To the Editor:

I first read the original article about Findlay, Ohio ("Flag City, USA") that was published in the Washington Post a few days ago and was not surprised about what I found. I grew up just south of Findlay in a little town called Arlington. I was what some may say a outsider in Findlay and my hometown because I am still and have always been a Democrat.

My whole family have been Democrats ever since FDR helped this country out of the Great Depression. I moved out of the area to attend college at the University of Akron in 2001. I am also one of the founding members of the University of Akron's Students for Obama chapter. I worked for the campaign during the Ohio primary as a member of the student group as well as traveling to Philadelphia to canvass the weekend before the Pennsylvania primary.

I have seen the ignorance of some of the citizens of Findlay and of the rural areas surrounding the town for my entire childhood. People in that area are downright fearful of anything or anyone that is different from them. Some people are so stuck in their ways that they are skeptical of new businesses moving into the area.

Seeing all of this fear for the "unknown" growing up in the Findlay area, it was not that surprising for me to read about the citizens in the Washington Post article believing the extremely false rumors about Senator Obama. I still have family in the Findlay area and hear some of those same rumors floating around at family get togethers. I am quick to correct those who bring up the rumors. Granted in most cases, I have found that the people who bring up these issues are doing so because they are confused about what is and isn't true. The trouble is that there usually is no one around to provide them with the correct information about Sen. Obama.

The section about the gentleman believing his friend from Toledo over every newscast and newspaper article he has read on the matter also does not surprise me. People in that area are more willing to trust people they have known from years then trust people on TV, Newspapers, or on the Radio. In an area like Findlay, gossip is king. If someone you trust says its true, then it must be true.

Paul Hogarth hit the nail on the head. The citizens of Findlay and the surrounding area do not represent all of Ohio -- let alone the country. People in that area have always been afraid of what they are not used to and don't understand. It will be a very steep uphill battle for Obama to make any progress on turning Findlay and the rest of Hancock County blue in 2008.

Wayne Riegle



To the Editor:

Randy Shaw should have used "Dewey Defeats Truman" as at least a more amusing bolster of his argument of "See, they make up things ALL the time!!"

I am pretty certain that Mr. Shaw is not a structural engineer, so any reflection he might have on what is or is not sound structural policy should be ignored.

I am pretty certain that Mr. Shaw is not a seismologist and would not be able to describe the forces or the effect of a serious earthquake except perhaps to announce that during a seismic event the "earthquakes."

I am pretty certain that Mr. Shaw is not too concerned with the landlords who would have to pay for the seismic retrofits. His concern for this segment of the population has been rare in the past.

What I AM pretty certain of is that Mr. Shaw's real concern is that tenants will experience one of the following events:

A) Landlords will sell their property rather than retrofit it themselves and the new buyers may purchase it as a TIC and in the process, may evict tenants, while still proceeding with the retrofit.

B) If the City Board of Supervisors enforces this measure on a pretty large segment of the population (mom and pop landlords) they will either face a firestorm and get removed from office OR in order to sell the idea, they may offer concessions to owners, perhaps in the form of greater pass through to tenants, or perhaps other concessions inimical to the interests of tenants.

C) Tenants will be forced to relocate and many will choose not to come back once settled in a new location, accelerating what Mr. Shaw considers to be negative gentrification. Those that choose to return will experience at least 10% pass through of the costs of what is clearly a capital improvement. Even if provided relocation funds, the hassle of relocating multiple times may not appeal to many tenants.

One would think that Mr. Shaw would demand safety for his poor tenants, those living in a building that will come down in the next Big One (which correctly could be in one, 10, 30 or hundred years, but given current re-development speed, those same structures will still be there, and there will still likely be poor tenants), but yet strangely, he comes out against Big Government that wants to enforce safety (Safety, people! The gall!) standards.

Mr. Shaw's allegiances are well known. An attack upon any discussion that would affect tenants would be understandable. But trying to couch this as an argument against Engineers, landlords and the Chronicle are clearly farfetched and should not hide the real intent of Mr. Shaw's true intent.

Loren Umbertis



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