Volney league has a proud history, record of success

Volney league has a proud history, record of success
EDITOR:
Being a proud alumnus of the North Side Knights and the Volney Rogers Youth League, it made me sad to hear about the tragic activities that recently occurred at one of the little league games. While trying to prepare for my own game, I received a disturbing call that someone had been shooting at my daughter's game. Just another bad mark that is contributing to the decline of our youth's participation in athletics.
A few games last year, no referees showed up and the coaches had to ref the games themselves. There is a shortage of referees who are willing to put up with the verbal threats that are being directed toward them by coaches, parents, and fans. Some coaches last year even pulled their players off the field before half time because they were losing.
We as adults are setting a bad example for these young kids. Instead of learning the necessary skills to start their football careers, they are learning how to yell, curse, and quit when the game doesn't go their way. Is that what we really want our kids to be learning at such an impressionable age? We are dealing with 7- to 12-year-old kids. Youth leagues are set up to help develop a strong foundation of skills that they can use when they go to the next level. Besides learning about football or cheerleading, these kids also have the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging and numerous social skills that they can use the rest of their lives.
We can't let a few bad situations destroy the dreams of our youth. With the very needed support of parents, coaches and the community, the Volney Rogers league can once again become the place where hundreds of people can come see some great football on a Saturday afternoon and also see the future stars of the valley. Over the past 40 or so years of the league's existence, hundreds of our young kids went on to have very successful football careers. Few people recognize the talent that this league has produced in recent years.
Keiwan Radcliff (East Side Broncos -- Cincinnati Bengals)
Maurice Clarett (South Side Braves)
Mike Echols (North Side Knights -- four years in the NFL)
Anthony Floyd (North Side Knights -- Houston Texans)
Brad Smith (Sons of Thunder -- New York Jets)
Delbert Ferguson (Sons of Thunder -- University of Cincinnati)
Anthony Mitchell (Buckeye Elks Warriors -- Cincinnati Bengals)
Keilan Dykes (Rising Star Disciples -- University of West Virginia)
Steve Clinkscale (South Side Braves -- coach at Ashland College)
Anthony Smith (Sons of Thunder -- Pittsburgh Steelers)
The bottom line is that this league is for the kids; let's make sure it stays that way.
ANTHONY FLOYD
Youngstown
Poland (the village) makes itself the butt of new jokes
EDITOR:
Having grown up in the then-beautiful village of Poland and having been taught to appreciate its history, I am horrified by what has happened to it. I lived there from childhood to adulthood and spent many years coming and going as my parents aged and eventually passed away.
Over the years I have watched some new horror destroy the patina that made it so beautiful. Newcomers and out-of-towners who did not grow up there and apparently have no knowledge of the village's history -- it is readily found in many books -- have managed to insert ugly commercialism where once there was charm and beauty. They say they are "beautifying Poland" and are daily, ad nauseum, getting their photographs in the various media. The same faces, over and over.
Did none of them ever hear about -- or read about (perhaps they can't read) -- the founding fathers, Turhand Kirtland and Jonathon Fowler? Do they have any idea why it is called "Town One, Range One"? I guess they think the Polish generals whose grotesque statues grace the park actually were responsible for the village's beginnings.
The new park is the butt of jokes, such as if you can reach it without getting run down, once there you'll suffocate from the fumes. At least it is taking some of the heat away from the library, which is also joked about. Such as why in the world would anyone build it on the banks of a creek that previously flooded the old library and that continues to flood the new one despite concrete walls, etc, etc. The more blacktop, the more flooding.
Before all the so-called "beautification," there were trees and soil and grass to absorb the water. Even so, children of an earlier time enjoyed watching the creek rise during spring rains, perhaps to their very doorstep, before receding naturally.
After the death in 1984 of my father, Barnard "Pop" Steinfeld, the historic house in which he had lived for more than 50 years and in which I grew up was eventually swallowed up by the new library, another eyesore.
It has been years since I visited Poland. I do not intend to ever go there again. I cannot bear to see what further abominations have been committed in the name of progress.
Turhand Kirtland and Jonathon Fowler, who chose the name of Poland after the country from which the two Polish generals came, are spinning in their graves, but no one in the "newly beautiful" Poland gives a hoot. They probably never heard of them.
JANIE S. JENKINS
Boardman
Set the Ohio Turnpike free
EDITOR:
When the bonds were originally sold to build the Ohio Turnpike, it was to be an open highway after the bonds were paid off. However, the legislature decided to extend control and collect revenues from the road.
Somehow those operating the roadway took the control from the state and were no longer accountable to the taxpayers.
Over the years, due to mismanagement, big pensions, graft, corruption and make job programs by a few individuals, the Ohio Turnpike is in debt.
This was originally supposed to be an Ohio public road, and that is what it should be.
GEORGE R HOLKO Sr.
Warren