On average, children drink more than 30 gallons of sugary beverages annually – enough to fill a bathtub, and seven times the recommended maximum. We all want healthy kids, and the Healthy Default Beverage ordinance is a small way to support parents wanting healthy options for their kids. Once a treat, now 85% of U.S. households eat out about five times a week on average. Under this policy, parents can still choose a sugary drink for their kids but makes milk, 100% juice or water the offered options. This is a commonsense approach toward a positive outcome: healthy children.
Alyson Poling, Executive Director, Cincinnati American Heart Association, Finneytown
Soda ban will have no effect on childhood obesity
Cincinnati City Council is about to pass a non-sensical regulation that will ban private companies from listing soda items on kid's menus. This will have absolutely no affect on childhood obesity. City Council can do no more to stop obesity than they can to stop global warming – another lofty (lefty) goal they have adopted.
I moved here last summer. I love Cincinnati. But I have lived in several different cities, and have to say the roads here are atrocious. City Council members, if you really want to improve the lives of your citizens, fix the damn potholes! That's something you can control.
Jack Felton, Green Twp.
Oil companies should make sacrifice for the common good
As consumers, we are all being asked to make sacrifices in one way or another to make ends meet. During the pandemic, we have seen our businesses struggle as well, and they too have made necessary sacrifices to stay afloat. Many restaurants absorbed costs to keep customers in order to survive. Fast forward to today with the high gas costs. Why is it that when fuel costs rise, the oil companies immediately pass those increased costs onto the consumer? Wouldn't it be admirable if the rich oil companies made some sacrifices for the common good and absorbed some of the excess costs instead of passing it on to the consumer?
Louise Easterly, Mason
We must embrace the hard work of democracy
Thank you, Robert Rack, for your guest column, "Reflection on the gift of democracy before it's too late." Americans have become so coddled by comfort ,and convenience, and so lazy when it comes to really understanding our government. With one-issue voters, social media, misleading soundbites, unquestioning devotion to left or right news stations, we're in trouble. We need an informed electorate and a willingness to compromise.
Democracy has not failed because it was found lacking. Democracy was found to be difficult and so many are leaning toward something easier – follow the leader and don't bother thinking. Just hope Americans find the courage and character to embrace the hard work of democracy.
Mary Scherl, Sharonville
Veto law allowing guns to be carried with no permit
Gov. Mike DeWine: Please veto the gun law that allows for Ohioans to carry a gun without a permit and without training. There are already too many guns out there that are resulting in increased deaths. We have road rage incidents and hostile stranger encounters which result in fights that quickly escalate to gun casualties. We had one recently where two men argued and guns came out and one person died. That could easily endanger innocent bystanders also. Please think hard about this and do the right thing. We don't need more guns out there!
Jean Swartley, South Cumminsville
Logic is still logic even if we disagree on some facts
In my freshman year at Xavier University, I had to take a logic course, a requirement that I have come to appreciate more and more. One of the logical fallacies that I learned about was not to turn chronological sequence into a causal connection. Monday's letters to the editor (Feb. 7) had two prime examples of that fallacy.
Most of us realize that a gradual transition to "greener" energy would be a good thing, but to eliminate fossil fuels in an "overnight" manner is not only foolish, but it puts a severe financial strain on middle and lower-class Americans.
Jack Peters, Mt. Lookout