ORCHID: To longtime Trumbull County Treasurer Sam Lamancusa for winning the Gus Frangos Lifetime Achievement Award last week from the Ohio Land Bank Association at its annual conference in Toledo. Lamancusa, who retired last year after 24 years of service in the treasurer’s post, richly deserved the honor for his herculean efforts to create and strengthen land bank programs in Trumbull County and throughout the state. In Trumbull County, for example, Lamancusa oversaw projects that led to the renovation or construction of more than 500 homes. His office also facilitated the reuse of more than 2,000 vacant properties and the demolition of approximately 1,800 structures identified as blighted. Clearly, his dedication to those missions measurably improved the quality of life for all in the county.

ONION: To the owners of bothersome broods of wicked and wayward chickens that have been terrorizing a Champion Township neighborhood of late with their mischievous antics. A group of Clearview Avenue neighborhood residents recently cackled a gaggle of complaints to township trustees about the free-roaming birds roosting on parked cars, commandeering front porches, strutting down sidewalks and leaving their unwelcome “deposits” across neighborhood yards. Though a loophole in township zoning codes prevents officials from taking criminal action against the legal guardians of the birds, their irresponsible owners would do well to swallow a healthy dose of common courtesy and good-neighborliness by keeping their peeps securely cooped up.

ORCHID: To the Ohio Supreme Court for unanimously acting last week to remove a potential barrier to convicted murderer Danny Lee Hill’s legitimate and well-deserved death sentence. The justices ruled 7-0 that Hill cannot use civil rules to challenge his punishment of execution. The court reversed an appellate decision that allowed Hill to use a civil rule to argue against his conviction based on intellectual disability. Sadly, however, the case must now go back to the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals to follow the proper postconviction relief process. His date with death has been rescheduled to July 18, 2029, which itself is a travesty for someone convicted in 1986 of the 1985 brutal rape and murder of 12-year-old Boy Scout Raymond Fife in Warren. His mother Miriam and other family members have been denied justice and closure for far too long already.

ORCHID: To Newton Falls Schools Superintendent Andreas Johansson, Athletic Director Chad Rankin and the board of education for their work to mount two large and locally-created Tiger Pride murals in the high school gym and commons area in an effort to boost school and community pride. The gym mural will feature a large tiger, an orange paw, 44444 (the community’s snappy ZIP code) and “Newton Falls” in bold and roaring color. As Rankin fittingly put it, “These murals aren’t just decorations; they are a permanent investment in our school spirit.”

ONION: To drivers who continue to hit the roads drunk as skunks. A sobriety checkpoint in Youngstown last week netted a whopping eight Operating a Vehicle Impaired arrests in a few short hours. The arrests reportedly included a Youngstown police officer. Recent OVI checkpoints in the Mahoning Valley typically have netted one, two or even zero OVI arrests. The steep increase clearly illustrates that some pig-headed drinkers still have not gotten the message that excessive alcohol consumption (or drug use) mixed with operating a motor vehicle simply don’t mix well. It also illustrates that the need for ongoing checkpoints and regular saturation patrols by the task force and all law enforcement agencies to rid roadways of these menaces must continue unabated.

ORCHID: To students, teachers and staff at Jefferson PK-8 and McGuffey PK-8 schools in Warren City Schools and in the entire Newton Falls Exempted Village School District for recently earning the prestigious Governor’s Momentum Award from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. That award is aptly named as it recognizes schools that have zoomed upward in their overall Performance Index on state report cards by three or more points from the previous year. These significant improvements validate schools’ efforts to improve student achievement, enhance their reputation and boost community pride. They also serve as models for other districts in the Mahoning Valley in demonstrating that measurable academic improvement is attainable and well worth actively pursuing

ORCHID: To the recently announced 25 Under 35 honorees for 2026 of the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals organization, an affiliate of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, for strong skill sets that are making an impact through leadership, innovation and community involvement. The honorees, too numerous to list here, include representatives from banking, financial management, the arts, retail, marketing, education, local government and more vocations. Their achievements and successes not only bring honor to themselves, but they also could help stem the high tide of outmigration of young people from the Mahoning Valley. After all, the 25 honorees rise as concrete examples for other aspiring young people that great opportunities and livelihoods are available right here in their own back yards of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

ORCHID: To the dozen schools in the Mahoning and Trumbull counties that recently earned the coveted Purple Star awards from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Those schools are Canfield High School and Canfield Village Middle School, both of which had their star renewed, plus new honorees Lakeview High School, Mineral Ridge High School, Niles Primary, Niles Intermediate, Niles Middle and Niles McKinley High schools, B.L. Miller Elementary in Sebring, Southington Elementary School, South Range Elementary School and West Branch Middle School. The award highlights a school’s significant commitment to supporting military-connected students, who often face unique challenges such as frequent relocations and parental deployments. They also go above and beyond in recognizing and honoring military veterans in their districts and in playing a vital role in taking care of those who serve the nation.

ORCHID: To Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office Detective John Dina for spearheading the office’s first internship program for criminal justice students at Youngstown State University. In the program, the interns receive hands-on exposure to nearly every facet of law enforcement. Ben Phillips, 19, a first-year criminal justice student, recently spent 90 hours rotating through the sheriff’s office operations from the ins and outs of making arrests to overseeing convictions in local courts. That hands-on experience paid off handsomely for Phillips. “It cemented more that this is the career that I want to continue with,” he said after finishing the internship and applying for a job as a corrections officer. Such results also benefit the sheriff’s office and other law enforcement agencies in conquering common challenges of understaffing and lackluster recruitment efforts.