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ORCHID: To Col. Michael Maloney for his recent installation as commander of the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. Maloney brings an impressive record of service, most recently as chief of the Programs Division at the Headquarters of Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. We're confident Maloney will continue and expand upon YARS' reputation as one of the top award-winning reserve bases in the nation and as one of the largest civilian and military employers in the Valley as it prepares to replace its eight aging C-130Hs with eight state-of-the-art C-130J aircraft and as it explores other opportunities for growth.
ORCHID: To Howland native Tracy Taiclet de Montagna who, for 12 years, has lived in Pilar, Argentina, teaching and coaching English to students at a bilingual school. Taiclet de Montagna was an exchange student in Howland in 2000 through the Howland Rotary and went to Argentina after she graduated from high school. When she started college at Youngstown State University, she excelled in the international studies program. Taiclet de Montagna returned to Howland recently to a well-deserved homecoming from friends and family. We're certain she serves as a highly respected and effective one-woman diplomat for her home community and her country.
ONION: To the Ohio Department of Transportation and DriveOhio, the state's center for smart mobility within ODOT, for failing to award any high-powered fast-charging stations for electric vehicles in the Mahoning Valley among the 27 it announced last week for major interstates. Rejected were three proposals for such stations on Interstate 76 in Mahoning County. Given that the Valley includes high-volume interstate traffic on I-76 and I-80, given our ranking as the sixth-largest metro area in the state and given our region's growing recognition as Voltage Valley for its electric vehicle and battery production, the region's omission is puzzling. We hope the Valley is not similarly neglected when the next round of stations -- for state and U.S. routes -- is announced later this year.
ONION: To fraudsters locally and nationally intercepting checks illegally sent in the mail, altering their amounts and payees and swindling the legitimate check writers out of substantial sums of money. The U.S. Postal Service recently announced a dramatic increase in check theft and fraud across the country. Some victims have had their entire bank accounts depleted. We join UPS officials in urging consumers to find other means of payment (online, phone, secure UPS or FedEx) to eliminate even the possibility of becoming a hapless victim of such skullduggery.
ORCHID: To Kathy DiCristofaro of Niles for winning the Ohio Democratic Party's Howard Metzenbaum Volunteer of the Year Award at the party's statewide event last weekend in Columbus. DiChristofaro, a retired teacher, reminds us of the Energizer Bunny dashing productively in and out of her slew of party roles: Trumbull County Democratic Party vice chairwoman and political director, state party central committeewoman, chairwoman of the Mahoning / Trumbull Democratic Women's Caucus.
ORCHID: To the S.L. Gimbel Foundation for awarding a grant of $250,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley. That grant will provide a whopping 1 million meals for food-insecure individuals and families in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. The grant could not have come at a better time, given the need for Second Harvest's compassionate service continues to grow amid heightening inflationary pressures and the shutdown of many pandemic-era assistance programs. The foundation is a component fund of Inland Empire Community Foundation of Riverside, Calif. Kudos to the foundation for filling a need some 2,500 miles from its West Coast base.