The larger community has no use for WRTA
The larger community has no use for WRTA
EDITOR:
I agree in part with the writer of a letter last Sunday who said the WRTA is a communitywide bus service. This is true if your community is Youngstown. Obviously, Youngstown is a community, it just is not the same community that is being asked to support WRTA, which is the entire county.
The people of Youngstown need to realize that they cannot demand that the entire county support all the privileges they would like to enjoy while passing on a large share of the expense to the rest of the county residents. We have already been “asked” to help support Mill Creek Park and now they would like us to help support WRTA. Why should the rural area residents of the county that would not receive one iota of assistance from these levies be given the burden of supporting them?
No levy should be allowed to be put on the ballot when the passage would raise the tax burden for some of the voters while in turn lowering the tax burden for others. The county commissioners need to realize that they were elected to act in the best interest of all the residents and not just the residents of the most heavily populated areas of the county. It seems to me we need to start looking for candidates who are willing to work for the good of all, since this is starting to look like a pattern.
Please go to the polls on March 4 and show the commissioners that rural residents are tired of carrying the burden for the areas receiving all the benefits. Vote no the WRTA issue.
BONNIE SPENCER
Lake Milton
It pays to know people
EDITOR:
Recently my son had the misfortune of having a young female driver pull out in front of him in Weathersfield Township. He struck her with enough force to cause considerable damage to his vehicle, including a snapped front axle. Thank God they were both not fatally injured, although my son sustained multiple injuries thanks to his airbag not deploying. The female exited her vehicle and made two statements that bother me (as told by my son and verified by subsequent events). 1) I don’t have any insurance and, 2) This happened to me before, but nothing will happen to me because “I know people.” In very low places, I presume — if not politically, then morally and ethically.
A lieutenant showed up on the scene. A towing company was called for my son’s car, but the officer elected not to obtain one for the uninsured vehicle. She was allowed to get back in her vehicle and proceed down the road to hit you or your loved one. The law is clear. One of the penalties is: Immediately lose driving privileges for a minimum of 90 days, along with license plates and vehicle suspension. Law abiding people sacrifice to make those insurance premiums. We do our part, why can’t a law enforcement officer do his? Yes she was ticketed, but what happens to her remains to be seen. After all, “she knows people”.
And here is the icing on the cake. If you are hit by an uninsured motorist, you have to come up with your deductible of $500 or whatever sum it happens to be to have your vehicle repaired. And, yes, you will be utilizing your own insurance to cover your medical bills.
KEN BEDNAR
Hubbard
Speeches vs. actions
EDITOR:
Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama at Lordstown by saying, “Speeches don’t put food on the table. Speeches don’t fill up your tank, or fill your prescription, or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night.” She also said, “You can’t just talk about special interests. You have to take them on.”
Let’s see what the record shows. As a young man, Barack Obama worked for three years as a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project on Chicago’s South Side. He was hired by a group of churches to work on the problems of over 5,000 people who lived in the¬†working class neighborhood next to a landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and shut down steel mills (just like the ones in Youngstown).
Obama showed humility and a strong work ethic according to residents interviewed last year by U.S. News and World Report. He made a difference in their lives by getting the city to fix potholes, provide summer jobs, and remove asbestos from apartments. He also got apartment managers to repair toilets, pipes, and ceilings. Obama was paid a salary of $10,000 a year for his full-time work during those three years.
At the same time that Obama was sitting down and working with residents in their modest kitchens in Altgeld Gardens, Hillary Clinton was sitting on the board of directors of Wal-Mart. The Associated Press reports she was paid $18,000 for each of the six years that she sat on the board which met an average of four days a year. She also received $1,500 for each meeting she attended plus a total of $100,000 worth of stock over time.
If you do the math she was paid about $6,000 a day (not counting the stock profits). Her hourly pay rate was about 150 times that of Obama’s as well as the average female Wal-Mart employee at the time. According to fellow board members, during these meetings Mrs. Clinton was silent about Wal-Mart’s tactics of union-busting and worker intimidation.
Senator Clinton’s right. Speeches don’t matter. Actions count. Whose actions have counted for more among working class Americans in your mind?
BILL ADAMS
Austintown
Buses change people’s lives
EDITOR:
I have friends whose main source of transportation is the WRTA and was happy to see the recent letter supporting public transportation. I worked a temporary position last year and was surprised to see how many of my co-workers also relied on the WRTA.
Those of us who have our own vehicle often forget about the people who are not as fortunate as we are. We support our church, our favorite organizations and probably more than the above, we have spending habits that could be considered frivolous. It would not hurt any of us to allocate a few of our tax dollars to a service that is necessary to many people in our community. Sometimes charity could be defined as providing people with the resources they need to become self sufficient or maintain their independence.
Not that this could be considered the same magnitude, but the day Katrina hit or on September 11, 2001, many people thought it was just another day. But in the course of a day thousands of lives were changed forever. Some day your circumstances may change and this service will not be there for you either. Please vote to support the WRTA.
NANCY DITZLER
Youngstown
Look to Clinton for help
EDITOR:
The Bush administration has taken no action to assist Northeast Ohio’s struggling economy. Our families and friends have been hit hard with job loss and downsizing that has squeezed out the middle class. It’s time we focus on our needs when we step into the voting booth and vote for Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton has a proven record of fighting for the middle class. She has and will stand by labor. Hillary Clinton’s solutions promote trade that has higher labor and environmental standards that will honor our values and put American workers first. Sen. Clinton has a plan for a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund that could help create “green collar” jobs in our Valley.
I have not forgotten our nation had a budget surplus when President Bush took office and we are now facing a deficit that has grown to $9 trillion.
SUSAN LONGACRE
Niles