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| And Toledo City Council is meeting at 2:00 Tuesday | |
| 2008-02-11 | |
Tuesday will be a busy day for the Marines!Szollosi, chairman of the city's intergovernmental relations commission, has called a 2 p.m. meeting Tuesday to pose "some tough questions" to Finkbeiner. The full City Council meets later Tuesday. As criticism spread over the Toledo mayor's decision to put the kibosh on downtown urban warfare training by a Grand Rapids-based Marine battalion, other city leaders were doing damage control today. "On behalf of several colleagues on the city commission and numerous citizens, we would like to apologize to the community of Grand Rapids and the families of the reservists," Toledo Councilman Frank Szollosi said. "The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people," Finkbeiner spokesman Brian Schwartz said. "He did not want them practicing in a highly visible area." Schwartz said the mayor in 2006 informed then-police Chief Jack Smith that he didn't want the Marines back. Finkbeiner was unaware they planned to return until Friday, Schwartz said. "Unfortunately, the chief of police never communicated that down to his subordinates, so nobody handed it down to the mayor," Schwartz said.
Maj. Dan Whisnant, the battalion's commander, said he was disappointed by Finkbeiner's decision. The training is vital to their combat mission, given the deployment in 2006 and part of 2007 to Iraq's western Anbar province, he said. "It prepares the guys for the real sights, smells, sounds of an operating city," Whisnant said. "It heightens their sense of awareness. You don't duplicate it." Whisnant said he was unaware of any complaints by Toledo residents or the mayor. "The reason we rescheduled it (the training) is we had such a good training experience," he said. "It went so smoothly last time." | |
| Posted by:Sherry |
#11 "We basically want the mayor to apologize," he said. "There - fixed, Mr. Szollosi. Quit being such a politician and say what you mean. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-02-11 18:42 |
| #10 And the two groups were not mutually exclusive, one perhaps influencing the other. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-02-11 17:18 |
| #9 Just a side note. IIRC, while Ohio provided more troops to the Union than any other state during the last Civil War, it also had the highest level of Copperheads as well. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-02-11 16:05 |
| #8 Oh, and news for the Mayor... Our military doesn't scare its people. They know it won't hurt them. People love seeing a training exercise like this and it is good PR and recruiting. So, the only real excuse you have is you are a military hating liberal that did your best to stab our troops in the back during a time of war. That is treason, sir. Back in the day where the government had a spine, you would have been shot for it after your trial. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-02-11 14:44 |
| #7 "...so nobody handed it down to the mayor," DOWN to the mayor? What kind of f*****d up org structure does that place have? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-02-11 13:48 |
| #6 Sounds to me like he was PO'd with the Chief of Police and did this out of spite. Bugwitted Dickweed. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-02-11 12:34 |
| #5 How charming of Mayor Finkbeiner. I hope he plans to reimburse the Marines for the $10,000 the regretted act took out of their very limited budget. Perhaps he can give up showering at the office after his midday run, until he's saved up $10,000 in unspent personal water bills. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-02-11 12:25 |
| #4 Yesterday, the mayor came short of an apology, but defended the decision in a written statement. "I spoke with Maj. Jeff Brooks of the United States Marine Corps. I conveyed my sincere regret for the failure to communicate within the administration and any inconvenience that caused the U.S. Marine Corps," the statement said. "I also conveyed, as my staff did on Friday, that we would make available abandoned buildings for Marine training outside of the central business district." Mr. Ashford challenged Mr. Finkbeiner's statement from the previous day that people downtown would be frightened by warfare exercises and said he was doubtful the mayor was completely unaware of the planned visit. "If you have ever been downtown on a weekend in February, there is no one downtown," Mr. Ashford said. The backlash against the mayor intensified yesterday. There was much disdain for Mr. Finkbeiner when he competed in a free-throw shooting contest during halftime of yesterday's men's basketball game between the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University at BGSU's Anderson Arena. Mr. Finkbeiner, who competed against Bowling Green Mayor John Quinn, was showered with boos by fans from both teams. The mayor responded by cracking a faint smile. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-02-11 11:57 |
| #3 I guess this slack-jawed, imbecile mayor thought he could get some publicity by following the Berkeley model. Damned idiots. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-02-11 11:44 |
| #2 Sherry, I moved it to WOT Background, because I think this Dem. mayor is playing politics over the War. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-02-11 11:41 |
| #1 Opps -- I swear, I selected Local -- sorry Mods |
| Posted by: Sherry 2008-02-11 11:32 |