DEAR EDITOR:
When it comes to these “Protect Religious Freedom” signs in the front yards of so many people, my sign definitely serves for more purpose than just the rights of women. Christians are being persecuted all over the world. We should not be surprised by this, the Bible tells us it’s going to happen. That doesn’t mean we, as Christians, should be doormats.

I read something on Facebook Friday that really struck a chord with me. Some of you may already know what I’m talking about: The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino.

Christine and her friend were sitting in a diner eating when her longtime friend asked her what it was like to be sick. What was it like — how did it feel — to have lupus.

After some thought, Christine gathered up all the spoons from their and nearby tables and gave them to her friend. She said, “These are your spoons. This is all you have.”

I can’t think of a Friday night in the newsroom I enjoy more than Canal Days Friday night.
We throw open the windows and listen to the band and the crowd and it makes me smile because they sound like they are having so much fun.

Canal Days is a lot more than what you can do. It’s also about who you see. It’s great to find old friends and reminisce while enjoying a carnival atmosphere. New friends are also a possibility.

Today’s schedule is packed with activities for all ages, including a pancake and sausage breakfast, bingo, the quilt show, the ArtFest exhibit as well as the art show, a bake sale, the pet parade, kiddie tractor pull, tractor show, a Queen’s Tea, a cruise-in and more.
Young artists will fill the sidewalks with chalk drawings and anglers will vie for the top prizes in the fishing derby.

New this year is Country Basket Bingo with some amazing prizes. I played Purse Bingo last year and can I share something you won’t tell? I am just no good at bingo and then I get a little cranky when I don’t win. I know the odds are stacked against you because there are so many who come out and play to support Canal Days. However, I figure I have just as much as everyone else — and yet I never win. Harrumph!

Canal Days is so many things and different things to each person.
It’s a chance to see people you perhaps don’t get to talk to any other time. Former residents often travel back to Delphos for what is considered by many a sort of homecoming.

Businesses and clubs rally to make the event special and more engaging than the year before.

The “Toast” and “Battle” just keep getting bigger and better.

There’s good food and good conversation.

The kids get a chance to blow off some steam and run around like spider monkeys on a bad sugar binge. There’s also a lot of organized fun to keep them focused.

What more could you ask for in the last premier festival of the year? Well, if you come up with something, pass it along to the committee. I’m sure they’ll try to fit it in if possible. They are some amazing people backed by awesome volunteers. Give them some backing of your own.

DEAR EDITOR:
I went to the Jefferson/St. John’s soccer game, which was played in Fort Jennings. This is where the Jefferson girls’ soccer team has to play their home games, since they are not able to use one of the fields in Delphos to play on.
What threw me back is the Jefferson team had to carpool over to Fort Jennings and the St. John’s team was able to arrive in a bus marked “Delphos City Schools.” I understand that this was considered a home game for Jefferson but to have both teams from the same town have to travel to a different city to play their games seems a bit ridiculous.
What if one of the Jefferson girls that is the driver of the carpool vehicle gets into an accident? Who is liable?
If Jefferson is forced to play home games out of town, then the school should provide them with a bus to those games. Since the public school does not have a fieled to use, then the city should step up and help fix this issue.
St. Johns’s baseball team does not have a baseball field of their own but the City of Delphos has offered the use of the public diamonds. I am glad to see that public facilities can be supplied to a private school in need but accommodations for a public school cannot be met.
This seems to be the story of this town. Is it not time to set aside a local dispute and start doing what is best for our kids in our town?
John Miller
Delphos

DEAR EDITOR:
Reading Mr. Donaldson’s letter reminds me of the Jewish persecution during Nazi Germany. At first, Jewish businesses were boycotted. Then Jewish authors had their works turned down by publishers, Jewish teachers and professors were dismissed from schools and universities, as well as Jewish actors being dismissed from theatres. To isolate the Jews, they were isolated from one cultural thing after another. But some still had hope and considered themselves loyal Germans. So were the trade unionists and Catholics and Protestants who opposed the Nazi regime.
Then came the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped the Jews of their citizenship and forbade interreligious marriage. Later came the “final solution” and the Kristallnacht and the rest we know is history. People, including trade unionists, and people from other faiths and occupied countries other than Jews populated and died in those concentration camps.
My husband and I are ones with those “Protect Religious Freedom” signs in our yard. I attend these meetings shoulder-to-shoulder with Catholics and Protestants. They all know from history that persecution can start in little ways and spread quickly. Just as the Jews were slowly squeezed out, the Catholic Church and its social services are being squeezed out.
“It can’t happen in America!” Blacks have had their churches bombed, as well as Catholics. Jews have had their synagogues destroyed and blood has flowed. Native Americans have been pushed around by treaties. America has its sins. It could certainly happen here. As it goes now, in some countries you can be put to death for having a Bible.
Since this is all related to the Affordable Care Act, I never considered being female a pre-existing condition, yet I have received the same quality health care as any man.
But, ah yes, the abortion issue…which is a sacrament in the Democratic Party, as proven by the speakers and the platform of the 2012 convention. Pregnancy is not a disease. Pregnancy is a privilege from God to help bring a precious life to the world. Instead of wiping it away, as your mother could have done to you, Mr. Donaldson, my husband and I are childless and so long for children. Give the child to a couple who so longs for one. That is a positive decision toward a woman’s own health.
The butchery of a child being ripped out of the mother’s womb…that’s an antiquated attitude.
Marlene Wrasman
Delphos