• ORCHID: To the Cortland Parks and Recreation Board for its plans to create a “security city” to teach children important life skills in a fun way while they spend time at Pearl Park. Safety City will serve as a play space and learning tool, where security forces, schools and community groups can organize events and teach about safety. The planned interactive space will include miniature buildings, street signs and painted streets, etc. We are also particularly pleased to see the council planning fundraising efforts for the $45,000 project, rather than looking to ratepayers to foot the bill. Orchid also to students in the Trumbull Career and Technical Center’s Building Technology program who build miniature buildings for the space.
• ORCHID: To the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation for re-hosting its annual Holocaust writing, art and multimedia competition, which is open to students of the Grades 7-12 in Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana counties, as well as the West. Pennsylvania. The organization also organized a lecture by Marom Shmueli on his family’s flight from Europe during the Holocaust. Indeed, it is vital to develop information programs to prevent new genocides. We must never forget these atrocities that affected so many millions of Jews.
• ONION: To a food delivery man accused of spitting in the face of a drive-thru employee at a Warren McDonald’s restaurant. The line was apparently very long and the motorist started to honk. The man told the worker he was from DoorDash. An argument ensued over the order, followed by an exchange of swear words and a lewd gesture, a police report said. The man then spat on the worker and fled. What about society when the disagreements are at this level? We all need to learn to control our frustrations.
• ORCHID: At Youngstown State University, which is rushing to go green. “Our idea is that we consider waste as a resource, as a natural resource”, Dan Kuzma, manager of YSU’s recycling program, said. Therefore, most of what is thrown away is used to recycle, reuse and reduce waste, and it stays out of local landfills. For years, the university has taken recycling seriously, which was reflected in its ranking in the annual Campus Race to Zero Waste competition, which kicked off Monday. YSU is competing against more than 400 colleges and universities nationwide, through March 26.
• ORCHID: To Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in the Mahoning Valley for recently donating 455 canned chicken meals to the St. Vincent de Paul Society soup kitchen. The contributions showed that great businesses in our region can be caring community neighbours. May the good works of KFC serve as an example to other restaurant chains and large corporations in general throughout our region.
• ONION: For impatient motorists who don’t seem to understand that the poor condition of winter roads justifies reduced speeds. We have all known dangerous drivers who drive way too fast, tailgating or speeding around us when the snowy roads are really impassable. Without a doubt, the situation has worsened throughout the Mahoning Valley with the last huge storm. Icy or snowy roads are dangerous enough without speeding motorists! Let’s all work on improving our patience and slow down!
• ORCHID: To Warren-based 717 Credit Union for two recent major achievements. First, the financial institution served its 100,000th account holder at the end of 2021, a milestone achieved on the heels of membership growth of 26% over the past five years. Second, 717’s performance caught the attention of S&P Global Market Intelligence, which ranked it the 40th best credit union in the nation and first in Ohio.
