Without tax increase, Youngstown is doomed

EDITOR:
A lot of people are assuming that passage of Youngstown 0.5 percent income tax will cause business to move out of Youngstown. What will happen to these businesses if the tax fails and more police officers and firefighters are laid off? Insurance costs will rise. And what happens when the fire department can't respond in time to save the business from burning down because the closest station is closed due to more layoffs? What happens when that business' alarm goes off and police can't respond because they're handling other, higher priority, calls? When the police are finally able to respond it may be too late to stop a perpetrator from & quot;cleaning out & quot; the business.
We've already had 11 police officers laid off, 10 took an early retirement buy-out, 2 were terminated, and others left before the buy-out was offered and were never replaced. Without this tax there WILL be more cuts in staffing and the police department will be unable to perform to the standards people have come to expect. People will have to wait hours or days for police to answer non-emergency calls. They will have to come to the police station to file reports instead of an officer coming to them because the officers on the road will be backed up with emergency calls.
We have at least one and sometimes two fire stations closed each day. If the tax doesn't pass, we will have at least 2 and sometimes 3 stations closed everyday. What happens when it takes the fire department 7 to 10 minutes to respond to a fire? What happens when there are 2 or more fires at once and no firefighters available to fight them?
And please, let's not forget about the safety of these people who are out there saving lives. Should their life be put in jeopardy when they show such a willingness to make YOUR city safe?
These are the questions people should be asking.
As a city resident, I don't want to pay the highest city income tax in the state. But it is much better than having the highest violent crime rate in the country.
DANIEL S. TICKERHOOF
Youngstown
Cancer patients county on congress to do its job
EDITOR:
This year, members of Congress may come home from work without finishing their job.
While many in Congress, like those who serve on the appropriations committee, are working to complete the budget process they are being met with opposition on many fronts. This means that many government programs, including cancer research and prevention, may not get the additional funding they need until next year.
A delay in passing the budget would mean a disruption in funding for research that cancer patients are dependent upon. Low-income women may be denied breast and cervical cancer screenings, the National Institutes of Health won't get the funding they need to sustain research on life-saving cancer treatments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention won't have adequate funding to continue to expand and improve awareness and prevention programs.
Why is this so important to those of us in the Mahoning Valley? I, myself, am a three-year ovarian cancer survivor. I was diagnosed at 17 as my disease had fairly progressed. I am now trying to continue to live a normal college life while attending YSU full time. But my cancer continues to affect my life. While others my age may be worrying about what bar or party to hit, I am very strategically planning my weekly chemo treatments around classes and exams (my treatments are in Cleveland). When deciding what to wear, I have to make sure nothing in my wardrobe rubs up against my sensitive skin to cause an uncomfortable breakout. Not to mention icing my hands and feet and avoiding carrying heavy books. Of course, along with chemo is hair loss, with each new drug I am forced to try, I pray as my beautiful hair starts to grow in, that I will still have it next week.
Then the ultimate: What if these researchers don't find that one drug that is going to cure my cancer, save my life? These are issues that a young woman just starting her adult life shouldn't have to face.
I am not the only one. There are thousands nationwide, all with their unique stories of battling this dreaded disease. In Ohio and across the United States, cancer remains the No. 1 health concern.
Congress needs to know that cancer patients can't wait till next year; I can't wait until next year. Cancer patients are counting on Congress to finish its job by completing the doubling of the National Institutes of Health, funding the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at $199.9 million, budgeting $5.69 billion for the National Cancer Institute, and substantially increasing funding for the cancer awareness and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year!
KIMBERLY A. DeONOFRIO
Austintown
Tap water hits the spot
EDITOR:
As a taxpayer I am concerned about the report that the Trumbull County Commissioners have approved a contract for $23,000 to rent and stock 50 water coolers for the county employees in the Administration Building, Wean Building, Courthouse, Child Support Enforcement Agency and other county buildings.
I'm sure county officials and employees can exist on the water fountains, pop machines and coffee makers and whatever beverage they supply on their own.
City water meets all local and state specifications for quality and purity, so why spend this a mount of money for so-called spring water.
I'm quite sure when these county workers go home they drink the same eater that we taxpayers do.
The politicians never seem to have enough money to run the system, then they pull stunts such as this, plus al the other purchasing scams that are now being exposed in Trumbull County.
JIM BERTOLINI
Warren