Readers’ Column for the week of Feb. 14, 2016

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.

“For fifty years, all American living rooms turned dense with smoke, as did bars, restaurants, hardware stores, hotel lobbies, cabins, business offices, factory floors, sedans, hospital rooms, pizzerias, sweatshops, town meetings, laboratories, palaces, department stores, supermarkets, barbershops, McDonald’s, beauty parlors, art galleries, bookstores, pharmacies, men’s rooms, corner groceries, women’s rooms, barns except for my grandfather’s, movie houses, dairies, airports, offices of thoracic surgeons, depots, tearooms, Automats, cafeterias, town halls, Macy’s gymnasiums, igloos, waiting rooms, museums, newsrooms, classrooms, steel mills, libraries, lecture halls, emergency rooms, auditoriums, parks, Mongolian yurts, and beaches – not to mention funeral parlors.” Essays After Eighty. “No Smoking” by Donald Hall

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Bernie Sanders and Hillary both extol Socialism, but many people have no idea what it is, but they vote for it anyway. Let me do a real simple explanation. Suppose you work hard, get a college education, and get yourself a responsible job with a major company, earning $100,000 a year. Your neighbor chooses not to get an education, takes a factory job so it doesn’t interfere with Facebook, Twitter, etc. He gets into the gimme crowd, getting everything he can get from the government for free. He makes $30,000 total per year from all sources. Socialism dictates that YOU don’t get the $100,000 you earned, you only get $50,000. Your neighbor doesn’t get the $30,000, he gets $50,000 also, $20,000 being taken from you and others, so you both get the same income. It’s called shared misery. Happy with the outcome? Your neighbor is ecstatic, he’s getting something for nothing. If you like this scenario, vote for Bernie Sanders or Hillary, because that’s the direction they want to move this country in.

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“As Bloomberg reported, a recent DRX survey of around 3,000 brand-name prescription drugs found that prices had been at least quadrupled in 20 cases and doubled for 60 since December 2014. The most dramatic increases – of 500 percent or over – include a heart disease treatment, a beta blocker, and an antidiabetic drug.” From “Martin Shkreli is Just One of Many Pharma A-holes” by Samantha Allen, The Daily Beast.

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Aren’t you thankful that your childhood happened before technology took over?

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OACSD has already announced that there will be a public open house at the new OES once the final touch-up is completed. People can keep up to date by reading local publications, viewing local TV news, and following OA Schools on line.

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One contributor to this column stated that Hillary is a proven criminal. For that to be true there would have been charges brought, a trial conducted, and a guilty verdict rendered. Having not been able to find any record of any of this happening I am thus asking that contributor to provide the information so we will all become as informed as said contributor. Thank you in advance.

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“The losses of both shuttles were caused, in large part, to NASA’s feeling of infallibility. They got careless. The O-ring problem was well known before Challenger. O-rings on previous flights had shown signs of excessive wear and near burn-through. The foam problem that doomed Columbia was a known issue. But these problems, and others, were referred to as “acceptable risk” because they had not previously caused a catastrophe. Couple this with a vehicle that had numerous design flaws and NASA’s desire to meet an ambitious flight schedule and you had a recipe for disaster. That’s exactly what you had – twice. Fourteen crew members and their families paid the price for it. The shuttle was a cool vehicle. You could not help but feel some national pride every time you saw one being launched. Hopefully, we will feel a great deal of national pride in our future space vehicles but it is a good thing that we’ve moved beyond space shuttle.” Online comment made regarding the Space Shuttle disaster.

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Does anyone know what I could do with or take somewhere five or more VCR/DVD players and an older printer that still works? All are free if someone wants them.

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Just a quick question for Tioga Central School District taxpayers. You mean to tell me you have raised our taxes more than you said they’d be yet keep the children from swimming in their school pool for over a MONTH now due to chemicals not being right? Wow. Just terrible, Tioga Center!

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Congratulations to Bernie Sanders for his decisive victory in New Hampshire. Senator Sanders is fighting for a fair economy and to better the lives of all working Americans and their families.

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Three dogs have been tied out on Candor Hill Road with temperatures in single digits. Tied out, stuck on a muddy hillside with chains wrapped around trees. When will somebody put a stop to this? Tie your kids out and see how fast someone comes to get them. Sit your butt in a plastic igloo out overnight to find out how it feels to have your ears and paws frostbitten. Is it possible for a local municipality to write a local law or ordinance to protect these dogs? Just do it Candor or shame on you. More shame on the people of that house and may your comeuppance come in soon.

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I would like to ask those who are continually littering the county roads and streets to act appropriately in accordance with the law. The cans, bottles, food and beer wrappers that are abruptly left on these roads and streets are unsightly, disrespectful and dangerous. The ditches on Davis Road, Beecher Road and other roads and streets throughout our county are packed with these items. Many times while traveling in these places we have seen many wild animals including deer, birds, squirrels and others searching this garbage looking for “nourishment”. Please take these items, place them in the back seat of your auto in a bag and take them to the appropriate places where they belong. As for the cans and bottles, there are many places in Owego and other places that will give you some money for these items. Please do it. I would also like to see the town and county place more no littering signs on these roads.

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Barack Hussein Obama visited a mosque in Baltimore. He enjoyed and fit right in with the Muslims there. After he leaves office it will be revealed he is a Muslim. The powerful in Washington don’t want the public to know this while he is president of the United States.

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With any luck, soon I will be buying a brand new car right off the showroom floor and was wondering if any of your readers had any great ideas for breaking in the engine. One guy told me to immediately go on the highway for a 100 mile round trip and change the oil as soon as I got home, then do a 300 mile highway round trip and change it again. This sounds like good advice to me. Any other good tips your readers might have will sure be appreciated.

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I’m looking for the European recipe for peasant bread.

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An invitation to the ladies of Newark Valley and surrounding area. Have you ever gotten a letter and the news was so exciting and beautiful that you longed to share it with someone? I have! I am offering my home on Tuesdays, from 10 to 11 a.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. to share the letters God has sent us in His word the Bible. This is not an organized church or other beliefs get together; this is just us. God and the bible; to read, and share what we see, hear and understand with each other. I am not a preacher, bible scholar or bible college graduate, so as we read, God will give the understanding. He will be the teacher and guide us through His word. For questions and directions to my home call 642-5037. Days and times are flexible.

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Hillary took about $20 million from Wall Street for her senate seat run and about the same amount, that is $20 million for the Clinton Foundation and her presidential run. Give me a break! She is a tool of Wall Street. At least finally the lame stream media is asking Hillary some serious questions. When Hillary was asked if she would release transcripts of the three speeches she gave Goldman Sachs executives at over $200,000 per speech, she said, “I will look into it”. I say, “don’t hold your breath”.

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Has anybody else had enough of all these lawyer commercials? They drive me nuts!

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For all the people who are complaining about taxes in the Tioga Central School District supporting a pool, I think you need to stop and realize what an opportunity this is for children in a rural area. Kids need to learn to swim. It’s one of the few things they teach in sports that can be used their entire life. What if having a child learn to swim just saves one life in the district. What if it was your child or grandchild? Would it be worth it to support the pool? I think it is and I would support the pool. I think learning to swim and getting better at swimming for every child in the district is a wonderful thing they offer the children and it’s worth every cent they pay for it. As I said, it’s one of the few sports they teach that kids can use for their entire life. They’re not going to use football when they are in their 70’s, they’re not going to field hockey. They’re going to use swimming. It’s a good exercise, it’s wonderful for their attitude, it’s a wonderful thing for their entire mind and body. I think we need to realize what a great opportunity the school district has given our children.

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I heard that in a speech that Donald Trump recently made, he was using foul language and they had to cut out just about every other word. That shows lack of decorum. Do we really want a president that has a potty mouth?

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Anyone want candles to melt down? Some never used, some in partly used containers. They are free. I’m cleaning out my over supply. Call 659-3871.

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I’m calling to share some information with the Tioga Central voters about the real people in our community who should pull their heads out of the sand per this week’s comment. How about the no voters who have never volunteered on a school board or have never run for an election yet want to throw the current school board out? Do you know the Tioga Central School Board President has been there over 20 years because no one else in our community will step up? We should thank them for their efforts. How about the no voters who don’t coach and don’t volunteer on their children’s sports team yet complain when budgets are put forward that their children’s sports may get cut and they are not actively involved in their community’s program. How about the landlords of our community that threaten renters unless they vote no they will penalize them by raising their rental amount due every month. How dare you do that to your tenants who may be on a limited budget! How about those parents whose kids complain because their students don’t have anything to put on college applications because of no clubs or limited extra curriculum activities along with our district already not having librarians and art teachers – yet they’re still voting no on the budgets. Who also should pull their heads out of the sand are those supportive yes voters, parents who don’t join Tiger Pride Support community groups or attend rallies. Yes voters who don’t volunteer in their kid’s classes or attend open house for your children at the middle school or high school. How about those Tioga Center residents who do vote yes, we stand up and show the ones who are with their heads in the sand who are voting no how education is the basis for a community if we want our children to thrive. Tioga Central deserves a yes vote of support.

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Thanks to Doug Graves for his great letter praising Tioga Central School!

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I’ve got to say, Rubio scares the hell out of me, he really does! The man is Cuban, his parents are Cuban immigrants but he was dead set against lifting the embargo with Cuba and that’s only for his personal gain because he figured it was the popular opinion. If somebody would do that to his own parents, I can’t imagine what he would do to the country.

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Last week’s Pennysaver misquoted the verse I gave in my message. The correct message is the answer to everybody’s problems is stated in the 55th chapter of Psalms, verse 22, not chapter 50.

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I understand we weren’t looking for a new school superintendent but my theory is he didn’t do all this by himself. I think we ought to look for a new board too. They’re the yes people that made everything happen. Think about it taxpayers!

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When the acknowledged genius, Rush Limbaugh, used the term drive by media, that is a take off on drive by shooters. The lame stream media formulates attacks and snipes at conservatives and runs away and you never hear a follow up. To say there is a liberal extremist bias in the news media is tautological. Will you ever hear the media ask Hillary why she has an extremist position on very late term that is right up until birth abortion? No way! Will you ever hear the media ask Bernie why he is offering the young free college and no restrictions on marijuana use and how Bernie will really pay for it without doubling the $19 trillion national debt? The Democrat debates are ridiculous softball questions while the Republican debates are designed to savage the candidates. Go Trump, Cruz or Rubio!

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In response to last week’s readers column. The New Hope Center might take some of the cans that are right in Owego. Another response about music CD’s transferred from different electronics. There was a Beam Electronics in Apalachin at one time, 625-2222. The other comment would be about the person’s idea about dividing taxes quarterly and giving senior citizens a break. It sounds like a good idea if people could ever get in the swing of that. You don’t think about it until you’re a senior when a tragedy or illness really does hurt the budget. The last one about the lady with the dog going in her yard, no matter what you do you have those people that are so inconsiderate with the thought you have to clean up after your animals. I live in Candor and am amazed with all the dog droppings in the village. They need a reminder that most towns required a clean up process.

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To Mr. Graves, although I enjoyed your editorial in last week’s paper I do have to add my two cents. As far as our artifacts, as you called them, our children in school today do not know who these kids are. You, as someone in the community for years do. Some of our trophy cases only mention the athlete names and accomplishments, not what happened to them. I say either update with more information or file the old away and give glory to those who are making history now, then every four to six years change it out.

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In the Jan. 30 issue of the Pennysaver there was a comment about paintings and stuff being thrown away in Tioga Center. I did a little investigating on my own, and it’s true. The classmates of ours and alumni that had passed away while we were in school, they had memorial paintings that a classmate had made and painted, had name plaques on them in memory of them and there was a lot of them. They did destroy them and threw them away instead of finding a place in that school to hang them as though those people didn’t mean anything. I’ve talked to other classmates and I’m not the only one that is disappointed. We would really like an explanation of why they just threw them away instead of contacting the family members or friends to see if they wanted them to hang in their own homes. This is just another thing that goes on in that school that people don’t even know about. I think it’s about time maybe they ought to give us an explanation why they threw them away just like those people didn’t even matter.

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Hey Mr. Graves, how about those bus drivers who gave up their time and sacrificed their Saturdays for a second job to make a championship team. Without those bus drivers you have no school.

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Republican politics is alive and well in Tioga County. Evidenced by the candidate picked by the legislature to fill legislative District 5 from Barton.

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I was watching the debate and I think that if Hillary wins I think the women are going to run the men more than they are now. I think that Trump should win so he can straighten it all out. I’d like to see some feedback on this.