On Saturday, June 30, 2007, in Sunbury, hundreds turned out at the Ohio Fallen Heroes Memorial Dedication to honor and pay tribute to Ohio’s fallen heroes in the war on terror. However, Governor Ted Strickland was MIA. Although he had committed to attend and was listed in the program, he was nowhere to be seen. I was curious why the Governor “couldn’t make it,” so I asked. Turns out he canceled at the last minute (and didn’t even send a rep). According to Jerry Bowman, Lieutenant Corporal, Retired, and Committee member of the OFHM, Governor Strickland cited “budget” work as his excuse, even though, the Dispatch reported the budget had breezed through on Wednesday. Yet this same Governor just two weeks ago, in the midst of working on the budget, managed to find time to attend CAIR’s banquet and praise them for their work. CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, has known ties to terrorists, refuses to denounce Hamas and Hizbollah as terrorist’s groups, and has recently been named by Federal Prosecutors as co-conspirators in Hamas terrorist fund raising activities. Governor Strickland praises CAIR and snubs our Gold Star Families. Here is one of the fathers of a fallen hero that Governor Strickland snubbed.
Jerry Bowman also told me that he read Governor Strickland was planning a victory lap around the state to celebrate the budget. The Governor seems to have forgotten that the reason he lives free to do victory laps or anything else he wants to do is because of the 189 fallen Ohio soldiers and their comrades in the war on terror that he couldn’t find time to honor. Or maybe the Governor couldn’t find the time because he agrees with his Democrat comrade John Edwards that the war on terror is nothing more than a bumper sticker slogan. How else could he praise CAIR terrorist supporters and snub our fallen heroes and their families? Although the Governor may have forgotten the sacrifices made, we will never forget. Never.
