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.

Going Green Pays Off

Last February I wrote a post about 18seconds.org and their effort to encourage people to switch from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL's). The site was so named because 18 seconds is how long it takes to change a light bulb. CFL's use much less electricity than traditional bulbs. At the time of the original post, 18seconds.org ranked the Mahoning Valley # 177 in the nation for being "enlightened". We've since fallen to # 217 but the results have been impressive nonetheless. According to the site our area has saved more than 10 million dollars in electricity costs and kept more than 185 million pounds of co2 out of the atmosphere. Most impressively we have purchased more than 350,000 CFL light bulbs since January of 2007.

At the time the article was written our household switched 10 light bulbs to CFL's and saw a reduction in electricity used the next month. We read some more about energy efficiency and then started killing the vampires in the house. Vampires are devices that drain electricity even when turned off. These include TV's, DVD players, desktop PC's, and cell phone chargers. Instead of actually turning off, these devices go into a stand by mode which still draws power. To combat this drain, we unplugged as many of these devices as possible when they are not in use. If they are grouped together, such as a PC, scanner and printer may be, we plugged as many of them as possible into power strips and turned them off with the flick of one switch. The strategy seems to be paying off.

For our home, kilowatt hours used in January 2007 were 894. In January 2008 usage dropped to about 600. That's about a 30% drop in electricity usage. It remains to be seen if that will continue throughout the year, especially if we have a hot summer. If rates increase the whole enterprise could quickly turn into a way to hold costs steady instead of saving money. Luckily rates have not increased very much since last year so the bill is also 30% smaller.

It's great to see that doing good for the environment can keep a few bucks in your wallet.

Golden Gate Bridge Suicides and Gun Crime

There is an interesting article at MSNBC today that recounts efforts to build a more substantial rail on the Golden Gate Bridge's pedestrian walkways to prevent suicides. Advocates of building a higher rail point to studies that show the vast majoirty of people who leaped from the bridge and lived did not try to commit suicide again. In fact, one study completed in 1973 looked at 515 people who had been interrupted in the process of leaping from the birdge. 94% of them were either still alive or had died of natural causes.

One common factor in all the studies is that one misconception is proven false: people who are set on committing suicide will find a way to do so. The studies show that suicide attempts are crisis oriented. Once the crisis passes or is resolved the person no longer wants to attempt suicide. It turns out that the best way to dissuade people from attempting suicide is to make it as difficult as possible to do so. Difficulty means that it takes more time to commit the act and the more time someone has to consider killing themselves the less likely they are to do so. The studies show that if people have a method in mind and cannot achieve that method they do not try another method. For example, advocates are hoping that higher railings on the Golden Gate Bridge will make it more difficult to leap so people won't go to another bridge.

Perhaps the same is true of gun violence.

Yeah, it's a stretch but stick with me.

If it were harder to obtain guns, would criminals commit robbery and murder at the rates they do? If the process of preparing to commit a crime were interrupted, would so many take place? I am not talking about restricting the 2nd Amendment but rather taking a common sense approach to how firearms are sold, who buys them and identifying the ownership history in the event a crime is committed.

• Waiting periods and background checks help reduce gun violence but that waiting period and background check should apply to every gun transaction, not just those taking place at a firearms dealer. Private sales should should meet the same requirements.


• California wants to require gun manufacturers to sell weapons with micro-stamping funtionality. Basically, the casings of the cartridge would be marked with a micro-stamp that would identify the gun it was fired from. It won't help with crimes committed by revolvers where the casings aren't ejected but many crimes are committed with semi-automatic handguns that do eject their casings.


• Finally, investigate how a firearm got into the hands of a criminal. Guns leave the factory, go to a licensed dealer and then into the hands of a private citizen who passes a background check. So how do so many of them end up in the hands of criminals? New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to investigate that but was stymied by the Federal government. It is common sense to root out all of the illegal strawmen buying guns for the purpose of reselling them to criminals. It is also time to investigate the licensed firearms dealers who are selling to those buyers.

Making it harder to commit suicide by placing barriers in a person's path seems successful. It seems reasonable that making it harder to obtain a firearm would keep criminals from committing crimes. Just as those who want to kill themselves can be deterred by making the act more difficult, criminals may not act if they do not have the advantage of a firearm. I have no doubt that if obstructions like the Tiahrt Amendment were repealed, local communities could begin to ferret out the dealers and buyers who dump firearms into the hands of criminals.

ETA: Gun crimes from today:

Six Shot Dead in Memphis
2 Dead After Shooting at Florida Wendy's

Crime Stoppers Has Returned

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? It may be you.

If you have information about a crime, you can now call the good folks at Crime Stoppers because they are back in business locally. The organization is well known for helping police solve crimes by soliciting anonymous tips that can lead to rewards for informants. The state legislature has approved funding for the organization by asessing a $1 fee on all criminal court cases except traffic cases.

So if you have information about a crime, don't hesitate to call (330) 746-CLUE.

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.

Free Jimbo? No Way

It was with dismay that I read this Vindicator article discussing State Rep. Bob Hagan's stance that Jim Traficant deserves to have his remaining sentence commuted and be released from prison. What is this shocking new evidence that Hagan has discovered? Surely he has a smoking gun that proves all of the Traficant conspiracy theorists correct.

Well, no, he doesn't.

Bob Hagan's argument boils down to this: "Scooter" Libby did worse things than Jim Traficant and had his sentence commuted by President Bush so Traficant deserves to have his sentence commuted. State Rep. Ronald Gerberry agrees with him, as does Mahoning County Commissioner David Ludt.

What these gentlemen fail to realize is that Jim Traficant's case has nothing to do with Scooter Libby's. The former Congressman's case has to stand on its own. He was convicted of accepting bribes, having staffers do work on his boat and farm and demanding kick backs from staffers salaries. He did this while serving as the people of Youngstown's representative in Congress. The evidence was presented to a jury and he was found guilty. His sentence for these actions will see him released in 2009.

Jim Traficant betrayed the public's trust by servicing the mob image that Youngstown struggles with to this day. The Mahoning Valley has made great strides in cleaning up the corrupt government that used to be a hallmark of the area. Releasing Jim Traficant would send a message that it's all right to be a little corrupt if you are a public office holder. Well, it isn't.

If our elected officials are to learn anything about remaining corruption free and if the Mahoning Valley's recovery is to proceed, Jim Traficant must finish his sentence.

Things Should Be Better Than This

So you get your coffee, muffin, juice or whatever and you sit down in front of your PC in the morning and get ready for the workday. Meetings are scheduled, clients are coming in and there’s a full day of work ahead before you can drag yourself home. For just a few minutes, though, you hit the news websites to see what happened overnight. Lately, this morning perusal of the headlines has gone something like this: Dozens killed in Baghdad bombings, politicians wrangle over something unimportant, someone who was supposed to know better did something horrible to a child and the tragedy of the day stakes its claim to the top of the web page.

Pretty depressing, eh?

There in vibrant color and dramatic font are the failings of society. There are stories of damaged, broken people who hurt others, either by actions that are reprehensible or by inaction that is criminally negligent. What can you do about it, anyway? You showed up at work. You didn’t kick the cat this morning or yell at the kids. You’ve done what good people are supposed to do.

So why, no matter how briefly, do you have that sick feeling in your stomach as you see the news?

It could be that you know the world is supposed to be a better place. For a moment you imagine a better place. Perhaps you remember something your grandma said about the Golden Rule. Maybe you suddenly remember a situation where you were proud of your mom or dad for helping someone. It could even be long forgotten memories of Sunday school teachings whittling at your conscience. It doesn’t matter. This sudden realization manifests itself in one bold statement.

Things should be better than this.

We were not put on this Earth to be mean to one another. We are not here to be victims. A purposeful life demands that we learn, teach, innovate and achieve. People are meant to succeed. We are all role models, whether we wish it or not.

Man, though, that’s a tough gig.

It’s hard. Work is hard; the cat tears up the house, the kids scream constantly and your boss is demanding more and more. The neighbors are too loud, politicians are corrupt and the guy two desks over is so lazy you’re doing half of his work.

But…but what about a small step?

Yeah, you could do that. Opportunities to improve things abound. It’s not like anyone is asking you to fund a college scholarship. The trick, you suddenly realize, is to take advantage of the opportunities you can. Instead of tossing the pop can from lunch in the trash, you aim for the recycle bin. You box up your newspapers and cans at home for recycling. The bins behind the fire station or the municipal building are only a few blocks away. You feel good that all that stuff isn’t in a landfill.

That bald guy on TV with the starving kids makes you feel guilty when he comes on during Seinfeld reruns. After a few minutes you think about your own kids. What if you couldn’t feed them? What if you hadn’t been lucky enough to be born in the United States? Does any of that matter if a kid is hungry? You’d gladly accept charity to get food in their belly. There’s no cry like the cry of a hungry kid. It takes all of five minutes to turn on your PC, find your credit card and sponsor a kid. And it’s cheap. Now you’re really feeling good.

If your neighbors need help then take your snow blower over when there’s six inches of snow on the ground. You probably need the extra exercise anyway. Let someone cut in front of you in traffic. The wave they give you feels good. Spend a few extra bucks on the fluorescent light bulbs. You’ll use less electricity and watch your bill go down a few more bucks. Read to your kids. Be patient with your kids. Remember that you do not, under any circumstances, want to be that screaming maniac mom or dad that you see in the mall parking lot.

This is what you can do, these things and a hundred more. This is how you offset the horrible, terrible things you will read about in the news tomorrow. You will live a better life and you will feel good because you will be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Helping those in need is a good thing. Using fewer resources so your kids have some is a good thing. Being someone others can look up to is a good thing. Every small thing you do is an accomplishment. If nothing else, at the end of the day, you will know that you have done something to make things better.

Here is a partial list of organizations doing good things:

The Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley

Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley

Youngstown/ Mahoning Valley United Way

Help Hotline Crisis Center

Christian Children's Fund

Clinton Global Initiative

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bright Side Of Being 98th On Forbes "Best Cities To Get A Job" List

Forbes published a list ranking the 100 largest metroploitan areas in the United States by how easy it is to get a job. They took into account unemployment rates, cost of living, median household income, job growth and income growth. On the surface, ranking 98th out of 100 and having only New Orleans and Detroit behind the Mahoning Valley may look terrible. However, they say devil is in the detail and if you examine Forbes' methodology you can find some things to be excited about.

First, despite a shrinking population in Youngstown city proper, the area included in this list still qualifies as one of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. Forbes included Youngstown, Warren and the surrounding communities in it's rankings. The strength of the Valley has always been it's sense of community. You can drive from a downtown urban area, through the suburbs and into rural farm country in less than 30 minutes. That gives the area comfortable room for growth if the opportunity arises.

Second, the area was ranked number 1 in cost of living. Living here is cheaper than anywhere else on the list.

The Mahoning Valley did not fare as well in the other criteria that made up the list; 87th for unemployment, 95th for median household income, 100th for income growth and 91st for job growth rank.

It would be difficult to put a positive spin on numbers that bad. Anyone living in the area knows about the unemployment issue and the stagnant growth of new job opportunities. Once you've hit bottom though, there is nowhere to go but up, and that's what the Valley needs to focus on.

It will be an interesting test of our local leaders to see how they respond to this negative coverage. Late last year the Morgan-Quitno ranking of Youngstown as the 9th most dangerous city in the country was met with skepticism and disbelief. This ranking should be a sobering wake up call to government leaders, educators and anyone else who wants to see the Valley succeed.

The proper response to this ranking would be to look at this list and determine how the positive qualities of the area can be leveraged to encourage growth. A low cost of living and great housing prices can be a factor in people moving here but they are not draws by themselves. We need to eliminate the pervasive crime that keeps us on lists of the most dangerous cities in America. Mayor Williams' recent zero tolerance crackdown needs to be extended as long as it takes to move Youngstown statistically in line with the rest of the country. The positive press that could be generated by falling to the bottom of the Morgan-Quitno rankings would be the best selling point this area has ever had. This reduction in crime needs to be an ongoing commitment.

Next, education needs to be a priority. Not in the sense that we add more levies to beleagured property owners but with a focus on results. It is inexcusable that the Youngstown City School District graduates just over 50% of it's students. That large number of drop outs translates into too many unskilled workers who turn to crime to earn a living. There needs to be a region wide emphasis on passing standardized tests and improving graduation rates. New ideas need to be implemented to gain the results needed. Year round schooling is one such idea. Close the summer knowledge gap by holding classes year round with more frequent and shorter vacations. Emphasize college preparation as well as skilled trades training. We need to make it clear to parents and students that high school graduation and higher education are mandatory for life in this century. In order to be desirable to companies we need to have an educated workforce.

Finally, we need to realize that there is no magic bullet to fixing the economy in this area. It will take innovation, hard work and long term planning. We will have to improve things ourselves by electing leaders who share that vision. Legislation is needed to make us attractive to employers. They have to want to come here. The industries that built this area are shrinking or have disappeared all together. Innovation is the key. To encourage growth we need people be entrepeneurs, to be inventors and most of all we need them to stay here. Low crime and an educated workforce combined with a government friendly to business will generate the positive press needed to promote growth.