Stories

Dispatch: Patrol fires three-time best trooper

12:50pm Wednesday, June 04, 2003

A three-time "trooper of the year" has been fired from his job with the State Highway Patrol for conduct unbecoming an officer. Robert L. Burd, 31, was fired on May 20, said patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Robin R. Schmutz. Burd, a union member, has filed a grievance with the state’s Office of Collective Bargaining to fight the dismissal, said spokesman Ben Piscitelli. Burd pleaded not guilty last month...

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Letters to the Editor: Guns are part of the solution, not the problem

12:30pm Wednesday, June 04, 2003

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has printed two excellent responses to an anti-HB12 column published in that paper recently by Case Western Reserve shooting victim Susan Helper. Marc K. Myers' and Tom Meder's letters are both worth a read , but their most basic point can be summed up here: Since everything Biswanath Halder did at CWRU is already illegal, refusing to pass House Bill 12 would do...

Blade: Toledo's violent crime rate on the rise

11:56am Wednesday, June 04, 2003

City officials and the Toledo media are busy touting the fact that a computer glitch falsely indicated Toledo's overall crime rate in 2002 rose by 2%, when in fact it dropped by 1%. The nature of the malfunction caused by some double-counting. But they're certainly not headlining the real story: despite a ban on inexpensive handguns in the city, and despite city-funded gun "buyback" programs (...

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Gun control extremist: Shoot the messenger

10:44am Wednesday, June 04, 2003

In a Washington Times article discussing the notion that gun-control has become a loosing argument for Democrat politicians, anti-self-defense extremists had this to say about the Democrat's unwillingness to focus on passing more gun control laws: "Whoever is advising them on gun control should be shot." -- Blaine Rummel, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Uh, is it just us, or is...

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Dispatch: Householder aims at run for governor down the road

5:50pm Monday, June 02, 2003

In just six years as a House member, Larry Householder has fashioned himself into perhaps the most dominating politician on Capitol Square, filling the power vacuum created by a governor who has been reluctant to lead. The speaker of the Ohio House won't run for governor in 2006, but he plans to be ready in 2010 if a Republican isn't occupying the office, or in 2014, when, at age 54, he'll still...

State budget battles and HB12

7:23am Monday, June 02, 2003

The Ohio General Assembly's struggle to cover a gap between state spending and tax revenue is nearing an end for this fiscal year. The issue worked to delay HB12 slightly in the House earlier this year, and it looks to be having a similar effect in the Senate. No meetings are scheduled on HB12 this week, as Senators and staffs are largely focused on finalizing a budget bill. UPDATE! The Senate...

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Letter to the Editor: Concealed carry can aid public safety

9:21am Friday, May 30, 2003

The Toledo Blade has printed an excellent letter to the editor addressing the exploitation of the CWRU shooting by anti-self-defense extremists . Click on the "Read More..." link below for more. 5/29/03 To the Editor: It was inevitable that insensitive anti-gunners would try to capitalize on the unfortunate shooting at Case Western Reserve University to attempt to derail Ohio’s passage of "...

Letter to Senators from pro-HB12 police officer

8:58am Friday, May 30, 2003

An Ohio police officer and former Marine has copied us on a letter he submitted to the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice. In the letter, Officer Douglas debunks any notion that Ohioans may exercise their constitutional right to self-defense by carrying a firearm "openly", by informing Senators that he was trained in police academy to charge persons doing so with disorderly conduct or inciting...