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Mark’s Musings – October 25, 2017

| October 24, 2017

Mark Fortune

Ohio State is in the news but not for football. At least this week. As you know the Buckeyes had a bye week. The Bobcats did not and quite aptly tarnished the Golden Flashes of Kent State.

Ohio State decided not to allow White Nationalist Richard Spencer to speak at the campus and the event organizer has sued the university in federal court. The university claimed “safety concerns” and has support from students and faculty for the decision.

Spencer wanted to use the Ohio Union Performance Hall, which holds about 500 people, for the event. Several First Amendment rights experts have weighed in on the controversy, saying that the university needs to tread very carefully in this matter. It will obviously be interesting to see where this goes and more importantly, the ramifications on future speakers and gatherings across the country.

Let’s play it out this way. Let’s presume you are a college or a church or school, or, for that matter, any organization that hosts public speaking events and you (you being the President, person in charge, board President, key decision maker, advisory board or etc.) decide that we “don’t like this person or that group or that message from that person or that group”, so we will just deny them access to speak. Hmmm? Does this look like America to you? I believe that a past column addressed this very thing. Caution.

On the other hand, we do not need safety concerns or the danger that comes with mass protests or hateful speech meant to incite at public gatherings, do we? Can we look backward at the Vietnam War protests and learn from that?

Turning to something positive, the weekend was absolutely gorgeous for the Apple Butter Stirrin’ and the Fall Farm & Foliage Tour. The warm temperatures had folks coming to Roscoe Village in droves! As a matter of fact, I tore into our big jar of apple butter over the weekend and will probably finish it off by this weekend. It’s good stuff! Slather a generous helping on a piece of warm cornbread and you are golden.

Another positive was the 75th annual Coshocton County Soil & Water Conservation District meeting held last Thursday evening at the Lake Park Pavilion (which, by the way, is sporting some new paint!). 75 years of conservation to preserve our soil and clean water is a very good thing. The vision that brought this organization to our community deserves our thanks. These folks work hard to fulfill their mission every day. Thank you.

What’s with the weather? There’s been no frost yet and we are heading towards the end of October. Although it looks like we could get hit with a frost this weekend as some much cooler nighttime temperatures are headed our way. Is this normal? Does anyone remember what happened last year? Does anyone remember what they had for lunch as the proverbial saying goes? How about what you had to eat at the county fair? I bet you remember that!

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion

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