Employees: Watch what you say to seniors, and how you say it
Employees: Watch what you say to seniors, and how you say it
Businesses that employ ser- vice representatives, receptionists, and staffers in physician, phone, retail and customer service positions: please be advised that we seniors resent being treated as though we have early Alzheimer’s disease.
Many of the people working in these service positions are uninformed about the “baby boomer” population. I am here to make you aware that many boomers have multiple degrees, have worked in management positions and are still working at an high intellectual level. When we come into your customer service areas, in person or on the phone, we are being treated by your staff as though we are children. We are not.
Your staff needs to be made aware that the current group of seniors are still thinking at very high intellectual levels. Some of us are still working and/or attending university. There is no need to talk down to us, to denigrate us, nor to treat us like small children. You employers need to retrain your staff on how to deal with us or you may lose our business. Your competition may have superiorly trained customer service staff.
Delores T. Womack, Youngstown
Watch out for rising gas prices
Are you as outraged about this on-going subject as I am? It was reported on ABC World News Jan.16 that gasoline prices are due to soar in the very near future for the following three reasons:
First, fear that Iran might blockade the Strait of Hormuz to oil laden ships. Speculators are controlling the rise of gasoline prices based on fear and not fact. If Iran were to blockade the strait, our Navy would take the necessary steps to remove the threat, but it would have to be timely, and they would depend on the commander in chief giving the order to remove the threat in an expeditious manner, and therein may lie the problem. If he drags his feet like he is doing with Iran’s nuclear program, then the speculators may have a case. When my ship was in the Cuban blockade of 1962, President Kennedy didn’t pull any punches to make Premier Khrushchev back down and remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba, as I’m sure President Reagan wouldn’t allow Iran to pull the stunts they’re pulling today.
The second reason given is because of what I call China’s gluttonous desire for more fuel oil. Why should we, the American consumer, suffer the lack of our oil, for a country that hates us? To me, our elected officials in Washington are way too lax in addressing this far reaching problem because they don’t feel our pain. Too many perks insulate them from the financial woes that the majority of Americans face. It is their abounding greed that hardens them from being unified on both sides of the aisle, to come together to save America from an impending disaster that they seem too blind to notice.
The third point seems to be a moot, compared to the previous two. American motorists are driving more, helping to drive up the cost of gasoline. Please, give this naive writer a break.
Robert Defelice, Poland
Beware of promises of easy money
I am writing to voice my con- cern over recent articles regarding the selling of mineral rights for village-owned property in the community of Poland. At this point, I am opposed to this action and don’t believe that the fracking process has been proven to be unequivocally safe to the surface water and/or aquifers in the areas where gas is being extracted.
I am a registered professional environmental engineer with some knowledge of the subsurface and drilling practices used and I don’t believe that gas extraction using horizontal fracking is without its risks to the environment. More information is coming out every day calling into question the negligent impact to the environment that drilling companies would lead us to believe. Moreover, there are other impacts to our community that need to be seriously considered before moving forward.
I grew up in southwestern Wyoming during the oil boom of the early 1980s. Many of the big oil companies came into our community promising unlimited wealth to the residents and businesses. Consequently, they pulled out a few years later to leave us with ruined roadways, damaged property, contaminated land and water, and a number of social issues we had not experienced before (e.g., increased violence, robberies, and assaults, many a result of workers brought in from other oil-producing states to fill jobs promised to the community). As a result, the residents were left with the mess to clean up. A number of long-standing families moved out of the community as they felt as if their way of life had been completely destroyed.
The leasing and drilling companies are promising great wealth to private and public landowners in our community and the Mahoning Valley. I sincerely think we need to carefully consider these proposals and wait for further studies to ensure protection of our environment and way of life. While it may be easy money now, there is no amount of wealth that can bring back our environment, health, or way of life should it be spoiled.
Laurie L. LaPlante, Poland
Think about your energy sources
Your story on the Beaver Township meeting to “dis” fossil fuels was extremely interesting. One lady talked about fracking in these terms: “ a dinosaur dragging itself across the country, sucking out fossil fuels, gasping for breath, in its last attempt to maintain an archaic way of thinking.” Very colorful.
My question is: How did she get home after the meeting? My guess is that it was in a car, a car that was burning “fossil fuels” — the very energy source she condemns in her statement. Is that a case of “compartmentalized thinking” or not.
The bottom line is that we are locked into fossils fuels for a long time to come- and there aren’t many cars out there using “wind” or “solar” (or hot air) or anything but “demon” gasoline or diesel, and that isn’t going to change for awhile. Facts are facts.
If she wanted to be a “purist” why didn’t she ride a bicycle home (or walk)?
Pete C. Morgan, Youngstown
Quakes are cause for concern
I am writing to express my con- cern regarding the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the state of Ohio. Most recently, the 4.0 earthquake located in Youngstown gives me cause for concern.
The United States Geological Society (USGS) located the earthquake’s epicenter within 100 yards of a deep well injection site. This site is the location where toxic fluids, from the fracking process, are injected about two miles below the earth’s surface. There are no naturally occurring fault lines located at these deep well injection sites, and therefore, no reasons why we should be having earthquakes located in this area. In fact, there has never been a recorded earthquake epicenter located in the Youngstown area before 2011.
This hasn’t been the first earthquake in our area either. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) there have been 11 earthquakes in Youngstown since March 17, 2011. Even U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, contacted the ODNR to express concerns over seismic activity in the Youngstown region.
The connection between deep injection well sites and this seismic activity is obvious. We must look into this process more in depth before we choose to make it our viable energy alternative.
Jennifer Jacobs, Warren