More than she bargained for

More than she bargained for

My wife, Jenny, and daugh- ter, Jaelyn, went to Target to purchase a game for a Nintendo DSS. The price of the game was $19.99. Jaelyn had saved $25 and handed the cashier a $20 bill. The cashier told Jae that the total price was $21.34.

Jae pointed out that the price on the game was 19.99, to which my wife explained to Jae that the difference was due to tax that is charged. My daughter’s response was priceless, she said, “Mom, I don’t want to buy any tax!”

When Jen told me what happened I said, “I know how she feels.”

John Palmer, Canfield

Pre-existing conditions are killers

In our present system of health care one of the worst things that can happen to a person (or to the loved one of a person) is to have a pre-existing condition that prevents them from obtaining health insurance and, consequently, becoming economically vulnerable as well. Therefore, the sensible improvement to our system is to require insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

However, mandating that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions without mandating that all healthy citizens have health insurance coverage as well, allows a person to buy insurance after developing a health problem. This is wrong.

The moral view: all citizens should receive appropriate health care; healthy people cannot wait until a personal need for care arises before obtaining coverage for themselves.

What happened at the Supreme Court Thursday was both constitutionally appropriate and morally correct.

John Wendle, Youngstown

Time for Ohio to drop ‘liars’ form’ and truly legalize fireworks

This year Maine and Mich- igan both changed their state laws to allow citizens to use the full line of all consumer fireworks to celebrate the freedoms we cherish in America. In 2011, Kentucky changed its fireworks law to allow consumer fireworks, and Utah relaxed its laws to allow aerial repeaters.

Other states currently involved in efforts to change the types of consumer fireworks citizens will be permitted to use include West Virginia, Minnesota and Puerto Rico. What about Ohio?

This movement in the United States to relax the consumer fireworks laws is driven by the fact that the products are safer with related injuries being fewer, the economics of states losing revenue and taxes to neighboring states, and the overwhelming desire of Americans to celebrate the Independence Day holiday with fireworks as envisioned by John Adams. On July 3, 1776, the future U.S. president opined in a now famous letter to his wife Abigal that Independence Day “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade....bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of

See Letters, A15

Letters

Continued from A14

this continent to the other, from this dayforward forevermore.”

The legislators in Ohio have the ability to dispatch the liars’ form and take Ohioans out of the shadows of illegality and reshape the consumer fireworks laws in Ohio. This is overdue.

The time has come to reevaluate the anti-consumer fireworks laws in Ohio. Fireworks have never been safer and their use continues to increase each year. This alone provides a strong case for the regulated and sensible use of all consumer fireworks.

In 1994 the U.S. imported 117 million pounds of fireworks, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 12,500 fireworks related injuries. By 2010, our fireworks imports grew over 75 percent to 205.9 million pounds, but the number of fireworks-related injuries dropped by over 31 percent to 8,600.

It is indeed unfortunate that illegal explosives, unlicensed and unregulated devices seem to materialize each year in response to consumer demand. These illegal and dangerous devices can be virtually eliminated by making legal, regulated consumer fireworks available to the public.

Now is the time to write or e-mail your legislator and ask for support to legalize consumer fireworks in Ohio. With full legalization in Kentucky, Maine and Michigan, there are now only 4 states in the entire country that outlaw all types of consumer fireworks. Take Ohio out of the consumer fireworks dark ages and into the 21st century.

Please enjoy the Independence Day holiday with your family and celebrate safely.

Bill Weimer, Youngstown

The writer is vice president of B.J. Alan Co.