Warren council members take oath of office

By Ed Runyan

WARREN — Eddie Colbert said running for a ward councilman seat on Warren’s Northwest Side gave him a good look at what is happening in America and in Warren: home foreclosures, problems paying for health-care, lost jobs.

“When you knock on doors, when you meet these people, you actually see it’s your neighbor,” Colbert, D-7th, said during the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday evening in city-council chambers for him and the 10 other council members elected in November.

“The finger can no longer be pointed at the city and wonder: Who are we going to get to fix this? We need to go back to the root. We need to go back to where it starts, and that’s in the home and in the neighborhoods,” he said.

“In combination with the council and the administration, we will see ourselves pull out of this,” he said, adding that it will be helpful to have the experience of former Councilman and Mayor Dan Sferra, now D-at large, and former council member John Brown, now D-3rd.

Colbert and fellow West Sider Cheryl Saffold, D-6th, are the two truly new council members sworn in Tuesday. Sferra and Brown return after many years away. Seven other council members were re-elected.

All expressed optimism that losses in revenue brought on by tough economic times won’t cripple the city or its morale.

“Every day I’m proud to be a Warrenite,” said Sferra, newly elected councilman. “There’s no better city on Earth. I was born here. I’m going to die here.”

Added Helen Rucker, D-at large, who was re-elected: “We’ve been suffering for a long time, so we know how to suffer, so we’ll get through this.”

Mayor Michael O’Brien said he believes the toughest part of the city’s recovery is in the past.

“We all could have left this town. We all could have gone to the supposed greener pastures of the suburbs, but we chose to stay here,” said Brown, who served four years on council, from 1986 to 1990.

“We’re not going to give up on this town. The administration, this council and the employees won’t give up on you, and we won’t let them do that,” Brown said, looking out at the packed house of well-wishers.

Saffold said her swearing-in to the position held formerly by James “Doc” Pugh was “one of the most exciting and memorable days of my life,” ranking up there with becoming a born-again Christian at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, earning her law degree at Texas Southern University in Houston and appearing in a Hollywood movie.

State Sen. Capri Cafaro of Hubbard, D-32nd, said she thinks positive things are on the city’s horizon, and she and other legislators are doing what they can to give the city new life — from the proposed downtown business incubator to a planned downtown main campus for Eastern Gateway Community College to the hiring of an economic development professional at the Western Reserve Port Authority.

At the end, the Rev. Rick L. Oaks of First United Methodist Church on North Park Avenue recalled the words of community leader Cliff Johnson, who died recently, giving advice that Johnson himself might have given if he were still alive.

“It’s always better to stand for what is right and not for who is right,” the Rev. Mr. Oaks said.