Part One"They are wanting to impose a 1% earnings tax when we feel they need to use our tax money more wisely than they have now. They are not using our tax money wisely," says Stacy Dickerson.
"Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence people have the right to alter or abolish their form of government and the citizens of America are simply taking that advice to heart and putting it into action," states Attorney Curt Hartman.
Sparked by consideration of the adoption of a 1% earnings tax, as well as anger over the hiring of a village administrator and other issues, a group of citizens in the village of Amelia gathered signatures to place an option on the May 5th ballot that would allow the citizens of Amelia to dissolve the village. The result would be that is currently incorporated inside the village would be split between Pierce and Batavia Townships.
The village of Amelia in Clermont County is home for a little more than 3500 people. The village has been incorporated since 1900. Over the last several years, tensions in the community have been rising and resulted in a group of citizens collecting enough signatures to place the option of dissolving the village on the May 5th ballot.
If the village is dissolved, the property and residents north of Main Street will become a part of Batavia Township, while the property and residences to the south will be absorbed by Pierce Township. I invited representatives of both sides of this issue to come on the show to discuss the issues involved.
After many emails and phone calls, I finally caught up with two of the leaders of the "Dissolve Amelia" effort, Debbie Sewy and Pam Barker. Both declined to appear themselves and declined to identify anyone to represent the effort. Pam Barker said that they people involved are not political, even though they have placed a serious question before the voters, and not public people, although they maintain web sites and write letters constantly to village officials.
As a result, I am joined this morning only by the Mayor, Leroy Ellington. Mr. Ellignton was elected mayor in November, 2007.
Part TwoSeveral weeks ago the University of Cincinnati and its partners received a 23 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of this program is to speed the process by which discoveries and developments by laboratory scientists are transformed into applications that have significance at the bedside of patients. This award will support work by the UC Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
To help explore the significance of this grant, I am joined by two of the principal investigators. Dr. James Heubi who leads of Cincinnati Children's and UC Department of Pediatrics, and Associate Dean of Clinical and Translational Research. Also, Dr. Joel Tsevat, a Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research.
