Deputy showed compassion in relaying news of death

Deputy showed compassionin relaying news of death
EDITOR:
On Sunday, July 16, my wife of 29 years, Joanie Kovach, was fatally injured in a hiking accident in South Dakota's Badlands National Park.
The news of this event began with a very authoritative knock on my door at dusk. I greeted a professional and courteous deputy from the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department named Jeff Saluga. He politely requested entrance, and I obliged. I could tell by the look in his eyes that the delivery of such news was just as hard as its reception.
I was brought up by my parents to have a healthy respect for law enforcement, and I believe I have also conveyed that the same respect is expected from my four children. On that fateful day, I saw a side of law enforcement I wish on no one. The sincere courtesy, compassion, respect and professionalism displayed by Deputy Saluga was obviously gathered from extensive training on his part, but more importantly, in my opinion, was rooted in a solid upbringing of family values and decorum.
Too many times we see only the obvious signs of law enforcement, such as traffic delays, a speeding ticket or some more forceful action upon others as seen in the news.
I know that this is one event I will never forget and believe Deputy Saluga will not either. My only request is that God above watches over this fine young man and is always by his side, not only assisting him in his duties, but also those of his comrades in uniform.
MICHAEL J. KOVACH
Canfield
Governments have droppedthe ball on public transit
EDITOR:
I noted with interest the article about how gas prices are hurting younger drivers. Now, I am sure there will be those who will pontificate about what they should do to help themselves. One teen mentioned the possibility of using his bicycle, but complains that it wouldn't be cool. He's playing right into the hands of those pontificators.
I rode a bicycle to go to school 60 years ago, but it was not very practical during the winter. Besides, it was much safer then to ride on streets than it would be today, and there are no bicycle paths in the critical areas.
There are other factors. The price today is only somewhat above the equivalent price I would have paid 60 years ago, but I had alternatives available then that are absolutely unavailable to those living in this area today. I did not even own a car until I graduated from college in 1955, and my parents had only one car, which my father needed in his work as an engineer at Republic Steel.
For example, I lived in the Cleveland area and went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. When school started in September, I could take the train from the Union Terminal, and be in Middletown in five hours. At Middletown, a private bus company would have a bus waiting at the railroad station, which would take me to Oxford. Most of my belongings would be shipped by mail or express. When I wanted to go to Hamilton or Cincinnati, there was bus service from early morning to mid-evening.
At home, there was frequent bus and streetcar service I could use to go shopping, or go to my job. I was able to find summer work at various manufacturing plants that paid an unskilled laborer $1.35 to, sometimes, as much as $2 per hour. By my calculations the equivalent today would be in the range of $16 per hour.
I saved my gas by using public transportation, an option that is not available to local young people today. Besides, at that time, the jobs were concentrated in reasonably accessible areas.
Where college students are concerned, there is another factor. My tuition at Miami University was $90 per semester, which translates today into $700 to $900 per semester. Ohio state school tuition today is 400 to 500 percent higher than that. Not only that, in 1964, I was able to attend graduate school at Western Reserve University while supporting a family without going into debt! I used the bus and Cleveland's Rapid Transit a lot.
Our state and local governments have dropped the ball on everybody's foot where public transit is concerned. Foresight and governance has been sadly lacking in the last 60 years. Now reality has caught up with us, and all of us are stuck.
JEROME K. STEPHENS
Warren
America is weakened by new
military industrial complexEDITOR:
One of our great presidents and great war heroes, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a farewell address in Washington D.C., on Jan. 17, 1961, warned the American people and our national leaders of the unwarranted influence by the military industrial complex on our government, the American people, our freedoms, liberties, way of life and our democracy.
Some 45 years later, the prophetic words of President Eisenhower have become a reality regarding the military industrial complex and the manipulation of the American people and the U.S. Constitution.
I believe there are added components to the military industrial complex at work in other industries today, such as in education, health care, oil, immigration, housing that have effects politically, socially and economically. All across our great country, big business and unions wish to rob and profit off the American people and taxpayers.
Today the many industrial complexes that affect America have become a trillion-dollar big business and a hoax on the American people and taxpayers. We must work to change that now.
WILLIE JAMES RICHARDS
Youngstown
Fed up with Gitmo scandal?Then try Libertarian Party
EDITOR:
The continuing media coverage of the scandals involving mistreatment and abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo and U.S. prisons in Iraq are a great embarrassment to all Americans and to the current administration. There is also the further scandal of how reliable intelligence was ignored in order to fabricate justification for the invasion of Iraq. A tidal wave of Republicans will abandon their party and seek a far better alternative, which undoubtedly will be the fast growing Libertarian Party -- America's emerging political party that consistently adheres to the principles and virtues of the Founding Fathers.
As a combat veteran of World War II, I can testify that prisoners we took in Europe were treated humanely, and by doing so we could be confident that proper treatment was accorded American soldiers if they were captured. Thousands of Axis prisoners who were shipped to the U.S. can also verify that they were well treated.
The dictionary defines the abuse of defenseless prisoners as cowardly. Need we say more?
MILTON R. NORRIS
Chairman for planning
Mahoning Valley Libertarians
Canfield
Be cautious of lodge plan
EDITOR:
I was quite surprised about the reported developments in Trumbull County for a lodge at Mosquito State Park. Here's some advice from a former resident of the Shenango and Mahoning valleys: Be very wary.
You need to look into the situation here in Ashtabula County and our lodge at Geneva State Park. The lodge is owned by the county; in other words, the county taxpayers are responsible for the costs for 20 or more years.
PAUL STUMPFF
Geneva