Case Ave. school has long history of board neglect

Bob O’Neil, Sharon



I wrote a letter that was printed in late 1996, regarding the condition of Case Avenue Elementary School. Isn’t it amazing that nothing has changed?

Our school board and administrators continue to sit back and let things deteriorate, rather than attacking, updating and repairing, eliminating problems as they appear, or before they appear. Again, I question the quality of maintenance supervision and employees that are hired.

Are they approaching similar maintenance problems in the new high school the same way, by neglecting them? Does the board budget for repairs or improvements on an annual basis? Do they have a long-range budget for needed large cost projects?

Do public sector businesses let their buildings and equipment deteriorate beyond repair? I don’t think so. Maintenance is an ongoing item needed to stay in business.

I saw a picture on a Youngstown TV news broadcast of carpeting coming off a wall. Why wasn’t it re-glued as soon as the problem started?

I question the need for carpeting on the walls. In the past I heard of a head-lice problem in the school. Could the carpeting be an excellent place for lice to live and spread?

Rather than panicking and spending millions on a new school, why don’t we prioritize the current building’s problems, taking on the most important first and then continue to attack the other problems in order of need? Costs could be spread over several years, rather than hitting the taxpayers with a high property tax increase.

Have the school board and the administrators forgotten that a large portion of the taxpayers are senior citizens living on fixed incomes and there are many people unemployed? Also, how many homes and properties sit empty? Where is the lost tax revenue going to come from?



Chinese pipe case shows harm of global trade

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage



Having read the story about the International Trade Commission coming down with the decision to proceed with the trade case investigation against oil country tubular products imported from China, I was elated. I worked at Wheatland Tube Co. for 38 years and there was always someone on top of issues pertaining to illegal dumping by foreign competitors. Early on it was Jim Feeney and at the present it’s Bill Kerins.

People are finally starting to wake up to the fact that communist China is trying to bury us. Almost every industry is being hurt by cheap Chinese products made by slave labor and I hope they bury the ITC with trade cases of their own.

Another problem is the oil companies. They buy this Chinese garbage pipe just so they can go from $45 billion in profits to $60 billion.

It’s not only oil production pipe; it’s all types of pipe — standard, conduit, sprinkler and fence post pipe. And it’s not only pipe.

Businesses that have to buy certain items to make a product should be buying from American manufacturers. We have to keep jobs in the U.S.A.

We can’t keep sending jobs to Mexico, China and elsewhere. If we continue down the path we are on, I pity this country and the next generation, for they are the ones who will suffer the most.

People should sign when someone is passing around a petition or asking for support to try and save the Shenango Valley and its job base. People should do what they can, write to U.S. Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper and Jason Altmire and Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey Jr., telling them to stand up and fight against Chinese imports of any kind.



Animal activists take aim at U.S. agriculture

Speed McCullough, Jefferson Township



I am disappointed that no one has been interested in the outcome of the passage of Proposition 2 in California in the last election. The Humane Society of the United States was a big contributor to the liberal agenda.

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi realized the impact this legislation would have on the animal agriculture industry, she didn’t express her views before the vote, or maybe didn’t care.

The HSUS operates under the premise of animal “welfare and protection.” It is not involved in the care of stray, abandoned or abused animals.

In a speech at a midwestern political gathering its president said, “If I had my way there would never be another animal killed for food or other human use.”

Oh, there goes our ham and omelet and hot wings!

I doubt that could ever happen but a law such as Proposition 2 would add considerable expense to the cost of food. I think many hog and egg producers would quit rather than try to comply.

The uninformed masses are moved by emotion. “Humane Society? I’ll vote for it, sounds good.” Well it’s not good and it won’t be.

Readers should ask how it would affect them and their families.

This is really quite simple. Do they like to eat meat and dairy products? Do they believe animals should be used in the search for cures for cancer? Do they like to hunt or fish?

The Book of Genesis says God created animals, the birds in the air, the fish of the sea and man shall have dominion over them.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw a paid notice by some animal rightist in a hunting magazine: Attention sportsman, do not fish and kill animals for sport and food; go to the store and buy your meat!

The HSUS is in the process of organizing a campaign to shut down the animal industry in Ohio, a large agricultural state that is controlled by the big city vote in liberal Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron and Columbus.

That’s getting awfully close to home!