Handguns are the problem,'' Voice of the People, March 5): These campus attacks are not gun problems; they are societal problems. And these senseless killings won't stop if guns are banned.
We should be thankful some demented person has not yet chosen to use a homemade bomb to wreak havoc, thereby setting off a chain of copycat incidents. If and when that day arrives, our horror and revulsion at the incident will be incomprehensible. Then what will we want to ban?
Grover needs to Google ''gun crimes in the U.K.'' before she supports the gun ban in Great Britain, where ''only the police officers are allowed to have guns.'' A 2001 study by King's College in London revealed gun crimes in the country rose 40 percent over the previous two years. Recent U.K. government figures show gun crimes rose 4 percent over 2006, but serious and fatal injuries related to gun crimes fell. This in a country where guns are banned.
Criminals act with impunity, because their chance of encountering a gun in the hands of one of their intended victims is almost nil. We have a real problem in this country with people killing others. Until we understand and treat the motivation of these killers, they will never stop regardless of what weapons you chose to ban.
Van Pedigo
Richfield
4-day work week
would save gas
I'm sure there are some places that a work week of four 10-hour days wouldn't work. But across the United States, if city, county, state and federal employees went to a four-day work week, the gas saved by cutting consumption 20 percent each week would have to help to build up a surplus. (I'm sure government would survive on minimum coverage on Fridays.)
Employers where possible should also offer this to their employees.
I drive 50 miles round trip each day. I'd gladly work a longer day to save gas and money — plus, a three-day weekend makes a nice bonus.
Mike Fallon
Akron
Cancer
does suck
In response to Lora Crossgrove's Feb. 21 letter about the ''Prostate Cancer SUCKS'' billboard (''Sign of the times?'): If one life were spared, if one family doesn't have to battle cancer, then that sign serves a great purpose.
Yes, this is a world where we have gotten a little free with language in our daily life. But in this context, the word fits. It is meant to be a shocker.
It takes real courage to do something about cancer. It's easy to sit back and let it happen to you, but it's a brave person who stands up and says:
''This experience won't be for nothing. I will make a difference. I will do everything I can.''
The man who started the nonprofit organization One in Six, Akron attorney Bruce Hunsicker, did just that. He has made a difference. I don't know him, but I know what cancer does to a family and to a community. And I say bravo, and thank you. We need more people like you.
To do something positive in the face of a grim diagnosis is commendable. We often don't know what great things we are capable of until we are put to the test. And that is truly the measure of a person.
Did you know that because of his efforts and that billboard, men in Akron can get free prostrate-screening blood tests? That is pretty powerful.
In a world where this form of cancer can often be diagnosed early, a blood test works for prostate cancer. We need a shocker to make people listen.
If one person is motivated to get tested from seeing the billboard, the statistics might not stay at one in six.
What if one doctor decided to start testing all male patients over 40? What if one more man were tested every day because of that billboard?
What if a family were spared the devastation of cancer? I think that family would build a shrine at the base of the billboard. And family members would be proud to explain to their children that Daddy will be around to see them grow up because he saw that sign and the message shocked him into getting a blood test.
The goal is none in six.
Complaining and whining will not bring about change. Becoming passionate and committed to a positive course of action works.
Do some research before you decide that a word is offensive.
''Cancer'' is a far nastier word than ''suck.'' Ask anyone. We all know people doing battle with cancer, and until you go through it, you really don't know why they use the word ''battle.''
Since a nonprofit group put up the billboard, I'd say that profit isn't a motive, and it is probably considered a public-service announcement.
Michele Comunale
Akron
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