I was born in Portsmouth and graduated from Portsmouth High School. I currently live in Columbus and I am shocked to find out that there have been several robberies and home invasions in the area that are not being aggressively pursued by law enforcement or any newspaper or media coverage informing the community of these events.
I know this is true because my mother’s door was kicked in and my brother and nephew woke to guns pointed at their heads by two men. The police were called, a report was filed and my brother was told that detectives might be getting a hold of him sometime.
When will we stop allowing our streets and neighborhoods to be overtaken by those that prey off of positive, productive citizens of our community? When will we take our town back and live for tomorrow instead of living for a high today? I work with troubled youth in Columbus and I would love to one day come home and promote positive change and give young people coping tools as well as tools to deal with anger and decision-making.
The do-good people of Portsmouth are in my opinion way too passive and accepting to southern Ohio drug culture and addiction. Portsmouth has gained notoriety for being the pain pill-abusing capital of America and has had television programs featuring the drug epidemic in southern Ohio. But what good are all of the labels and attention if nothing is done about the problem at the core of all of this? When will we carve out a safe place in southern Ohio for our kids to grow and be all that they can be? My brother is a single father and has had my nephew living with him in Portsmouth, a place where at one time was considered a safe place to live. Now there are no jobs, no aspirations or hope for success from our youth unless they find a way out of Portsmouth. It should not be this way, the world is getting smaller and Portsmouth is drifting further away from reaping the fruit from worldly prosperity and continues to fall deeper into the dark hole of the drug town collapse.
Russell Robinson
Columbus
I do sympathize with your frustration, Mr. Robinson; but as you can see from the headline story on msnbc today, Columbus is also battling the same issues, as is every other town in Ohio. Portsmouth is handling it as well, if not more aggressively, than most. There are many leaders in town who have worked very hard over the past few years to close the pill mills and battle addiction. They deserve credit- it is due. We have a ways to go, but the battle has begun, and I thank those who work tirelessly every day on the frontlines.
You have no shame, went away for a while but come back with your same masked ID and fluff.
And you still proclaim the USDA SOGP Gampp-Gate talking points and this time on the Health Coalition's talking points. You must be a city employee and post while you are on the city clock.
The heavy lifting was by the State and Fed's, not the local yokels who were but, as they usually are, groupies riding the coattails of the other productive and successful agencies just like they did on the Housing Demolition program that they were given and now the Community Development Dept will have to bail them out like the State and Fed's did on the PILL MILLS. They could not even compile a list of some 200 or more parcels, etc.
And on the New Health Coalition, they have no shame and are advertising for their groups to come forward so they can groupie them and ride their waves like the SSU, SOMC, et al. What does the Health Department do besides exchange needles. We don't get any eaterie inspections reports like in a real city or town.
Give it up, Pep Korn, you've, like them, have lost all credibility. Have the sense enough to change your label, please, so it will at least take us a while to figure out it's you with your fluff and copy cat talking points.
There's loads of money poured into this county, but they have no Savvy. They just collect their salaries and perks with no accountability nor results, just living the life as professionals and leaders. Get you family out now.........