Fire at the Hoover plant
Smoke rises from windows of the historical building Andrew Falce Staff Writer
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n electrical fire broke out at the former Hoover plant Dec. 12, causing the building to evacuate and the hospitalization of one man. While working on renovations in the Hoover plant, a worker accidentally cut into an electrical wire, causing a small fire. The building was swiftly evacuated, leaving only the worker who cut the wire injured. According to the Canton Repository, the
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man was later moved to Akron Children’s Hospital with second and third-degree burns. Although the fire was contained, the man, an unnamed worker, was burnt badly, according to North Canton Fire Department Chief John Bacon. “[After cutting the wire], the worker was caught on fire,” Bacon said. “His clothes were ignited by the electrical fire.” Once the fire began, attention was turned to the smoke bellowing out of the windows; as a result, part of Maple Street was shut down to allow easier access to the Hoover building. Hoover High School sophomore Cameron Bowen was an eyewitness. “I think the situation was handled as efficiently as possible,” he said. “Within minutes, most firefighters were already going into the building ready to stop the fire.” The damage to the
iconic former Hoover plant was kept to a minimum due to the fast response of North Canton’s fire department. According to Bacon, the fire was contained within 20 minutes. Even though the fire inside of the building was dealt with, many of the workers from inside of the building were confused when they were pulled from their workspace. The confusion made its way to the bystanders as well. “The high school [students] I saw were almost in shock as they saw the smoke coming out of the iconic building of North Canton,” Bowen said. The unnamed worker was following all of the standard protocol, yet one small, accidental mistake caused this fire to erupt in the former Hoover plant, Bowen said. “The company [of the worker] is pretty safety conscientious,” he said. “It was just an oversight. They were doing everything right; it was just a freak accident.” n (from top) Smoke emits from the second story windows of the Hoover plant. n Ambulances and firefighters responded quickly to the fire. The fire occurred Dec. 12. PHOTOS BY CAMERON BOWEN
Fixing a ‘broken’ system
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s the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States reaches over 11 million, Congressional stalemate has halted the progress of immigration reform. Legal reform for the United States’ immigration crisis now lies in the hands of President Obama. Approximately one year ago, optimism was high for bipartisan legislation to be passed on immigration reform. As the year progressed, the cooperation for a comprehensive plan ceased to be a priority and was thus tabled. “It was a compromise, but it reflected common sense,” Obama said. “It would have doubled the number of border patrol agents, while giving undocumented
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immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they paid a fine, started paying their taxes, and went to the back of the line. And independent experts said that it would help grow our economy and shrink our deficits.” The President was forced to turn to alternative means in order to achieve progress in immigration reform. While addressing the nation on Nov. 20, 2014, President Obama outlined his plan to utilize a Presidential memorandum to achieve immediate results in
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Zachary Esber Staff Writer
NEWS
Obama’s immigration plan could shield millions
Presidency and Congress. “With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek,” Boehner said. “And as I told the President yesterday, he is damaging the presidency itself.” Following the announcement, confusion spread on the exact details of the President’s actions. Cleveland Immigration attorney, Margaret W. Wong, Esq, explained some of the effects of the Presidential memorandum. “The changes that Obama announced won’t take effect until 2015,” Wong said. “The Obama administration estimates that about 4 million people will be eligible for some sort of relief, either through DACA[Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] or DAPA[Deferred Action for Parental Accountability].” President Obama emphasized in his speech the necessity to help a group of people that make up a large portion of our nation while ensuring that his actions were warranted. “What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will,” Obama said. n
Our nation’s immigration system is broken and I think we need to work together to fix it. solving the immigration problem. The proposed plan included the following: adding additional resources for law enforcement personnel so that they could spot common areas of illegal crossings, making it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to the economy, and creating a citizenship pathway for some of the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in the country. Following the President’s announcement, opposition grew amongst several members of Congress. On Nov. 21, 2014, Speaker of the House, John Boehner expressed that immigration reform was necessary but that President Obama had overstepped his boundaries. “Our nation’s immigration system is broken and I think we need to work together to fix it,” Boehner said. “But fixing it starts with a commitment to working through the democratic process and enforcing the laws that the President is sworn faithfully to execute.” Speaker Boehner emphasized that unilateral action was counterproductive in creating a trusting relationship between the
(from top) President Obama addresses community leaders in Chicago to discuss executive actions he took on immigration Nov. 25. n An immigration protester disrupts Obama’s speech. PHOTOS COURTESY OF E. JASON WAMBSGANS/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS/MCT
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