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Letters to the Editor

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ has now come to life

DEAR EDITOR: Your July 9 article describing the refusal of entry to the U.S. of a musician to perform here locally raised several disturbing questions. Of course, there is a disparity of the organizer claiming the musician “carried documentation proving the non-commercial nature of his performances” and the Border Patrol claiming the performer “did not have the appropriate employment-based visa to perform multiple events as a professional musician.” It doesn’t matter which documentation claim is the most accurate or the most applicable under the law. What matters is that ...

Sound off!

Ralph Infante has been incarcerated for about seven years. It’s time we all: Give him a break. Give him a break. Break him off a piece of that Kit Kat bar! — Cortland Yet another fight at the Trumbull County Fair! How sad that fairgoers can no longer enjoy fun-tilled family activities without hoodlums disrupting those activities and creating an atmosphere of fear and chaos. The juvenile girl who hit a police horse should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of her age. She assaulted a member of the police force. If it would help, prosecute ...

Rulli’s resolution both pandering, insulting

DEAR EDITOR: U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli’s “Faith and Defiance Day” resolution manages to be both pandering and insulting at once. Pandering, because it’s simply one more example of a Republican officeholder bending over backwards to offer hyperbolic praise in order to both gain the fleeting attention of the president and also assuage his fragile ego. While the assassination attempt in Butler *could have* been far more tragic, can Rep. Rulli stop for a second and recognize that a man getting grazed on the tip of his ear is not exactly “one or two (of the) events in your life ...

Homeowners, landlords should be responsible

DEAR EDITOR: I want to applaud you! To whomever wrote the “onion” article about the neighborhoods in Girard where the people who do not take care of their properties. It not only exists in Girard, but in Niles and probably in Warren, too. I have asked the mayor of Niles and the housing inspector and the councilmen to get out of their “comfort zones” (offices) and actually go out into the neighborhoods they represent and check out the houses with trash around them, cars that do not work, boats in driveways that the only water they have seen is rain water for over nine years, ...

Bill Johnson’s fraudulent, odious YSU reign continues

DEAR EDITOR: In 2023 I wrote a letter questioning Bill Johnson’s fitness to be YSU’s president considering his support for the Jan. 6 insurrection, climate change denial, opposition to gay rights and celebration of immigration bans. He became YSU’s president. Trustee Michael Peterson stated, “Congressman Johnson is a strong, innovative, servant leader who we believe will be well positioned to guide the university as we take charge of our future.” How has Johnson fared? Not well. Johnson and the board recently approved 3-4% tuition increases for students at YSU. Johnson said ...

GOP’s new state budget is not good for Ohioans

DEAR EDITOR: An open letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine: Well, it’s time to finalize the budget. But, perhaps not! Since the Republican supermajority ignores the Constitution every chance it gets, why not do the same? Ignore the constitutional June 30 deadline and send the whole thing back to the Legislature! Novel, eh? You’d be off the hook for a while! But, seeing as that is not likely, and in lieu of simply saying the entire budget sucks and does NOTHING but continue to restrict EVERY aspect of Ohioans’ lives, I list my major concerns: • FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NOT A ...