Conversation with chief continues

June 13, 2014

In a column two weeks ago (May 30), I left off the conversation with Tom Andrews, chief of Police in Cortland, talking about letting officers create their own special niche while also doing their regular day-to-day police work.Three specialties in the department include a detective, school resource officer and an accident specialist."Our school resource officer spends time at the schools and is known by the kids," Andrews says. "They trust him. He listens to what they have to say. He's also been instrumental in reaching out to them through social media which has helped a lot.""With ...

Democracy is no spectator sport

June 10, 2014

Modern Americans believe we can mass produce good citizens the way we mass produce automobiles, hot dogs and American flags (Taiwan).It's never going to happen. As Herman Hesse put it, ''Knowledge can be taught, but not wisdom.'' Wisdom is a treasure hunt in the hearts and minds of our youth. It is imperative we send them in the right direction.The afternoon before Memorial Day, while driving through the avenue of 444 flags in Hermitage, Pa., an epiphany hit me in the gut. ''Memorial Day is too passive to do justice for our veterans' sacrificial blood.We must transform Memorial Day into ...

A few loose ends to tie up

June 6, 2014

If you didn't happened to read my last column (or if you did and need a little bit of a refresher), here's what you need to know: I spent a whole column writing about how we need some good signs to welcome folks to our community.In my mind, it's important for us to put our best foot forward, and this is a simple way we can do that. On the very same day my column was published, a friend sent me a picture of a brand new sign welcoming residents and guests to Warren.So, we have a few ways to describe what happened: I might be able to tell the future; or, someone at the paper has a lot of ...

Conversation with Cortland chief

May 30, 2014

Life's what happens while we're making other plans, or so John Lennon once said. Tom Andrews, current chief of police in Cortland, just might agree.''My first years in college, I had an undecided major. I thought I'd go into environmental sciences or something close to that,'' he relates. ''Then I started to see that I liked being involved with people. I really thought I could get involved - it sounds hokey, but it's really true - and do some good.''I went to the (Police) Academy in 1984 and became a reserve officer, unpaid,'' said Andrews. ''I worked five years as a full-time officer ...

Epidemic starts with pain medicine

May 27, 2014

If the laws of this land are intended to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens, then certainly justice is not being served when it comes to opiate-based pain pills.According to readily available data from federal government agencies:l Heroin addiction has increased by more than 50% in the last decade.l 80 percent of heroin users started with legally prescribed opioid pain pills.l Big pharma began aggressive marketing of opioid pain pills in the 1990sl General physicians receive financial incentives for prescribing opioid pills.l More Americans die from opioid ...

Penguin Review: 50 years of YSU creativity

May 20, 2014

In 1964, Youngstown State University published the first edition of the Penguin Review to celebrate the creativity of students, especially in the language arts. This spring, the 50th edition of the Review has been published containing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, photography, and visual art. Dr. Tiffany Anderson is the adviser.This ''silver'' edition can be viewed in the traditional way by possessing a print version, but it can also be viewed electronically, by going to penguinreview.com and downloading the Adobe pdf version.I recently spoke with one of the co-editors, Rebecca Brown, an ...