Where is the Outrage at 33 Murders?

Youngstown is blessed with a variety of media outlets which allow public discussion on local topics. 570 WKBN has local talk radio. The Vindicator has their message boards. The local blogs allow and encourage comments. So where is the outrage over the murder rate?

There is discussion about the crime rate, after all. It's not as if there is total silence. The regular crop of bigots and naysayers all have a comment when something like last week's rash of murders occur. The Vindy message boards have a group of contributors that make a point of making disparaging remarks on every crime article. There are others who write about Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley who should be lauded for the number of positive topics they find to write about. There are times, though, that their optimism borders upon unrealistic. Is there never any time appropriate to comment upon the elephant in the room that is hindering Youngstown's revitalization?

However, there are others, like Ron Verb, who seem genuinely interested in having an open and honest discussion about crime. During last week's shows I heard callers offering reasons for why the murder rate is high and suggesting ways to curb it. There were also callers who wanted to do nothing more than proclaim the city was a haven for criminals and pat themselves on the back for moving out. Yeah, hooray for you. Unfortunately they forgot that Youngstown is the heart of the Mahoning Valley. What happens there affects all of us. We can't all just turn a blind eye to the rampant crime and cluck disapprovingly. "That's Youngstown," they tell their friends, "I live in Canfield." or Poland, or Hubbard or Austintown or Boardman.

Big deal. When your community borders a city that has a murder rate of 40 per 100,000 people, you are affected. Your property values are lower, job opportunities are fewer and your children are more likely to leave the area. Pretending you are oh-so-smart because your address does not fall within the city limits is simply ignoring the problem.

So where is the outrage at the murder rate? Where are the letters to the editors of the Vindicator and Tribune-Chronicle decrying the violence? Even if people accept Police Chief Jimmy Hughes explanation that a criminal lifestyle begets a violent end, a pregnant woman, her unborn child and another son were executed this year. Another child, age 3, was killed in a separate incident. All victims are not leading a criminal lifestyle. Where is the realization that the rest of use have to live with the aftermath of so many murders?

Why is there silence regarding the broken families these murderers come from? If dad isn't around are we really surprised when kids drop out of school and deal for a living? Has it become so acceptable to slough off our responsibilities as parents that no one wants to criticize those who do so? Perhaps it's time to consider that having kids outside of marriage is a terrible idea. You know why? Not for any puritanical notion of morality but rather because it is hard to raise kids. It takes two people. Work, laundry and feedings take their toll. Kids need attention they won't get shuffling between babysitters. Maybe it's time to look at fathers who are not at home with their kids at night and say, "Hey, get home to that kid so you don't raise a thug".

We should all be upset. Our outrage must be stronger than our apathy or nothing will ever change.

I-80 Toll Plans Will Not Help the Shenango or Mahoning Valleys

Governor Ed Rendel and the Pennsylvania Legislature's plan to make Interstate 80 a toll road will be disastrous for the Shenango and Mahoning Valleys. Pennsylvania lawmakers want to use the revenue generated by the tolls to fund mass transit systems in the state and to augment money available to maintain the state's infrastructure.

Pennsylvania enjoys a geographic position that provides ample opportunity to make money from travelers. Interstate 76 has long been a toll road that runs along the southern part of the state . This road services cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg. I-80, in contrast, serves no large cities and acts as a conduit to New Jersey, New York and the Northeast. This high volume of traffic looks very attractive to a state government desperate to maintain mass transit systems and infrastructure.

Transportation companies already charge a premium for going to the east coast. Destinations there are hard to get to because the infrastructure is older, toll roads are in abundance and narrower routes make maneuvering today's larger trucks more difficult. The route of choice has been I-80 because it is still a free road. I-76 and its expensive tolls actually make it cheaper for transportation companies to pay for the extra diesel to travel north and use I-80. Levying those same tolls on I-80 will leave transportation companies with no cheap alternative and drive up costs to their customers and, in turn, consumers.

Finally, one of the economic attractions of the Shenango and Mahoning Valleys has been their close proximity to I-80. This has lead to warehousing opportunities, growth in the transportation industry and companies that service the transportation industry. Pennsylvania retailers at the Grove City outlets would feel the bite as Ohio shopppers shy away from the toll road. If it becomes too expensive to utilize these routes alternatives will be found that could be detrimental to the area.

Local leaders should join Representative Phil English to oppose this plan. Taking any steps that would be detrimental to business growth as our local area tries to revitalize would be foolish. This idea is a bad solution to a complex problem.

The Solar Tower

I just saw an amazing mechanism for generating electricity pollution free on the History Channel's Modern Marvels program. It's called the solar tower and the idea sounds deceptively simple even if the engineering is incredibly complex. Basically, a large tower is built in an area that has a large amount of sunny days. Large mirrors are set around the tower and reflect sunlight to the top of the tower. Steel plates set into the top of the tower heat to more than 1000 degrees. Water circulates in pipes behind the steel plates and warms as the sunlight strikes the tower. The water expands as it is converted to steam which drives the turbines to create electricity.

The tower was built outside Seville, Spain by a company called Solucar. This 11 megawatt plant produces enough electricity to power 6,000 homes. Solucar plans to build enough solar towers to power all of Seville by 2013 with advanced versions of the designs which will produce 300 megawatts. The only drawback is how to keep the turbines turning at night. Engineers are examining hybrid concepts like windmills or biofuels.

Projects like this prove the viability of alternative energy sources. Towers like this, combined with wind power could significantly reduce America's reliance on coal and foreign oil. However, even though the technology was tested in California in the 1980's, a quick Google search did not reveal any solar tower projects currently underway in America. Too bad. This is an opportunity just waiting to be exploited. It could provide a good return on investment principal, meet a growing need for cheap power, provide jobs and the American southwest is well suited for the construction. The video is short but provides a good idea of how the technology works.

Moving Toy Production to China Was a Really, Really, REALLY bad idea.

Parents and relatives with good intentions will soon be buying their young ones toys to celebrate the holidays but will those toys harm them?

Well, there's a better chance they will this year than last.

Millions of toys manufactured in China have been recalled this year. Most troubling is how varied the reasons for these recalls have been. Parts break off creating a choking hazard. Magnets pop loose and become lodged in digestive tracts. Lead paint is used on toys that children may chew and most frightening, a chemical was used in Aqua Dots that mimics the effects of the date rape drug GHB when metabolized.

It's too easy to sit here and pontificate about how moving jobs overseas is bad for the economy when doing so would mean I would have to pretend that I have never bought a toy at Wal-Mart. I have and according to their sales, so have most of you. We bear a small amount of complicity in this whole toy recall mess because we want cheap goods and we're willing to ignore where they come from as long as we get a decent price.

But it's only a small amount of blame.

Mattel, Fisher-Price and the other companies involved in this fiasco know better. They are well aware of how quality assurance systems work. Catching items that contain lead paint after they reach the market place is the failure of a quality assurance system. Monitoring each step in the manufacturing process is necessary. Why didn't anyone catch the lead paint before it was applied? Commercial testing products are cheap enough for people to go out and buy so why couldn't the companies do so on their own? Money, plain and simple.

These large corporations have so little regard for their customers that they award their manufacturing contracts to the lowest bidder without regard for how those companies could bid so low. Mattell, RC2 and Fisher-Price just don't care enough about their customers to put a decent quality assurance program in place. If they did, every step of the manufacturing process and distribution system would be monitored. Instead of making their products in America where labor laws would protect workers and environmental laws would protect the rest of us, they choose to produce their items in China where laws are more lax. The end result is American youngsters being poisoned by their toys.

So this Christmas choose American made toys. They'll keep your neighbors working and your kids safe. Here is a short list of American made toys:

Fat Brain Toys

All American Toy Company

Little Tikes

And a really big list at Toys Made In America