Sign; Ostriches ahead

Small business people for years have been complaining that Cleveland's sign ordinance is anti-business. Everyone is restricted except the good-ol-boys in the billboard business. Just last month, orders were given to dispose of all roadside signs on city property, including political signs, but excluding the good-ol-boys in the real estate business. The message is, you live and pay taxes in Cleveland but you are not entitled to equal treatment.

Cleveland Mayor, Tom Rowland, after presiding over the sign ban now wants more signs erected to fleece the eagerly anticipated influx of Volkswagen workers. The idea seems good to him, signs attract people's attention, so a museum full of paying customers learning about the achievements of Cleveland's good-ol-boys is what he would call a win-win situation. The fact that the ordinary small business riffraff may like to attract customers too on an equal basis eludes him.

And what about the political signs? The good-ol-boys running for office know plenty of other good-ol-boy property owners on the High Street willing to display their re-election picture but again, the little guy wanting to help his fellow little guys will get his face smashed at the behest of people like Rowland.

Cleveland IS a great place to live, but for whom?

What do you think?

School punishment

On page 20 of this issue you can read a great guest editorial by Donace Martin, on the victimization of a Bradley County history teacher who trod on a few high ranking toes.

Anyone who knows me will vouch for my unwavering support of the freedom of speech. While I personally believe a responsibility for one's actions is part of that freedom, in some cases speaking out can provoke dire punishment no one should be forced to endure.

Speaking out is self limiting in the sense that few will agree if  there is no truth in what you speak. On the other hand, if the truth needs telling, people will listen.

I believe some members of the Bradley County Board of Education want to stifle free speech because they fear the truth and that too many people will find out what they are up to. The Russians tried to keep out the truth with walls and SS police. The school board is doing it with intimidation and regulation. Stopping people from addressing their concerns by petitioning their elected representatives is in violation of the US Constitution and is better suited to a communist regime. We Americans do not appreciate dictators with communist tendencies infusing their self-serving doctrines on the populus.

That's what I think.  What do you think?

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