The issue of casinos in Ohio is one that has been put forth to the voters and voted down countless times over the past decade. This fall, there is yet another casino issue on the ballot, and for the first time it has a real chance of passing. Ohioans, who are experiencing the ill effects of the economic crisis manifested into job and benefit losses, are desperate for change and the prospect of a few shiny, new casinos being erected offers a glimmer of hope to the downtrodden masses. Support for the issue is also high because it seems to be one of the best proposals we've seen yet in this state.

In a battle to win over the hearts and minds of Ohioans and have them vote their way, groups both in favor of and opposed to casinos in Ohio have contracted with various universities to conduct studies of the possible impact of the ballot issue's proposal. Not unsurprisingly, each study has found results in supporting the stance of the organization paying them to do it.

Here are arguments against Issue 3 – the monopoly casino measure on the ballot - as stated by its major opponent group Truth Pac.

It says the obvious; that the measure is tilted toward wealthy casino owners and it doesn’t even require the owners to actually build.

It also warns against “hidden taxes” on the rest of us as cities have to upgrade roads and bridges and provide other infrastructure requirements.

It’s not all take, there’s a lot of give and give.

As the Pee Dee propagandizes for the Casino industry, the Columbus Dispatch editorially says, “No Thanks!”

At the same time, the Pee Dee has a cartoon front-page heralding a poll saying Ohioans want the casinos.

The Dispatch said that casinos COST a community $3 for every $1 of benefit.

In an editorial today the Columbus Dispatch reminded voters that allowing casinos into their communities invites “corrosive influences.”

The Dispatch noted that casinos would pour money into buying the allegiance of state lawmakers with campaign contributions.

The paper also cites the fact that the Ohio Fraternal Order o Police, which is backing Issue 3, has been promised 2 percent of receipts by the casinos for “police training,” suggesting a payoff.

The paper also has reported that the casinos have promised annual contributions to Experience Columbus – the city’s convention bureau.

Experience Columbus has endorsed the casinos.

The suggestion is that the city’s convention center has been bought off by the casino, which will have a monopoly in Columbus as it would in Cleveland if Issue 3 passes.

In Cleveland Positively Cleveland – this city’s convention bureau – has endorsed casinos.

Northeast Ohio is home to come of the best health care in the world, with the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals System, MetroHealth Medical Center, and so on. Unfortunately, many area residents do not have the health insurance to take advantage of it. According to US Census Bureau data released on Monday, 22 percent of Cleveland's population under the age of 65 has no coverage.

Comparatively, 13.4 percent of Ohioans and 17 percent of people nationwide lack health insurance. Health coverage varied widely by region nationwide, based in part on levels of unemployment. The only other Ohio city worse off than Cleveland was Canton, where almost 24 percent of the population has no insurance. Akron did not fare well, with 19.4 percent of their population uninsured, and Lorain came in with 18.3 percent. The only city in Northeast Ohio that actually fared better than the state average was Parma, where just 11.5 percent of the population live without health insurance.

If anybody finds my "Wooly Bear" trophy, turn it in to the bartender at Rudy's Bar located across from the library in downtown Vermilion. As a matter of fact, maybe it's already in Rudy's Bar. That's where I last saw it when I was drinking with Little John Rinaldi, Kim Goddard and some of the Vermilion regulars after the Woolly Bear Parade Sunday.

I'm told that because of the economy some aspects of the Woolly Bear Parade were somewhat down. For example, there were fewer marching bands. Some school districts did not have the money to send them. These schools were regular participants in previous years.

But in other aspects it was bigger and better than ever. I must take issue with the crowd estimate of 100,000. It had to be bigger than that. It was like St. Patrick's Day in downtown Cleveland, which reminds me that Sept. 17, my birthday, just a few days ago, is exactly the midway point to St. Patrick's Day.

I've never seen so many dogs, all of them well-behaved. For a dog it must be like going to Cedar Point. There's just an awful lot of things to sniff. For kids, there were camel rides and dozens of cloven-hoofed animals to pet, including dwarf horses, goats, pot-belllied pigs and others that have not been named yet.

And if you like a carnival food court, the Woolly Bear's is the best. It's corn dog heaven.

Now, for the most important point of this piece.

According to authorities, a parachute failed to fully open during a tandem jump at a northwestern Ohio skydiving center. An instructor and student were killed in the accident.

The jump occurred about a half hour before sunset, and police were called to the scene about 7:30pm. Witnesses say that they saw instructor Daniel Mathie and student Sierra Thomas spiral to the ground Saturday evening, landing in a field near the Cleveland Parachute Center. Mathie, 30, of Boardman, and Thomas, 22, of Brunswick, were both pronounced dead at the scene. They were one of two tandem teams that jumped from an aircraft at around 8,000 feet.

Mathie was a veteran skydiver and skydiving instructor with more than 4,000 jumps under his belt. Thomas was making her very first jump. Mike Gates, 52, president of the Cleveland Parachute Center Inc. in Parkman, Ohio called it a "freak accident", and said: "It was definitely something that the guy couldn’t manage. It was something out of the ordinary,” said Mike Gates, president of the Cleveland Parachute Center Inc. in Parkman.

Gates added, "The cause of the accident is undetermined. Whatever it was, it incapacitated him,” and prevented him from releasing a backup parachute, he said.

Ohio's race tracks and slot machine proponents have been dealt a devastating blow as the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Monday that Governor Ted Strickland's plan to put in video slot machines at horse racing tracks is subject to a statewide vote. This ruling could potentially create a nearly $1 billion hole in the state budget.

In addition, the court put any plans to begin implementing the slots on hold for 90 days, giving a group seeking to put the issue on the ballot the time they need to gather signatures.

The ruling is not only a blow to race tracks and slot machine supporters, but also Gov. Strickland and the state legislature, who worked in the slots to help balance the state's two-year budget without having to raise taxes or enact further spending cuts.

In a 6-1 decision, the highest court in the state ruled that it could not take the state's budget into consideration when deciding that according to Ohio's constitution, the plan was subject to a vote:

One of the long standing traditions in Northeast Ohio is facing tumultuous as they bleed more and more money. Jim Hunstsman, the CEO for the 75 year old Soap Box Derby, was candid in a USA Today story this morning saying "We're in trouble".

The Soap Box Derby has not had a sponsorship deal in the last two years and needs about $250,000 to stay afloat. The Akron based group says that are hoping to lure green companies to sponsor the event in the coming years.

The USA Today story reads:

The derby is in the red after decades of making money. It has lost money three out of the past five years. It recently lost its line of credit, and the group is "living hand to mouth," Huntsman says.

The winds of change may be reaching the State of Ohio as latest polls show that 56% of respondents in a recent poll support legalized casino gambling in Ohio. This comes after years of solid defeats for similar measures in recent. Issue 3 comes to a public vote in November.

Also polled by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute was the Governors decision to allow slot machines at Ohio Race Tracks. 60% of those asked said they agreed with Ted Strickland's plan to expand gambling and help reduce the deficit by one billion dollars if the measure sees the light of day. This, of course, was before the Ohio Supreme Court muddied the waters with their decision earlier today saying his actions would need to be voted on by the public and may delay the slot machines from being installed by their projected date of May 1st and causing an enormous shortfall in the already fragile state budget.

The 2009 political season is now in full swing, and, similar to ants showing up uninvited at a picnic, political reptiles of every ilk, stripe and coloration are currently slithering about in the grass spreading their venomous brand of realpolitik.

The first critter, the deadly “Forked-Tongue Sidewinder” has all of Ohio as its habitant — it can be found in all 88 counties. It can readily be identified by the distinctive green markings on it head that resemble dollar signs, and the high-pitched sound it emits … “Jobz, jobz, jobz.” Anyone bitten by this snake will be turned into a babbling idiot who will then vote to allow greedy developers to set the price they will pay the state for the privilege of raking in billions of dollars at casinos around Ohio.

Herpetologists suspect that this snake has already bitten most members of the State Legislature, since they failed to put in place a bidding process for the right to operate casinos … a move that could have brought billions into state coffers for education.

Similar to other political snakes, the Sidewinder’s only response to criticism is the oft-told lie, “Hey, we’re going to create these thousands of jobs for Ohio’s workers!”