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Remember where we started 250 years ago
DEAR EDITOR:
After 250 years, what is your contribution?
Let me ask, how old are you? When is your next birthday? Ask yourself, "Looking back across all my birthdays, what have I accomplished?"
Our country has 250 birthdays to look back on. Wow ... 250 years!
How many books would be needed to list every single accomplishment made by our country? How many people have made up the total population of this special land since its very beginning?
Whatever number is the answer, each person who has ever lived or is living in our country has in some way contributed to its history ... good, bad, or indifferent. As is true in life, sometimes it's the bad experiences that enable the good to eventually come forth. Our country is proof of this.
The wars that have been fought, the rights that have been fought for, the disasters that have destroyed both natural and man-made structures only for those to be rebuilt while also bolstering the human connection in the sharing of sorrow and the Will to survive and overcome.
Let us hold dearly in each of our hearts and minds that bloodshed and blood sweat made this Country a lasting Country. Let each of us be proud to be a citizen knowing there will always be the good, bad, and indifferent, but each of us has the responsibility as a citizen to work and contribute for more of the good. This includes teaching every child the truth of our history. And let each of us be a role model in teaching our children to respect, honor and cherish our Homeland.
Many would rather not hear about the Christian history that led to our country's creation, but God guided our Forefathers. How many prayers have been cried out to God since our country's humble but powerful beginnings? Let's trust that the Christian foundation our country was built upon will be renewed and made stronger, deeper and never let go of as we enter our 251st year of being ... the United States of America.
DR. BERNADETTE A. KUTCHER, D.O.
Hermitage, Pa.
What were the Dems thinking?
DEAR EDITOR:
The Democratic Party used the "Me Too" movement. They used the word "Nazi" to describe President Trump. They used the phrase "toxic masculinity" against Republican men. Now, they embrace these words with a man named Graham Platner, who was the Democratic nominee running for the Senate. Bernie Sanders, who endorsed Platner, now has second thoughts. Didn't the Democratic Party vet this man before they endorsed him? Didn't they care about any woman being assaulted? Haven't they embraced socialism and communism?
If you vote Democrat, you are for the mutilation of young girls and boys before they reach puberty as they "transition" with puberty blockers and surgery. You know who else did experiments on children? The Nazis.
So which party is truly Nazi? They don't care about American citizens being murdered by illegals in this country in "sanctuary cities" and states; this should be abolished. Pramila Jayapal, a U.S. Representative, recently told an "Angel Mom" whose daughter was killed by an illegal in our country, "We have discussed this four times now and we have more important issues to discuss."
To all politicians, you may have been voted in to lead an office, but we who pay your salary should be able to fire you for not doing your job and upholding the laws on the books -- for we are your boss!
RUTH LILLEY
Niles
White supremacists are a stain on America
DEAR EDITOR:
I have a question for the 400 white supremacists who marched through Washington D.C., on July 4. What kind of a man needs to wear a mask, a hat and sunglasses and march onto a metro train and surround a young black girl sitting by herself?
The answer is -- a coward. I wonder where their bravado came from. What was this young girl supposed to do? Go home, pack and leave the country so only the superior white people could live here?
Menacing people of color the way you did was not only criminal, but shameful! You do know that God is watching and he can see exactly who you are -- a stain on America.
CAROL FRIEDMAN
Columbiana
The solution for the sad saga of SOBE
DEAR EDITOR:
This past week's drastic SOBE rate increases, recently approved by PUCO, will have SOBE's customers scrambling to find other heating sources or to move their operations out of downtown Youngstown.
City Council and Mayor McDowell appear to be fixated on saving SOBE Corp., when what they really need to save is SOBE's asset, the old Youngstown Thermal system.
Mentally distinguishing between those two entities is the key to solving this quandary, and saving downtown Youngstown from becoming a cold ghost town.
"By ordering the demolition of SOBE's three coal-fired boilers, SOBE management destroyed any possibility of using any other fuel source except the Enbridge Gas Co.
If it were profitable to burn Enbridge's natural gas to operate the old Youngstown Thermal system, SOBE would already be profitable, and there would be no crisis.
"If it isn't profitable for SOBE, then logically it would not be profitable for any other private-sector buyer that would either buy SOBE or just SOBE's old Youngstown Thermal System.
This old Youngstown Thermal System is apparently operating at a deficit and will need to be subsidized to continue operating.
That brings us to the owner / operator of last resort, the City of Youngstown, which would face a dilemma: either the city takes ownership, operates and subsidizes (as an economic development incentive) the old Youngstown Thermal System, or city leaders will be watching businesses abandon downtown Youngstown, leaving a cold ghost town (on their watch), which would be their shameful legacy.
Neither is a perfect scenario, but reality often makes us choose between bad versus worse options just to survive.
My recommendation is to do whatever must be done to keep downtown Youngstown warm, productive and vibrant.
Youngstown City Council acted wisely by authorizing the impressive Roetzal Law Firm to represent the City of Youngstown in this situation. The burning question is, "Exactly what is their strategy?"
Do they intend to squander irreplaceable time and opportunities, along with expensive lawyers' time, futilely studying whether SOBE Corp. can be saved from the harsh realities they caused by demolishing their coal-fired boilers? Or do they intend to learn enough about SOBE's personnel and operations with bankruptcy court subpoenas, document examinations and questioning to understand how to operate the old Youngstown Thermal system without any future involvement by SOBE corporate management?
Allowing the SOBE Corp. to die, while preserving the assets and operations of the old Youngstown Thermal system, owned and operated by the City of Youngstown, is the ONLY realistic option and needs to be done ASAP.
JAMES J. PIRKO
Youngstown
President Trump is leaving his mark
Dear Editor:
President Donald Trump wants to leave his mark on D.C. So far he has a cement pad where roses once grew. Two, too big flag poles to help him locate his loaner house before the additional security fences block the view. A helipad for faster golf course getaways without press questions. A hole where the east wing of the White House was. A $15 million algae pond -- dead ducks in season. Big construction curtains to hide his desecration of the front door of the people's house and the John F. Kennedy arts center. Plans for a gigantic, entry-less ballroom where he can glue up faux gold gewgaws he could not fit into the Oval Office. Big Brother-like banners of his sneering face on government offices including the former DOJ, now Trump & Blanche Law. Three-dimensional models of a triumphal arch celebrating his nonachievements while obstructing the view of memorials to our heroes. Masked ICE thugs wandering the streets killing people. G. Maxwell playing with puppies in her luxe prison suite while the Epstein files can't be found. Higher prices and lesser services everywhere. Hearty, derisive laughter at foreign embassies while foreign relations are managed by real estate developing friends and relatives. Our children in harm's way in yet another war if they don't starve here.
Each of these is ironically suitable honor for the soon-to-be legendary corruption of the current administration. All can be corrected if citizens, all citizens, VOTE.
Jim Cartwright
Canfield,