Editor's Note: Mr. Waddell's letter on Sept. 2, 2020 was misattributed to another writer; The News regrets the error.
“Kaleidoscope”
“Love Gets Old” is a wonderfully nostalgic instrumental song by Wouter Kellerman. At first it seemed to me the song should have been “Love (Never) Gets Old,” but I reasoned love always transforms into something better that remains eternally moving through every battlefield between good and evil– it is what it is.
So, it has happened that recently I was forced to leave my right leg on the battlefield of life. Adversity, though it cut my right limb out from under me, could not remove my stand-by weapons of faith, hope, and charity in this valley of shadows. Anyone can fold under the pressure of adversity, but the trick is to turn different parts of misfortune into something positive. Admittedly it is easier to talk about overcoming problems; it does take a measure of grit and resolve. Also, measuring the elements of adversity must be done, viewed from different points of perspective. The evil forms of misfortune can be understood because they are so transparent– evil is what it is.
So, my problem here at the rest home is a subjective one; I am going to have to learn how to walk with a prosthetic limb. Ironically, the same old same old seems like a fond memory. Will you come and walk with me?
Finally, I must strive to become a better, 2.0 version of myself to help President Trump make America great again. America is a big dream for all of us, and it is a also a place where we can remake those dreams. Will you stand and dream with me? Our great country moves a little here and moves a little there, but basically remains in all the right places– it is what it is.
Gaylen Wadell
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Goodyear
Dear Editor,
President Trump’s recent tweet calling for a boycott of Goodyear— a company that has been in business in Ohio for more than 100 years and employs approximately 4,000 Ohio workers, including those in neighboring Licking County— is an attack on working families everywhere.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m glad it was Goodyear and not Jen-Weld or Kokosing.”
That’s the problem, though. The next time it could be Jen-Weld or Kokosing. Or it could be Wal-Mart, it could be Sanoh America, it could be FT Precision. Somewhere, somebody could make up a story about one of these companies, put it on the Internet, and President Trump would see a tweet about it and— boom— a company is struggling and workers are laid off because the President incited a boycott.
Donald Trump doesn’t care. He said it didn’t really matter when General Motors closed its plant in Lordstown, Ohio; and thousands of jobs were lost. To the Goodyear workers, he said, ”You’ll be able to get another good job.” Of course, he didn’t mention that more than 1.5 million Ohioans have filed for unemployment since March. The President doesn’t care about Ohio working people losing their jobs.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said, “This is a petty political attack that has the potential to make a huge impact on people’s lives….”
“This is who the President is,” said Senator Sherrod Brown. He added, “President Trump’s remarks will have a negative impact on Goodyear’s sales, stocks” and Ohio families’ livelihoods. In 2016, Trump promised Ohioans, “If I’m elected, you won’t lose a single plant.” Then the Lordstown plant closed, and the President did nothing.
With just one tweet, President Trump has put the livelihoods of Goodyear workers in jeopardy. Any president, current or future, who initiates a boycott on an American company because his feelings are hurt by something he sees on TV or reads in a tweet is a danger to all businesses and working families in the U.S.
No one disputes the enormous power American presidents have, but it should be used to help all Americans, no matter who they are. It should not depend on whether they do or say something the president finds personally hurtful, and certainly not because of a hat. The president’s job should not be about the president himself. Unfortunately, it seems Mr. Trump does not understand this, but we Ohioans do.
Meg Galipault
Mount Vernon
Rural Postal Service
Editor of the News,
I am writing in response to a letter from Mr Randy Wolff of Mount Vernon appearing on August 26. In his letter, Mr Wolff said that my previous letter of August 19 about the importance of the rural postal service delivering items FedEx and UPS do not deliver, was “a flat out lie.” It is, in fact, verifiably true.
Although Mr Wolff has 30 years experience as a UPS delivery agent in three Ohio counties, there seems to be more involved than delivering the items workers pick up from a central location. A quick Google search reveals an August 17 article written by Sheridan Hendrix profiling a postal worker in rural Ohio, in which certain items end up as part of rural postal workers’ delivery responsibilities. In the article, Hendrix says, “Rural carriers also shoulder deliveries for...competitors such as FedEx, UPS and Amazon. Every morning [Carrier] Miller sorts through five pallets of Amazon deliveries....A few more pallets will show up from FedEx and UPS throughout the week.”
A further Google search on Quora indicates that UPS and FedEx routinely deliver packages to rural carriers after their own drivers complete the long leg of the delivery, leaving the shorter, but more expensive, leg of the delivery to USPS. This is because FedEx and UPS are profit-making businesses, but the postal service is a nonprofit service for all Americans.
In addition, the Hendrix news article was picked up by a number of media outlets. Mr Wolff spoke disparagingly about The New York Times, suggesting the Times was not an acceptable source of information. However, this exact same article was picked up and printed in Stars and Stripes, USA Today, the Canton Repository, and The Columbus Dispatch, among others. Most of us find all of these sources acceptable. Also, facts found in more than one credible media outlet tend to be more reliable.
Patricia Burdette, Ph.D.
Butler, Knox County
.webp){kind=tracking}