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An inside look at what Mike Hovis is all about
DEAR EDITOR:
Let me tell you a little about who we are.
I grew up as a Teamster's daughter. Michael grew up as a steelworker's son.
Our parents worked hard just to make ends meet. We weren't handed anything.
We struggled.
We did without.
We learned not to ask for what wasn't ours.
We learned that if you wanted something, you worked for it.
So please ... don't judge us without knowing our story.
We know what it's like to start at the bottom. We know what it means to worry about paying bills, to sacrifice, and to thank God every day for family, friends and the people who stand beside you.
Too many people make assumptions about our lives without ever taking the time to know us. If you asked around or looked into our past, you'd find two people who have spent their lives working hard, raising a family and serving their community.
I can tell you this with complete confidence: my husband has a heart for service. His intentions are genuine, and he has the knowledge, experience, and leadership to serve Trumbull County well.
I've watched him overcome every obstacle life has placed in front of him. He has never quit. He has never taken the easy road. He simply keeps moving forward.
When Michael first told me he was thinking about running for County Commissioner, I asked him, "Are they ready for someone like you?"
The truth is, I was scared.
Not because I doubted him -- but because I knew how cruel politics can be. I wasn't sure I could handle the personal attacks, the assumptions and the negativity from people who don't know the first thing about us.
Some days, I still struggle with it.
But Michael doesn't let bitterness define him.
He keeps showing up. He keeps listening. He keeps serving. He keeps believing that Trumbull County deserves honest leadership.
Whether the voters choose him or not is their decision to make.
But I already know the kind of man he is.
He's an honest, hardworking, compassionate husband, father, grandfather, veteran, retired police chief, and public servant. No campaign, no rumor and no social media comment can ever change that.
I will always stand beside him, because I know his heart.
And if the people of Trumbull County take the time to truly know him instead of judging him, I believe they'll see it too.
STEPHANIE HOVIS
Bazetta
Put criminals to work keeping Warren, Niles clean
DEAR EDITOR:
When are Warren and other nearby cities going to put all minor criminals and traffic violators on community service? While back visiting I was shocked to see how the parks, streets and vacant lots are left unattended.
With an above-average crime rate, it seems like there is plenty of free labor in Trumbull County. Major cities, including here in San Antonio, Texas -- utilize juvenile and adult violators daily to deal with upkeeping parks and other public areas.
Mayors, driving around Warren and Niles, why would you want to start a business and raise a family in filth?
To the mayors and judges -- do something positive to improve Trumbull County by sentencing offenders to community service. Residents deserve it.
THOMAS SILLITOE
Converse, Texas
We need to get ICE out of northeastern Ohio
DEAR EDITOR:
America is a land of immigrants. Most of us have ancestors that came from somewhere else, many of them fleeing violence and persecution. That's part of the strength and beauty of our country. At our best, we've recognized these truths and welcomed immigrants into our communities, where they've become our co-workers, neighbors, and friends.
But today our leaders fear-monger about immigrants, tell despicable lies about them, and pour billions of our tax dollars into a detention and deportation machine that hunts them down, locks them up in brutal detention centers, and sends them away, often to unfamiliar or dangerous places. ICE is key to these horrors. Its poorly trained, heavily armed agents, recruited with racist ads, sweep through communities, especially targeting people of color, as they seek to fulfill their weekly quotas. They have killed and injured many people and wrongly detained and deported even more.
Youngstown-Warren airport has been a hub of ICE deportation flights. Many ICE detainees arrive on Transcor buses. Last year, Transcor, a subsidiary of CoreCivic, a private prison company with a prison in Youngstown, announced an expansion shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration to accommodate immigrant detentions. As believer in America as a land of promise for immigrants who is outraged by the current detention/deportation machine, I hope that Northeast Ohioans will realize what's happening and begin to protest.
STEVE GEHLERT
Cuyahoga Falls
Young folks: Elect those who will protect Earth
DEAR EDITOR:
In a few years politics won't be the No. 1 conversation. Anyone with intelligence knows the problem in our future is climate change. The USA used to be a leader in green energy. Now China is the best. The US is now one of the biggest polluters in the world.
How did this happen? During Trump's first term, he removed over 200 EPA regulations. In his second term, Trump made a deal with the fossil fuel industry to stop all green energy projects. In return, Trump got a billion dollars.
I'm old and will probably die before the Earth becomes unlivable. My message is for young voters. Elect candidates that will protect our planet.
LARRY KING
Warren
The jokes' landing all depends on the delivery
DEAR EDITOR:
A new arrival at the penitentiary on his first day of entertainment hour. Inmates gathered in a large auditorium for a banter event. One inmate gets on a stage and starts calling out number 5143, and all the inmates applaud.
The new inmate is puzzled. A second inmate gets up on the stage; he calls out 7361. Again, all the inmates applaud.
Finally, the new inmate inquired about this strange happening.
The odd times explain the situation. These men had been in there so long they knew all the jokes. To keep it brief, they just called out numbers to represent the jokes. The old-timer suggested the new inmate try it.
The new inmate got on the stage repeating the numbers that got the most applause.
"5143." The audience went silent.
Baffled, he asked the old-timer what had happened.
His response was, "Some people can tell them; some people can't."
Kamala Harris eyes a possible 2028 comeback. As a whole, the nation goes silent.
PAUL R. LAWSON
McDonald
Poland Village Assisted Living has gone overboard
DEAR EDITOR:
Families pay thousands of dollars for senior care, yet Poland Village Assisted Living is telling vulnerable residents they must now provide their own toilet paper, tissues and trash bags.
Many of these seniors have no local family and cannot physically shop for themselves. Cutting off basic hygiene essentials is a cruel way to boost profit margins.
Management needs to reverse this decision and put resident care over corporate greed.
RUTH LEES
Warren
When will you realize that Trump doesn't care?
DEAR EDITOR:
Trump "seems" to be all powerful now; he could almost fly around the world screaming, "I am the King of the World," BUT … tiny cracks are appearing in his crown. However, he still does whatever he wants, still doesn't seem to care what is happening in the U.S. or its citizens, and spends money, our money not his, on self-aggrandizements.
He has canceled the ACA for millions of Americans. He is cutting Medicare's drug subsidies despite telling us he could lower the cost of drugs "1400%!" (which is impossible). Other insurance companies have joined in by raising the cost to impossible levels. If I didn't know better I "could" think he wants Americans (unimportant ones) to die off. Yet many refuse to understand that he really simply does not care. Not a good move and is angering many.
He and Vance urge young parents to have more babies. Many are barely able to afford the family they have now. If he thought the $1,000 he would give new parents would help, he is seriously out of touch .. .which actually he is.
Rent, food, medicines, utilities, insurance, clothing … every facet of American lives' needs are coming up short. Add in poor pay at 1970 levels. Mortgages are in jeopardy. He really does not care.
With millions of people fired from federal positions, shutting of agencies, departments, top positions, and more, where is this extra cash? He has actually added several Trillions to the national debt. War is expensive. He just doesn't care.
He doesn't like "affordability." "Groceries" was an unfamiliar word to him.
I was under the impression that a president was elected as head of ALL states, not just red. That help would go to ALL states. Right now help is needed for massive fires in the state of Washington. Will he send help? Usually, well actually before Trump, when any disaster happens the president issues some words of condolence, and then assures that help is on the way. Not Trump, he says fires won't happen if you rake the leaves in the forest so they don't catch fire. Who thinks this? A compassionate man? I don't think so, but a man consumed with himself, and one who really doesn't care what happens to the people as long as he gets what he wants. It is all about him.
JEANNE McDERMOTT
Liberty