DEAR EDITOR:

I spent the first 24 years of my life in Ohio. I was born in Niles, moved to Warren when I was 13, attended Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, and graduated from Ohio University in Athens. My first job was at Cedar Point in Sandusky. Now that I am living in California, I miss the summer rain but not the high humidity.

My father, Jack Burtch, was a man of tremendous character, always giving back to his community in so many ways. He served as the Niles Board of Education president, on the St. Joseph Warren Hospital board, and several more civic positions. Jack Burtch was the definition of character to all who knew him, especially my brother JB and myself.

Dad served as an Army Air Force pilot in World War II and the Korean War. His silver wings sit proudly on my desk. Returning to Niles, Dad served as the president of the Ohio Galvanizing and Manufacturing Company, then vice president of Wean United, and as a lobbyist for the steel industry in Washington, DC. He was past commander of American Legion Post 106, and Man of the Year in 1977. Dad was a diehard Republican and well-respected in the Ohio Republican Party. One of his proudest moments was spending quality time with President Gerald Ford. One of Dad’s friends told me the Ohio Republican Party asked him to run against John Glenn for the United States Senate in 1974. He answered, “You’re not going to beat an astronaut who orbited the Earth.” He turned down the invitation and was right in his prediction.

My father, and so many men and women of strong character of his era, must be turning in his grave at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House. Trump lacks honesty, compassion, trustworthiness, and many other traits that define a true leader. He denigrates our men and women in service. He says he supports the working class. However, his actions deny that support when his convenient six bankruptcies left countless small companies with tens of millions of dollars due to them. Companies like bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, and many more had to declare bankruptcy or close their hard-earned businesses. His answer: “Sue me.” How could they, in the condition he left them?

Yes, character counts, and nowhere more than the person holding the office of the President of the United States of America. I am proud to say I am from Ohio; my roots run deep there. But for the life of me, I do not understand how the hard-working, honest men and women of character that fill our state can, with a clear conscience, vote for Donald Trump. Come on, Ohio, we are better than that.

BRUCE WILLIAM BURTCH

Formerly of Niles and Warren