Hope you’re happy; I’m not

Hope you’re happy; I’m not

EDITOR:

I would like to convey my deepest appreciation to the person who hit my new car in the parking lot of Best Buy (in Boardman) at about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 28 — and promptly left without a trace.

Imagine my sheer joy upon emerging from a brief turn in the store, only to discover that my most recent (and considerable) capital investment had been so carefully bashed in by a thoughtful, considerate stranger.

My question for you, Mr. or Ms. Ram-and-Run is: Do you sleep soundly on your bed of shame each evening?

Hmmm. How far evolved are we, as a society, when the most basic component of decency is cast aside like so much spare change?

KATHLEEN A. SALAKA

Lowellville

The rest of the story

EDITOR:

Our community has lost one of our finest veterinarians, Dr. Joesph J. Mullarkey Jr.

He was great to my pets and the many pets of low income clients and strays that he helped.

He was not in the profession for the money. He truly cared about the animals.

My pets loved and trusted him. They knew he was their friend.

He loved his family and always talked about his son.

It had to be hard for him to deal with all the heartbreak that vets have to see each and every day, knowing they can’t save a family’s beloved pet. And knowing that so many animals don’t even have a family of their own.

Also, the bad publicity in the newspaper and on TV had to be more than he could handle. I don’t remember ever seeing all the good that Dr. Mullarkey did broadcast on the news or written about in the paper. Maybe negative sells more papers and gets more viewers. How sad for all of us.

ELAINE HOSKINS

Youngstown

One step closer to Rome

EDITOR:

In what is sure to be a rapidly escalating trend, the latest news in the sports and entertainment world is that CBS will be the first major television network to cover the sport known as MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts. Tentatively, there are plans to air four live, two-hour specials a year on select Saturday nights. In a time where violence is abundant in the world, in our news, in the streets, and on televisions across America, it is no wonder it is most prevalent in our homes. To allow this “sport” to be presented on a network available in every home in this country that owns a television is just one more grand gesture in the sweeping acceptance of violence in our culture.

There will be those MMA enthusiasts who will argue that the league commissioners and network executives who promote football games, boxing matches, American Gladiators, or any other legitimately violent contact sport on network television are just as culpable for their encouragement of violence in society. Those sports take proper steps to make their activity as safe as possible for their participants and go out of their way to protect the individual against serious injury and possible death.

Will it take an MMA fighter dying on live television to make us reflect on how close to Rome we’re venturing? While the ratings for such an event will soar and cheers for more blood will become deafening, whatever is left of the innocence and integrity of youth in America will plummet with access to this gladiatorial madness.

DEAN CHANCE

Austintown