Thankful Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving people always ask me what I am thankful for. This year I decided instead of telling everyone I would just tell them to read this column. So just what am I thankful for you may wonder? I am thankful for everything in my life right now, but I want to highlight some of the things that I am most thankful for. I am really thankful for my terrific family and friends because without them my life would be very boring. I would like to thank Uncle Mike, Uncle Joe, Uncle Nick, Aunt Wendy, Aunt Nancy, my mom, my dad, and all of my other family and friends for all they have done for me over the course of my life. My family is great and I love all of them a lot! Besides family I am really thankful for food and having a nice house to live in. I think a lot of times we don’t really stop and think about how good our life is. Sometimes we get wrapped up in our daily lives and just forget how good of a life we are living. This year I will spending Thanksgiving in Lima, Ohio with all of my family and I am really looking forward to it. I always enjoy Thanksgiving because I always eat tons of food and get a chance to sit down and visit with all my family and friends. It is going to be a little bit tough without my grandma around this year because we always went to her house for Thanksgiving, but I am going to try and remember all those fun Thanksgivings that I had with her. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Asking for another levy is nothing but a slap in the face

When I found out that the Green Local School District was announcing that another levy could be on the ballot in 2013 I was shocked. First of all I know it is important to inform the public of the future finances, but somewhere you have to draw the line. 2013 is three years away and the school board is already worried about it? If you ask me it is absolutely ridiculous that the school board would even mention another levy after the voters just approved a renewal in November. Do we the voters get any appreciation for passing the last levy? No, we get another possible levy slapped in our faces. Couldn’t the school board wait at least a month to discuss the issue of another levy? No they waited a few weeks later and already started preaching to the public. Informing the public that the district is going to need more money is good, but when you do it three years in advance it upsets voters.
The question I raise is if the district is in need of more money than why didn’t they just try and pass a regular levy this past November? It most likely would have failed, so I can see why the district stuck with the renewal levy. It just blows my mind that the school board would have enough nerve to say they need more money after a levy just passed on November 3rd. This poor decision may just cost them some votes when the next levy comes around!

Another year older

Monday I turned 19-years-old, but I still feel like I am 18. Once you get past age 18, birthdays are not as exciting, but they are still worth celebrating. I feel like I have lived a great 19 years and I look forward to the years to come. This year I celebrated my birthday by sleeping in and raking leaves in the afternoon. I tried to relax and enjoy the day, but I felt like I had to do something productive. That evening my parents took me out to dinner. They told me to pick the place but I had a hard time deciding because there are so many good places to eat at. Finally I decided to go to Rockne’s in North Canton. The service was quick and the food was excellent. It was a great birthday dinner that I really enjoyed.
This upcoming weekend I am planning to have some family and friends over to celebrate my birthday. We usually have cake and ice cream and then later on we get pizza for everyone. If the weather holds up we will play football in my backyard. I look forward to the yearly football game at my birthday party because it is a lot of fun. Last year it rained so we didn’t get a chance to play. Finally I want thank everyone for all the birthday wishes that I received this past week. It was interesting all the different ways that people wished me a happy birthday. I had a few call on the phone, some texted me, some wrote on my Facebook wall, and finally some mailed cards to me.

Why issue 3 passed

There were two issues that I was keeping a close eye on and they were issue 3 and the Green renewal levy. Here are some thoughts on both of these issues.
Issue 3
I figured that state issue 3 was going to be close, but I wasn’t sure if it would pass or fail. Many who voted the issue down are wondering why it passed. The answer is simple, jobs. Issue 3 promises to bring 34,000 jobs to the state of Ohio. These jobs will be people building the casinos and people working at the casinos. Will there be 34,000 jobs? Well know one really knows the answer to that, but personally I don’t think that many jobs will be created.
I told a supporter of issue 3 that it will take 20 years until we get all those jobs here, but if the jobs come that is great. In this poor economy it would be nice to get any new jobs in this state.
Personally I will never go to the casino once they are built and open here in Ohio, but people will. I am not a fan of casinos because they destroy families, but the issue passed and there is nothing I can do about it. People just need to use their brains and not blow a lot of money at the casino. Only time will tell if issue 3 was a good deal for us.
Green School Levy
I am really glad that the school levy passed. It would have been horrible to see if fail and 60 teachers lose their jobs. I know many of the teachers in the district and they are all really great people. The only thing I wonder is when Green will put another levy before voters. I have a feeling it might happen in May or next November.
All and all the election turned out how I wanted it to. It will be nice to not have to listen to all those political ads on TV anymore.

Supporting Green levy is important

Issue 53 is a very important issue for the Green Local School District. There are a lot of facts to keep in mind when heading to the polls on November 3rd. Issue 53 is a renewal levy that will not raise property taxes for homeowners. The levy will not generate funds for the school district, but it will keep it stable and prevent any cuts. If the levy would fail, around 60 teachers would lose their jobs. The Green community needs to get out and support this levy because losing 60 teachers would be rough for the district. I think it is very important to support the schools in your community. Students’ getting a good education is very important because students like me are the future of this world. Getting a good education now will land you in college and then a good job in the future. I know I have learned many interesting things in my 12 years of schooling. I have been lucky to have gone to such nice schools in Green. I thank every voter that has supported the schools though good times and bad. If it was not for the community the schools would be nothing. I am graduated now, but I know that the schools are important places and they need our support to get through these tough times. Green High School was a beautiful school that had excellent staff members and lots of great activities that everyone could enjoy.
I encourage everyone in Green to get out and support our schools on November 3rd. Let’s keep our schools excellent by supporting issue 53 on November 3rd.

Here come the levy signs

I guess I should have waited another day before writing my last column. On Wednesday I wrote a column talking about how the Green Local School District was taking way too long to get yard signs out for the upcoming levy. By Thursday evening I was placing a school levy sign in my front yard.  I am pleased that signs are being distributed and the campaign is getting into gear. As I said in my other column communication is key and yard signs let people know that a levy is on the ballot. I’m glad the district got its act together before it was too late because this is a very important levy that must pass!

Green levy could fail due to the lack of communication

I hate to be negative about this levy especially when I am working with a group online to try and pass the levy, but I am a little worried about the passing of the Green levy.
The lack of communication could hurt the levy this November because people don’t know anything about it. Until October 12th I had no clue what the number of the issue was. In case you are wondering its issue 53. 
The school board has talked about the levy for a while, but no straight forward information was given to the public until the October 8th meeting.
Personally I still have yet to see a yard sign for the levy and it is three weeks before the election. How do you expect to pass a levy if you don’t advertise it?
I know money is tight in the district, but you have to put some effort into advertising or else people won’t know about it and they won’t know to get our and support it.
There have been a few articles in the paper about the levy, but most of them all talk about the negative aspect of the levy. I feel like all I am hearing about is the negative aspect of this levy rather than the positive side. There really isn’t a big positive side to this levy expect we will save many programs and teachers.
We need to tell people to get out and support the levy rather than telling them how many jobs were going to cut.
I think it is a great idea to threaten the public with the cuts because you have to be aggressive or else people won’t support the levy. Back in May the district never said what they were going to cut before the levy so sure enough, it failed.
Communication is key, but somewhere down the line the district must have forgotten what the word communication means.
I give a lot of credit to teacher and students for spreading the word to their families and neighbors. Sometimes the staff and students have to do their best when the levy committee fails to do their job. Yard signs should have been up at the start of October, not the end of the month. Hopefully the district gets its act together before it is too late.

Next Week:
Supporting issue 53 is important.

Banning texting while driving has a few loopholes

Last week Summit County Councilman Jon Ponda introduced legislation to ban texting while driving. Personally I think it is a great idea, but there are a few loopholes that need to be figured out. I recently received this comment from Phillip Helon who is an attorney at law:
They should ban it. It would be tough to prove though—looking down to answer the cell phone could be construed as texting. Ultimately it would be the cop’s word v. the suspect, and the cop usually wins. The clear defense would be to produce the phone bill which would exculpate you if you were not texting. Also, if you denied it, the cop (actually prosecutor) could attempt to subpoena the phone bill if you deny texting, but then you have a privacy issue, and a very good argument that the right to privacy trumps the request for the phone bill. I can see all of the litigation already!! Good for the lawyers!! And how is it limited to texting—I have the iPhone, and often use it for driving directions (it also get the news, etc). Will looking at your phone for driving directions be illegal too? This is the “slippery slope” that the legislators need to think about. They propose legislation with the best intentions, but don’t think through all of the issues. Moreover, what about navigation on the car, is it going to be illegal to look at the driving directions?? I know some navigation has voice over, but still people look at the map. Very interesting issue.
He presents a lot of good points. If Summit County wants to ban texting while driving they are going to have to make some guidelines. If you really think about it we do a lot of dangerous things while we drive. Taking your eyes off the road for one minute could cause you to be involved in a wreck. It seems like everyone is so busy now a days that they figure they can multi task while driving. I wish people would just focus on driving and worry about everything else they need to do once they are off the road. It will be interesting to see if any more is said about this ban in the coming weeks. I truly think it is a great idea, but some kinks need to be worked out.

Keep the casinos out of Ohio

 I can’t even believe we are going to try and bring casinos to Ohio again. The issue of casinos in Ohio was defeated in 1990, 1996, 2006, and 2008. It is interesting that they are trying to pass this issue yet again when it has been defeated by a wide margin in the years past. Once again this issue has a lot of loopholes and it is way too good to be true. Do you really think 34,000 jobs are going to be created? There is no way that casinos are the answer to bringing more jobs to Ohio. This amendment would create a private monopoly controlled by four casino owners. Plus two of the four properties are controlled by OUT OF STATE casino owner/developers. You know these out of state casino owners are going to want these jobs going to other states besides Ohio.
We need to also remember that once you bring casinos to Ohio, there is no turning back. Supporters of issue three can say all they want, but what they say and what really happens is two different things. If you look back the Ohio lottery was supposed to bring a bunch of money to our schools and it never did what it promised to do. Our schools are still in bad shape and were stuck with the lottery. With the economy being as bad as it is, do we really want to bring casinos to Ohio for people to go and blow their hard earned money at? I know people have the choice if they want to go to the casino or not, but why should we give people the opportunity. Plus people become addicted to gambling and it destroys families.
I think people in this state are smart enough to turn down this issue this November because citizens of Ohio have already defeated the issue four separate times. I strongly urge voters to vote NO on issue 3 on November 3^rd.
Below is the final votes from past casino issues:
1990 – NO 62% Yes 38%
1996 – NO 62% Yes 38%
2006 – NO 57% Yes 43%
2008 – NO 63% Yes 37%

Texting while driving

This past week Summit County councilman Jon Poda introduced legislation to ban text messaging while driving. An article was in the Akron Beacon Journal on Thursday about the issue and I was quoted in it. Here was my quote in case you missed it:
Eric Poston, 18, of Green, said he never texts while driving because it’s too dangerous. He supports the proposed ban.
”Texting while driving is an accident waiting to happen because you cannot pay attention to the [phone] and drive at the same time,” he said. ”Is sending that text message more important than driving safely, keeping you and others safe? I think not.”
I want to thank Rick Armon for writing this article and including my quote. Texting while driving has been an issue that many states have been debating and to tell you the truth I am surprised that its not already banned.
I wrote a column a while back about the issue of texting while driving, so I thought I would share that column again in case you didn’t read it. Here it is:
Why risk your life
By: Eric Poston  December 5, 2008
It is dangerous, not smart, and down right stupid. Text messaging while driving is an accident waiting to happen, but people do it. No matter if I or anyone tells you not to, some kids still will. Why do teenagers feel the need to text and drive at the same time? Maybe they want to text a friend to pass time while driving or to tell their boyfriend or girlfriend that they are almost to their house. Well all of that can wait because you have one job to do while on the road: DRIVE and pay attention to what is ahead of you. Texting might save you a minute or two because you don’t have to call someone, but is it that important? It comes down to that text message or you or someone else’s life.
Personally I would never text and drive because it is down right dangerous and just not smart. I feel that if someone texts you while you are driving you can wait until you get to your destination to text whomever back. If you feel that you must text someone back, then pull over to the side of the road and text away. I am sure a lot of my friend’s text while they drive, but no matter how much you preach to them, they will continue to do whatever they want to.
 It is strange how people have found so many different things to do while they are driving. First it was breastfeeding and then came drinking coffee while on the road. Then people came to the conclusion to start eating while they are driving. I think if you are eating, drinking coffee or texting while you are driving then you need to free up some time in your day to do these things. I understand that some people are very busy with their jobs and everything, but I think that everyone could take some time out of their day to relax and do these things. It only takes a small portion of your day to complete these tasks and you are also saving lives because you are staying focused on the road and not trying to do things you shouldn’t be doing while you are driving. If everyone paid more attention to the road instead of other things, I think the roads would be a much safer place for you and me. I don’t drive yet, but I know that a lot of students get in wrecks because they turn a blind eye for a second and bam a wreck occurs. It is a real shame that some students actually think they can take the chance of texting and driving. Also it is upsetting that some students will continue doing something wrong until one of their classmates gets killed.
 Even talking on your cell phone is dangerous because your mind is also on that phone call you are making. How about blue tooth? It is also dangerous because you won’t have your full mind on the road. I have only seen one person texting while on the road. She was looking at her phone, but it was at a red light. Overall it is not safe and teens or adults shouldn’t do it. If you need to text someone, pull over and do it. I once saw a license plate that read: “Hang up and drive”. That license plate pretty much sums it all up for all of us. We need to focus on driving and put aside our cell phones.

NEXT WEEK:
Eric talks more about banning texting while driving. Plus Eric talks with a lawyer who says there are some loopholes in the ban.