If trustees violated the law, punish them, not neighbors

If trustees violated the law, punish them, not neighbors

EDITOR:

Last Sunday’s editorial suggested that if Boardman residents don’t trust the trustees’ judgment, they might be inclined to keep their money and vote against a 2-mill levy for support services such as police and fire protection.

My suggestion is: if you don’t like the current trustees’ actions, vote them out of office. Who will be hurt by defeating the upcoming safety services levy? Not the trustees, they still have their day jobs. The residents and businesses of Boardman along with the nine firemen and 12 road department personnel out of work will suffer. Fire department response times have increased by a third in some areas of the township. That can be the difference between life and death or minor and major fire loss. The police department has 12 fewer men than in 2007 which will also affect their response time and could impact crime rates in our neighborhoods and business areas. We have an excellent road department. Our roads are plowed soon after a snow fall. Our roads are maintained well given the size of the road department and the large increase in material costs for repairing roads. Last winter, when I was driving early Sunday morning in Boardman after a Saturday night snowfall, the trucks were already plowing in front of churches at 8:00 in the morning. This is the kind of service we are getting. It is also the kind of service you don’t notice until it is gone. Unfortunately, in an attempt to keep the size of this levy down, the road department will still be smaller than Boardman needs.

The next election for trustee is in November of 2009. I am very supportive of governing boards being open so the citizens observe their government in action. With the very few exceptions listed in law, there is absolutely no excuse for trustees in Boardman or elsewhere, or legislators, or executives or any government official not being open with the people’s business. Deceit should not be tolerated by the electorate. Far too often, local trustees, state officials and the executive branch of our federal government have conducted business in secret. This contributes to citizen suspicion that their government is not being forthright and in some cases being unethical or worse. This does our democratic governance damage. If this levy was discussed in a closed session, the trustees should be ashamed and voters should elect new trustees in November of 2009, but we should not “shoot ourselves in the foot” to “punish” the trustees.

If a levy doesn’t pass this November, no additional money could be added to our township budget until 2010. Will Boardman still be “A Great Place to Call Home” or will our insurance rates be up, our home values down and will there be even more vacant homes for sale? We are all hurting from the economic downturn. Some of our neighbors are hurting significantly. There are elected officials who bear some responsibility for our economic difficulties but I don’t want my local services to deteriorate anymore.

TOM O’BRIEN

Boardman

GM’s gravy train isn’t getting the Valley anywhere

EDITOR:

They are perhaps one of the worst run companies in the world today. They continue to lose billions of dollars. Their stock price is at its lowest point in nearly 50 years and they have a market capitalization that is less than that of Avon Products (sorry ladies). And they just recently figured out the impact of $4 gas on their product mix.

Despite all of this, local and state governments continue to shower General Motors with taxpayer gifts including the huge tax credit awarded last week.

The UAW/GM partnership has done nothing but lose jobs since I came to this Valley in 1977. Packard (GM/IUE) has shrunk to ghost town status. It once had over 15,000 employees locally and what’s left? Bankruptcy. Lordstown had over 10,000. It’s not the fault of NAFTA, that’s for sure, because I can name at least 30 major employers with union affiliations that left this Valley prior to its passage in 1992.

Maybe its time to stop this lovefest with GM/UAW and recognize the true business heroes of this Valley. The ones that have managed to survive without special favors from government. The ones that make it work despite the 50,000 regulations the state of Ohio has thrown in their way. The ones that were smart enough to do the right thing when times got tough ... by competing, not complaining.

While few may be willing to admit it, my bet is that this area has lost more jobs because of GM/UAW than it has retained by keeping the gravy train flowing.

TIM RYAN

Newton Falls

Protect what we’ve got

EDITOR:

While Dominion contemplates raising our rates, lets discuss the consequences of them doing so.

If people can’t afford to heat their homes with gas, they will look for alternative ways to keep warm. We are going to have more house fires in communities that have fewer firefighters to fight them. Safety forces levies are passed and still firefighters are found to be expendable. Not only are communities going to be left vulnerable, so are the understaffed fire departments.

With predictions of a 75 percent increase in gas costs this winter, now is the time to fight for fire protection. We are an area of uncertainty, but we need to protect what we still have. We need to protect the people who are protecting us — our firefighters. City councils need to further examine their budgets and make public safety their top priority. Even one life lost to fire this winter will be too much.

LISA A. ROSILE

Campbell