A timely tale: My husband and I have been house-hunting for over a year. On Thursday, I looked at a beautiful house in Avon Lake ["Cancer in Paradise," June 22]. The owner casually mentioned that she was moving because her husband was ill.
Later that day, I bought a Cleveland Magazine to read the stats on all the neighborhoods. I noticed Avon Lake's housing did not appreciate nearly as much as Avon. In fact, the appreciation was so low, I thought this was strange, considering how close they are to each other. I would have thought that Avon Lake would be more desirable, because of its proximity to the lake.
My intuition was telling me to pay attention, but I wasn't quite sure how much I should be concerned until I picked up a Scene the next day. I was completely shocked and exceptionally grateful to read your article. I feel like you saved my life. It nauseated me to think how close we came to purchasing a house we might never be able to sell. In any case, I am very glad you wrote this article when you did.
Lisa Smith
Cleveland
You gotta have chutzpah: Your article was great ["Cancer in Paradise," June 22]! Thank you for reporting the truth and for talking with so many people. I am looking into the landfill and contacting the appropriate people to see what we can do. Thank you for having the chutzpah to put politics aside and report the dirty truth!
Kimberly Pils
Avon Lake
Reich Makes Might
All the freaks are getting tired: I believe lawmakers are destroying the adult-entertainment scene in the Flats to build some ludicrous casinos instead ["Save Our Strippers!" June 15]. The lawmakers' method is to buy -- or take by force -- all the clubs to destroy people's livelihoods.
Most of the exotic dancers I've met are quite charming, despite the stereotypes and propaganda put forth by the media and outrageous talk shows. If the religious reich has its way, non-Christians of all backgrounds will be destroyed, and we'll all live in a puritanical society mixed with Social Darwinism.
Personally, I'm getting freaking tired of being submissive to society's rules and rants about what's abnormal to the rest of society. The ladies who work at the gentlemen's club are providing entertainment and fantasies, and it is a job -- an unusual job, but I enjoy it!
If you want to keep Cleveland exciting, save our strippers -- or you can live in the Dark Ages. The choice is yours, Clevelanders.
Kelvin Scott Frazier
Cleveland
Hudson's Buzzkill
Put the fake Checkpoint Charlie on ice: What a damn shame that the only publicity the Dave Matthews concert received was concerning the bogus checkpoints set up by the Dudley Do-Right of Hudson, Sergeant John Lowman [First Punch, June 22]. He should have been made to sit in traffic and watch the minutes tick by, with $50 lawn seats burning a hole in his pocket!
I'm 51 and a big fan of Dave's. No one who sat around us looked down their bongs at me. The kids are wonderful, well-behaved, polite, and friendly, even to an old lady like me. We were all family.
The concert was wonderful, and I'm so sorry so many fans missed it because of Herr Sergeant and his oh-so-brilliant idea. Hopefully, he's been "rewarded" with a few weeks in the cold-case/dead-files office of the Hudson Police Department.
Joy Walters
Twinsburg
Not Their Department
Some sympathy woulda been nice: I have to make two points about "I Want My IRS" [June 22]:
1. I know of no banks that are unionized, thank God, so the comment about the "collectively bargained smoke break" is a big stretch, even if it was just in jest. I just don't like unions and cringe at being somehow associated, since I work at a bank.
2. Seriously, wasn't this problem the fault of the accountant, not the bank? It's like going after the mailman if you bought a new TV online from Best Buy, but were shipped and delivered a season of Sex and the City on DVD instead, because Best Buy got your order wrong. Ya hear what I'm saying?
Jack Maiher
Cleveland
By Their Words . . .
So they're a band of Christians: I am responding to your article on Lifehouse singer Jason Wade's comment about Cleveland, in which you were clearly biased [First Punch, June 22].
First of all, Lifehouse is not a Christian band. I understand you were trying to make the article more interesting by portraying Lifehouse as a group of moral Catholic schoolboys who bad-mouthed your city, but the least you could do is check your facts.
Second, it's very clear from the quote that Wade was talking about the Cavaliers, whom he supports despite their bad record. Allan Fee is reading way too much into things.
Third, your caption, which stated that "Jesus will probably kick his ass," though obviously meant to be funny, may actually be offensive to some people. I would ask you to reconsider leaving it on your website.
Jessica Limbacher
Philadelphia
