Friday, January 28, 2022

Ben Roethlisberger Officially Retires And is Now Eligible For Enshrinement In The Pro Football Hall Of Fame In 2027.


 

Ben Roethlisberger is done playing in the NFL after 18 seasons. He officially announced his retirement yesterday, Thursday 27, 2022.
 
That makes Big Ben eligible for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2027.
 
The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback officially announced his retirement in a social media post, bringing to an end an 18-year career – the longest of any quarterback who played with only one team – that included two Super Bowl titles and six Pro Bowl selections.
 
"The time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats, and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children,” Roethlisberger said in the video. “I retire from football a truly grateful man.”
 
Ben grew up in Findlay, Ohio, about two hours outside of Cleveland, and attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had the 11th overall pick, in the 2004 draft.
 
The Steelers never had a losing season, over an 18-year span, while Roethlisberger was the starting quarterback.
 
Roethlisberger leaves the game as the longest tenured player in franchise history. He played more seasons and appeared in more games than any other Steeler.
Big Ben, who is 39-years-old, led the Steelers to 165 regular season victories; that ranks fifth all-time in NFL history.
 
Roethlisberger's signature, though, was his ability to perform in clutch situations. Only Manning (54) had more game-winning drives than Roethlisberger (53), and only Manning (43) and Brady (42) had more fourth-quarter comebacks (41).
 
Big Ben's postseason performance ranked among the most prolific in NFL history. His 13 playoff victories rank as seventh best and his 5,972 postseason passing yards are third most; trailing only Brady and Manning.
.
Only four quarterbacks have more Super Bowl rings, including Terry Bradshaw.
After missing several games throughout his career due to injury, the most serious incident was in 2019 when Roethlisberger sustained an elbow injury in Week 2 which necessitated season-ending surgery. He returned the following year and led Pittsburgh to an 11-0 start, but the Steelers faltered and lost four of their final five regular-season contests. They went to the playoffs in the the wild-card round and fell to Cleveland, it was a rare loss to the Browns.
 
Big Ben chalked up a 26-3-1 career record against the Browns, including a 26-14 win at the end of this season.
 
Roethlisberger completed his 57th game-winning drive (including playoffs) in the Week 18 OT victory over the Ravens; only Tom Brady, with 67, has more.
 
In the Wildcard Playoff game loss to the Chiefs, Ben Roethlisberger passed Brett Favre and Joe Montana to move into 3rd place on the NFL's all-time playoff passing yards list.
 
Ben Roethlisberger walking onto the field long reminded me of John Wayne appearing in a scene in a Western movie. He might be injured, his team might be down, but there was always the possibility that something remarkable would happen. 
 
The final chapter of Big Ben's NFL football story will be written in Canton in 2027.
 
There are people, we know, who choose to focus not on what Ben Roethlisberger did as a football player, but rather incidents which occurred in his personal life, early in his NFL career. So, let's touch on that to close.

In March 2010, Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault by a 20-year-old college student at a Georgia bar. Prosecutors declined to file charges, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the quarterback under the league's personal conduct policy. An initial ban of six games was later reduced to four. 

What I see here is, "Prosecutors declined to file charges."

Roethlisberger faced a civil lawsuit the previous July from a Nevada hotel employee who accused him of rape. The two settled in January 2012.

Here, I see the word rape, which people who hate Pittsburgh, the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger pounce on, I see the phrase "civil lawsuit" and I see that they settled. Nowhere do you see the word police, charged, trial, convicted, or guilty. End of story.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Snow And Freezing Temperatures Result In A Dramatic Decrease In The Number of New Covid-19 Cases In Ohio!


 So, as it turns out, a week of snow, as much as a foot in one storm, and freezing temperatures, dipping below zero, result in a significant decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Ohio.

Ohio had not reported less than 10,000 new Covid-19 cases since December 27, 2021.

Sunday, January 23, 2022, Ohio Department of Health reported 9,932 new Covid-19 cases, 74 new hospitalizations, and 6 new ICU admissions.

Yesterday, Monday, January 24, ODH reported 9,774 new Covid-19 cases in Ohio, 300 new hospitalizations, and 26 new ICU admissions.

1,065 new Covid-19 deaths were reported in Ohio last week.

Through 24 days in January, 2022, the state of Ohio has reported 499,854 new Covid-19 cases. An average of 20,827.25 per day.

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Our Social Media "Civic Integrity", "Zero Tolerance" Policy

 

Re: Enforcement of McCunications Media's "Civic Integrity", "Zero Tolerance" policy, on our Stark County, Ohio News and Views... Facebook and other social media pages.
 
There are, by far, more good people in Stark County, Ohio than there are bad.
 
 
People who are passionate about our community; who act responsibly with concern for the greater good; who are caring, giving of their time, effort, and dollars; we have patriots who put country before party, who stand in defense of our Democracy and the Constitution of the United States.
 
These are the people we publish for.
 
The problem we have in this community, though, is that we have people who are the human equivalent of Cancer.
 
 People who are self-centered; perpetually negative; ignorant; ill-mannered; inconsiderate of others; uncivil; disrespectful; hostile; insulting; argumentative; hateful; and mean.
 
Yes, Stark County is burdened by people who are dishonest; Coronavirus Deniers; racists; bigots; people who have poisoned the well, who are willfully ignorant, who parrot lies, who perpetuate conspiracy theories, who seek to make civil discourse all but impossible, who attack relentlessly; all while supporting a self-promoting, dishonest, unprepared, incompetent political neophyte, who preached a failed philosophy of elitism, of division, of exclusion, of hate, all while seeking to undermine the very core of our Democracy.
 
Stark County, Ohio News and Views... informs, educates, influences and inspires; we promote Stark County; we curate news which impacts our community.
 
 
Trolling of our Facebook page by fans and random strangers alike (beginning on or about March 11, 2020) has necessitated the permanent removal, banning of people who are on the wrong side of a culture war. People previously mentioned who represent the worst of our society
 
Thus, our Facebook page will never return to what it was, prior to March 11, 2020. In fact, the moderators and I will be even less tolerant of the inappropriate behaviors described above.
 
As of today, February 4, 2021, this action officially has a name... Enforcement of McCunications Media's "Civic Integrity", " Zero Tolerance" policy.

Beginning today and forever more we will function in a manner to fulfill our mission, to advance our cause and to oppose those who wish to be an obstacle. 
 
To those of you who have supported our effort over the past 13 years and you who will support in the future, THANK YOU.
 
Management
McCunications Media Network

Monday, January 4, 2021

Stark County, Ohio News and Views..., Our Story, 13 Years

 

When I first published a Stark County, Ohio News and Views... blogspot post, on January 5, 2008, I gave little to no thought about a long-term future.

I'd been a working writer for 32 years and was taking pictures for longer than that; I had 22 years of marketing experience, was involved in digital marketing since AOL began sending out floppy disks; and I had a decade of management experience, including retail management, area management, and corporate marketing management.

The Great Recession had hit Northeast Ohio hard. Stark County was portrayed negatively in both regional and national media; I saw a need to spread the word about the community I knew. To show what made it special, why I chose it to be my home.

Blogging was referred to as "new media" at that time, and I'd been publishing for approximately six years. 

So I launched the Stark County, Ohio News and Views… blog, followed by a Facebookpage approximately six months later, knowing one thing, it's impossible to satisfy, let alone please, everyone.

I was also aware that however positive your attitude, whatever kind thing you might do, large or small, for whomever, whenever, however often, you'd be portrayed as an asshole in someone's story.

In no time at all, my beliefs were confirmed.

It took some time, but the blog and the Facebook page each found their way, and we developed a following.

The more traffic the blog attracted, eventually 1,100+ visits daily, and the more fans LIKED our Facebook page, a high of 21,689, the more individuals, businesses, and organizations wanted FREE publicity.

We weren't asked for publicity. About the time our Facebook following reached 1,000 fans, people began to demand FREE publicity. Which I didn’t understand then and don’t understand now.

It was expected that I would allow people to post their content on our Facebook page. Invariably it was a person who was not a fan of the page, they had never thumbed a post, and they had never written a comment that was doing the posting.

These people not only failed to support our publications; they did not donate a penny. But I ran "the" Stark County Facebook page, and they felt that since they were physically located in Stark County, it was necessary for me to provide them with REE publicity.

Eventually I eliminated the option for people to be able to post on our page.

There was a time that I thought the only reason to have a Facebook page was to support our blog.

Then my dad had open-heart surgery and the year that followed was a rollercoaster ride. My brother and I eventually convinced our parents to move to a senior citizen apartment. A few years later, my dad began to decline, was in and out of the hospital and, eventually, with little warning, he passed away. A few months after that, my mother developed breast cancer, within a year, we lost her.

When my dad had open-heart surgery, I began to make more frequent trips to Southwest Pennsylvania for visits. As his health worsened, I went more regularly, and then when my mother was ill, I would visit weekly or at least a couple of times a month.

Blogging became less important; other things became a priority and required time. Consequently, I was blogging less frequently and eventually stopped. But I kept the Facebook page going.

Through the first 12 years of publishing Stark County, Ohio News and Views..., there were minor disagreements, occasional disputes, and every now and then an attempted character assassination.

I've made enemies. Because I was not willing to have people take advantage of me. I did not believe that people who had no investment should tell me what I should or should not publish. I've never believed that I should live my life in a manner someone else wants to impose upon me.

I've also made enemies because I refused to provide individuals, businesses, and organizations with FREE publicity.

You learn a lot about people who don't get what they want. People hold grudges. And when one person gets on Facebook to complain, old enemies join in to form a chorus.

There was a relatively short period of time when seeing people tell their versions of stories, which I knew were untrue, when I saw them posting lies about me, when they went out of their way to try to damage my reputation, hurt my feelings and made me angry. Those days are long past. And the people who know me, the people who actually matter, have always known the things being said were untrue.

Running Stark County, Ohio News and Views...requires the work of a dozen people. I do that work alone.

People over the years occasionally have commented that I have "the best job". Until they find out I do it for FREE. Supported only by sponsorships and donations, both being rare.

Of course, people think it's "a" job, not an enterprise which would keep 12 people working full-time constantly busy.

So, yes, I do strategize, I do plan, I do review and evaluate. But I've never made a priority of creating policies and making rules.

I've said it time and time again for many years, decades in fact: never expect members of the general public to be reasonable.

There will always be someone who does something which is not explicitly covered by a policy or a rule.

For the first 12 years of publishing Stark County, Ohio News and Views... a "no politics" policy was sufficient. Someone, rarely, would write a comment, inappropriate for our forum, I'd reply "we don't do politics on this page" and that would be the end of it. No argument.

Nothing prepared me for 2020.

I ran this page through the 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns. We made no comment, took no positions and had no political arguments.

Democrats took control of the House of Representatives; no comment was made on this page and there were no political arguments.

Donald Trump was impeached; no comment was made on this page and there were no political arguments.

For more than 10 years I ran contests, giving away hundreds of prizes from Stark County businesses and restaurants.

I paid for the prizes far more often than businesses provided them. There were people would complain that they entered contests and didn't win, as though everyone could get something for free. For some people, I learned, you just can’t do enough; you can never do enough; for some people it’s all about them.

Looking back, I’m happy that through all that there were no political arguments.

I lived in Stark County for 10 years before I started blogging about it. I was aware that there were communities with a "reputation", but I didn't know until 2020 how many racists reside here. The level of hate is unmanageable.

I hadn't thought about Russia, or any other foreign power, interfering in a presidential election.

I'd followed politics since the age of 8, 48 years, and I never imagined I'd see a United States president less qualified and less capable than George W. Bush, more dishonest than Richard Nixon, and a greater failure than anyone who had ever held the office.

How would I manage content in my blog and social media channels with a president who behaved in turns like a mob boss, a cult leader, and a mental patient? 

I never thought about a worldwide Pandemic occurring in my lifetime. As Novel Coronavirus burned across the country and residents of Stark County were diagnosed with Covid-19 I struggled with the question of how to cover it.

With Novel Coronavirus spreading across the country and being diagnosed in Stark County, I was left to face issues immediately, which I had never given a thought. How would I cover it?

These were question I never considered before March, 2020.

I had to decide, immediately, how I would handle Donald Trump's militant, emboldened, single-minded, often angry and abusive, robot-like supporters who followed his direction like members of a cult.

Keep in mind that I'd said nothing about Donald Trump on this page during the year he ran for office, with Russia's help, or during the previous three years he'd been in office. Nor had anyone else talked about Trump on our page.

I recognized when news of Novel Coronavirus began to circulate that it was entirely a health issue. 

No matter how Donald Trump responded to the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic and Covid -19, no matter how he encouraged his cult-like followers to engage in a culture war, my decision was firm, and my course was set. It was a health crisis, not a political issue, and that is how I would handle it.

But, here’s the thing. It was impossible to talk about the federal government’s handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic without mentioning Trump. No matter how much effort I made to be apolitical, members of Trump’s red hat cult seized upon the opportunity to accuse me of taking a political stand any time I mentioned Trump.

Next came the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. Black Lives Matter protests occurred throughout the nation, including cities across Ohio. Demonstrators marched in Canton.

Social Justice joined the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic at the top of the nation's agenda. Along with the economy, which was crumbling. 

Trump, who is a racist and a supporter of Nazis, attacked and his cult following gave their full support.

I'd always believed in giving people their say on this page, whether they were fans or random visitors. I would welcome a thoughtful conversation, a good debate, constructive criticism. 

It had been my policy for years that I would not permanently remove people from Stark County, Ohio News and Views... unless they were posting false information, if they were insulting, if they attacked, if they were argumentative and/or SPAMMING.

You can’t have a reasonable, rationale conversation with a member of a cult. Like Trump, they lack humanity, are not self-aware, they are neither empathetic or compassionate.

Members of the cult supporting and working on behalf of Donald Trump's campaign made this page a culture war battlefield.

Over a four-month period it was necessary to permanently remove an average of 200 fans per week, a total in excess of 3,000. Eventually the number of fans removed from the page would be more than 5,000 and, in addition to that, it was necessary to ban more than 5,000 random people who came to the page for no reason other than trolling.

It was, needles to say, a difficult proposition when I’d spent 13 years building an audience.

Eventually, it was no longer necessary to remove people in larger numbers. There might be one person a day who had to be removed, some days there might be a dozen. As time went on there were days when no trolls would appear on the page.

The culture war went on through the remainder of Trump’s time in the White House. But, the culture war on our page was brought to ana end. Actively banning of trolls has stopped any reemergence.

To our fans who participate, responding to our posts, respectfully, whether you agree or not, THANK YOU. To those of you who are supportive and helpful, I am grateful.

To the individuals, near and far, the businesses, the organizations and the visitors who travel to our community, all who use Stark County, Ohio News and Views... as a resource, THANK YOU.

www.StarkCountyOhio.org is our blog address. 

We accept (and appreciate) any donation of $1 or more. Just click the button in the too right corner of the page (below the cover photo).

Sponsorships are available for $100 per month or $600 per year.

That’s our story, with a few edits made on October 16, 2021.

 Tony, Publisher and Chief Executive

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Trolling Is Prohibited In Our Social Media Community

 

 We want to grow our Stark County, Ohio News and Views... Facebook fan page (that is, to build our community); our goal, at this point, is to reach 23,456 LIKES (fans).

 More important than adding fans, though, is having civil discourse and eliminating negativity. It should not be necessary to police the behavior of adults, but, sad to say, it is.

We will not tolerate uncivil behavior. Whether you agree or disagree with what we post is irrelevant

We ask little of you, to remain on the page.

 Be respectful, be honest, don't be insulting, don't be argumentative and comment on topic. No politicking Keep your anger off our page. Spamming is, of course, prohibited.

If you’re unable or unwilling to function as a responsible member of our community, you can remove yourself or we will remove you.

Removing people from the page who behave in this manner is inconsequential, we understand.

Because those people don’t care about being part of the community anyway. But, they're the human equivalent of Cancer and we don’t want our page to be infected.

We’d rather have fewer people on the page who are interested in and dedicated to promoting Stark County than a whole lot more people who are simply bad human beings.

 This should be perfectly clear and need no interpretation.

In conclusion, some people ask “Why am I seeing political posts on this page”. You’re not. Others say, “I thought this page was supposed to be free of politics". It is.

We’re apolitical.

We curate news, from Columbus, Washington and the presidential campaign trail which affects Stark County.

Donald Trump or Joe Biden appearing in a post, related to the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, Black Lives Matter, or other social issues, does not make it political.

You need not agree with our editorial decisions, but, really, there's no good reason to complain. Scroll by or unlike the page. 

 That's it.

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Goodyear Blimp Flyover Honors Healthcare Workers

Goodyear Blimp Flyover Honors Healthcare Workers

 

Goodyear Blimp by Anthony McCune, Stark County, Ohio News and Views

The Goodyear Blimp is flying over Stark County today, to salute our community's healthcare workers. Sites visited included Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center.

We were able to catch Goodyear's Wingfoot Three blimp cruising over Massillon/Jackson Township!

Goodyear Blimp by Anthony McCune, Stark County, Ohio News and Views

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Welcome to Stark County, Ohio News and Views...


Stark County, Ohio Courthouse Bell Tower, photograph by Anthony McCune

Stark County, Ohio News and Views... is a pioneer. It was the first community-based blog dedicated to promoting Stark County, beginning January 5, 2008.

Our Stark County, Ohio News and Views... Facebook page has has been online since May 19, 2010.

Stark County, Ohio is a great place to live, an enjoyable place to visit and a productive place to do business; that's what we focus on. We're not in the bad news business.

Our "coverage area" includes, but is not limited to, Canton, the county seat, Hartville and Uniontown in the Northern portion of the county, Massillon and Canal Fulton in the West, Sugarcreek, Wilmot, Magnolia and Waynesburg in the Southern part of the country and Minerva and Alliance in the West.

You won't see any news releases published here; we only run original content including photographs.

Stark County, Ohio News and Views... is a resource for lifelong residents and visitors, as well as companies considering Northeast Ohio as a business location.

We proudly serve as a showcase for the best of what Stark County, Ohio has to offer. At the same time we seek to shine a spotlight on the lesser known hidden gems in the community.

President John F. Kennedy is well known for using the expression "a rising tide lifts all boats". In that spirit, Stark County, Ohio News and Views... serves as a vehicle to promote our community as well as a small business advocate and an economic development engine.

Stark County, Ohio News and Views... is self funded, the marquee publication of the McCunications Media Network.

While donations are accepted, and sponsorships are available, we do not sell advertising and "good reviews" are not for sale; not in our blog nor our social media channels including Facebook, StarkCountyOH on Twitter and stark_county_ohio on Instagram.

Stark County, Ohio News and Views... welcomes opportunities to work with organizations such as the Canton Stark County Convention & Visitors Bureau aka Visit Canton, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Massillon WestStark Chamber of Commerce, Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce, Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bellbrook Sugarcreek Chamber of Commerce; as well as the Canton Repository, the newspaper of record in Stark County.

You can reach Stark County, Ohio News and Views... by emailing StarkCountyReporter@gmail.com.