Disappointed in commissioner Fuda

April 9, 2013

Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda is a perfect example. He is a perfect example of what's wrong with Trumbull County.Fuda is smooth. I will give him that. I've seen him in action as the consummate politician - nicely dressed, the big toothy smile, glad handing, campaigning every place imaginable.I've been told he is quite charming, but the charm is a veneer. The veneer is thin in some places, and if you look closely, you can see that Frank Fuda really is guardian of the status quo in Trumbull County government.I got a glimpse of this about a year ago when I attended the public ...

I’ll take the good ol’ Valley climate

April 2, 2013

Some relatives are moving to Florida. They're serious about it enough that they sold their home here in Ohio and built a new one in Florida. They're pretty excited.Me, I couldn't imagine leaving Ohio. Heck I can't imagine leaving the Mahoning Valley.People gasp when I say that. One of my rules though is that if you've moved far enough that you start missing funerals, you've moved too far.Maybe you get used to where you grow up, but no place else suits me. If I go east into Pennsylvania there are too many hills - mountains, really. Mountains are scenic, but I'm not comfortable driving on ...

Kinsman site of PBS documentary

March 29, 2013

As many of you know Kinsman was the home of Philip Bliss, nationally known hymn composer and affiliate of the great Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. His Ministry of Music traveled south after the Civil War and helped to heal a nation.Philip Bliss and his wife Lucy lost their lives on Dec. 29, 1876, in Ashtabula.Leonard Brown, owner of Beacon Productions of Canton and director of the PBS documentary, ''ENGINEERING TRAGEDY: The Ashtabula Train Disaster'' came to Kinsman last week at the invitation of the Kinsman Historical Society to discuss this film-in-the-making.Mr. Brown told the ...

A wake-up call for parents

March 26, 2013

''This is another wake-up call. If you don't wake up now, it's going to get worse and worse. We are in trouble; we are in trouble. God is trying to get us to understand that we're in trouble. We're in trouble as a country, we are in trouble as a city, and we're in trouble in our neighborhoods. Our families are in trouble because they are under attack, and God is trying to tell us that it is time for us to get our act together. We are in trouble because of the breakdown of the family. We are in trouble because we've stopped parenting our children. We're in trouble because we're busy ...

Upton set a wonderful example

March 22, 2013

March is Women's History Month. One woman I've been reading about lately is Harriet Taylor Upton, who played a vital role in the fight for women's suffrage. I recently read a quote attributed to Ben Franklin: ''Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.'' When I read that, my first response was, ''I want to do both!'' Harriet Taylor Upton actually did do both.Ms. Upton was born in 1854 in Ravenna, but her family moved to Warren when she was 7 years old. Her father, Ezra Taylor, was a judge. He was elected to Congress in 1880, and since he was a widower by then, ...

Anti-fracking lobby is humorous

March 19, 2013

There is always news about the natural gas industry and the progress, surrounding the development of the Marcellus gas play in the area. I have written about it in the past, but am drawn to the topic because of how much it may mean to our region and the nation, and there are always so many new things to learn about it.Did you know that there are nearly 300,000 miles of gas pipelines crisscrossing the country? Few people think about just what it takes to light that fire when they turn on their stoves or furnaces. The gas you use may have been piped in from Texas.I think about this ...