Get Out of Town - Toledo's Mayor Does it Again

On the afternoon of February 8^th five buses, carrying approximately 200 Grand Rapids Ohio Reserve marines, approached Huron and Madison Avenue and were stopped by road blocks set up by the Toledo Police. The marines had come to Toledo for a three day urban warfare training session to prepare them for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Toledo Police Department and Toledo City Council had been notified about the plans of the urban warfare training as early as January. Permission for the training was granted by the Toledo Police. The place selected for the training was the Madison Building and the Promenade area, with the training consisting of mock battles, ambushes and the firing of blank ammunition.

A phone call came from the Mayor of Toledo, Carty Finkbinder, one hour before training was to commence, telling the Marines to leave Toledo and to go back home. Major Brooks asked to meet with the Mayor shortly after receiving the phone call, however the meeting was denied; the mayor was in another meeting at the time. Mayor Finkbinder stated that he and other city officials were not notified about the urban warfare training, He had found out about the training that Friday morning, by reading the Toledo Blade newspaper, making it too late to notify the general public of the situation.

However, on Tuesday, February 5^th, the Toledo Police issued a press release, to the media, explaining about the exercise. The release stated that the Marines would be in camouflaged uniforms and would be carrying M16 rifles. Furthermore, these Marines would be on foot patrol or in military vehicles, and at times they would be firing blank ammunition during the exercises, and there was nothing to fear.

Mr. Ashford, a councilman, stated that he doubted that people downtown would be frightened of the activities of the military. After all, there is practically no one downtown on a February weekend. He was also doubtful that the mayor was completely unaware of the planned visit of the Marines.