Letters: New school would have negative impact; Presidential material?

New school would have negative impact

We are writing to urge the school board to renovate the Park Forest Middle School at the existing site and reject proposals for new construction elsewhere. Building at the two alternative sites proposed would have extremely damaging effects on the environment and on the quality of life in the local community. Both the fields adjoining Circleville Park and the forest below the elementary school provide much-needed wildlife habitat. We can personally attest to the awe of hearing great horned owls call from the woods and the diverse species drawn to trees that would be cut down.

Building at these locations would also have greatly detrimental impacts for local residents. Both construction and the traffic around a functioning school would make Circleville Park less accessible and ruin the peace that makes it a beloved refuge in our community. The destruction of trees below the elementary school would likewise have serious impacts on neighboring homes.

As taxpayers in the district, we support investing in education and student well-being, and we appreciate the commitments made by the board to consider environmental impacts. This is a chance to uphold those commitments and reject plans that would do great damage to the environment and the community. The Park Forest Elementary School was successfully renovated on its original site while leaving surrounding forest intact; we should do the same with the middle school.

Let’s not pave paradise — let’s hold on to the promise embedded in the name of our Park Forest Middle School.

Presidential material?

During a presidential candidate debate, Hillary Clinton suggested that Donald Trump may not have paid federal taxes. Trump replied: “That makes me smart.” A few years later, Trump’s family company was found to have criminally “evaded taxes for years.” So not smart, just dishonest.

Trump bragged that being a star, he could do anything to women: “Grab them by the p----.” So, was it any surprise that in May 2023, he was found liable by a jury of his peers of sexually abusing a woman? Trump’s lawyer was happy it wasn’t called rape.

Then-President Trump sided with Vladimir Putin against U.S. intelligence services over allegations of Russian cyber attacks and fake news stories: “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Republican U.S. Senator John McCain said that “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”

“Patriots” is what Donald Trump called the rioters who believed his lies and attacked our Capitol. And he said he intends to pardon a “large portion” of them, many of whom were found guilty of attacking and beating police officers. He called U.S. soldiers who died in WWI “losers” and “suckers.” Trump himself dodged the draft in 1968 through a questionable diagnosis of foot bone spurs.

On his website, Trump posted his 2023 Christmas wish for his political adversaries: “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

Is this who you want as U.S. President? For a second time?