Readers’ Column for the week of March 12, 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.

The Fire Board is a joke. It used to be all fire board members voted the wishes of the companies. There are two members from each company and they should be voting the same. It should be one vote per company and in the event of a tie the Chief should decide the final outcome. They are now allowing other Chiefs, Secretaries, Treasurers, Captains and Lieutenant’s to vote on very important issues. How is that fair to the membership?

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“My woodstove is my sanctuary lamp. As it burns, it symbolizes the presence of the life force of nature keeping my family alive through the cold death of winter, keeping us safe – or as safe as life can be, despite civilization’s determination to destroy itself. By keeping my sanctuary lamp burning, I celebrate the possibility of everlasting life right here on earth.” — From A Sanctuary of Trees by Gene Logsdon.

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I think we expect too much from people who cannot even use your and you’re, or their, they’re, and there correctly.

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There was a time when grocers’ were not supposed to put dented canned food on the shelf because the food could cause poison (botulism) if eaten. Apparently, this has somehow changed and now the large chain stores are ‘donating’ this stuff and older meats and baked goods to the local food pantries and Uncle Sam (U.S.) is picking up the bill in the form of a charitable tax write off for the biggies. RIP OFF is more like it! I wonder when the rules on dented food cans changed?

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Did you know? Running your engine for ten minutes releases one pound of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Improved engine technology means that we don’t need to “warm up” our engine before we drive away. Americans waste 3.8 million gallons of gasoline every day due to idling. 

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We, at Tenderfoot Craft Circle, wish to express our profound gratitude to all who donated yarn to us for our charity work. We were overwhelmed by your generosity, and will work hard to make sure your donations will help our less-fortunate friends and neighbors. Thank you!

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There was a local news article about Broome and Tioga counties complaining the governor was being unjust concerning shared services. I have a question for the Tioga county representatives. Isn’t it true that we have a Code Enforcement Officer for both the Town of Owego and the Village of Owego? Where else do we have duplication of effort between the Town and the Village? Why do I see police vehicles sitting around? This looks like waste to me and I’m sure there are others. These are a few of examples that people ought to be looking at. The critics are going to say it’s all about the unfunded mandates. I beg to differ. I have a feeling it’s a combination of issues, but nothing is going to change if we keep pointing the finger somewhere else. The question is, who is going to be willing to give up their jobs to save taxpayer dollars?

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I want to say thank you to a very dedicated employee of this paper. All winter our paper was in the box every Sunday. Some days were touch and go with ice, but there was our paper. We live on a secondary road and never had such great service. I believe it is a young man who delivers. Job well done!

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It is March 7, and the 826 page contract governing Common Core is still in effect. Tests are starting this month. Listen to the children. Take good notes. Do we really need the 826-page contract? 

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Our school districts, county, town and village officials should be strongly supporting the governor’s request for plans to share services. Sharing services would result in cost reductions in personnel, equipment, building storage costs, fuel usage and much, much more. Smart industrial leaders are doing this and it’s time for our government leaders to stop guarding their territories and start working for the residents. We want our taxes reduced, not raised every year. Get to work and do your job. “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” 

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Dr. Phil’s program has gotten really disgusting. People go on there to share their sick sordid secrets for the nation’s entertainment. I think that program should be banned. It’s sick!

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Go bald at this year’s Candor St. Baldrick’s event to be held on April 2 at the Candor Fire Station. To participate, visit stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/4251/2017. This is all to raise money for childhood cancer research. 

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Get the sneakers laced up and participate in the Candor 5K Run/Walk planned for April 2 at 9:30 a.m. Check in begins at 8:30 a.m. For information go to stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/4251/2017 or visit our Facebook page. 

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The big deal about this new baby giraffe being born is for the kids who have never seen a giraffe, let alone knowing how they come into this world. There are just not kittens and puppies. Think about it.

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I want to thank the person who wrote in the number about getting access to the product that will take care of ticks. I will make sure my son gets that for his dog and thank you so much.

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I would like to say to the people in Nichols and the surrounding area that know me, when I was younger they said I would never live to see the age of 30. Last Monday I turned 60 years old and I’m planning for some more years, so everybody who doubted it – ha ha, I made it!

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In regards to the person who called in about the baby giraffe coming and why it’s getting so much attention. It’s a happy wonderful thing in this world of unhappy things and horrible happenings all over the world. It’s something happy to focus on to let us know that God is still performing miracles and it’s a rare and wonderful thing.

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Attention to all the sportsmen, hunters, target shooters, but primarily the licensed pistol permit holders in New York State but most assuredly Upstate and Brooke, Tioga and all the counties of Upstate. There are at least four bills that are being completely stalled since 2015 that are getting nowhere. They’re being stalled by the current administration obviously, Andrew Cuomo, I’m referring to the Safe Act. If you ask yourself who is the Safe Act meant to keep safe? It certainly isn’t all of our sportsmen and legal license holders. Please call you congressmen and anyone else you know who is a pistol permit holder. You’ve all got the letters, we need to re-certify, there’s bill out there to change all of that. It’s a time for a real grassroots effort and Senator Fred Akshar’s office has been very helpful in providing the information. Kudos to him! As they state, he’s very straightforward with all his constituents. As long as Andrew Cuomo is in office it’s going to be a hard fight so we need to all get together and fight together.

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To the naïve caller who claims no fear on the streets of Owego and believes concealed carry gun owners are waiting to shoot from fear, please be educated. Law abiding gun carrying citizens are not armed out of fear. They do so out of a sense of protection for themselves and those around them. Your lack of fear is a comfort to you when your refusal to accept the realities of deadly crime and terrorism now in every corner of America. I am a proud and very responsible woman with a concealed carry permit, and reader, you’ll be thankful if I’m near you on your Owego streets if you are ever faced with a threat of your life. 

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For the seniors who were ripped off and were sold a car lemon, if the car cannot be fixed to pass inspection as you state, get a notarized statement from a mechanic and take the seller to small claims court. Even if the car was sold as is, if it is not fixable to pass inspection you can get the seller to take it back, for example a damage frame. Good luck and at least you will be able to get part of your money if not all of your money back.

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To last week’s caller who said Owego is a safe place and the people who carry pistols concealed are just afraid. Remember Sandy Hook school killings? Many lives would have been saved if one teacher had had a gun. How about the Binghamton Civic Center, the theaters, the malls and the church killings? All of those people thought they were in a safe town and died because they were unarmed. How about the nightclub in Florida, all those poor people died because all they had was a cell phone, not a gun. Cell phones can’t protect you much and the cops cannot always arrive on time. My wife and I don’t worry about the Russians or terrorists because we have concealed carry and we will not be victims of crime or terrorism. If you people think that this world is so safe you’ve not been watching the news. Get your heads out of the sand and quit putting down people that you don’t understand.

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This is to the person who was complaining that the recycler leaves their bin in the middle of the driveway. What you have to do is call the recycling office. For this area it’s 687-6710, Southern Tier Recycling, talk to the office and they will talk to the guys, I’ve done it many times myself. 

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Thank you ever so much to whoever built the moose between Candor and Owego. It’s a very, very happy uplifting sight to see. I enjoy them very much. I was wondering if we are going to see a baby moose or two around some time in the near future. Thank you again. A lot of people really enjoy them.  

National Political Viewpoints

What an absolute hoot! Elizabeth Warren, who lied repeatedly on the campaign trail about having American Indian ancestry (she has none) in order to qualify for funds to help her get elected and give her a leg up on the competition, accuses Jeff Sessions of lying! Talk about the kettle calling the pot black! Typical of today’s Liberal Democrats! Following Hillary’s lead in the lying department.

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Providing health care to all Americans is not complicated at all. First, we enroll everyone, including the President, in Medicare and raise taxes to pay for it. Secondly, we draft a single Medicare supplement insurance policy to be sold by any insurance company in the country at their own price. Third, we allow citizens to purchase prescription drugs overseas. Fourth, we allow the aged and terminally ill to opt for humane, assisted suicide. Problem solved!

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OMG! Some undereducated person in the area thinks Russia is our friend and has been since WWII. Wow!

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Although I’m a real political junkie, I’m taking time to focus on what really matters right now: Mama June’s red-hot size 4 revenge dress.

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Russia is our friend? Since WWII? I sprayed my morning coffee all over the Pennysaver reading that. The writer of that is either really young or really stupid. I spent my childhood practicing hiding under my desk, learning where the nearest civil defense shelter was and experiencing that little dust up called the Cuban Missile Crisis. All because of Soviet nuclear bombs.  We have spent trillions of dollars during the cold war punctuated with periodic hot proxy wars. My friends stationed in Germany were prepping and re-prepping to defend the Fulda Gap. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Maybe you are cool with the Russians interfering with our election. Cooler still with Trump answering to Putin. No wonder Trump loves the poorly educated.

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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.

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The NRA is in bed with Putin and Russia too? Is nothing sacred?

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It looks like we are going to trade in Obamacare for Republicans-no-a-care.

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I never had foreign relations with that ambassador. — Jeff Sessions

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It took the Republicans seven years to come up with this wonderful healthcare bill. Millions of dollars for the rich, could you throw in a free shovel for us little people so we can bury ourselves? 

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I don’t think the public realizes that our cell phones and landline phone calls are being recorded by our U.S. Intelligence Committee – so you know President Trump’s was hacked. Every call is being recorded, so watch what you say.

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I totally agree with the caller that stated that anybody who voted for Donald Trump should go stand in a corner and think about what they did. 

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Liberalism is a mental disorder.

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Obama’s refugees who flooded into our country while Mr. Trump’s ban was suspended, about 300 now have been linked to terror and are being investigated. I do not understand why the Democrats on the left do not want the American citizens safe and protected. Can anybody answer this for me?

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It’s time for the deadwood in D.C. to put into law that you have to show your tax returns or you don’t run for president, period! Also, a mental test for sanity!

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To the person complaining about Hollywood using their awards program as a political forum, why do you continue to watch them with all the other channels there are or turn off the TV? With that being said, they probably feel they are entitled to it because our current president was an entertainer / businessman who did the same thing. I don’t watch his speeches either, turn the TV off.

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What is even more frightening than Trump being president is the 69 people who voted for him.

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Government by Trump. Why should voters be upset that top administration officials are being caught in lie after lie – costing them jobs? Why don’t we all know that they are learning from the master, the commander in chief who blamed the generals for the loss of that fellow in Yemen? Give us voters a break; what’s a little lie now and then? 

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News flash! Valerie Jerrett, Obama’s former Chief of Staff, has moved into the newly purchased nobama mansion in Washington D.C. to help set up a shadow government to oust Trump as president. The former nobama attorney general is working on the same project by supporting California’s illegal alien politics. Attorney General Sessions should be investigating nobama. And who in the White House had secured approval to tape General Flynn and Donald Trump before and after the election? You are seeing a nobama-controlled coup in action against our great president Trump.

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I agree with last week’s caller stating how lazy and crass the Democratic Party was during President Trump’s Congressional speech. The President is inspiring, definitive and motivating, continuing to share explicitly his dream and goals for America. He has already demonstrated his ability to accomplish these. Why then would the Democratic Congress show such disrespect and vitriolic expression for an agenda that has already begun to strengthen America? Personal interest, hidden agendas, and the squashing of political goodies come to mind. Worse than this, was their defiance in sharing with America thanks and honor to our fallen Navy Seal William Ryan Owens. Military service is an unconditional sacrifice for the soul purpose of protecting and strengthening every American and yes that includes you Democratic Congress! Millions of Americans, especially Veterans, will remember you on Election Day with reciprocal vitreous. You are a huge reason why America voted for Trump and his agenda and the rest of America will continue to support his respectable American ideas.