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Kite-making now lacks goosebumps

It was March 1944. Sometimes it takes a bit of creativity to get what you want - especially when you're a kid. Take having a kite, for instance. Why should an 8-year-old spend a hard-earned quarter to have a store-bought kite when he can make one on his own?Frank Fabrizio, a Warren city councilman and friend of the family, ran a little market on Highland Avenue, right across from First Street School. I mentioned to him one day that I wanted to build a kite all on my own rather than spend money buying one. He had a kind suggestion. He offered me two spools of cotton string and some ...

Bill holds e-schools accountable

Bill holds e-schools accountableDEAR EDITOR:The public needs to know about a critical online school (e-school) reform bill in the Ohio Senate. The bill, S.B. 298, would require Ohio's online schools to accurately track each student's login times.Why does this matter? Online charter schools receive state money for each full-time student they enroll. But recent reports have found that online schools may not be properly tracking students' attendance. They could be taking state money for kids who hardly ever log in to class.Three e-schools have been caught taking money they couldn't justify: ...

Life’s work, dreams can be enjoyed by all auto enthusiasts

It was the direct result of the community column that I have had the privilege of writing for the Tribune: I received a large manila envelope in the mail via the Tribune office. Inside was a note from my Cousin Jim whom I had not seen or heard from in about five decades. He had been reading my community columns. He's related to me in that my Grandma Katherine and his Grandma Salome were sisters. That makes us second cousins. I knew Jim and his siblings quite well when we were kids.The other contents of the envelope included a compendium of his family's history, and a catalogue for TP ...

Community commitment big part of being in business

In February, I received the Whitney M. Young Award from the Laurel Highlands Council, Scoutreach Division of the Boy Scouts of America. I am thrilled by the honor, but it has also prompted me to think about why I received it and the social role and responsibility of businesses.Please allow me to explain.First, I believe I may need to provide some background about the late Whitney Young. Young, the former executive director of the national Urban League, was a truly remarkable individual and a man from whom we can still learn today.He was the son of an educator, a graduate of MIT and a man ...

Wheaties planes still find use

I could hardly wait. I found myself checking the mailbox every day in eager anticipation. How many years has it been? Seventy-two?Finally, it came. There it was - a hand-addressed white envelope about 8 by 11 inches and about a half inch thick. I hurriedly but carefully opened it and slid out its contents. They were just exactly as I remembered - 14 full-color exact reprints of the Jack Armstrong card model airplanes that I had so eagerly anticipated coming in the mail nearly three-quarters of a century ago (1944).However, these had been packaged by the handicapped kids at Lutz School in ...

Are you liberal or conservative?

About 20 years ago, when the syndicate that represents this column was preparing to pitch it to newspaper editors, I was called in for a meeting with the sales staff and somebody asked me this question:"Are you liberal or are you conservative?"I said, "Yes."I wasn't trying to be a wiseguy. OK, maybe a little. But I was also trying to convey my impatience with our bipolar political discourse, with the idea that I was required to pick a team. I was trying to preserve for myself the right to think a thing through and come to my own conclusion, regardless of ideological branding.But at the ...