Editorials

Orchids and onions

ORCHID: To board members, volunteers and donors involved with the Boardman Schools Fund for Educational Excellence for raising $20,000 in the community to be distributed to teachers in the district. The funding enables educators to purchase needed or innovative classroom materials without having to dip into their own personal savings -- as many teachers nowadays so unselfishly do.

ORCHID: To Mahoning County's Public Health department for successfully and seemingly seamlessly opening the Valley's mass COVID-19 vaccination site inside the former Dillard's department store in Boardman's Southern Park Mall. More than 800 people received inoculations during Wednesday's "soft opening." Those receiving vaccinations described the process as quick, efficient and extremely well organized. Hats off to Health Commissioner Ryan Tekac and his tireless crew for ensuring this critically needed service is going off without a hitch. The clinic will officially open next week, eligible to all adults living in Mahoning, Trumbull or Columbiana counties. Register at www.gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov.

ONION: To roaming cars of hooligans in Youngstown who have been terrorizing sections of the city's South Side recently. Police have responded to numerous complaints of dozens of young people congregating and loitering at street corners, loud parties and indiscriminate gunfire, including shots fired at residents' homes. We hope city police Chief Carl Davis responds forcefully to the mayhem with increased patrols, stern apprehensions and speedy arrests of any and all individuals responsible for this life-threatening troublemaking.

ORCHID: To the city of Youngstown, Central YMCA of Youngstown, the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, the Youngstown Police Department and Eastern Gateway Community College for organizing the "Respect Basketball League" in the crime-torn city. The program is designed to provide skills to improve the quality of life for 200 young men in Youngstown and to discourage them from engaging in antisocial or even criminal behavior. In addition to basketball, the program will offer educational opportunities, mentoring and leadership skills. We wish this proactive program great success.

ORCHID: To the Western Reserve Port Authority for agreeing to provide financing on more than $9 million of the $30 million massive renovation project for Macy's department stores' distribution center in North Jackson. The renovation will convert about 380,000 square feet of the facility on Mahoning Avenue into a fulfillment center. In the process, 417 well-paying jobs will be created. The WRPA's welcome assistance builds upon the reputation of the North Jackson-Lordstown corridor of the Mahoning Valley as a bastion for vibrant economic growth.

ONION: To the U.S. Census Bureau for its six-month delay in releasing results of its 2020 head count of the nation's population that is wreaking havoc on congressional redistricting tasks of Ohio and many other states. While we can understand some delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, waiting until Sept. 30 for the results that were due March 31 seems unreasonable if states are to know how many congressional districts they will have and how they will be drawn in time for March 2022 candidates to enter the ring. Ohio sued the bureau over the delayed release, but a federal judge this week ruled in favor of the bureau. The redistricting process is already fraught with political gamesmanship without adding more obstacles to the fair, timely and successful completion of the task.

ORCHID: To a group of Hubbard High School students who are organizing a Distracted Driving Social Media Awareness campaign for the week of April 5. Teachers and advisers at the high school are being encouraged to engage students in the creation of empowerment strategies and solutions to address reckless and distracted driving. Considering the grisly toll that distracted driving takes on young people, the Hubbard Eagles' awareness campaign should serve as a model for student groups at other high schools throughout the region, state and nation.

ORCHID: To Eastern Gateway Community College for earning two impressive awards this month. Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague visited the growing downtown Youngstown campus this week to present EGCC President Michael Geoghegan with its Compass Award for the college's success in advancing financial literacy and empowerment. EGCC also received the 2021 Institutional Stewardship Award from the Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching Project for its commitment to transition to low-cost or free digital textbooks. Both awards demonstrate Eastern Gateway's serious commitment to the academic needs and budgetary constraints of its 41,000 students in the Mahoning Valley and nationwide.

editorial@tribtoday.com

Editorials

Orchids and onions

• ORCHID: To Liberty Township trustees for their commitment to restore Little Squaw Creek in Churchill Park. Funding for this environmentally friendly community project will come from the Clean Ohio Fund. The plan involves stabilizing the bank of the creek and prepping it for a variety of educational and recreational opportunities. Kudos to the many forward-thinking partners committed to preserving and enhancing this township asset.

• ORCHID: To participants and donors who ran for the lives of the homeless and needy in our community last Sunday. They took part in the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley's 2Run4Mattresses race and benefit. At last count, about $35,000 had been raised -- enough to purchase about 120 quality mattresses for the mission's new and expanded home under construction on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the city. If you'd like to contribute to this noble cause, contact the Rescue Mission.

• ONION: To those St. Patrick's Day revelers this week who threw caution to the wind and celebrated in public venues Wednesday night like it was 2019. For example, the state of Ohio cited an Austintown bar where investigators noticed upward of 400 people drinking, congregating far too closely and going maskless. Just as we've entered a period when most signs point to continued declines in COVID-19 infections, the last thing the Mahoning Valley needs now are potential super spreader events to reverse all the progress we've achieved.

• ORCHID: To Christopher Dominick, a seventh-grade student at Struthers Middle School, for winning the 88th annual WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee last weekend. Christopher, son of Nicholas Dominick and Delaney Malley, will now advance to the 94th Annual Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee, the final rounds of which will take place at Disney World later this summer. Christopher won the regional bee in Youngstown by spelling the word "stalwart" correctly. As luck would have it, stalwart, meaning reliable and hard-working, fits Christopher to a T.

• ORCHID: To Boardman Glenwood Junior High School science teachers Andrea Kratzer, Eric Diefenderfer, Laura Frost, Scott Lenhart and Ian Head for winning honors last week from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for their work and community involvement in promoting recycling. The five teachers and their students should be proud of their civic-minded contributions that landed the school a Branch Award from the OEPA, one of only five such awards handed out to schools statewide.

• ONION: To Dion L. Taylor of Youngstown for making telephone bomb threats to several downtown Youngstown public buildings in the summer of 2019. His irresponsible and juvenile actions forced mass evacuations, which disrupted important legal and court business. Taylor, who pleaded guilty this week after a plea deal was reached, deserves no further leniency when he is sentenced July 15 in U.S. District Court.

• ORCHID: To Austintown Fitch High School senior Colin Roberts and Boardman High School senior Jake Powell for representing the Mahoning Valley tremendously at the state wrestling championship competitions in Hilliard. Roberts finished in third place at the Division I state wrestling tournament, and Powell placed fourth statewide in the 285-pound weight class. In Division III, South Range High School made a name for itself at the tournament with juniors Ray Cmil, Michael Markulin and Logan Cormell all placing and the school finishing 13th in the state. Way to go, guys!

editorial@tribtoday.com

Editorials

Orchids and onions

ORCHID: To Mercy Health and St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for formulating plans to create a large memorial to remember and honor those affected by the yearlong health pandemic. Fundraising is underway for the $150,000 project intended to memorialize permanently the significance of COVID-19 pandemic and pay tribute to those who sacrificed greatly. The memorial's centerpiece will be a bronze sculpture, titled "When I was Sick," created by artist Timothy Schmalz. It is expected to be complete by September.

ORCHID: To Mahoning Common Pleas Judge R. Scott Krichbaum for using his discretion wisely when he showed mercy to a 24-year-old pregnant Youngstown mom having a distressed pregnancy by releasing her early from jail this week. The woman, serving six months for failure to comply with the orders of a police officer, had an otherwise clean record. The judge noted she had written some heartfelt letters. Krichbaum, well known for being very tough on crime in his sentencing, proved in this case, he's also fair and compassionate.

ONION: To the father of a Youngstown homicide victim accused of posting videos on social media threatening to take revenge on those involved in his son's recent death. We understand the anger and despair, but vengeance will not solve his son's murder, and only will serve to create more violence in the city. Cooler heads must prevail.

ORCHID: To the Ohio Department of Transportation for its commitment to provide extra funding to assist local transit agencies and health departments to ensure all eligible Ohioans can get to vaccination sites. The program will provide $7 million to public transportation operators across the state to help get Ohio's most vulnerable populations transportation to vaccine locations.

ORCHID: To the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, which granted $10,000 to the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown for Camp JCC scholarships and programming to assist families who otherwise could not send campers to Camp JCC. The funds also will be used to expand the programming effort for campers.

ORCHID: To America Makes and the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, who, on Friday's 109th anniversary of Girl Scouts of America, announced a partnership to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics -- or STEM -- education through additive manufacturing techniques. The project is part of a larger plan to expand opportunities for both students and teachers. What a great opportunity for everyone, and especially young women with a desire to pursue STEM careers.

editorial@tribtoday.com

Editorials

Orchids and onions

ORCHID: To the Youngstown City School District Visual and Performing Arts students for their project that included creation and release of a virtual performance commemorating this weekend's anniversary of the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., to end discrimination in voter registration. On March 7, 1965, about 600 people, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, began to march the 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital, to register black voters. What a critical lesson to recall and to share with our community!

ONION: To Samantha Garlow, 24, of Warren, who was convicted this week of patient abuse related to her former job as an aide at an Austintown nursing home. Garlow struck an elderly patient. We hope she has learned that she is not cut out for that type of work and that she never again attempts to work in a nursing home. But just in case, the Ohio Department of Health states that Garlow's conviction will ban her from ever working again in an Ohio nursing home.

ORCHID: To three local young women from Troop 8115 in Canfield who will be among the first nationwide group of female Eagle Scouts. Hannah Kelly, 18, of Canfield; Laura O'Neil, 19, of Liberty; and Paige Christoff, 17, of Canfield, will join hundreds of other girls across the country in the first class of female Eagle Scouts. Bravo!

ONION: To Youngstown officials for waiting so long to remove the word "interim" from Finance Director Kyle Miasek's title. Miasek has been doing the job for more than three years. This week city council voted 7-0 to approve Miasek's official appointment by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown's to the position. Finally! But what took so long?

ORCHID: To several area students nominated for attendance at national military academies in 2021. These young people, among the area's best and brightest, include: Brody Todd, Poland Seminary High School and Youngstown State University, Naval Academy; Maguire Franko, Poland Seminary High School, Military Academy at West Point; Randy McCloskey, Austintown Fitch, Military Academy at West Point; Zachary Glavic, Austintown Fitch, Naval Academy; Julia Gorby and Salvatore Buonamici, both of Boardman High School, and both nominated for the Naval Academy; Aidan Swavel, Boardman, Air Force Academy; Patrick Wilson, Ursuline, Naval Academy; Rachel Prior, Bio-Med Science Academy STEM School, Naval Academy; and Spencer Feeley, Circleview Academy, Military Academy at West Point.

ORCHID: To Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, which has kicked off its 30th annual Harvest for Hunger campaign, a food and funds drive to help stock the food bank shelves for the spring and summer months. Last year, Harvest for Hunger raised $206,215 and collected more than 13,000 pounds of food. In 2020, the food bank distributed more than 15.6 million pounds of food.

editorial@tribtoday.com

Correction

Outgoing Niles Councilman Ryan McNaughton called for the dismissal of the formal inquiry into the residency status of fellow Councilman Al Cantola only after an earlier call for dismissal by another councilman failed to pass. An editorial about McNaughton's service in Niles published in Tuesday's newspaper incorrectly stated McNaughton was the first to ask for a motion to dismiss.