Tax levy story input

Mercy!....have you opened a can of worms on this one Ms. Rossiter. You can get a good idea from the community by reading some of the comments in your Journal on Ms. Andrew's article about the levy. From the jest of the comments there, it looks like it's a 3:1 ratio against the levy for a multitude of reasons. There's 198 posts on the subject as of this morning.

During the last levy, Channel 5 came to the house to ask me about my no vote and why. We talked for 15-20 minutes. They showed one question on the evening news, yet they gave the pro-levy people more time. They called again wanting to talk and I told them no. They asked why..I gave them this scenario. The reporting is not balanced.

Not true- I'll talk to the lady anytime she wants to talk. My only reluctance comes from the fact that she may do what Channel 5 did if you have an opposing point of view from the "popular viewpoints. In all cases so far, I have been given the short end of the stick as to opinion exposure time (like Channel 5 described above) or was demonized by the old "you only want to hurt the kids" crowd for my views. As soon as I get home, I'll contact her and volunteer. Can't do it from here. Anyone else want to join me? To get a good cross section of the community's views on the levy, all she has to do is read the comments on the current article by Ms. Andrew.

acclaro so what if the Journal endorses the levy, if you read their editorial page they already have.  If the Levy fails as you predict it will be back in August and then November and then February until it passes or the BOE will do as Price did last time and cut as much as they want until the residents capitulate.

acclaro- it's alright. Won't take long. Ms. Rossiter already knows the responses she will get on this from the opposition. She just wants to make it official I guess. Might be a simple phone interview. Knowing the Journal and the history they have had in the past, I doubt if they will give the opposing camp a fair amount of coverage anyway. They never do. It appears they are bought and paid for by city hall and the school board anyway. It is a shame that they have adopted that stance.

I realize I've opened a can of worms--which is part of my job, I'm afraid. I plan on covering both sides of the issue, but have not heard directly from anyone from either side from here. I can't promise to put everything in print. I do have limited space in the paper. However, I am more than happy to put in what I can't get in print on my blog. If you are interested in going on the record, please email me at mrossiter@coxohio.com. My deadline is Thursday and time is running short. I'm at the point where I'm going out on the street and asking for people to talk. Was hoping I'd get some people here whom I know discuss this issue a lot and have strong opinions.

I wish it were as simple as taking comments off our web site, but I need to verify identities, which is difficult since there isn't a lot of personal information available to contact posters on the boards. I'm open to talking with anyone.

Thank you and I hope to hear from some of you very soon!

I do not use unnamed sources. If I can't verify and specifically name my sources, then I do not use them. That's pretty much our policy, with few exceptions--and certainly not on education stories. It's also my policy as a reporter.

I invite anyone to share their opinion and suggestions. I look forward to hearing from forum members here.

VietVet, I called you yesterday afternoon, per your request. Left a message and didn't hear back from you. If you (or anyone else) who opposes the levy would be willing to talk to me this morning, I would appreciate it. I am already over my deadline. I haven't found anyone against the levy who is willing to talk to me at this point and I can't file my story until I hear from both sides of the issue. Please send me an e-mail at mrossiter@coxohio.com with contact information and I will get back to you immediately. Thank you.