If you want truth, justice and equity, Bridget Hawkins for judge! Ms. Hawkins has been an active part of this community for many years. She is a self-employed business woman who is a true leader in her office, home and community. As a single working woman she raised her nephew from second grade through high school so her sister who was active in the military could serve her country. The well-being of the people and especially the children in our community has been her focus for many years. She has been a Boy Scout leader, foster mother, guardian ad litem and has served or is actively serving agencies in different capacities to help our community achieve its full potential and resolve issues. We don't need a commander in the courthouse, we need a leader! We need a judge that is in it for the people not the paycheck. Bridget is a leader who will move our court in a new and constructive direction to enable our citizens to be served in a proper and equitable manner.

Patricia Leslie
Bellefontaine

First and foremost, President Obama inherited a lot of bad policy baggage upon becoming president. There is not one president that has done everything he would say after he got into office in four years. Look at the good he has done even with an inherited failed economy. It takes more than just one president to get us to a better economy. The Senate and House have not been the greatest for their help.

Let me give you a scenario on the Obamacare that Gov. Romney puts down all the time. My grandson works all the time and one day became short of breath with severe chest pain. He called his mother to meet him at the Marysville hospital. On arrival after many tests they found he had blood clots in his lungs and had to be hospitalized for treatment and today has to be checked monthly and is on a blood thinner. He is only 23 years old and was unknown as to what caused these clots. If it was not for Obamacare, since he was able to stay on his parents' insurance, this young man of 23 would be paying for many years or bankruptcy as a last option. His employer does not offer insurance to his employees, so Obamacare saved him and his family from serious debt.

Gov. Romney wants to refurbish Medicare that we pay the first $6,200 or set us up on vouchers. I would like to know where people on fixed income are supposed to get this extra money to pay for the above. I myself have lung cancer, 71 years old, am on disability PERS and I do not receive Social Security. I have Medicare and my secondary insurance, but it still does not pay for everything. Gov. Romney takes care of the rich but us middle class he could care less. One of the bits on TV where someone was taping him, you could hear the real Romney. He said then exactly what he thought of the middle class people. Look at all the things he wants to take away from us, Planned Parenthood, female tests that we need, rape victim rights and many more. He talks the talk but can he walk the walk. I guess we need for all of us to vote and the ones that don't vote do not have a right to complain.

We received stimulus money to make the economy better, but Romney complains about that. All received a check and I wonder how many were returned back to the government. Not heard anything about that.

If you notice some presidents do better the second term. I believe President Obama with another four years, we will see a big change for the better. We all need to work together and do what we can to give him the chance.

There is no way Gov. Romney can do all he says except take from the Medicare, Social Security, elderly and us middle class working people.

Voters think hard and look at both sides, not just the economy by itself. It takes everything to make the government work.

The above statements are my opinion only. We all have a choice.

Everyone vote.

Suzanne Morris
Lakeview

They have signs supporting the levy that says "Securing Our Future" and "Protecting Our Investment." Isn't this what they are supposed to be doing with our tax dollars? So why are they asking for a levy to repair the school building? Let's take a look at their budget (all of this is public info and available).

They have a yearly budget (2011) of $11,524,683. They have a capital outlay of $39,536 and a Budget Reserve of $0. Most businesses have reserved a minimum of 10 percent per year for maintenance and future repairs (such as roofing, windows, heating and A/C, etc.). So if they reserved 10 percent per year, after 25 years, they would have $28,811,707. That would definitely take care of all their needs. Maybe that's too much. So what if they only reserved one percent per year? They would have $2,881,170 by now. That would cover the new roof (they have gotten quotes from 1.5-4 million dollars for a new roof). So please explain how they are protecting our investment?

With open enrollment they receive over $500,000 per year. What are they doing with that money? If they would have saved that money over the past 10 years, again they would have had enough for all the repairs.

This levy is for 27 years. So they can now predict their budgetary needs for the next 27 years? Does this mean they won't be asking for any more money for the next 27 years? They haven't done that for the past 25 years. I believe if they pass this levy and everything is finished, they will be coming back asking for an operating levy as well. They did this when this school was first built.

They are also asking for $5,000,000 for a Locally Funded Initiative. Let's take a look at that. They say they need a new cafeteria, which I don't disagree with. So they plan on converting the gym into a cafeteria and then building a new gym with the LFI money. The state of Ohio will give them money to build a new cafeteria, but not a new gym. So why not just have the state pay for a new cafeteria and not ask us to pay for a new gym that they don't need? Where is the integrity in that? How is this securing our future?

If they had saved, say $1,000,000, and then came to us for the money to make these repairs; that would show us that they at least tried. But they do not have any money saved towards any repairs. So that says their entire plan from the beginning, was to just ask for the money instead of protecting our investment.

I received a phone call a couple weeks ago asking if I had any questions regarding the levy. I asked these above questions. They said those were good questions, but they didn't know. However, they were going to talk to the school board and have them call me back. I have yet to receive that phone call.

In conclusion, we must demand excellence and integrity from our school leaders. That is the only way to protect our investment and secure our future. If we pass this levy, the only thing we will be securing is entitlement.

Thank you very  much.

Hal Ackley
West Liberty

I have known Judge Bratka for many years, from attending high school together to refereeing football on Friday nights, to working with him in a professional capacity. I have witnessed firsthand his ability to deal with many situations with integrity and fairness. To say that I respect and admire him would, in fact, be an understatement. He is an honest and caring man whom I believe is a great asset to our community and will continue to demonstrate leadership when  elected to the position of common pleas judge. I hope you will join me in voting for Judge Bratka on Nov. 6.

Mick Lile
Bellefontaine

We, the citizens of the state of Ohio need to vote for a person that will keep public schools strong and focus on local leadership. Ann E. Jacobs is that person. I have had the pleasure to serve with Mrs. Jacobs on the Apollo Career Center School Board. Ann is dedicated to keeping public schools under local control and not charter schools that is being pushed by the current administration. Ann is a lifelong member of this community, past member of the Shawnee Local School Board, Apollo C.C. School Board and will fight to keep our schools controlled by local election and not from the state sponsored charter schools. Ann's opponent was appointed to the state school board by the governor. He will not work for the best interest of the people, but for the governor. Please, on Election Day, vote for Ann E. Jacobs for state school board.

Rob McPheron
Lima

Dan Bratka's career has been one of service to our community and country.   

A lifelong Logan County resident, he has served the Logan County community in many capacities: as West Liberty mayor, Bellefontaine city councilman, deputy sheriff, municipal court prosecutor and assistant Logan County prosecutor, Tri-County Regional Jail executive director and in private law practice.

Dan has served our country, retiring from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as Lt. Col. with 35 years of service.

A common pleas court magistrate for almost eight years, Dan currently serves our community as judge of common pleas court.

His accomplishments convince us that he is the individual most qualified to serve the Logan County community as judge of common pleas court.

On Nov. 6, we will vote to keep Judge Bratka as common pleas court judge.

Joe Hughes
Linda Hughes
Bellefontaine

The West Liberty-Salem district is asking for approval of a bond issue that would, with the assistance of the Ohio School Facilities Commission:

Replace leaking roofs and dry-rotted windows.

Replace obsolete and inefficient heating and air conditioning systems.

Repurpose instructional space.

Meet minimum state guidelines for security and technology.

Convert the current auxiliary gym to MS/HS dining.

Expand the current elementary dining area.

Construct a new auxiliary gym.

Repurpose the cafetorium.

Separate student and parent drop-off traffic from bus traffic and provide better access to Highway 68.

All of this information has been addressed in a number of forums and formats. What I feel has not been addressed are a number of very relevant issues.

Maintenance:

The dry-rotted windows are the Pella brand. This is a premium brand with a premium price. I find it hard to believe windows of this quality have dry-rotted unless they were incorrectly installed or maintained. If they were installed incorrectly why are we not pursuing a remedy against that contractor? It would seem more likely, given that these windows are wood, that proper maintenance was not accomplished resulting in the dry-rot. Why wasn't action taken to correct this before it was too late and what will be done to correct this lack of maintenance in the future?
Likewise, prior to construction of the building there were many discussions about the choices of roofing for the buildings. Maintenance, repair and replacement schedules were part of these discussions leading to the choice of the type of roof. Why weren't the maintenance, repair and replacement implemented instead of allowing the roof to deteriorate? How will this be corrected in the future?

Repurposing, expanding and conversion:

I believe the question must also be asked as to why we would convert an auxiliary gym to a dining area and build a new auxiliary gym? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to construct a dining area and retain the existing auxiliary gym? Couldn't such a dining area have separate space for elementary students solving two problems with one action?

Assistance of the Ohio School Facilities Commission:

As for the assistance of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, I believe it was their assistance that helped create a number of problems that this bond levy is proposing to correct. For instance, the repurposing of the cafetorium is proposed. Who designed this space with multiple levels and almost no handrails? I've seen a number of people fall and it would be interesting to know how many accidents it has created over the years. What will be done with this space?

Another example is the very poor design of the access to the school building with commingling of student traffic, parent drop-off traffic and bus traffic creating safety problems. Anyone familiar with the design of a school system should have been able to advise the district of a better design. But even given the poor design most of this problem could be corrected by use of simple barriers or gates with proper staffing, safe driving habits, common sense, courtesy and timely enforcement against those that fail to use the prior methods. More access to an already busy highway is not the answer.

Enrollment:

I have heard that there is insufficient space for the number of students enrolled in the WL-S School District, especially in the elementary area. I may be biased but here again the elementary room size met the approval of the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Common sense should have dictated additional room in case of enrollment growth, to say nothing of the use of technology, but no extra room was apparently allowed. I have looked at the enrollment numbers provided by the Ohio Department of Education on their Web site for the district and there has been some increase, about 231 students spread across 13 grades (K-12) since the 1990-91 school year. But the enrollment trend for the last two school years has been downward. If ODE's numbers are correct the highest enrollment was reached during the 2009-2010 school year. If open enrollment is creating an overcrowding problem the solution is apparent and easy for the board of education to remedy at no cost. Expensive expansion should not be undertaken without firm demographic studies to support such expenditures.

In summary, the proposed levy is based on property values. This millage type levy if approved will provided a specific amount of money to the school district, in this case approximately 14 and a half million dollars.

The WL-S School District has a traditional income tax (uses the same income base as the state's income tax) of 1.5 percent. Of the approximately 610 public school districts in Ohio only 22 districts have an income tax of 1.5 percent. Four of these use the earned income tax base which excludes all other types of income that would be taxable under the traditional income tax base (interest, dividends, capital gains, pensions, etc.) which provides a tax break for those folks on a fixed income, i.e., retirees. Only 19 or approximately 610 public school districts have a rate above 1.5 percent and one of those is an earned income tax base. What all this boils down to is that the WL-S School District should have adequate financial resources, because as the income of the district residents increase so do the taxes paid to the school district. This was the case for many years prior to 2008 when, financially, things got tough for all of us. The question is why didn't the WL-S School District set aside money or actually accomplish some of these projects while more funds were available?

Flyers circulated in the community infer that now is the time to pursue this project due to low interest rates and availability of state funds, but as Mr. John Hance stated in his letter to the editor of this paper, "The WL-S School District is not in a stable financial position and has been 'getting by' only through reductions in teaching staff and other critical positions." This position is confirmed by the Superintendent's Message on pages one and two of the West Liberty-Salem Local Schools Tiger News which states in part, "Since the 2008-2009 school year, the West Liberty-Salem Board of Education and administration have been actively responding to a decrease in revenue at both the state and local levels. Driven by the recession that began in 2008, the district has had to make many cuts; most of these have been in programming, staff and by not replacing retirees. To date, the district has implemented nearly $760,000 of reductions in total operations."

Residents of the WL-S School District can rest assured that if this levy is passed it will only be a short period of time before the district is back again requesting additional funding to maintain the additional space and to correct the problem created by this construction due to insufficient planning.

Hope and faith is good but in the words of Benjamin Franklin, "He that lives upon hope will die fasting." It does not appear to me to be the right time to approve this levy.

Rick Benge
West Liberty