City is getting more than its share of use of county jail

City is getting more than its share of use of county jail
EDITOR:
This letter is in response to the article that appeared in your paper Sept. 10 in which Mayor George McKelvey was lamenting his perceived lack of prorated guest spots in the county lockup, based on population. If the mayor thinks the number of slots at the county lockup would be a cure to the rampant crime problem in the city, he is just whistling his way through the cemetery.
Let's check the figures. I obtained the U.S. figures for the year 2000 census, which listed Mahoning County at 251,660 and the city at 82,026. At that point in time, the city represented 33 percent of the total. If the current guest slots, as stated in the article, are 296, that gives the city 97 guest in the lockup. I am quite sure that if we checked the guest list we would find that the city is being afforded far more than its share. These statements are not meant to lay total blame for the ills of the area on the city. There is plenty of culpability to go around. Larry, Moe, and Curly, the three stooges at the county offices, have no solutions. The city school system is atrocious.
It does no take a rocket scientist or a Rhodes scholar in order to point to the underlying causes of the ongoing atrophying of the area. Simply put, it is the on-going decline of the family structure. In this regard there is a new neighborhood center on the South Side that is offering a beacon of light in a sea of nihilism, and which should be supported. The center is at the corner of Glenwood and Laclede avenues, across from the paragon of virtues known as the Foster Theater, which is frequented by every pervert in the area.
It is staffed by Christian men and women, who do not concern themselves with whether the city has its proper amount of guest spots at the county lockup. They are offering the love of Jesus Christ.
EDWARD DeROSE
Boardman
X The writer has been conducting a one-man sit-in outside Youngstown City Hall over a dispute regarding tire damage from a pothole.
Returning administratorto job raises liability issue
EDITOR:
I read with utter incredulity the headline in Monday's Local section on a story about Boardman Township, "Administrator returns after DUI conviction." Isn't it time for Mr. Seditz to go, and not come back? What do you have to do these days you lose your taxpayer paid job? Apparently quite a lot.
This is just another glaring example of the severe disconnect between the public sector and the private sector when it comes to jobs and politics. If I had been in an accident with a company vehicle, similar to what Mr. Seditz was involved in 2000, and there was even the slightest hint that alcohol was involved, I would have been fired so fast I wouldn't have known what hit me. If I had received a DUI at any time during employment in the private sector, I would be fired immediately.
While I am all for a second chance, Mr. Seditz has apparently used up more than his fair share over the years, especially recently. Who is protecting this guy and why? He is the township administrator, one would expect, even demand, that he be held to a higher standard considering the large amount of taxpayer compensation that position is paid. Some of the Boardman trustees discussed liability issues during this summer's parking ban push. By allowing Mr. Seditz back on the payroll, regardless of his "Bobby Knight" last-chance status, he has now become a potentially huge liability to the Boardman taxpayer. Can we afford to take that risk based on his past, and more recent, lapses in judgment? I don't think that we can afford to find that out.
SCOTT D. JOHNSON
Boardman
Why rebuild New Orleans only to be flooded again?
EDITOR:
In my opinion, I greatly disagree with the government's idea to rebuild New Orleans. With all the flooded and destroyed land in New Orleans and people saying that it'll be under water in about 50 years, the rebuilding of New Orleans would then become a waste of our time, our effort, and our tax dollars.
From what I have learned, experts keep saying that with the increase of global warming, the coast of New Orleans won't be a coast anymore, but it would be part of the Gulf of Mexico. If this would occur, all of the American tax dollars spent would really be put out to sea. Meaning that we would be wasting the money that could be used to help those people that once lived there, find a new location to restart a new life.
After Katrina, a second hurricane hit parts of Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and a tropical depression hit the lower part of California, showing that there are many things to worry about. I'm certain that Americans would be happier to put their tax dollars to better use in an area that probably won't be under water in 50 years.
JULIE SEVEK
Salineville
X This was one of a number of letters about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina written by students in the 10th grade English class of Adrienne Lesnett at Southern Local High School.
Hold Convocation Center job fairs in Youngstown
EDITOR:
Holding the Youngstown Convocation Center's job fair three miles outside of the city in Liberty Township systemically discriminates against unemployed city residents without transportation -- the very people such projects are claimed to help.
The Youngstown Convocation Center's job fair should be held at the Youngstown Convocation Center. If held at the center, unemployed city residents without transportation on the South Side could walk down South Avenue or Market Street to apply, West siders could walk down Mahoning, East siders could walk down 422 and unemployed city residents without transportation living on the North Side could walk down Wick or Fifth Avenue to apply for work. Once hired these very city residents could walk to work, just as many city residents walked to work in the mills in years gone by.
By holding the job fair outside of the city in a fancy hotel the most underprivileged are prevented from even applying for work much less getting the chance to prove themselves honest and reliable employees on the job. The non-Youngstown, suburban location of the job fair insures that for the most part only white people living outside of Youngstown with transportation will be the ones employed by the Youngstown Convocation Center. The haves get more and the have-nots get shut out in their own backyards.
The city of Youngstown is spending over 45 million dollars on its convocation center, surely the city's most needy residents should be given a chance to prove themselves in these part-time reasonably paying jobs. The city residents and city leaders, including the mayoral candidates, should demand that the job fair be moved into the city _ to the Youngstown Convocation Center and possibly to the city high schools.
STEPHEN RAY FLORA
Youngstown
Credit where credit is due
EDITOR:
The people supporting the 2010 projects must think the people of Youngstown are very gullible.
The new Convocation Center was not a 2010 project, yet the supporters had the nerve to erect a big sign at the center saying it was. The 2010 projects are a bureaucratic wish list.
THOMAS P. GILMARTIN Sr.
Youngstown