Ohio, Valley react to Paris bombing aftermath

Staff report

As people begin to realize the coordination and dimension of the Paris terrorist attack, Gov. John Kasich is joining other governors in calling for President Barack Obama to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States.

Mickael Sopel, the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Youngstown State University, is a native of a town about 30 minutes from Paris. His mother, stepfather and other relatives remain there.

“My mom and stepdad still work in Paris,” said Sopel, who’s been employed at YSU for four years. “My stepdad walks down the street where one of the restaurants ... attacks [was].”

Sopel, who’s has been in the United States for eight years, learned about the attacks from a text from his sister in Utah, telling him that his family was unhurt.

“It was a shock with all of the different locations at the same time,” he said.

One of the coordinated attacks wasn’t far from the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical newspaper, where last January, two men forced their way in and shot and killed 11 people and injured 11 others.

“I was shocked about how aggressive and how horrible it was – the dimension of the attack,” Sopel said.

The terrorists didn’t target any government or people with a specific belief, he said. The victims were just regular people, Sopel said.

He was in France this past summer, returning Sept. 12.

In the short term, Sopel believes the attacks will affect the French people’s way of life.

He called the attacks France’s 9/11.

“I can’t imagine being there and going to a restaurant and not thinking about it,” he said. “I would imagine people are going to be scared about it for a little while.”

In the long-term, though, he believes things will return to normal.

The people are united and he believes France will triumph over the terrorists, Sopel said.

“People are gathering in Paris even though they’re not supposed to,” Sopel said. “They want to show that they are not afraid and that they’re going to fight and not let them [terrorists] affect our way of life and tell us how to live.”

KASICH REQUEST

Kasich, himself a GOP candidate for president, is formally asking President Obama to discontinue the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States as a whole and in Ohio, following the terrorist attack in Paris and growing fears of comparable activity elsewhere.

“The governor doesn’t believe the [United States] should accept additional Syrian refugees because security and safety issues cannot be adequately addressed,” Jim Lynch, Kasich’s spokesman, said in a statement Monday. “The governor is writing to the president to ask him to stop and to ask him to stop resettling them in Ohio. We are also looking at what additional steps Ohio can take to stop resettlement of these refugees.”

The comments are in line with a number of other Republican governors nationally who moved Monday to block refugees from their states.

OTHER VIEWS

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, said, “Obviously not all refugees are terrorists. A majority of them are running from the same terrorists committing these acts. Our security needs to be our No. 1 focus so we tighten it up and don’t let anyone into the country who is suspicious. But to say we’re closing the border on everybody is unrealistic.”

State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, however, an Air Force Reserves pilot, said he agrees “with a moratorium on refugees to the homeland until we can accurately vet displaced Syrians and would like to see a ‘safe haven’ either inside Syria or a neighboring country until we can get this crisis to manageable levels. Also, I reject the Republican notion that we use a religious test before allowing refugees to the homeland because that is contrary to the foundations of religious tolerance that shape our nation.”

Rachel Petri, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, a Democrat from Cleveland, said, “Before entering the U.S., Syrian refugees — who are themselves fleeing terrorism — are subject to a thorough review process managed by federal law enforcement which utilizes the latest technology and information. This includes extensive biometric, intelligence, and law enforcement checks to address security concerns with any refugee applicant. Sen. Brown believes our security personnel can manage this process so that only those who are fleeing terrorism can find a new home in the United States.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, said he agrees with Kasich.

“As unanswered questions remain about the screening process used for Syrian refugees admitted into the U.S., it is time for the State Department, at a bare minimum, to halt bringing more refugees into the United States and Ohio,” he said. “If our government can’t properly certify that asylum seekers from Syria, or any country for that matter, don’t present a safety or security threat, then they shouldn’t be admitted into America. There is no doubt in my mind that President Obama needs a more comprehensive plan than to simply ‘contain ISIS.’”

U.S. Rob Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, said, “As a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I have been raising my deep concerns about taking Syrian refugees because of our government’s inability to properly check their backgrounds to know who they are and why they are coming.”

The senator also called on the Obama administration “to immediately halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees into the United States until there has been a thorough review of [U.S. Department of Homeland Security] and State Department vetting procedures to ensure that no terrorists or individuals with links to Islamist extremist groups make it into the United States, as they have in France.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, in his statement said, “While the Islamic State is brutal and dangerous, we cannot fear them. We must destroy them and help prevent the conditions that make such extreme and radical behavior seem reasonable to the people joining their ranks.

“I am disheartened by Gov. Kasich and other leaders who lack the courage needed to stand up to this grave threat and to stick to our values we hold dear as Americans all because they fear our enemy. In short, they have caved in to their fears.

“So many politicians talk about America as a shining city on a Hill, but unfortunately today they wallow in the valley of weakness and mediocrity.”

PRESIDENT’S VIEW

Friday’s attack in Paris left more than 120 people dead and several hundred others injured.

In comments afterward and during a speech Monday at an international summit in Turkey, Obama said the United States would continue its present efforts to counter Islamic terrorists but should not block refugees seeking assistance.

During the last fiscal year, more than 3,000 refugees resettled in Ohio, including 48 from Syria and 403 from Iraq, according to statistics compiled by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Most of those were living in Ohio’s largest urban counties – Lucas, Franklin and Cuyahoga.

On Saturday, Kasich called the “Islamic terrorist attack on Paris... an attack on us all” and “an act of war” that should prompt a cooperative international response.

“America should offer our French ally every assistance in tracking down and eliminating the perpetrators of this abomination,” he said, adding later, “... These horrific events in Paris must serve as a wake-up call telling us that America and its friends and allies must become more aggressive in taking on ISIS, because our very way of life is under serious threat.”

The governor is scheduled to offer a speech today, scheduled for noon before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., outlining his approach to national security.

VALOUREC STATEMENT

France-based Vallourec has felt the effects of the recent terror attacks in Paris.

Philippe Crouzet, chairman of the management board at Vallourec, on Monday issued the following statement on the company’s Facebook page:

“All employees of Vallourec express their emotion, their grief and solidarity towards those who have been affected in their flesh and in their heart for deadly attacks in Paris. These tragic and barbaric events that come after others, are a direct attack against France but especially against the universal values ‚ã‚ãof freedom and tolerance ... More than ever, the spirit of solidarity is our main weapon against adversity.”

Vallourec’s headquarters are in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris.

The company is the parent of Vallourec Star at 2669 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Youngstown. Workers there make steel pipe for the oil and gas industry.

Vallourec is a global tubular solutions company with more than 23,000 employees in 20 countries. The company serves energy the industry sectors.