MAHONING COUNTY Average guy has an extraordinary goal

'Average Joe' is visiting Ohio's 88 counties to tout his candidacy for president of the United States.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
CANFIELD -- Joe Schriner calls himself an average guy.
But he has a more-than-average goal. The 48-year-old Bluffton, Ohio, man wants to be president of the United States.
Schriner, who ran for president in 2000 as a write-in candidate, is running for the nation's highest political office again, this time in the 2004 election.
Schriner is touring Ohio's 88 counties to promote his candidacy and to bring attention to other average citizens who are making a difference in their communities.
The six-month tour brought him to Mahoning County, the 66th county in Ohio he has visited in the past six months. Schriner already has visited Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
Schriner is traveling with his family -- his 32-year-old wife, Liz, and their two children, Sarah, 7, and Joe, 5, who are being home- schooled during the campaign.
The Schriners will finish touring Ohio in a few months. They'll visit the Midwest in 2003 and conduct a coast-to-coast bicycle tour in 2004.
Even though he faces an uphill battle, Schriner remains optimistic.
"Believe me when I say it, I don't want to sound delusional, but we think there's a possibility I can win," he said. "If the climate got just right with corporate scandal and outrage over soft money, who knows? Maybe we actually have a chance."
Was a journalist
Schriner, who calls himself "Average Joe," is a former newspaper reporter and columnist.
Schriner said he ran as a write-in candidate for president in 2000, and he does not know how many votes he received. He is hoping to get his name on the ballot in as many states as possible.
Schriner's position on crime? There should be less. There should be more community-oriented policing and citizen patrols, the military should aid police in times of peace, and there should be more creative prison rehabilitation.
Schriner also wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the federal income tax, wants the country to use "a whole lot less energy" with a dramatic shift to using wind and solar energy, opposes abortion and the death penalty, and wants to make one-third of school curriculum focus on community volunteer work.
While visiting in the state, Schriner also is speaking to people who are making a difference in their communities.
In Mahoning County
He met four of them in Mahoning County. Marie and Terry Martin of Canfield have participated for the past four years in the Children from Chernobyl program. The program provides care and relief to children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear explosion of 1986 by bringing them to the United States in the summer. Greg and Teresita Hartz of Austintown participate in the Ulster Project. That program has U.S. families take in Roman Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland in an effort to break down their differences.
"What we'll do is in the future, we'll have an opportunity to talk about these programs, and other people will say that they'd love to get involved or provide assistance," Schriner said. "It becomes a good vehicle to get the message out about good people and good programs."
skolnick@vindy.com