Do not advance to Y & amp;S railroad, do not pass go, do not collect $1 million

Do not advance to Y & amp;S railroad, do not pass go, do not collect $1 million
EDITOR:
It's time someone held the Columbiana Port Authority's feet to the fire and obtained some straight answers about the Youngstown & amp; Southern Railroad. This is tax money being spent, and some exact figures on revenue should be forthcoming. Let them name businesses and the number of carloads they expect in a year's time. If these are well run businesses they should have a very good estimate of next year's needs.
What is the yearly lease revenue? One figure stated was $93,000 and another $109,000. That's a lot of taxpayers' money over the 20 yearsand should be accounted for. Also it stated that the company leasing the line could terminate the lease for $108,800.
This is small sum to let a company walk away from an investment of millions of taxpayer money. They should have to put up a bond so that even if they default the public could recover some of their investment. These are newly formed companies so they would have very little in assets. They could declare bankruptcy, walk away from the deal without paying the termination fee and the public be damned.
Also let's get a firm dollar figure on fixing up the roadbed. To read the paper, they make it sound simple. Put in a few cross ties and throw some ballast under them and you can run a train over them. I haven't inspected much of the track but apparently more than anyone in authority has. Of the four culverts I have seen, one had been replaced a few years ago. The one 3/4 mile north of route 164 in North Lima is caving in. Two of them south of Metz Road in Columbiana County have been completely washed out and you can walk under the tracks at one and crawl under the other one. How many more there are in the 36 miles the track runs one can only guess.
If they are the original culverts most will have rotted out and will have to be replaced. Track maintenance equipment will not be able to pass over these until they have been replaced, delaying the repair of the track for a considerable period of time. From what I see it will take around 30,000 cross ties to bring the road up to where they can run trains on it safely. I have no idea of the cost involved but would guess around $1 million to $1.5 million to replace the ties and another one third of a million to replace culverts.
It's going to cost a lot more than the figures the authorities are talking about to get this railroad up and running and it will all come from the taxpayers. Let's set some people down and thrash this thing through to see if it can ever become profitable before we have this money sunk in the rail line with no way to recoup it.
ROBERT MENTZER
Petersburg
Cheney conveniently forgets oil-industry past
EDITOR:
& quot;While American companies have had to sit on the sidelines, oil companies from the rest of world have invested in Iran's energy sector, sometimes without operating at the same high standards. & quot;
That statement was made by the current vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney. The problem is that he is not being truthful. In 1995, former President Bill Clinton issued an order that prohibits & quot;new investments by U.S. persons, including commitment of funds or other assets. & quot; It also prohibits U.S. companies from performing services & quot;that would benefit the Iranian oil industry. & quot;
The penalties are a $500,000 fine and/or 10 years in jail for individuals. Prior to becoming vice president, Mr. Cheney had another job -- C.E.O. of Halliburton. Halliburton performed oil drilling services in the Persian Gulf. One is the Sirri field, and the other is the South Pars field.
The Sirri field started production in February 1999. It was a direct violation of federal law for the company he ran to be & quot;performing services & quot; that would benefit the Iranian oil industry.
I remember a brash young colonel -- Oliver North -- who came up with an Iranian deal for hostages.
THOMAS P. LAMB
Youngstown