Readers’ Column for the week of Feb. 26, 2017

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.

On Feb. 21, five robins were sighted at the Cannon Hole in the Town of Barton along with five pintail ducks. On the same day, three male red-winged blackbirds were sighted at the Wildwood Nature Reserve in the Town of Barton along with 110 cedar waxwings. The redwings were re-confirmed on the Feb. 22, along with 11 robins at Wildwood. Wildwood will serve as the site of the Carantouan Greenway’s fundraising 4K on March 19, which happens to be the last day of winter.

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The state wants to eliminate plastic and paper bags and I agree with them. I think that most of the big grocery stores and the chain drug stores are the biggest distributors of these items. When these items are no longer available, these stores will be the biggest winners, so let them supply replacements. Those big outfits have computers that keep track of every dime that is spent so let them keep track of how many bags go to a customer and when the customer reaches the limit, no more bags. Let’s keep the state as far away as possible.

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We, at Tenderfoot Crafts are continuing to knit and crochet blankets, hats, gloves, socks and other items for our friends who are in need of warmth this year. We are running very low on yarn, and would appreciate any donations of yarn you might give us. We will accept full skeins, partial skeins – any type of yarn, any color. If you are cleaning out your “yarn stash”, we would love to have the extra coming our way. Please call (607) 659-5739 to arrange pick-up or delivery. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

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We have just had some plumbing work done at our home by a very able, efficient, and delightful gentleman. We wanted to let folks in the area, who might need these services, know that Joe Curley has lots of experience in this area. He is honest, punctual (he told us he would be here at 8 a.m., and actually arrived at 7:59 a.m.). He has a great sense of humor, and his fees are comparable to those of other workers. We are very pleased with his work, and can recommend him to anyone who would like work of this kind. His ad is in the Pennysaver. Thanks again, Joe! You made our day.

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I wonder if anyone else has noticed that the pant manufacturers have shortened the length of the zippers and now the end of the zipper is about four inches higher from the crotch. TO HECK WITH THE CONSUMER, LET’S SAVE A FEW MILLION ON MATERIALS.

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Good portions of college students have a hard time deciding on their course of study. They start college unprepared, not having taken courses needed in high school to continue with a college education. One example of this is a student who elects not to take math courses in high school and then chooses a career that math is needed in. The students build up an excessive amount of debt attending one year and changing courses the next year. Some need to attend more years to achieve a degree than what is required because of these issues. What happens when college is “free” and the bill is footed by the taxpayer?

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“Sometimes you have to put down your cell phone and take to the streets.” Message from a long time civil rights activist.

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Did you know that dandelions are one of the first flowers that come up in the spring and provide food for the honeybees? I bet you’re saying, “Who cares,” right? If you like honey or most fruits, you might care. Dandelions are also edible: the whole plant – the roots, the leaves and the flowers. I remember my grandparents making wine out of them. Can’t say that I enjoyed that particular wine very much, but in the spring when the dandelions pop up, I’m going to take a real close look at the flower and call it beautiful! Why do we view dandelions as an enemy to get rid of? For those interested in nutrition, per en.wikipedia.org: “Dandelion leaves contain abundant vitamins and minerals, especially vitamins A, C and K, and are good sources of calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese.” Anyone want breakfast?

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Does anyone in Chemung County have a problem with ticks? My son can let his dogs out four or five times a day and every single time they come back with ticks you would not believe. Like yesterday, 11 ticks on his little white dog and it’s a shaved dog, not a longhaired dog, and you can see them clearly. What do we do about that? Come on, give me some answers please.

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I’m calling about the Campville bridge project. The Feb. 5 paper said the bridge is a mess without warning signs. The Feb. 12 paper said basic construction was done and now open for traffic in both directions through the winter months. An observer claims the guys have done a great job, a much-appreciated improvement over the original, dated 1930’s. Another observer, me, hates to explode your bubble but the bridge was replaced due to the fact that it was structurally unsound underneath and failed inspection. More over nothing has improved on the surfaces; there should be a slow down sign and a big bump sign erected at both ends before the joints. Lastly, westbound traffic has it the worst; there is a peculiar dip and hole going west on the right side that could be milled smooth before New York State gets sued for passenger car damage to front ends. You feel it the worst if doing the speed limit, which isn’t the norm for this area. The Highway Department should feel embarrassed to leave a roadway in that condition, even though it can’t be finalized until warm weather.

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The Owego School District used to offer swimming class to elementary school students during their PE classes. Now that’s been gone for several years. I wanted to take my kids to the pool during the week and just found that the swimming pool now only opens from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. in the morning on weekdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. In February there are meets on two of the four Saturdays and the pool is closed to the public. The pool used to be open an hour on the weekdays in the evening and now that’s gone. I’m wondering how much budget, we as taxpayers, approved to be used for swimming pool maintenance? Where was the money spent if not used to keep the pool open to the public? Does the school district expect us to go swimming at the Tioga Center School, which has a better schedule? If you have kids that like to swim, think about what you are going to vote about the pool coming school budget vote time. 

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Since obesity is the number one killer of Americans, I say it’s time to stop all the fast food advertising. Remove the Twinkie posters out of the stores. Remove the big mac billboards, hot fudge sundae pictures must go, no more giant fattening cake advertisement, remove all the candy bar ads. I know this will work; if you don’t see it you won’t want it. Right? Time for a new tax funded coalition. Right? 

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For all the stupid people, there are two types of poor in this county. The working poor, who go to work, drive young cars, and are taxed to fund the wealthy poor. The wealthy poor get up, smoke cigarettes, walk to shopping and take naps, while the working poor are still at work. 

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I have what they call silent migraines; therefore my brain is in a migraine state with no headache. I go in stores like Wal-Mart and get sick and dizzy with all the lights. I went to three stores and finally at the antique store found a black velvet wide brim Quaker hat. I must wear sunglasses and my hat most of the time. I lost my wonderful hat with a band and stitching on it. If you found it, please call (607) 687-5620. 

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What are we becoming when an individual is planning on placing bombs in items in Target stores so that stock will lose value and he can purchase such stock at a lower price with no thought about the people who will be killed or maimed due to his actions?

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Someone called in this week and wanted to know about furniture repairs. This man does upholstery also. He can be reached at 239-3973.

National Political Views

Interesting. Conservatives put up with Liberal nonsense for eight too long years. No riots, no burning other people’s property, no looting, no big protests. Why is it that the Libs can’t get over the idea they lost the election, put a smile on their face, get on with a job, stop trying to find a scapegoat for their failure in the election booth? It’s the Russians, it’s voter cheating, it’s the F.B.I., and it’s anything but what it is. Hillary was proved to be a monumental liar emotionally unfit for the job. Plus, people were just fed up with being ignored with Nobama shoving all kinds of Liberal nonsense down our throats, like Nobamacare. Go Trump, go, I say, as do lots of other citizens who have jobs, obey the laws, pay taxes, go to church, take care of their family and property; unlike those who seem not to have a job because they protest every emotional subject they can glom onto.

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Having watched the president’s “smooth running machine” news conference, you have to question what is going on. He doesn’t trust the press, but he trusts the people he has chosen to surround himself with to feed him alternative facts. All of these executive orders dismantle almost every piece of legislation to protect the environment and public from the vultures. Who’s telling him they were all bad? We have to question the integrity of the people he has surrounded himself with, are they there for their own interests? He has people with the highest IQ’s, which doesn’t mean they necessarily know how to tie their own shoes. The only one that got it right was Kushner when he realized that most of the country had had enough of the Clintons and Bush’s. So far he has only built the dam higher so that it appears that the swamp is draining.

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Okay, all us people who voted for Tenney. We were warned about her never showing up for state legislative sessions. Now that she is assured two more years on the gravy train and now at the Federal level, she has decided it is too dangerous to attend her own Town Hall meetings and meet us face-to-face so she will attend her meetings by phone. What a sad excuse for a member of the United States House of Representatives to represent our great state of New York, or any other state for that matter. I sure hope you remember this in two years. I will!

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“All we have to do is replace Obama. We want the Paul Ryan budget which cuts $6 trillion and then pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become President of the United States.” — Grover Norquist, taken from a Samantha Bee clip. Well, I guess he got his wish.

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“Dozens of condominiums in Trump World Tower in midtown Manhattan were bought by Russians in the late 1990’s, said Dolly Lenz, a real estate broker who sold many of the units. Many buyers sought an audience with Trump, whose business acumen they respected, Lenz said. Early 2000’s: The Trump Organization developed several projects abroad, many of them involving Russian money.” From “Russia Ties Go Back 30 Years” by Oren Dorell, USA Today.

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After watching the video and reading the transcripts from Trump’s press conference all you people who voted for Trump should go stand in the corner and contemplate what you did.

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The Trump crazy train is getting crazier. Watching republican lack of leadership is astounding. They are either in bed with or completely compromised by the Russians. Remember the Russians? They were an enemy right up to a couple years ago. Did that change when George Bush looked in Putin’s eyes and could see his soul? When ever it happened it is looking like Putin is in control. The American intelligence services are being primed for a Stalinesque purge and the military will soon be under command and control of the Kremlin. Well done, rubes.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that ‘Spies Keep Intelligence From Trump’. Put another way they are saying ‘Trump Has No Intelligence’. Like that is a surprise?

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Men have reproductive organs so men have rights when it comes to abortion. Perhaps what Governor Cuomo is protecting is a man’s “right” to dispose of the evidence that he couldn’t keep his pants on when he should have. The governor is protecting men from paying child support for 21 years and saving welfare from supporting the “fatherless” families. The governor is protecting men’s rights by making sure women can abort the baby that will cost so much money for a night of intimacy. Abortion is not one-sided. Both sides that performed an act for all the wrong reasons and couldn’t be bothered to use protection to prevent a pregnancy want it. Men who are against abortion would be best to marry a woman they want to have children with.

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These organized protests are really sad. All these out of control people do is yell and take control of the situation. Do they ever stop to think that there may be others in attendance with valid questions that they would like to ask their representatives? No, they think only of themselves.

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I did not vote for Donald Trump but if he can do these five things, abolish abortion, abolish gay marriage, abolish this transgender bathroom foolishness, reinstate the death penalty and allow voluntary prayer back in school he’s got my vote. Let’s make America great again like it used to be.

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As a New York Veteran of Foreign Wars, I am ashamed of the awful way that Veteran Flynn was treated and had to resign from the Trump administration. Shame on everybody who treated this man so badly!

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Hail to the Chief on this President’s Day! For the first time in many, many years I want to salute my President, and Trump deserves it. Go Trump!

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The Democrats need to go back to school because one thinks she’s still working for Bush and another one thinks that Putin is invading Korea, and they’re supposed to be making our laws. They talk about Trump, talk about reality check. They need one!

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In response to the article about the possibility of Michelle Obama staying at home in Chicago rather than living at the White House; I wish she had. Obama’s weekend flight would have cost us taxpayers a heck of a lot less than the over $85 million they wasted on vacations at our expense! 

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According to the recent World Health Organization’s list of the top best countries for healthcare, nowhere in that list were Canada, England or France. Take heed, a one-payer system has no competition to keep costs down.

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Follow the real news. Remnants of the Obama intelligence community are leaking classified information to their stooges in the lame stream media. This is blatantly illegal and these criminals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Trump should also oust all of these Obama holdovers. It is no secret that the Socialist Democrats are trying to set up a shadow government to destroy a duly elected president. It is time loyal Americans confront these criminals at every opportunity including town halls and street demonstrations. President Trump’s news conferences are a real eye opener. Go Trump!

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What is up with Trump and his cabinet members and their ties to Russia? Since when is Russia our friend? This response to Russia is no surprise to me. He blames it on fake news media. Maybe he is a fake president.

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It’s unfortunate, but even the Clinton supporters will benefit from the Trump win. What about that stock market? The economy is beginning to roar. We have not seen such constant record highs since LBJ. All us investors love it!

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I just heard on the news that Obamacare Replace and Repeal is moving fast. This is great news! Obamacare has been on a downward spiral since its start and now Humana is pulling out by the end of 2017. This is great news for the middle class. They can no longer have these high premiums and deductibles. Thank you Mr. Trump!

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Now doesn’t it seem realistic, if you stop and think about it, Trump is Putin’s puppet because Trump can only follow money from Russia or Germany. Now what would we do in a predicament like that? And these very, very smart men are saying no thank you.