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State legislators should enforce school funding law
DEAR EDITOR:
I recently attended a meeting (for another candidate) to become more educated on those running. As part of the presentation Lauren McNally gave a detailed and revealing discussion of the current dispute about school funding, taxes and vouchers. I had no idea that charter or non-public schools are not held to the same state standards as public schools, and that the dollars the students that opt to attend one of these schools are taken in whole from the students' home district.
The state provides a free and in most cases quality education as part of state law. I have no issue with deciding to send your child to a school that is perhaps more in line with your values, way of thinking , etc. But that should not be mine or the average taxpayers responsibility. Over a billion dollars as I understand it just last year was transferred out of public education to charter or private schools.
And if you think this is an issue for lower performing or urban districts think again. Boardman and Canfield, they are coming for you.
In addition, private/charter schools can pick and choose their students, refusing those who may need special attention or programs.
Thus their appearance of being higher-performing is skewed.
So if this bothers you as it does me, contact your state legislators and vote for those who support fair and equitable school funding.
As I understand it ] the state legislators over a number of years have blatantly ignored the law to enforce this. It’s time to enforce the law.
STUART ROTHMAN
Youngstown
Let's do what we can to keep Cornersburg safe
DEAR EDITOR:
Two months have passed since Cornersburg residents were awakened by the sound of gunfire and squealing tires. A confrontation had taken place that stemmed from a party at a rented house in the neighborhood. In the melee combatants indiscriminately sprayed bullets into at least four occupied homes and one vehicle. Miraculously, no one was killed.
Nine responding officers arrived and collected shell casings, stolen vehicles and witness statements that failed to identify the perpetrators.
The next morning bullet holes in the homes and vehicle were evident as well as the angst of the neighborhood. After a meeting with our councilman the party-site homeowner agreed to de-list the property from the internet.
Now comes word that the home has been listed again and with-it new concerns that violence will return. That's why I'm urging action on three fronts. First, law enforcement should re-double it's efforts to identify and apprehend the shooters. Second, city council should enact common sense legislation that protects neighbors from those that would convert their property into short-term commercial use. Lastly, I urge those that attended the birthday gathering to reconsider their level of cooperation with authorities.
Seventy-plus years of confidence in the peacefulness of the neighborhood was wiped out in one violent incident. Convictions and policy change could restore some measure of it.
DENNIS CZOPUR
Youngstown
Let a dangerous loophole expire to protect kids
DEAR EDITOR:
As a former Wellsville councilman and school board member, I have spent years focused on Ohio families and children. For years, a gray market for intoxicating hemp products has threatened our communities. With a critical federal deadline approaching Dec. 11, I urge Ohio's Congressional delegation to resist industry pressure and let the loophole expire.
The problem traces back to the 2018 Farm Bill, which inadvertently allowed manufacturers to sell potent intoxicating hemp-derived products. While the law distinguishes hemp-derived THC from marijuana-derived THC, the effects can be similar. Gummies, vapes, and drinks may contain synthetic cannabinoids that can be far more potent than marijuana's THC. Some have not been adequately studied, and manufacturing can leave dangerous chemical residues. Yet these products have been sold without age restrictions, safety testing, or accountability.
In Ohio, these products appeared in gas stations and convenience stores, sometimes packaged like candy or snacks that children could easily open. Young people could purchase them online or in person.
The dangers to children are serious and well documented. According to Ohio Poison Control, exposures among those 19 and under increased from 419 in 2021 to 994 in 2024, with more than half involving children five and under. Exposures in that youngest group nearly tripled. About 90% of exposures involving children 12 and under resulted in emergency department visits, and roughly two-thirds required hospitalization.
The situation became so severe that Gov. DeWine declared a consumer product emergency in October 2025, ordering retailers to remove intoxicating hemp products from shelves. As a former school board member, I see more than statistics. These are children in our classrooms, neighborhoods, and homes.
Ohio recognized this problem. Senate Bill 56, which took effect this past March, ended unregulated intoxicating hemp sales and brought these products under the regulated marijuana dispensary framework. That means mandatory testing, THC limits, age verification, and child-resistant packaging.
This is not about denying adults the right to make their own choices. It is about making sure intoxicating products are subject to safeguards, especially when their packaging appeals to children. Parents should not have to wonder whether something sold beside snacks contains an intoxicant. Retailers should follow rules, and manufacturers should be responsible for what they put on shelves. Ohio has established that protecting children and regulating these products can go hand in hand.
Ohio made the right call. Unfortunately, the federal loophole continues undermining state efforts. While Ohio and other states have acted, companies exploit federal confusion to keep selling these products in our communities.
The loophole was scheduled to close November 12th. Following a late-night lobbying push, the deadline moved to December 11th. Now the hemp industry wants another extension. Ohio's delegation needs to say no.
Our legislature acted. Regulators implemented the rules. Communities are better protected. Congress should not keep extending the loophole Ohio has already addressed.
December 11th needs to be the end of this. I urge Ohio's Congressional delegation to stand with families, protect our children, and reject another extension of the intoxicating hemp loophole.
JOHN MORROW
Liverpool Township
When did winning become more important than leading?
DEAR EDITOR:
Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what leadership is supposed to be
As another election campaign ends, I find myself reflecting on something that seems to get lost in the noise of modern politics, the endless fliers and awful commercials.
When did elections become so much about tearing other people down rather than showing people what you stand for?
We see millions of dollars spent on advertising, campaign strategies, political messaging, and efforts to discredit opposing candidates. We hear accusations, we watch personal reputations become targets, and see candidates spend an extraordinary amount of time explaining why someone else is unfit to lead.
I can't help but wonder: Is that what people really want?
Most people are not looking for the perfect human being. They understand that no one is perfect. They aren’t expecting someone who has never made a mistake, never changed their mind, or never faced a difficult decision in life.
What people want is someone they can trust. Someone who will choose to do the right thing. Someone who will care about others rather than themselves.
Someone who is honest, treats others with respect, takes responsibility for their actions, listens to different perspectives, and genuinely cares about the people they represent.
They want someone whose intentions are rooted in doing what is right, not simply doing what is politically advantageous.
Imagine what could be accomplished if more of the time, energy and money invested in campaigns were directed toward explaining solutions, sharing meaningful accomplishments, listening to communities, and outlining a vision for future generations.
Instead of telling us why another candidate is terrible, tell us why you are prepared to serve and how you intend to make the necessary improvements so Americans can live the American dream.
Instead of spending millions trying to influence how people feel about someone else, show us how you intend to make a difference.
Instead of creating division, demonstrate your ability to bring people together.
Leadership should not be measured by how effectively someone can defeat another person, dominate a conversation, or win an argument. It should be reflected in character, accountability, sound judgment, compassion, and the willingness to put the greater good ahead of personal ambition.
I believe that is what we should be paying more attention to because at the end of the day, the person holding public office is making decisions that affect real people, real families, real communities, and the future of our country.
Those decisions deserve thoughtful leadership.
We don’t need perfection. We need integrity. We don’t need more hostility. We need respect. We don’t need endless promises or personal attacks. We need people who are willing to do the work.
Maybe it’s time to spend less time telling voters why they shouldn’t trust someone else and more time giving them a reason to trust you.
That is what leadership should be about and that is what people deserve.
We don’t need you to convince us that everyone else is bad. We need you to show us that you are someone we can trust to do good. People don’t need perfect leaders. They need good people with good intentions.
Show us who you are, not just who you want us to dislike.
ELIA STANKO
Boardman
Entitlement culture will destroy us if we let it
DEAR EDITOR:
I have been reading “Letters to the Editor” for many years now. The one word that comes to mind most often is entitlement. Entitlement is the thought that people deserve to have things given to them or be given special privileges without earning them. Those trapped in an entitlement culture believe that the world revolves around their perceived rights, needs, and wants. Their cries begin with; “my way,” “my rights,” or “I deserve.” Within our American society, certain rights are God-given, but the entitlement culture takes it too far, presuming rights that are neither divinely given or constitutionally guaranteed.
This culture is often associated with the younger generation and it demands that they get something fo nothing-education, health care, wages, etc. But many older people also feel that the world somehow owes them something. Everyone likes the idea of being pampered, but when we start demanding perks as a “right” or we try to get around the principle of earning privileges, than we have given in to the entitlement culture.
Personally, this attitude is very unpleasant and I don’t wish to surround myself with people that think this way. Eventually, it will destroy a community and a nation.
JOE CONGEMI
Columbiana
Sherrod Brown has done a lot for Ohioans
DEAR EDITOR:
Here's an answer to the question posed in the Vindy Letters to the Editor on Oct. 24, "What's Sherrod Brown ever done for Ohioans?" "Did he author any bills in Congress or just add his name as a co-sponsor to other peoples’ work?"
Yes! Sherrod Brown was a lead sponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act (with co-sponsor Sen. Susan Collins) which was signed into law on Jan 5, 2025. The SSFA repealed provisions that prevented people who paid into Social Security for years from receiving full benefits. These people had their SS benefits drastically and unfairly reduced because they received a pension from another job. The SSFA benefits public servants such as police officers, firefighters and teachers. It has been a lifesaver to many retirees like me who weren't getting complete SS benefits after paying into SS for years!
Brown was a cosponsor of many other bills. He was also the lead sponsor of the All American Flag Act of 2024 that requires the federal government to buy US flags manufactured in America from American-grown produced or manufactured materials. We all love American-made goods!!
SUSIE HOGAN
Boardman
Columnist Victor Joecks is blowing smoke for Israel
DEAR EDITOR:
I have never been a fan of Victor Joecks as an editorialist, but occasionally he really puts out some trash. His editorial for Wednesday , October 28, is a case in point. Somehow he equates the riots in France and Italy with the harbinger of the collapse of Western civilization! In one sentence in his conclusion he lists Antifa, DSA, Muslims who want to impose Sharia Law, and even some immigrants who don't assimilate as the bane of the future of America.
I think it is very important to know who he is, who employs him, and who they represent.
Joecks is a product of Hillsdale College in Michigan. The citadel of ultra conservative and libertarian education in America. He is employed by the Las Vegas Review Journal, the very conservative newspaper owned by Miriam Adelson. She and her recently deceased billionaire casino-owning husband Sheldon were and are big supporters of Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. However, the most important fact is they have always been big political and financial supporters of Israel.
When Joecks has his hysterical rants about everything the right tells us to be afraid of, he is blowing a smokescreen for Israel.
It is Israel that has slaughtered tens of thousands in Gaza, and led the US into another stupid war in the Middle East. Keep that in mind when reading his junk.
FRANK WANAT
Poland
Now we can finally begin to dig out from Trump’s messes
DEAR EDITOR:
You knew he was a convicted felon. You knew he openly mocked and called people names. You knew of his low opinion of women, and about his lying and rampant racism. You knew he was after revenge. You knew he needed the constant spotlight on himself. And yet you twice voted him into office.
So no thanks to you we will spend YEARS, possibly decades, recovering, our country, our allies, and our reputation, BUT we now have a chance to change the above. We have blacks, an openly gay man, a Native American woman, a Muslim and youth elected. We must NOT attack, we must first work logically and sanely to change the current mess Trump and his policies have made, and worry about investigating AFTER Trump’s rule is done.
Health care, food, gasoline and our children’ s future must be addressed along with climate change and DEI. The Iran war must be stopped. Iranians don’t want war anymore than the American people.
We need intelligent immigration laws. We must work together across the aisle with respect, and bring some integrity and graciousness back. We must stop this insane amount of money spent on elections, money well spent elsewhere. And, we must show our youth that these 10 years that shaped so much of their lives can be changed for the better.
There is difficult work ahead and Americans must remain patient and resilient, and help in their own way, all of which they are capable of.
JEANNE McDERMOTT
Liberty
Letter to the Editor:
America’s Gulag Archipelago
In his book “Gulag Archipelago,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn tells an uncomfortable truth: detention systems do not become cruel overnight; they evolve slowly, bureaucratically, and quietly. The Soviet gulag system was not built solely on overt brutality. It relied on propaganda and the gradual acceptance that certain people could be removed from society, held indefinitely, and treated as undeserving of civil protections in the name of national security or law and order. America is not the Soviet Union, though history doesn’t require perfect parallels to warn us.
Currently, the U.S. operates an immigration detention system that resembles the logic of incarcerative systems that Americans once condemned abroad. We pride ourselves on opposing authoritarianism while failing to recognize its coercive structures at home. We rightly condemn political prisoners in other nations. Yet we have built our own sprawling detention network that often operates with limited transparency and no accountability.
The growing reliance on county jails to hold ICE detainees is particularly concerning. County jails were designed for criminal incarceration, not civil immigration detention. Yet thousands of immigrants, many with no violent criminal history and awaiting asylum hearings, are housed in jails alongside criminal populations.
The use of county jails for ICE detention undermines local communities. Federal contracts create financial incentives for incarceration, encouraging local governments to view human detention as revenue generation. Counties struggling with budget constraints can become economically dependent on holding immigrants. Once that dependency takes hold, moral ambiguity sets in.
The Soviet gulag system thrived because systems participated in extraordinary dehumanization. Local officials cooperated, bureaucracies expanded, and citizens were told the camps were necessary for public order and national stability. Alas, the machinery of detention became so embedded in governance that noncriminal detention became routine.
Such historical comparisons matter because they illuminate dangerous patterns before they become irreversible. The United States propagated a system that conditions Americans to accept the indefinite confinement of people as routine governance. That is how systems perpetuate violence.
This is not a call for open borders or abandoning immigration enforcement. Immigration proceedings are civil. If detention is necessary, it must occur in humane facilities with robust oversight, medical access, and due process.
History teaches that societies rarely recognize the dangers of normalized detention while living through them. Future generations will ask whether Americans noticed the erosion of civil liberties veiled as national security. We should ensure the answer is yes.
EMILY WIRE
Youngstown
There are still issues for Trump to handle
DEAR EDITOR:
It’s looking like we might have to liberate France again! This time it’s commies and terrorists.
Rioting, arson and looting are not acceptable in any democracy! Deadly forces should be allowed in those situations. If anyone doesn’t want to be shot, don’t riot, loot or set fires! At least our president doesn’t get slapped by his wife on live TV.
This Iranian business needs to be stopped without the regime remaining intact. We should lean on the Gulf states to go in on the ground and hunt down the leadership of the IRGC. Once they are out of the way, we should use more sticks and fewer carrots with the civilian leadership! When and only when the Iranian people form a stable government can we help them rebuild without our boots on the ground. If the Gulf states need logistics and close air support, we already have the power there.
Now Putin is a whole different animal. He has a vast nuclear arsenal. Maybe more twigs and no carrots. If he didn’t OK the pipeline to Europe, he might have thought twice about the second invasion. Where the heck are the UN and Europe? It’s in Europe’s backyard. It seems the EU and the UN are useless.
Trump and the GOP have the right idea about how to make America Great Again. It’s easy to destroy an economy with a stupid policy but it’s harder to fix an economy. Just think. More companies hiring more people and paying decent, good wages would be a good start. When the cities and towns around the plants start to flourish, we will need carpenters, plumbers, electricians, HVAC people, pipe fitters, masons, equipment operators, roofers and concrete finishers. More people means more grocery stores and other businesses. When we root out all fraud, waste and abuse in federal, state and local government and elect responsible people to handle the tax money wisely, everybody will prosper. Then we fix the schools.
In closing, why does the radical left put Americans in separate boxes? When I was in school, we were taught that America is a melting pot, stronger together than apart. Just like alloy. It’s weird more Republicans in Congress are more like old-school Democrats and modern Democrats in Congress are crazy. (Look into their eyes when they talk.)
I find it refreshing that the president of the United States of America knows what Mad Magazine was. It explains a lot about his sense of humor.
TIM VAN DYKE
Struthers
The truth about Amy Acton's estranged mother
DEAR EDITOR:
I think The Vindicator owes its readers the true facts about Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur -- that contradicted her "facts" -- that she loves herArthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted on a charge of rape involving Acton. Instead of facing the charges, she and her husband fled the state. Arthur stayed with him until he died in 2004. The rape was ongoing -- lasting for two years -- and Arthur was aware of it.
DONNA NASSER
Sharon, Pa.