One Ohio town's struggle to survive in hard times

One Ohio town's struggle to survive in hard times

By HELEN O'NEILL
5/24/09
AP

The auto plants and steel mills, once the lifeblood of Warren, are ghosts of their former selves. Plants lie idle, shifts have been cut, and the huge parking lot outside the Lordstown General Motors factory is nearly empty. The Golden Gate restaurant and Mary M's, fixtures for years, are shuttered. Houses are boarded up. Businesses have given up on downtown. There is a saying among old-timers in this gritty river town: What recession? We've been stuck in one for 30 years. Yet even stubborn Warren, a town with a dwindling population of about 43,000 in northeast Ohio, is being tested like never before. And folks talk of a hopelessness, a weariness of spirit that is pervading every aspect of life.

(snip)

There was a time when jobs — good-paying jobs — were plentiful. People like Bennett's husband, David, marched straight out of high school and into Delphi Packard Electric Systems, once one of the area's largest and best-paying employers. Now the auto parts plant operates with a skeletal crew. After 37 years, Bennett has been told his health benefits will end when he retires, his pension is frozen and he will lose his job if the plant folds this summer. And so the Bennetts have abandoned their dream of retiring to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and building a small prefabricated house where they hoped to spend sun-filled days after a life of frugality and hard work.

(snip)

Angelo, a retired high school athletic director, vividly recalls a time when things were different, when the town sparkled with vitality and hope. It was in the early 1970s and for four consecutive years the two high school football teams — the Warren Harding Panthers and the Warren Western Reserve Raiders — won state championships. There were parades and lavish pre-game dinners at the Golden Gate and 15,000 cheering fans turned out in support. There was a glimmer of that former glory this spring when the high school basketball team made it to the state semifinals and several thousand fans drove three hours to Columbus to watch the game. For a week, it was as if the team held the heart of the town. Bands played at pep rallies, restaurants donated food, and "Go Raiders!" signs bedecked the town. "People just desperately need some hope to cling to," coach Steve Arnold says. "And for a short time, we were that hope."

Over at the Hoyt Street Church, Pastor Gerald Morgan sees the same thirst for hope. Worshippers are flocking to services in greater numbers, though donations are down. It's always that way in a time of austerity, he says. People turn to the church for solace and for answers they can't find anywhere else. The 59-year-old minister, who spent 30 years on a General Motors assembly line before becoming a full-time pastor, doesn't have answers. Just a deep, ingrained knowledge of how his people are suffering. And an abiding faith that, no matter how bad things get, they will pull through. And so he quotes from Genesis, the passage about how the earth returned to life after the devastation of the great flood. And he tells his congregation that Warren too will emerge from this latest chapter of darkness, and someday thrive again.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqEEw3qxDV8WUqn2X8x5cOm-pHHwD98CJFFO0

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Our next President (or maybe this one, in his second term) may have to appoint a Cabinet-level "Secretary of Kaumaha" to deal with all the Warrens around the country. They are by no means confined to Ohio and Michigan, either; upstate New York and Pennsylvania have quite a few, and much of New Orleans would surely qualify. Pity John Edwards screwed the pooch (oops, poor choice of words....)

It is not just the spirit, it is honest jobs that can support a family. Jobs that create something, not that shuffle papers in finance and in health insurance.

I live here and it's doom & gloom each day. Not a week goes by that a close friend is out of work.
Something must be done to bring jobs back to this area or we will be a ghost town.
I've lived here all my life......and it's devastating to see community fixtures as you mentioned that thrived for years close.
I drove downtown the other day which I don't do very often because I usually come back even more depressed. Went to a local downtown Vintage store where I had bought some political buttons and he said we were his third customers all day. So we bought something and left. While walking back to our car I noticed food (dry goods) on the park bench curious I walked up and read a note that said
this is a gift which is meant for all mankind and it was signed by the Warren Family Mission. I began to cry and realized how lucky we are to have an organization like this. I drove away and suddenly felt like I so much to be thankful for.
Tea baggers have no reason to organize in downtown Warren none whatsoever.