Slot machines and education are a winning combination

Sunday, August 20, 2006 Slot machines and education are a winning combination EDITOR: Like most college students in Ohio, I face the challenge of paying back an astronomical amount of student loans due to the rising cost of tuition in Ohio. Since I have been enrolled in college, I have seen a tuition hike nearly every semester. Ohio ranks 49 out of 50 states in college affordability and our young people are fleeing the state more and more every year. We need a solution to this problem-and it can not come from raising taxes. There is an initiative that will be on the ballot this November called Learn and Earn. It is a constitutional amendment that will establish a nearly $1 billion scholarship account for all students in Ohio schools by allowing the seven Ohio racetracks and two locations in downtown Cleveland to have slot machines. Thirty percent of the revenue from the slot machines will go into private accounts managed by the Ohio Board of Regents, secured in the name of each individual student. As each student completes a grade in Ohio's public or private schools, they will be awarded scholarship and grant dollars that can be used at any public or private university or college in Ohio. What does this mean for Ohio's young people? It means students like my nephew who is currently in the 2nd grade in East Liverpool will have an opportunity to go to college that might otherwise have been unaffordable due to the continuous rise in tuition. You might think, "That's what they said about the lottery." The lottery was sold to voters as the "fix" for the funding issues in Ohio's schools, but it was misappropriated by Ohio's politicians and used for pork barrel projects instead of education. Learn and Earn will be managed by the Ohio Board of Regents and the money cannot be earmarked or misappropriated by politicians due to the protections built into the amendment. When you vote this November, think about our children and support Learn and Earn. ANTHONY CALDWELL Youngstown Industrial museum is an underappreciated jewel EDITOR: As a recent visitor to Youngstown, I was not only impressed with your city's awakening public pride and progress, but I was overwhelmed by your classy, attractive and interesting Museum of Labor and Industry. We have an industrial museum here in Baltimore, but yours is 10 times better. It is too bad that the city did not have the foresight or money to save the "Jenny," apparently the last blast furnace still standing, for museum purposes. What a tourist attraction that would have been. On the other side, however, I was shocked to discover that not one single Youngstown metropolitan resident whom I spoke to had ever visited your marvelous museum, and all of them were extremely proud of your suburbs. But, it was the city that I admired; I found the suburbs boring and architecturally dead. THOMAS WARD Baltimore, Maryland Will you stay or run away? EDITOR: The good people of Youngstown are being terrorized by a large number of criminals. If anyone disputes my use of the word "large," please check out the number of people in the jail system and also those who are released back on the streets to commit bigger and better crimes. Older residents here are being victimized by these criminals. It isn't safe to go outside at night or even sometimes during the day. Large crowds gather and shoot randomly at whatever they feel like shooting at. People in the suburbs always ask this question: Why don't you leave if its so bad there? Here is my question to them and then maybe they will understand why we stay. What would happen if this same heavy duty criminal activity that we experience here in Youngstown were to suddenly begin happening in communities such as Boardman, Poland or, God forbid, Canfield? Would the residents of these suburbs be told that there just aren't enough police to control the problem, as we in Youngstown are told? Or would the army, navy and half the Marines be landing? If anyone has an answer, please contact the mayor and chief of police in Youngstown and give them the solution to this crime problem. If there isn't an answer to that question, then my warning to the suburbs is this: You, too, will be terrorized some day. Will you stay and fight for your community? That's what we, the decent people of Youngstown are trying to do. CARLIE SHANDRY Youngstown Schools deserve a new look EDITOR: This is an appeal to everyone in Youngstown with elementary school age children. As summer ends and the time to register your children in school approaches, please consider your neighborhood school. If you haven't visited any of the new buildings that Youngstown city schools have to offer, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Please consider our schools before you go somewhere else. Our schools have state of the art technology, reading programs, guidance counselors, music, physical education, art curriculum, beautiful, clean rooms and a qualified, dedicated staff that cares about children. Our test scores are improving and the goal of all our staff is to help all children in the city schools succeed. We're building new schools and improving the existing ones. Our Capturing a Child's Heart program is working. I know because I work in one of our elementary buildings and I see it everyday. I see all the great things that our schools have to offer each child. BEVERLY PATORAY Youngstown