A church goes to the well

A church goes to the well

EDITOR:

Clink, clank, squeak, clink, clank, squeak, buzz, groan. A train yard? A bus depot? An industrial plant? No, that noise and the “wonderful” smell of diesel exhaust have filled my living room 24 hours a day for the last five days. It is all courtesy of Boardman Westminster Presbyterian Church’s need to drill for gas less than 100 feet from my home. The Ohio Division of Natural Resources tells me that breathing diesel exhaust is perfectly harmless, and that anyway, there is nothing I can do about it. Now, while they may enjoy carbon monoxide, any reasonable person would not, especially 24 hours a day.

Be warned, state law allows just about anyone to drill anywhere they want ignoring all local noise and pollution ordinances and without concern for your safety or health. It’s called “mandatory pooling” and it supersedes all else, so organize to stop it early or you too may not sleep for a week breathing Diesel exhaust, and who knows what else after that. Lucky for me that I am not asthmatic, at least not yet.

JEANNIE SENEDIAK

Boardman

Obama left listener confused

EDITOR:

After hearing the crowd’s reaction during Sen. Obama’s visit, I am very confused. When he criticized the tax rate on corporations and said he would raise it, he was wildly cheered. When he said he would impose a windfall profit tax on the oil industry, he was wildly cheered. When he said he would come to aid of the auto industry by asking what they needed and making sure the government provided it, he was wildly cheered. Gov. Stickland was greeted as a hero for the $86 million tax break to GM Lordstown and the more recent multi-million dollar state grant. So, why am I confused?

Simply because I wonder how the auto industry and some others, such as alternative energy and technology firms, have come to merit tax breaks and government subsidies, while other corporations which make a legitimate profit are vilified. I have to tell you that I own Exxon stock, personally and through mutual funds. I also own GM stock, personally and through mutual funds. And probably every union member with a pension plan and those with 401K investments probably do too.

I support the role of government in nurturing new technology with various tax credits and incentives. I support carefully intervening on behalf of struggling entities whose demise could cause serious economic hardship and strategic peril. But we as a free enterprise, capitalist society need to be very careful about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, those companies that are profitable due to their management, products and planning. Remember, every industry in this country has a social and economic impact that ripples through to all of us.

Before you jump on the pile that is beating up on some corporations, keep in mind that just like GM, they have employees, too. Profitability is what keeps our businesses and industries alive. If we tax them to the point where it is no longer feasible for investors to take a risk, or we overly favor one sector over another, we will kill the free enterprise, capitalist system that has made this nation great and brought us unprecedented prosperity, in spite of our current economic difficulties. I am not ready to accept Senator Obama’s rationale for his economic proposals. I have to wonder if it is fair.

NORBERT WAGNER

Youngstown