Austintown residents should reject home rule

Austintown residents should reject home rule
EDITOR:
The good: Home rule is on the ballot this Nov. 5 for the residents of Austintown to decide what form of government we wish to live under. That's it folks. After reading the eight-page Austintown Township newsletter the politicians mailed out after imposing home rule, I can't find too many good things to say about home rule.
The bad, the ugly: Those not familiar with the history of how home rule was imposed on us by the trustees of Austintown, here's a little background. Three times the residents of Austintown voted not to live under home rule. So what happens, our local and state politicians, with the urging of special interest groups, go off to Columbus and get the rules changed giving the trustees the power to enact home rule, consequently making our voting wishes meaningless. I'm not a political activist, I would reluctantly have lived with home rule, had it been passed by the voters. But I will not stand idly by while politicians and their henchmen circumvent the basic principles of our democracy that every man and every woman's vote counts and that the will of the majority prevails.
My wife and I, a few months back, got involved in a petition drive to put home rule back before the voters this Nov. 5. Going primarily door to door, we talked to a little under 830 people. I was not surprised at the 805 signatures we obtained. I was surprised at the overwhelming anger and disgust many displayed. The issue was not just home rule, their disdain was directed at our political leaders who underhandedly circumvented their vote. They would like you to think it's all about closing the strip clubs and massage parlors but they can't with home rule or any other laws, it's unconstitutional. They just spent $22,000 of your money taking the two strip clubs to court. Did they not know other municipalities in the state failed in their lawsuits against other strip clubs?
Little by little our freedoms are being eroded by an unresponsive government that caters to the elitist of our communities, and the common people be damned. It's you the people, who hold the rights on how we want to be governed and who we want to be governed by. So this Nov. 5 let's get our there and let the politicians of Austintown know for the fourth time that the people will control their own lives, and not them.
JOHN MASCARELLA
Austintown
Foundation for success provided in Boardman
EDITOR:
I attended Boardman schools, starting with kindergarten at Market Street Elementary and graduating from BHS in 1985. After BHS, I attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a bachelor's degree in computer science, and went on to earn masters and doctorate degrees in computer science from Carnegie Mellon. I now work as an executive for a public software company.
I received a great education from Boardman schools. Throughout my years at Boardman, I noticed that the teachers were always willing to go the extra mile for their students. In 1981, BHS had one computer that was the size of a refrigerator (a DEC PDP-8) and one course on BASIC Programing. Mr. Patterson worked with a handful of kids with PCs to teach us Pascal and assembly language, and helped us understand how the computers worked. This led to my current career.
Some of my friends from school have returned to Boardman as teachers, and I see that they are just as dedicated as the teachers I had two decades ago.
In business, I have learned that good facilities and a talented and committed staff cost money. I also know that an excellent school system is essential to maintaining real estate values. So whether one has children in school or not, we all benefit from maintaining the excellence of Boardman schools.
CHRIS MAEDA
Salem, New Hampshire
X The writer is executive vice president and chief technology officer of KANA Software.