Let me enjoy Thanksgiving before Christmas, please!

Let me enjoy Thanksgivingbefore Christmas, please!
EDITOR:
As I sit and look out my window this rainy afternoon, I notice something bright and glowing in my neighbor's window. It's a Christmas tree! What is going on around here? Whatever happened to Thanksgiving?
It seems everywhere I turn, it looks like we skipped November. Stores are already playing Christmas music. How can the employees stand it by the time Christmas finally rolls around? Shelves have been stocked for weeks with holiday paraphernalia. People actually have their lights up and turned on! Did we forget about that important holiday at the end of this month? You know, the one that helped shape our nation and our freedom? We are the only country to celebrate it, and we totally overlook it.
I guess no one cares about giving thanks this month. When we clear the Thanksgiving table and the guests have gone home, THEN we can focus on the next holiday. In the meantime, keep the orange and brown and yellow displayed, and put off putting up the red and green. It's Nov. 19, not Dec. 19!
I remember as a child waiting eagerly for Charlie Brown and other shows to come on in the middle of December. Now everyone from the Simpsons to late night talk shows have a "holiday special." There are so many planned, that of course they have to start airing the day after Halloween! And stores are advertising holiday sales as early as October.
JILL DeMAIN
Austintown
Problems at 46 and 82driven by bad motorists
EDITOR:
After all the hubbub during the summer concerning traffic and accidents, the congestion at state Routes 46 and 82 in Howland continues. The Ohio Department of Transportation got its act together, widening the road and instituting new traffic patterns at the intersections. Yet the motoring public continues to carry on with business as usual.
Northbound 46 at the 82 overpass has been widened, new blacktop put down, new traffic signals, new arrows painted on the surface to make two left turn lanes to 82 westbound. The ramp to 82 west from 46 north has been widened to two lanes. Yet the ignorant drivers continue to use the extreme left lane for the left turn lane and ignore the new center left turn lane. This causes traffic to back up as far as Sheetz's for westbound 82, while the new left turn lane remains empty.
Then, on the other side of the road from 82 eastbound to 46 south, the ODOT has installed posts in the dividing lane from the highway to southbound 46. The jerks continue to stop instead of using the one-third mile of paved roadway to merge.
I am beginning to wonder if the real cause of the congestion is not an inadequate highway system, but the loose nuts behind the wheel.
THADDEUS M. PRICE
Warren
If we want to see recovery,we need a change of mind
EDITOR:
Recently Bertram de Souza has written two very interesting articles dealing with the economic future of this Valley. The first was about the Miller report dealing with the regional airport. The second article was about the air base.
In both articles he cites the fact that we are reluctant to go along with the views of people who make us look at things about ourselves that we don't like. If we would listen to the message instead of wanting to kill the messenger we just might be better off, much better off than we are today.
What if the air base closes? As basic manufacturing continues its retreat from this area, what are we prepared to do? What is going to happen with Delphi?
The fact is that we have insisted on reacting to things after the fact. We missed the boom times of the Clinton years and as we seem to be emerging from the latest slowdown, we are in no better a position than we were four years ago to benefit from the next economic boom phase.
A good start would be to dust off the Miller report and get going on it. I have read it, and it is an economic plan that if done right would go a very, very long way in restoring some type of economic recovery to this area. If the Miller report were put into action, we might find ourselves able to recover from the base closing quicker than we imagined we could.
Just because we personally do not receive a benefit from a project does not mean that particular project has no merit. This way of thinking is known as scarcity mentality, and it is a destructive, backward way of thinking. This way of thinking dominates the airwaves and politics of this area. As a result of this thinking young, talented, educated people are leaving in droves for the communities that reflect abundance thinking.
Just wanting to create jobs is not enough. It is not a result oriented way of thinking about economic development. What type of employment is the best for the future of this area? What activities are we willing to engage in to secure this type of employment? What priorities need to be set for regional economic development? How much money are we willing to invest in infrastructure, education and promotion of this area? How flexible can we be when setbacks occur? (And they will.)
I truly wonder what is to become of an area that has so much potential and yet continues to be bitter and cynical about any advice that may come to it. I truly believe that with more articles like this, Mr. de Souza can begin the process of getting many to change their current paradigm of the world.
Until that happens, this area will be doomed to third-rate economic results and continued emigration of the young, talented individuals of the area.
JOSEPH NAPLES
Youngstown
Let's concentrate on movingYoungstown schools ahead
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to your editorial of Sunday, Nov. 16, on the hiring of Wendy Webb as Youngstown schools superintendent, titled, "Did the best get the job? No one will ever know."
You're right: No one will ever know because the decision was made. That was my point when I was interviewed after the board meeting. I will not get into a negative debate about what could have been.
The decision was not mine to make. I was elected to begin my term in January 2004. I stated my platform at the campaign forums and I am sticking to it. I will do what is best for the students of Youngstown, and that is moving forward, not back.
SHELLEY MURRAY
Youngstown
XThe writer is one of four newly elected members of the Youngstown Board of Education.