As the International Services Director for the local Red Cross, I was really excited to see and then read the recent cover story "Refugees No More" in CityBeat (issue of June 22-28). I have contact on a regular basis with refugees because of what I do in my position and was so happy to see the heart-breaking and yet successful story that was written by one of your reporters, Saleha N. Ghani.
I as well could not help reflect back on 1999 when I was loaned to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and spent four months working in Macedonia and Kosovo due to the Kosovo conflict. I felt privileged to meet, help and be helped by many of the 450,000 Muslim Kosovars who fled Kosovo for the same reasons Aisa and Sanja shared with your reporter.
I worked as an International Committee Tracing Delegate in many of the refugee camps just across the Kosovo border in Skopje, Macedonia. Your article brought back a rush of memories that are still very close to the surface of my memory because of how similar Aisa and Sanja's story is to the stories I heard every day for from the Kosovo refugees.
We actually had seven refugee camps ranging from 5,000 people in the smallest camp to 45,000 in the largest. One of the most moving experiences I had was with a refugee family inviting me to their tent for "chi" (tea), bread and conversation. It seems simple enough on the surface, but through one of my interpreters the wife wanted me to know that since I was away from my family and was there helping them and other refugees I should consider them my family. She went on to say if I ever needed anything I should not hesitate to ask them.
This from a family whose only possessions were those they carried in a few cloth bags when they were forced against their will to flee Kosovo.
I was so moved by their reaching out to me that I've never forgotten it. We spent many a day sharing chi, bread and conversation in the tent prior to assisting them to be humanitarianly evacuated to England through our efforts. I have a picture on my desk I look at every day reminding me of them and so many others who were forced to flee Kosovo.
Thanks again for the article. The Red Cross continues to accept tracing inquiries from people who still are separated from family members from the Bosnian and Kosovo conflict as well as many other international conflicts, including the Holocaust.
— Vince Costello American Red Cross
Cincinnati Area Chapter
Shoulda Listened Before
In CityBeat's letters section of June 15-21, Lindsay Slocum protests that critics of the Iraq War, of the military/industrial complex and of "the lying president" complain without offering solutions ("How About a Solution?"). The groundlessness of Slocum's venting demands a clear response.
To begin, it is unreasonable and unfair to demand that opponents of the war in Iraq provide a solution. Don't expect us to solve a problem that was bad policy from the beginning and that we warned Americans against following.
As for the military/industrial complex, there have been many who have spoken for years of its dangers to the United States, including, perhaps most famously, President Dwight Eisenhower — just another "whining, ignorant asshole" as Slocum calls those against the war.
Because I feel particularly helpful this morning, I'll point out that there have indeed been many proposals for getting out of Iraq and for reining in the military/industrial complex. Apparently, Slocum hasn't been listening. I recommend as a starting point the Web site of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (www.fcnl.org), a public interest lobby founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Now, about that lying president. I recall that during 2004 there were many suggestions about the course we should follow. Unfortunately, a frightened, befuddled and misled electorate and a feckless Democratic Party combined to assure his reelection.
— Franchot Ballinger, Hyde Park
People Are 'Jacked' by Fountain Move
In this Cincinnati City Council election year, we as citizens need to start pulling some council members' voting records and asking the right questions. That $42 million Fountain Square deal led by Stephen Leeper and the all-white 3CDC boys that just went down was nothing less than a "corporate jacking."
The question that needs to be asked amidst all the urban murders, crime levels at all-time highs and the poorest of black neighborhoods desperately needing funding is: What in the devil will the black community get out of an already revamped fountain being moved a couple of hundred feet from where it sits now? And since the "jacking" has already passed council, another key question is: How many jobs for black people — not "minorities" — will this project generate?
Councilmembers Alicia Reece, Laketa Cole and Sam Malone voted "yes" on this deal along with all the white council members. David Pepper, the coward, helped to hurry this proposal out of committee but failed to show up for the full vote so he wouldn't/couldn't be held accountable.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pepper and Reece aren't fit to lead this city as mayor. Loitering laws, panhandling laws, impaction ordinances, allowing the super rich to keep getting richer by not taxing their stock options when every other municipality in Ohio does, the Hunnington Meadows holocaust, the Empire Theatre fiasco, the Shearer & Shearer Over-the-Rhine Redevelopment Debacle — that's just a brief description of their incompetence while just serving on council. A strong mayor position? Not this trip!
The only "face lift" Cincinnati needs to invest in is a face lift of city council itself by putting some new faces in those chairs currently occupied by people who only have big business and the rich at heart.
— Brig. Gen. Nikki X, The Black Fist
Fountain Move Is Unnecessary
On June 15, Cincinnati City Council voted on a corporate giveaway of Fountain Square, with only Christopher Smitherman voting against it. A private development company comprised of 15 corporations in Cincinnati, 3CDC, will oversee the takeover.
Perhaps the square could use some improvements, yet not the kind that have been proposed: Moving the fountain to the middle of the square, planting more trees around the edge of the square and adding another fountain to the square.
The square has long been the site of numerous celebrations, rallies and concerts. It's served as a fine central civic space. Putting the fountain in the middle makes all such functions impossible.
During the work week, many who work downtown eat lunch on the square. In the future, however, there will be no more pleasant gatherings with musicians playing on the square for youngsters, civic groups or whatever. No more stage or podium from which to peacefully address a political gathering or entertain a social one.
— Mark J. Burwinkel, Northside
