Marc Dann's Affair Proves Me Wrong

Last week I took the Vindicator to task for its coverage of the sexual harassment allegations in the Ohio Attorney General's office. I criticized them for the "Under Fire" banner that hung on the top of their web page and said it was salacious. I also criticized Bertram de Souza's column in which he gave Dann a big old "I told you so" for hiring friends Anthony Gutierrez and Leo Jennings. In this criticism, I was wrong.

With today's admission by Attorney General Marc Dann that he was involved in a romantic relationship with a subordinate in his office, he has demonstrated that it was he, not the Vindicator that made the story salacious. I was too quick to jump to the conclusion that only Gutierrez had acted inappropriately and that Dann, being a Mahoning Valley boy, was worthy of the benefit of the doubt. Bertram de Souza was not inclined to do the same. Today, Marc Dann proved me wrong and showed that the Vindicator and newspapers like the Columbus Dispatch were doing the correct thing in chasing this story even when it seemed like there was nothing of substance to report.

Dann's reputation and his fight to investigate Republican donor Tom Noe gave me hope that the era of bad government was behind the Mahoning Valley. It was good to see the rest of the state vote for a hometown guy and put one of our own in a powerful state office. It was redemption that all the years spent cleaning up the area's unethical government was paying off.

Now we're here, in the middle of a scandal, where we have been so many times before. The feeling is so familiar that it has a sense of inevitability about it. "What did you expect?", people will ask, "Look where he's from."

There was a New York Times article last year that favorably compared Marc Dann to Eliot Spitzer as a fellow crusading state's attorney general. It's eerie how their careers paralleled each other in accomplishments as well as failures. All that is left now is for Dann to resign and he should do so quickly.

Homeowners Prefer to Stay in Areas Marked for Change

CNN has this story about homeowners in Youngstown who prefer to stay in their blighted neighborhoods rather than accept the city's buyout offer. The city is offering up to $50,000 dollars in enticements for residents to move from their houses. The Youngstown 2010 plan calls for these areas to be transformed into greenspaces by demolishing the houses and tearing up the streets.

While it may be frustrating for everyone who worked on the Youngstown 2010 plan to see obstructions stand in their way, it is good to see that city planners see the relocations as voluntary at this point and do see the need to invoke eminent domain. Such action would immediately stop negotiations with homeowners and lead to lawsuits that could take years to resolve.

Additional enticements and discussion could lead to some residents understanding what the city is trying to accomplish by planning its shrinkage. There is no future growth planned for these areas so homeowners do not have to worry they are getting a fair shake from the city.

There has always been a resistance to change in the Mahoning Valley so no one should be surprised that where some see dilapitated houses some see the place they have always called home. City officials should do everything possible to help these last holdouts leave voluntarily so that the progress of the 2010 plan isn't tainted with hard feelings. However, those residents who are holding out should ask themselves if staying in their homes is worth blocking the progress of a plan that is vitally important to the city. Youngstown deserves every chance to succeed and needs the help of everyone who can lend a hand.

Vindicator Coverage of Attorney General Issue is Uneven

As a subscriber to the Vindicator and a frequent user of information from the paper, I have to question the recent coverage of the sexual harrassment scandal at the Attorney General's office. Readers have endured uneven coverage of an issue that may end up being much ado about nothing and a lot of chest thumping by Bertram de Souza.

The "scandal" started out with the usual salacious ingredients. It has older men in charge seemingly taking advantage of young, attractive women subordinates. There was drinking, a wrecked state vehicle, emails that would not be released and a setting right out of "Animal House"

But did anything of substance occur?

From the charges filed by the victims, it appears that Director of General Services Anthony Gutierrez is one of those icky bosses that needs to be reigned in by a good human resources manager once a complaint has been filed. Of course, filing a complaint is easier if you don't go out for drinks with the guy like the supposed victim did. The situation gets even sketchier when the AG himself invites both parties over for pizza and they accept, then take a nap. Not that I'm blaming the victim but everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions.

Once this ball started rolling, the Vindy sent its number one political gunslinger, de Souza, to score some good shots. His scathing criticism in a front page editorial boiled down to him saying that he had been right all along, and that Dann should never have hired old friends like Gutierrez and Leo Jennings to run top spots in the AG office. A glorified "I told you so" is pretty poor top-of-the-fold headline material.

So, it seems like we're left with sexual harrassment charges the Columbus police won't press, emails that contain more silliness and made up drama than a reality TV show and a guy who may or may not have been a creepy boss who still hasn't explained the damage to his state owned car.

So I'm left pleading with the Vindicator; There is either a story here or there isn't. If something occurred, please investigate. If you find something, please tell us. If that something doesn't deserve a salacious banner on the front page of your website, please take it down.

Oh, and speaking of that salacious banner on your website, the Attorney General spells his name with a "C" not a "K".

Baracky: The Movie

Senator Obama may have taken a hard punch in Pennsylvania but that means he'll just have to fight a little harder. Hmmm...that reminds me of another guy who overcame tough obstacles.

Feeding the Fish at the Linesville Spillway

The rebuilt Linesville Spillway in Pymatuning, PA is a far cry from the small, crowded attraction my folks took me to as a kid. Instead of a small outcrop of concrete on the side of the road, the area has been built up into a large area where folks can park their cars, get something to eat and buy bread to feed the unbelievable number of carp, ducks and geese that call the reservoir home.

If you are looking for someplace to take a nice little drive this summer, the spillway makes a great destination. Kids will enjoy throwing bread to the fat carp and mom and dad can relax on a bench overlooking the water. Grab a Coke and something to eat from the concession stand and you have a relaxing couple of hours.

There is plenty to do once you watch the carp crawl all over each other trying to score some bread. And if you watch the video, you will see that they literally crawl over one another for those tasty morsels.



It's about 45 minutes from Youngstown and the surrounding area. Go straight north up Route 7 to Andover, turn right on Oh 85, cross over the reservoir, turn left on Church Rd. (follow the Spillway signs because there isn't a road sign for Church Rd.) and turn left on Linesville-Hartstown Rd. The Spillway is on the right. Just look for the jumping carp.

Maureen Dowd's View on the Iraq Senate Hearings

The always excellent Maureen Dowd gives her view from the Senate floor during the hearings on Iraq. Is the surge working, what can we hope to accomplish and just why is the president of Iran more popular there than we are? All excellent points discussed in her Sunday column.

A confused Chuck Hagel asked the pair: “So, where’s the surge? What are we doing? I don’t see Secretary Rice doing any Kissinger-esque flying around. Where is the diplomatic surge? ... So, where is the surge? What are you talking about?”

Student's Honesty Captures the Complexity of the Youngstown School Situation

This letter to the editor in Sunday's Vindicator from Youngstown City School student Ammie-Marie Roxanne Littke speaks volumes about the state of the school system and the problems it currently faces. With refreshing honesty she tasks parents and guardians with ensuring students behave properly by providing appropriate role models. This letter deserves as much visibility as possible.

EDITOR:

In efforts to promote the Youngstown City School District, my speech class at East High School gathered information from the Mahoning Valley citizens to resolve violence and the lack of moral respect in our public schools. As an East High student, I must say that this district is by far the most complex, yet caring, system I have been a part of.

Teachers and staff find themselves taking on parental roles due to the lack of discipline at home. Students tend to attach themselves to the authoritative figures outside their home, due to a lack of parental support. We have nearly 1,000 students attending East High School and roughly 100 parents attended the parent-teacher conferences this year.

When I moved to Youngstown in 2005, I found students who lacked basic morals, self-respect, a need to strive for their very best and some who did not want to comply with our society. I was stunned at the value placed on education and the value of life. It seemed like many of the students did not care about the school or what others thought of them and their actions. After a while, I began to believe that the arrogance of some students was so severe that no action could change the behavior.

Vandalism seems to plague the streets and schools of Youngstown, but why? Is it because students find themselves bored and in the desperate mood for entertainment? Are some students angry and relieve their tensions on the property of others? From my knowledge, it’s a sad and humiliating environment for the citizens of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.

Thus, some may wonder, why do these students deserve a levy to be passed, why do they deserve to have a multi-million dollar learning facility, and why should the community step in to inform students that it’s not OK to deal or abuse legal/illegal drugs and teen pregnancy is not OK? If you want the district to change direction, if you want the students to change their actions, then you, as our parents and guardians, need to stand up and teach us the appropriate values many of us lack desperately. We need you, these children need you, your children need you. The district cannot do it alone. You cannot expect these students to change in the community when their lifestyles aren’t changing at home.

Bottom line, don’t give up on them, don’t you dare give up on these students. They are the immediate future of Youngstown. Children are considered to be miniature figures of their parents or guardians, and if you do not find our students to be appealing, we have learned our values from you. So, if you, as parents and guardians, have not taught us right from wrong, then how do you expect us to automatically know the difference?

AMMIE-MARIE ROXANNE LITTKE

Youngstown