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.
Just as corporate billionaires are going after our Social Security system, they are also working to dismantle America’s remaining pension plans and steal the benefits that public workers like librarians and firefighters have earned. Call or email your representative in Congress (Reed or Hanna) and tell them NO WAY to privatizing Social Security, which is money we earned and is NOT for sale.
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I’m searching for a 1983 OFA yearbook. Mine was destroyed in a hurricane while living in Florida. I’ve posted on Facebook (Memories of Owego, N.Y.) and have looked for it on Amazon, eBay and the Classmates site. I’ve recently made other contacts (Riverow Bookshop, Coburn Library and OFA schools), but to no avail. If you know of anyone who would be willing to part with a copy or have an extra, please private message me on Facebook or reply to this message via the Reader’s Column. Any help is welcomed and appreciated. Thank you, Todd McQuarrie.
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Some in Washington and on Wall Street are making unfounded claims that our retirement programs are “bankrupt” or “insolvent” even though Social Security has a $2.8 trillion surplus and the life of the Medicare trust fund was recently extended by 13 years.
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Thank you to all that have been spreading the word about my sewing! Have fun at prom and be safe! For sewing needs call Jean at 687-2069.
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For those of you who think that testing at school is unnecessary, please consider how often there, their, and they’re get misused. Or lose versus loose. Noone isn’t a word – you probably mean no one. People write, “here here” when they mean, “hear hear”. But hey (not hay), why should we learn to communicate properly? Maybe because other people might actually understand what we mean if we use the correct words and grammar (not grammer).
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The pro big business President Obama and his corporate allies are starting their campaign to manipulate and pressure Congress to ram through the “pull-down-on-America” Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade and foreign investment treaty between twelve nations (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam). The first skirmish is a fast track bill to have Congress formally strip itself of its constitutional authority to regulate trade and surrender this historic responsibility to the White House and its corporate lobbies. Lest you think the TPP is too commercially complex to bother about, think again. Contact your representative in Congress (Reed or Hanna) and tell them to say NO to TPP.
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Ya gotta love it! The whole Hillary fiasco is a hoot. You KNOW the Clintons are engaged in this kind of chicanery, as is Nobama, money laundering, pay to play, you name it. It’s a hoot to watch Hillary twist in the wind, and to see how our new Attorney General is going to find some way to do nothing, in spite of the illegalities involved, just like Eric Holder did with Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the I.R.S., the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, etc. These people have no shame and don’t deserve the office they hold. The whole thing is a farce of the highest level.
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When over half of the American people have less than $10,000 in savings, the last thing we should do is cut Social Security. When the average Social Security benefit is $1,328 a month, and more than one-third of our senior citizens rely on Social Security for virtually all of their income, our job is to expand benefits, not cut them. Social Security is not going broke. It has a $2.8 trillion surplus and can pay every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 18 years.
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Thank you to Joe Chartrand for being a watchdog of the Owego/Apalachin School Board and its superintendent. Sad to say, I think you are shoveling sand against the tide, as there has repeatedly been a rubber stamp school board in this district for as long as I can remember, and will continue to be so for two reasons. First reason is that as the school boards turn over, the new board members continue to have students in the school and their is nothing too good for ‘our kids’ – so we have a perpetual upgrade of everything whether needed or not. The second reason is that the election is held on an unlevel playing field as long as it is held at the schools during school hours where the faculty, employees and students can vote on our time. Just the number of faculty and other employees of the school district are sufficient to swing any election. Unfortunately, I think that this year’s grossly high and uncalled for budget will pass for the same reasons. What a shame!
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If companies and corporations can come into New York State and stay for ten years and not pay any kind of taxes, then who is going to pick up the slack? It has to be the residents and companies who are living here and paying taxes for those goods and services supplied by the state for those ten years. I wonder if there is anything in the plan that says that those who take advantage of the plan must stay here or can they leave and go to another state that may offer the same benefits? That is the way that the baseball teams milk it in Florida.
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The Angels over Afghanistan and Iraq group will be accepting your items for their annual community yard sale, which will be in late August again at the Owego United Methodist Church. Arrangements for drop off can be made by calling 349-8109 or 240-9110. Thank you for considering the group, this is their largest fundraiser, which helps with the shipping and item expenses. If there are any families that would like to have their soldier included in our address book, please message us on Facebook at Angels Over Afghanistan. Thanks again for your continued support, to date we have shipped over four tons of items since the group’s inception!
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This is for all the dog owners who get angry when they leave their dogs to roam at large and get run over by a car and the driver doesn’t come tell them the dog was run over. Only the crazy state of New York would fine the driver 3 points over a dog that runs out in front of them but the irresponsible owner is not held accountable at all. How ridiculous! I hope I never hit a dog and I hope I never have to find the owner because if I do I’m going to punch them right in the nose.
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The Cal Harris trial defines the words and expression “leading a circus”.
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Does anybody out there know what has happened to the Owego Price Chopper’s donut section?
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Under Hillary’s tutelage as secretary of state, Putin in Russia now controls 20 percent of America’s uranium and some say maybe it’s 50 percent. Guess where some of this uranium might end up. Could it be Iran? We’re being led by the most corrupt leaders ever. We need to clean house and throw out the old guard of both political parties. Obama, Holder, and Hillary have covered up every scandal so far. When will the American people wake up?
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Attention hard working citizens and retirees of the Tioga Central School District. Unless you want to pay hundreds or maybe thousands more in school tax, get out and vote NO on May 19. We’re up against faculty, staff, friends, family, and recruited 18 year olds that don’t know what a tax is let alone pay any. Don’t let the propaganda put out by the administrators trick you. A merger would have to pass by the voters of both districts involved. Tioga Central has to cut like all the other districts did, not add teachers and increase budget.
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This is for the road department that does the roads up by Sherry Lipe Road. Instead of just patching the road with loose rock or leaving large holes, please put blacktop over the road. If you take a look at how Dutchtown Road looks, it is smooth and beautiful so you can get some idea of how we, who live on Sherry Lipe Road, would like to have our road look. Please do not patch the road with loose rocks because they just ruin everything!
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Free color television. JVC brand, table ready, remote, 27” screen, not a flat screen, works fine. Call (607) 625-2971.
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Taxpaying property owners in the Tioga Center School District: The school tax bill is going up 30 percent this year. There are 3,004 taxpaying property owners in Tioga Central School District and this year all 3,004 need to vote on Tuesday, May 19, from noon to 8 p.m. at the school administration building. If you are physically unable to get to Tioga Center to vote please call this number, 687-8000 and ask to have an absentee ballot mailed to you by May 12. Vote in the privacy of your home and mail the ballot back to the Tioga Central School administration building, 3 Fifth Ave., P.O. Box 241, Tioga Center, N.Y. 13845.
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I’ve lived in the town of Tioga for 59 years and I keep hearing that the Tioga Center Fire Department wants to merge with the Owego Fire Department. I don’t think this is a good idea. I moved to Tioga Center many, many years ago because it was a nice place to live. I don’t think that we need to bring Owego’s problems into the town and make it our problem. I vote NO to have the Owego Fire Department be a part of our responding department.
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The only reason for the Harris trial to have lasted seven weeks is because the more courts that are backed up with cases, the more lawyers have a shot at being a judge because they need more judges to take care of such a thing; otherwise, they could speed that along in no time. When a juror can’t make it maybe they could skype for the juror. Is it an excuse that they don’t work on Fridays, that they only work four-day weeks? Is there some reason because a juror couldn’t get out of their driveway because of the snow, they didn’t have court that day? A policeman or somebody couldn’t have gotten her? There’s no reason to have dragged that on for 11 weeks!
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I would like to say that I feel our current president chose the wrong policy for his legacy. After the problems in Baltimore this week, it boils down to the fact that bringing jobs back to this country should have been the number one priority. If people had a job they most likely would have had healthcare through their employer. People with jobs would not be so desperate to be in a position where they are interacting with police and committing crimes. The problem with Baltimore and elsewhere are not only an embarrassment to our country but also a national security issue. What message is this sending to friends and enemies alike? We need to bring pride back. We are no longer the greatest nation at this point and the best way to do this is to employ our people, not pat them on the head and give them handouts. I hope our next president enacts policies that stops the job bleed with jobs and business going to other countries and does something to bring companies back to the U.S. The savings in taxes that go to welfare and other policies I could use to spend a few more dollars on shoes and other items made in the U.S. instead of the junk made in China.
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Follow the news. The republican financial budget is in place. The deal is going to increase military spending, reduce President Obama’s healthcare law, cut education and entitlement programs like Medicare. They do want to have a war with Iran, you can bet on that. Not enough young people have suffered and died in the frolly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Keep following the news. Talk to your congressman about his idiotic activity.
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This is about the rioting in Baltimore, Maryland. Violence and looting is not the way to achieve justice. It is not the way to go. That’s what the granddaughter of Martin Luther King said.
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Many thanks to the town of Berkshire’s Highway Department for sponsoring their annual cleanup project. It is my hope that the residents will continue in the same spirit and clean up their properties. We want to have pride in our hometown.
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Isn’t it evident if Cal Harris had to holler at the judge, what the heck would he do with his wife?
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I am proud to live in the town of Nichols. I’m proud of what Lopke did for the retired guy, brought him three loads of gravel for his driveway and let him use the roller all weekend. It’s nice to see big companies help little guys.
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Tioga Central School administrators, Board of Education and New York State officials need to get re-educated and need to take notes on how other states run their school systems. Tax, tax, tax at the highest rates in the country is not an option. Unpaid taxes, foreclosures and flooded out vacant lots won’t do much for the tax base. Voters need to vote a loud strong NO on May 19.
