2011---The year a Boardman Police Chief said if he had the manpower, the Police Department could stage drug raids every week.
      2011---The year the Boardman Local School Board ‘adopted’ a ‘volunteer’ drug testing program for its student athletes. The ‘no teeth’ policy has not yet been finalized and there is NO drug testing policy in the Boardman Local Schools.
      Despite the biggest problem in Boardman Township, drug addiction, the local school system, afraid of potential law suits from the American Civil Liberties Union, has yet to fully act.
      The schools give away free lunches to upwards of 35 per cent or more of their student population, yet they cannot act on the biggest problem facing our local society?
      2011---The year the Boardman Local School Board quietly pursued the construction of a new football stadium at a cost of an estimated $6 million. The public may not realize it, but a new football stadium, invading a residential neighborhood adjacent to Boardman High School, is coming---like it or not!
      What do we need as a community? A new football stadium, or a strong, unified effort on drug addiction?
      2011---The year the investigation into the suspicious death of the wife of a former Boardman Local School teacher got no where. The school teacher abruptly left his job at Center Middle School in May, receiving his retirement package, benefits and all, leaving a trail of alleged date rapes in his wake. The school system never caught on to the allegations, some of which date back at least a decade, while the former school teacher kept working. The school system just paid the retirement benefits, like nothing was wrong at all.
      2011---The year the Boardman Police Department raided a home on Wildwood Dr., said to be the source of a major supply of drugs to kids and addicts in Boardman. After months of reported divorce haggling between the owners of the home, tenants of the home have been ordered to be evicted.
      2011---The year gambling, illegal here, reached into the fabric of Boardman Township, without a vote. And Trustees said internet gambling sites (there are 17 of them) are good neighbors! And the Mahoning County Prosecutor has refused to act in the best interests of Boardman Township.
      2011---Another year that flop-house motels in Boardman kept operating. Years ago, under Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson, one of these cheap motels (where a sign read ‘No Refunds After 15 Minutes’), was shut down. At least three more continue operating, serving mainly as a place for drug addicts to smoke their crack or shoot their heroin.
      Does Boardman Township and its local school district needs to address the drug problem on a wider scale?
      Was it right to release a teacher, a date-rape suspect, with full benefits?
      Does the Boardman Local School District need a $6 million football stadium; or would renovations to the current stadium (at a cost of $1.5 million) seem more prudent?
      Is it right that gambling interests proliferate in Boardman Township, without a vote of the people?
      Do we really need flop-house motels that serve as drug houses for addicts?--JADjr
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