To all the volunteer firefighters, not-so-volunteer firefighters, all EMS personnel, the dispatchers, and all who are involved with the Fire and Rescue Squads for our community.
Thank you.
Your continued hard work, though not vocalized nearly enough, is truly appreciated by many of us in the community. Some of us may not be here if it weren’t for your continued vigilance. May you have the ability to continue for many years to come, and may your work continue to be a blessing to all.
We continue in our quest, noble as it is, to obtain the minutes from the September 13, 2005 meeting of Village Council. A response was brought that was along the lines that “notes” of a meeting are not public record. The thought is that they do not become official public record until they are approved by Village Council at the next regular meeting. I respectfully refer you all to the 2005 Sunshine Law Book, commonly known as the 2005 Yellow Book
May a draft of a public record itself be a public record?
Yes, depending on whether the definition of a “record” discussed earlier has been satisfied. If the draft documents the organization, policies, functions, decisions, procedures or other activities of a public office, it is a “record.”
The Ohio Supreme Court recently held that a written draft of an oral collective bargaining agreement between a city and its union was a “record.” According to the Court, the draft documented the city’s version of the oral agreement and the city submitted the draft to city council for its approval.
I believe that the notes that are taken by the Village Clerk document the organization, policies, functions, decisions, procedures, and other activites of the Village Council. Unless I am mistaken (and my ego tells me I’m not), even the handwritten notes (or however they are recorded) are to be available for public inspection in lieu of actual prepared minutes.
I am no legal scholar, but it seems to be after a reading of the Yellow Book that after those notes are transcribed to computer, they automatically become public record, even prior to Village Council’s approval. The law does state that the Council has the right to look over the minutes at the next regular meeting and adjust them to more accurately reflect the actions of Council. That action does not preclude the fact that prior to approval, those minutes were actual minutes of the Village Council meeting and were public record.
This may seem like an effort in futility to some, because within a few days, these records will be approved by Council and there will be no argument over these things. The main reason that I’m pressing on this issue is because I believe that a governmental body is more apt to function properly when that government operates in the sunshine (as the Attorney General’s site states). We as citizens are better served when such records are open to public scrutiny. For those of us who cannot attend the regular Council meetings because of other obligations, we should not be left out in the cold for a period of thirty days or more so that Village Council can be appeased.
First, you might notice the AdSense banner on the right side of the page. Since I’m a rich, evil, conservative Republican, I’m always hungry for money money money and an ad banner is sure to bring in millions of dollars.
Second, if you have Google Talk, you can reach my computer nearly anytime at my email address noted at the right. For those of you that don’t have the time to move your eyes to the right, its windhamite at gmail dot com. If you can’t figure out how to decipher that email address, please don’t attempt to message me. Rush out right now and pick up one of the Internet for Dummies books or something. The last thing I need is more spam in the inbox. If you need an invite to use Google Talk, send me an email and I’ll invite you personally.
Third. There is no third. You must not have been paying attention to the subject line of this post.
For your information….
or…
To whom it may concern:
All meetings of any public body are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times. A member of a public body shall be present in person at a meeting open to the public to be considered present or to vote at the meeting and for purposes of determining whether a quorum is present at the meeting.
The minutes of a regular or special meeting of any public body shall be promptly prepared, filed, and maintained and shall be open to public inspection. The minutes need only reflect the general subject matter of discussions in executive sessions authorized under division (G) or (J) of this section.
In attempting to receive the recorded minutes from the meeting of September 13, 2005, I was notified that public release of said minutes has been denied by notice of a representative of the Village Council. This denial is a clear violation of R.C. 121.22(C). All minutes of a regular meeting of the public body, in this case, Village Council, are to be “promptly prepared, files and maintained and shall be open to public inspection”. The actions of Village Council violate this statute.
R.C. 149.43 directs that all public records be presented to the public within a reasonable time. In State, ex rel. Wadd v. City of Cleveland, the City of Cleveland was compelled to prepare and provide access to motor vehicle accident reports within eight days after the accidents occur. I believe that minutes of all Village Council meetings should be held to the same standard. There is always a concern that minutes, prior to review of the Village Council, may be in error. This should not, and does not, preclude the fact that these minutes are to be prepared for public inspection. Village Council has the legal ability to change these minutes to more correctly conform to the actual events of the meeting to which the minutes refer.
Refusing to allow the public to review minutes of Village Council meetings only fosters distrust between the public and the Village government and should be staved off early. Allowing thirty days to pass before allowing the public to review minutes of a public meeting is unconscionable. I ask that you change your stance and come in line with what the Revised Code directs.
Respectfully,
William Marmet
I find this to be kinda sorta right, but as with all online testing, it just doesn’t quite fit the entire bill. Its interesting though, hence the post title.
If you take the test, kindly post the results in the comments section below.
| You are a Social Moderate (41% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (66% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
Here’s the official ballot language:
State Issue 2 - Certified Ballot Language
November 8, 2005PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
(Proposed by Initiative Petition)To adopt Section 6 of Article XVII of the Constitution of the State of Ohio.
In order to expand to all electors the choice to vote by absentee ballot in all elections, this amendment would:
- Provide that any person qualified to vote in an election is entitled during the thirty-five days prior to the election to receive and to cast a ballot by mail or in person at the county board of elections or additional location designated by the board. No reason for casting such a ballot shall be required. When a ballot is mailed to an elector, the county board of elections shall also provide a pre-addressed, postage pre-paid envelope for returning the ballot to that county board of elections.
- An elector to whom a ballot has been mailed, but which has not been received by the issuing county board of elections prior to the election, may cast a provisional ballot on election day. If the elector’s first ballot is received by the tenth day following the election, the provisional ballot shall not be counted. A ballot which is received by the issuing board by mail no later than the tenth day following the election shall be treated as timely cast if it contains a postmark not later than the day of the election.
In short, the amendment gives any voter the ability to request an absentee ballot for any reason, or no reason at all, up to thirty-five days prior to an election. On the surface, this isn’t a bad idea at all. We all want to cast the largest berth in getting people to be involved in the election process. Why not just give ballots to folks who request them?
Consider a New York Times piece from September, 2004:
In the four years since the last presidential election, prosecutors have brought criminal cases in at least 15 states for fraud in absentee voting. One case resulted in the conviction of a voting-rights activist this year for forging absentee ballots in a Wisconsin county race. In another case, a Republican election worker in Ohio was charged with switching the votes of nursing-home residents in the 2000 presidential race. And last year in Michigan, three city council members pleaded guilty in a vote-tampering case that included forged signatures and ballots altered by white-out.
What must be weighed is whether the desire to have as many people vote is worth the possible wide-spread fraud that could take place. We have only seen small-scale fraud in most cases up to this point, thankfully. Perhaps is would only stay there. Perhaps not.
TomPaine.com, no Republican site by a longshot, commented in the last election cycle:
Those who mail in ballots are very trusting souls. Here's how your trust is used. In the August 31 primaries in Florida, Palm Beach Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore (a.k.a. Madame Butterfly Ballot) counted 37,839 absentee votes. But days before, her office told me only 29,000 ballots had been received. When this loaves-and-fishes miracle was disclosed, she was forced to recount, cutting the tally to 31,138.
Clever!
If we as voters are to widen the scope of absentee voting, I would hope that additional law would be put in place to safeguard the viability of those votes. This is extremely hard to do as there is no true assurance that the person to whom the ballot is sent is the person who is actually filling it out. This is the inherent failure in the system, and it exists today. What Issue 2 could do is make that failure in the system much more obvious.
I’m going to be putting together a questionairre for the various candidates running for both Windham Village Council and Windham Township Trustee. If you would like to suggest a question or two for the form, let me know no later than 8:00 pm Tuesday evening, October 4.
Questions will range from positions on Joint Fire District, Village Income Tax, past service and future plans for both communities. I hope to keep it short and be able to post the results about two weeks before the election.
Is there no shame in the world? Isn’t this stealing or something?
Folklore: Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the country's history
Fact: Hurricane Katrina is the seventh worst natural disaster in US history.
Folklore: Ray Nagin said on September 5th on the Oprah Show, "They're murdering people in there (the Superdome)." (VIDEO HERE)
Fact: Both sources (Louisiana National Guard and State health department officials) said no one had been murdered inside the stadium.
One victim was found in the Superdome but was believed to have been brought there, and one was found at the Convention Center, he added.
Folklore: Ray Nagin said on September 5th on the Oprah Show, "They're raping people in there (the Superdome)." (see above Oprah-Nagin video clip)
Fact: The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees — mass murders, rapes and beatings — have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence.
Folklore: "There are Babies dying!" cried Nagin... "The children!" screamed Oprah. (see above Oprah-Nagin video clip)
Fact: There are no known babies that died in the Superdome.
Folklore: Babies stuffed in freezers.
Fact: Nope.
Folklore: Katrina cannibalism. "Black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive."
Fact: Nope.
Folklore: 30-40 Bodies stuffed inside a freezer at Convention Center. (Hat Tip Donny Baseball)
Fact: Nope. (Hat Tip Acassa)
Folklore: I've got a report there are bodies stacked in the basement of the Superdome. (FEMA doctor)
Fact: National Guard officials put the body count at the Superdome at six, saying the other four bodies came from the area around the stadium.
Six... Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide.
Of the 841 (885 9-27) recorded hurricane-related deaths in Louisiana, four are identified as gunshot victims, Johannessen said.
Folklore: Mayor Nagin on the Today Show, "It wouldn't be unreasonable to have 10,000..." (VIDEO HERE)
Facts: There have been 885 deaths in Louisiana attributed to Hurricane Katrina:
701 are at the makeshift morgue in St. Gabriel
Parish Coroners:
Ascension -- 5
Assumption -- 2
East Baton Rouge – 72
Iberia – 6
Jefferson – 30
Lafourche -- 2
Livingston -- 5
Plaquemines -- 3
St. Charles – 8
St. Tammany – 7
Tangipahoa -- 26
Terrebonne -- 15
West Baton Rouge – 3
Most of the dead from Katrina have been sent to the makeshift morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana a town of 5,500, 15 miles south of Baton Rouge.
Folklore: They all drowned!
Fact: Any death that is determined to have been caused as a result of Hurricane Katrina will be counted as a hurricane-related death. For example, this applies to people who drowned as well as people who required life-support but had it cut off and died as a result when power was lost during the storm.
Folklore: Many foreigners perished (96 British citizens are unaccounted for!)
Fact: Only one foreigner was killed in the hurricane, a British woman.
Folklore: The levee was blown up to destroy the black part of town.
Fact:
Folklore: The federal government was slow to respond.
Fact: "The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."
For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 2002. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.
And counting.
Sure, some of you are thinking, geez, what’s he complaining about? Others are thinking, frack, he’s old. Of course, there are likely others just saying, get on with it pal, you’re wasting my time.
I agree.
Life since thirty-one hasn’t been what I nearly wanted it to be. Its definitely in the bottom three, perhaps the worst year of my life overall.
The event of the year has to be when my dad died. Its easily the lowest point of the year, and also one of the lowest points of my life. I relied on my father for so many things, but most of all just to talk things out about dealing with being a preacher and being a good Christian example when things aren’t going so well in life. Dad was always good to talk to, especially during his last years when he was battling cancer. I think he learned a lot about perseverance, because I certainly learned a lot during those last few years from him.
I was to the hospital twice for as-yet-unknown stomach ailments. Hospitalized in January for the condition, but no real diagnosis yet. This greatly concerns me. No, I don’t think its cancer or anything life threatening at all, but who really wants to go through life with things going on in your own body that you have no clue as to what’s doing on?
Our car’s engine blew up a few months back. No, its not in the same category as the other two points already made, but its certainly a negative influence.
Good things have happened though. I think. Why is it so hard to remember the good things sometime? Most times. Ok, all the time.
Most folks might argue with this one, but I think I’ve matured this year. That’s a good thing, though I do still question why all of these nasty aches and pains that keep cropping up have to be connected with it. I do still like to complain around those who are a bit more seasoned than me. I think it really makes their day sometimes to say things like, “You haven’t seen anything yet” or “Just wait another 10 years and see what you’ll be saying then.” I think it gives them a sense of superiority, and rightly so. I’m still a whippersnapper in the eyes of many, and always will be. Absolutely nothing is wrong with that either.
I’ve gone more gray this year. Positive or negative…you decide! I have had fewer people think I’m forty though, which is a great improvement. I don’t quite know how to take it though. I think my age is finally catching up to my hair and now folks are keeping quiet about it.
The sad thing is that this started out so seriously, but has descended into this. Of course, that’s the lesson that I continue to learn from year to year, which has once again been confirmed this year also.
Laugh.
Nearly everything can be funny, and life is much less meaningful if it is totally droll and tedious. We can’t let negativity rule us. Whether in the spiritual realm, political players, the work environment, or at home, there is no reason to have our panties in a continued bunch over things that we have little control over. People work themselves into a tizzy over the most meaningless things. Life is fun. Its meant to be enjoyed.
Today is my birthday. Its going to be a lovely Wednesday afternoon here in Northeast Ohio. I only ask one favor of you all.
Smile.
Ahh New Orleans…
Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.
"As I explained to you before," Scott answered, "Just because someone isn't in the news cycle anymore, doesn't mean he or she ceases to exist."
Its an IMAO thing, check it out. George signs Jenna and Barbara up for the Marines.
Check out the first picture in this post:
Do's And Dont's at The Mudville Gazette
And so goes the newest incarnation of the Republican’s 1994 “Contract With America”. This time around, the opposing side has crafted a “Contract With Ohio” that reads as such.
Nice little set of pledges, isn’t it? Now let us compare it with only a part of the 1994 Contract.
To go further, the Republicans proposed actual bills that would be introduced into Congress to back up these pledges. Of course, now that we’re removed by 11 years, some of these things have gone by the wayside for bigger fish, but the enticement of the entire Contract With America was that it wasn’t just a bunch of empty promises, but it was a written pledge that not only did they promise to do something, these are the exact things that they would do. The American citizen was then able to look at their Congressman and say, “Why did you do this? You said right here that you would.”
The “Contract With Ohio” makes no such pledge. It is nothing more than “Seriously, we can do better. No really, we can! Just give us a chance, please? With sugar on top?”
Or my stomach more specifically.
I had the distinct pleasure, disregarding circumstances, of sampling the effectiveness of the Windham Emergency Squad service last evening (Thursday night). Having suffered the aftereffects of a nasty little stomach virus, I finally was able to eat at Fifty Plus on Thursday morning.
(For the uninitiated, Fifty Plus is a Bible study at church for folks who are aged fifty years and up. If you’re not busy on a Thursday morning at 10:00 and have a couple of hours to burn, come on over! We shoot the breeze for a bit, sing for a bit, study for a bit, and then have a nice lunch made by members of the group. Its mighty fine eatin’ I must say. We’re even going out to eat this week. Maplewood rocks!)
So the afternoon passed with some odd pains in my stomach, which looked as if I suddenly became a pack a day’er, and not the “Walk a Mile for my Camel” pack either. At about 8:30, things began taking a turn for the worse, and by 9:30, the pain became debilitating. Of course, being the man of the house, and having no family close, the Lady of the house and I debated as to what to do, should she drive me to the hospital? What about the kids? This would be so much easier if we had family closer, but alas, with a preaching job, that’s not generally available. Finally, I told her to call the Squad, because I don’t really think I’d have made it to the hospital in the car. It was less than five minutes from call time to them showing up (I think, I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention at the time).
By this time, I was doubled over in pain on the living room floor, two of our friends were at the house getting the kids to take to their house for the night, two squad guys (sorry guys, I can’t remember your names) were checking me out, and my wife was frantickly running around trying to get everything gathered up for everyone.
I have to admit, I was in some serious pain by this time. My stomach continued to feel like it was about to explode out of my belly like that creepy scene in Alien, but I was also having some extreme back pain. It felt as if someone had a steel bar and ran it right between two of my vertebra in the middle of my back. Lovely feeling.
So I’m strapped into the bed and in the truck, and at my behest, my wife is going to follow us to the hospital with one of the formerly mentioned friends. It was at this time (I later learned) that the driver of the Squad commented to my wife that most men insist on their wives doing such or something of the sort. Normally I’d cry foul, but really, he’s right. And he’s a good driver too, so I’d best keep my mouth shut. Because I’ve got an IV in my hand, groovy heart monitor thingy on a finger on the other hand, a blood pressure cuff on my left arm, and the saline is flowing freely! Ahh life! Now if it just wasn’t for all of this nasty pain, we’d be having a party. Of course, I’m also making the guy in back with me nervous, because he’s concerned that I’m having a heart attack or something.
But I’m not.
Really!
No pain in the arms, no pain the the shoulders, no pain in the chest, I’m being a pain in the neck, but other than that, and the stomach, oh, and the back, everything’s ok. And we’re making seriously good time to Ravenna, which is also incredibly cool. Speeding rocks! I even got wheeled into the hospital on the bed! Having called in to the hospital about five minutes before, we expected them to have a place ready to go. But no! Surprise for the guy with the terrible horrible pain in his stomach! You don’t go here. No? Where should we go? I’m not sure, check up front. So he checked. No idea.
Swell.
I do love being the center of attention sometimes. This is not one of those times. Especially when a nurse is making light conversation with the guys trying to unload me into their care. “You going to get a new battery?” I’m not a violent guy, but I would have slapped her if I could have at the time. Ha ha, very funny. Jokey McJokerson. Go have some cake while the funny little man writhes in pain. Seeing pain every day does desensitize you, doesn’t it?
FINALLY, I was put in a bed, wished well by my two temporary companions, whom I will always appreciate. A nurse comes in, asks me the same questions that my temporary companions did, tried to get blood from the IV that was installed a few minutes before, to seeming no avail, but finally was able. My wife arrived shortly thereafter.
Then my moment of lucid sanity. My pinnacle of triumph. The doctor walks in.
Doctors for the most part are very intelligent persons. They’ve dedicated years of their lives to the study of the human body, how everything works, how this corpuscle moves through that, and this synapse is fired by that stimulant. Smart folks they are, and purport to be. My doctor, though, could have worked a little more on his entry line. To the guy in bed who’s obviously writhing in pain and making no small commotion in the process he says:
“So how are we doing tonight?”
How am I doing? How am I doing? You know how I mentioned that the RealPlayer cancellation line made me want to curse? This was worse. Being a man of sophistication, I looked at the wise doctor and replied:
“I don’t think that’s the least bit funny.”
He mumbled something about how it wasn’t supposed to be. Then he went on to ask the same questions that the nurse asked me before, which were the same questions that my two temporary companions had asked me prior to that. I know that they wrote the answers down somewhere. Why didn’t he just check those before coming in? Maybe it was some sort of test for me. I expect that I passed because he pressed here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. Then he pressed here and here and here and here, which hurt very badly, which he realized, but continued pressing. This man is not a nice man. Not at all. He said he’d get me some phenergan and check a few things (I admit, I’m not paying much attention because of the repeated pressings.) So he walks out with his little assistant. Poor girl. She needs a better teacher.
Two minutes after he leaves the room, I can feel the pain leave my back. It feels like my back was in a vice, and someone quickly released the pressure on the vice. It was gone within three seconds. I have no clue why or how. My stomach still felt bad, but nothing as it was thirty seconds before. Nothing was wrong.
And then they brought the pain medication.
Yes, the pain disappeared before they put the meds in my IV. Not that I told them that or anything, I wasn’t about to go through all of that again that night. No thank you. I happily took a nice little nap. I had gotten to the hospital at 11 pm and was released at 2 am. Not a bad night. There was no official diagnosis, but we were led to believe that it had something to do with the stomach virus I had a few days before, combined with some dehydration. My wife is convinced its gall bladder trouble, considering some abdominal pain I was hospitalized for back in January. Me? I’m just happy to be home again.
To my two temporary travelling companions, thank you very much. I wasn’t necessarily the most willing or best behaved patients to be transported by you, but I am one of the most appreciative. If everyone else gets nearly the same care that I did, they will do well. Thank you.
Cancelling the Realplayer Superpass is one of the toughest things to do. You call their “cancellation number” and listen to nice elevator music for over an hour. It would even drive me to cursing.
Do yourself a favor, call the Customer Support number and press #3 to get a live person within a couple of minutes. They can cancel you with no problem.
The number is 1-866-585-4541.
Call between Monday - Friday, 9:00 am to 9:00 pm - Eastern Time or Saturday - Sunday, 10:30 am to 8:00 pm - Eastern Time.
You will also want to check the comments below because there's a great tip in the second one.
No surgery tomorrow, stinking stomach virii (or viruses for all you Garrettsvillians).
Its horrible to feel horrible.
Not having researched the point much at all, I’m pleasantly surprised to see a wealth of information concerning Community Policing on the Internet. Go figure! Evidently the government has funding and lovely grants in place to facilitate cooperation between police and community volunteers to help the police to be more proactive in their actions rather than simply being reactive to things that have already occurred.
I seem to recall a while back that some of this has already been implemented in Windham, but I’m not entirely certain where I heard it. One of the things I hope to do in the next week or two is get together with the Chief (that just sounds cool) to find out some of his thoughts on the PD/Community relationship and how it can be used to clean up things around here. After some of the comments on the Forum a few months back, tensions can run a bit high I’d guess.
Soon to be Justice Roberts gave an incredibly valuable quote today in his Senate hearing that may have been missed by some. It is one of the clearest statements about the responsibility of a judge concerning the Constitution and Law that I’ve ever heard.
I had someone ask me in this process, I don't remember who it was, but somebody asked me, you know, "Are you going to be on the side of the little guy," and you obviously want to give an immediate answer, but as you reflect on it, if the Constitution says that the little guy should win, the little guy is going to win in court before me. But if the Constitution says that the big guy should win, well, then the big guy is going to win because my obligation is to the Constitution. That's the oath. The oath that a judge takes is not that I'll look out for particular interests; I'll be on the side of particular interests. The oath is to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that's what I would do.
Would that all judges attained to that standard.
A wise man told me that originality simply means that you forgot where you heard something.
This is kind of original.
Three women go down to Mexico one night to celebrate college graduation, get drunk, and wake up in jail, only to find that they are to be executed in the morning, though none of them can remember what they did the night before.
The first one, a redhead, is strapped in the electric chair, and is asked if she has any last words. She says, I just graduated from Brigham Young University and believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on the behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch and nothinghappens. They all immediately prostrate themselves; beg for her forgiveness, and release her.The second one, a brunette, is strapped in and gives her last words, "I just graduated from the Ohio State Moritz College of Law and I believe in the power of justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." They throw the switch and, again, nothing happens. Again, they all immediately prostrate themselves; beg for her forgiveness, and release her.
The last one, a blonde, is strapped in and says, "Well, I'm from the University of Michigan and just graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and I'll tell ya right now, y'all ain't gonna electrocute nobody if you don't plug this thing in."
