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.
Do people in Tioga County realize that when a law enforcement officer – state, sheriff or Owego Police pulls you over, comes to your residence, etc., that they are to be in FULL UNIFORM. This means their HATS are to be on their HEADS. Rules if they can’t follow that simple rule what makes you think they will follow any rules. Lead by example.
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Traffic tip: Right on red does NOT mean you can just blow through the light. It means you can treat it like a stop sign. Stop, look, yield if necessary, then proceed.
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On Feb. 12, those making a million dollars a year reached the annual tax cap. After that day, none of their income will be taxed to pay for Social Security. Meanwhile, 94 percent of Americans – those who make less than $118,500 a year – will chip in a portion of every single paycheck, all year long. That’s right. A single mother working as an ER nurse pays 6.2 percent of every paycheck toward Social Security, 12 months out of the year. Meanwhile, a wealthy investment banker on Wall Street isn’t paying a dime into the system for the rest of 2015. This is wrong. We can’t afford to keep giving unfair tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. Tell your Representative in Congress (Reed or Hanna) it’s time to end the Social Security tax break for millionaires.
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I don’t even live in Owego, but the tax creeps are amazing. Joe Chartrand’s most recent letter is completely ridiculous. Does he really believe that eliminating teaching positions and new hires are mutually exclusive? Let’s say the district eliminates several positions. Then, say, over the spring and summer, some remaining positions become vacant. Say, an English teacher resigns to move closer to their family. Say someone decides to retire late in the year for health reasons. Wouldn’t the district have to replace those people? So you see, you can actually eliminate positions AND have new hires. And one more thing. There is always one more thing. How much does Mr. Chartrand think it costs the district to send a group of kids over to Lockheed for a very valuable experience which may inspire a student to work hard in Math and Science, go to college to study Engineering, and return to the area to work at Lockheed and buy a house in the OACSD? I think the tax creeps should have studied harder when they were in school.
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I have old eyeglasses (frames and lenses) I don’t need anymore. Where can I drop these off so they can be put to good use?
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In a quest for justice, the Tioga County court system seems to have failed. If the objective is to get to the truth, what truth is to be obtained by shielding a jury from “all” information pertinent to the case? Circumstantial evidence seems to be the court’s forte. In the Cal Harris case, there is no weapon, no body and no eyewitness. He’s being accused of murder, a victim has not been found! How many other women have gone missing in this area, never to be heard from again? Some of who had an occupation that brought them in contact with the public. Perhaps one should be looking for outsiders passing through our area? As were the men the defense sought to bare light upon, but were denied by the court.
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Let’s face it people, the tax base in Tioga County cannot afford its schools. The State was trying to tell us that when they were recommending consolidation. The population of Tioga County would just barely be equal to a small town. Anyone who thinks different is just fooling themselves. We have nine towns, none of which can provide the services that are expected by the residents. The governments are mostly run by part time untrained elected officials who have their own agenda and lack the knowledge of how government is supposed to work. It’s about time that the school systems were consolidated. The towns should also be consolidated into maybe three at the most. Make state training mandatory for elected officials, share services and concentrate on providing the services and orderly tax base development that the residents deserve.
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We have no idea how unequal our U.S. society has become. The top 20 percent of U.S. households own more than 84 percent of the wealth, and the bottom 40 percent combine for a paltry 0.3 percent. We don’t want to live like this. In the ideal distribution for a democracy, the top quintile owns 32 percent and the bottom two quintiles own 25 percent. According to research studies, people in the U.S. actually live in Russia, although they think they live in Sweden. Researchers asked about 55,000 people from 40 countries to estimate how much corporate CEOs and unskilled workers earned. Then they asked people how much CEOs and workers should earn. The median American estimated that the CEO-to-worker pay-ratio was 30-to-1, and that ideally, it’d be 7-to-1. The reality? 354-to-1. Fifty years ago, it was 20-to-1. Researchers found that people in the U.S. overestimate the amount of upward social mobility that exists in society. We may not want to believe it, but the United States is now the most unequal of all Western nations. By overemphasizing individual mobility, we ignore important social determinants of success like family inheritance, social connections, and structural discrimination.
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Thanks to former President Bush, virtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair, taking a much greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families. And New York State income taxes are amongst the worst. It wasn’t always that way, even as recently as a decade ago. The Bush tax cuts in particular the Bush-era reductions in capital gains and dividends tax rates, really put a big dent in what used to be a much more progressive tax code that can actually help address inequality. We need to get back to the pre-Bush tax rates or even better. Think about this as you struggle to file your federal and state income tax returns. Contact your state and federal representatives to express your outrage at this continuing injustice.
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To the person on Gage Road who had your dog killed. If you faced the truth, you know it is your own fault for letting your dog run loose at night. Do all of your “family members run around on the road?
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Yeah, we have a booming economy, according to “our dear leader”. Unfortunately, stats do not bear those words out; 31.1 million AMERICANS out of work and looking. A large percentage of women and minorities are out of work, yet it’s the Republicans who supposedly wage a war on women and minorities. Yeah, right. Just like, “If you like your plan, your doctor, etc., you can keep them.” And if Hillary were to be elected, we’d be assured of more of the same.
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There will be a Spaghetti Dinner Benefit for Jesse Howe Sr. on Sunday, May 3, from noon to 5 p.m. at the VFW Hall in Owego. Jesse has been recently diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. There will be door prizes, 50/50 drawings, a baked goods wheel, live auction, a silent auction, and live music by Borderline. To donate go to Gofundme.com (search Jesse Howe).
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I wish to respond to a comment in the April 5 edition of the Pennysaver concerning the Owego-Apalachin CSD. The caller states, “Shouldn’t the District cut your cost of collecting and remitting monies for the Teachers Union Political Action Committees? OACSD taxpayers should not be expending a penny for support of Union PACS.” The political action of NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) is VOTE-COPE, which is a nonpartisan action fund that coordinates the voluntary contributions of NYSUT’s members, both active and retired. Since VOTE-COPE is supported entirely by voluntary contributions of NYSUT members, the OACSD does not expend a single penny to support the Teachers Union Political Action Committees as the caller claims. All the district does is deduct contributions from members through payroll deduction and forward those deductions to NYSUT, similar to those who choose to donate to United Way and other organizations through voluntary payroll deductions.
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Once again Tioga County residents spring has arrived. Doing hiring with your new contractor with any type of work? Make sure you get a written contract and make them sign it and ask for insurance. Don’t get ripped off this year people!
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This is an apology to the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department about the comment in the Pennysaver about them not doing their job. They did do their job. They did show up and there was a babysitter there.
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How come the state is giving schools less money when the lottery money is supposed to be going towards education? How about increasing casinos and gaming tables instead of limiting them?
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I too, was a big fan of Paul Harvey on the radio. Got more important news in 15 minutes from that man than from all the idiot reporters today. That said, last week’s letter to the editor in the Pennysaver by Joe Chartrand about the Owego Apalachin school district was very informative. As a life long taxpaying property owner living in the Tioga Central school district who is in the final turn of life, we need the wisdom of people like Mr. Chartrand. Looking at a 30 percent increase in school taxes this year is unacceptable. Some blame the State of New York but I suspect there is local blame in the mix as well. Taxpaying property owners in the Tioga Central school district had better unite this year and vote NO May 19 on the school budget.
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A charter school is an alternative school to public schooling that is licensed by the state. For detailed information go to publiccharters.org or call (202) 289-2700. Elmira has the closest charter school to our area.
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This is the old man on the hill. I’d just like to make sure that this individual, I know who it is, is calling me unintelligent. Well just to start out with I pulled my duty. I got an honorable discharge and I went to engineer school in Virginia. In a class of 30 I finished second. I don’t think that’s too unintelligent. I pulled duty overseas too. You know what? There aren’t many people that have stood on the North Pole, but I have.
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Attention Tioga Central school voters: Please consider that New York State is already the highest taxed state in the nation. It’s not responsible for the administrators and board to propose a business as usual budget at the cost of 30 percent to the taxpayer. Is it fair that a few live big at the cost of many? It’s time to break up the big happy family of administrators and board. Please consider voting no to this irresponsible budge proposal.
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I don’t think Tioga Central school taxes should go that high. Our children don’t have the sports like other schools do. They don’t have a baseball field. They have to go to a playground to play their games or go to another school to play them. Get rid of the swimming pool. The only ones that use that use the pool are the small children. Middle school and high school students don’t use the swimming pool, so get rid of that. Try to figure out something else to get rid of instead of making the taxes go higher. Like I said, the school doesn’t have room for a football field or baseball field like the other schools.
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I think Cal Harris is innocent. If I see him on the street I will pat him on the back and shake his hand and tell him that he is a good man. Good luck Cal Harris.
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I see now that our wanna be dictator down in Washington has sold the U.S.A. again, this time to Iran. He’s given them everything they want and nothing in return for us. On top of that, being our supreme leader, he has informed congress that they will have no say in this matter. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they can stand up and have a say or if they are just going to crumble under like they have every other time.
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This is a message for the lady who was a victim of domestic abuse by her husband. I can’t believe they didn’t jail him. There are organizations that will take you and your children in and protect you. You can also call the sheriff’s department and ask them. There is a place on Lake Street in Owego, I can’t think of the name of the place right now. I can’t believe they’re getting away with this stuff and nothing’s being done.
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I’m calling in response to the person that lives on Gage Road in Owego that had their lab by the name of Jennie that was hit and killed by a car and the person did not return. My message to this person is it is your responsibility to contain your dog and keep it out of traffic and out of the road. You are responsible for your dog. If your dog caused an accident you would be responsible for anything that had to do with that accident. That person would be lucky if that person doesn’t return to have any damages that were caused to their car by their dog replaced. If I was the one that hit that dog and my car was damaged, I would be knocking on their door and telling them they owe me some money for the damage to my vehicle.
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Please don’t use weed killers any more. They are found to be cancerous and should be banned.
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Why don’t the college educated smart folks at the top that don’t know what to do with the $5 billion windfall from the Wall Street bank fines apply it to school aid and give us a decrease in taxes instead of an increase? Also, where are all the billions of dollars in lottery funds going to help schools?
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Hey scarecrow! I’m surprised you figured it out that I don’t drive anymore or did your boss tell you? There’s a good reason for that. I’ve had three operations on my legs and then a hip replacement. I can drive, but what am I going to do when I get there and can’t get out and walk? So I’m smart enough that I gave it up!
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I can’t believe that anybody in this nation thinks that it’s safe to have the knobs on an electric stove be on the back panel where you have to reach over hot greasy pots to turn it down or up, mostly by women who have sleeves on.
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Future news flash! Watch for how Hillary spins the news that $100 million of foreign funds were funneled into the Clinton foundation. What deals did Hillary trade for those $100 million? Do you think we will ever find out?
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Get your BBQ ticket for the upcoming Mother’s Day Chicken BBQ at the Candor Emergency Squad. This is a dinner that sells out every year. Your ticket can be purchased by contacting any squad member or calling 659-5529. Get them while the getting is good!
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Common Core, another case of follow the money. Pearson Student Standard Testing profit making company. Education is secondary.
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I wonder what prosperous Pennsylvania is doing with all their frack money. They obviously aren’t spending it on Route 81.
