To the editor:

Governor Dewine made the rounds recently in his presumptive Santa Claus suit finally handing out the funds from the Appalachian Capital Fund … funds that have been sitting in Columbus for an inordinate amount of time. The Mahoning Valley Region which consisted of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties was the last region in Ohio to find out what their booty might be.

The application process was daunting and the criteria to receive funds was vast. The one element the state was clear on, however, was that they only wanted project submissions that were “transformative” in nature. Call me a cynic but exactly how are kayak launches and bike trails “transformative?” Please don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that these communities will get to make enhancements, but “transformative?”

These four counties were represented in this process by the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments along with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber … or were they? Project sponsors were told by those entities to not attempt to go it alone; that if they didn’t jump on board with the regional submissions their projects wouldn’t see the light of day in Columbus.

Ask Columbiana County how much of that $420 million they received. That’s right, they didn’t get a dime. Did their applications just fall out of the folder on the way to Columbus? In point of fact, the entire four-county region got shortchanged by comparison. Funds were disproportionately allocated south of I-70. It appeared that the folks in Columbus simply ignored the application criteria and made up their own themes for funds distribution.

As most readers will recall, there were a lot of atta-boys distributed by area leaders with respect to the recently established Lake to River Economic Development group which will also represent the aforementioned counties. Well, if the Eastgate Council represents Columbiana County in the future like they did with this process, well, beware Columbiana County because the tooth fairy won’t be paying you a visit anytime soon.

This whole process wreaks of cronyism and politics both here in the Valley as well as Columbus. How can an entire county in the heart of Appalachia with the economic conditions it has endured get completely shut out? Of the 32 Ohio counties that are defined as Appalachia, Columbiana County ranks fourth in population yet they got nothing.

Between being underrepresented regionally and Columbus ignoring their own application parameters, it just underscores that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Perhaps next time, if there is one, we should just ask for a pickle ball court…… clearly that will be “transformative.”

Steven R. Lewis,

Warren