Madison County's Lincoln Day Dinner will feature the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder. Householder has been a staunch supporter of the restoration of self-defense rights in Ohio via concealed carry reform.

The annual GOP event will be held Friday, February 28, beginning at 6 p.m., in the First United Methodist Church, 52 N. Main St., London. A social hour and dinner will precede Householder's speech.

Tickets for the event can be obtained from any Republican central committee member.

Those interested also may contact Kitchen at (614) 879-6400, Gladys Griffith at (740) 852-0270 or Sidney Schafer at (614) 879-8058.

Click here to read the entire story in the Madison (County) Press.

The Gongwer News Agency is reporting that State Rep. Jeffrey Manning, a second term Republican from North Ridgeville, will resign to accept appointment as Lorain County prosecutor. Mr. Manning won appointment to the post after Lorain County Republican Party members voted Tuesday night to have him replace Greg White, who was nominated by President Bush as U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio.

Last November, Mr. Manning's re-election campaign was identified by OFCC PAC as a KEY RACE. A lot of hard work went into ensuring that this seat was held by a pro-CCW Representative.

Recommendations/ requests that Manning's replacement share his values on CCW/ self-defense rights may be voiced to the Lorain County Republican Party, by calling (440) 233-6298, or by writing a letter to 2303 Cleveland Blvd., Lorain, OH 44052.

OFCC PAC will continue to monitor the process of seeking Manning's replacement.

Click here to read the story from the Gongwer News Service.

Cincinnatians, still suffering with the rest of Ohio from the denial of their self-defense rights, are under a violent crime seige.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting a 117 percent increase in the number of Cincinnati homicides so far this year, compared with the same period in 2002, when six people were killed. And last year's 65 slayings were a 15-year high.

Detectives have made arrests in six of the 2003 killings. That adds up to a closure rate of only around 50 percent.

"Murder is an extremely difficult crime to prevent," said Capt. Robert Snow, an Indianapolis homicide supervisor who has written many books on killings. "Take the domestic violence ones - unless you find people with domestic violence charges and assign an officer to their house, you're not going to prevent it."

The homicide rate in Indianapolis (Indiana is a shall-issue concealed carry license state) has declined steadily for the past four years - from 130 when he got the job to 83 last year.

Every day that Ohio's Republican leadership waits to pass concealed carry reform increases the defenseless victim list in our state, and forces otherwise law-abiding citizens into making a choice between facing felony arrest or being unable to defend themselves. This simply should not be.

Click here to read the entire story in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

UPDATE: Deborah Cook was approved by the committee on a 13-2 vote. She now awaits a vote in the full Senate. No vote has yet been scheduled.

The (U.S.) Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote this morning on the nomination of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook to sit on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Almost two years have passed since she was first tapped by President Bush to join the federal bench.

The Akron Beacon Journal has published a lengthy editorial denouncing the hack job that the nation's media (including today's New York Times) has done on Deborah Cook's record.

While it is refreshing to see the BJ stand up for what's right by denouncing this political partisanship, we wonder why they apply their complaints only to Ms. Cook, who is from Akron, and not to the other federal judges that are being "Borked" by Democrats in the U.S. Senate, and not to state issues that are subject to just as much media bias.

As we've been reporting for some months now, the outcome of this national debate will present interesting dynamic for Ohio's Supreme Court, and thus for the CCW ban Hamilton County constitutionality lawsuit, for which OFCC is a funding co-plaintiff. If Cook receives her appointment, Gov. Bob Taft will appoint her replacement to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Click here to read the entire editorial in the Akron Beacon Journal.

The Cincinnati Enquirer agrees.