Readers’ Column for the week of May 28, 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.

Remember our Veterans this Memorial weekend. My father served in WWII and my brother during the Vietnam era, both in the Navy. Our family is very proud of their service. Shortly after my brother’s service he joined a local “Veterans for Peace” group. This group is planning a gathering in D.C. this weekend. Check out their website at veteransforpeace.org.

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A Tioga County, N.Y. chapter of The Association for Gravestone Studies is forming and is seeking interested individuals throughout the county to join in preserving our county’s burial sites. Please check out our Facebook page or email us at TiogaCountyAGS@gmail.com.

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To the beef farmer on Ellis Creek Road. From all of us, I’m speaking for all of us that drive Ellis Creek every morning; we know where your cows are getting out. Now, if you’re home on Saturday and Sunday, look out your window. Please!

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I am trying to find out if Riverton Exteriors that used to be in Smithboro is still in business, as I would like to contact James. He bought our wooden swing set about three years ago and I would like to ask him if he could do some work for us, if he would call us. I’m pretty sure he would remember who we are. We are in Nichols. 

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I wish to thank the four men who pushed my car into Thompson’s Tuesday. A big thank you to all of you!

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There’s funding for bridges in the New York State budget. The village and town of Newark Valley can apply for money to replace Silk and Dr. Knapp road bridges.

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We live on Norris Avenue in Vestal and there is a speed limit of 30 mph on the top and on the bottom of it. We’ve notified the Vestal police but they just don’t do anything about it. It’s just like a racetrack here from 6 a.m. through 7 p.m. at night. I’ve been told by the Vestal police that we would get help last year, but we never did. I’d like to know when they’re going to kind of watch out on Norris Avenue in Vestal in the morning. I realize they have a lot of work to do but it’s nonsense that they can’t come here and catch some of these people that are racing down the road to get to work or whatever. 

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I’m a senior citizen looking for an affordable, used exercise bike. Call 625-2971.

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I have a better five-year plan for Mark Clark – don’t run for Highway Superintendent for at least another five years. Take your New York State retirement and sit at home, much like you do in the office as Highway Superintendent. Take a look at Wade Hollow and Dutchtown Road, better known as a quilted highway with all its patches. You can tell how he maintains the sleuce pipes; they are called speed bumps. And the maintenance of drainage ditches, I wonder when that will start. Probably after the next catastrophic storm. You know when all the other roads in the Town of Owego had been plowed in the winter, that’s when the plows hit Wade Hollow. Another observation is the chip money being spent. Wade Hollow and Dutchtown Road get little. And surface treating 22 miles of dirt roads? Come on Town of Owego, find someone who could better function as a Highway Superintendent. 

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With Lake Street being torn up now it is vitally important that the businesses along that way have support.

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Local cable companies that have a problem with a certain channel on weekends don’t fix it until Monday morning. The customer never gets a reduced bill for the problem. Cable bills are high enough to not get good service or a reduction on the bill.

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I don’t know if anybody else has noticed when you turn on your TV you’ve lost another channel. Every time I get my bill I don’t see any credit for lost channels. I figure I’ve lost six. I don’t know whom to call about it. You talk to them and it’s like talking to the wall. They are the great and only, they are the only ones here. Our political figures won’t do anything about it.

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I read Mr. Clark’s article in the Pennysaver, how much he’s accomplished in his seven-plus years. I’d like to give you facts. He says he’s got 22 miles of dirt road. In seven-plus years of that, how many miles has he paved or even put on stone and oil? The next thing is they’ve got two graters, do you ever see them out working those roads? I know a farmer had to do something with his tractor and back blade because it was such a mess. As far as I heard those two graters were going to shoulder a lot. I’ll tell you they could be out there doing it most any time. The water runs down the road instead of to the ditch. That isn’t good. 

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There is absolutely nothing that supports and validates our military and our veterans more than our country’s unity in standing behind them. Their reason for living and breathing as a service person is to offer their bodies, minds and spirits for our freedom, our safety and our national strength. This they give willingly, knowing it could be and often is to death. Memorial Day is Monday, May 28. Coming together for this one hour is not just a feel good thing for our military. It tells them you believe in their service and thanks them for their tremendous sacrifice for you, your families and your country. As a marine wife I know this is the lifeblood that keeps alive every service man and woman’s reason for carrying out their duties and every veteran’s balm for soothing the nightmares of some of their most horrific duties. Plan to come out for one hour on Monday and to support them. You will like how it feels, proud, thankful and free!

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I see that the Town of Owego Highway Superintendent is seeking re-election this year. Be aware folks, remember that this winter he neglected you as taxpayers and he has done a lot more. So let’s remember at election time in November if there is someone running against him. 

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I hope the Village of Owego is planning to mow the bank on the west side of Marvin Park. Also, it would be nice if the mowers would mow the grass away from the sidewalk instead of onto the sidewalk.

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This year on Monday, Memorial Day, make an extra effort to become a better American and do something positive for your country. Drop the political bickering and come up with some positive ideas for a better America before America implodes. We, the people, make this a great country, not the politics, or politicians or media. Go to a parade and honor the veterans and police and firemen that keep America safe and put a wreath on the grave of a hero. United we stand, divided we fall.

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Bad government starts locally. How many people have gone to their Town or Village Clerk and asked to see the Local Law Code Book. There is supposed to be a copy available to the public. Most problems in Town are because of the lack of good land use laws or no laws at all. Can you appeal a Violation dispute to a Board of Appeals? If you can’t, you really have problems.

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Attention driver of the black Honda entering Route 17 at Apalachin on Wednesday at 8 a.m. The really long on ramp is there so you can accelerate to highway speed before moving into the driving lane. That way drivers already there who cannot move over due to traffic don’t have to brake hard to avoid hitting you.

National Political Viewpoints

We all have to face the fact – Donald Trump’s ship has sunk. The only thing that can happen now is he is going to drag the rest of us down with him. We need to say he needs to be impeached.

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The U.S.A. is on a course towards civil war. The Marxist Democrats are delusional and they encourage Trump hatred at every turn. Democrats are bent on destroying the Trump economy so as to make him look bad and increase their soon to be disastrous collapse in the 2018 elections. Trump is courageous, honest, and will not quit until America returns to its traditional greatness. Democrat dimwits prattle about impeachment, which will never happen. These lunatics who suggest a Russian / Trump plot will soon be proved wrong by the FBI leaders and Congressional committees. Once tax cuts are pushed through, the U.S. Economy will boom and Trump will be acclaimed a great national hero.

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Hey all you never Trumpers, keep watching Donald Trump and you will learn how a real president of the United States should operate. You should also email the Obama’s, the Clinton’s, the McCains, the Bush’s, and more wannabe presidents and tell them how they can learn from Trump and his smart, non-political, non-lawyer, common sense ways. Go Trump! You are showing them all and no one is making it easy for you. You are a true leader. Go Trump!

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Whoever you are that finally figured out when our president is lying made a mistake. It was Hillary Clinton – that when she moved her lips she was lying. 

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The comment about knowing when Trump is lying when his mouth moves is getting a little old. I must say though, as I watched the attack in Manchester, I’m so glad Mr. Trump is our president because neither Hillary nor Obama would be the leader we need right now in such a situation.

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Mainstream media gave very little coverage to Mr. Trump’s Middle East trip and the Manchester attack. Mainstream media thought it best to continue about Russia and the Bill Cosby upcoming trial. I just can’t watch it any more. When you turn on the news you should expect to hear top current news, not rehash old topics over and over until you’re tired of them.

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Why, if Roger Ailes was a sexual harasser, were the women on Fox And Friends crying their heads off when they heard he had passed today? I’ll tell you what I think. I think the slime merchant, Democrats headed by George Soros, AKA Beelzebub, were at work. They backed phony sexual harassment lawsuits. They got rid of Ailes, they got rid of O’Reilly and they want to get rid of Fox. But mostly they want to get rid of Trump.

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Please, Mr. President, quit with the spray-on tan; it makes you look like a Halloween pumpkin!

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I think the most troubling thing happening in the current time is seeing how so many people can actually witness an event and then believe the perpetrators when they deny doing it.

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Tracking the number of times Trump has played golf to Obama at the same point of his presidency: Obama – 1, Trump – 15. Since taking office, Trump has been a regular visitor at his own golf clubs in Florida and Virginia – so far outpacing Obama in the amount of time he spends on the green. I think this is what Mr. Prunes meant to say. It took several seconds on Google to find hundreds of articles that showed this.

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Quit saying the people have spoken in reference to Donald Trump’s electoral win; 53.9 percent voted for someone else.

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“After years of hype and false starts, the shift to clean power has begun to accelerate at a pace that has taken the most experienced experts by surprise. Even leaders in the oil and gas sector have been forced to confront an existential question: Will the 21st century be the last one for fossil fuels? As the old saying goes, the Stone Age didn’t end due to the lack of stones, and the hydrocarbon age will not end because we ran out of oil. It will end due to concerns over climate change and the fact that fossil fuels could not compete against cheaper renewables.” “Fossil Fuels Have Lost. The Problem Is That Trump Doesn’t Know It Yet” Oil Change International. Andy Rowell. May 20, 2017

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Which president plays more golf is not the biggest problem this country has, except for the hypocrisy of Trump saying he would never play as much as Obama. Health care for people in Tioga County might be a better area of discussion. Call Congressman Reed if you have Medicaid and ask him why he would vote to cut $800,000,000 over the course of 10 years for the primary source of care for many in our county. He is not working for us.

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To make good on his promise to create jobs, President Trump has allowed the Saudis to purchase weapons that the Obama administration thought they should not have. History will decide if this was a smart decision.

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Those darn leakers! Leaking all that super secret sensitive info. They should be locked up. Starting with the one that blabbed the area that two of our nuclear submarines happened to be in. That may be a mole in the ISIS network. Oh, and that mole works for Israel.

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Ya gotta love it. While Nobama was in office, the media fawned all over him. He could seemingly do no wrong. Now that he’s out of office, no one has anything good to say about him. He is characterized as one who made no serious decisions, kicked whatever can was in play at the time down the road, didn’t really accomplish much, and yet President Trump, who has accomplished more in the short time he’s been in office, gets no accolades. Why, simple. He’s a Conservative Republican and the media can’t acknowledge any accomplishments by one of “them”!

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I sent an email to Representative Tom Reed expressing concern about the tax reform bill. A few days later I received a form email thanking me for my interest in the American Health Care Act. I am sure it came from his office and not him, but he is responsible for the people that work for him. I replied to him to tell him of the error and once again pointed out that it isn’t a tax cut for the lower income people that own a home and are living from pay check to pay check if they take away the state tax and local tax deductions. Next year they will find that they are paying more in taxes while the higher wage owners and the wealthy will see the cuts. Once again, the little guy pays the way for the rich. I told him I would not vote for anyone who votes in favor of this bill.