the last day of winter is?
TRANSCRIPT
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7/29/2019 The Last Day of Winter Is?
1/1
The U.S. Supreme Court
next week will be hearing oral
arguments regarding the con-
stitutionality of Californias
ban on same-sex marriage
(Hollingsworth v. Perry) and
the Federal Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA)
(United States v. Windsor).
Many legal scholars believe
the cases could have wide
ranging implications for many
states Defense of Marriage
Acts and the Federal law.In 2004, Ohio passed a
DOMA declaring marriage
between a man and a woman.
If theDOMAsare struck down
as unconstitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court, Ohios
DOMA most likely will be
deemed unconstitutional.
The Federal DOMA, enact-
ed in 1996, states that, for the
purposes of federal law, the
words marriage and
spouse refer to legal unions
between one man and one
woman. Since that time, some
states have authorized same-
sex marriage. In other cases
regarding the DOMA, federal
courts have ruled it unconstitu-
tional under the Fifth
Amendment, but the courts
have disagreed on the ration-ale.
The Obama administration
is claiming the Federal DOMA
is unconstitu tiona l due to
Section 3 of the law. In
Windsor, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit
affirms the Southern District
of New Yorks dec ision in
Windsor v. United Sta tes ,
which found Section 3 of
DOMA unconstitutional. The
high court willhear threeargu-
ments: whether Section 3 of
DOMA is in violation of the
Fifth Amendments guarantee
of equal protection; whether
the court has jurisdiction; and
whether the petitioner has
standingin the case, which is a
legal right under Article III,
Section 2 of the U.S.
Constitution.
In 2000, the citizens of
California passed Proposition
22, which aff irmed a lega l
understanding that marriage
was a union between one man
and one woman. In 2008, the
California Supreme Courtheldthat the California Constitution
required the term marriage
to include the union of same-
sex couples and invalidated
Proposition 22. Later in 2008,
Cal ifornia cit izens passed
Proposition 8, which amended
the California Constitution to
provide that only marriage
between a man and a womanis
valid or recognized by
California.
The Obama administration
cla ims Californias law is
prejudice that is impermis-
sible. But same-sex marriage
is a matter about which intelli-
gent people reasonably dis-
agree, partly because so littleis
known about its consequences.
In Hollingsworth, the high
cour t is hearing the case on
appeal from U.S. Cour t of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The appellate court held that
Californias Proposition 8, a
2008 ballo t initiative tha t
amended the state constitution
to identify marriage to only
opposite-sex couples, wasunconstitutional. The appellate
court heard the case from the
U.S. District Court for
Northern District of California
ruled that Proposition 8 violat-
ed the Due Process and Equal
Protection Clauses of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
The parties will be arguing:
whether Proposition 8 is
unconstitutional; whether the
supporters of Proposition 8
have standing to bring the suit.
For more information, go to
supremecourt.gov.
Rob Scott is a practicing
attorney at Oldham &
Deitering, LLC. Scott is
Chairman of the Montgomery
County Republican Party and
the founder of the Dayton Tea
Party. He can be contacted at
www.gemcitylaw.com.
OPINIONCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
- The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
4 Thursday, March 28, 2013 Springboro Sun
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www.SpringboroSun.com. .
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This newspaper is environmentallyfriendly. It is printed in recycled fibers
and soy-based inks, with the excep-tion of some supplements.
On Tuesday, March 19, as a guest of
Springboro resident Bob King we droveto midwest Ohio, where I would be the
guest speaker at the Kiwanis club lunch-
eon in Coldwater.Bob, his wife and fam-
ily grew up in the area and lived there
most of their lives. He had some wonder-
ful history to share about the area along
with stops to meet old friends and see old
businesses and haunts.
One story I found quite interesting was
that of the cross tipped churches.
Approximately 26 Catholic churches are
in the Auglaize-Mercer county area.
Thats quite a few, andwe drove bymaybe
12 or 15 during the trip. These magnifi-
cent structures would cost millions to
build today. Needless to say, the Catholic
faith is very predominate in that area.
Bob told me that all of the Catholic
churches were on the south side of a par-
t icular state route with the protestant
churches on thenorth side. Growing up in
that area held one important rule. Dont
ever date anyone from the other side of
the (tracks) highway. Simply put, protes-
tant boys and girls dont date Catholic
boys or girls, and the same for the
Catholic boys and girls, dontdate protes-
tant boys or girls.
There had to be a few Romeo and
Juliets, I inquired.
Many, many times the line was
crossed, was his response. Love knows
no highway designations, denominations,
color, c reed and more . Today, tha ts
almost absurd to mention.
We toured the Grand Lake area, which
remindedme so muchof manyof the lake
areas I would visit in Michigan growing
up. Very similar home frontages, cabins,
restaurants and bars. We stopped for a
short visit with the Greater Grand Lake
St. Marys Region chamber of commerce
executive director, an old friend of Bobs
thatshareda commonlink withme inthat
she had worked in radio in Van Wert,
Ohio, while I had started in radio back in
Bryan and Defiance, Ohio just up the
road a piece.
The day we went upwas the lastdayof
winter, and it was cold and very windy. A
short stop at the last home Bob owned
right on the lake was beautiful, unfortu-
nately, standing offthe back deck with ice
covered waterlapping at our sneakers and
35 mph gusts blowing from across the
lake, ended that moment in seconds. Id
love to go back in the summer and learn
more and revisit some new friends I met
in Coldwater.
My talk was on running away from
home at age 15 to Jackson Hole, Wyo. to
become a dude rancher. Still have trouble
believing I really did that. I did start my
speech by saying that I had been in Hot
Water many times in my life but this was
myf irst time in Coldwater.Im suremanyothers opened with that line before me. It
was a great experience to learn so much
about an area in our state thats not that
far away, but unique in its history andpeople. Now, would all of my friends that
used to live in Flor ida and still have a
home there please contact me to speak to
the Rotary, Optimist, Kiwanis or whatev-
er club you belong to there, and make it
fast we can leave tomorrow. Im looking
for a warm weather gig, and it doesnt
seem possible here in Ohio.
If you have not seen the current edition
ofSpringboro 45066, (theTV news mag-
azine of our community) set your DVR
for the following days and times: Friday,
March 29 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, March 30
at 1 p.m.; Thursday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m;
Friday, April 5 at 10 p.m.; Saturday, April
6 at 11:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 7 at
2:30 p.m. All airon TimeWarner Channel
6 in the Dayton South viewing area.
Also, please watch the interview I did
with Fire Chief Robert Kidd about the
upcoming fire levy that will be on the
ballot on Tuesday, May 7. Here are three
times it will air in the next week: Friday,
April 5 at 2:45 p.m.; Saturday, April 6 at
11:15 p.m. and Sunday, April 7 at 9:45
p.m. You can also watch both of these
programs on your computer by visiting:
http: //www.mvcc.net /, clicking on
Archived Programs, then go to City of
Spr ingboro, then click on either the
Springboro 45066 March/April show or
Springboro Fire Levy. Stay up to date on
whats happening in your community. Set
your DVR now.
A very Happy Easter to everyone this
Sunday. My blessings to all for a blessed
week filled with patience, understanding
and love.
The last day of winter is?
MERGE WRIGHT
B
y D
o
n Wright
Times
Columnist
If everyone gets confused,the President gets his way
The White House is running a
deficit, but its more than the usual tril-
lions. Its in less tangible currency:
accuracy, consistency and truth.
Is anyone paying attention? Ourpres ident devised the sequester as a
poison pill too tough for Republ icans
to swallow. But they did. That being so,
our president said that it was a
Republican idea anyway and was going
to cause terrible immediate pain and
hurt the economy.
Somehow, defying the Obama logic,
the stock market set a record for con-
secutive increases as we toppled over
the sequester cliff. Not much else hap-
pened . Jus t to make hi s point, however,
our president closed the White House
to tours as a casualty of the terrible
budget axe. His press secreta ry sa id the
pres ident was sorr y, but $18,000 a day
for extra security was one of the
inevitable results of the GOP meat axe.Maybe you noticed that this became
a huge joke. One small excursion on
Air Force One equals three months of
tours. Golf anyone? School kids who
were denied a tour went on line.
Comics had a field day. But our presi-
dent, in a TV interview, said it wasnt
his decision. It was entirely up to the
Secret Service. THEY made the deci-
sion. He was just a bystander. The press
secretary assured the White House
press corps that, yes, thats how it hap-
pened . The White House staff might
have talked about it, but they didnt
make the decision.
It is in the midst of this muddle that
the president reaches out to Congress
so the government can somehow keep
running even though those skinflint
Republicans dont want to raise taxes
(again remember Jan. 1 taxes on the
rich?) so that the poor can be fed and
the middle class reclaimed.
To help in this process his campaign
organization is turned into a not-for-
prof it to do battle with all those rich
Republican tax-exempts which he cam-
paigne d aga ins t as evil sta rti ng in
2006.
Our president says he is happy to
have helped the U.S. increase oil andgas production even though he had
nothing to do with the increase. Or did-
nt he know that all of the increase was
on private land regulated by the states
while oil and gas production on federal
lands fell by more than a fifth in the
past two years?
Should we expect to hear in a few
months that it was the Energy
Department that caused this and our
pre sid ent was jus t an innoce nt
bystander?
Now with the federal dollar def icit
headed for 20 trillion dollars in the
next couple of years, our president is
on TV saying that we dont have a
spending problem. What he might have
said more clearly was, We have a
Republican problem. Perhaps hes
unaware that Democratic Illinois and
Democratic California are headed forbankr uptcy, although when h e fi nds out
he could declare them too big to fail
and borrow more from us, the taxpay-
ers, to bail them out. After all, whats
an innocent bystander to do?
We do have an immigration problem,
but that dratted sequester requi red the
Border Patrol to release its prisoners in
order to meet payroll.
The White House said it was entirely
up to the border bureaucrats to take
such a newsworthy step even before the
sequester.
It was coincidental that this was just
as our president was warning of
sequester Armageddon. He was just an
innocent bystander trying to warn us
that the Republicans (and especiallythose tea party folks) want to turn the
country into a pillar of salt.
The debate over the GOPs Paul
Ryan budget which looks years ahead
for signs of fiscal sanity is already
under White House attack while the
Democratic Senate version is loaded
with short-term pork, such as protec-
tion of Nevadas salmon industry.
Obama pledged to end pork earmarks
just as he said five years ago we ha d a
dreadful deficit problem.
Now hes jus t an innocent bystander
trying to flag down the Republican (or
maybe it should be called cons ervative)
juggernaut.
William
Wild
Guest
Columnist
We can dream,
cant we?I dont feel, at this stage in life the way I always thought I would,could and should feel from day to day. When I grew up and head-
ed into midlife, these feelings and this way of life, were not really
so foreign. So why couldnt I
enjoy that feeling be real for
me? Why couldnt it be more
than something I could only
imagine as I woke up on a
recent morning and allowed
my mind to wander a bit?
I shared an abbreviated ver-
sion of this on my Facebook
page recently. Id love to hear your thoughts on it as well.
I woke up this morning wishing, and hoping, that Ronald
Reagan was still President. I believed all my friends had and loved
their jobs. The United States of American was respected, and
respectfully feared all around the world. Our currency, the dollar,
still meant something at home and abroad. Families spent quality
time together. Kids hung out together playing pick-up ball and
couldnt care less about video gaming systems or plotting how to
disrupt a school or worse.
I felt like I was doing ok financially. I could forget my wallet but
still put gas in the car with pocket change. Neighborhood kids
walked to school and werent afraid on the way there or after they
arrived. I could still have my gun rack displayed in the back of my
truck. A young Barack Obama was still helping out in his neigh-
borhood.
Trained and ethical journalists reported the news and not what
they were told to say by a political party. Parents knew what their
children were doing and actually parented (the action verb) them.
We had a healthy scriptural fear of offending God. We felt secure
and we slept with the doors unlocked and the windows open 24/7.
Then I had my coffee and turned on the morning news shows
on TV and realized, I must have been nuts!
Mike Scinto is a 35-year veteran talk show host serving locally,statewide and nationally behind the microphone. For the past
dozen years he has authored this award-winning column. Friend
Mike at http://www.facebook.com/mikescintoshow or visit
http://mikescintocolumns.blogspot.com.
Mike
Scinto
Guest
Columnist
Good days, bad daysGood day. Bad day. Lets be honest with ourselves. Thats what
life is all about. Good days. Bad days. We get bad days-good days
back-to-back often when it comes to the weather. A sunny
Monday is frequently followed by a rainy Tuesday.
The February day you plan a skiing trip for turns out to be sun-
splashed and 63 degrees.
Your umbrella breaks on a Thursday. On Friday a monsoon
sweeps through the town where you live.Want rain? Then all you
have to do is schedule a golf
outing or make plans to attend
a Big League baseball game.
Ah, yes, the weather.
As the old saying goes,
everybody talks about the
weather but nobody does any-
thing about it. If you dont
believe people talk about the weather tune in any TV station at 6
a.m., 5 p.m. or 11 p.m.
The weather dictates how we live and nobody knows that bet-
ter than the television stations in our area. Thats why we receive
many more weather reports than news story updates.
The truth is, the weather is something we cant really do any-
thing about. So that makes it perfect fodder for stories on TV sta-
tions all over America.
Radio gets into the act, too.I know a lot about the weather and thats why Im never sur-
prised by it.
If I want balmy days all I have to do is schedule that skiing trip.
If my umbrella breaks or I plan to attend a family picnic or that
golf outing itll rain for sure.
If I buy one of my grandsons a kite we wont get even a hint of
a breeze for a long, long time.
Whenever I write something about the weather, I think of
Dewey Hopper. For many years Hopper was the chief meteorolo-
gist at Daytons WDTN-TV (Channel 2).
Dewey perhaps because of his first name had fun reporting
the highs, lows and barometric pressures. On evenings when rain
was forecast he often toted an umbrella onto the set at his TV sta-
tion.
You cant ask for much more dedication to the job than that.
Contact Bob at [email protected].
Bob
Batz
Senior
Moments
DOMA cases may affect Ohio lawRob
Scott
Guest
Columnist