Wednesday, August 17th, 2022
DeWine reads to kids at fair
Governor praises state's economic development
By William Kincaid
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Governor Mike DeWine reads "The Little Engine That Could" to children at the Mercer County Fairgrounds on Tuesday morning.
CELINA - Ohio is a state on the move as illustrated by chipmaker Intel's commitment to invest $20 billion to build new factories in the state, said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday.
DeWine visited the Mercer County Fair to promote Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio by reading "The Little Engine That Could" to children and presenting a program overview with Celina Rotarians.
The Republican governor also took the moment to tout positive economic development in Ohio and afterward shared his thoughts on school safety, the threat to law enforcement and other hot button topics with the newspaper.
Intel earlier this year announced plans to construct two factories on a 1,000-acre site in Licking County, just east of Columbus, that are expected to create 3,000 company jobs - many of them highly skilled - and 7,000 construction jobs. The facility will support tens of thousands of additional jobs for suppliers and partners.
"It's going to impact, I believe, every county in the state," DeWine told the newspaper.
The new plants will generate not only thousands of jobs but ancillary businesses to meet the chipmaker's manufacturing needs, DeWine said, adding that the effect will be "huge."
"Intel said they expected 35 new suppliers that are now outside the state to come into Ohio. We think that will happen," he said.
Furthermore, Intel's commitment shows that Ohio is open for business, DeWine insisted.
"Intel picked Ohio. We've had no history of making chips so it sends a signal to the rest of the country that, 'Hey, there's something going on in Ohio,'" DeWine said. "We've got low cost of living. We've got low cost of doing business compared to other states."
Additionally, Ohio is centrally located within a day's drive to 60% of the nation's population, DeWine said.
"We keep our infrastructure up. Our highways are, compared to other states, in good shape. We have an abundance of water and our taxes are the lowest they've been for individual taxes in 40 years, and we have a predictable business climate," DeWine said.
A number of businesses in various sectors have since contacted state officials, something they probably wouldn't have done were it not for the publicity arising from Intel's investment in Ohio, DeWine noted.
"And we're not going to get all these companies but if we can get them in the door looking at us .. we'll get more than our fair share," he said.
DeWine said the lesson learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the United States needs to manufacture its own products.
"And we can't rely on China to make all that stuff. We've got to make stuff here," he said.
Ohio can benefit from manufacturing coming back ashore.
"Mercer County is a great agricultural county but also in this part of the state, as you know, we've got a lot of manufacturing. So there's a lot of good things going on," DeWine told Rotarians.
However, it's imperative that Ohio produces a well-trained and educated workforce to meet the demands of business.
"Our biggest challenge is to making sure that we lose nobody, that nobody gets left behind," DeWine said about Ohioans making the most of vocational and educational opportunities.
"We'll pay a company for training their own employees as long as it's industry recognized," he said. "We've had over 40,000 Ohioans who've taken advanced of that since we took office."
That goes for both recent high school graduates and mid-career workers.
"The technology is changing quickly and they may not have the skill sets but we've got to get them the skill sets so they can either advance, move up. So it really boils down to education in a very broad sense," he said.
With that, DeWine pivoted to the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio. The library, according to DeWine's office, has enrolled 343,490 kids, totaling 48% of eligible kids within Ohio. It mails kids one high-quality, age-appropriate book each month until they turn 5. All Ohio children - from birth to age 5 - are eligible to be enrolled in the program at no cost to their family, his office said.
DeWine said a child's brain is 80% developed by age 3.
"So reaching these kids early on and getting them so that they will start kindergarten and be at least familiar with books, have books in the house," he said.
The program is financed through the Dolly Parton foundation, the state Legislature and local partners, DeWine said.
"All we have to do, really, is raise the money and give (the foundation) the names and they plug it into their system and they take care of the rest," he said. "What they charge us is $2.10 per book and that's including the postage. So it's just an amazing, amazing, amazing program. It works exceedingly well."
Mercer County has roughly 60% of age-eligible children enrolled in the program.
"So you're one of the top counties of the entire state. We no longer, though, have a (local) sponsor in the county and so we're looking for a new sponsor," he said.
Mercer County District Library fully endorses the program, said library director Elizabeth Muether.
"We support anything that gets books in kids' hands and our hope is that this would ignite a passion for reading in kids," she said, adding once they turn 5 they can get their library card and take out as many books as they want.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Gov. Mike DeWine reads "The Little Engine That Could" to children at the Mercer County Fairgrounds on Tuesday with help from Mercer County District Library Director Elizabeth Muether. At left, Dolly Parton in cardboard cut-out.
DeWine on Tuesday also addressed pressing state and national news.
He said he has great concern for law enforcement amid an attempt by an armed man who tried to breach the FBI's Cincinnati office and intense rhetoric nationwide.
"When a police agency including a federal agency, FBI, is attacked it should be of grave concern to all of us," he said. "It's tough to be in law enforcement any normal day. For many reasons and many thing that are going on in society today it's even tougher than it's ever been before."
Asked about school safety in Ohio, DeWine said state funds are intended to help schools put into place basic security measures. But ultimately, it is incumbent on local officials to have a plan ready to enact.
This year, DeWine and state legislators partnered to increase the K-12 school safety grant program by an additional $100 million with support from the American Rescue Plan Act, according to his office.
Grants are intended to pay for security upgrades that enhance the safety of students and staff.
"What I've seen is everybody's taking this seriously and everybody is trying to work within their school," he said. "Our job is to help with technical expertise and money."
The most important part of school safety is the people in the building and a well developed plan, one that is practiced and coordinated with local law enforcement and mental health providers, DeWine said.
"We will help them with a plan. That's part of what our school safety office now does. We will help them with a plan," he said.
- The Associated Press contributed to this story
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Governor Mike DeWine chats with kids while reading to them at the Mercer County Fairgrounds on Tuesday morning.
