Franklin County to the Rescue
July 21, 2008
This article about from the Columbus Dispatch details plans by Columbus and Franklin County to help bail out citizens that are facing forclosure. The idea is to help keep people in their homes and to also go after some of the predatory lenders that may have been somewhat deceiving when they lent money in the first place.
A statistic in the article that I was unaware of is that “Ohio’s foreclosure rate was sixth-highest in the nation last month.” That’s pretty amazing. It is never good to be in the top ten for such bad things as human misery.
For me this is somewhat of a tough call so I am asking for your opinion. Is it fair for the government to spend large amounts of money to help borrowers, many of which never had the means to buy the house in the first place? I know that $3 million may not sound like a lot of money, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. On a side note… isn’t it crazy when we are so numb to hearing numbers in the millions and billions that we just kind of shrug our shoulders and not think twice about spending that amount of money?
I do feel sorry for people in these situations. Many cannot afford the houses because the the crippled economy. What do we do to help?
Latino Festival Back Soon to Columbus
June 7, 2008
As today is my birthday, 32 years old, I won’t be doing much blogging today. But as a Spanish instructor, I found this article about the Latino Festival and thought I’d write a post about it.
This year the festival will be dramatically scaled back. It will take place June 20-21 in downtown Columbus but will reduce hours that will last from only 5-11 pm. There will be a concert the second night by Los Huracanes del Norte and Lucero Terrazas.
Another first is the admission fee that you will pay to enter. On the first night, attendees will pay $1 to enter, but on the second night the cost will rise to $30.
The organizers claim this is a necessity due to rising costs. Is it another local sign of a troubled economy?
I know I won’t pay the fee to attend the second night and I bet many others feel the same. This may serve to be the beginning of the end of this festival.
Worthington Kid Pleads Guilty To Terrorism Charges
June 4, 2008
From the Dispatch:
Christopher Paul already has been portrayed as a member of al-Qaida who worked with terrorists abroad and came back to central Ohio to train them at home.
But until Paul pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court, details of how he went from being a typical kid in Worthington to a man who wanted to wage “holy war” on Americans weren’t plentiful.
FBI Special Agent Tisha Hartsough outlined more than a decade of help that Paul provided to terrorists as Paul listened quietly in U.S. District Court.
After the list was read, Paul agreed that he’d done all those things, then pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. He’ll probably spend 20 years in prison.
The agent’s summary seemed to show that the 44-year-old Paul had become a trusted member of al-Qaida.
It was a stark contrast to what relatives and friends have said about Paul, who was born Paul Kenyatta Laws and graduated in 1983 from then-Worthington High School.
Family members have said publicly that Paul was not guilty; friends and acquaintances said Paul grew up an easygoing boy who volunteered at the high-school office, was a gymnast on the school team and graduated from Columbus State Community College.
But according to the FBI’s Hartsough:
Paul, who had converted to Islam in the late 1980s, first went to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s. He trained there to join a “holy war” and became a member of al-Qaida.
He then stayed awhile and “fought with other mujahideen in Afghanistan” and then later with the Islamic fundamentalist movement in Bosnia.
During this time, Paul put together a “master list of contact numbers for senior al-Qaida leadership and other radical Islamic fundamentalists and operatives worldwide.”
FBI agents found the list in a raid of Paul’s apartment on Riverview Drive on the Northwest Side, where he was living when arrested in April 2007.
In January 1997, two members of al-Qaida faxed Paul to ask him to find them a “true group and place to make jihad,” the FBI information shows. In 1998, he took a local group of men to Burr Oak State Park near Glouster, Ohio, to teach them the terrorist training he had learned.
The FBI agent also hinted that Paul’s dropping of the Muslim name he had adopted was part of his plan.
“Preparing to travel overseas again, on February 3, 1999 … defendant obtained a passport in the name of Christopher Paul after defendant had claimed ‘water damage’ to his old passport in one of his other aliases.”
Authorities speculated that Paul thought a more conventional American name would draw less suspicion.
Within a few months, Paul traveled to Germany to train others in explosives, Hartsough said. The group he was training planned “to construct bombs, car bombs and similar devices to be used against Americans while they vacationed at foreign tourist resorts.”
Paul listened to the list without much expression, speaking occasionally to his attorneys. Afterward, he didn’t dispute the allegations.
“Is there anything she said that was incorrect?” District Judge Gregory L. Frost asked.
“No, sir,” Paul told the judge.
Frost said he’ll wait for a presentence investigation to be completed before he decides whether to accept a sentencing recommendation.
The recommendation that Paul receive 20 years in a federal prison was an agreement among Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robyn Jones Hahnert and Dana Peters and defense attorneys Don Wolery and James Gilbert.
Paul is the third central Ohio resident to plead guilty to working with terrorists. Iyman Faris is serving 20 years in prison; Nuradin Abdi is serving 10.
What causes a kid from an affluent area of Columbus to take up arms against the U.S.?
Another Charter School in Trouble
May 30, 2008
The Dispatch has a great article about another charter school facing problems with finances. This time it is George Washington Carver Preparatory Academy, located on Sunbury Road in Columbus, Ohio. According to the article, the charter school witheld taxes from the paychecks of employees but neglected to send the money onto the government.
The school owes more than $343,000 in taxes to the state and federal government, the audit found.
“Failure to submit payroll taxes timely forces the academy to spend precious tax resources on penalties and interest rather than educating children,” Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor said.
Her office referred the matter to the Internal Revenue Service for review.
The audit, which covered the school’s financial activity for 2007, also revealed that a $789,000 deficit has grown to $851,000.
Ok, so that is bad enough, right? Wrong! What is even more disturbing is the fact that on the State of Ohio’s Report Card, this charter school is in “academic emergency” which means it is a failing school. Its rating slipped from a D to an F in the last year.
When are we going to stop playing politics with the education of our young children?
Big Brother Might Just Have His Eye On You!
May 29, 2008
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman wants to know just what you are doing in your neighborhoods. The Columbus Dispatch has a very interesting article today that details his plans for cameras coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
Coleman proposed neighborhood surveillance cameras last year, and a 2008 capital budget approved by the council early this month set aside $1.45 million to buy some.
Council approval will be needed again for Public Safety to spend the money. Councilman Andrew J. Ginther, chairman of the safety committee, promised more hearings at which city residents can register their opinions as well.
Although neighborhood leaders from Northland to the South Side have said they’d welcome police surveillance cameras, city officials have yet to decide where they would go.
Walker said test areas would be chosen based on where they’re accepted and needed.
What do you think? Should we have cameras recording our every move?
Columbus Suburb Going Green
May 26, 2008
Westerville, a surburb on Columbus’ north side, has decided to resurrect a plan to allow city residents to buy more environmentally sound forms of energy, including wind and hydro. The plan was passed approximately four years ago, but was never promoted because energy prices continued to increase.
According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch, the additional cost to residents of Westerville would be approximately $13 per month.
I’m a Westerville resident and would be more than happy to pay the increase. Now this is an example of Ohio politics functioning as it should.
Columbus Race For the Cure a Success
May 17, 2008
This will just be a brief post to congratulate all of the runners today in downtown Columbus braving the possibility of rain for the 16th Komen Columbus Race for the Cure. There was a record turn out today and the participants raised an outstanding $2 million. That is truly inspirational!
Dispatch Columnist Anne Fisher Characterizes Attorney General Marc Dann
May 11, 2008
He still seems unwilling to resign and we still are keeping the pressure on him to do so. In her blog, Ann Fisher describes Dann:
Dann is not stupid. He’s arrogant, rude and unrepentant. I’ve previously characterized him as a petulant little troll and a blustering bully. He’s a dangerous man because he has no respect for anybody or anything other than himself. He believes that he is above the law. Stupidity is often forgiveable because stupid people often mean well but they screw up anyway. Dann doesn’t mean well. Stupid is what Marc Dann made of the people who voted for him.
I don’t think that any of us could say it any better!
Xenophobic Bills Currently In the Ohio General Assembly
April 29, 2008
It pains me to say that Ohio has been added to the list of those states who are attempting to scare our Hispanic population through legal forms of bullying. Currently there are two bills in our legislative branch.
Briefly, SB 260 would empower state and local law enforcement officials to get involved with federal immigration law, detaining people suspected of “unlawful” or “illegal” presence, including civil offenses of federal immigration law. House Bill 477 is an English Only bill, declaring that English is the official language of state government business.
I understand completely many of the arguments against illegal immigration. While I typically do not agree with them, we will leave that for another day and another post. What bothers me even more is the “English Only Bill” currently awaiting a vote in the House of Delegates. What is it with many Americans and their fear of learning foreign languages? Why must we all speak “American” as our first language? If Hispanic or Somali immigrants want to succeed in this country, it is in their best interest to learn English. How many of you think that a person would choose to live their entire lives in a country and not be able to communicate with the majority of its citizens? If you believe that, I have some property to sell you.
For more information about these bills, you can visit the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission at http://ochla.ohio.gov/. It might be something for which you could write letters to our representatives opposing these bills.
A mis amigos latinos,
Les escribo este mensaje para que sepan que no todos somos tan xenófobos en este estado (Ohio). No tengan duda de que haya muchas personas aquí que les apoyamos.
Sincermante,
Un amigo “gringo”
Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key
April 23, 2008
Pedophilia is probably the worst crime that I can think of. In Columbus, Judge John A. Connor seems to have toughened up a bit after a public outrage following a ruling in which he was very lenient to the pedophile. According to the Dispatch:
In December 2005, Connor sentenced Andrew S. Selva to five years of probation, including a year on house arrest, on the condition that he receive treatment. Selva was indicted on 20 counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition; he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery.
This time Connor has sentenced a pedophile to 87 months in prison. STILL NOT LONG ENOUGH! It’s time to get tough on this crime and forget about the rehabilitation. Some people do not deserve to be rehabilitated and placed back into the public. It reminds me of the Scarlet Letter…maybe not such a bad idea for these monsters.
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