Three ways to fight Ohio's anti-smoking law

Three ways to fight Ohio's anti-smoking law
EDITOR:
Here's a suggestion for any YSU business students or anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit: Move right across the Pennsylvania border and open a bar. Market this bar to only disenfranchised smokers in Ohio. Start a business partnership with a local cab company. Make a killing.
Before moving to Youngstown, I lived in the Glass City of Toledo. A wonderful place to live and enjoy the night life, the only downside to living in Toledo was that it was still possible to smell the stench of Ann Arbor. And then, something else happened: the city passed a no smoking ordinance in 2002, similar to the one passed in November. And what happened?
Almost 15 local bars went out of business within six months. Why, you ask? Surely it was not the smoking ban! We have statistics saying that does not happen!
Well, as Charlie Weis said, & quot;Statistics are for losers. & quot; (He would know.) The statistics do not take into account border cities, such as Toledo and Youngstown. All those bars in Toledo closed down because the customers drove across the border to Michigan and smoked all they liked. What can we do about this, you say? We love our local bars. Keep our money in Youngstown, not Pennsylvania. All you have to do is call the Ohio Board of Health's Smoking Tattle Taler Hotline for People with Nothing Better to Do at (866) 559-6446 and nuke them with tales of devious smokers brazenly defying the law of the land.
Do not sneak around smoking, living your life in fear of fines. Use their hotline against them. Call 5, 10, 15 times a day. Surely they will not be able to keep up with all of the complaints, and the ban will become a paper tiger.
Or you could just quit smoking, like I did. Then you will not have to cry about it all the time. I am saving about 1,400 dollars a year and I feel terrific.
And let me tell you, fresh air is wonderful.
PAUL GROMEN
Niles
In a parking lot, a quarter a day keeps the dents away
EDITOR:
I have a suggestion for the stores in our area. Several days ago my wife was at a local grocery store. The wind blew an unattended shopping cart and it came rushing across the parking lot and crashed into my wife's front headlight. The whole assembly had to be replaced at a cost of over 100. Since my wife and I are both retired and living on a fixed income, this extra 100 was a hardship to us. This could have been prevented if unattended shopping carts were restrained.
I would like to suggest that stores institute a system similar to Aldi's in Austintown. At that store, all shopping carts are locked together. Shoppers are required to put a quarter into a slot to unlock a shopping cart. After shopping, shoppers return the cart to the cart corral and lock it to the others to retrieve their quarter. This encourages shoppers to return their shopping carts to a central location. This type of system eliminates carts being abandoned around the parking lot where they can cause damage to vehicles or injury to people.
FRANK WOLOSCHAK
Youngstown
Medicare's therapy caps should be cut off at the knees
EDITOR:
While I was undergoing rehabilitation from knee surgery, my physical therapist told me about a Medicare therapy cap and new exceptions process that went into effect this year. This therapy cap limits the amount of rehabilitation services Medicare will cover in a year to 1,740 for physical therapy and speech language pathology combined and a separate 1,740 for occupational therapy.
While my physical therapist can ask Medicare to make an exception to the cap, Congress only authorized exceptions through 2006. Without the exceptions process people who need more therapy have to pay out of pocket or travel to an outpatient hospital to see a physical therapist.
Congress can solve the problem once and for all and repeal the therapy caps. There is a bill in Congress to repeal these caps for good. Currently, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives and 42 members of the U.S. Senate are supporting this legislation, the Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act (HR916 & amp; S438).
ROBERTA PAZOL
Warren
Mooney fans tired of same old unfounded accusations
EDITOR:
Less than two hours after Cardinal Mooney, the high school football pride of the Mahoning Valley, won its 6th state title, I had to listen to this comment from a Valley resident: "I see the Valley All Star Recruits won another title." This type of statement is nothing new; the entire Mooney fan base has to hear these comments that come from certain bitter football fans that lack class and knowledge every season.
First of all, there are usually three reasons for a student athlete to attend a parochial school; because they've gone through the parochial grade schools and want to continue into high school, their parents went to that particular school, or that school excels at a particular sport that they happen to be good at and want the best advantage possible to succeed. This is apparent with Mooney as a high percentage of the roster comes from parochial grade schools, several of the players are 2nd generation students and the ones that aren't from the parochial system want to attend a school with a successful program.
Mooney not only has never been convicted of a recruiting violation, they have never been officially accused of one by the state. That can't be said for at least one of the public Valley schools. This is because, and listen closely, Mooney does not recruit. In fact, they have young football players kicking down their doors to get in with the hope of playing for their program. The rules are even stacked against parochial schools in Ohio. If a student attending a private school transfers to a public school, they can play right away. But if a student transfers from a public school to a private school, they have to sit out a year. For many years there have been successful public high school football programs in the state of Ohio that happen to be talent magnets; Warren Harding draws talent from the Trumbull area, Mentor and Glennville from the Cleveland area, Colerain and Princeton from the Cincinnati area, and Massillon and Canton from the central part of the state.
I would like to conclude by congratulating Jonathon Alder for an unprecedented season and the class their team, school, and fans displayed in the state championship game. Also, to the pride of the Valley, Cardinal Mooney, congratulations on a season that might just be the best ever.
MIKE IACOBUCCI
Boardman
Support your local stores; they were here first
EDITOR:
Big box stores like Wal-Mart are steamrolling their way into cities and towns throughout the country, pushing down wages and forcing small, local businesses to close because they can't compete with the mega-companies' predatory practices.
Buying from local businesses rather than big box stores has a number of benefits.
Local businesses produce more income, jobs, and tax receipts for local communities than big box stores do. Local businesses are more likely to utilize local ads, banks and other services. Local businesses donate more money to nonprofits and are more accountable to their local communities. Supporting local businesses preserves the economic diversity of our communities and the unique character of our neighborhoods.
Supporting local businesses is also good for the environment, because it cuts down on fuel consumption. Buying locally produced goods reduces the need to ship goods from thousands of miles away and also cuts down on the distances shoppers travel.
This holiday season, please support all the local businesses who were here in the valley long before Sam Walton started driving his big rigs up from Arkansas.
DENNIS S. SPISAK
Struthers
At least China loves us
EDITOR:
After the sacrifice of 3,000 soldiers and hundreds of billions of dollars so that we could advance democracy in that part of the world, we now hear that Iraq has revived negotiations with China for one of its oil fields. It's nice to know that we've made the nation safer for one of our competitors.
JOHN K. HODGSON
North Lima