We let John Kerry skip town without getting his specifics

We let John Kerry skip townwithout getting his specifics
EDITOR:
Let's get something straight right now. John Kerry did not come to Youngstown because he truly cares about the area. He came here because this area's electorate has an abnormal draw to Democrats like flies to dung. He came simply to stir up the natives for votes. With a graduation rate hovering around 50 percent in the city, he'll find plenty here.
The only thing more pathetic than our voters is our elected officials. Most do not have enough sense to get a promise of SPECIFIC help for the area in return for an endorsement. They looked like school kids more interested in getting a photo-op with Kerry than the elected leaders they are supposed to be. Quick, name an accomplishment of Bob Hagan other than bashing Republicans (and getting a fat pension courtesy of taxpayers). Worthless officeholders like him are more interested in promoting their own partisan left-wing agenda and personal power base than they are helping the area. The louder an officeholder here bashes the GOP, the closer to zero that person has accomplished in office. Hagan is the loudest.
Some officeholders here have actually worked with Republicans (you know them, the ones who hold the White House, Senate, Congress, Statehouse and every statewide office in Ohio) and have gotten results for the area. Mayors Ungaro and McKelvey and a few other forward looking officeholders worked with Republicans, and through their efforts we have the Voinovich Government Center, the 711 connector, King Graves ramps, turnpike ramps and financial incentives to keep GM in Lordstown.
And what specifics did Kerry offer? None really. It wouldn't really matter if Kerry had offered any specific promises, because Democrats do not deliver to the Valley because they don't have to. Bill Clinton came to the Southern Park Mall in 1992 and PROMISED a Pentagon accounting center. He lied. He promised to help the manufacturing base. Instead he signed NAFTA and refused to impose steel tariffs (President Bush did though and saved the U.S. steel industry from extinction.)
MATT DITCHEY
Youngstown
If insurance carrier drives doctors from area, all lose
EDITOR:
Dr. Farid Naffah is the subject of my letter. To those of you that had the pleasure of his medical expertise will know what I mean, and those that have not, believe me when I say it is a great honor to meet this dedicated man in his field.
Many nights, all year long, when passing by his Avamar Center, next to the Avalon Inn, Dr. Naffah and his staff are still servicing his patients as late as 10 or 10:30 pm.
I was shocked to hear that Anthem Blue Cross & amp; Blue Shield will no longer be a carrier for Dr. Naffah. Anthem is the largest health insurance carrier in our area and provides coverage to all Delphi and GM employees. After June of this year, there will be no relation with Anthem. They have refused to offer Avamar Center for Endoscopy, Inc. a reasonable contract for the endoscopic procedures.
The center was approved by Medicare in January 2001 and was certified by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Centers in May 2001.
If we should lose Dr. Naffah, I'm sure others will not come tour area.
His credentials are great!
He is a graduate of Columbia University; he received his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, his internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic, his fellowship in gastroenterology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and was employed by the Cleveland Clinic for four years. I am sure no other physician will want to come to our area after seeing what Anthem is doing to this energetic young man.
ELAINE WALLACE
Vienna