Casinos are your best bet

Casinos are your best bet
EDITOR:
Gambling is gambling. Bingo festivals, card parties, horse races, the lottery. All of these activities are gambling.
If we are as holy in Ohio as some would say, all of this should not occur in this great state. As for me, as long as I'm able to put one foot before the other, I will go to the casinos because all of the above are truly rip-offs.
MARY G. WILLIAMS
Youngstown
Parents participated in school start decision
EDITOR:
The 2001-2002 calendar for the schools of the Diocese of Youngstown has caused some dissatisfaction in areas of the six-county system. Concern has been mostly centered in Mahoning County and a group of parents organized a campaign to have the calendar changed. In response to those parental concerns the Office of Catholic Schools issued an explanation of the reasons for the earlier start date and the consultation process which preceded its adoption.
The consultation process which led to this present calendar began in Dec. 2000, and included principals, pastors and parents (through the Superintendent's Advisory Council, which met regularly). During the process, three or four drafts were presented, discussed, changed and finally adopted. It happened that the adopted draft called for a start date of Aug. 21, an earlier date than the previous year, but one which was within the same two weeks prior to Labor Day as in previous years. Eighty percent of diocesan schools had begun the 2000-2001 term in those same two weeks.
All of the concerns expressed to the Office of Catholic Schools, mainly from Mahoning County, have been considered. Parents have been encouraged to keep in touch with their local Catholic school principal so that their suggestions can be taken for the 2002-2003 calendar.
One rumor which has arisen, one which we want to put to rest with this letter, concerns future plans of the Office of Catholic Schools. A small group of parents has insisted that the Office of Catholic Schools has some secret plan to begin school next year on Aug. 15 and Aug. 1 in 2003-2004. That is untrue. It is not planned, has never been planned and will not be planned. Those who would seek to stir emotions by this kind of falsehood need to hear this clearly.
The Office of Catholic Schools looks forward to working closely with our parish schools and high schools to achieve a 2002-2003 calendar which will meet both the needs of a high quality school system and its parent community.
WALLACE J. DUNNE
Youngstown
X The writer is interim superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
Off-the-record discussion can generate good ideas
EDITOR:
Where does it say that a person, businessman, politician, or what have you, cannot hold a meeting? A meeting to which only certain persons may be invited? I have been in "brain storming sessions," "focus groups" and other kinds of meetings that are not so structured as the aforementioned types. Those meetings, structured or not, are not meetings where comments are for publication. Why? Simply put, those meetings are where ideas, inane, worthless, intelligent or otherwise are put on the table for discussion. To have those comments printed would be intolerable.
Many worthwhile projects have been formulated in this manner. The least idea, however stupid it may sound in and of itself, can go on to produce a project with results far from the idea as first proposed, and in many cases may be beneficial for the community. It is only in a free give-and-take discussion where this can happen. Who would speak freely, if anything that is said can end up in print or some other arena where it can be distorted or otherwise misused?
LEONARD J. SAINATO
Warren