Consumers should know where the food they buy is grown and processed

Consumers should know where the food they buy is grown and processed
EDITOR:
The citizens of the United States are fortunate to have available high-quality, nutritious and abundant food supplies at a very reasonable cost throughout the year. We spend 10.9 percent of our income on food, while France spends 14.8 percent and India spends 51.3 percent.
We know our food comes from "all over the world," and to help the consumer know exactly where their food originates, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), issued interim voluntary country-of-origin labeling guidelines for certain commodities on Oct. 8, 2002. Following a series of consumer comment periods regarding the labeling issue, the AMS will issue a final rule, which will become mandatory on Sept. 30, 2004.
The labeling program does not change the process or standards of animal and food inspection on the U.S. market. The Food Safety Inspection Service and animal health programs will continue to be administered by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The Mahoning County Farm Bureau supports the implementation of a certification process for a "Grown in the U.S.A." labeling program. Consumers deserve to be informed where their food comes from and American agriculture deserves to get credit for the quality food they produce.
Mahoning County consumers can locate fresh, locally grown products by checking out the Farmer's Market at www.mahfb.com.
THOMAS R. KOCH, president
Mahoning County Farm Bureau
It's time for people to care about what is going on
EDITOR:
We have just completed the combat phase of the Iraq war and President Bush has a 70 percent job approval rating. Why? As the troops return home his administration is cutting veterans benefits, while at the same time awarding billions in Iraqi reconstruction to Vice-President Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, and to Bechtel Corp., the former employer of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. Both were awarded these contracts without any competitive bidding. No one cares. Why?
We now have 6 percent unemployment, the highest in eight years.We have lost 500,000 jobs in the last three months, and are experiencing our third straight month of increased unemployment. This occurs, according to Merrill Lynch chief economist D. Rosenberg, only in recessions. By the way, in the last 25 years we've had three recessions, one under Reagan, one under Bush 1 and now under Bush 2. No one cares. Why? Under Bush we have gone from a budget surplus to budget deficits, and now he wants to cut taxes again. Sounds good and is good politics, but Alan Greenspan, who Bush is reappointing to head the Federal Reserve Board testified before Congress that the tax cut will cause the government to borrow greater sums of money, placing a strain on the money supply and thereby increasing interest rates for the average American. It will also increase costs for businesses and further restrain their ability to hire, causing another drain on the economy. No one cares. Why?
Waving the flag and supporting the troops verbally is fine, but they need real support in the form of good veterans benefits and real jobs that will support their families, as does the rest of the American work force. But no one cares. Why?
BRANDON MICHAELS
Boardman
Preserving Ohio's history comes at a small price
EDITOR:
Who are we? How do we know? What does that mean? Every individual contributes to our understanding of what it means to be Ohio. Without that meaning we cannot know who and what we are. Without that knowledge we cannot make any sense of Ohio. Today's bicentennial celebrations represent how just much Ohioans care about their heritage, who they are today, and what they want to become.
How ironic, then, just as the momentum of celebration has lead to a pride in the great state of Ohio and encouraged people to strive to make it better, that funding for basic programs is being slashed. The Ohio Historical Society, our cornerstone of what it means to be Ohio, had already suffered serious cuts in the millions and now the House version of the budget has cut almost another million. Such cuts will prove to be a catastrophe to thousands of school children and their parents, thousands of genealogists, thousands of general citizens, hundreds of lawyers, scholars, and government officials. In other words, hundreds of thousands of voters will see dozens of programs most of them state legislature mandated severely cut or eliminated all together.
The impact of these cuts goes beyond the service provided by the Ohio Historical Society. Hundreds of schools will lose their access to important resources. Thousands of students will find they cannot pass proficiency tests. Hundreds of professionals will find access to records very difficult or impossible. Dozens of museums, archives and historical sites will lose preservation and interpretive assistance. Hundreds of businesses from restaurants to filling stations to motels to craft shops will lose income as OHS's 61 historical sites throughout the state close or greatly reduce their hours.
Please do not allow this to happen. The Society will soon have a new director; why strap that person with an impossible situation? If the legislature cannot see to paying for what it mandates, then at the least provide the funds for The Ohio Historical Society to provide a shade more than minimum services. Ask your senator to either put the Society's allocation back to its 2001 allocation or put a 2 percent increase onto the FY 2004 Executive Budget.
DOUGLAS E. McCABE, president
Society of Ohio Archivists
Logan