Editorials

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the 17 Inspiring Minds Youngstown students in grades 3 to 11 whose artistic and literary talents have been duly honored with a public exhibition of their artworks and poems in the Michael Kusalaba Public Library in Youngstown. Their talents have been well honed through the programming of the Inspiring Minds organization that for 10 years has provided hundreds of Mahoning Valley youth with enriching educational and creative programming after school and in the summer. The exhibit, mounted in conjunction with Black History Month, ends this weekend. Don't miss it!

ORCHID: To the five newly promoted Youngstown Fire Department brass -- Battalion Chief Jordan Thomas, captains Andre Miller and Josh McHenry and lieutenants Brandon Athey and Zach Whinery -- who attained their promotions at a ceremony last week at the department's main station downtown. The promotions represent years of dedicated and life-risking service to provide top-notch public safety to residents and businesses throughout the city. The skills, judgment and deep understanding of emergency response each of the promoted firefighters possesses more than justifies their rise in stature in the Mahoning Valley's largest fire department.

ONION: To careless drivers who strike and injure crossing guards by speeding through school zones and who then receive little or no penalties for their recklessness. Becky Evans, a former volunteer crossing guard for Franklin City Schools in Ohio, was struck by a car last year while helping students cross the street. She said the driver received only a paltry $48 fine. State Reps. Tom Young, R-Washington Township, and Andrea White, R-Kettering, report more than 225 crossing guards nationwide have been struck by cars throughout the past decade with no penalty or only minor traffic fines. That's why new legislation introduced last week by Young and White to establish tougher minimal penalties for failing to comply with school crossing guards merits swift passage.

ORCHID: To Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro and her office staff for their compelling arguments to the Ohio Parole Board in opposition to potential parole for Dana Cross, a convicted child rapist, and Kenneth Mosley, a convicted murderer from the county. Cross, convicted in 1995 for the repeated rape of a 9-year-old boy, has a history of 53 rule infractions in prison. Mosley, convicted of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery from a home invasion, also has demonstrated a lack of authority, according to Maro. We hope the parole board has the good sense to agree with the community-minded pleas of Maro and deny parole to both.

ORCHID: To state Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, for sponsoring legislation to close a gaping loophole in Ohio law governing the use of student resource officers in nonpublic schools. A recent Ohio attorney general's ruling prohibits public police departments from using officers to serve nonpublic schools. Poland Township Police Chief Greg Wilson and Sgt. J.R. Jackson testified responsibly in Columbus last week against that ruling and in support of Cutrona's legislation. Township trustees also presented written testimony for Cutrona's bill, stating, "We are 100% committed to the safety of children in our schools -- public, private and parochial alike." Ohio lawmakers should recognize that no students in the state should be denied SRO protections and promptly pass Cutrona's Senate Bill 318.

ORCHID: To Poland Boy Scout Alex Zedaker for his community-mindedness and fine craftsmanship toward totally refurbishing the Indian Trail entrance to the Poland Municipal Forest. Alex, the son of proud parents Rob and Angela Zedaker, took on the laborious endeavor as his Eagle Scout project for Troop 44. How laborious? The face-lift involved clearing debris, repairing, refurbishing or replacing split rail fencing, rehabilitating and cleaning two dedication plaques and their foundations, cleaning existing aluminum signage, repairing a kiosk roof structure, replacing cedar shakes on the roof, repairing existing trash receptacles and replacing all the hardware. We're confident that when he's finished, it will more than live up to his high expectations. "The entrance looked like it needed to be elevated to match the grandness of the rest of the forest," Alex said.

ONION: To the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for their grievous and inexcusable failure to enact any railroad safety legislation in the long three years since the toxic and devastating derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in the Mahoning Valley. For nearly three years now, the comprehensive Rail Safety Act and similar measures to enhance safety and minimize risks of derailments like that in East Palestine have been stuck in limbo in the U.S. Capitol. Apparently, bowing to the powerful interests of the U.S. rail industry have held more sway over a majority of federal legislators than maximizing public safety for their constituents. It's long past time for Congress to enact the Rail Safety Act, responsibly co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem.

ORCHID: To the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation's Andrew L. Lipkin Tikkun Olam Fund for awarding the Friends of the Hubbard Library $1,000 to purchase books that combat antisemitism. The council, which represents the Jewish communities throughout the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, selected a most appropriate recipient for the annual award. The gift will expand access to resources that promote cooperation at a time when it is critically needed because of increased and intolerable antisemitism and violence against Jews and other groups in our nation and world.

ORCHID: To Kierstin Richoz, a senior in the interactive multimedia program at Trumbull Career & Technical Center from Girard High School, for her recent statewide honors in designing a snazzy coin for the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education. She earned first place in the competition by designing two different coins, each with distinctive presentations that well represent the state's 6,000-member organization for promoting and advocating career-technical and adult education. She also eloquently showcased to state leaders in Columbus her school's exemplary TCTC Tales literacy program, for which she has produced many fine films of the elementary-school reading program in action.

Editorials

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To Boardman Glenwood Junior High School students, Principal Laura McCreery and the PTA for their exceedingly successful show of support for seventh grader Levi Kulikowsky. Levi has been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia that requires intensive treatments that will keep him out of Glenwood halls for the rest of the school year. They quickly and compassionately organized a major fundraising campaign to help the family defray the costs of Levi's treatments. As of late last week, nearly $9,000 had been raised through benefits, sales of "Stand Strong with Levi" T-shirts and other events. The tremendous response to the drive clearly shows how the Boardman school and community unite as family and rally around one of their own. As principal McCreery put it, "This is a great community thing for us to raise money, because he's one of us."

ORCHID: To Lisa Frederick, an art instructor at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, for preserving the legacy of some of Youngstown's grandest and most ornate churches through her photography exhibit titled "Sacred Landmarks: A Photographic Tribute to Youngstown's Churches and Immigrant Heritage." The photography exhibition that runs through April 25 at the Butler features images of 12 Youngstown churches -- some still thriving, some now empty and two that have been leveled. As regular church attendance has fallen in recent years and more and more churches are shuttering, the former visual art instructor for Salem schools seized the opportunity to capture the grandeur of the structures for the ages and for all to see. Her next historic project is to ensure many of them become registered on the National Registry of Historic Places. Offer your help to her on this vital project at a reception in her honor at 1 p.m. March 1 at the Butler.

ONION: To operators of Belmont Pines Hospital in Liberty for their long history of failing to keep their behavioral patients under control. The most recent example of ongoing chaos at the behavioral health hospital for young people came last week, when three male juveniles and at least three female juveniles were arrested by Liberty police after a series of fights with staff broke out and vandalism of hospital property was reported. This time, Liberty needed the assistance of officers from Hubbard city and township, Brookfield and the Ohio State Highway Patrol to quell the disturbances. This comes on top of numerous reports of fighting and downright "riots" at the facility in recent years. It's now long past time for a thorough investigation of Belmont Pines by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addictive Services.

ORCHID: To Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency Director Robin Lees and Mahoning County commissioners for their work toward acquiring a state-of-the-art EMA Mobile Command Post. Lees and commissioners last week unveiled the colossal 30-foot-long vehicle for public display. The unit replaces the so-called "emergency Winnebago" that has been in use for more than two decades, during which time improved emergency technology passed it by. Lees summarized succinctly the lasting value of the new mobile post: "This new mobile command post represents a major investment in the safety and resilience of our county," Commissioners deserve kudos as well for allocating $800,000 in its American Rescue Plan funding to purchase the vehicle -- meaning it arrived at no direct cost to county taxpayers. Unlike many projects undertaken by local governments with their share of COVID-19 relief dollars, this investment clearly meets the goal of the massive aid program in providing county residents with a vital and long-term asset.

ONION: To those unscrupulous con artists who take advantage of Medicaid, the nation's health-care assistance program for the needy, by attempting to enrich themselves for services not rendered. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost last week indicted nine Medicaid health-care providers -- including one from the Mahoning Valley -- and one recipient of stealing a combined $478,000 from Medicaid. Most of those charged already have confessed to their greedy and lawless shenanigans. Once convicted, all should face the maximum fines and prison sentences. In addition, efforts to strengthen enforcement and penalties, such as through passage of the proposed STOP FRAUD in Medicaid Act pending in the U.S. House, should proceed full steam. Ohioans should be proud of Yost's staff's aggressive pursuit of Medicaid bandits. As the Ohio AG noted last week when delivering news of the indictments, ""This February, remember: Love may be blind, but our investigators see just fine. If you flirt with fraud, your next date will be with a judge."

ORCHID: To Trumbull County commissioners for their astute appointment of Scott Lynn to the Western Reserve Port Authority Board of Directors. Lynn brings stellar and needed credentials to his leadership on the governing board for airport management and economic development for Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Lynn, chief pilot for the Boardman-based DeBartolo Corp., adds needed aviation expertise to the board. As a previous board member, he also brings built-in knowledge of the duties and goals of the WRPA. As Commissioner Rick Hernandez said, "This resume is a perfect fit" for the appointment.

ORCHID: To Youngstown State University's 517 student athletes for proving they collectively excel not only on the field but in the classroom as well. For the second consecutive semester, YSU athletes have achieved the No. 1 cumulative grade-point average among all NCAA Division I institutions of higher learning in the state of Ohio. YSU's student athletes held the top spot in the fall with a cumulative 3.541 GPA. That superlative performance merits a hearty round of cheers!

ORCHID: To Vindicator correspondent Sean Barron for receiving statewide recognition and honor from the Ohio School Boards Association last week. Barron, a four-decadelong writer and former copy editor for the newspaper, was notified of his inclusion on OSBA's Media Honor Roll and was given a framed certificate. The certificate reads "Youngstown City recognizes Sean Barron for fair and balanced education reporting, and exemplary service to our community." Though Barron has covered the city school district in recent years, his body of superlative work spans city and township governments, other school districts, minority affairs, a variety of nonprofits and a wide swath of feel-good feature stories. His crisp, clean and responsible writing talents have served and continue to serve this newspaper and this community exceptionally well.

Editorials

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To Mahoning County Engineer Patrick Ginnetti for his perseverance in successfully pursuing a network of funding sources to begin a massive $6.2 million repaving and improvement project for the rapidly developing Mahoning Avenue corridor in North Jackson. The project, for which Ginnetti has been planning for years, finally got the green light when the U.S. Economic Development Administration and Ohio Public Works Commission chipped in the lion's share of the project's cost. The road improvement and roundabout construction at Bailey Road are designed to better accommodate the growing number of businesses and industries that are locating in the corridor between state Route 45 and Duck Creek Road. The safer and more pleasing traffic flow that will result by early next year no doubt will serve as an additional incentive for heightened economic hubbub in that fast-growing industrial and commercial corridor.

ORCHID: To the East Palestine Train Derailment Health Research Program and the National Institutes for Health for successfully opening a spacious new office in town to serve as ground zero for ongoing long-term health studies of those impacted by the toxic derailment there three years ago this month. Researchers from the University of Kentucky, Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh are enrolling residents, coordinating studies and sharing findings directly with the community about long-term health impacts of the disaster. "The NIH's research hub offers the people of East Palestine a pathway to clear answers about their health they deserve," said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We and the people of East Palestine will hold Kennedy to that responsible commitment.

ONION: To school district leaders throughout the state who slyly attempt to skirt Ohio's open records law by refusing to release public records requested by taxpayers or the press. In a victory for accountability and transparency, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week that Xenia Community Schools officials must fork over the list of email recipients it uses to distribute newsletters and other information to the public because it clearly constitutes a public record. The school district argued that the email list was exempt from the Ohio Public Records Act because it included "protected student information" but it failed to provide a copy to the court as ordered for review. Such antics not only fly in the face of the state's public records act, it also invites cynicism and mistrust among the very people who keep school district operations financially afloat.

ORCHID: To Campbell City Council for strengthening that city's already stellar reputation as a safe haven for cats, dogs and other companion animals by recently approving the sale of a vacant parcel of land in the city that it owns to New Lease on Life animal shelter. The animal welfare organization has endured deplorable conditions at its current Struthers facility because the landlord has neglected to maintain the structure and make critical repairs, according to shelter owner Maria Guyan. The new shelter will permit New Lease to improve and expand its services, such as opening a spay-and-neuter clinic. The city benefits as well by putting a prime parcel of city land to productive use and by furthering its reputation for compassion toward companion animals that it has earned by drafting and enforcing some of strictest anti-tethering and animal protection ordinances in Ohio.

ORCHID: To the Mahoning Valley congressional delegation for bringing home the bacon to our region by inserting several key projects into the 2026 federal appropriations bill signed earlier this month by President Donald J. Trump. As a result, nearly $8 million in federal funding will flow to the Valley for four critical projects. The lion's share of that funding, some $5 million, has been earmarked for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna to finance critically needed major upgrades to its smaller runway. The work is necessary to maintain Federal Aviation Administration standards so that the Western Reserve Port Authority can continue work toward reinstituting commercial passenger air service there and for the continued viability of the adjacent Youngstown Air Reserve Station. The remaining earmarked federal funding will finance critical road, water and other infrastructure projects in Boardman, Struthers and Niles.

ONION: To the seemingly growing ranks of social-media fraudsters who use sites such as Facebook as convenient channels to scam victims out of hundreds or thousands of dollars. Last week, a man was swindled out of about $400 for application fees and a security deposit for a nonexistent Boardman apartment. A few days later, a Valley woman reportedly lost $1,930 to a poster posing as a real estate agent for application fees, security deposit, court fees and rent on an apartment. The latter con artist's insistence that the payments be made with Visa gift cards should have set off alarm bells that the transactions were suspicious. To prevent such callous victimization, avoid doing business with any unfamiliar individuals or companies online.

ORCHID: To former Youngstown State University Department of History Chair Martha I. Pallante for making the initial contribution last week of more than $12,000 to the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor endowment fund, the first of its kind in the industrial museum's 32-year history. The support fund for the West Wood Street landmark will help preserve and promote the history of the once mighty steel industry in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. The endowment at YHCIL, more commonly referred to as The Steel Museum, will help to ensure our region's noble industrial heritage will continue to be preserved and appreciated. Now that Pallante has planted the seed, we urge others to step forward to further nourish this praiseworthy endowment through their own donations.

Editorials

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham for implementing a fraud protection program covering property transfer deeds for county residents. It's the first of its kind in any county in Ohio to provide no-cost protections to homeowners. Homeowners would be remiss not to sign up for the protections by going to the Mahoning County auditor's website (auditor.mahoningcountyoh.gov) and clicking on the Property Ownership Alert Subscription page in the Tools tab. "I want criminals put on notice: This office will do everything in our power to prevent a fraudulent property transfer," Meacham said. Kudos, too, to Mahoning County Recorder Richard Scarsella for implementing a notary fraud protection program that will also cover deeds. Other counties in the Mahoning Valley and the Buckeye State should follow Meacham's and Scarsella's responsible and exemplary leads.

ONION: To court-appointed SOBE Thermal Energy Systems receiver Reg Martin for continued failures to provide critical steam heat to 28 downtown Youngstown properties. The failures became more severe during the recent extreme cold snap that sent temperatures plummeting below zero and left many workers in downtown office buildings and patrons to other structures such as the Central YMCA shivering due to SOBE's poor and inefficient service. The problems have gone on far too long. It's time for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to intercede, remove Martin as receiver and replace him with someone who will work tirelessly and responsibly to do whatever it takes to expeditiously restore reliable, efficient and quality heating and cooling services to the heart of the Mahoning Valley in downtown Youngstown.

ORCHID: To the Hubbard High School Prep Bowl team and its coach Michael Brekoski for recently winning the 2026 Trumbull County championship by besting 16 other stellar teams from districts throughout the county. Just as gridiron and basketball stars deserve cheers for their dedication and outstanding performances at their crafts, so, too, do students who rise to the top of their game in academic prowess. The popular competitions also ooze in long-term value by fostering strong critical thinking skills, boosting confidence and promoting academic excellence in a competitive, team-oriented environment.

ONION: To the Office of the Ohio Public Defender for significantly reducing its level of funding support to counties throughout the state to help finance legal representation for indigent defendants who cannot afford it. After reimbursing nearly 100% of such costs in 2022, the state has lowered reimbursements every year since, and today stands at an estimated 82% for fiscal year 2026. The reductions, according to Shara Taylor of the Trumbull County commissioners office "jumped our payments significantly right out of the gate.'' At a time when county governments -- and most all local governments -- face critical financial struggles to provide services and meet state mandates, such pullbacks in state support only make balancing their budgets all the more taxing.

ORCHID: To the Ohio School Bus Safety Program for awarding about $1 million to a wealth of school districts in the Mahoning Valley last month to ensure the safest mode for student transit to and from school remains the good old reliable and trusted yellow bus. The funds will be used for repairing, replacing or adding authorized safety features (such as cameras or other safety enhancements) to new and existing school buses. The program's proactive initiative represents a practical and welcome investment in the state's most precious resource bar none -- its children.

ORCHID: To state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Canfield, for sponsoring new legislation to increase penalties for those who boisterously disrupt formal religious services in Ohio. His House Bill 662 was motivated by recent angry protests inside a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, that resulted in federal grand jury indictments against at least nine people, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon. HB 662 would make a conviction for disturbing a lawful meeting of religious worship more serious by increasing it from a first-degree misdemeanor to a fifth-degree felony. That move would result in potential one-year prison sentences for violators. We find Fischer absolutely justified in asserting, "We want to continue to permit people to practice their First Amendment right of freedom of religion without being harassed."

ORCHID: To shareholders of Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Kenvue Inc. for approving K-C's acquisition of the consumer health company in a vote last week. The merger creates a mammoth $32 billion global health and wellness leader, combining iconic brands such as Huggies and Kleenex with Kenvue's portfolio that includes Band-Aid and Tylenol. The company's exciting new growth spurt comes at a particularly auspicious time for the Mahoning Valley, as Kimberly Clark completes work on its massive $1 billion production plant and distribution campus in Trumbull County with hiring projected to begin this spring.

ORCHID: To Mary Anne Russo, longtime Youth Services supervisor at the Hubbard Public Library, for giving nearly four decades of dedicated, creative and helpful service to scores of appreciative young people and their parents in that community. Russo retired as the children's librarian last week after 37 years there, as well as more than four additional years at the Ritter Public library in Vermilion. Over those years, she instituted many positive changes and enhancements to the children's area, including brighter lighting, an indoor gazebo, a dedicated room for children's programs and an outdoor sensory garden. She also oversaw creative fun-based literacy programs. At her recent retirement party, she thanked Hubbard parents for sharing their children with her. We're certain, however, that Russo, too, that most of those parents would join us in sending supersized thanks to her for the positive impact she has made on hundreds of children's lives.