Sunday, August 22, 1999
CAPITOL INSIDER
School discussions skirt gun debate
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
While the nation debates the causes of teen violence and struggles to find answers, Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery and Gov. Bob Taft kept one politically hot item off the agenda last week.
The pair of Republican officeholders hosted a two-day conference in Columbus that highlighted efforts to make schools safer and help kids deal with their emotional problems. Similar meetings have taken place across the country this summer.
However, the expert-laden workshops deliberately steered clear of any debate about guns, the weapons of choice in school massacres that have shocked the country.
At a press conference before the event started, Ms. Montgomery noted 436 Ohio students were disciplined for having a gun on school property in the 1997-98 school year, including 101 elementary students.
Some politicians and public-policy types think part of the problem is easy access to guns. But the gun debate will have to wait for another day, she said.
“That would bring a whole other set of political issues into this conference,” Ms. Montgomery said. “This is a summit about violence — how to prevent it and how to deal with it in the places it could occur, in the school system.”
Speaking of guns, the General Assembly is moving to repeal a century-old law that prohibits dueling in Ohio.
Buried in the ever-growing chapters of state law is a provision that prohibits a person “from fighting a duel, being a second to a person who fights a duel, challenging another to fight a duel, accepting a challenge to fight a duel or knowingly being the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel.”
Does the repeal mean lawmakers are trying to revive the long-abandoned method of settling a dispute between gentlemen?
“No, no, no,” laughed Sen. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green. “If that happened today, the person would be charged with murder. Or attempted murder if they missed.”
Another area of law Mr. Latta is seeking to erase governs companies incorporated to build bridges across the Ohio River.
To get an idea how old the law is, consider that it allows such a company to charge these rates: for each foot passenger, 1 cent; for each horse, mule or ass, 3 cents; for every chaise, chariot, gig, or other two- or four-wheeled pleasure carriage drawn by one horse, 15 cents.
These companies also are required by law to post, “in a conspicuous place, at each end of its bridge, a board on which the rates are written, painted, or printed in a plain, legible manner.”
Lawmakers do more than fill up the statute books. They're also busy renaming our state highways.
Mr. Taft affixed his signature last week to the latest name change. As Ohio Route 177 passes through Darrtown in Butler County, it's now the “Walter "Smokey' Alston Memorial Highway.”
Mr. Alston, a baseball Hall of Famer who managed the Dodgers for a record 23 seasons and won four World Series championships, grew up in Darrtown and kept his home there while he was in baseball. He often brought big-league players home for an annual Christmas party and autograph session. He died in 1984.
Attempting to reduce paperwork and bureaucratic red-tape, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is making business incorporation forms available on the Internet.
Folks who need these forms can log on to www.state.oh.us/sos/ and print out what they need.
The office is a year or two away from being able to offer online filing, said Carlo LoParo, Mr. Blackwell's spokesman.
Michael Hawthorne covers state government for The Cincinnati Enquirer. He can be reached at (614) 224-4640.
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