Readers’ Column for the week of Oct. 18, 2015

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.

When dropping off used books at the Apalachin Library, please remember to not leave text books, reader’s digest condensed books, encyclopedias, VHS tapes, books on tape, or old, yellowed, damaged or soiled books. Leaving items they can’t use just makes more work for them plus the cost of getting rid of them.

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Do you know who the four town board members are in the Town of Owego? If not, Janet Thomas will bring a much-needed breath of fresh air to the board. Don’t forget Nov. 3 is Election Day.

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Approximately 220 times per day in this country, someone uses a firearm to protect themselves, or others, successfully. Why isn’t this reported in the media? Think it might fly in the face of their agenda?

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It is such a good feeling to know there are still young people today that take time out to care about and help elderly people. This last week I was at the Kwik Fill in Owego getting my car filled up with gas. When I went to start my car it would not start. A very nice young lady right away offered to get my car jumped with cables. A young man pulled up behind her and he helped. After getting a man with a truck between the three of them, they had me on my way. They then told me to go to Auto Zone and they would check my battery to see if it was indeed dead. When I got to Auto Zone, they showed up, I don’t know if they had business to tend to there or if they were there to see if I needed more help. I want to thank them all for their generous help. I thank God we have young people who care and are willing to help older people today. Thank you so much and God bless all three of you, and Auto Zone for you quick service. God bless you all.

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Wages for working Americans have been stagnant for decades. The federal minimum wage, watered down by inflation over the years, is totally inadequate to live on. Every full-time worker in America deserves a living wage. No full-time worker should live in poverty. Women make up two-thirds of minimum wage workers and, on the whole, women are paid considerably less than men. Raising the minimum wage to $15 over a period of years would provide much needed income to 15 million women. Increasing the tipped minimum wage to $15 would lift millions of women out of poverty. Did you know that the U.S. is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid leave to workers? Did you know that the U.S. is the only major country on earth that does not provide a universal healthcare program? Medicare is the closest thing we have to it. And Medicare works. Women especially would benefit from paid leave and guaranteed healthcare. Women spend more on healthcare than men, and usually they are the caregivers for sick children and the elderly. Why is it that the world’s richest nation doesn’t provide the same basic benefits for its citizens that other industrialized nations do?

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A great majority of the U.S. consists of fatherless boys raised by single mothers. I really appreciate Steve Harvey, on Channel 5, Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. He has a camp for these boys to mentor them and create a trust and positive role model for their futures. It is sad that men are so busy now they can’t have empathy or take time to create a better world and mentor these young men!

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News flash! Now Hillary equates the NRA with Iran and Communists. Well she sure knows about Communists because her biggest hero is Saul Alinskey, an evolved Communist. She obviously knows nothing about the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution and the NRA’s staunch support of it. Oh, by the way, college professor Obama specialized in teaching Alinskey’s philosophy on neighborhood organizing.

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Republicans are always complaining there’s too much government. You can tell those fools never grew up during our first depression.

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It is unfortunate that every neighborhood has a black sheep dysfunctional family unit. No one minds kids playing for an hour or so but what kind of inconsiderate parent allows their kids to pound a basketball for five or six hours well into the night? Isn’t there such a thing as homework anymore? Adults should set an example for their kids instead of being absentee parents.

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I’m looking for someone who makes round sturdy scrubbies to be used on dishes and pots and pans. The correct number is 659-3871.

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This is a question about the underpass. When will it be finished and why is there water standing? Was there a mistake made? Also, what is with all the cones going up North Avenue? Are we putting in curbs when the village needs and has more serious needs? Could somebody of authority please write into the Pennysaver about what is going on with the underpass? It makes our town look terrible with the cones and the underpass. I feel bad for the bus drivers who have to go through that every day. Please respond.

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A large percentage of heroin addicts do not or cannot maintain gainful employment. This forces them to seek other means to finance their habit. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of anyone addicted, my advice is to be vigilant at all times. If you think you know the person well enough to think they will not victimize you – think again. They have no conscience and absolutely nothing will stop them from beating their habit. Keep a close eye on your property and check it often. Lock all doors and sheds and never leave your garage door open even if you are home. Contrary to popular belief, addicts are not uneducated or stupid. They’re very wise when they need to fill their fix. They watch to see when you leave your property, and then they strike. Even the smallest things can be sold for enough cash to buy a $10 bag like tools, screwdrivers, wrenches, etc. I know because I have become a victim. Watch your property and load your gun. Don’t lose thousands of dollars worth of property like I did.

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You are wrong. Animals do have feelings. How much is paid to nature?

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To all the climate change non-believers, what if you are wrong?

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If you are looking for a fun new form of exercise, come to Owego Gymnastics on Thursday nights at 7:30 for Turbo Kick. Your first class is free and it’s fun!

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Working mothers provide much needed income for many American families. Juggling responsibilities between a job and children isn’t easy, especially when childcare costs barely justify working a full-time job. These costs have risen dramatically in recent years and have forced many women to stay at home. In fact, a recent survey reveals annual childcare is more expensive in 24 states than the annual cost of in-state tuition at a four-year public college. In 80 percent of areas surveyed, childcare costs are higher than rent. In U.S. congressional Districts 22 and 23 (Hanna and Reed), working women are paid an average of 81 percent as much as men. New York State needs to push forward its effort to eliminate wage discrimination against women. Closing the wage gap will help struggling families and bring more women into the workforce. Low-cost high quality childcare and free Pre-K should be made available to every American family as a matter of national policy. It works well elsewhere and it is needed here too.

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Follow the news. You may want to hang onto your cash. Those incompetent Republicans who’ve got what they wanted, that is both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, cannot decide on a leader. They’ve been unable to do anything since they have taken over but they are planning to do something big for us. That is they are planning to shut down the government, all because they don’t want millions of women to have healthcare. Why vote Republican? Use your head!

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It is so easy to say that things were better in the past when we forget the past had its good and bad. Just like it is today. It’s better and it’s worse than our own time.

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This is for the lady who called in about the sheets and blankets, ones that were no longer useable. Stray Haven would be glad to take them!

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To the person who took the VFW Auxiliary Flag off my wife’s grave – hope you “enjoy it”. God Bless

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I recently received from the Campville Fire Department a notice that they are requesting donations because they have acquired more area for their fire department and their squad, which they wanted a big building over there by the sheriff’s department. They will want more apparatus and now they want more money from us when they said that it was the contract that they had between them and Owego was going to pay for all of this. I’d like to know, what’s up with requesting more money when they said it was not going to cost us anything?

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Republican Presidential candidate Bush continues to stay downwind from Donald Trump with his latest pledge that if elected he will overturn the healthcare law that’s been in effect for years, giving people who need health insurance coverage resources that they will no longer have. Why in heaven’s name is a Republican so unimaginative? Does he think that’s going to get elected? That’s old news! Republicans in congress keep threatening to overturn Obamacare. They’re in charge. They have it good if they put on matching socks these days. What total buffoons the Republicans are!

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I would like to make a comment about the wonderful job the two men working on Cornell Hollow Road, fixing the ditches and working steady all the time are doing!

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Last week opined: “California just became the fifth state to pass an equal pay law”. California also just enacted legislation to register every state resident, even those who are illegal and/or undocumented, as being eligible to vote. The legislation allows a number of means outside of personally taking the action to do so and requires no means of qualification. It’s not just illegal’s granted a drivers’ license who are being registered at the DMV, it’s anyone with an ID card, also liberally handed out or any piece of documentation where their address is recorded, real or otherwise. One method is to simply file an address change for the purpose of billing with your utility company and the utility company is required to register you with the local voting district unless you check an opt out box. The last thing you want to hold up to the light for “the right thing to do” would become more like the State of California; and also the last thing N.Y.S. needs to do is follow in the footsteps of replicating California on any level. Statements of support such as you’ve made here presenting an argument on “fair pay and California” also presents a position that you are as loony as they are.

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Note to IBM retirees: Don’t expect a booklet from IBM or Towers Watson Exchange summarizing your available health plans for 2016. You will have to go on the Internet to evaluate the 3,300 available plans. Since no information was sent out I just found out the computer information was accessible only after Oct. 15. Do not know the end date but it may be Dec. 31. This whole healthcare system is a mess and favors the status quo. If you are happy with your medical and prescription system it will carry over to 2016. Thank you IBM.

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Please come down and join us for Bingo at the VFW in Owego every Thursday except the first Thursday of the month. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and Bingo starts at 6:30 p.m. We need more players. It’s good food and fun!

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My name is Linda, (607) 902-4111, and I am interested in the person who placed the ad on how to get rid of bedding and quilts. My church does outreach for the homeless and make bedrolls for the homeless. We use that type of material and I would be very interested, they would have to be clean.