Oh, great, another trade deal

Oh, great, another trade deal

President Obama will submit to Congress the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement any day. That’s just what we need another trade agreement that won’t work. We are still stuck with NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT to name a few. We are also mired in the WTO and bound by their ridiculous rules.

Haven’t we learned our lesson? Instead of adding trade agreements that don’t work, we should be working toward repealing NAFTA, which is the biggest cause of job losses in the U.S. Why no one hasn’t introduced legislation to at least amend NAFTA, although repeal would be better, is beyond me.

Our so called enemy Red China has shown us what happens when we open our markets to their millions of products that are dirt cheap because they are being made by slave labor used by American companies that have packed up and moved there, leaving thousands of Americans without jobs. Do they care? You tell me.

So, if this new agreement is ratified we will also lose more jobs because of the exodus of American companies to South Korea. President Obama promised to do something about NAFTA, but adding another so called free trade agreement isn’t the way to go.

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage, Pa.

Skating for a good cause

A very nice crowd was en- tertained by blazing speed, hard body checks, precise shooting, and fancy footwork at the fourth annual Guns ‘N’ Hoses hockey game at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown Feb. 26. There were displays of skill done by the S.W.A.T. team, and the Youngstown Police Department Bomb Squad.

All this was done to support the Local Heroes of the Youngstown Police Department and the Youngstown Fire Department. A portion of the ticket sales went to the Officer Michael Hartzell Memorial Scholarship Fund at Youngstown State University. This recent Covelli Centre event, coupled with the annual Late July Golf Outing done in Michael’s honor since 2003, has allowed the fund to award over 44 scholarships to children of area police officers. As parents of Officer Hartzell, and on behalf of students, we would like to express our deepest thanks to the Youngstown Phantoms and the Covelli Centre for their sponsorship, donations, and participation in this great community event.

Howard and Mary Kay Hartzell, Canfield