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Aerial view of German Village

To the Editor:

As a resident of German Village and Chair of the German Village Society’s Historic Preservation Committee, I am writing out of deep concern for the ongoing and unnecessary destruction of historic sandstone curbs in our neighborhood. These curbs, hand-cut in the 19th century by immigrant stonemasons, are not just stones. They are part of the original streetscape that gives German Village its nationally recognized character.

In recent months, contractors working on behalf of the City of Columbus have demolished these curbs during ADA ramp installations — without public notice and without obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA). Every homeowner in German Village is required to secure a COA for any sidewalk, curb, or exterior work affecting historic materials. Yet the City has proceeded as though it is exempt from the very rules that residents must follow.

The result is permanent loss. Once these sandstone curbs are removed and replaced with modern concrete, they cannot be recreated. Their historic craftsmanship and material integrity are gone forever.

Karki

Mohan Karki is a Bhutanese-Nepali refugee from Ohio who has been held in detention at the St. Clair County jail for over six months and is at risk of an imminent deportation currently scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd. See this article for more information about Mohan’s story and his likely fate if he is deported to Bhutan and expelled into statelessness.

Priority Actions:
Mumia

On Wednesday, December 3rd, organizers for March For Mumia, the epic march from Philadelphia to Frackville, Pennsylvania, will host a press conference to explain the purpose of their march and their demands to mark the halfway point of their twelve day 103 mile march.

It will take place at 11:30AM at the Berks County Courthouse, located at 633 Court Street, Reading, Pennsylvania.

Abu Jamal's personal physician Dr Ricardo Alvarez will be among the participants. Representatives from local organizations supporting AbuJamal such as Building Justice for Berk, Berks Stands Up and Berks for Palestine, are also expected to participate. 

Letters

As one of the few surviving non-corporate owned sources of information in Columbus we pride ourselves in reading your opinions. One person had some illuminating observations about two recent stories. You deserve to read them.

Response to Political Theater Nov 27, 2025

https://columbusfreepress.com/article/political-theater

It’s no secret that the mayor is trying his best to expand and promote women’s sports in Columbus as he stated in his recent State of the City Address while claiming to position Columbus as the nation’s capital for women’s sports.

The US government wants us to forget about the Israeli genocide and the daily war crimes it commits in Gaza and the West Bank as was as in Lebanon against Palestinian refugee camps there. That's the reason the White House, the US State Department, the mainstream media, as well as major Jewish-American organizations act blind, deaf, and mute when it comes to Israel.

Last November 27, Israeli occupation forces executed two young Palestinians in cold blood even after they had turned themselves in. An outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law. The incident happened last Thursday during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, northern West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the slain men as Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah, 26, and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, who knelt briefly before being shot as they moved back toward the entrance. Israel's military and police said they were wanted suspects who had thrown explosives and fired earlier and the matter is under review. The Palestinian Authority called it a war crime while Israel's National Security Minister supported the officers.

Terrell Brown

To the Editor:

Accountability is the bedrock of American justice. Yet, as I fight to end Qualified Immunity for government actors through the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity, I am now forced to fight a similar battle on a heartbreakingly personal front. ​My son, Terrell Michael Raphael Brown died May 26, 2022, at just 21 years old after being served a fatal volume of alcohol by a local establishment.

Common sense says that a business profiting from recklessly overserving a young man to the point of toxicity should be held liable. However, the Ohio Dram Shop Act (O.R.C. 4399.18) acts as a shield, granting statutory immunity to businesses and attempting to block a grieving family’s right to a jury trial. ​This law relies on a "First-Party" bar, effectively blaming the victim for their own death while ignoring the gross negligence of the establishment that kept pouring the drinks. This is legally and morally unsound.

OSU has 38% decrease in international student enrollment, Michigan has 3% increase

This article first appeared on Substack.

This past Saturday, as Buckeyes everywhere donned their scarlet and grey and prepared for THE game, Honesty For Ohio Education posted a graphic that everyone needs to see.

The image above really highlights how Ohio’s new law — SB 1 — has already harmed OSU and universities across the state.

Earth on fire

The planet isn’t melting because of politics, culture, or morality. It’s melting because humans are operating out of alignment with the physical laws that govern reality. The consequences we are living through are not random — they are structural.

Enslavement, domination, and exploitation are not built into the structure of reality. They are human inventions. And when entire societies operate on ideas that violate natural balance, the effects show up in the world around us.

The imbalance we are living through — what many people call “the melt” — is the earth reacting to systems and behaviors that break natural law.

And here’s the truth behind that idea: the universe itself is immune to rebellion.

It works on laws that cannot be violated without consequence. We can pretend otherwise in our minds, but the physical world keeps the score.

You can defy the measure in your thoughts, but you cannot escape the consequence in the world.

That is why the planet melts.

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