Douchebag of the Month: Thomas Treer

Thomas Treer bills himself as a historian. I have no idea what he did to earn that title. Did he graduate with a degree in history? Has he been published? Or does he just watch the History Channel?

 

As far as I can see, all Thomas has done is write a letter to the Sun Messenger decrying the existence of linkage between South Euclid and Lyndhurst.

Perhaps Thomas, who I understand is in his 20s, should live up to his billing as historian and learn about the roots of Lyndhurst’s snobbery toward South Euclid.

Back in 1924, when the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District was created, there was a vocal group in Lyndhurst opposed to the joint district. They wanted Lyndhurst to have its own district. Why? They spouted some vague generalities about local control. But the real underlying reason was that South Euclid was home to a large Jewish population, which was not the case in Lyndhurst at the time. Since Jews have historically excelled academically, the concern among Lyndhurstians was that this would put their kids at a disadvantage. Despite Lyndhurstians’ concerns, South Euclid-Lyndhurst was for generations one of Ohio’s great success stories until Reaganomics came along and slashed federal education funding. In more recent years, there have been renewed calls for Lyndhurst to separate from South Euclid which in an area with declining population has zero chance of happening. Mostly these comments have surfaced in internet forums, and they’re clearly driven by the increased number of African-Americans in the district, most of who live in South Euclid. One kind of bigotry has been replaced by another.

Story time: I remember when my son came home from Elementary school one day. He was excited about a visit from the Chief of the Lyndhurst fire department. He told me how the fire chief was talking about how the South Euclid and Lyndhurst fire departments work together, and he joined his hands together interlacing his fingers to describe how the two departments were “like brothers.” My son told me with pride that he wanted to become a fireman. Of course, the week before he told me he wanted to be a baseball player, and the week after a football player. So you know how it goes.

Look, I don’t agree with the library’s move and I have yet to meet anyone who does. If Tommy wants to use the Library issue as yet another wedge to try and drive a division between South Euclid and Lyndhurst apart he should be upfront about why he wants it. But if he wants to do something about the Library’s move, he should do something besides bashing South Euclidians.

And that’s why I am naming Thomas Treer as March 2013’s douchebag of the month.