Could have, would have, should have ... didn’t.

After carefully reviewing the separate findings of Eckles Architecture and RCI Architects regarding Case Avenue Elementary School, the reality of the building’s condition is frightening. The time to make a decision and act is now.

The structure is obviously not salvageable, nor is it marketable. If anyone feels the need to reminisce, please walk up Wengler Avenue and wax nostalgic in front of the former Wengler school eyesore that has plagued my neighborhood since 1983.

Fact: Rebuilding on the Case site makes sense due to its centralized location and presence on a shared campus with the high school, stadium, and Education Services Center.

Fact: The Case gymnasium — a separate wing built in 1950 — is a gem and should be saved and incorporated into the new building plan.

Fact: Even if a massive renovation of the Case building took place, new problems could be on the horizon in just a few years. The oversized and inefficient building would also continue to be a utility money pit.

Any building project will come with a price tag, most likely a large one. But it will never get any less expensive. Perhaps if corrective action had been taken 10 to 20 years ago, the building could have been saved, but that is the fault of prior school boards and administrators and squabbling about it now accomplishes nothing. It’s time to let go of the past, make a decision, and get moving.

Cheney works hard to cover up his real record

Robert W. McKay, Grove City

Upon reading and watching recent media reports, we see that Dick Cheney gives a parting shot to the new administration. As he and his colleagues used to say, “get over it.”

It seems Cheney has a lot to say now, but where was he when the mortgage crisis and economic meltdown were going on? He was busy counting the billions he and Halliburton stole from American taxpayers.

Cheney not only claims Obama has made us less safe, but that he and Bush saved thousands of American lives. According to Cheney, he’s a hero. A coward, master of deception, and the most corrupt politician in American history he is, a hero he is not.

Cheney duped the American public with lies and walked away with billions. Anyone who thinks for one second that Cheney cares about American lives is dead wrong.