ONE-0N-ONE | Jane E. Harris Writer wants to be remembered for making life better

Q. You're kind of a gadfly in Girard. Did you start out getting involved in a lot of activities?
A. Well, I started the column and writing and prodding a little bit rather than criticize, let's say. I ran into an old friend, and it bothered me that he lived in Girard all his life and couldn't say anything good about it. So, I started jotting down things.
I stopped at The Review office in 1974 when I was teaching at Mineral Ridge High School. I was told they'd run it but it would have to be anonymous.
I was asked if I wanted paid, and I said no. I said I'd just like to see something done with things that happen in town. I'm never on time. I hate deadlines. But my editors, though, have been kind to me over the years in that respect.
One day I was downtown, and the place was all dirty. I put in my column that I hoped the city had enough money in its coffers to get some kind of a sweeper and get the street cleaned and the sidewalks as well. The next day, there was somebody out cleaning the sidewalks.
I must say that I'm very grateful to people for putting up with my opinions. The people I criticized soon disappeared -- they were voted out.
Q. We in the newspapers sometimes forget how much power there is in the business. Do you agree?
A. Definitely. Sometimes you get in trouble. I wrote that there was a good place to eat down the hill. They raided the place the next week.
It was a front for some gambling going on. I've always been a supporter of downtown businesses, and I think we ought to take care of what we have. I tell people you have to know where you've been before you know where you're going.
Q. As you were growing up, when did you decide you wanted to be active rather than sitting back and watching things go by?
A. I had a very independent and supportive grandmother and mother. They read a lot, and we discussed a lot of things. They were always interested in politics.
My grandfather was an Englishman -- a Johnny Bull -- with the temper and whole works. If there was something wrong, he'd tell them.
One day they were going to cut down the poplar tree in front of his house. He became so irate that somebody would take a tree. He felt that was his tree, and he planted it.
Now, I have a fondness for trees. If they're going to cut a tree down in the city, they better talk to me first. I think a lot of this comes from parents and grandparents who were very proud of their heritage. They were proud to speak out on issues. And I have a granddaughter who is exactly the same way.
She has grown up, and I have too, with the idea that this is our home. This is our country. And if you don't take care if it, nobody else is going to. If anybody besmirches the United State of America, he is on my list for criticism.
Q. What are some of the areas where you think you have had an influence? You're involved in senior citizens; you're on the board of education.
A. In 1979, I was president of the board of education. We went into the auditorium. I was told that rather than an auditorium, the space would be filled with classrooms. I said over my dead body are we going to destroy this beautiful auditorium.
It was one of the few with a balcony. It was being used for study hall. It had the old wooden seats, most of which were broken. It was just a wreck.
There was a government program that if the city came up with projects, it would get the money. I called the schools superintendent and told him to go downtown right now and tell them we want some of that money.
City council agreed to give us half the money. We took the auditorium apart piece by piece. We didn't have all the money we needed to put in everything I wanted. I put it in the column and ended up with about $9,000.
I wanted upholstered seats and went back to the column and ended up with enough money for upholstered seats. It's still in beautiful condition.
Q. How long have you been on the school board?
A. This is my 17th year. I was voted off a couple [of] times. People campaigned, and I don't have the time to campaign. But they always voted me back on, though.
Whether I was on the board or not, I went to every meeting for 26 years, except for about a half-dozen in that time.
Q. There is a thought that teachers or educators shouldn't serve on school boards. They may represent the staff rather than the public. What are your thoughts?
A. I think that can happen. But the teacher can visualize those kids in a class. I can't tell 10 kids that I'm flunking them because they can't understand what I'm teaching them.
I'd tell them that this is what you have to do to graduate, and we'll consider if you actually care enough about graduation. I'd make them do a paper, do a project or community service.
There are some people who will never pass a proficiency test. If you test them until they're 100, they won't pass that test. Having taught kids who have different ways of learning, I realize that.
I think kids who don't pass the proficiency test should be able to go through graduation and come back in the summer and take extra classes.
Q. Would they have to pass the proficiency test to get a diploma?
A. Yes, they'd still have to do that.
Q. You look at officeholders and politicians. Are they concerned about the interest of the city, or are they more interested in themselves?
A. Well, we've had an amount of mischief when it comes to mayors and administrators. But I think most of them are concerned with doing a good job. They care about people.
I like [Mayor] Jim Melfi because he's working hard at it, and they have a good city council. If you don't care who gets the credit, you can get things done.
Q. Are there too many people in government generally who want the credit but don't want to do the work?
A. Definitely. I think these are one of the worst times in American history with ego interfering with everything that is done in government.
Q. Are you a Democrat, Republican or independent?
A. I vote according to the principles of a person. I like Republican principles more. I like the conservative attitude. Actually, I suppose I'm an independent. But I'm a registered Democrat in Trumbull County because all my friends are Democrats, and I want to vote for them.
Q. When they write your obituary, what would you want written -- your writing, working with senior citizens or historical society?
A. I'd say it's the writing. It's the influence you have with other people when you write. You can bring something into their lives. When people meet me in the store, they say my column just made their day.
Being able to touch somebody's mind, get them out of their depression, getting them to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do, writing about somebody who never gets any publicity. To think that somebody's life is better because of something you wrote. That's probably what I would want to be remembered for.
Q. Before that obituary is written, is there one thing you want to see done?
A. Yes. My husband served on the Girard/Liberty Memorial Park Board. He loved that park. I grew up in that park. My father worked for a while as a custodian.
One thing I want to see is an indoor swimming pool with a retractable roof, either in the park or next to a school. Somewhere every child in our town can learn to swim. Somewhere people can get the kinks and arthritis out of their system in a heated pool.
You can help people from the cradle to the grave. You can take a newborn and teach him to swim or an older person who can't do anything else and get them therapy in a pool. That should be the goal of the recreation department.
XTHE WRITER/: The interviewed was conducted by Tim Yovich, Vindicator Trumbull staff.