All downhill since the ’60s

All downhill since the ’60s

Do we say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? What has happened to the Spirit of Christmas? When did we forget the Reason for the season? The political correctness that people have embraced is destroying our great nation that was formed on God’s word over 200 years ago. People are told that they can’t pray in public or on government land and a cross has become offensive to some. For Christians, who are the majority in America, the cross and what is represents is everything great and good, When will America wake up?

A friend suggested something to me and others last week. What if someone did a study to see how America had fared since the 1960s and ’70s, when prayer was taken out of public schools; when abortion was made a legal right by our government; when the definition of marriage and the family was questioned?

The results of these changes are very clear. Children are killing children and teachers in some schools. Millions of babies aborted result in more elderly people retiring and less people to work and pay taxes. Half of all marriages end in divorce.

Most are choosing to live according to their feelings instead of doing what is good and right. When you take God out of everyday living, He leaves. Don’t bother to sing, “God Bless America” Why should He?

Erma Niemi, North Lima

Yes, pension reform is needed

In Bertram de Souza’s column last Sunday, “Kill 3-High Formula for Pensions,” there is an overriding theme on which we agree — that pension plan legislation is necessary and essential.

OPERS has been advocating for meaningful pension plan changes for more than two years. Our proposal includes increasing the minimum retirement age, lengthening the period used to calculate a final average salary (FAS), and changing the benefit formula and COLA for future retirees.

The proposal to expand the FAS calculation from three years to five years addresses concern about “spiking,” whereby a small number of public employees and elected officials are able to artificially inflate their compensation in the years immediately preceding retirement in order to receive a larger pension than they otherwise would be entitled to receive.

OPERS was founded in 1935 and has always required an employee contribution toward pension benefits. Most Ohio public workers, who include highway workers, garbage collectors and librarians, pay at least 10 percent of their wages toward their own retirement.

More than 90 percent of OPERS retirees remain in Ohio, annually spending more than $5 billion in benefits within our state. And OPERS has invested more than $1 billion in Ohio businesses.

We will continue working with the state administration and the Ohio General Assembly to enact meaningful pension plan changes for Ohio’s public employees.

Karen E. Carraher, Columbus

The writer is executive director of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.

New formula would hurt little guy

On behalf of the School Em- ployees Retirement System of Ohio, I am compelled to respond to Sunday’s column, “Kill 3-High formula for pensions.”

At SERS, we provide pension benefits for the bus drivers, custodians, aides, business managers, and food service workers who provide a safe, clean environment for Ohio’s schoolchildren. In FY2011, our average pension benefit was $969 per month based on the Final Average Salary (FAS) of the retiree’s highest three years. Switching to a career FAS would be devastating to our retirees, as it would reduce the current average benefit amount to $727 per month, a 25 percent reduction.

A change of this magnitude to SERS’ modest pension benefits surely would push thousands of public pension retirees into taxpayer-funded social service programs such as Medicaid, energy assistance, and food assistance. Normally self-sufficient retirees would be forced to seek state aid.

The pension benefits SERS provides to the women and men who take an active role in the safety and education of Ohio’s children are reasonable and well deserved. Salary manipulation or spiking is extremely uncommon among SERS’ members. Therefore, a career FAS would create only unwarranted financial hardships for SERS’ retirees and place an unnecessary burden on the state’s social services network.

Lisa J. Morris, Columbus

The writer is executive director of the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio.

If CSB can’t do it, the state can

The news of a child in Trum- bull County Children Services custody being raped by his two biological parents is beyond horrendous.

If children who are placed in custody of this apparent incompetent agency can’t be protected, it should be taken over by the state. The director and all others who are getting paid with taxpayers money to provide a safe haven for the children of Trumbull County should immediately be relieved of their duties. To fail at protecting children should never be an option.

It’s time to clean house. Atty. David Engler’s request has great merit regarding this, and his actions are indeed heroic. This child and many others need a voice, and an agency that puts their safety first. Always.

Charles Ellis, Youngstown

Keep K-9 dogs on tighter leash

I was shocked by the initial nonchalant attitude of the Campbell Police Department regarding the unprovoked attack of a young child by their police dog while playing in his grandmother’s backyard.

It has been my impression that police dogs are trained to act by verbal command. If that is not the case, they should always be leashed and in control when in regular situations.

A department spokesman countered that this dog had a great record for apprehensions and arrests, so although unfortunate, apparently it was OK and the department bore no responsibility.

How OK would it have been if the victim were a toddler or a senior citizen and the outcome had been different?

Judy Heston, Salem

Report every case of child abuse

As the public reels from the Penn State child abuse scandal, we should praise the university trustees for acting decisively to remove those in authority upon learning of the criminal case against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. In a press conference announcing their decision to terminate the university president and longtime football coach Joe Paterno, trustees dismissed any discussion of football implications and focused squarely on child safety.

In this case, institutional protection was valued more highly than child safety for too long. Just as in-house handling of sexual abuse cases did not work for the Catholic Church, it did not work for Penn State.

As professionals in child protective services, Ohio’s 88 county public children services agencies stand ready to investigate and assess reports of child maltreatment, to work in coordination with law enforcement and prosecutors, and to access trauma-informed therapeutic services for affected children. The safety of our children depends upon our joint efforts.

All members of society have a moral obligation to act when they observe cases of child abuse. Additional training for mandated reporters and public awareness for all on how to recognize and report child abuse are clearly in order.

Crystal Ward Allen, Columbus

The writer is executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.