Thursday, July 31, 2003
Life isn't perfect, even in suburbs of Youngstown
EDITOR:
The letter in the July 24 edition of The Vindicator from the writer in Boardman is a perfect example of ignorance. The writer stated that the arena to be built in downtown Youngstown should be built in Boardman, calling Youngstown a "war zone" suburban residents would not want to come to. I see many suburban residents come to the city every day for at least eight hours to work, so it can't be too much of a war zone.
He also stated that the YMCA and hospitals have moved to the suburbs. I just rode by the downtown YMCA today, and it didn't look abandoned. Ask any of the people going in and out of it. And the hospitals moved from the city to the suburbs without a mention in The Vindicator? When did that happen? Where was I, on the moon?
The writer is either somehow connected to a plan to get the arena project for Boardman, or a fool who believes he lives in a "perfect world" in the suburbs, or both.
MARK DAVIS
Youngstown
In Tenet, Bush has foundhis fall guy for mistakes
EDITOR:
I see the Bush administration has found an official fall guy for its many blunders in the Iraq war, the principal blunder being starting the affair in the first place.
That person is CIA Director George Tenet. Many of the statements reported by the newspapers are quite contradictory, but never mind. Bush has found his fall guy.
I do not believe for one minute our troops needed to be there at all, especially without any other support. Eisenhower and Franklin Roosevelt would have handled the affair in such a manner that we would have had the backing of the other nations, including France, and the United Nations. Bush, whose sole military experience was defending Texas from Oklahoma, guaranteed we would have no support from the other nations the first time he flapped his lip.
Now we are stuck there with yet another big drain on the economy, another big boost to the deficit and no end in sight.
I still highly question Georgie's motive in the first place. The timing on October 2002 was just too coincidental. Also, is the administration saving North Korea for the 2004 election? Or, more probably, following up on that putative Crassus reincarnation, Rumsfeld's desire to invade Syria and/or Iran? Or, worse yet, was it for cheap glory? I suspect all, especially the cheap glory.
So go ahead and slap me, for I believe it is now very apparent that the path of the pacifist was by far the better course of action in the Iraq situation. As things now stand, the warpath has created a situation that will leave us worse off in the future. We had better get the research programs for synthetic fuels and for using those oil shale deposits under way now.
JEROME K. STEPHENS
Warren
Sitting through history class
EDITOR:
This past Sunday I attended "Idora Forever" at the Youngstown Playhouse. I thought I was going to see an entertaining show. Instead, I heard a history lesson about Idora Park. If I wanted a history lesson, I'd watch a video I bought about Idora a long time ago. There was no scene changes, not real dancing, such as dancing French Fries, or anything else entertaining I saw at the Powers Auditorium's "Remembering Idora" show.
When the history announcers talked about Friday night polka dancing at Idora Park, they gagged and stopped the polka song. "Spare us all," they said. As someone who has regularly attended polka dancing for years at Kuzman's, I found this offensive.
I counted 52 people in the audience. The Youngstown Playhouse seats about 500. I read in The Vindicator some time ago that the "Remembering Idora" show was originally offered to the Playhouse. Thousands of people saw that big show. It was fantastic and it showed the real Idora Park in scenery up on the stage.
Whoever is running the show at the Playhouse should put on "Remembering Idora" next year if they want the Playhouse to make some money.
JOHN BRUNICS
Boardman