Wall Street Journal quotes Boardman historian

YOUNGSTOWN — Richard Scarsella of Boardman, president of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, was quoted in a front-page Wall Street Journal article today about the amount of time it takes for the U.S. Postal Service to approve stamp subjects.

The McGuffey society has been trying for 50 years to get approval for a stamp to commemorate the 19th-century educator.

A new stamp must be recommended by the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to the postmaster general, who gives final approval.

In the article, Scarsella — a Youngstown school educator and member of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center board — called the advisory committee “not representative of America, unresponsive and undemocratic.”

The postal service claims deliberations about stamps are exempt from public records laws. The postal service rejected a records request in 1999 from the McGuffey society, which wanted to know how the committee decides on stamp subjects.