Letters: If teaching is OK, vets might as well be doctors. Orange barrels infest downtown
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Why stop with education?
Re "Teaching licenses to be optional for veterans?," Oct. 7:
This GOP-led bill proposal seeks to ease education staffing shortages by allowing veterans to obtain a teaching license before they obtain the teacher training.
More:Amid growing teacher shortage, Ohio lawmaker wants veterans to teach without licenses
I think if the legislators are going to do that, they should also allow veterans to obtain licenses to practice medicine, licenses to practice law, and licenses to be a CPA without obtaining the proper requirements as well.
Why just pick on education?
This proposal is an insult to all the teachers who sacrificed 4-5 years of their lives and at considerable expense, worked to obtain the requirements necessary to teach in the state of Ohio.
More:Teaching certificate requires time, money
I have long suspected the GOP has little regard for education. This proposal makes that suspicion even stronger. It is difficult for me as an educator to have any respect for the GOP since they have such little respect for me.
I had a Republican friend tell me, "Well, I thought about going into education, but there isn't enough pay in it."
This bill will go a long way toward lowering the pay of a "profession" that is already lower-paid than most professions. It will be a sad day in America if this bill becomes law.
Jim Weaver, Columbus
Biden right on marijuana pardons
The NAACP Columbus Unit is in agreement with President Joe Biden's three-step initiative regarding marijuana reform.
The imprisonment of Black people, Black males in particular, on marijuana-related charges has been racially disproportionate in relation to other similar offenses.
As such, this has caused a disparate impact that has led to the moral and economic decay of our family structure. We have long regarded this inequity as "The New Jim Crow," as defined by Dr. Michelle Alexander.
It is for these reasons among others that we are in full support of overhauling the current penalty system and recognizing this three-step plan as an incubator to racial and social justice for the Black community.
Nana M. Watson, president, Columbus Branch NAACP
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When will we get our beautiful downtown back?
I hadn’t been downtown Columbus for a while, and it seems that’s a good thing: orange barrels are everywhere.
More:I-70-I-71 road projects to look out for in Downtown Columbus soon
After enjoying a wonderful evening seeing “Hamilton,” I tried to get back home to Hilliard.
I drove south on Third Street from the Ohio Theater and found the entrance ramp to 70 West was closed. I headed west and north to the Mound Street entrance — also closed. I headed north to Spring Street, then west, only to learn the ramp to 670 was closed there.
I was able to finally take Riverside Drive north. How does one get onto 70 West in downtown Columbus? When will we get our beautiful downtown back?
Joan Buffington, Hilliard
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: If you let vets be teachers, they might as well be doctors
