Grendell’s ‘Shut up or Go to Jail’ Bill Should be Shut Down
It’s so nice to have friends who will carry water for you.
Judge Tim Grendell’s legislative pal Cinncinati Bill Seitz snuck a real stinker of an amendment into the Ohio budget bill. It’s called HC1793 and quickly became known as the “Shut up or go to jail” amendment. While you should probably read this amendment yourself, I’ll just go ahead and summarize it.
The amendment says that if you “interfere” with the operations of a park, you could be fined, taxed or even go to jail at the discretion of the probate judge.
The duration of jail time and the amounts of taxes, fines, etc. will likely be up to the probate judge’s discretion. Anyone who crosses the probate judge from top county officials down to us regular Joe’s will be in the crosshairs. Municipalities could be ordered to pay a tax even though they didn’t vote for a levy. Even a letter like this could put me in an orange jumpsuit.
Everyone from tea party people to tree huggers will find a lot to dislike about this amendment.
It’s got obvious first amendment problems, but there are also problems with the taxing authority.
If the legislation passes with this amendment included, it will be challenged in court. That will likely cost communities, public officials and just plain citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars for litigation.
Now I know Judge Grendell will come up with some nonsense about how it’s just codifying the law and making it clearer. That’s right — it’s clearer how easy it will be to jail you for disagreeing.
It’s far better that we strike out this amendment before it becomes law.
You can do that by calling state senators and state representatives. A phone call is really easy. Just go to ohiohouse.gov and ohiosenate.gov, choose a representative and call their number.
All the phone numbers are there and the aides who answer phone are all pleasant young interns. They’ll write down your information.
Just tell them you are calling about amendment HC 1793 the “Seitz/Grendell Park amendment. It takes about two minutes.
So call today or “Shut up or go to Jail”.
Dave Partington
Munson Township
Geauga Treasure Destroyed
Thanks to the Geauga County Maple Leaf and its publication of three articles, the Geauga community has been informed about the degrading changes to a Geauga County treasure.
That treasure was the Great Geauga County Fair Band, a 75-plus group of volunteer musicians now reduced to 14. How did this happen? That is the question that must be answered by Robert Phillips, Sam Plants, Paul Harris, Dave Parker and Kathy Blair.
These officials of the Geauga Fair Agricultural Society form a band committee. They are not members of the band and they made several ruinous decisions for the band after the 2016 fair.
They dismissed the band’s music director, they dismantled the operating management of the band, they took over the band’s bank account, and they told band members who don’t agree with their actions to leave the band.
They need to justify those radical actions to the Geauga community and fair attendees. Their most callous action was to terminate the band’s director, Greg Hillis, who served superbly for the last 13 years. Instead of receiving praise and honors for his outstanding service to the fair and band, the committee gave him “The Boot.”
The Maple Leaf has done a good job discussing these problems in three factual and balanced articles. I carefully read these articles to understand the issues. Distilled down, Phillip’s comments and the committee’s complaints are they didn’t like that the band:
- Played a wide variety of music. The committee prefers marches.
- Managed its own operations and concerts.
- Performed at many community concerts and parades.
- Was not involved enough in the Great Geauga County Fair.
- Was not respectful enough of the band committee.
What the band committee sees as negatives are in fact positive attributes of the band they dismantled.
- Fair audiences include a wide age range and variety of musical tastes.
- Operating a large group of volunteer musicians for rehearsals and performances requires a lot of work and communications. The band had officers, a board and leaders who took care of the concert arrangements, rehearsals, music library, uniforms, communications and logistics. Handling all these tasks unburdened fair personnel. Naively, the band committee now wants a single coordinator to handle all these jobs.
- The band’s 10 community concerts and four parades each summer provided wonderful publicity for the fair and helped offset expenses. At each band performance, Greg Hillis announced this band represented the Great Geauga County Fair and he invited the audiences to come to the fair where the band would give more concerts.
- How could the band be more involved in the fair? They gave two one-hour concerts each day and many members contributed to the exhibits.
- Respect cuts two ways. If the committee feels disrespected, do they understand how disrespected all the band members feel for total disregard for their opinions?
The band committee acted without proper investigation and did not gather any facts before their actions. They did not survey the fair band audiences and they did not survey the band members.
So in 2017, it’s going to be the committee’s way or the highway. I’m one of the many who chose the highway and we are moving on to other bands that appreciate the services of their members.
Jim Adams, Former band member
Bainbridge Township
Drug Abuse Program Effective
Congratulations to the Chardon High School Active Substance Abuse Prevention for hosting “The Crisis in Our Backyard” March 20.
From the opening keynote address delivered by Sen. John Eklund through the breakout sessions, the program was thoughtful and well planned. The ASAP students chose topics which provided a holistic view of the issues our community is facing due to drug abuse and addiction. Local professionals from agencies, law enforcement and the court spoke on such topics as drug use in Geauga County, the parent’s role, influence of social media, signs and symptoms of adolescent drug use and a recovery panel. “The Crisis in Our Backyard” was one of the most effective programs I have ever attended in over 35 years in prevention.
Our youth are doing a fantastic job educating our community about drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. Thank you, Chardon ASAP!
Lynn Kempf
Chardon
Cardinal Levy Critical for District
On May 2, residents of Cardinal Schools will decide a levy that would provide critical funding for district operations. Without it, the district faces a $1.8 million deficit net year and fiscal emergency status.
The 5.5-mill operating levy, which appears on the ballot as Issue 1, would generate $1.7 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $16 per month. The last levy, which passed in 1992, currently is not generating enough revenue to fund operating costs. The district also continues to lose state funding, including $9.3 million since 2006 because of changing tax laws.
Despite these cuts, those who govern Cardinal Schools’ finances have found ways to make the district more efficient, eliminating $864,000 in expenses this year alone. Funds generated by the levy would allow the district to provide quality educational programming and assist with much-needed repairs to building roofs and windows.
As you make a choice May 2, remember that a strong school system is at the heart of a strong community.
Richard Lewis, Executive Director
Ohio School Boards Association
