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.
The Newark Valley Food Pantry would like to thank the Newark Valley Boy Scouts for the collection of food. They collected 1,307 lbs. for the food pantry. The people were very generous and we do thank them for that.
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We would like to thank the Corson family for their pig program. They raise the pigs, they arrange for people to bring their cans to the back of Fortunato’s and they are taken to Weitsman’s. They give the money to Ward and Van Scoy and they give it to Corson’s for feed for the pigs. When they are big enough they cut them up, package them, and bring them to the pantry. They have given us numerous pigs this year. What a great program, everybody is involved.
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Did you vote? The republicans are coming. They’re coming for your healthcare route and branch. They want to privatize your social security. They want to put your Medicare on a voucher system. They want no health choices for women. They want no pay equity, and forget the minimum wage. If you didn’t vote, shame on you for what you are going to get.
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In reference to the recent comments concerning the Apalachin fire station and boycotting the Apalachin Firemen’s Field Days. It’s quite evident that the caller doesn’t understand all of the facts involved. I would suggest a certain amount of research be done before they make comments such as they did.
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The lesson from this election is the voters want to stop nobama, otherwise the voters would have elected a democratic congress. Simple, get it? Republicans should produce bills which will greatly improved the economy and healthcare and then see if nobama wants to work with them, really work with them, for the good of the country or veto those bills. You guess which way this president will go.
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Attention Owego! If there’s too much mustard on your burger at your local fast food restaurant call the New York State Consumer Protection Agency, they’ll get right on it but don’t call them about your 200 percent increase in your village sewer bill. They’ll tell you it’s out of their jurisdiction. Just another waste of taxpayer money and time.
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I recently drove from my home in the Town of Tioga to the location of where they are planning to put the Town of Owego fire station. I’m not living in the Town of Owego, I have nothing to say about that. However, it took me eight minutes from my home to this new proposed fire station location. That included stops at traffic lights. It seems ridiculous that you want to build a fire station that’s less than 5 minutes from the Owego Fire Station. Are you nuts?
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News flash. Nobama has a new pen pal. No, it’s not Hillary. It’s the Iranian Iatola. It seems nobama sent a secret message to Iran about a month ago. He wants to cozy up to Iran and help them defeat Isis in return for a really lousy agreement on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. What can nobama foul up next?
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The last of the 59 blue dog conservative democrats bit the dust during the last election. That is too bad. That leaves the democrat party in the hands of Marxists, Communists and Progressives like Obama. It does not look good for America during the next two years. The only viable candidate the democrats have is Hillary and she can be beaten as was shown by a guy with no credentials and executive experience whatsoever – that being Obama. Let’s all hope the republicans wake up, unite and provide leadership in the country for a good change.
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For the people that are complaining about the farmers going up and down the road on Glenmary Drive. I’ve lived here for years and I think it’s a nice sight to see farmers in our community. I’m tired of everybody complaining about things in this community. It’s a beautiful community! If you’ve got to knit pick every little thing, why don’t you just move away! You’re probably people that didn’t even live here originally anyway. I’ve never seen such nonsense. I come back here and read in the paper everybody complaining about everything – politics, farmers and sidewalks. These people should just move out of here.
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This is in response to the comment where someone was curious about what goes on in the gravel pit off West Creek road. It’s exactly what as it says, it’s a gravel pit. We mine gravel.
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Political fallout. According to MSNBC and others, a little more than 20 percent of eligible voters handed the U.S. Senate and House to Republicans. More than two thirds of us didn’t bother to vote in the mid terms. What does this mean? Climate change deniers will be pleased that the senate environmental committee will now be headed by the chief republican denier. Have you heard about the plight of Florida realtors upset by rising sea levels on their properties? Yes, the Paul Ryan budget express is coming after Christmas to bring you less in Medicare coverage, social security and new lows for already challenged food programs. Sorry doesn’t cover the situation.
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I’d like to comment on this week’s article on the Town of Owego picking up leaves. Well, to me that is the way they do it. Ever since we got the DOT man in there, because you know how the DOT works, what little they work. I guess we’ve got to do it the same way. Have a happy one cause we have three more years of it!
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Owego’s Antique Fire Engine. It would be unconscionable for the village to put that crown jewel on a permanent loan to the museum which is not only in the flood zone it’s in flood way. The flood of 2011 put the barn behind the museum, actually in the current of the muddy Susquehanna River. For generations people and tourists would stop and take photos and pose with their families in front of the Firemen’s Monument in the north end of the Court House square out of flood way and on village property. I suggest that the interested parties go for a grant to build a gazebo similar to the gazebo in Winser Park in Elmira New York. To take a look at this and how they did it go to www.elmira-ny.com/popcorn/. Please do not put this crown jewel in the hidden barn behind the museum that was ravaged by the flood 2011 and has just been completely rebuilt after three years to get it to that point. The appropriate place is on village property out of harms way where the general public and the tourists can view that, as well as the other monuments that are about the park. Just remember, the crown jewel is owned by the village residents. It should be placed on village property along with the other crown jewels that the village owns.
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Whig Street residents of Newark Valley are being forced to have and partially pay for sidewalks they may or may not want. What’s next? Your street may be next or maybe the mayor will form a subcommittee forcing you to have your house painted blue. Has anyone voted on the mayor’s sidewalk project? Let’s put a stop to this abuse of power, now before it is too late.
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Affordable Care Act benefits. The republicans still want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. According to the latest news from AARP, the Affordable Care Act has already saved more than 8 million enrollees more than $12 billion in insurance costs. Why do the republicans want to deny people health benefits let alone financial bonanzas?
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The village has nothing at all to do with the traffic pattern at Main Street and North Avenue. That is strictly the state. The village is not responsible.
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I just wondered if anyone can answer my question. I belong to a local television subscriber. I am getting sick and tired of paying high prices when we can sit there and watch television and all of a sudden it goes black on us and you miss half of the program as it’s saying please wait, please wait. Can anybody tell me what’s going on with the television?
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How many people heard that Vice President Biden’s son was kicked out of the Navy because of cocaine abuse? Not many news channels have reported this. See how they try to keep this quiet from the public?
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This country is falling to pieces. Greed seems to be the game. Check your groceries. The labels indicate distributed by. I don’t care who brings it to market; we should be informed as to where it came from. Bakeries are putting out cookies that are so small we have to be careful we don’t bite our fingers. Salt is not good for our health. My opinion is don’t buy items listing anything over 8 percent. Question. Why as much as 28 percent? Why are we accepting companies forcing water into ham and selling it at meat prices? They sell a gallon of antifreeze, which has 2 quarts of water at antifreeze prices. Doctors, lawyers, CEO’s, actors and sports players are paid too much, millions in most cases. Folks earn minimum wages and are barely existing. One half of one percent interest being paid by banks on our various accounts isn’t worth them having the use of it. What next? Will we have to pay them to keep it for us? One of the first acts by companies that upsets me is the decrease of 2 quarts of ice cream down to 3 pints, a 25 percent reduction.
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Dropped cats, how can they survive? They don’t understand this foreign place that they’ve been abandoned to. They start eventually running trying to find where they came from. They keep running until they tire out and possibly starve to death; they lay down and / or eventually become food for other wild animals would be their fate. I would hope that we could help the people that do this. That would be my wish. If you are a person with that problem, go to someone to ask for help, just keep trying to ask someone. I personally would rather be the one asked for that help in the beginning of the process with spaying the female cat. So that would be my hope that we could help the situation and avoid the end result.
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Found on Fox Street near Spencer Avenue a calculator. Call 624-0739 to describe it, and we will return it.
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I’ve been hearing rumors through the grapevine that county legislators are thinking about closing the local motor vehicle office.
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Praise and hats off to retired environmental conservation officer Mike Wheeler. Mike Wheeler was responsible for the construction of a handicap fishing access to the Susquehanna River at the mouth of the Owego Creek. Years ago Mike showed me what he had done and at that time I felt it was great but nothing I would ever use. Well times change and due to a logging accident I am confined to a wheel chair. I have taken advantage of this access and even though I caught no fish and lost four hooks, it was great. I wish the Town of Owego and/or Hickories Park would do the same. If they can come up with a dog park then I feel they could do something for the handicap to access the Susquehanna near the new bridge entrance to the Hickories Park.
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In February of 2104 the Village Board agreed to file for a sustainability study on the Village of Owego. I have not seen any results; can the mayor provide the residents with the outcome or least a status update? I think it would be quite beneficial to the residents and the Village Board.
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For Fiscal Year 2014 the percentage of annual expenditures (budget) going for employee benefits of the Vestal and Ithaca City School Districts was 27 percent and 26 percent respectively. The OACSD spent fully 38 percent of its budget on employee benefits. State Aid does not cover unreasonable compensation packages. You, the tax serfs for OACSD Board of Effluent Living, pay for 100 percent of this generosity and there is no benefit for you or students. Perhaps we could dissolve (not merge) our District and become part of the Vestal, Newark Valley, or Tioga Center School Districts. No other District will merge with us because they would have to except the liabilities of our District’s union contracts.
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I attended the Town of Owego Fire Commissioner’s meeting this week (the entire meeting). I am sorry that so many people are misinformed. The new fire station is NOT causing the tax increase. This has been planned for years and just coming to reality. The sudden loss of a contract with the Town of Apalachin is the reason for the tax increase. The new fire station is going to save the Town of Owego money in the future.
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The Nichols Lodge Meals on the Run is inexpensive and made from scratch, and it’s a real value for $6. Kudos to the Chef for doing it right.
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One year ago, IBM changed the retiree health benefit program. Looking back, there were a lot of naysayers-those who believed they were being deserted by IBM. There were also quite a few of us who believed the change to be a win-win situation for IBM and the retiree. As a retiree, my experience has been a “winner for the retiree” when measured in terms of the most important thing-the reduction of out of pocket health care costs in 2014. A significant portion of that reduction coming from IBM’s health reimbursement program and access to lower health insurance premiums. For 2015, IBM and One Exchange provided guidance in early October for continued enrollment in 2015. That guidance included a “no action” requirement for those of us who wanted the same program as 2014’s. I think IBM deserves an A+ grade for their actions on behalf of the retiree.
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You are right! I made a mistake. I should have said that the intersection sign should be LEFT into PARK Street not Court Street. Sorry about that!
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Kudos to Carl Jones, he is running for Town of Owego Fire Commissioner. Let’s all support him and put a stop to the current bullies. The current administration will not let the residents vote on this because they know it will not pass. A new fire station and a 22 percent tax increase, plus who knows how much more of an increase in the future is something the residents should have a say about. Thanks Carl for stepping up, you have my vote.
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In the Village of Owego, why does Ward 1 have most of the population in the village, but only one-third of the trustees on the village board?
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When I was growing up, the big thing that happened to products was that they became “new and improved”. Nowadays, everything seems to be “reimagined” and I don’t understand it. Can someone please help me? If something is reimagined, does it literally mean it was imagined, then imagined again? If something is imaginary, does it do any good to imagine it twice? Why not just imagine it the second way on the first try? I can’t even imagine why reimagine is a word. Come to think of it, I can’t even reimagine why.
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Jonathan Gruber on the process that produced the bill he both helped create and advocated for “Obamacare”. Depicting Democrats as intentionally dishonest about the bill during its drafting to snooker the CBO, and laughs at the “stupidity of the American voter” while declaring that he’s all about the ends rather than the means. Must mean that Obama is counting on all the “stupid voters” to carry him and the democrats two more years and to win the next election with Hillary. Watch www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G790p0LcgbI.
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To the party responding to my comments regarding climate change/global warming. FOX news reports FACTS, they are not mouthpieces of the Liberal / U.N. agenda. I am not easily swayed, but I do deal in facts and logic! First, NONE of the info predicting man-made climate change is based on actual data and facts. It IS based on data supplied by the folks in East Anglia and Penn State, both of which were shown to be phony in the “E” mails that were accidently received by the “wrong” people. Shows data was juggled in order to give the outcome they wanted. Second, climate change has NOTHING TO DO WITH CLIMATE, it has everything to do with more control over people. It’s a part of U.N. Agenda 21 (check out that nonsense) and is the way the politicians hope to sell us on carbon taxes and other feel good, accomplish nothing nonsense! Third, climate change being influenced by man is preposterous. Trees and plants take in CO2 and convert it to oxygen in a process called photosynthesis. Volcanoes and natural phenomenon create far more greenhouse gases than man does, and they have long before man came on the scene. Record high temps were mostly set in the 1940’s, record low temps, before that. Greenhouse gases were not produced by man in the volume then as they are today. That being the case, how come man is suddenly responsible for climate change?
