Root Cause of a Scary Problem

by 

Mike Scinto 

Talk Show Host/Columnist 

How do we control one of the most emotional, maddening, frightening, life-changing issues that challenges the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; children taking guns to school to harm or kill other students and/or teachers? Is there an easy answer to that question? Is the answer stronger gun laws as it relates to ownership and background checks? Should we ban guns altogether? Should the age of those buying and owning weapons be raised?

The truth is there’s no easy answer but with each school shooting the battle lines are drawn again, tempers flare and fingers are pointed. I don’t know a single conservative or liberal who isn’t moved to tears with each occurrence of this horrendous new reality in America today.

I’m offering, for your consideration, a point that will also be controversial but one that I feel goes to the very core of the problem. It is also a point that I don’t hear discussed much as a cause, or fix for the ever-increasing frequency of these tragedies.

I believe the problem has its root in the nuclear family. Of course there are some few exceptions but if you look at these cases going back to Columbine, that most would agree was the beginning, these young shooters (or would be shooters) had stockpiles of weapons in their homes, right under the noses of their parents or guardians. Their behavior, questionable Internet activity, gathering of explosives and guns happened right in their homes. When questioned, family members scratch their heads and say their children had isolated themselves, they had been either loners or hanging out with questionable friends and while given curfews and rules, ignored or bent those rules more and more often before launching the attacks.

In the interest of full disclosure I will confess up front that I could best have been categorized as a helicopter parent. Our son didn’t like it. My wife understood but thought I went a bit overboard, but looking at him today I wouldn’t change a thing!

If he said he was going to a friend’s house, I made sure he did. If he was going to the mall or a movie, he’d better be there. If he said he was taking the car and running to the store, the mileage had better check out. I tried to do my monitoring in an inconspicuous way. I’d occasionally be spotted but generally went undetected.

One legitimate argument against my practice was that it didn’t let him develop the understanding of right and wrong on his own. It wasn’t teaching him responsibility. There’s merit to both of those statements. But as I said, I have no regrets. He’s a responsible working man on the same job long-term now and is respected and liked by coworkers and management.

I can tell you without any question he would never have stockpiled weapons, planned attacks or had such critical personality swings that would have gone unnoticed or unchallenged by his mother or me.

I’ve heard folks say they can’t watch their children 24 hours a day or be an around-the-clock nanny for them. I say that’s the very attitude that has brought us to this point today! Besides being a good husband, God put me here to parent, guide, correct and raise our children. It’s not when my job allows, when my golf foursome didn’t have a tee time or as soon as hunting season was over. My job as a parent was 24/7/365 no exceptions.

If more parents had that attitude and goal I believe the frequency of these massacres by children on children would come to a grinding halt, or at least appreciably slow down.

A couple of disclaimers; despite how I may have sounded, we were far from the perfect parents and our son had his share of issues and challenges. And I also understand that what I’m suggesting will likely not happen in America. But I felt like I had to put it out there for consideration.

You see, I believe you can ban all the weapons you want, pass all the stronger gun laws you can create and drill and educate students, teachers and first responders but until parenting becomes our first and foremost priority in life, nothing is going to change.

Please let me know if you agree or disagree at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com.

Winter Olympics; All the Excitement of Watching a Turtle Race

by

Mike Scinto

Allow me to reinforce my macho image before I begin this column. I love sports. I played sports in school, played in adult leagues as I got older, coached our son for 13 years in soccer and baseball and never passed on a chance to compete. Now that I’ve established that I’m a man’s-man, on to my message. I am feeling a bit strange right now. I’m feeling like the ugly American. At the very least

I’m feeling guilty by my total lack of interest in what my fellow planetary citizens all appear to find fascinating. I have no interest whatsoever in the Winter Olympics!

I’ve tried. Oh, I’ve tried hard! I crank on the fireplace, kick back in my lounger with my favorite snacks and adult beverage, my dog Oreo on my lap and my remote control nearby. Within a few minutes I realize I’d dozed off; and I hadn’t even opened my adult beverage yet. I tried to watch the opening ceremonies. Surely THAT would hold my interest. Shortly into it some dude from somewhere had taken his shirt off, oiled his body up and was carrying the flag in the sub-freezing South Korean night. Again, was it just me that I can’t get into it?

I decided to get a good night’s sleep. I read some manly car customizing magazines, watched the highlights of Super Bowl LII and caught up on my past episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful. I should be ready for action on night number two of the Olympics; WRONG! It was another snore fest for me.

I decided I could either do some self-evaluation or pay some over-educated shrink, up to his eyeballs in student loans, to diagnose me. I chose the first option. Why don’t I like the Winter Olympics?

I think it’s the whole package that has me turned off. I never have liked the cold weather. I’m a warm weather outdoor guy and always have been. As the years go by, the cold weather appeals to me even less. That includes sitting for several hours watching other people freezing their buns off skating, skiing, sliding and whatever else they do while the air is colder than my deep-freeze here at home.

I think I’m a bit ADHD as well; tough to concentrate sometimes. When the games are half-way around the world and the stuff I’m watching happened last night or early this morning, I get lost analyzing the technology.

It’s on NBC the most boring sports network possible. I can‘t even make fun of Bob Costas who didn’t get to go to the games or the Super Bowl after saying something about the NFL being a dead sport; not the wisest way to get to cover the networks two hottest sports events.

No, I have no interest in the Winter Olympics at all and I’m hoping it’s NOT because I need testosterone shots. But it’ll help me fall asleep at night if I’m having trouble. Guys, email me and tell me you aren’t into it either and ladies, reassure me at least some of you have a significant other who isn’t watching either; and you’re okay with that.

I suppose it’ll all be finished soon. Then I’ll be complaining about the rebirth of “professional” football in the XFL. It’s like they’re just trying to make me mad! Okay, the 5000 meters speed skating is on now. Good night!

Let me know how you feel at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com

Let Good Samaritan Go With Dignity

by 

Mike Scinto 

It never ceases to amaze me how citizens in the city of Dayton, and most of its liberal and progressive leaders, never like it when a business decides it’s not profitable to continue operating in the city. It happens with shopping centers, grocery stores, nearly empty school buildings and most recently Good Samaritan Hospital. City and community leaders believe they somehow have the unique power to make better decisions than the owners and operators of those businesses.

Premier Health made the difficult decision to close the Good Sam campus by the end of 2018. Dayton, per capita, is above the national average in the number of hospitals servicing this community; even without Good Sam. Some buildings on the hospital campus are over 60 years old. Sources told me that studies show it would cost close to $100 million just to bring the infrastructure up to code. That’s not including the huge amount to make the care facility competitive through ongoing updates.

Another interesting, and relevant fact discovered is that a large percentage of the population living around Good Samaritan Hospital actually choose Miami Valley Hospital for their care even with Good Sam in their back yard. And while we’re addressing distance to a facility, Dayton does not have a massive footprint. You’re minutes from any hospital wherever you live in Dayton. The trend of the future is away from the hospital anyway and to area urgent care facilities, then home.

It just astounds me how people will tell, or attempt to tell, private businesses when and where they can operate. The Mayor of Dayton, as is the case with most things with which she interferes, needs to stay out of it. Let the free market take its course and dictate when, and where hospitals can and will locate or cease operations.

Unfortunately Dayton is not a thriving, growing community. In fact at best its population is flat, which isn’t a good thing for growth in any business. Under the governance of the current short-sighted city leadership that isn’t likely to change. The progressives in Gem City government are swimming upstream against a strong current. Our country is in a healing mode. An important part of that gives wealth back to the people rather than a government that squeezes out as much as it can from the population. It’s also an era when government allows business to flourish, or fail, on its own without outside interference and regulation acting as an anchor.

We all have memories about friends, family, coworkers or even ourselves being served or saved by Good Samaritan. It’s never easy saying goodbye to an old friend, but sometimes by reluctantly cutting those ties, greater things arise; better health care, lower cost treatments and more state-of-the-art facilities.

I’m not an expert on what it costs to operate, promote, update and run a hospital. I’m guessing most of you aren’t either and I’m sure the person occupying the Dayton Mayor’s office, and offering jabs about the decision to close Good Samaritan, doesn’t have a clue. So Mayor, and other leaders in the community, let’s let the marketplace do what it does best on its own. It might not be what you like. It definitely will be an adjustment but attempting to interfere using emotional pleas will accomplish nothing.

Let’s take a long, hard look at what the Gem City used to be as the hub of the Miami Valley. Maybe it’s time to let go of the old “hands-on”, big government policies of the past and let the city breathe! Start by allowing Premier Health to streamline its hospital system and let Good Sam go with real dignity and not fruitless controversy and bickering.

Let me know how you feel at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com