Great Job
Today was the first time in a very long time of attending the Geauga park board commissioners board meetings, this one being 4-14-2015, that I came away with a very good feeling.
The three park board commissioners are honestly working.
Mary Ruth Shumway, Mr. Bill Gertz and our newest member, Mr. Jeffrey Orndorff, are hearing that we are not coyotes or ruffians asking for the moon. We just want them to please use common sense and keep the parks Conserve, Preserve and Protect.
Mr. Jeffrey Orndorff took time to mention each one of the people from last month’s meeting who stood up and spoke at the podium. We received answers to each question that was raised.
This is just what we wanted and I am so proud of each commissioner for trying their best now to understand what we are concerned about and what the Geauga citizens would like to have done with their parks.
I was very happy with each of the commissioners and I truly want to thank each one of them for their understanding. I did not have the opportunity to tell each one of the commissioners as they were going into executive session: Great Job.
Joy Keco
Bainbridge Township
‘Care for Kenston’
I’m certain you’ve all experienced this . . . you’ve carefully crafted a plan, an idea . . . the logic of it is crystal clear. Everyone has to see it, right?
That’s the way I feel about the fairness of asking Kenston voters for 4 mills after 10 years. Everyone will support it, right?
Please “Care for Kenston.”
Vote YES on Tuesday, May 5
Anne Randall, President
Kenston Board of Education
Improper Screening, Placement
On Easter Sunday, I was part of a volunteer group who had been working to capture a lost Great Pyrenees, a “big white dog.” After many hours of putting out flyers, stuffing paper tubes, posting at area businesses and responding to calls where she had been spotted, she was finally captured off Heisley Road.
The Mentor and Grand River police departments were key to the success of this rescue. This dog had been on the run from the Chesterland area since March 24 and was frightened and exhausted.
This great outcome was, in large part, due to the efforts of Heather Lipnis, Canine Cuties Rescue, who organized the search and worked tirelessly for a good outcome.
This entire saga would not have been necessary if, in my opinion, the Geauga Humane Society Rescue Village, in Russell Township, had properly screened and made a responsible placement. Putting an animal from a hoarding situation and unsocialized in a home with young children and no fence was irresponsible.
The National Great Pyrenees Rescue Group’s website states, “All responsible Great Pyrenees rescue groups require of the new home that the dog will be enclosed within suitable fencing.”
Putting this dog in this type of home without a fence was foreseeably dangerous to the dog. Hopefully, Rescue Village will be more diligent in screening and placing animals in the future.
Karen Smith
Kirtland
Quality Education
The Kenston school district is hoping to do something it has not attempted in a decade: pass a school funding issue.
On May 5, Kenston will be asking voters to support It’ssue 2. As a member of the community, I will give my full support to the 4.7-mill levy. This levy includes 4 mills for operating expenses and 0.7-mill bond revenue for capital projects.
The district expected the 2005 levy to last three to five years, but through realizing more than $13 million in cost reductions, the levy lasted 10.
Since 2009, Kenston was also able to secure $3 million in grants to fund school safety, health and wellness, renewable energy, technology, and innovative classroom projects.
Kenston enjoys great community support and trust in part because of the district’s smart and creative handling of its finances
I have been a resident of Auburn for over 19 years. I have two children in college who attended Kenston Schools. Through the quality of the education they received and the numerous sports and activities they participated in, they were well prepared for success in their college experience.
My children’s teachers and counselors showed a high level of dedication to their job as well as to the students they came in contact with each day.
Please visit KenstonLocal.Org or careforkenston.org for more details about the levy and bond issues.
Please join me in voting YES for It’ssue 2 on May 5.
Cathleen Petre
Auburn Township
Proper Funding, Support
On May 5, I plan to vote “YES” on It’ssue 2.
The combination levy includes a 4-mill operating levy to address day-to-day expenses of running the district and a 0.7-mill bond issue to provide revenue for capital projects.
According to the District Report Card, Kenston continues to meet 100 percent of state indicators in third through eighth grade achievement (with results far above the state standards), and high school graduation tests and graduation rates are far above the state standards.
Also, in every category, Kenston students achieve higher SAT and ACT scores than the national averages.
Kenston families also enjoy tremendous success among its kids’ activities in sports, music, art, theater and many other areas.
All this adds up to a community that supports its schools. This is evident in the impressive number of parent volunteers and the huge turnouts at school events, from the annual homecoming parade, to the Timmons Movie Night, not to mention sporting events and fundraisers.
None of this happens without proper funding and support from the community.
Kenston stretched the 2005 levy, expected to last three to five years, for 10 years by securing $3 million in grants, and also making more than $13 million in cost reductions by closing Gardiner Early Learning Center, consolidating bus routes, reducing building budgets and more.
Kenston — and the whole community — deserves our continued support to continue quality classroom instruction and maintain its facilities.
Please vote “YES” for It’ssue 2 on May 5.
Wendy Rendlesham Bularz
Teacher, Timmons Elementary
Real Culprits
Too bad establishment Republicans refuse to take on Democrats with the same contempt and vigor with which they attack conservative and Tea Party Republicans.
The latest example of this is seen in a recent letter to the editor called Real RINOs. Therein, the writer, Rob Allen, is seemingly annoyed with a county commissioner vote to discontinue the relationship the county has with the Geauga Growth Partnership.
However, he merely uses this event as a pretext to harshly attack conservative Republicans such as Matt Lynch, who are supported by Geauga County Tea Party patriots among other groups, as self-serving politicians, disloyal to the Republican Party and dishonest with the voters.
Mr. Allen even invokes the name of Ronald Reagan by stating if alive today Mr. Reagan would be appalled by the behavior of these Republicans.
At this critical time in our history, with the Democratic Party fundamentally transforming America from a vibrant land of opportunity to a has-been nation, where are the establishment Repub-licans who demand so much loyalty from conservatives like Mr.Lynch? They are allowing this to happen.
In response to the Republican inaction, those such as Mr. Lynch are attempting to restore the Republican Party to what it was in President Reagan’s day; the party which stands for liberty, the Constitution and limited government. A party that is willing to fight against the Democrats’ big government agenda.
Regarding dishonesty, does Con-gressman Dave Joyce stand for any of these things? Despite running as a “tried and true conservative,” from the day Mr. Joyce first took office he has refused to fight for conservative causes. Instead, he has stated his mission is to reach across the aisle, find common ground with Democrats (i.e. the job destroyers and wealth redistributors) and get something done.
If not for love of big government, what could Mr. Joyce have in common with the Democrats?
Truth is, Ronald Reagan would be appalled at what the establishment Republicans are doing here and elsewhere and would congratulate Matt Lynch for his convictions and his efforts. After all, it was Ronald Reagan who famously took on the Republican establishment by running against a sitting president, Gerald Ford, and never looked back. He was a man who stood for conservative principles and the greateness of America and he was detested as disloyal by establishment Republicans for it.
Thanks to the conservative movement, the Republican Party in Geauga County and around the country is on its way to finally standing for our nation’s first principles again. Nationally, we see fresh faces with conservative values such as Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Rand Paul taking the lead.
Locally, we also see the emergence of leaders with true conservative values in Matt Lynch, Linda O’Brien and Skip Claypool.
Mr. Allen and all of those who care about the future of the America should celebrate that a new Republican Party is on the way and, instead, aim their vitriol at the real culprits, the Democrats.
Kevin L. String
Pepper Pike