Letters to the Editor

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Readers share their thoughts

Recently I went to a favorite Boardman restaurant for a pick-up order. A very pleasant waiter came out with the order and a tab to sign. I wrote a generous amount in the "tip" area. Handing it back, I asked the waiter if he would receive the tip. "Only if it's in cash," was the response. Erasing the tip from the tab, I gave his tip in cash. This is worth knowing, I think!

-- Poland

Congress allocated money for WHO. President Trump is committing another impeachable offense by withholding that money. The world needs everyone to help with this pandemic. Investigate WHO after this epidemic is over. Trump also pitted states against each other in bidding wars for COVID-19 supplies. And Trump placed a tariff on items coming from China, but China pays nothing to the U.S. for the tariff. The American people who purchase these items pay the additional cost from tariffs.

-- Campbell

I am sick of a president who tweets inflammatory messages like "Liberate Va, Mi, and Wi." He incites public unrest and emboldens the extreme right. It's a disgrace.

--New Middletown

It's terrible this virus is killing people. It's terrible so many are unemployed and have no compensating insurance. But it's just stupid to confuse a lawful order to protect the health of all with a conspiracy to end your Second Amendment rights. No matter how great a marksman you are, you will never shoot a virus. Play with your gun at home, but wear your mask in public and stay at least 6 feet away from everyone else and you may be heroically saving your own granny from a terrible and lonely death.

-- Canfield

Sanctuary city NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio asked people to rat out neighbors who have large gatherings. So far, over 200 citations have been given with a maximum fine of $1,000. A reporter called the hotline saying the subways are full of homeless who live there. The hotline said, 'Not my job, call the transit authority." There's no money to be had when ticketing the homeless. I believe DeBlasio is the worst mayor in the country.

-- Girard

Watching President Trump's daily COVID-19 updates with the national press casts doubt on the old adage that there are no dumb questions. CNN wins the prize for the most unrelated, hostile and irrelevant questions. They query why POTUS waited so long to suspend flights to China. I recall they labeled that action as xenophobic.

-- Canfield

In 1918 the Spanish Flu sickened about 500 million people worldwide killing about 50 million. This flu came back within a year and was worse. Because of World War I, our leaders minimized the danger at the beginning to avoid panic. Death and misery resulted. We all want to reopen the country, but it should be done when we can control the spread. Protest if you must, but wear a mask and keep 6 feet away from others. Let DeWine make the call. He's already kept us safer than most neighboring states.

-- Campbell

For all of you who roll through those stops signs, please stop. There are so many more walkers, joggers, bikers. You are only looking for a car or truck. Please look out for the rest of us, including motorcycles!

-- Canfield

I read recently the amount of money raised by our congressman, about $400,000 in the last several months. It would be nice if they would promise to donate maybe 20 percent of that to local food banks to help their constituents at this time of need. This should not only be U.S. Reps. Ryan and Johnson, but every politician in Ohio. The local business leaders, labor unions, PACs and even small donors should start to think about where their donations are most needed. I don't think anyone would choose giving to a campaign war chest over a local food bank.

-- Columbiana

Editorials

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If our leaders aren't careful, this shutdown will cause more problems than the actual disease. Poverty kills. Heart attacks, diabetes and stress of all this in general will harm some folks forever. They never will recover from this. They have saved lives, but they have killed the economy. We know what to do. Wear masks, maintain social distancing, be clean, be smart. They are really scaring a lot of folks and overestimating it.

-- Boardman

In early March, a young man sneezed all over one food aisle in a store. You could almost see the spray. What if he had come back from China for Christmas? There is a spread rate on COVID-19; it's showing to be airborne, meaning you can get it from someone not sick just talking too close to you. Please! People are dying. Heed the warnings, shelter in place, protect when in public. The life you save may be your own.

-- Youngstown

President Trump brags that he's done everything perfectly and that his administration is doing a great job. With 35,000 Americans dead, 700,000 sickened and over 22 million out of work, he has not served us well. These numbers are worse than any country in the world; therefore, he is the worst leader in the world. We need to follow the lead of governors like DeWine and Cuomo who use facts and logic to lead and save thousands. Trump holds daily TV rallies to brag about things that didn't happen.

-- Campbell

Renowned late author Dr. Wayne Dyer observed "you cannot 'should have' on the planet Earth." Monday morning quarterbacks and most media ignore this immutable truth. On planet Earth, leaders during rapidly changing crises decide in real time with available information. Action results are measured. Decisions are adjusted or abandoned based on outcomes or new information. POTUS and other COVID-19 decision makers don't have crystal balls or the hindsight of critics who tell us how it "should have" been done.

-- Canfield

Someone wrote in recently about American manufacturing jobs. Google says 300,000 were lost under the Obama administration. He said they were gone forever, that you'd need a magic wand to get them back. Under Donald Trump, 500,000 jobs have been created. Looks like his magic wand is working.

-- Girard

President Trump continues his streak of lies and misinformation with his "press briefings," while the experts sit for hours waiting to speak. Trump has the whole GOP cowering in fear and then tries to intimidate Dr. Anthony Fauci, leading infectious disease expert in the country, to say Trump was not late dealing with this. The stimulus checks will be delayed because he wanted his name on them, which has never happened before. He cares about returning to business only how it will affect his re-election. He is a clear and present danger to our republic.

-- Girard

Send a message to the willfully ignorant GOP senator of your choice, who would not hear evidence a supermajority of electorate wanted them to hear to rid the country of "total authority" now threatening our federalist Democracy. Ask them to explain to any health care worker how many more life-threatening hours they must spend, under equipped and overworked, to help Donald Trump point to Wall Street numbers he hopes will help the greedy to re-elect him. Ask how much aid they'll deliver to people out of work thanks to Trump's bungling. Then use your vote to consign them and their leader to the trash bin of history.

-- Canfield

The 2017 CDC budget under Obama was $58 million; Trump's CDC budget is $108 million in 2018 and 2019 and $183 million in 2020. When Trump cut off travel from China in January, he was vilified as a racist by the Democratic-controlled national media. Now they say he waited too long. The list is endless. If he cured COVID-19, these people would say he did it to sell the cure. Try reading facts, not relying on CNN for news before you write a letter insinuating Trump is the anti Christ.

-- Canfield

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"Sound off!" publishes Saturdays to provide readers with a forum to applaud successes, discuss issues, point out local problems or review events of the day -- all in a constructive manner. Preference is given to local issues, but will not include election issues. Selected "Sound off!" submissions are published. Names are not included, but residential community is.

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z__COVID-19

Sound off!

Snowbird friends wintering in Florida told me in the last week of March all their Canadian friends there had packed up and gone home weeks before. Why? Because their government called them back to avoid the rapidly spreading pandemic. They trusted their government leadership. Here, we have a business failure and self-promoting narcissist who prefers to call what he doesn't like or understand a hoax while the country goes begging for life-saving information and equipment. The administration and GOP enablers cannot be trusted.

-- Canfield

I don't think the lottery is an essential business with 700,000 Ohioans filing for jobless aid the last three weeks. During the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, do we need people traveling to the store to play the lottery? How about using your money and travel time to buy groceries instead!

-- Poland

I read about the Covelli Centre possibly being used as a hospital. Is anyone considering using the recently closed Northside Hospital?

-- Hubbard

How can alcohol be considered an essential business and churches not be? I think it says something about our priorities and more. Happy Easter.

-- Boardman

George Will has contracted Trump Derangement Syndrome. He is blind to what motivates Trump supporters. Will wrongly believes we view ourselves as victims. You do not need a Mensa membership to see the belt-way bubble is insular, power hungry and self-serving; especially top unelected leaders of bureaucracies. Victims blame and do not act. We acted and sent Trump to D.C. to fix a corrupt, feckless and broken system. Our commander-in-chief is doing what we sent him there to do.

-- Canfield

The stimulus package originated with bipartisan support, without input from the president. He touts he put the package together; however, it would have become law without his ceremonial signature. I would give up my stimulus if Trump supporters would focus on facts and common sense -- and if he would stay off TV. Why did Trump disband White House pandemic office in 2018? They were scientists, biological experts for global health security and medical biodefense. We probably could not have prevented the virus, but with proper leadership it would not have been this bad. Depressing!

-- Campbell

Any president's most important is to protect Americans. This president has failed miserably. He was warned in early January this virus was coming and could have gotten in front of it. There's information telling exactly what to do. Now he's attacking Democratic governors who aren't sucking up enough and reporters who ask legitimate questions. He accuses health workers of hoarding supplies. He brags about his ratings. Some conservatives have said the deaths are inflated to make Trump look bad. His abysmal response to this crisis will result in tens of thousands of lives lost.

-- Girard

The president's top responsibility to keep people safe. If you were president and told on Jan. 3 China had a potential pandemic in its country, what would you do? Would you make a list of what you'd need to fight the virus? Would you take an inventory of items we have? Would you gather a list of companies who could make up deficits in inventory? Would you have them start making or accumulating items? Or would you spend 70 days doing nothing and telling everyone that it's under control and it's just like the flu?

-- Campbell

Editorials

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I commend Struthers for having enacted a curfew. I wish Poland, Boardman and Canfield would do the same. That way, there wouldn't be a lot of people hanging out in the parking lots or streets at night.

-- Poland

Last Sunday I noticed that the Locust Grove Baptist Church in Greenford was still holding services. I understand churches are exempt from the stay-at-home order. However, aren't individuals under a stay-at-home order? I feel this is incredibly irresponsible right now. The people attending this service should be quarantined. Maybe this is one of the reasons Mahoning County has one of the worst infection rates in the state! So disappointing.

-- Poland

Someone once told me, "The story line remains the same, only characters change." Recently it was former Youngstown Mayor John McNally, former Mahoning County Auditor Mike Sciortino and attorney Martin Yavorcik. Now it's former Mayor Charles Sammarone. It's probably a safe bet others will also receive a "slap on the wrist." That's been the norm in Youngstown for years.

-- Youngstown

Some factions of the news media are blasting negativity and hoping for President Trump to fail. If the president fails, we all fail. We should trust that he, as a businessman and leader, will do the right thing. If anyone is so against the president during this crisis, on principle, you will forfeit your stimulus check.

-- Girard

The dictionary defines "a month of Sundays" informally as a "very long, seemingly endless period of time." When I was growing up in the 1960s, and all the years before that, almost everything was closed on Sundays except gas stations and corner convenience marts. When I drive around town now, it looks like those Sundays every day! So, April 2020 will truly be a "month of Sundays."

-- Boardman

A month ago President Trump was seriously stressed because COVID-19 stopped his rallies. Then he realized he could use the daily COVID press briefings to give the same message. According to Trump, he's doing a great job; he deserves praise; everybody else is at fault; and everybody loves him or better praise him. While American deaths double every few days, his administration continues to lie about the availability of tests, ventilators and PPE's. Still, he believes that if only 100,000 Americans die he'll be a hero.

-- Campbell

I am an angry Republican. I watched three years ago as our president said the past administration left the medical supply cabinet bare. He just recently authorized the free shipment of many tons of medical supplies to China. When a reporter asked what he would like to say to Americans in regards to COVID-19 or his plans for the medical supply shortage, our president said he would tell them the reporter was a very bad reporter and that his questions are very unfair. Dear God, can you help?

-- Campbell

US efforts to conquer COVID-19 rightly have been equated to past war efforts. WWII's Tokyo Rose; Korea's Seoul City Sue, and Vietnam's Hanoi Hannah disrupted our country's war efforts by spreading propaganda. Add MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to that list. Unity is critical to conquer an enemy. Rachel's rhetoric, like prior war propagandist, lowers morale. Her verbal attacks undermines trust, spread fear, uncertainty and disunity.

--Canfield

It would do nicely if the Niles city public utilities office would enclose a return envelope with the bills. Everyone else does. It would represent a "thank you!" for us voting in that extra 0.5 percent income tax.

-- Niles