Readers’ Column for the week of June 4, 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.

To the person looking for the VCR, if you haven’t found one yet I have one from an estate I’m cleaning out. If you could leave your phone number I will gladly get in touch with you and I don’t want to a lot of money for it, so it’s yours if you want it.

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After reading this column this morning, it came to my attention that I need to chime in on this issue with Mark Clark, the so-called superintendent. I believe the town would be much better served if this position was appointed by the town supervisor and the town board, because then that individual would be responsible to report to the town board meetings. Currently, Mr. Clark doesn’t believe that it is his place or his responsibility to report to anybody but himself, and therefore he does absolutely nothing for all the town residents. Then maybe, just maybe, the town should cut his budget 100 percent and make him put forth to the taxpayers to see if they would be willing to fund a do nothing highway department.

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This is in response about Riverton Exteriors; Jane, associated with that business, moved to Florida about two years ago.

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The Evergreen Cemetery in Berkshire looked great for Memorial Day this year. The people who are responsible for the great job they did should feel very proud.

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Anyone want some “free” bricks from an outdoors fireplace? Also, free firewood, you cut it up. Call 687-2164.

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I applaud the village board in Owego for trying to cut back on things and save money. I believe that’s the right thing to do. I think I may have one other solution for their problem to consider, and that would be succeeding from the Town of Owego. I, for the life of me, can’t understand why the people in the Village of Owego pay Town of Owego taxes when we receive nothing. We have our own fire department, the schools are here, we do our own roads and I see no value in me paying Town of Owego taxes. I would hope the board would maybe discuss this and see if it’s a viable option.

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The other evening my husband and I had an opportunity to have dinner at the new restaurant on 5th Avenue in Owego called MJ’s. They have done a nice job remodeling it and it has outdoor dining as well. The wait staff did a good job and the owners were very attentive. It was nice to have a few drinks with the unique food choices that were all very delicious, and I’m looking forward to trying their brunch as I looked over the menu and it looks like there will be something to please everyone. Please support our local business owner. I’m sure you will be satisfied.

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On Memorial Day Remember: We tend to think the problem is human beings have this natural tendency to kill, and yet in the middle of World War II, “good war,” as it were, the U.S. army was astonished to learn that at least three out of every four riflemen who were trained to kill and commanded to kill, could not bring themselves to pull the trigger when they could see the person they were ordered to kill. And that inner resistance to violence is a well kept secret. – William Ury

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Around May 25 or 26, I came down John Street to turn right over the tracks to go to the Boys and Girls Club. There were no cars and I got in the middle of the tracks, looked up and saw gates coming down. I gunned the car and just got across. I had my radio on, but no train horn or warning. I really am thinking about that crossing, it says don’t wait on the tracks; BUT if you go across and cars suddenly appear coming toward you, you have to wait on the tracks! I sure am going to use that crossing very seldom. 

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The Strawberry Festival is coming, and hundreds of cars are coming here. When you come down past the nursing home to turn right on John Street, the road needs to be repaired on the corner.

National Political Viewpoints

It’d be surprising if George Will had anything useful to say other than to prove how superior he is.

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So Hillary says Nixon was impeached. Doesn’t she realize Nixon resigned and it was Bill Clinton who was impeached? Yes, it was her husband that was impeached. It still amazes me she continues talk about her big election loss and can’t seem to get over it. Even children move on. Does anyone know why she can’t move on?

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President Trump did a magnificent job representing U.S. interests in his Middle East trip and was enthusiastically received by both Jews and Arabs, but not the fake news media and their Marxist Democrat backers in the U.S. who played down Trump’s triumph. These Democrat sore losers cannot face reality that Trump will not give up and that patriotic Americans have his back. Trump is a remarkable leader and we all hope and pray for his success. Let’s all get together for a U.S.A. Trump rally locally this summer and let the internal and external enemies of the U.S.A. know they cannot win.

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The downfall of this country is when we went to 24 hours news coverage. Good, bad or indifferent, the opinions of these people poison the people to react one way or another. Some don’t even know what they are talking about. We need to go back to half hour broadcast like it used to be. We’d all be better off than to listen to this 24-hour propaganda viewpoint. 

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Has anyone noticed? A bunch of people get elected in a popularity contest to run and decide what is best for the people and the area they will represent. These people APPOINT a planning board and they APPOINT a planning board of appeals. When any controversy comes up, these two boards decide and go through their gyrations of go or no go. The boards have a meeting, the people they represent have a say, and then the board okay’s it. People don’t vote for or against it. FOLLOW THE MONEY!

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Although not an early Trump supporter, as a long-time Republican I hoped for the best when he became President. As time passes it becomes more apparent that he lacks the skills needed for the office. His recent overseas trip saw him embracing Saudi Arabia, the most brutal regime aside from North Korea while shunning Germany, one of our closest allies. His endless tweets sometimes reflect the mind of a man not grounded in reality. Luckily we have a vice president far more qualified. We are going to need him, I fear.

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I never thought that I would agree with anything that the Putin puppet Trump said. Now I read he did not actually believe that birther stuff was real, but he knew republicans are stupid and they will buy it. I agree with Trump. Who knew?