Sound off!
A 13-year-old girl was killed on Youngstown’s South Side 12:30 at night on May 19. What was a 13-year-old girl doing out at 12:30 at night?
Beaver Township
I agree with Nikki Haley, we should require competency tests for elected officials. But I’d demand them at any age. We know 80+ individuals who are sharp and 30+ individuals dumber than rocks. Look at immature antics and dangerous rhetoric of some younger Congress members and local officials. They’re responsible for millions of dollars and make decisions affecting us all. We have a right to know they possess some capacity to do the job we gave them — and can take away.
Hubbard
It used to be that if you were sentenced to death, you weren’t around but long enough to have a last meal. And, they found the means to do it. Now the condemned eat thousands of meals in comfort and generations of barristers’ children graduate college.
Columbiana
Ohio Republican leadership is trying to solidify its control of Ohio. They ignore the people’s vote to undo biased districts. They ignored our supreme court’s order. Now they want you to believe it’s necessary to hold an August election to reverse a constitutional right we’ve had 100 years. Truth is they gradually are increasing their control and are afraid the abortion issue might cut into that control that makes the voice of their extremists the only ones heard.
Campbell
Pope Francis is the man who should be copied in our daily lives. His compassion, kindness, integrity, care for the oppressed and soft talk is almost unmatched in our world today. Our current political world should take notice, especially with the hateful talk and vengeful words heard daily in our lives and those of our children. How are we teaching them and what are they really learning?
Youngstown
Rep. Jim Jordan is trying to find something that doesn’t exist, just as John Durham while wasting four years and millions to find no deep state conspiracy by law enforcement to link 45 to Putin. Sharp fact won’t pierce red hats. However, Republicans able to function without propaganda input from Tucker and still tempted to vote for GOP national candidates may need a better reason not to. How about because their incompetence is reaching Three Stooges level?
Canfield
You’ve seen the light, haven’t you? In all this darkness who can make out the truth? They hate and kill. So, you hate and kill. And now you’re doomed. What is the blackness? It’s the hate, and there’s too much of it! It’s all around choking us; a sickness — not a virus, or microbe or germ — a sickness. Contagious, deadly. Don’t look for it in a bad dream. Look for it in a mirror before the light is gone forever.
Boardman
One side condemns the National Rifle Association. Second Amendment supporters are ambivalent toward gun violence, demanding Congress do “something.” Rarely do they specify what “something” is. Stats show the weapon most often targeted for banning, the AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, is used in less than 3 percent of U.S. homicides; hands and feet account for a larger percentage. Let’s address the real issue, the people. We already have laws. Are they enforced? Follow that path, and we will get closer to a solution.
Austintown
soundoff@tribtoday.com
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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 local election issues. Selected “Sound off!” submissions are published. Names are not included, but residential community is.
Limit “Sound off!” comments to 80 words. Submit longer comments as “Letters to the Editor,” a separate forum that publishes Sundays.
Submit via email to soundoff@tribtoday.com or via the Virtual Newsroom by going to www.vindy.com and clicking “Submit News” and then “Sound off.”
Sound off
I am confused about the deer issue. If the high deer count is incorrect, as those against the hunt say, then few deer will be harvested. If the deer count is correct, then the harvest will be higher and show the validity of the need for the hunt. What’s the fuss? Youngstown Law Director Jeff Limbian is clearly posturing for a political office run!
Girard
Boardman Township is suggesting that any homeowner having trouble with sewage backup in their basement during heavy rains should spend $10,000 on a sanitary backflow device to alleviate the problem. I am upset that this ongoing problem can be resolved only with the taxpayers of Boardman spending their own money. After this, I will not be supporting another Boardman levy. This should have been resolved by now.
Boardman
A recent letter misrepresents the effect of Ohio’s HJR1. The writer claimed the resolution would make it harder for simple ballot initiatives to be passed. In reality HJR1 applies to amendments to the Ohio Constitution only. The threshold for making changes to our constitution should be higher than 51 percent. Just as with the U.S. Constitution, the Ohio Constitution should be a framework for how the General Assembly operates.
Austintown
Polls overwhelmingly show voters want restrictions on guns. It’s just the Republican legislators who don’t want these restriction to be passed in both U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Republican legislators need to protect all citizens instead of using Second Amendment rights as their reason for not acting. We are tired of their “thoughts and prayers.” We want action now. The best way to get action is to vote these legislators out. This is when your vote will count. Use it!
Poland
Democracy is supposed to be of, by and for the people. Intelligence agencies spy on our people. Government and tech platforms conspire to surveil, censor. Regulatory agencies have been captured by those they are to regulate. Wall Street controls SEC. Polluters and extractive industries dominate EPA and BLM. Pharma controls CDC, NIH and FDA. Big Ag controls USDA. Big Tech captured FTC. No wonder trust in government is at all-time lows. It’s time to earn it back — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Diamond
The vast majority of Democrats, Republicans and gun owners don’t want guns in hands of mentality ill, extremist, minors or people experiencing momentary rage. Two groups with a symbiotic money relationship who don’t care about mass killings are the NRA and Republican leadership. We can stop sending NRA money. We must vote Republicans out or be complicit in Americans’ deaths and traumatizing of a generation of our children. It’s up to us to make our country safe again. Vote.
Campbell
Putin is not guilty of war crimes. War is war, meaning it is ugly. Women are raped, young men are conscripted. And it goes on. Neither Russia nor the United States signed on to the ratification of the U.N. Treaty of Rome International Criminal Court with 123 other countries. Sad but true: “All’s fair in love and war.”
Austintown
Twenty-three minutes into his CNN town hall, Donald Trump repeatedly denied most lies he told in 2020 while, as usual, talking over the moderator every time she confronted him with recorded facts. The only thing more embarrassing than his performance was the slavish applause of MAGA faction audience members trying to drown out the moderator. I’m glad I must wake at 3 a.m. so I can walk away from this disgrace. I hope it’s not good-night to democracy.
Canfield
Have something to say?
Have something you want to get off your chest? Share it here with other readers.
“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 local election issues. Selected “Sound off!” submissions are published. Names are not included, but residential community is.
Limit “Sound off!” comments to 80 words. Submit longer comments as “Letters to the Editor,” a separate forum that publishes Sundays.
Submit via email to soundoff@tribtoday.com or via the Virtual Newsroom by going to www.vindy.com and clicking “Submit News” and then “Sound off.”
Sound off!
To the Columbiana writer questioning Mill Creek MetroParks board appointments, per the Ohio Revised Code, the local probate judge appoints the unpaid, part-time board. I’ve personally known board members. They’re concerned citizens, business and professional people who donate their time making this “Mahoning Valley gem” what it is. It was the first organized park district in Ohio, thanks to Volney Rogers’ foresight. Decisions like geese and deer control, eminent domain and budget cuts are gut-wrenching and controversial. To express opinion, please attend monthly meetings.
Boardman
I am fed up with Mill Creek MetroParks board, unchecked and not answering to voters. Bike trail fiasco, McGuffey Preserve, eliminating deer and failure to maintain roads show abuses of power. This board needs to be removed immediately. Remember, Probate Judge Robert Rusu is responsible for appointing these individuals. We should make it clear at re-election time that he answers for the board’s damage. I also encourage voters to reject park levies and seek a method to defund this organization.
Youngstown
There seems to be many headlines saying “Republicans take aim at…” Why can’t they work with, rather than take aim at, or attempt to take down anything or anyone they perceive to be in their way? Working “with” can accomplish more.
Youngstown
Is anyone happy with how our country is being run? It gets worse each day. Not only is our wealth being compromised, so are what little morals our country has left. When the time comes to put someone else in charge, think about it. Let’s get back to the country that so many of us were proud of: one nation under God, (if we are still allowed to say that when the time comes).
Boardman
Rep. Al Cutrona just solved Ohio’s school funding crisis for his Canfield alma mater with a gift of $33 million. Now, if only half of other Ohio school districts are funded by the Cutrona method, it would cost taxpayers about $10 trillion! What a publicity stunt. With ideas like this, no wonder the team in Columbus can’t find a fair way to do redistricting. We need some representatives with common sense, not politicians looking for headlines.
Poland
I’m worried about a letter writer thinking she has more important things than to protect the integrity of her vote. Protections must ensure no one else uses her name to vote. She should be proud to take that inconvenience for a right that people died for. Politicians give money that could go to Medicare or Social Security funding instead to pay off student loans. Any elected official would be glad to find a ride so she could get that done.
Youngstown
Could it be that, by ousting Tucker Carlson, FOX lost half his viewers because those he duped finally realized they were lied to, or are they seeking new laughable lies on NEXT, or ONN, or a wacky website? My guess is those flying 45 or MAGA flags need the new conspiracy boosters to keep breathing.
Canfield
Putin is not guilty of war crimes. War is war, meaning it is ugly. Women are raped, young men are conscripted. And it goes on. Neither Russia nor the United States signed on to the ratification of the UN treaty of Rome International Criminal Court with 123 other countries. Sad but true: “All’s fair in love and war.”
Austintown
soundoff@tribtoday.com
Want to get something off your chest? Share it here with other readers.
“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 local election issues. Selected “Sound off!” submissions are published. Names are not included, but residential community is.
Limit “Sound off!” comments to 80 words. Submit longer comments as “Letters to the Editor,” a separate forum that publishes Sundays.
Submit via email to soundoff@tribtoday.com or via the Virtual Newsroom by going to www.vindy.com and clicking “Submit News” and then “Sound off.”