To the Editors:

For reasons I cannot fathom, Ohioans for Concealed Carry sued the city of Oberlin concerning its legislation designed to eliminate the blanket prohibition of the possession of fire- arms in municipal parks before that ordinance went into effect. At its Oct. 7 meeting, one of the four Council members who had voted for the ordinance could have moved for its reconsideration, and if four Council members approved, the members could reconsider their votes of Sept. 16th. They could have taken another vote to table the measure… or they could have voted it down. Again, for reasons of their own, they did not accept OFCC’s “get-out-of-this-lawsuit-free” card. (And the shorthand on the four codified ordinances being challenged is three not-yet-updated sections and one significant but probably inadvertent omission.)

Citizens in Oberlin have taken matters into their own hands, as they have notably done in the past with good results. Petitions are circulating to put Ordinance 13-44 on the ballot in the next available general election, which will be Nov. 4, 2014. In the meantime, our 1998 law regarding park conduct will stay unmodified, though the tiny portion of it OFCC detests will remain as extinguished as it has been since 2004. Also in the meantime, the entire Oberlin community will have time to discuss alternative governance models for the parks that might permit local control and local community standards to prevail.

So voter registration is over, and the next Election Day is less than a month off. But please take a moment to sign a petition one more time: this in order to let Ordinance 13-44 “be submitted to the electors … for their approval or rejection” late next year.

Sincerely,

–David R. Ashenhurst
Community member