Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1952-10-03

day it is that we should be slow
in taking away from the people
(that is ourselves) their right TO
control public officials.
Those in favor of a constitu
tional convention say that the
present section of the constitu-
ton in regard to Home Rule to
cities and counties should be clar-
flied.
In 1912, the constitution was
amended to give cities and coun-
ties Home Rule, but the constitu-
ton did not define what the term
meant, the term "local self gov
ernment" has been interpreted by
the courts from time to time.
For the sake of argument, per-
haps the issue as stated by the
proponents does have merit, at
least to a certain degree.
Now on the other hand the ma
jor controversies which have aris-
en- deal mostly with the exercise
of the police powers of the local
governments.
Police protection has been held
to be state matter and subject
to the general laws of the state.
The last session of the legisla-
ture created a paddock law which
permits the attorney general and
the governor, under specified cor
ditions, to stop gambling con-
Quoted by racketeers and syndi-
Gates.
If that power is surrendered to
the local governments by the
state, then how many Trumbull
and Lake Counties will we have
in the State?
We must remember that the To-
cal governments are created by
the State (people) and as such are
instrumentalities of the sovereign
power, which is the state or peo-
pie. Now if we 60 too far adrift
from this idea, we might be lead
ing to anarchy.
Perhaps the most publicized
argument in favor of the consti-
tutional convention is that the
method of selecting members Of
the General Assembly is not ade-
quate, according to the propo-
nentS.
There is no question that ones
ideas and views on this extreme
ly important subject are control
led to certain degree upon our
y biographical location in the state.
IF we reside in Cleveland, pre-
sumo we would be inclined to
say that there should be some
changes. Then again, if we live in
Vinton County, our views could be
just the opposite.
The present constitution pro-
vides for the method of apportion-
ment, and every county is assured
at least one Representative while
the larger counties are given
more representation according to
their population, while the senate
is according to population and
not counties.
We know that it would not be
equitable to disregard county
lines and put representation pure
ly on a population basis. and it
would be ridiculous to say that
the county of Vinton should have
an equal vote with Cuyahoga
County.
Neither would be fair or for
good government.
Woodrow Wilson once said that
"true democratic representation
| is not gotten by merely count
ing of heads, but by taking into
consideration that there arc large
areas, though scantily populated
that must have their economic
and social viewpoints adequately
spoken for"
There are many reasons both
pro and con, for the convention,
such as the taxing power OF the
State. Some would like to do away
with the debt limitation Of the
present constitution. At present
the constitution provides for q
limitation of ten mills on real
estate, and additional levies are
to be voted on by the people.
The constitution as it now
stands dates back 1O1 years, yet
we did have constitutional con.
vention in 1912.
Through all these years there
has been much litigation in our
courts for the purpose of determ.
lining what the constitution means
and how it affects rights under
certain defined responsibilities
| powers and authority of our var.
ious branches of government al
each level of government.
Now would a complete revision
of the constitution be signal
for much new litigation, which
would take many years so that we
may ascertain just what the dele
gates intended when they wrote
the constitution.
There are three ways to amend
our constitution.