The future looks at the past

June 7, 2013

I recently had the pleasure of spending time with a group of Trumbull County high school seniors. As I have no children myself, I was little nervous about finding things to talk about. They were talking about music and performers I had never heard of.I then asked them about their plans for further education and was interested to hear their future plans. One student had been accepted to an engineering college, another into a premed program, and still another was bound for military academy. Another student wanted to be an electrician another wanted to work in the shale industry. They had ...

Hubbard native remembers steel

June 4, 2013

Rick Rowlands remembers being a little boy in Hubbard and watching the trains leaving Valley Mould Company. Initially attracted to the trains, the little boy soon became aware of the hot metal cars that left the small town every day. As he grew older, Rick became interested in the history of steel in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys.When he turned 18, Rick and a group of friends organized the Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation in an effort to save the remaining blast furnace that stood at the Brier Hill Works of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. That effort failed in spite of a ...

Tyranny both at home and afar

May 31, 2013

Earlier this month President Obama told graduates at The Ohio State University that they should not listen to the voices that warn of tyranny in our country. Of course, since then, it has been revealed that the IRS has been targeting those who disagree with the administration and that the Department of Justice spied on reporters from the AP and Fox News, demonstrating that those who have warned of tyranny were correct.Some of us realized that tyranny existed in our country before these revelations.We saw tyranny in the passage of the over 2,000-page Affordable Care Act in 2010. Most, if ...

A speech for Memorial Day

May 28, 2013

As I approach the end of my stint as a ''Community Columnist'' I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you, the reader.I applied for one of the openings that the Tribune Chronicle graciously provides because I am a person who believes in expressing my views. I am profoundly grateful to live in a country where one can voice his opinion without fear of reprisal.Because we are Americans, we can criticize our country's highest officials without having to worry about the heavy hand of government. There are so many countries where doing so requires uncommon bravery. And of course, there are ...

Visit Trumbull’s farmers markets

May 24, 2013

With summer just around the corner, it is time to think about supporting our local Trumbull County Farmers Markets. When you buy produce or other items such as honey, grass-fed meats, jams and jellies, or baked goods you are keeping your food dollars within the county and helping local producers maintain or expand their businesses.When you buy from a local producer you can ask him or her if the produce was grown organically, or if not, what chemicals they might have used. You cannot do that in a grocery store.More and more people believe in controlling what their families are eating. ...

Values improve a community

May 21, 2013

At the last Warren City Council meeting, officials discussed the two ''shield details'' from the prior weekend where as the result of saturation patrols by law enforcement, many arrests were made, including 21 that were drug-related. The talk turned to the topic of ''how did things get this bad?'' and ''how can we fix this?''Some council members blamed the economy for the crime in Warren. I agree that the economy is a problem not just in Warren, but in all of Trumbull County.My last column urged that we take advantage of the opportunities that oil and gas will bring to our area, but ...