Columns

The Ellwoodcity.org staff wishes all our readers and the community a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope everyone enjoys the one day a year us Americans can eat large amounts of food. According to the Weather Channel, it should be a bid warm and possibly sunny, so winter isn’t here quite yet! I will be on vacation for rest of the week, so I’ll leave you with random Thanksgiving trivia. Turkeys, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and squash are all native to North America so a classic Thanksgiving dinner is an inherently New World feast (source “Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared…

by Caroline Golmic, Aflac When Scott and I first started planning “Let There Be Lights” weekend on behalf of the Ellwood City Area Chamber of Commerce, we were trying to think of what could help make the evening epic. When we walked past the Community Plaza, Scott immediately started dreaming of having a huge tree lit in the circle amphitheater. We looked at some artificial trees online that were 17 to 20 feet and quickly realized they were far out of the Chamber’s budget. The next day, we started calling around to all of the local Christmas tree farms to…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] Starting school later seems to be a topic that floats around the district. Although I believe it would have benefits, I don’t think it’s a change our school district could radically make. I won’t argue that starting high school later would probably lead to better academic success. There’s no shortage of evidence suggesting a later start time would lead to increased performance based on some sciencey stuff that says teenagers have trouble falling…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] Tuesday, I got to work after being sick for a day and spending the storm sleeping and eating soup. I checked our twitter feed and found this gem: “Residents trapped in collapsed structure undermined due to flooding on River Rd, Ellwood City.” Was it a breaking story that I missed and needed to rush to complete? Then, I noticed something odd about it. It included a picture of the intersection of Lawrence and…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] A few years ago, the Ellwood City school board examined the possibility of merging with Riverside. The notion never gathered enough momentum to move beyond the idea stage. With ever declining populations and an increasingly difficult financial situation for public education, I think that a merger will eventually become a necessity. It’s advantageous for the two districts to take the initiative and make a plan to merge within the next five years. There…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] I’m guessing a lot of Ellwoodians, probably the majority of Ellwoodians, won’t vote today. I’ve never voted in a local election. However, I’ve gotten a bit interested in local politics- interested enough to take 10 minutes to vote. In national elections, there’s no shortage of excuses to not vote. Between gerrymandering, the electoral college, and the general feeling that both parties and all politicians are corrupt, it’s easy to make an argument that…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] I had a nightmare once that went as follows. I was driving with my friend and a Nickelback CD was playing. My friend said, “Why are we listening to this? Why do you own this?” I said, “It was only two dollars, and there’s some songs on it that I think are okay.” Then I woke in a cold sweat. The point made is that there is a notion that some music is…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] “All research and successful drug policy show that treatment should be increased and law enforcement decreased while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences,” a line from rock band System of a Down’s “Prison.” Though not 100% accurate, the line highlights the faults in the United State’s drug policy. America treats drug use as a serious criminal offense, along the same lines as violent crimes. This policy places undue strain on the criminal justice and prison…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] The new scheduling policy, Senior Privilege, caused quite a stir among the school board at last Thursday’s meeting. In short, the policy allows seniors in good standing to come late or leave early for two periods. Some members of the board expressed concern that the policy would appeal to slackers and set up bad habits before college. As someone who was just in college, I have to agree. Saying that the policy appeals…