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".

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