Letters to the editor: March 18

Music alive and well in Findlay I would like to thank John Whitson for his recent letter regarding Findlay First Edition (FFE), and I'll take it a step further. Findlay City Schools has a vibrant music department with an exceptional staff of dedicated teachers. Recently the FHS Orchestra received a superior rating at the state orchestra contest and all three FHS Choirs and the instrumental Wind Ensemble received superior ratings at the district contest and will move on to their respective state contests in April. FFE will take their show on the road to Nashville next week and will perform at Show Choir Nationals on the stage of the Grand Ole' Opry. The FHS Marching Band heads to Orlando to perform at Disney World in April. Throughout our schools, music is alive and well. Our music staff works tirelessly to bring the best music education possible to our students. Like all teachers, their work goes above and beyond normal school hours and often unnoticed, but their students see it. They are dedicated to their craft and their students. Not long ago a teacher reposted the following tweet: "Young people can be found in the Music Department before school, during school, during break, during lunch, after school, and even when they should be somewhere else. For many young people, the Music Department is more than just a place of learning — it's a place of belonging." Both of my daughters are involved with the music program, and this is very much the case within the halls of the FCS Music Department. As the school year comes to a close, there are many music activities on the calendar that involve our music students at all grade levels. I would encourage all of you to attend at least one of these events and support these talented students and their teachers. You can find a calendar of events on the Findlay Music Boosters Facebook page or www.findlaymusicboosters.org Kathy Laird President, Findlay Music Boosters Consideration of energy ban makes us a laughing stock It appears the local Luddites are out in force and infiltrating our county commission. I would expect a ban on solar and wind farms in a place like East Podunk, West Virginia, not a county that is home to major corporations. It is a ticket making Hancock County, Ohio, a laughing stock. The opposition to renewable energy sources has to be a result of misinformation, ignorance, or both. I wonder about the source of this opposition. As was said to the man who wanted to install screen doors on submarines: "What were you thinking?" Do we want to proudly display the flag of ignorance? This proposal is too embarrassing to even merit consideration. It seems that the only entities that have anything to gain from a ban on alternative energy are fossil fuel energy companies such as Marathon. I have to wonder what their role is in this mass hysterical idiocy. Bruce Workman Findlay Pay now or pay much more later I found it quite interesting that under Ukraine's darkest hours, Judith Donaldson (letter to the editor in the March 14 edition) is flat-out perturbed the U.S. is sending monetary and military support using our taxpayer dollars without her consent. I'm wondering if she ever got hostile over the fact that the USA sends over $3.8 billion to Israel and $4.9 billion to Afghanistan, to name a couple. The way I see it, we have 2 choices: 1) give aide to Ukraine now and help them to remain a free democratic nation without our physical military participation, or 2) don't help Ukraine and enter into WW3 with Russia when they inevitably continue their invasion of other sovereign nations that they would like to reclaim as theirs throughout Europe including fellow NATO members. Maybe she's on board with supporting murderous authoritarians like Putin so she can live under a nondemocratic government rule and actually have no say whatsoever where her money goes. We can spend the money now or triple or quadruple it later when we are forced into defending our NATO friends when they're dragged into war with Russia and thus have thousands of U.S. servicemen casualties and deaths. I don't want my family military member to die in any war. We finally got out of Afghanistan & Iraq and I'd like to keep it that way. How many millions of dollars were spent on those wars and we got nothing in return. I didn't hear Donaldson screaming bloody murder over those expenditures! I personally give my consent to use any of my tax dollars to save Ukraine and save world democracies throughout the world. Putin, Trump, Erdogan, Maduro and other wannabe dictators/kings need to be kept away from humanity at large for the world to survive in peace. And don't forget about Russia's buddy China! Pay now or either die or pay through the roof later! Salena Maazaoui Findlay