News Herald from Port Clinton, Ohio • 4

Monday, October 27, 1997 The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Opinio 1 News Herald, Port Clinton, Ohio A4 uic3if Sonny Two Hawks Rodrique's And perhaps with its love for the land and concern for the welfare of the whole community even the best phone always rings off the hook this tone of year. And he smiles, then shakes his head. Well-intentioned grade school that ever been here. Yet when my wife and I watch this year's World Series, we can't help but recall another teachers are trying to fit Rodrique, a Memphis resident and head of the Native American Spir itual Alliance, into next month's class schedule.

14 image another l. TLi Par or another For the moment, they want him to complete the Thanksgiving image of Pilgrims and Indians Europeans and Native Americans sitting down and breaking bread. su uiaiu wiien we moved into a rental house in upstate New York a few years ago. Hanging above an Tim Chavez Commentary Yet for another year, they really are wanting him to fill the role society has carved for Native Americans. Even if it means reinforcing and designed to draw attention to a posed state highway that would run through four ancient Native American settlements that may contain graves.

"(In our heritage) We have four directions and have one circle," Tubos said. "That circle cannot be broken. "We pray to Mother Earth, the eagle who is the highest spirit and the buffalo who has the greatest spirit of all. We pray for all. We do not pray for gold or money.

We pray for our tradition. That way we have total peace. "We feel the power. We feel the greatness. We remember our roots here with Mother Earth.

We keep our religion sacred. We keep our circles together, and we do not break our circles. We must all come back to being one." Yes, search and you can find a Native American who will say the fool of a Cleveland mascot doesn't bother him or her. Search, and maybe there's an African-American who wouldn't object to the watermelon depiction. But a more meaningful search should be within, not without.

Then you'll realize Native Americans aren't cartoons or killers or museum pieces. And that it's time we quit treating them and their culture that way. Write Tim Chavez at The Ten-nessean, 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203. the beleaguered Tennessee Oilers of the NFL. And the outrage would grow with a cartoonish depiction of a white man with a huge mouth and beer gracing helmets.

Sure, there are people who drink beer here and named Bubba. But it's not a true image of most folks here and what people have to offer society. And when enough Bubbas and loved ones complained, such an image would be no more. But Native Americans don't receive the same consideration, be it in images or in the desecration of the graves of infant ancestors as is the case with the real estate development rush in Middle Tennessee. And our children quickly learn.

Chief Toriono Tubos, grandson of Geronimo, also gets calls and visits classes. He's president of Eagle Spirit Productions in Nashville. "Students I talk to tell me, 'You know when we came here, we were scared," Tubos said. "'But you're not like what I see on "What does TV sell to the minds of our young people?" Tubos asks. "It makes me cry because you know these kids have been fearing you." What TV could tell young people, what sports teams could accentuate and what more teachers could tell young people, is something completely different and more beneficial to all.

"Right now greed has taken over," Tubos said one fall afternoon as he prepared to enter a prayer circle Editorial Red Ribbon Week delivers crucial message Red Ribbon Week is more than seven days long. It officially started last Thursday and continues until Friday. And it's more than a simple observance. Red Ribbon Week is designed to focus serious attention on a critical problem. It's designed to promote a drug-free lifestyle and encourage efforts against substance abuse.

The observance began in California in 1985, after a drug enforcement agent named Enrique Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered by drug traffickers in Mexico. His family wore red ribbons in his honor to his funeral, and the idea grew from there. "Communities and groups all over the country took up (the Red Ribbon idea)," said Patricia Harmon, executive director of Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth. In 1988, Ohio picked up the program, which focuses on raising awareness by presenting a unified commitment to creating a drug-free state. "Red Ribbon Week is basically a visual marketing strategy to tie together all our other (drug-prevention) activities throughout the year," said Bobbie Herron, director of Sandusky County TASC (Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime).

This year's theme is "Join Hands Together Be Drug Free." Communities and schools throughout the area have been participating in the effort as a special emphasis is directed at convincing youth not to get involved with using illegal substances. It's an observance worth joining and a message worth sharing and listening too. Many of the problems which we bemoan today are directly related to substance abuse. Crime, welfare abuses, unproductive workers, broken families, health care costs and health problems can all be traced to drug and alcohol use. Because of the impact on the human beings suffering from addiction and because of the impact on society, it is important that our community find a way to support programs designed to reduce this huge problem.

Quotes Hong Kong stock market woes affect Europe and U.S. "Nobody knows which way to go." Tatsuya Enomoto, chief foreign exchange dealer at Sumitomo Bank Ltd. in New York, after a panicky stock sell-off in Hong Kong last Thursday reverberated throughout Europe and the United States. Affordable child care is a Clinton priority building stereotypes. Even if it means ignoring the rest of a heritage that has so much to teach a nation whose families and communities are deteriorating and drifting apart.

And that what is troubling about millions of Americans this week interior garage door was a wood carving of a young black child with the same kind of wide-eyed, exaggerated, fool of a smile used in Cleveland's insignia. And in his lap was the object of his affection: a giant slice of watermelon. We trashed the carving, and later, a region we found to have many times more bigots than anywhere in the Deep South of Middle Tennessee. Sure, a lot of black kids like watermelon. They do smile.

Indians do, too. But the cartoonish nature of the depictions picked by the majority to accentuate tells us "these people" are not to be taken seriously. Just recognized and held up as mascots or worse. If team names were being selected, few people here would accept "The Tennessee Bubbas" as a mascot for watching, cheering and thus accepting an image on TV of a smiling fool of an Indian on Cleveland baseball caps and uniforms. One image is not all that important.

And exercises just for political correctness often backfire in a nation suffering compassion fatigue. But step back there is a wider picture. This specific image is one of the pillars holding up a structure of gross ignorance and disrespect of a people, culture and heritage first here. arm warming? C3jmm "Nothing is more important than finding child care that is affordable, accessible and safe. It is America's next great frontier in strengthen ing our families and our future.

President Clinton at a White House confer ence on finding ways to boost the quality of child Other voices U.S. hasn't set targets for reducing emissions There's a curious silence from the White House on the subject of global warming. Less than two months before a United Nations summit on climate change in Kyoto, the Clinton administration has yet to propose targets or timeliness for reducing emission of greenhouse gases. This uncharacteristic reticence suggests that the administration is buckling under political pressure and sacrificing a chance for visionary leadership. Depending on whom you talk to, global warming is either an urgent, terrifying menace of humans' own making or the paranoid delusion of self-impressed pseudo-scientists with some gradation existing between these extremes.

President Clinton and Vice President Gore have not been among the doubters. They appear convinced of the need to change energy policies and consumption habits, and seem persuaded that such changes could have a net economic benefit. And they know that U.S. leadership is important symbolically and practically, since the United States, with just 4 percent of the world's population, produces one-fifth its greenhouse gases. So what explains their reluctance to commit to targets and a timeline for reducing emissions? It must be politics.

Unconvinced of public support and loath to antagonize industry, they don't want to go out on a limb. But their hesitation puts them on one, since they could disappoint a constituency that trusts them to provide aggressive leadership. The News Observer Raleigh, N.C. U.S. behind on setting targets for reducing While the nation's music lovers mourn the death of popular singer-song writer John Denver, West Virginians have a special reason to be saddened.

It is probably correct to say that Denver was the author of West Virginia's own "national anthem." His "Take Me Home, County Roads" has certainly been the state's unofficial state song since the country music entertainer introduced it back in the 1970s. He called us "Almost Heaven" and became our adopted son. Denver, who was honored as the Country Music Entertainer of the Year in 1975, permanently endeared himself to many West Virginians with this song. Times-West Virginian, port. Please vote no on Issue 7.

Dianne M. Rozak Danbury Township trustee care without raising costs. Write on Governor George Voinovich, Republican, Riffe Center, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Phone: 614-466-3555. U.S.

House Paul Gillmor, R-Old Fort, 5th District. Washington address: 1203 Longworth House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6405 or 1-800-541-6446. Local: 120 Jefferson St.

2nd Floor, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452. Phone: 734-1999. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, 9th District. Washington address: 2104 Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.

Phone: 202-2254146. Local: 234 Summit Room 719, Toledo, Ohio 43604. Phone: 419-259-7500. U.S. Senate John Glenn, 503 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C.

20510. Phone: 202-224-3353. Michael DeWine, 140 Russell Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-2315.

E-mail address: sendewinedewine.senate.gov Ohio Senate Karen 'Gillmor, R-Old Fort. State address: Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio 43266-0604; phone: 614-466-8049; fax: 614466-7662. Local: P.O. Box 150, Old Fort, Ohio 44861. Phone: 992-4783.

Robert Latta, R-Bowling Green, State address: Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio 43266-0604; phone: Voice of the people Rezoning property on Englebeck Road is unnecessary On election day, Issue 7 will appear on the ballot for Danbury Township residents. The issue will ask that 8.4 acres on the west side of Englebeck Road be rezoned from agricultural to R-2 (suburban residential). When this request came before the Board of Township Trustees, I voted against the rezoning. Why? Because I strongly believe in controlled development in our township. This property could be effectively developed as one-acre house lots instead of three homes per acre as is requested.

Dense development creates increased traffic and greatly overburdens our fragile infrastructure. For several months I participated in a committee to update our land use plan. In the plan, this property is recommended for agricultural use -which includes development of one house per acre. I strongly believe in our land use plan and will continue to do all that I can to uphold its recommendations. I believe that rezoning this property is unnecessary and I ask for your sup Workers' compensation reforms were written ensure prompt payment of benefits and to emphasize the use of rehabilitative services to help injured Ohioans return to work sooner.

Issue 2 is good for workers, taxpayers and businesses. The reforms will prevent abuse of the system while ensuring that people receive the benefits they deserve. Now is the time to consider the proven, positive effects of reform. Although opponents of Issue 2 are trying to scare the public out of accepting worker's compensation reforms, I urge every resident to look past the rhetoric and consider the facts. There is no use in preserving a system that does not work.

With these reforms, the state of Ohio is improving important benefits so they are available for years to come. Without change, there can be no progress. The changes made by the reforms of Issue 2 will help Ohio progress into the next century by protecting our workers and eliminating the abuse of this system. On Nov. 4, cast your vote for progress and vote yes on Issue 2.

Robert E. Latta State Senator Second District R-Bowling Green Issue 2 will change inefficient workers' compensation system Voters in the state of Ohio will have the opportunity next month to approve far-reaching reforms to the state's workers' compensation system. These reforms are meant to change a system that is inefficient and unresponsive to the needs of injured workers and employers. The current workers' compensation system is better known for red tape and delays than it is for prompt payments and clear access to medical and rehabilitative services. On Nov.

4, State Issue 2 will simply ask voters to approve reform measures recommended by Governor Voinovich and a majority of legislators. A yes vote will eliminate waste and crack down of fraud within the system. A yes vote will also reduce the need for personal injury lawyers. 614-466-8060. Local: 1446 Rosewood Drive, Bowling Green, 43402.

tnome; 419-352-1956. Ohio House Darrell Opfer, D-Oak Harbor, 53d Ohio House of Representatives, 77 S. High Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603. Phone: 614-644-6011 Local: 12342 W. Ohio 105, Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449.

Phone: 419-898-3962. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, 89th District, State address: Ohio House of Representatives, 77 S. High Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603. Phone: 614466-1374. Local address: 1014 Birchard Fremont; phone: 355-1022.

E-mail address REXNWOinO.COM Your opinions Editorial Board EMAIL: newshrld aol.com Dave Baith General manager Cynthia L. Reza City editor FAX: Our 24-hour number is 734-1850. John Dye Executive editor Niki Cox News editor Letters policy We welcome your letters of 300 words or less, a maximum of one per month please. All contributions are subject to editing for length and grammar and must include name, address and phone number for verification. We want to hear from you.

To send your comments: CALL: To arrange a guest column call City Editor Cynthia L. Reza, 734-3141. WRITE: Letters to the Editor, News Herald, P.O. Box 550, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452 ike.