Money for park would be better spent to fight crime

Money for park would be better spent to fight crime

As a taxpayer and CON- cerned citizen of Mahoning County, I and others have a big concern about the water situation in Mill Creek Park. A lot of questions need answered.

I think our senators should explain how they came up with the dollar amount to fix the water-contamination problem.

We were all told that this problem couldn’t be fixed with any amount of money and that it would take up to 30 years.

I think before asking and collecting any money, we all have the right to know how they got their figures.

E. coli is caused by feces and with all the geese, there was an over-the-normal amount. It’s evident that no one seems to know how to fix the problem. Some said no amount of money would fix it.

No one should donate a dime until it is proven that this money will fix the problem. Show everyone what the plans are and estimates for repairs.

With all the money issues in Mill Creek Park, maybe there should be a vote by the taxpayers to lower the wages of the board. It’s ridiculous the amount they get paid for how little they do. This should be addressed immediately considering the money needed to fix the water problem is needed now.

Why are our senators asking for more money when we are having a drug problem? That money could be used to open up a facility to save lives and lower crime. Our poverty level is bad. I think it’s time our senator gets his priorities straight.

Since there is no way or any amount of money that can fix the problem, be a real senator and address real problems.

What is the real purpose for asking for such a large amount of money if no amount can fix the problem? As taxpayers, we all need to start asking more questions about where our money is really going.

Joan DeApolito-Toth, Youngstown

Portman, Issa in cahoots to destroy postal service

Once again, Republi- cans, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., are backstabbing Americans by playing games with the U.S. Postal Service. The saddest part of the whole scheme is that most of the media ignore the issue and print only the pointed views of the Republicans.

Issa has been joined by his Johnny-come-lately partner, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. This scheme is designed to privatize the Postal Service as has been done in Europe. Numbers show the Europeans have been fatally flawed.

Meanwhile, Issa and Portman openly admit their proposed changes will “slow down” the mail and result in job losses. I haven’t heard or read anything about the new postmaster’s views on congressional action to screw up the Postal Service.

They “tax” the Postal Service with an annual health care pre-payment fee of $5.5 billion to build a pot of money to liquidate America’s social services and the Constitution through rotten decisions by Supreme Court justices like Antonin Scalia. His decisions, such as “Corporations Are People,” stink like a skunk.

Wake up America! While Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Tim Ryan work their butts off, both relentlessly and vigorously, to stymie Republican efforts to close down our Postal Service, it is time for both the public and the media to get involved.

John Zordich, Youngstown

Clean Power Plan will kill Columbiana County jobs

Gov. John Kasich did the right thing by writing a letter to President Obama opposing the administration’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon emissions.

The Clean Power Plan will raise energy bills for residents of Columbiana County and every other hard-working American family in the country. In addition, the Clean Power Plan will cost the jobs of hundreds, if not thousands, of blue-collar, middle-class coal miners in our region. Columbiana County and southeastern Ohio simply cannot afford the ramifications that surely will occur as a result of the Obama administration’s support of this plan.

Kasich, however, is standing up for us. He opposed the policies derived in Washington, D.C. He is fighting to make sure people here in the Mahoning Valley have the ability to work and will keep their hard-earned money in their pockets – not paying more in utility bills.

Hopefully Gov. Kasich and our other elected officials will also oppose the Stream Protection Rule, another overstep by the EPA in a long and winding road of oversteps whose real intention is to regulate the mining industry out of business – and all the jobs that go along with it.

Adam Booth, New Waterford

Don’t cry over pope, John; cry over plight of children

It was really some- thing to watch John Boehner standing next to the Pope crying like a baby. He was probably crying because the pope scolded him and his Tea Party buddies about not helping the poor and denying global warming.

Sometimes I get tears in my eyes when I watch the ad about the children at St. Jude Children’s Hospital and then I read about all of the new billionaires added to the list of the richest Americans.

Nothing wrong with making money but what you do with it is a different story. If all of the billionaires would give 4 or 5 billion dollars to St. Jude’s then it would bring us closer to finding a cure for cancer and save a lot of young lives.

Another tear jerker is the campaign to help the wounded warriors who gave their all to keep the U.S. safe. If you are a veteran of any war, there should be no out of pocket cost for anything. We have veterans on the street and living in homeless shelters. Everything that these brave men need should be paid for by our government and made readily available.

Instead of making billionaires richer with more tax cuts they should have to pay higher taxes.

So, John Boehner should be crying for the children and the veterans and hopefully he will work to get them the help that they need.

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage, Pa.