DEAR EDITOR,
On behalf of the members of Delphos city council, and the city administration, I would like to thank voters in the city of Delphos who approved the city’s request for a 4.05 mill renewal levy at the polls on Tuesday.
Your support is very much appreciated.
Funds raised by this issue will help to support services provided through the General fund for the 5 year period beginning in January of 2013  and will help your city deal with the prospect of reduced state support.
Sincerely,
Bob Ulm
Delphos City Council President

DEAR EDITOR:
Remember Kongsberg Automotive? 
That corporation is a vivid example for Van Wert County residents of the way corporate America has reduced the earning power of workers in order to increase boardroom profits. In like fashion, Governor Kasich touts Senate Bill 5 as a means for state and local governments to lower costs. Proponents of Senate Bill 5 know that they cannot displace jobs of local policemen, firefighters, nurses, teachers and county and city employees, so their plan is to severely restrict those workers’ rights to collective bargaining. The bill prevents public employees from negotiating any terms and conditions of their employment except wages. It denies public employees binding arbitration and makes it illegal for public workers to strike. 
It’s the Kongsberg, “take the reductions in benefits, or lose your job.”  
The governor’s battle cry emphasizes the savings available to local governments by legislating that public employees will pay a minimum of 15 percent of their medical insurance premiums.  Van Wert City employees currently pay 13 percent of their health insurance premiums; Van Wert County employees pay 12.5 percent, and the local school teachers’ payroll deductions for insurance premiums range from 10-20 percent. These facts reinforce the reality that the intent of Senate Bill 5 is to reduce the earning power of yet another segment of American workers.  John Kasich and his Lehman Brothers companions must be thwarted. 
Vote NO on Issue 2.   

Al Arnold
Van Wert

DEAR EDITOR:
Ohio is one of the 46 states on the verge of bankruptcy from irresponsible spending if we continue to travel the route we are going with public employee benefits (liability) and wages process and tactics.
Is it the taxpayer’s responsibility to pay for all your benefits? No. The public employees should pay their fair share, like pay for the days they don’t work, like teachers (70-78 days = 28 percent), firefighters (100-121 days = 33 percent) and police officers (25 percent) or privatize like Sandy Springs, Ga., or Mayberry, Calif., where they saved in excess of $5 million the first year and still had safe and sound cities.
Drop the union like St. Henry School did. The public employees should put their feet in our shoes and see how they like it. That won’t happen, will it? If Issue 2 is repealed, expect taxes like in Chicago — raised 61 percent and minimal staff.
Where does it say you need to be unionized? It doesn’t. Unions just cost taxpayers 27 percent more.
This is not a safety issue like the union say it is. The unions will lie and use scare tactics to try and get their way.
Ohio citizens, this is common sense. We are going to be in the red if we spend irresponsibly.
If you don’t have the money, you don’t spend it. It’s like trying to get juice out of a dried up orange; it doesn’t work. That is not the way the unions think; they just keep spending.
This is a money issue and what is best for everyone.
A local firefighter said we don’t need a union — just do your job.
I know numerous teachers in a private school who probably could have had a public school job but they chose not to. They do it because they love their job, not their benefits or wage.
Maybe the public employees should do the same and maybe we wouldn’t have Issue 2.
On Nov. 8, get out and vote.
Vote yes on Issue 2.
Mike Will

DEAR EDITOR:
We want to take this time to say a grateful “thank you” to everyone who prayed, sent letters, e-mails or packages to our son, Captain Brian P. Huysman, while he was serving in Afghanistan.
We are very happy to say Brian has returned to the U.S. from his last assignment.
Brian was in the Middle East on four deployments (two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan) with the U.S. Marines and it is very gratifying to know and feel the support he received.
Sadly, 10 Marines in the battalion did not come home. They have made the ultimate sacrifice in serving our country. All the men and women who are serving are doing so because they have volunteered to be put in harm’s way. We hope they are always given the greatest respect and support they truly deserve.
Barb and Ron Huysman,
Delphos