Opinion Special Edition - The only option available

The only option available

That’s My Opinion – Special Edition

By Bob Robinson

There are two extremely important issues that I have chosen to take a stand on. I’ve already been hammered on one, and I’m guessing I’m about to be hammered on the other.

As the playwright, Neil Simon, said in one of his blockbuster plays, “Seems Like Old Times,” it… well… seems like old times. I was hammered on a regular basis as the editor of your local newspaper. So what else is new?

I didn’t do it to sell papers as some accused, but rather because I wanted people to think! They didn’t have to agree with me, but I did my best to stop the emotional rollercoaster by offering as many facts as possible before presenting my opinion.

This time is no different. The issues are serious. They involve our kids, their safety and wellbeing.

I woke up this morning and found I’ve been accused of selling out to the school district with my stance on the Greenville district’s bond issue. And I’ve been accused of lying for some nefarious reason. That’s okay. I learned to expect that a long time ago.

Just not from someone I liked and thought of as a friend. However, that’s what happens when you open your mouth and take responsibility for your opinions.

I won’t go into the reasons I’ve given for supporting the school issue. You’ll find them on my blog. What I’m doing now is offering a challenge to naysayers… meet me at South School, 9:30 Saturday morning. Take the tour with me. Check it out.

Then tell me you want your kids and grandkids to go there.

The other issue is the firestorm that seems to be brewing over John Graham speaking at the Republican Men’s Club meeting at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.

As you will probably know soon enough, I take full responsibility for it. I’ve also asked him to speak to other groups.

I have mixed feelings about what Graham is doing. His program is legal and on the surface admirable, but it is having an impact on the community in which he lives. I believe that a concentration of sex offenders (or predators) in one neighborhood increases – exponentially – the possibility that a mistake will be made and a child will suffer.

We have to live with the laws of our state, unless we choose ourselves to elect representatives who will change them. But what can we do on the local level?

Talk to each other!!

I’ve been told C4C won’t talk to Graham. And Graham says he won’t talk to the group because he won’t be involved in what he calls a “feeding frenzy.”

Doesn’t accomplish a damn thing, folks.

People say Graham won’t speak to the community. False. He will speak to anyone willing to discuss the issue on a civil level. If you find out otherwise, let me know.

He has talked to me and he’s talked to the media. He’s had to answer some tough questions. He speaks to his Citizens Circle (community residents and leaders) all the time. And I’ve offered him an opportunity to speak to any group that will listen, question and interact without turning it into a shouting match.

You don’t like outside sex offenders coming into our community? You have to change the laws in Columbus. You want to figure out the best way of dealing with it locally? You have to work with the people responsible for bringing them here.

That means Graham and the Citizen Circle.

Talking may not be the best option in everyone’s mind, but right now it’s the only one available.

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive notification of his comments, opinions and reports when they are posted, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.