Twenty-two years ago I had an artist’s rendering drawn up for a Jeep museum. It included a scenic walking trail that would take visitors through areas displaying everything from Jeep’s military past to custom Jeeps to new Jeeps and concept models. My design also called for a cafe, souvenir shop, kiddie Jeep rides, and an auditorium/theater.
The museum would spotlight the labor force and tell the Jeep story with photographs. The walking trail through the museum could be sponsored by companies such as Bass Pro Shops, Camping World, Cabela’s, Red Cross, the U.S. Army, and adventure and sports magazines. In 2008, when Harley-Davidson opened its 130,000-square-foot museum in Milwaukee, Toledo was more concerned with keeping Jeep and its jobs. Toledo united and kept our iconic mudcrawlers.
Well, Toledo has now shown with Jeep Fest that there still is interest in a Jeep museum. Toledo doesn’t take a back seat to anyone with our zoo, art museum, Fifth Third Field, Huntington Center, Veteran’s Skyway Memorial Bridge, and the Valentine Theatre. Toledo delivers the wow factor.
So when is it time for to create a Jeep museum?
BUDDY CARR
Monclova Township
Moral fiber gone
It is ironic that Republicans are going to base their 2020 campaign on calling the Democrats socialists and communists. This from a party whose leader and our president takes his advice and counsel from the Russian President Vladimir Putin over our superior national security agencies, in secret, of course.
The Republican party of today is politically and morally bankrupt. My father, who fought in WWII, whose ship landed at Iwo Jima, would cry at the thought of a U.S. president doing the bidding of a Russian dictator.
Is there a moral fiber left in our civil body politic?
JAMES KONWINSKI
Sylvania
Militia misread
Raymond Heitger asks poignant questions regarding a misconstrued “right” (“Where’s our militia?”, Aug. 28). The Second Amendment’s protections specifically protected colonists from prosecution as traitors to the king when they revolted against taxes imposed without them having a say. Those who defied their government would have been tried as traitors, most likely executed for treason. That was the protection articulated for a militia that “fired the shot heard round the world.”
How might those brave, forthright colonists view the misinterpretation of their unified loyalty to protect a fledging nation misconstrued as a right to kill one another?
The “stand your ground” clauses are used to justify killing, largely people of color, on a claim of feeling threatened. When did “feelings” become the basis of legal argument or justification for taking a life?
We have been hoodwinked into believing it is a constitutional right to acquire weapons intended to kill one another for an often in-the-moment reaction. This is a far cry from a trained, organized unit standing together against the tyranny of unjust laws that will harm the entire community.
CAROL NELSON BURNS
Catawba Island
First Published September 2, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
