Readers’ Column for the week of Oct. 26, 2014

You may call the Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or e-mail comments to readerscolumn@stny.rr.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message.

I appreciate the fact that the Village of Spencer police officer wants to keep the school children safe while crossing the street to school. I don’t understand why the school doesn’t just hire a crossing guard for a couple of hours to watch the problem areas. It would have to be much cheaper than having the police officer drive the Village patrol car from Horseheads (where the car is kept) to Spencer and sit in the driveway waiting for someone to drive over a crosswalk and not yield to a pedestrian. Cheaper yet would be to place a portable stop sign like they have in Owego and other Towns. Most of the time you cant see the crosswalks anyway.
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This is to the person who complained about the Candor Town Barn. Have you ever been in that building? Well I have. My first time was ten years ago, and my observation was the SWISS CHEESE WALLS! The heating unit was up in the back of the building and above the trucks, which from my understanding old heating oil was being used to heat the building, and the garage doors had a space between the floor and the door. I don’t feel these men and women should have to freeze during the winter. Do you think they should? They get up around 3 a.m. in the morning to plow the roads, which you probably travel on, right? Should they go into a freezing building? Would you? They have redone this building to update safety, insulate walls, install a new bathroom with a shower in case of a chemical spill, and a new bay to fix the town trucks if maintenance is needed. You could have attended the town meeting and stated your thoughts. Maybe the town saved the money for this project. For the school, what’s wrong with fixing the bus garage up? Most of the ATV ‘s ride a little on the street to get to the town roads, which they are able to ride on. I want to thank the Town Board for fixing the Town Barn up! It was time for a change in that building!
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At the Oct. 9 OACSD BOE meeting the District’s Certified Public Account presented the 2014 Financial Statement. This documents more financial malfeasance. The percentage of annual expenditures going to employee benefits jumped from 34 percent to 38 percent. This is real money! Fully 4 percent more of the District budget has been transferred from benefiting students to the best employee compensation package in the Southern Tier. This is not to say there shouldn’t be employee benefits, however, students come first!  This trend shall only accelerate pursuant to the District’s current union contract terms. Our BOE needs to look at what Vestal is doing to stand up to their teachers union. In 2008, 22 percent of the actual budget went to employee benefits, today 38 percent. In 2008 the Superintendent and BOE signed the OA Employees Union contract Article 5.2 healthcare giveaway program. It shows.
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I had to laugh because it wouldn’t do any good to cry. The person in Candor who is urging people to vote “no” on the school capital project apparently does not read very well. The school is hosting an information meeting for the community to ask questions, then there will be a public hearing on the matter, and then the community gets to vote. How can you possibly say that the school is trying to go behind our backs with this project? I don’t work at the school, nor do I have any relatives who do, but I can read. And why are suddenly in favor of fixing the old bus garage when it sounds like you voted no when that was the option several years ago? It would actually cost MORE to fix the old bus garage! Some people just like to pull the NO lever without bothering to attend meetings, ask questions, and make informed decisions.
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Lo and behold. “W” was correct! There WERE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and there still ARE! Only difference now is that Isis has them in their possession. Could it be because our “Dear Leader” was so intent on satisfying his low information base that he pulled troops out of Iraq way before they should have been? If generals, military leaders, who actually KNOW what to do, had been listened to, instead of the low information voter, this would never have happened! Keystone Cops in action once again!
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I read in this column that someone who moved to the Spencer area five years ago has had his or her Spencer-Van Etten taxes go from $600 to $1,500. Schools have to publish their tax levy history. Makes checking up on this very easy. For the 2010-11 school year the S-VE tax levy was $5,591K. For 2014-15 (five years later) it is $6,552K, the increase thus being 17.18 percent. So a $600 tax bill should have grown to $703. Even measuring from 10 years ago when the levy was $4,640K, the increase is 41.2 percent, meaning a $600 bill 10 years ago (not five) would have grown to $847. Both increases are far from the $1,500 claimed as the new amount. So the Spencer person’s problem lies elsewhere, not with their school district.
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HALLOWEEN is coming. This is a reminder to all trick or treaters and parents – only those houses with an OUTDOOR light on are prepared to hand out treats. If there are no outdoor lights on, please be considerate and just walk on by. There are several legit reasons for not participating. Thank you for using your manners and showing respect to all.
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We, the taxpayers of the state of New York, will provide fiscal support for governmental services available to employees of businesses certified by and participating in START UP NY. Services will also be available to families. “Businesses participating in START UP NY Will pay NO TAXES for 10 years? VOTE!
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This is concerning the public transportation buses. I know the county legislation says we have until November and they are going to shut it down, but I also understand that First Transit out of Horseheads owns the contract partially with the counties. I was wondering what their statement is about the bus company being done with at the end of November. Maybe the public needs to band together and demand an answer from First Transit who actually holds the contract, what are their plans to run forward to save the public bus system here in Tioga County.
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Three cheers for President Obama! He gave up a $10,000 a plate fundraiser to fly back to do his job and no, it’s not playing more golf or basketball. Obama or his hand picked stooges like the CDC director, both botched the Ebola crisis but no one in his administration is ever responsible for any grave mistake. Obama will not impose a commercial travel ban on West African countries until public opinion forces him to. Better late than never!
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News flash. Guess who Obama just appointed as Ebola czar? He is a lawyer, not a doctor. He is another democrat hack and get this, he was Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff. God help us all!
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Today is Sunday, Oct. 19, and I saw the first snow flurries of the season this morning up here on the hill. I just wanted to thank this column for posting my several call-ins in regards to social security. I will be starting a blog very soon to address my particular situation and I think what could potentially be a lot of other people’s situations like myself. I have cancer and I have not been able to work for over a year now and just as a clarification, this past year I am living off my own savings. I was one of the persons who did put money into a 401K, and I do have a pretty strong IRA. I have not asked for any public assistance in this entire time. I’m living off my own money. I still think that it is completely wrong that through my cancer and through my pain that I cannot get my own money back. I will be starting a blog and I will be fighting this. Again, this is the fight of my life and I have to say when my own money runs out and they tell me that I don’t qualify for my own money to be given back to me in my time of need, I can honestly say I won’t pay property taxes. I won’t pay school taxes. I won’t pay insurance, I won’t pay any of it and I know where I can get three meals every day, they will keep me warm in the winter and cool in the summer, everything will be provided to me and there’s only one place that can be done. So if you force someone to fall out of society to the point where there’s no place else to turn, that’s what turns people the wrong direction. I invite others to join me in this and voice their own frustrations of the whole system. Wish me luck in my fight. I’m going to fight it all the way to a federal court because it is my money that was taken away from me and was supposed to be there for my time of need and their telling me I haven’t suffered enough. They just want me to die, that’s how the system was built, they just want you to die and some family member will get $250 and the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was collected on your behalf, you will never see nor will anyone else that you know.
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A big thanks to the workers who take such great care of Hickories Park, the Vestal Rail Trail and Otsiningo Park. It’s a pleasure to walk in all of these parks. Thank you!
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To what level has politics in this country sunken? There was a time when people running for political office got up and stated their position on things. They stated their qualifications for the job. They debated one another in an honest and fair method. Today, they’ve sunken down to the gutter. No, they’ve gone down into the sewer so that all they can do is see how much mud they can sling on their opponent, how much dirt they might be able to dig up on their opponent; even if it isn’t true they like to dig it up and sling it. Where have we sunken to in the political arena in this country? On a second note, there is a proposition on a ballot this year for the State of New York to borrow a $2 billion bond – that’s a billion with a B! For those of you who may not be aware, a bond is nothing more than a loan. They’re going to have to pay interest on this and by the time they pay it back it will probably amount to $3 billion. My god, when are we going to stop this wild borrowing and spending? If you don’t have the money for it, you don’t do it. Just like we do at home. The taxpayers are the ones that are going to have to pay back this $2 billion, which is really close to $3 billion in the long run. I just don’t know where it’s all going to end. They seem to think that our pockets have no bottom to them.
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I agree, the village sewer rates are wrong. It’d be very easy for people to supply a reading to the village each quarter for their sewer bills to be based like they used to be, on usage. To be billed for the number of potential occupants in your building is wrong. It could also just be based on how many meters are hooked to your building.
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I just read the comment about where all of the lottery money is going. It’s not going to the school districts because it’s going into the general fund, and it’s being used by our corrupt politicians in any area that they want.
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I am looking for a one bedroom downstairs apartment in Owego that would possibly accept a small dog. Please call me at 349-9657.
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I’ve been noticing these new buses we bought for the Owego Apalachin School. I would guess it’s 60 passenger, but why do they have just one child in them?
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A recent letter to the editor by an Owego official speaks of the promise under Tom Reed in Congress. He speaks of prosperity and freedom ahead. The only prosperity under Tom Reed that I see is a replication of food pantries, articles in papers about the need for food, neighbors going hungry, solicitations in the mail to pay for our hungry neighbors. If this is prosperity I hate to see what it means to be poor under Tom Reed. Give us a change. We need to have a reliable person representing us in Washington, not a clone of failed budget maestro Paul Ryan with his relentless attacks on those of us who are still lucky enough to remain in the middle class. Be sensible, vote for Martha Robertson on Nov. 4.
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News flash. A New York Times report indicates that George Bush, Tony Blair, the Intelligence Services of England, Germany and Russia were correct. Saddam Hussein in Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction at the Muthanna complex, which produced about 4,000 tons, that’s 4,000 tons of nerve agents like saran and sodium cyanide, a precursor used to make the nerve agent tabun. Part of the Muthanna complex was destroyed in the Iraq war, but guess who controls the complex now. Why it just happens to be Isis.
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This is the person in Berkshire that has the canoe missing. You can contact the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department if you have any information on the canoe. It would be appreciated. I agree with the guy in Richford who had his snow tires taken. There are people that come on your property even though your property’s not posted, and they think they’ve got the right to take anything they want. I hope someday it comes back to them full fold.
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Do to the increase of crime in and around the town of Richford we are starting a neighborhood watch program. Deputies from the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department will be coming out to teach us how to start this program. Please join us on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 6:45 p.m. at 13258 Route 38 in Richford. For more information call 259-3814. This is a free event open to all Town of Richford residents. Please come out and help keep our neighborhood safe.
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This message is to the guy who stole my ladder tree stand and new game camera on the game lands off of Anderson Hill road in the town of Richford. Did you ever hear of the hunting code where you don’t touch someone else’s equipment? There were no free signs on it. So what gave you the right to steal them? We have a description of you and your vehicle, so it’s only a matter of time when you will be caught and prosecuted. The police and DEC, as well as area residents are on the look out for you. Bring back the equipment from where you stole it from and I will call off the posse. Go buy your own equipment and quit stealing. Return my stuff!
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This is in response to last week’s comment about the Candor Capitol Improvement Project. The first issue is paying $725,000 for 16 acres of land. This breaks down to $45,312.50 an acre. There is no land in Candor worth that kind of money. This is an insult to the taxpayers. People are struggling to pay their taxes now. About Proposition 1, the last few sentences of the debt obligation of 19,500,000 will be a tax levy on the taxpayers in annual installments. We cannot afford this. Vote no on Proposition 1.
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Time for a change. Are you better off now, after a long 4-years of republican obstructionist control of a lawmaking U.S. House of Representatives? Republican Tom Reed’s voting record shows no real evidence of working across the aisle to benefit our middle class. Hyper-partisan battles in Washington hurt us here upstate and the future looks like more of the same without significant change. Voters do have a common sense choice. Martha Robertson is an experienced legislature who has demonstrated the valuable ability to get things done in a bipartisan environment. Add my voice to those who believe that now is the time for a change for the better. Vote for your future, vote for Martha Robertson on Nov. 4.
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An American grandmother was beheaded in Oklahoma and the Obama regime calls it workplace violence. Now terrorist thugs have murdered Canadians. You will see more of this tragedy in the U.S. because Obama refuses to secure our poorest borders – and he does not know that Muslim terrorists are at war, get it? War, with the U.S. It is ludicrous to call it workplace violence or senseless violence or spontaneous violence. It is WAR, get it? WAR! We need to massively attack and obliterate these terrorists, wherever they are found in the world.
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This is to the Candor school voters. I encourage you to vote no. You can even think about the fact that we will be taking a building and 20 acres off the tax roll and even if the school builds the bus garage you are getting one acre put back on. Vote no.
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More fire department controversy. If five people are making the decision to spend potentially millions of dollars on a new station, this is wrong. Let the voters decide if this is want they want for the town of Owego. Taxes will definitely go up. My name is David Bensley, and I approve this comment.
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Many elitists believe the world population is too high and should be decreased. The present administration in D.C. believes in never letting a crisis go to waste. What better way for our chief white house resident in training to keep borders open and do feel good measures by taking temperatures which many Ebola carriers do not exhibit, to allow Ebola to spread, killing hundreds or thousands while Obama smiles all the way to the golf course. Mission accomplished.
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After watching last night’s debate by the candidates of New York State for governor, I’ve got to say that Astorino is nothing but an obnoxious bully and that’s the way he’ll treat the people of New York State. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself. He’s power hungry and I pray that he doesn’t win.
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When is the Campville fire district going to be honest with the residents of North Owego? All we hear about is the fire trucks that will be made available with the new station being built. Fire calls are a very small portion of the calls covered by the village of Owego fire department contract. There are 300 to 400 medical emergency calls each year also in the north and south Owego areas. That’s quite a bit of coverage being received for $130 a year. About half of what Campville charges Apalachin to provide them with minimal medical support. Someone’s being very coy with the facts surrounding this whole endeavor. It really boils down to answering one basic question. Has the Owego fire department provided north and south Owego satisfactory fire and emergency coverage for the past 70 years? If the answer is yes, one would have to ask themselves why more buildings and higher taxes are being proposed. We really have to look at the emergency services as a key factor in this area. Owego has one of the finest emergency squads that I know of. Thank you Owego Fire Department for always responding quickly when we need you.
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This week I lost a small silver ring. It’s a Celtic knot with a garnet inside. I would appreciate if anyone finds it to please call 321-4707. Leave a message and let me know and I will call you. It’s a very sentimental piece and I would really love to have it back.
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A 22 percent town fire tax increase this year and a $1.1 million new fire station we don’t need to boot? What are they smoking?