Secretary of state needs to decide if people matter

Secretary of state needsto decide if people matter
EDITOR:
Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's Citizens for Tax Repeal is ready to file 150,000 petition signatures in an effort to roll back Gov. Taft's tax increases. When State Sen. Jeff Jacobson questioned whether Blackwell should be leading this effort, Blackwell reportedly responded. "The reality is, 150,000 people signed this petition. They matter."
Maybe so, but apparently the 57,000 people who signed a petition to put the Libertarian Party on the 2004 ballot don't matter, at least to Blackwell. The secretary of state rejected that petition on the basis of two very minor technical differences on the petition forms.
The Libertarian Party of Ohio is now beginning a legal challenge to Blackwell's decision, but if the people really matter to the secretary, as he says, maybe he should reverse his decision.
So which is it, Mr. Blackwell? Do the people matter, or don't they? Or do they only matter when they're supporting you?
JOHN FOCKLER, JR.
Struthers
Austintown voters sentclear message to trustees
EDITOR:
The people of Austintown know that it is impossible to change the direction of the wind. They watched and listened to two years of leadership under their chosen trustees, then decided to adjust the sails. The vote they cast was not based on a pretty face, but it was an informed choice for a candidate who had convinced them her plan and approach was a better way.
The late, great Woody Hayes, of Ohio State football fame, would jump on his hat, yell, scream and even risk being ejected from the game just to take the focus off the error of an Ohio State player. By focusing the attention on himself, he attracted attention away from the issue at hand. More than once, this writer has seen that tactic employed at both zoning meetings and township meetings. He didn't like it and thought issues needed daylight not protection. Maybe others saw that as well.
Words can be used as weapons and hurt just as much as a body blow or sucker punch. The voters watched, waited and sometimes reacted to those remarks over a two-year period and must have decided they had enough. Maybe their trustee arrogantly thought his community liked that approach. Maybe he was wrong.
Since when is it a perceived political plus to work for nothing? Does working for nothing automatically make you a champion in the yes of the voters? Maybe the voter saw it differently. It was never made clear to this writer that this sudden burst of good will came from the goodness of the trustee's heart and his love for Austintown. It must be very difficult, if not sometimes impossible, for a trustee to avoid conflict of interest between his bosses, the owners of the Austintown Plaza, and his bosses, the people of Austintown. If he did it, it could not have been easy. Maybe the voters also had a concern.
Is it possible that it was not just one issue that took him down? Maybe two years of repeated ignorant remarks and arrogance caused his downfall. How do you deal with such leadership? Perhaps if you knew everything there was to know about a person, you would forgive them for whatever they do. But we can only react to what we are allowed to see and hear. Therefore, perhaps it is best to immediately forgive the remarks and attitude, but not forget. By voting a candidate out of office we, the voters, have delivered a silent but clear message. We don't like the way you worked for us. Forty four hundred voters can't be wrong.
Austintown is adjusting its sails. Let the wind blow where it may.
DAN FINK
Austintown
Wild dogs are becomingserious problem in park
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to Mr. Stanger's letter of Dec. 21. We live in the neighborhood just above the area where Mr. Stanger found the disemboweled cat that he described in such a grisly manner. If it is the cat who went missing the first week of December, let me just say in his owners' defense that he was a much indulged, big, feisty, sweet, much-loved cat. They did keep tabs on him; we all did, several neighbors and myself. He spend some of his time on my windowsill looking at my kitties looking back at him, some sitting under an oak tree watching the chipmunks, and some in the next-door neighbor's private woods separated from the park by a fence. He may have been declawed, but in the two years I knew Mowglie, I never saw him in the park or going into the park. He had no reason to explore that far.
During the week in question I did see stray dogs in my yard. I called the Mahoning County dog warden and reported the sighting. There is no doubt in my mind now that those vile, huge, hungry-looking beasts killed Mowglie in the yard and dragged him to the spot on the lower trail where Mr. Stanger discovered his remains.
Mill Creek Park is a wonderful asset to our community, but it can be a frightening place when unleashed dogs can roam the park freely and venture into quiet neighborhoods on the fringes of the park to feed on domestic pets.
Mr. Stanger raised two concerns in his letter. He expounded on declawed cats' being let outside, especially in the vicinity of Mill Creek Park, but he did not explore what is an even more urgent matter: the wild dogs of Mill Creek Park. We all know that they are there, and the problem is getting much worse. This time they got Mowglie. Next time it could be Mr. Stanger or the park director's grandchild.
KATE RAMUNNO-FINNEY
Youngstown
Too much emphasis isput on results of one test
EDITOR:
I am a student a Jackson Milton High School, and I think these Ohio graduation tests and proficiency tests are wrong for many reasons.
My first reason is that you can be an "A" student, do all your homework, study, take notes, and pass finals, and still not graduate. Because of this one huge test, other students and I may not graduate if we can't pass this test.
It is possible to have a spotless academic career and not get a good grade on this test. This test score will come back to haunt you when you try to get into college, which is wrong. College admittance committees don't look at any other individual tests taken, so why look at this one?
Some students freeze up on tests. When there is this much emphasis circulating around this one test, anyone could get tense or afraid. It is way too much pressure on anyone.
I think we should have to take these tests, and they should count toward college, but it shouldn't stop you from graduating or look bad on your academic record. All this test should do is give the teachers and their bosses an idea of what kind of teacher they are and what areas they need to improve on such as graphs, maps, circumference or multiplication. I think it should also reflect what kind of school they are running, but it shouldn't affect a student's permanent record.
In conclusion I do not feel one test should decide whether or not you receive a diploma.
RYAN S. VAUGHN
North Jackson