Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To veterans service organizations throughout the Mahoning Valley that have spent months planning special Memorial Day weekend events and observances to honor our region’s veterans who gave their lives in service to their country. Communities as large as Boardman to as small as Braceville have a variety of events planned — mostly on the holiday Monday — for residents to gather and pay their respects for the tens of thousands in our area who made the ultimate sacrifice. We hope these events attract large and appreciative crowds to appropriately mark this solemn and patriotic holiday.
ONION: To the Ohio Controlling Board, a joint committee of the Ohio General Assembly, for authorizing $116,388 for preliminary designs for a new water system at the Ohio State Penitentiary that would include a water softening system for the Youngstown prison’s 518 worst-of-the-worst criminals. While we have no qualms about updating the maximum security prison’s 25-year-old water system for the health and safety of inmates and staff, is it really necessary for convicted murderers and rapists to be pampered with super softened water?
ORCHID: To the Edward J. DeBartolo Memorial Scholarship Foundation for awarding $10,000 scholarships to 17 outstanding graduating high school seniors in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties last week. Denise DeBartolo York said, “This foundation’s mission is to reward local students who have proven themselves as leaders and role models in their schools and communities.” The scholarships, totaling $1.6 million over the past quarter century, also serve as an appropriate honor to the legacy of the late Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., a major national real estate developer, community leader and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
ONION: To those irresponsible owners of dogs, cats and other companion animals who abuse and neglect their pets to the point where the animals must be surrendered to humane organizations such as the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County. That, in turn, puts increased strain on the AWL. To say that abuse cases are on the upswing locally is an understatement, considering that AWL handled 377 animal-abuse investigations in 2020, but by 2022, that number had nearly tripled to 942 abuse cases. AWL leaders therefore make a great case for increased funding. Those who appreciate the compassionate work of its workers and volunteers can donate to their life-saving mission at awlrescueme.com/donate/.
ORCHID: To Farmers National Bank for its plans to expand its downtown Canfield presence with construction of a new $9 million building next to its headquarters on South Broad Street. The addition is the latest sign of the bank’s significant growth in recent years and its faith in Mahoning Valley commerce. After several acquisitions, Farmers National Banc Corp. now can boast of $5 billion in banking assets with 65 banking locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
ONION: To those careless drivers who continue to refuse to wear seat belts routinely. Now through June 4, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is participating in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign. According to NHTSA, drivers and passengers who buckle up are 45 percent less likely to die in crashes and accidents. During last year’s campaign, 13 of 25 people killed on Ohio’s roads did not take the time to fasten an available safety belt. So buckle up all the time to help ensure you do not become a statistic in next year’s “Click It” campaign.
ORCHID: To Elizabeth Roller for being honored earlier this month as Gem of the Year from the Mahoning County Medical Society Alliance. The award recognizes those who have served the alliance and the medical community with distinction. Not only has she led many important projects to help medical professionals and institutions in the Valley, she has served in key leadership positions of the alliance and has been a field representative for Girl Scouts.
editorial@vindy.com
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam and a wide array of local and national golf and other sports celebrities for leading a successful benefit this week at the Lake Club in Poland for East Palestine residents and businesses. The golf tournament had no empty slots and raised about $400,000 to help the village continue recovery from the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment. Here’s hoping other celebrities will follow Sorenstam’s lead.
ORCHID: To members of the National Association of Letter Carriers in the Mahoning Valley who successfully carried out the 31st annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign last weekend. The carriers, who sadly see signs of hunger each day on their rounds, collected nonperishable goods from homes last Saturday. The campaign has been an unbridled success. Since its inception, carriers have collected more than 1.88 billion pounds of food, according to the NALC.
ONION: To Jayce Klink for seeking early release from prison after having served only about 45 days of her one-year sentence for causing a fatal wrong-way crash on Interstate 680 in December 2020. The crash killed Tiara Whatley and badly injured her sister. The judge already was more than lenient on Klink by not sentencing her to the maximum 4 1/2-year prison term. We agree with assistant prosecutor Martin Hume in urging Judge Anthony Donofrio to reject Klink’s request.
ORCHID: To the Appalachian Regional Commission for awarding Youngstown CityScape a $187,500 grant to renovate a West Side florist and greenhouse. The grant will help the civic group create retail space for local entrepreneurs, educational and event space for the community and a kitchen for programs on healthy eating. CityScape’s promising plans not only will help revitalize the facility and the neighborhood but also strengthen its positive community outreach.
ORCHID: To the Youngstown State University women’s and men’s track and field teams for once again clinching Horizon League championships this season. Winning the 2023 title last weekend marked the 15th championship for the women and the seventh for the men. But just because it’s become old hat for the squads to rise to the top year after year does not make their accomplishments and talents any less outstanding and commendable.
ORCHID: To the U.S. Commerce Department for offering $500 million in grants to communities to become technology hubs in an attempt to expand tech investment beyond a few large U.S. cities such as Boston, New York, Seattle and San Francisco. We hope Valley leaders seize this opportunity and organize an effort to apply for hub status. With America Makes, the Youngstown Business Incubator, BRITE Energy Innovators and our burgeoning electric vehicle industry, our region is ripe for additional tech development.
ONION: To the increasing number of hoodlums in our region and state who use fire as a tool to hide other oftentimes more serious crimes. “The use of arson as a weapon of violence and crime concealment is a concerning trend,” Ohio State Fire Marshall Kevin S. Reardon said last week. In the Valley, the most recent example is a fire set at a Warren home presumably to cover up a burglary. That arson killed a Warren G. Harding High School student. Three Youngstown residents have been charged with capital offenses in that case.
ORCHID: To OH WOW! The Roger and Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science and Technology in downtown Youngstown on its 12th anniversary. The center threw a festive birthday party last weekend to the delight of scores of children who attended. The center is to be commended also for logging its 1 millionth visitor to its educational — yet fun — learning environment and for becoming one of the most visited establishments in the city’s central business district.
editorial@vindy.com
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Campbell Mayor Bryan Tedesco and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, for working together to advance a project to clean up and redevelop a large swath of prime land on the Mahoning River in the city. When complete, the mayor envisions the area to be a mecca of entertainment venues, shopping complexes and industries. Johnson applied for an $800,000 federal loan to help remediate the former steel mill properties. Here’s hoping other public and private partners work to reinvent Campbell.
ORCHID: To Boardman Glenwood Junior High School Principal Bart Smith and Glenwood Athletic Director Chuck Schiffhauer who received prestigious awards. Smith won the Administrator Award from the Science Education Council of Ohio for his leadership in science education. The Northeast Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association honored Schiffhauer as Middle School Athletic Director of the Year. The honors should give Glenwood students and parents pride.
ONION: To those thoughtless spring cleaners who pile heaps of junk at curbside knowing full well garbage haulers won’t collect all of it. What’s worse, residents then become too lazy to remove the remaining trash, leaving it to sit as neighborhood blight and eyesores for days and weeks. Girard City Councilman Keith Schubert, D-1st Ward, said he received numerous calls about trash piled near the roads for extended periods of time. Residents of Girard and communities throughout the Valley should cease such shameful unneighborly behavior.
ORCHID: To leaders and parishioners of St. Brendan Church in Youngstown on their 100th anniversary. The church has long been a proud landmark on the city’s West Side. It experienced eras of unprecedented growth with additions to the church and school. It’s perhaps best known for its mammoth outdoor festivals that kicked off the summer season in the city. The church still thrives and plans a variety of special events, including a special centennial Mass on Sunday.
ORCHID: To fifth- and sixth-graders in Liberty’s Blott-Guy School’s student council for volunteering to help distribute food and hygiene items to residents in need at Churchill United Methodist Church recently. An orchid also goes to other student groups who regularly volunteer at the food pantry. We’re pleased these students are learning at this early age value of volunteering and helping community members in need.
ONION: To TurboTax for deceiving many in the Mahoning Valley and millions nationwide into believing they would receive free assistance in filing their income taxes. Despite the electronic tax preparer’s ad campaign of “free, free, free” services, duped victims ended up paying substantial fees. The filings resulted from “deceptive, predatory” practices of TurboTax, New York Attorney General Letitia James said. Settlement checks are expected to begin rolling out to affected victims this month.
ORCHID: To the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments on its milestone 50th anniversary. The council celebrated the anniversary at its 2023 annual meeting at Stambaugh Auditorium this week. Eastgate, the metropolitan planning organization for the Mahoning Valley, has been directly responsible for overseeing and securing grant funding for a variety of federal, state and local programs in the region over those five decades. It also worked with member communities in Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties on projects strengthening overall quality of life.
ORCHID: To the Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary in Ravenna for nursing the beloved Oreo the pig back to health. Oreo, many will recall, suffered extreme abuse from its owners in Campbell before being rescued nine months ago from what police called “dungeonlike conditions” where she was forced to lie in her own urine and feces because she was too heavy to get up. Thanks to a healthy diet and exercise provided by the sanctuary, Oreo lost 63 pounds and is increasingly healthy and active. Now, she’s ready for a loving forever home. Contact the sanctuary, happytrailsfarm.org, for information on adopting Oreo or any of the pigs, chickens, cows, horses and other animals for which it cares.
editorial@vindy.com
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Christopher and Gina Crilley of Lowellville for standing their ground for 2 1/2 years in a legal battle with Lowellville Local Schools over notification of public meetings. The suit began in 2020 when the Crilleys alleged the school district violated Ohio’s Open Meetings Act requiring proper public notice of meetings. The Crilleys were upset because they missed a meeting when the board voted to support its superintendent’s decision to switch to a remote-only learning plan. The court ruled the district used an incomplete method of notifying the public of the meeting, but did not overturn actions taken at the meeting because the vote was ceremonial and not required anyway. The Crilleys appealed twice, but now are walking away from the case. We applaud the couple for standing up for their beliefs and for transparency.
ONION: To registered voters who failed to do their civic duty and cast a ballot in contested races and issues in Tuesday’s election. Less than 10 percent of those registered voters eligible to vote in Tuesday’s primary election cast their ballots. Only 4,763 people voted in Mahoning County. That’s pitiful. Trumbull County wasn’t much better, with just over 15 percent turning out. Even in small, local elections like this, voter participation is critical. We hope none of those who passed on this responsibility have any complaints about the outcome for the next two to four years. Indeed, they will have no right to whine.
ORCHID: To the Youngstown Press Club for providing its annual remembrance of journalists killed doing their jobs of informing the public around the world. Members of the local press club gathered Wednesday, on World Press Freedom Day, to read aloud the names of 67 journalists slain in 2022 worldwide, including several killed during the war in Ukraine. Orchid also to SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Youngstown’s West Side which, for the second year, generously offered to host the annual event at the church.
ONION: To the man who, on Wednesday, led police on a chase through Youngstown in pouring rain, recklessly ignoring stop signs and traffic signals and driving over curbs, and crashing into a Youngstown officer’s marked cruiser, causing heavy damage and sending the officer to the hospital for treatment. Charged with felonies of felonious assault, having weapons while not allowed, fleeing and eluding, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and resisting arrest was Ramone T. Taylor, 54, of East Chalmers Avenue.
ORCHID: To alert and persistent special prosecutor Dan Kasaris, who obtained convictions against former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante many years ago, for now ensuring the cost of Infante’s prosecution — $51,158 — is deducted from his state retirement at a rate of $4,000 per month. Kasaris, senior assistant Ohio attorney general, recently filed a motion with the court to ensure the funds are deducted as earlier ordered. Infante is about halfway through his 10-year prison sentence on 22 corruption counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
editorial@vindy.com