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Former 65th candidate endorses John Barbo
DEAR EDITOR:
Whatever happened to Lorna Westlake, long-time letter writer and candidate for state representative in the 65th district? Well, what happened was a health crisis of severe proportions. On Feb. 26, my husband Tom Westlake was taken by helicopter to University Hospital where emergency surgery was performed to find the source of massive bleeding. Taking anti-inflammatories for a knee replacement operation had eaten a hole the size of a quarter in his duodenum. What followed was 150 consecutive days in the hospital.
Knowing that Tom could not return to our split-level home in Austinburg, selling our old house and buying a new one became an absolute necessity, something I had to do during the ongoing medical crisis. Needless to say, I had no time to devote to a political campaign. Realizing that, I resigned my candidacy and happily gave way to John Barbo. We found the house that fits Tom's needs in Ashtabula Township, and now reside in the 99th district. Tom is now making rapid progress due to many prayers. I thank God and our brothers and sisters in Christ who gave us such tremendous support during this crisis.
One of the issues I would have highlighted had my campaign continued would have been data centers and their impact on utility prices. I laugh when I hear Republican ads saying Democrats will do exactly what they're told. What a case of projection! Vivek Ramaswamey is only the Republican nominee for governor because of Trump's endorsement. Likewise Fowler-Arthur and Thomas will fall in line and do what Ramaswamey/Trump wants. Remember Trump went after state legislators in Indiana because they did not vote the way he wanted and defeated six out of seven. What Trump wants is full steam ahead on AI which is powered by data centers, despite the fact that the chiefs of several AI firms agree with their whistle blowers that the chance for HUMAN EXTINCTION because of the action of AI is between 10%-25%. (BTW, would you get on an airplane with those kind of odds?) Bill Gates of Microsoft recently downplayed human extinction, but said AI could kill ONE BILLION people. Trump says all of this is a "sick conspiracy."
If you want responsible guardrails on AI and for data centers to be reined in, the Republicans are not the answer. After all, they have had one-party rule for decades and the tax breaks and subsidies for Big Tech with their push for AI, have been their handiwork. Vote for Acton, Barbo, and Murphy for independent and responsible government.
LORNA WESTLAKE
Ashtabula
Lots of reasons to vote for Democrats next month
DEAR EDITOR:
When it comes to the Republican politicians who are running for office, it's very easy to know which of them support Trump and which ones do not. Like the average people in my community, I worry about rising food and gas prices, the cost of healthcare, the dangers of a war that Trump chose without input from citizens or Congress, increases in housing costs and worries about the allies we once had. Trump's Republicans do not.
It's puzzling when Sen. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted says the war must end, yet he just voted against the War Powers Resolution. U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce doesn't say much of anything, yet he clearly expects to sail home free to another term representing Ohio's gerrymandered District 14 in the House of Representatives.
Vivek Ramaswamy wants to govern Ohio and is a disciple of Trump, yet what experience does he have? His supporters run shameful, outlandish ads against Dr. Amy Acton. Both his ads and those run by Husted against former Sen. Sherrod Brown feature sickening lies and are financed by the dark money of unknown donors to political action committees.
Acton will make a fine governor. You could tell she and Mike DeWine got along before Trump interfered. Her priorities include stopping corruption, managing education, healthcare, jobs, business and workers' issues, and more. Her goals are big improvements over the cryptocurrency deals, data centers and other entities the billionaires are pushing.
I appreciate Maria Jukic, whose website, unlike Dave Joyce's, discusses 10 vital issues facing us -- from agriculture and AI to Social Security and taxation. She is a keen lawyer who has honed her skills at the Cleveland Clinic after an education at Notre Dame, John Carroll and Cleveland State -- right where she grew up.
I want Brown back in the Senate. His past results in saving people's pensions, formulating trade policy, capping drug costs and supporting veterans mean more to me than Husted carrying the taint of the FirstEnergy bribery scandal. Husted also repeats Trump's obnoxious lies such as Brown supporting pediatric transsexual surgery right in our public schools.
Voting decisions are so difficult these days, but not if you ask yourself some questions. Do you want the war in Iran to continue? Should our leaders restore our access to cheaper healthcare and medications? Can we put a stop to the tariffs? How about honoring and enforcing the Constitution that guided us for 250 years? It's time to set aside politics and be the patriots that our country needs us to be. Let's put an end to Project 2025 and stand up for the Republic we all love. Vote Blue this November.
LINDA COCUZZI RICHTER
Niles
Hovis wants us to judge
his record, so let's do that
DEAR EDITOR:
The race for Trumbull County Commissioner should come down to a simple question: Who do we trust to responsibly manage a county with far greater resources, responsibilities and risks than any individual township?
Michael Hovis points to his experience in Bazetta Township and as police chief as evidence he is ready to manage Trumbull County. If that experience is part of his case, his entire record deserves scrutiny.
The 2024 Bazetta hacking incident should concern taxpayers. After the township fiscal officer's email account was compromised, Trumbull County Auditor Martha Yoder publicly stated that she and the county IT director "were also concerned that Trustee Hovis was not taking the security issue of the Township's computer system seriously."
More than $160,000 was transferred to a fraudulent account, with approximately $80,857 ultimately lost. If county officials were concerned Hovis was not taking cybersecurity seriously in a township the size of Bazetta, what happens when the responsibility becomes all of Trumbull County, where the financial and operational risks are substantially greater?
Hovis' record managing personnel also deserves scrutiny. In 2018, Bazetta officer Nathan Greathouse was passed over for promotion to sergeant and ultimately had to take the dispute to arbitration. According to WKBN's reporting, the arbitrator found Greathouse and the other candidate equally qualified, but Greathouse had greater seniority and should have received the promotion. The arbitrator also found that Hovis approved training for the other candidate while denying it to Greathouse. The arbitrator also cited testimony from Hovis' brother, then-Trustee Paul Hovis, who said Greathouse "did not get a fair shake." Greathouse won the arbitration, was promoted and received back pay.
Voters have every reason to question whether this is the management they want in county government.
Finally, despite political rhetoric suggesting otherwise, Kristen Rock supports law enforcement. I was a member of the Committee for a Safer and Stronger Liberty and personally witnessed Kristen's support for police and public safety. I do not need a campaign advertisement to tell me where she stands because I saw it myself.
Hovis' law enforcement service deserves recognition, but being a former police chief does not give one candidate ownership of public safety. Trying to portray Kristen as someone who does not support police simply does not match my experience.
Hovis wants voters to judge him on his record. I agree. Examine the cybersecurity incident. Examine the arbitration. Examine how taxpayer resources and employees were treated.
Then give Kristen Rock's record the same scrutiny.
Trumbull County deserves serious leadership focused on taxpayers, public safety and moving our communities forward, not favoritism, finger-pointing and petty politics.
JULES NATIVIO
Warren
Some 9/11 observers should not have been there
DEAR EDITOR:
A petition was signed by Americans in New York saying that Mayor Mamdani should not attend the 9/11 memorial service.
He ignored the will of the people. Former presidents should not have attended either -- the Clintons, the Bushes and the Obamas. The first two were advised before 9/11 that there were adversaries in our country before and were warned. Obama hid these files when he was in office from Americans. Mamdani and AOC were photographed laughing on this solemn occasion.
When you let unvetted and undocumented people into our country that do us harm as Biden did, why should we ignore this and not hold them accountable? We trust that these men who hold the highest office in our country will keep us safe. They failed!
President Trump is doing the job the others did not. You should thank this man and his entire Cabinet.
The price of gas under Obama and Biden was $4 to $5 per gallon, and no one cared. Quit complaining!
RUTH LILLEY
Niles
When you feel pain at the
pump, credit it to Trump
DEAR EDITOR:
Gas prices in America will not fall until after Donald Trump is out of office.
As America spins its wheels, Trump laughs all the way to the bank! The president's war with Iran was a calculated financial move to enrich himself.
At the start of the war, the world's top 10 oil companies collectively averaged $30 million in excess windfall profits every hour. They banked an estimated $23 billion in excess profits.
Major fossil fuel companies connected to Donald Trump include Venture Global, Energy Transfer LP, and Chevron.
Donald Trump has held significant financial investments in major fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobile, his holdings valued at as much as $12 million. Chevron at $6 million.
He is in no rush to open the Strait of Hormuz, not anytime soon.
A song by Tom T. Hall (1987):
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
America was young and strong and brave,
Lord knows that I didn't have much money,
And my old car had seen some better days.
You were young and fresh as brand new roses,
I was so in love and strong and brave,
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And love was only sixty cents away.
I don't think I'd know you if I'd see you,
I practice my forgetting 'til it works,
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
I didn't know the meaning of hurt.
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And sweet magnolias lined those country roads,
We burned a tank of love most every weekend,
And on work days, I helped 'em fix the roads.
My friends were many and our dreams were certain,
Whoever thought we'd go our separate ways?
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And love was only sixty cents away.
I don't think I'd know you if I'd see you,
I practice my forgetting 'til it works,
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
I didn't know the meaning of hurt.
Back when gas was thirty cents a gallon,
And love was only sixty cents away.
PAUL R. LAWSON
McDonald
A look at healthcare
re-education in America
DEAR EDITOR:
"Save America! Endorse Chief Actuary Health Insurance Study."
That was my sign at the Saturday demonstration at Warren's Courthouse Square. I'm grateful to the organizers and the goodwill of the other demonstrators.
I'd suggested a Chief Actuary study, The Construction and Uses of Health Insurance Groups and Health Insurance Null Groups, to put health care debate on a fact and reality basis.
An honest Chief Actuary study will spark an international firestorm. Powerful factions will try to pack the study with toadies to turn it into pulp. To strengthen the integrity of the Chief Actuary's study we'll need a health care re-educator corps to deliver lectures that popularize the Chief Actuary's message. Educators will need extraordinary classroom tact in presenting to longtime group health enrollees who've been snookered into believing in the soundness and virtue of group health by our failed opinion leaders.
Here are just three micro-scenarios that future healthcare re-educators may use to expose the fractured "kaleidoscope" America trapped behind a wall of health insurance cards.
Bob's pizza shop employs 20 full-timers, all well-insured. Bob's health insurance costs are $0. A year later he still has the same 20 full-time workers, all of them now uninsured Only Bob remains insured. His health care costs are $0. What happened? When is employment-based group health insurance not employment-based group health insurance?
A lesbian worker wanted to have her sick girlfriend enrolled in employer-paid group health insurance. How do you square Christian charity with Christian proscription of sexually irregular relationships? An insurance-trained executive offered a solution that successfully addressed both prongs of that dilemma. Ignored by labor and management were dozens of uninsured part-time workers with stronger claims to insurance. Why?
Mary is taken by her husband, Bob, to the emergency room. She's diagnosed with a serious ailment that will be costly to treat. The first thing Bob does is divorce Mary. Why?
Barbara, Mary's hospital roommate, had likewise been diagnosed with the same illness. The first thing Barbara's boyfriend, Sam, did when Barbara was diagnosed was to marry her. How can both marriage and divorce be the same roads to medical treatment? Why? Explain.
Is a Chief Actuary health insurance study a good thing? Think about the consequences of never -- not ever -- having an expert, unbiased examination of healthcare. You're living the consequences inside that America now, buddy. Light a candle. Come to your senses. Do the right thing.
JACK LABUSCH
Niles
Workers with developmental disabilities are penalized
DEAR EDITOR:
I want to draw attention to the segregation experienced by Adults with Developmental Disabilities. Some may disagree, pointing to support programs and annual events such as the Special Olympics. Yet these programs do not necessarily provide meaningful inclusion.
How many adults with developmental disabilities work alongside the general population? Only 15-17%, and of that group, about 3% are ineligible for Medicaid or county waiver benefits. Why? These individuals are born into a world they must adapt to, while the government promises them lifelong support.
I have worked closely with an individual who is employed full-time in hospitality services and after two years of providing direct care services his waiver was cut because of his annual income. His mother is now elderly, and he will be lost when she is gone. Some may say she should have prepared him better, but what happens to those who are not prepared for life's challenges? Why should they be punished for circumstances of birth? Their taxes help fund Medicaid, yet he cannot receive waiver services or Medicaid assistance unless he quits his full-time job with benefits and retirement -- and works in a facility serving people with developmental disabilities. Those who succeed in integrated workplaces should not suffer for doing so.
This is a serious problem, and I hope voters consider it with the general election coming up in November. Who will do what is right for people with developmental disabilities? My experience says not many are willing to step up and better assist these people in keeping their waivers and Medicaid services. County waivers are being taken from the men and women who need them the most and given to those who don't use the waiver services at all.
The facts are the facts and not only does the government screw the working man, but they screw the underprivileged working man and it's high time we take back what should be allotted to those who need it. Federal and state Medicaid funds pay for roughly 60% of waiver services, while the local county boards of developmental disability cover the remaining 40%. Adults with DD who work and pay taxes such as you or I, should not be punished because of this.
It's an unfair system and bottom line it hurts those who should not be hurt. People need to wake up and see the real picture.
JESSICA JEWELL
Newton Falls