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Letters to the Editor

Reasons to support Issue 1

To the editor: Ohio’s democracy is built on its state constitution. As a small business owner, I believe it’s too easy for special interests to change our constitution. That’s why I support Issue 1 in the Aug. 8 special election. Ohio is in a substantial minority of states that allow the direct amendment of its constitution directly by voters. And the process is so simple that our constitution has been amended 170 times in 172 years. Issue 1 would raise the standards by which Ohio’s constitution could be altered. Rather than passing with a simple majority on a statewide ...

Power belongs to the people

To the editor: I sit here reading letters to the editor from recent weeks, as well as most of the last year, and some are filled with anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-female, anti-modern family, puritanical thought and nationalist fascism. Attributed to the name of a singularly loving moral God, they call for people to be hated. Aren’t the Christ-like communities meant by “divine” description to have open doors to everyone without judgment? The writers have taken 10 basic moral commandments and turned them into a manifesto of hate. Ancient words are twisted to validate modern fallacies ...

Library board meetings are civil

To the editor: Since beginning to attend library meetings in June 2022, I have consistently brought my concerns with the LGBTQ ideological agenda portrayed in children’s literature to the board of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County. On every occasion, the public comment period has been civil. I used my five minutes to address the board and then let the meeting run its course. There were no shouting matches. There were no bouts of impassioned yelling at board members. There was no rancor or uncontrollable name calling, unlike the circus arena that has replaced ...

Vote yes on Issue 1

To the editor: Men cannot be women, and women cannot be men—period. Biology doesn’t care about your feelings, neither do I. Voting against Joe Biden is voting against Vice President Kamala Harris. Think about her as president. Democrats aren’t ashamed of who they are or what they do — that’s the job of their parents. In her letter of July 8 (“Court decisions are disturbing,”) Marji DeFede, president of local chapter of NOW, moaned about six Supreme Court justices who followed the Constitution, but there was not a word about the three female justices who voted with ...

Issue 1 deserves a yes vote

To the editor: Aug. 8 is not typically an Election Day, but this year it is. A special Election Day. Ohio will go to the polls on a simple question that has disappointingly been confused and conflated: How should Ohioans go about changing the Ohio Constitution? Today, the Ohio Constitution has loose parameters for how it may be changed by us — the citizens of Ohio. Since the 1800s, Ohio voters have had the right under the state constitution to present “initiatives” on the ballot. An initiative proposes an amendment to either the Ohio Constitution or Ohio Revised Code— ...

Conduct code should be enforced

To the editor: It has been more than a year since hatred and venomous slander began inside the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County. My frustrations are no longer with the collegiate offenders, but with the public library itself. A small band of fanatics has been urging to have content that goes against their faith to be removed from the children’s section of the library. It is upsetting enough to hear residents of this county portrayed with such hate and demonization. These people somehow believe their personal interpretations of faith are superior to other ...