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One boy overcame loneliness and brought a neighborhood together

Editorials

Many people across the nation were touched by the heartwarming story of Roman Butzlaff, a 4-year-old boy in Concord, North Carolina, who befriended several of his elderly neighbors and became their adopted grandson. When the CBS Evening News aired its July 10 “On the Road” feature on Roman, I was amazed at his genuine desire to connect with individuals decades older. I’m sure others found this odd at first, as Roman was spending his mornings saying “hey” to everyone walking by his home instead of being immersed in a video game. Many children his age would have ignored the ...

What the latest wave of neo-Nazis says about us

Editorials

On July 4, the nation’s 250th anniversary, a mysterious group of young men in khaki pants, navy blue shirts, logoed baseball caps and white face masks surfaced in the capital, marching out of a downtown Metro subway station and into the news. By now they look oddly familiar, part of the menagerie of uniformed street brawlers and torch-carriers that emerged in the tumultuous first term of President Donald Trump. And there are unsavory historical echoes as well. Though smaller in number, the neo-Nazis in the capital brought to mind the 1925 parade down Pennsylvania Avenue by ...

Put in reverse Trumbull’s spike in traffic deaths

Editorials

Esteemed researchers earlier this week trumpeted results of international studies that concluded traffic crashes and fatalities in the United States and most developed nations on the globe continue to cruise on a steady downward slide. Global rates of road injuries and deaths each fell more than 30% over the past four decades, according to the study published Monday in Lancet Public Health, a highly prestigious medical journal. The World Health Organization within the United Nations this week added its own spin to that encouraging news in reporting road traffic deaths declined by 21% ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To Brandi North of Cortland for receiving the prestigious Elementary School Teacher of the Year for Ohio award from ACCEL Schools, a network of more than 85 PreK-Grade 12 charter schools in the state. North, who has worked as a first grade teacher for four years at the STEAM Academy in Warren, has distinguished herself for her excellence in academics, teaching, student success and overall school operations. North, reflecting on the award, said, “ As a teacher, it is my goal to make a difference in my students’ lives.” Clearly, she has done that and so much more. Kudos, too, ...

Who are our domestic enemies?

Editorials

The oath is a familiar one. The president and vice president take it, as do members of Congress and many other high government officials. It requires the oath taker to defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” We can identify many of America’s foreign enemies, but what about domestic ones? Now that the Democratic Socialists of America have published their platform, it appears they would qualify as a domestic enemy of the Constitution. If they achieved power they would, to quote the stated goal of former President Barack Obama, “fundamentally ...

Is it possible to be loyal to Trump and preserve integrity?

Editorials

There’s been a lot of discussion this past week about the meaning of integrity. You didn’t hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly — in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she’ll never compromise on the science; in doubting that Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn’t want to hear. The word ...