YSU Elex project | Tough times in Carroll County

Editor’s note: Youngstown State University journalism students in an advanced news reporting class traveled across the state in October to talk with people about the election. Their mission was to find out what issues matter and why. The work is published on vindy.com as part of partnership between the school and the newspaper.

By Leonard Glenn Crist

Youngstown State University

MALVERN — Like most parents, Sonny Mitchell wants a better life for his daughter than he has had.

Holding the young girl in his arms, Mitchell, 27, of Malvern in Carroll County said that after learning the hard way — through his own mistakes — he now realizes the importance of a good education. A demolitionist by trade, Mitchell described his life decisions with regret and said he hopes his daughter does not make the same mistakes he did.

Though she’s barely a toddler, Mitchell already has her path to adulthood mapped: she will attend public school, participate in extra-curricular activities, and then go to college where she will apply herself and succeed. He has some practical experience in this area.

“I helped my wife through college,” Mitchell said. His wife now works as a phlebotomist at an area hospital. “Without her getting a good job, I’d really be screwed.”

In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama called this “the American promise” — the idea that the hard work of one generation will allow succeeding ones to live better and follow their own dreams.

In Carroll County, where incomes have always been low compared to the national average, it is increasingly difficult to argue that times are better now than in the past.

Per capita income in Carroll County compared with the rest of the nation reached an all-time low in 2005, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data. That year, incomes were 31 percent lower here than nationally. While the average individual in the U.S. earned $34,471, the average Carroll County resident made $23,701.

Despite tough times, spirits remain high for residents like Mitchell.

“I’m definitely poor,” Mitchell said. “I’m rich in life, though.”

Mitchell spoke on a Saturday afternoon in early September while attending the Dancing on the Bridge street fair in Malvern.

Located just south of Canton in eastern Ohio, Malvern (population 1,218) has an old-fashioned, all-American feel to it, the kind of town that once resembled a gauzy Norman Rockwell painting but now feels more like the weather-beaten mid-west heartland songs of John Mellencamp.

Throughout the day, a modest but steady crowd of fair-going Jack and Dianes ate food from street vendors and sang little ditties for each other on a karaoke machine between watching country music bands and receiving pitches from local politicians.

The race for Carroll County commissioner was on full display at the fair, as both the Democratic incumbent and the Republican challenger manned booths, not 30 yards apart, for their respective political parties.

Tom Wheaton, the Democratic commissioner running for reelection, described the county of about 29,000 people as largely a “bedroom community” that has been hit hard by job losses.

Carroll County has no major highway going through it, Wheaton said, taking it off the radar of many. The county also suffers from limited broadband Internet access, making it difficult to attract the modern businesses that require such high-speed connectivity.

Many residents must commute for work to cities like Canton, New Philadelphia and Youngstown, he said. “With the price of gas,” Wheaton noted, “what does that do to their wages?”

His Republican competitor, Phil Pavick, a farmer and small businessman from Delroy, agreed the economy was a top issue for voters. But instead of radically transforming the rural landscape of Carroll County, Pavick believes the county should stick with what it’s good at, while constantly being on the look-out for innovative ideas.

“We need to understand our strengths and weaknesses and do the best working with what we’ve got,” Pavick writes on his campaign Web site. “Sometimes I get the feeling that Carroll County is a seven-foot tall guy who’s really good at basketball but sees his neighbors doing well as jockeys so he decides to get into horse racing. Let’s not make that mistake. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open for that next great idea.”

This outlook also translates to a core Republican value that Pavick subscribes to: low taxes.

Handing out McCain/Palin signs to passersby, fellow Republican Dennis Strickler, a vice chair for the county central committee, asserted, “No nation on earth has ever taxed itself into prosperity.”

Though Democrats have a slight edge in registered voters in Carroll County, President Bush came out on top by slim margins here in 2000 and 2004.

The county is certainly in play this year and, according to Wheaton, the Obama organization has representatives in Carrollton, the county seat, and Minerva, a northern village that straddles the line between Carroll and Stark counties.

The not-as-well-funded McCain campaign has no operatives on the ground here, Pavick said, however, former Sen. Mike DeWine visited the area to help get the ball rolling for the party’s grass roots efforts.

After Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, spoke at the Republican convention, the party headquarters saw an influx of volunteers, Pavick said.

Palin can appeal to independent voters, but also pleases the conservative base because she “walks the walk and talks the talk” on issues such as the second amendment and the right to life, Pavick said.

And, in a county that fell for Sen. Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, Palin might appeal to former Clinton voters, Strickler said.

“I think she can pull a fair number of Hillary backers just ‘cause she’s a woman. That factor can never be discounted,” Strickler said.

One voter who wasn’t impressed with Palin was Gary Lewis, 52, of Carrollton, who said there should be further investigation into the so-called “Troopergate” scandal, in which Palin was accused of improperly firing her Alaskan public security commissioner because he would not fire a state trooper who had been divorced from Palin’s sister, should be investigated further. The Alaskan state legislature is investigating the claim, which Palin has denied.

Lewis, a member of the Carroll County Amateur Radio Club, sat at a booth with other members of the club.

“We’ve got a good mix,” Lewis said. “We’ve got Republicans in our club. We got Democrats in our club. We even have some independents in our club.”

Despite the diverse political views, talking politics over the radio is a “no-no situation,” Lewis said. “You just don’t do that.”

He was more than happy to talk politics in person.

“Ohio might be close, but I think Obama is going to take Ohio,” Lewis, a self-described conservative Democrat, said. “People are fed up with the last eight years of [President Bush] lying to us. At least I’m fed up with it.”

Sonny Mitchell, the young father from Malvern, said also he plans to vote for Obama, but he doesn’t feel McCain is all that bad.

To better accomplish the change both candidates so often talk about, he suggested Democrats and Republicans “should all work together as a team to get something done.”

But, he added, “You can’t change stuff people have messed up for the last 16 years in four,” he said. “It would be nice if they tried, though.”

YouTube video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXtqOAbE4Ro