Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To West Branch Local Schools fifth-grade teacher Abbie Millard for deservedly receiving the first Mahoning Valley Educator of the Year Award at the inaugural teachers recognition event last week at the Eastwood Event Centre in Niles. The event was organized by Josh MacMillan, a Hubbard art teacher. Millard accepted the word with humility: “I am just your average teacher doing what I can each day to educate students. I love what I do and want to show the students the passion that I have for my job.” Other special award winners also deserve an orchid. They include Ethan Gross of Newton Falls Exempted Village School District as “Young Educator of the Year” Leann Laure of Sebring Local Schools as “Golden Educator of the Year,” Kelli Komlanc of Hubbard Exempted Village Schools as “Early Educator of the Year” and Staci Raab of Ursuline High School as “Secondary Educator of the Year.”
ORCHID: To Austin Swiger and Cyle Barnes, the first two graduates of the specialty SCORE docket in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. SCORE stands for Second Chance Offender Re-entry, and its goal is to help people transition from incarceration back into society. The court offers comprehensive instruction and services so that former prisoners can avoid rearrest and re-incarceration. That goal is laudable indeed, given that five of six inmates released from state prison are rearrested within five years, according to Common Pleas Judge Anthony Donofrio, who thoughtfully launched and runs the program. Though it takes anywhere from two to five years to complete the intensive program’s many components, it will be time well spent if it leads participants to a new life on the straight and narrow.
ONION: To Steffen Baldwin for his insensitive and cruel deception of scores of animal lovers in the Mahoning Valley, elsewhere in Ohio and in California that ultimately led to the death of at least 36 dogs. Baldwin falsely portrayed himself as a professional dog trainer and nonprofit operator, with prospective TV deals from big-name studios. Baldwin also impersonated a police officer when it suited his needs. In reality, he selfishly pocketed the funds from duped pet owners and inflicted abuse and death on those dogs. Thanks to the exhaustive investigative work over many years of Campbell Patrolman Jim Conroy into the death of a dog from his hometown, Baldwin at last was exposed. The only somewhat happy ending to this story is that Baldwin recently was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his fraud and abuse, the longest incarceration term for animal cruelty in the history of Ohio.
ORCHID: To Youngstown CityScape for its success in converting the long shuttered Briel’s Flowers & Greenhouse on Youngstown’s West Side into a neighborhood resource garden center for CityScape and other nonprofits. The group, best known for its annual cleanup efforts downtown and in the gateways to downtown, worked assiduously on the project last year, and it is expected to be complete this year. As Sharon Letson, CityScape’s executive director, put it, “It’s helping to drive the revitalization of the Garden District and the Mahoning Avenue corridor.” Grateful residents can show their thanks to the group by volunteering 9 a.m. to noon May 31 downtown for the massive 28th annual Streetscape cleanup.
ONION: To those Ohio legislators who continue to work to thwart the will of state voters by tinkering with the legalized marijuana statutes approved by voters in November 2023. After the state Senate adopted new rules that alter revenue distribution, cannabis potency and other elements of the law last month, state House members have now responded with their own attempt to reinvent what a majority of voters wanted. State Rep. Brian Stewart this month introduced House Bill 160, which is slightly less intrusive than the Senate version but it still reduces local communities’ taxation share and it limits local collections to five years. Niles City Council formally adopted a resolution of opposition to the measure. Other local governments — with or without dispensaries within their boundaries — should do likewise in the name of fairness to the Ohio electorate.
ORCHID: To the kindergarten students in Sue Prozy’s class at Jackson-Milton Elementary School for concluding a thoughtful food and comfort item drive to show their appreciation for active-duty military serving overseas. The children collected and sorted a bounty of items including powdered drink mixes, protein bars, beef jerky, toothpaste, deodorants and more. They were promptly dispatched to the Navy Special Operations Boat Team 22 Navy SEAL. The SEALS sent heart-felt thank you notes to the children. Also deserving of great thanks is Prozy herself for her commitment over the past 20 years to instill valuable life lessons in generosity and support to the youngest of minds.
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Magistrate Dennis Sarisky of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for wisely granting a temporary restraining order last week that shuts down the Vibez Restaurant and Event Center on the South Side. The East Midlothian Boulevard club has seen far more than its fair share of rowdiness in recent years, including fights, reckless driving, public indecency and, most disturbingly, three homicides since late 2021, including one earlier this month. Residents of the 7th Ward should not have to live amid such a hotbed of crime. As such, we hope the temporary injunction soon becomes a permanent injunction for the wayward business.
ORCHID: To H. William Lawson, longtime executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, for his much deserved award last weekend as the honoree of the 15th annual David and Pat Sweet Grass Roots Gala at the Tyler History Center in downtown Youngstown. Letson received the Sweet Grass Roots Award, named after former Youngstown State University President David Sweet, from CityScape, sponsor of the ceremony. Since becoming executive director in 1991, Lawson has overseen substantial growth for the society and contributed to the downtown renaissance by opening the Tyler Center and its newly acquired property — the former IBM Building — for storage and other uses. Lawson’s commitment to strengthening the MVHS is only upstaged by his encyclopedic knowledge of the Valley’s rich and colorful past.
ONION: To the Youngstown Board of Control — Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Finance Director Kyle Miasek and Law Director Lori Shells Simmons — for spending a whopping $60,000 to pay for one expert witness to testify in its case against SOBE Thermal Energy and the Ohio EPA. Specifically, the board hired Ranajit (Ron) Sahu of Alhambra, California, consultant on environmental, chemical, engineering and energy matters, to testify before the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission in September. The city and many residents oppose SOBE’s plan to convert tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste into synthetic gas and the EPA’s permit for SOBE to do so. Of course, the city has every right to oppose the plan on environmental grounds, but we question how prudent it is to spend the average annual salary of an Ohio police officer on one witness’ testimony. Would it not have been more fiscally responsible to allow a Youngstown employee to bone up on Sahu’s and others’ findings on the disputed process for testimony at little or no cost to the city?
ORCHID: To Youngstown State University alumni George Young, co-founder of the management consulting firm Kalypso, and Alexa Sweeney Blackann, interim CEO of Lake to River economic development, for their pledges totaling $500,000 to the ongoing Kilcawley Centered on the Future campaign to renovate the university’s student center. Young donated $400,000 and Blackann, along with her husband Josh, donated $100,000. YSU President Bill Johnson, commenting on the latest in a series of six-figure gifts to the campaign, said the contributions ” will help sustain Kilcawley Center as a hub of innovation and collaboration, ensuring it remains a vibrant space for future generations of students to learn, grow and connect.”
ONION: To riders of the Western Reserve Transit Authority who thoughtlessly leave litter, debris and shopping carts at bus stops. The clutter became so annoying at the bus company’s major stop at the Walmart in Austintown that the WRTA removed that bus stop after complaints from a nearby store owner. Taking advantage of the free transit system does come with its fair share of responsibilities. One of the most important ones is to respect the bus shelters of the transit authority and the property of businesses in front of stops. Shame on those who fail to do so as their careless actions hurt the vast majority of responsible riders.
ORCHID: To Beverly Hosey, the city of Youngstown’s community planning agency director, and her staff for planning a special event downtown next month to highlight the importance of federal programs that help residents and businesses. The National Community Development Day will feature food trucks, live music, kids’ games and vendor booths. But the main event will be the presence of organizations and city departments, nonprofits and businesses that are involved in such vital federal programs as Community Development Block Grants and Home Investment Partnership Program. They will be on hand to explain the critical roles they play in improving neighborhoods, supporting local businesses and enhancing the quality of life for residents. At a time when draconian cuts in such programs are happening daily, this event will provide a needed show of support for these longstanding community assets.
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Lou Zona, executive director of the acclaimed Butler Institute of American Art,and other leaders there for their commitment to regain prestigious accreditation for the museum from the American Alliance of Museums. It lost that internationally recognized accreditation for the first time in 35 years recently largely because of a lack of storage space for its mammoth collection of artworks. To their credit, Zona and Liz Hicks, the Butler’s permanent collections manager, have begun work to create a vault room to accommodate 13,000-square feet of hanging storage space for paintings. They plan to have that work, which also will include renovations to other museum space, completed by this fall. Because AAM accreditation increases a museum’s credibility and value to funders, policy makers, insurers, community members and peers, we urge the Butler to proceed with all due speed to complete the renovations and regain its seal of approval from the AAM.
ORCHID: To Canfield resident Brad Kincade for rightly sounding the alarm on a chemical leak last summer at the Material Sciences Corp. on West Main Street in the city. In October, Kincade attended a Canfield City Council meeting where he asked council members what was going on with the MSC leak, which council members thought was under control. Since then, he has stayed on top of the issue. And it’s a good thing he has. MSC and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency have conducted testing in areas adjacent to the high school that showed the presence of hazardous chemicals. Testing and remediation continue with MSC showing cooperation in the cleanup. We commend Kincade for showing no signs of slowing down his one-man campaign to ensure any potential public health dangers to the community and its residents are 100% resolved.
ONION: To Capt. Jason Simon, chief of the detective division of the Youngstown Police Department, for his deserved firing from Youngstown State University last month over misconduct with a student of his while teaching at Kent State University at Trumbull. Simon lost his job after YSU learned of a sexual relationship he maintained with a KSU student in 2018. That misconduct was compounded by Simon’s reported dishonesty in 2022 when applying to become a firearms requalification. In his application, officials report he answered “no” to the background question which reads “Have you ever been investigated, disciplined or terminated for any matters alleging theft, falsification, dishonesty, violence, immorality, ethical misconduct and/or sexual misconduct?” Those revelations mar an otherwise stellar reputation in his service to the YPD and place a stain on the high ethical standards that should be expected of each and every member of the Valley’s largest municipal law enforcement agency.
ORCHID: To the Purple Cat for its plans to open a long-shuttered storefront on the main drag of downtown. The organization that offers day programs for people with disabilities plans to open a shop at 107 W. Federal St. where snacks, crafts and plants, among other items, will be for sale. The plans for the Purple Cat Disco Garden are a win-win. First, it offers valuable job opportunities for the organization’s clients. Second, it adds more vitality to the downtown by opening a long-shuttered building and affording workers and visitors an additional and nifty retail option.
ONION: To the dastardly hooligans who have instigated a texting scam in which drivers are falsely told they have unpaid turnpike tolls and are asked to click a link to make payments. The Ohio Turnpike Commission said if anyone receives such a text message to be aware that this is likely part of an ongoing, nationwide texting scam. The Ohio Turnpike does not send text messages requesting payment for unpaid tolls. Those responsible for this seedy scam should themselves be forced to pay a steep price in fines and prison time.
ORCHID: To Campbell City Council for its aggressive action to prohibit and penalize those who breed, sell and transfer unaltered animals within city limits. The ordinance’s overarching goals are to crack down on unscrupulous backyard and hobby breeders, along with those who are negligent and reckless. What’s more, council members inserted sharp teeth into the law. Penalties for intentional breeding, a first-degree misdemeanor, include a fine up to $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. This latest legislation carries on a proud tradition of Campbell legislators prioritizing animal welfare within their boundaries.
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Valorie Delmont for besting a host of other qualified candidates to become police chief of Austintown. She was sworn in to the post earlier this week, and we are confident her vast experience and familiarity with the township and its police force will serve her well in her new leadership position. We also congratulate her for breaking new ground in becoming the first female police chief in Austintown and in Mahoning County. We wish her success as she works on Priority No. 1: restoring financial stability to the department after township voters last year defeated a tax levy to support its operations.
ORCHID: To Youngstown State University Global Trustee Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata for contributing a whopping $320,000 to the Centered on the Future campaign to massively renovate Kilcawley Student Center on campus. Such generous philanthropy is nothing new for Linsalata. This new gift brings her total lifetime giving to YSU to over $2 million. Her good works no doubt will leave indelible imprints on the university for decades to come.
ONION: To Youngstown city officials for contributing to parking chaos in the downtown. According to Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, there is no enforcement of parking rules in downtown, resulting in downtown workers parking their vehicles for the entire day in the limited number of coveted spots. Given the mayhem in recent years with innumerable detours, road closings and other disruptions caused by ongoing improvements to the surface infrastructure in the heart of the city, difficulties in finding convenient and suitable spots serve as a disincentive for Valley motorists to visit restaurants, bars, clubs and retail establishments. We urge city leaders to follow through promptly on their plans to hire a company to work to improve parking availability and strict enforcement of parking regulations.
ORCHID: To the Ohio Department of Development’s Welcome Home Ohio program for awarding the city of Struthers a $2.75 million grant to develop and build eight new workforce housing units in the city. Mayor Catherine Cercone Miller was understandably elated about the funding for new affordable housing in the city. “There is a housing crisis everywhere, and we are excited to start the process and begin putting homes on these empty lots.” The Struthers project complements the home-building momentum in Mahoning County that is critical to provide housing for employees of new and growing businesses and to repopulate the Valley.
ORCHID: To Victoria Kress, a distinguished professor in the Youngstown State University counseling program for being elected president of the American Counseling Association for 2026. For nearly three decades, she has worked on legislative changes, including securing Medicare reimbursements for counselors, which opened up access to mental health services for older adults across the nation. We’re confident Kress will serve the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors with distinction.
ORCHID; To Canfield Village Middle School seventh grader Daniela Lucia Pappalardo for her strong verbal skills in winning the 92nd 21 WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown last weekend. Daniela correctly spelled “tonada,” which means song or tune, to defeat 68 other stellar spellers from school districts throughout Mahoning and Trumbull counties. As a dedicated musician who plays a variety of instruments, that winning word was a perfect fit for her. We wish Daniela nothing but the best as she now heads to the 100th Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.
ONION: To irresponsible parents and guardians of young people who fail to keep guns locked and out of the potential reach of their children. An eighth grade student at Chaney Middle School in Youngstown attempted to enter the school last week with a loaded handgun in his Looney Tunes backpack. Fortunately, once passing through a metal detector at the school’s entrance, the school resource officer and school personnel promptly confiscated the firearm that the boy identified as belonging to his father. City police then arrested the student. The student said he carried the weapon to protect himself after being threatened by a fellow student at the school. Fortunately, in this case, no violence, injuries or deaths resulted from the failure of adults to keep their deadly weapons locked and completely out of reach of children.
ORCHID: To the Austintown Fitch High School Cheer Competition Team for winning the Division II state cheer championship recently. The victory marks the second year in a row the highly talented team has taken top honors. The back-to-back state titles testify to the hard work, solid skill sets and exemplary responsibility of each and every member of the team. Three cheers for the honors these students have brought to themselves and their community.
Orchids and onions
ORCHID: To Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and other city leaders for purchasing the tract of land formerly occupied by the derelict developers of a proposed Chill Can plant and campus. The city submitted the winning offer of $1.3 million at a sheriff’s sale to purchase the foreclosed 21-acre site on the lower East Side with plans to use it for economic development. The purchase puts an end to years of false promises, lengthy litigation and dashed hopes for a major economic development project on the East Side by the M.J. Joseph Development Corp. Brown is buoyant about the future of the land. “We are glad to put this issue behind us and turn our focus towards building something that will benefit both our residents and economy for the long-term,” he said. We urge Brown and other city leaders to work diligently to fulfill that goal sooner rather than later.
ONION: To inconsiderate and irresponsible drivers who fail to properly yield to snow plows clearing roads during the hazardous winter driving season. The number of such crashes as of Feb. 20 was 50, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. That tally includes injury-causing crashes in January on state Route 87 in Trumbull County and Interstate 680 in Mahoning County. That tally also represents a gargantuan increase over 2024, when only 22 such crashes were reported the entire winter season. Clearly more motorists must learn to be patient, slow down near plows, keep at least three car lengths away from them and pass only when safe to do so.
ORCHID: To Mahoning Valley community activist extraordinaire Rosetta “Rose” Carter for her deserved honor in having a new philanthropic fund named after her. The Rose Carter Community Fund is an initiative paying appropriate tribute to Carter, a lifelong advocate for community empowerment, the Spano Foundation announced last week. Through strategic donations, meaningful partnerships and dedicated support, the fund will address critical needs, promote sustainable growth and improve the well-being of individuals and families. Rose has singled herself out as a longtime leader of ACTION, a faith-driven advocacy group, which serves Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Her efforts have led to fair housing initiatives, consumer protection against predatory lending, a mobile food market and many other valuable resources for the community. Those who value the dedication and drive of Carter to improve the Valley’s quality of life should waste no time in making a donation to the fund at spanofoundation.com.
ORCHID: To the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley for its success in raising $3,751,520 last year, which exceeds its fundraising result from 2023. UW President Bob Hannon announced the results of the 2024 campaign at a news conference last week in Boardman. The campaign included workplace giving, corporate gifts, grants and foundation monies. Those results illustrate the pride and confidence of Valley residents possess in the expanding mission of the longtime community service and philanthropic institution.
ORCHID: To JobsOhio for awarding the Western Reserve Port Authority a $1 million Site Inventory Program grant to jumpstart construction of the $5.5 million YNG Aviation Education Center at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. The move will spur the creation of the YNG Flight School and expansion of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics regional campus. The new center will strengthen the state’s standing as a leader in aviation innovation. From a practical standpoint, it will serve as a solid training ground for those seeking employment in one of the fastest growing industries in the nation.
ONION: To those individuals who abuse community-sponsored cleanup, recycling and scrap-tire collection drives. In one Mahoning Valley community, Champion township trustees recently canceled plans for a community cleanup day this year. That outcome is unfortunate but understandable considering the litany of problems that resulted at its cleanup day last year. One trustee reported those problems included people bringing household kitchen trash and waste to the dumpsters, pickup trucks bringing large amounts of tires and reports of junk coming from other communities. Once again, the majority of responsible individuals suffer for the irresponsible actions of the few.