Sailor from Valley asks Americans for respect

Sailor from Valley asks Americans for respect
EDITOR:
I'm a sailor from Youngstown, stationed in Europe, who happens to be watching everything that is going on at home. Two things have hit me hard since September 11.
First is the amount of ignorance we are showing to innocent men and women of Arab descent/Muslim background. What are we thinking? It is not their fault that an extremist group did this horrible thing.
Please stop!
The second thing that is bothering me is the people marching around the cities wanting our country to not pursue the terrorist by force i.e. via attack.
How disrespectful to the victims. They have every right to have their killers brought to justice. Our country's leadership has done an excellent job in taking this one step at a time.
So with these two issues mentioned here is my final point. What am I fighting for? That is what I feel when I see these disheartening things on Armed Forces Television.
We are overseas fighting for what our president sees as right, but many of our people are acting like those who we are fighting against.
From a serviceman's perspective, we have people over here who are working 80 hours a week or more because of this, and certain fellow Americans have to show disrespect for other people and our country, which includes those who are now overseas risking their lives.
For those who are doing this I ask you to look around and see the people you are hurting, and to please think about the actions you take. Please.
DEREK CIAPALA
U.S. Navy
X The writer graduated from Boardman High School in 1997 and is currently stationed in Naples, Italy.
Future of Valley depends on regional cooperation
EDITOR:
I'd like to extend sincere thanks to ACTION for sponsoring the recent Tri-County Economic Development Summit, to Dr. David Sweet for hosting the event at YSU and to The Vindicator for your excellent and thorough coverage.
Sen. Orfield's scientific analysis clearly shows that our tri-county regional economy is in a drastic state of decay that effects virtually every community. In particular, "inner ring" suburbs like Howland, Boardman and Austintown are inheriting, at an alarming rate, problems normally associated with our older cities -- declining per capita incomes, depreciating property values in some areas and rapidly increasing social costs.
These trends will not magically reverse themselves. On the contrary, without a concerted redevelopment effort, we can expect further deterioration. Our developed land mass will continue expanding even as our population further declines; inner-ring suburbs will eventually endure all the cities' problems; and outer-ring suburbs will gradually inherit similar difficulties. As social costs and taxes necessarily increase, services will decline and the entire region will become even more unattractive to industry.
As Sen. Orfield points out, the only known solution is regional collaboration between and among all communities. In the entire United States, no region is thriving without regional cooperation and conversely, where cooperation exists, regions prosper. Our problems belong to our region as a whole and can only be effectively addressed with a regional effort.
Thanks also to the elected officials and community leaders from all three counties who took time to attend the summit. For those who were unable to attend, I strongly urge you to procure a copy of the published report and study it thoroughly. Nothing less than the future of the Mahoning Valley is at stake, and time is short.
JOHN B. REARDON
Mahoning County Treasurer
Youngstown