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ORCHID: To the National Park Service for awarding Austintown Township a $130,000 grant to revitalize the historic Austin Log House on South Raccoon Road in the community. The grant funds will enable improvements to windows, drainage and various aesthetic enhancements to one of the Mahoning Valley's oldest historical sites. The cabin was constructed in 1814 by Calvin Austin, founder of Austintown Township who served as the first justice of the peace of the expansive Connecticut Western Reserve, from which Ohio was carved. The funding is aptly timed amid the nation's celebration of its 250th birthday.
ORCHID: To the Youngstown Design Review Committee for recently approving the demolition of the former Eastern Gateway Community College complex on East Federal Street so that work to raze that colossal white elephant can begin promptly next month. In its place will be a shiny new Mahoning County Government Center in which an estimated 400 people will work. The EGCC has long been a gigantic thorn in the side of downtown Youngstown as it has been vacant and stagnant for several years now. It also stands as a blatant reminder of the insidious demise of the once vibrant institution brought on by what state officials have labeled corrupt practices and gross financial mismanagement. We urge the Western Reserve Port Authority to act with all due speed Oct. 21 to approve the construction contract for the new government center. The sooner that unflattering blemish is removed, the better for the ongoing revival of the downtown.
ONION: To Anissa Modarelli, who served two decades in Mahoning County government's juvenile and adult legal systems, for her irresponsible, unprofessional and reprehensible conduct that resulted in her prompt and just firing last week as an assistant county prosecutor. Modarelli admitted to Mahoning Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin that she had eaten lunch with one of the jurors in a murder case last week on three occasions. Though it's not clear whether Modarelli tried to pressure the juror toward a conviction vote, even the appearance of such influence never can be tolerated. As Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro put it, "Public confidence in the legal system requires that court proceedings not simply be conducted fairly behind the scenes, but also that they appear completely fair and unbiased. To take an action short of termination sends a message to the public and to the judges of this county that this office tolerates such conduct. It does not and never will."
ORCHID: To the Austintown Boardman Canfield Water District for securing $750,000 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for construction of a large pavilion at the new Forest Lawn Stormwater Park on the site of the former Market Street Elementary School. The park, which opened last year, serves a creative dual function. It has succeeded in reducing flooding problems and controlling drainage in a high-population area of the township. What's more, it serves as a community park and environmental classroom for all Boardman residents to learn about stormwater management, wetlands and water quality. As icing on the cake, not 1 cent of Boardman residents' property taxes was funneled into its creation. Collectively, those assets clearly support the community's longstanding motto: "Boardman: A Nice Place to Call Home."
ONION: To former Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin for using foreign-made campaign merchandise while running for the U.S. House of Representatives this fall on a "Made in America" platform. Merrin, the Republican nominee for the 9th Congressional District of Ohio, has distributed campaign T-shirts made in Bangladesh by Gildan, a Canadian apparel company, according to recent reports from Spectrum News. That shamelessly flies in the face of his campaign mailers that use the slogan "Derek Merrin's plan: good jobs, bigger paychecks, made in Ohio."
ORCHID: To Marc Ellis, a third grade teacher at Volney Rogers Elementary School in Youngstown for receiving the local 2026 Simeon Booker Award for Courage at a ceremony last week at the Tyler History Center in downtown Youngstown. Ellis has long been an ardent and compassionate civil rights advocate and has carried that passion into his classroom, where legacy figures of that movement, including those from the Little Rock Nine, the Freedom Rides and Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, have interacted with his young students. The award specifically cites Ellis' key role in molding, guiding, enlightening and educating his young students. The instructor is now in great company with the late Booker, a former Youngstown resident, who is revered as a colossal figure in American journalism who founded civil rights reporting and who risked his life to chronicle many of the horrors of the once-segregated South.