----- Original Message -----
Subject: This MY "Safe Alternative"
From: Eric Wolford
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005
To: info@ofcc.net

Hello,

Let me start with this...My name is Eric E. Wolford, and I am a member of
OFCC. I am so very proud to be a member of an organization
that is so incredibly informative.

I live in Columbus, Ohio, and I am a small business owner. I am a huge
advocate for HB 12 (in spite of its shortcomings) and my wife and I sleep so
much better knowing that we are have at least a fighting chance in defending
ourselves against would-be thugs and criminals. We have adapted well to the
"Concealed Carry" way of life, and although sometimes an extreme
inconvenience...we wouldn't have it any other way.

I thought you might enjoy a picture of the front door to my sign shop here
in Columbus...It is definitely a Safe Alternative.

Thanks again for your continued efforts to improve the quality of life...at
least here in Ohio.

Sincerely,

Eric Wolford
Affordable Signs & Banners
Columbus, Ohio
www.cheapgraphix.com

Editor's Note: Thanks Eric. As you can see, we enjoyed your photo immensely. With just a little Photoshop fun, we've given this armed bad guy a choice between your door, and one from the door of a "no-guns" credit union that was robbed recently (also in Columbus). Looks like he's about to make the same decision the last robber did...

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View the complete list of Safe Alternative Vendors, who refuse to turn their stores into criminal protection zones.

Click here to view the EXTENSIVE list of businesses across Ohio which have removed their "no-guns signs and opened their doors to Ohio CHL-holders.

Download the Safe Alternative sign (.pdf) and Thank You letter to share with these businesses.

The Youngstown Vindicator reported Monday that local law enforcement are growing more certain every day that a decision to enforce an early prisoner-release program in order to save money is influencing local crime rates.

From the story:

Austintown made 18 more felony arrests this March than in March 2004.

In the past month, Liberty police have investigated three armed robberies, including a bank robbery.
And Boardman police also have seen an increase in crime in the past few weeks.

Although Austintown Police Chief Gordon Ellis says the spike in crime could be the result of many factors, the Mahoning County Justice Center's decision to turn prisoners away because of financial constraints can't be discounted.

"It would appear to be a factor," the chief said.

Liberty Police Chief Anthony Slifka and Boardman Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson concur.

"When there are more people committing crimes out on the streets and not in jail, the crime rate will increase," Slifka said.

On April 28, Boardman officers arrested two men, charging them with breaking into Market Street businesses. One of the suspects had been arrested for similar crimes April 13, Patterson said.

Speaking of former prisoners, the Mansfield News Journal is reporting that police are looking for a missing parolee who has been to prison twice, and who has a "history of violence, including domestic violence and disorderly conduct convictions."

"He's not a nice guy," said John Mayer, supervisor for the Ohio Adult Parole Authority.

And they released him why?

Related Story:
Justice system failures = new Ohio victims

The Akron Beacon Journal Sunday informed readers that a man who has been writing to the Beacon Journal for more than forty years found it necessary to seek an unlisted phone number after being "subjected to repeated harassment in the form of early morning phone calls and anonymous hate mail."

From the story:

That's typical for these calls. Always anonymous. Always cynical and sarcastic. Always an attack on the person. Never a reasoned response. Always with the intent of stifling that person's point of view.

Another reader claimed to have received early-morning, profanity-laced phone calls after penning a letter critical of a conservative commentator. (Editors' aside: To read the article, it would appear only liberal letter-writers are subjected to harassment. Anyone believe that?)

The reason this story, by BJ Editor Mike Needs, caught our eye was this:

During 11th-hour debate over what eventually became Ohio's Concealed Carry Law, when concealed-carry advocates protested a provision that newspapers are now abusing by publishing the names of CHL-holders in the newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal called the idea that criminals might use these lists to target guns for theft a "flimsy presumption". Gannett News Columbus Bureau Chief Jim Siegel said warnings about the dangers of publishing the list of CHL-holders "elevate these criminals to a level of sophistication they very likely do not possess..." At the time, even Attorney General Jim Petro called such a scenario "a stretch".

After reading of the types of harassment these letter-writers are suffering after voluntarily having their names published in the newspaper, is the potential for discrimination by anti-gun employer, or of being targeted for theft, or of a domestic-violence survivor being located and victimized, really such a flimsy presumption after all?

May 3, 2005
Toledo Blade

I wonder how much thought was given by a Forum writer ("Public park no place for a gun") to the idea that there are some people in our environment who couldn't care less about the law.

These are some of the people who commit antisocial acts of myriad kinds, whose power is a surprise. The victims are usually not prepared for assault or being overpowered by a person who has planned his attack.

Those "ignorant" people who were there (at the Picnic in the Park) were some retired police officers, former military of many descriptions (Army, Navy, Marines, etc.), and civilians who simply want our constitutional rights as citizens of the U.S.A.

This was part of what we fought for in our wars - freedom and liberty under our law. Most of us are quite familiar with firearms, having used them in our wars or in civilian occupations and as instruments of sport.

We would like to see many people become educated with firearms so that their fears about them could be assuaged. Many of us would gladly teach classes of inquirers regarding firearms at our conservation clubs, gun clubs, and hunter education classes, all of which I have done, as have others.

Guns are not to be feared; only the people who misuse them should be feared.

Milton C. Mann
Luckey