EDITORIALS
The Lima News editorial policy is independent of political party affiliation. Opinions expressed in the Our View column reflect the view of The Lima News editorial board. Opinions elsewhere on this page are solely those of the writers.
The editorial board includes Doug Olsson, Publisher (dolsson@aimmediamidwest.com, 567-242-0371); Jim Krumel, Editor (aimmediamidwest.com, 567-242-0391); and David Trinko, Managing Editor (aimmediamidwest.com, 567-242-0467).
Akron Beacon Journal: Ohioans in deep poverty need assistance
What is the result of welfare reform, now two decades later? That is the worthy question addressed in a report, released on Monday, by the Center for Community Solutions. Tara Britton and Brie Luscheck of the Cleveland-based think tank find that the safety net for the...
read moreEditorial: A Chicago story: How Sears could have avoided bankruptcy
The most impressive statement to make about Sears as it seeks bankruptcy court protection is also the most damning: Sears was the Amazon of its time. Impressive because Sears really was that influential long ago. Damning because the company’s decline...
read moreEditorial: Getting a flu shot cannot give you the flu
An estimated 80,000 Americans died of the flu and its complications last winter — the most deaths from the disease in 40 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in an Associated Press story. In recent years, flu-related deaths in the U.S....
read moreEditorial: The war on big business hurts workers
When Amazon announced it would pay all of its U.S. employees a minimum of $15 an hour — more than double the minimum wage — CEO Jeff Bezos called on “other large employers to join us.” No company has risen to the challenge yet, but you can be...
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Editorial: Poll shows Dems sweeping GOP for Ohio offices
Polls can be misleading, we grant you that, and one poll doesn’t make a trend, but President Donald Trump couldn’t have picked a better time to drop into Ohio on Friday to rally the Republican ranks. With Election Day just over three weeks away, a new...
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Editorial: Hail to Road 5 victor, whoever that might be
“History is written by the victors,” Winston Churchill famously said. It will be interesting to see what history remembers about the long, expensive and arduous battle involving Putnam County’s Road 5. If you’ve somehow missed this six-year...
read moreEditorial: Unemployment is down, now pay should go up
The U.S. economy added 134,000 jobs outside of the farming sector last month, coming 51,000 short of projections, but that might have been the only bit of bad news in the monthly jobs report. In short, the economy remains robust. The U.S. unemployment rate fell...
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Akron Beacon Journal: Opioids bring bipartisanship in Washington
How severe is the opioid crisis? Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, put aside the usual partisan hair-pulling and dysfunction to address the problem in a comprehensive way. Both the House and Senate gave overwhelming approval in sending the legislation to...
read moreCommentary: 46 million voted in primaries this year. That’s not enough
Forty-six million voters cast ballots this year in primaries for federal office. It’s an impressive number, and represents a significant increase from 2014. But to strengthen our political parties and our democracy, we must — and can — do better....
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Chicago Tribune: After the FBI report, confirm Kavanaugh
The FBI has delivered its confidential report on Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. Some senators who’ve read the report say it contains no fresh revelations, or...
read moreCommentary: Context matters as much as curriculum in the classroom
In education, we like to say there’s a formal and informal curriculum. For example, open up any science textbook and you’ll likely find a handful of white, male scientists represented. The formal curriculum might be a lesson on photosynthesis or the human...
read moreEditorial: Trading up: This NAFTA rewrite should boost Midwest exports
Donald Trump’s approach to trade policy, as with many topics, is different from that of past presidents. His scripts typically include plenty of threats, complaints and drama, designed not just to get his way but to keep the public engaged. Not being drama...
read moreEditorial: Women courageously summon their stories of sexual abuse
Christine Blasey Ford was 15. Loretta Weinberg was 13. Jacqueline Cutler was 23. Joan Cavalluzzi was 19. Elyse Rubin was 8. In the past week, these women have all come forward to talk about their being victims of sexual abuses decades earlier. Like uncounted...
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Newsday: President Trump delivers a better trade deal for the U.S.
President Donald Trump’s take on trade has always been a cornerstone of his political brand. He has argued passionately and convincingly that elites among both Republicans and Democrats supported international trade pacts that, even as they boosted corporate...
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Editorial — Issue 1: The arguements for and against
Ohio Issue 1 boils down to a question about crime and punishment, and what exactly is the purpose of our jails and prisons. It’s no secret the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and with that, comes strains on state and local budgets....
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Editorial: Prison animal program should be brought back
For years, well-vetted and well-deserving inmates at Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution had one reminder of the good life on the outside of the bars, loving animals. Inmates took part in program that brought dogs and cats into the prison from the local Ohio...
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Chicago Sun-Times: Goodbye to the beloved Beetle
There has been a terrible death in the family for baby boomers: The beloved Volkswagen Beetle. Volkswagen has announced it will quit making the Beetle next year, shutting down production of a car that debuted in 1930s Nazi Germany but became a counterculture icon for...
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Marietta Times: Students the key to solving bullying, violence, depression
An organization founded by families of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting knew they needed to try something different — something a whole lot of other adults had ignored — if they were to make a difference in kids’ lives....
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Editorial: Lima needs to change way it hires police, fire chiefs
Lima needs to be able to attract the best possible candidates when an opening occurs for either the police or fire chief, yet it has closed the doors for allowing that to happen. The city remains entrenched in a system that allows it to hire only internal candidates....
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Editorial: Second Amendment worth keeping
The ongoing debate over guns in America has led some to vociferously call for abolishing the Second Amendment. That’s just not wise thinking. There are common-sense restrictions on guns that fall within the scope of the Second Amendment. So there’s no need...
read moreCOLUMNS
Prison dog program has positive impact
I am the Executive Director and Humane Agent for the Clark County SPCA in Springfield, Ohio. I was formerly the Shelter Coordinator for the Humane Society Serving Clark County in Springfield, Ohio. During my time as the coordinator for the HSSCC, I wrote a proposal to...
Cal Thomas: Voting for a Democrat is the wrong answer
Given what the Trump administration is saying are record achievements for a president at this stage in office, why would anyone consider voting for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections? Writing in The Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard lists 289 accomplishments...
Lori Borgman: Pretty as a picture — or not
I have just been handed a new portrait of myself. I look like someone who got off the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland and needs medical attention. Or like someone who staggered out of a bar at 3 a.m. after a night of binge drinking. Or like SpongeBob...
Column: Here’s to wishing you a Happy Deficit Day
Imagine that the federal government received all the money it was destined to collect for the entire year on January 1. This year, that pile of cash would total $3.3 trillion. Now imagine that the government spent all the money it was destined to spend for the year at...
EDITORIAL: National anthem controversies are nothing new; we just hit the 50th anniversary of two big ones
With the continuing and unresolved issue of National Football League players kneeling (or remaining in the locker room) during the playing of the National Anthem before games, one is reminded of two incidents involving the anthem: Both occurred 50 years ago this...
George Will: An unsparing look at the Vietnam War’s mountain of mendacities
WASHINGTON — Early in his Marine Corps career, which he concluded as a four-star general, Walt Boomer was decorated for valor in Vietnam. He distilled into three words the lesson of that debacle: “Tell the truth.” Max Hastings, an eminent British...
Chris Erskine: A perfect fall day that will live forever
There’s a lot of fall in those faces, a lot of October in those shiny cheeks. My photo advice, in this most social of seasons, is that the best group shots take place three seconds before everyone poses. In my experience, “Say cheese!” results in...
Kathleen Parker: Dangers of relying on lineage
WASHINGTON — Now that the DNA is out of the bag, Sen. Elizabeth Warren can put her Native American heritage down for a nap — maybe. After two and a half years of being mocked by Donald Trump as “Pocahontas,” referring to the Massachusetts...
John Grindrod: Vacation reflections and unanswered questions
There is so much about travel that appeals to me, from the sights and sounds of a world far different than the one I left behind to the new foods, like that bowl of coddle I sampled with a perfectly drawn Guinness pint in Dublin, Ireland, or that plate of haggis I...
Michael Schoenhofer: Your money spreads health, hope, care
I received a call from a gentleman recently who told me he had just lost his wife of 55 years. He asked, “Is there any help for me?” I told him about the grief and loss support group run by PVFF that meets every Monday. A few months ago parents called...
LETTERS
We welcome letters of 275 words or fewer. Letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and grammar. They should be concise, to the point and original — no form letters, please. Letters dealing with private disputes or containing criticism of private individuals or businesses are not published. Letters must have a signature (unless emailed) and a full name, address and daytime telephone number (for verification purposes only). Writers are limited to one letter a month. Letters may be published on our website. MAIL LETTERS TO: The Lima News Letters Column 3515 Elida Road Lima, OH 45807 E-MAIL LETTERS TO: letters@limanews.com ONLINE FORM: Click here to send a letter to the editor online.Letter: Great year for Botkins boys soccer team
Congratulations to the Botkins boys soccer team and their coaches. They won their fourth consecutive Western Ohio Soccer league crown. They outscored their league opponents 54 to 0 and ended their regular season with a 13-1-1 record. Jack Lynch,...
Letter: Trump making America stronger
Wasn’t President Trump a registered Democrat before he became president? Wasn’t he amazingly elected by the people of the USA and not through the Democrat or Republican parties? Do you think these parties will ever let the people have a fair election...
Letter: Sherrod Brown’s past shouldn’t be off-limits
I have a question for the Democrats: Why were you so hell-bent on ruining Brett Kavanaugh’s life, but turn a blind eye to the past of your senator, Sherrod Brown? Just wondering. Patsy Lamb,...
Letter: Jim Jordan fights for us
I see that the local Democrat Party Machine is still using its usual lame talking points while they are trying to defeat U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, the best local Congressman this area has ever had. A cabal of UAW officials and self important university professors have...
Letter: We must deliver message on Nov. 6
Although I am a registered Republican, anyone can see they are the reason we have a sexual abuser as a judge in the highest court in our nation. There is something we can do and that is to vote! We can change this by not voting for these incumbent Republican...
No tears for Kavanaugh
On Friday Oct. 12, Mark Figly wrote a long dissertation on the death of Emmitt Till and in doing so, made a misguided and misinformed comparison between that death and the Kavanaugh hearings. Only an individual sitting in a seat of privilege could make such a...
Letter: Blue wave hits Allen County
I’m a local Democratic activist, and I want to give a huge thank you to the Allen County Democratic Party, particularly party chair Jeff Rex. The party and especially Jeff work tirelessly to get out the vote for Democrats in our area, and they have done a huge...
Column: Poor decisions puts states in limbo
Tick, tick, tick … That’s the sound of a bomb nearing explosion, one with the power to destroy taxpayers’ lives and state budgets. This explosive device is set to blow up sometime in the future, but it’s just as dangerous and deserving of our...
County embraceswork-place safety
The West Central Ohio Safety Council is one of more than 80 across the state that partner with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to promote the importance of workplace safety. We at BWC work closely with the council and member employers in Allen County,...
Letter: You have to be kidding
I once had a freshman student write a term paper in which she argued that, because the phrase “under God,” was left out of the Pledge of Allegiance, this meant that Christians were being persecuted in America — as sorely persecuted, she insisted, as...
