Readers’ Column for the week of July 2, 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.

What was the object of a huge cutter machine going down Dean Street and not cutting the edge by the road where dogs are taken, etc.? The cutting left the edge uncut and cut a small minute part over the edge of the road.

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Once again, the corner of John Street by Front Street bumps and bumps for cars turning right from Lourdes. 

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I think the village should keep all the village offices in place, especially Judge Boland.

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To the woman that’s turning everybody in with the cameras, hey we know your dirty dealings. You’re not so innocent, you’ve got cameras for a reason, your part of the problem in Owego.

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It’s an unfortunate accident that the truck that sits on East Main Street by Forsythe Street blocks the view of people coming down Forsythe Street onto Main Street. I’ve almost gotten hit there a couple of times myself. Somebody is going to get seriously hurt. Even after the accident over there, the truck is still parked there and it’s too close to the intersection. Something needs to get done about that before someone really gets hurt badly. 

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I am calling in response to the remark made last week regarding the manure on the road and how it made their car stink for weeks. I also travel that road and occasionally there is a brown spot in the road, but nothing that I have ever seen that was significant. I really hope the caller doesn’t complain when his mouth is full of food. All I can say is thank God and bless the farmers.

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I want to say many thanks to all the people responsible for putting in the new sidewalks on Whig Street in Newark Valley. It’s wonderful and will make life so much easier for the children going to school. Thank you very much!

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I’m calling in regards to the comment about the farmer. I’m not aware of young men or young women in recent years being exempt from military service because of agriculture. I know it was years ago during the draft time, but not now. Also, high property tax, what do you consider high property tax? If the farmers didn’t have ag exemptions or ag districting they wouldn’t survive and be able to hang onto their land. You look at all the benefits non farm people get, you can get home loans, you can get VA loans, you can get Star exemptions, there’s a lot of things out there for non farmers that farmers cannot get. As far as subsidies, there’s very little available for farmers. 

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This is to the person who wants to know what to do about the neighbor shooting wild animals and neighbor’s animals. Number one, it’s against the law to shoot any animal! You call the humane society and also the game warden. The game warden would really like to give them a fine and so would the humane society. That’s against the law and it’s inhumane. 

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I want to know what farm this guy worked on for 40 years and if he knows what he’s talking about. We ran a farm for 26 years, 30 years my husband did, yes we’re exempt from the military service, and we pay the same property taxes as everybody else. I don’t know where he got the idea government paid milk and tax subsidies, because we never made a dime. We had to sell out because we couldn’t pay our bills anymore. There’s no natural gas up here, so we didn’t have that to fall onto either. I don’t know what this guy’s talking about but I’d like to know the farm he worked on for 40 years, maybe that would be a better farm than we worked on. The little farmer doesn’t have a chance. 

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This is just a quick note for the taxpayers of Owego. I finally found out why they can’t get much of anything done out in the field. There’s no supervision! The workers call him on the radio and they’re lucky if they get somebody, especially in the afternoon. That’s all I’ve got to say. They’re just not doing their job.

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To the person who wrote into this column about the neighbor shooting everything, you can call (607) 972-4435 and they will definitely do something about it. 

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Looking for someone to trim six hedges for me. Must have own gas trimmer. Call 659-3354 and leave a message if I’m not here. 

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I’m calling to thank Lynn Vestal who periodically writes Nichols news and notes under the Lifestyle column in the Sayre Morning Times. I just want to thank her for this very newsy column. It’s a real joy to read about little towns and the daily activities of rural Americans. We do not hear about those activities. All we hear about are the bad things that go on in this world and it’s a pleasure and a joy to see the other side of life.

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I am just calling to let other seniors know that I stopped by the Countryside Community center today at 9 Sheldon Blvd. and it was so hot outside that the lady said we could sit there as long as we wanted and enjoy the air conditioning. The center has card games and board games, or you can just sit there and visit. They ask for a contribution for the lunch of $4 for ages 60 and over, for ages under 60 it is $6. Salad comes with your meal and everything! The people are so friendly and nice, and they also have programs there. They have a newspaper called The Scoop, and it let’s you know what’s happening there. 

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When it comes to coaching a school sport the job should go to the person that’s most qualified for the position, regardless of their occupation.

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A central reporting site is needed for severe weather events. On Father’s Day, several (many?) of us incurred a lot of damage due to “high winds”. Each of us with damage is dependent on hearsay and observation alone that the event did not occur at just one residence, business or area. Buildings lost large clay tiles, plexiglass and siding. Two cars and at least one truck were damaged. Awnings were slashed, sidewalks raised, trees and large limbs fell. The narrow path, extreme wind, and brief duration suggest that the event was a tornado. Data collection is important for future prediction as well as insurance documentation. Is there a central repository for this information that would inform meteorologists and the public what actually transpired? 

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I was coming out of the Vestal Wal-Mart and onto route 434 a few days ago. I turned left onto 434 and headed towards Binghamton. At the next intersection I was in the left lane and stopped at the traffic light. I heard a motorcyclist revving his engine about two cars behind me in the right lane. When the light turned he gunned the cycle and went between my car and the one in the right lane. I sounded my horn to let him know that I disapproved of this dangerous maneuver. At the next light we exchanged words and he told me that as long as he stayed in his lane that NYS law says it is okay to do what he did. I have since read NYS Traffic Law 1252 (a) and (b) which state: (b) The operator of a motorcycle shall not overtake and pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken and (c) No person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles. I hope that the motorcyclist reads this before he finds himself dead right. 

National Political Viewpoints

Considering the new health bill proposed by the Trump administration to defund Planned Parenthood, that is reprehensible. That tells you what this administration is all about. You need to think about this.

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I think it’s time the Democrats accept November’s election and everything that goes with it. They are doing nothing to bring our country together. Their constant bitterness and anger is growing in spurts, they are out of control, and they are out of line. They need to start getting along with others and work on the issues that are hurting the American people. I am so proud I’m not a Democrat – they are a disgrace and an embarrassment.

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The chickens are coming home to roost! We now know the CIA reported possible Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election in August 2016, to then President Obama who said he was really concerned about it but who decided to do absolutely nothing about it. How about that, Marxist Democrats? And, Loretta Lynch and FBI Director Comey colluded to prevent prosecution of Hillary Clinton on her many violations of government security. Now let the investigations of the real culprit begin!

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I understand billionaires Charles Koch and his brother have made a big offer to purchase CNN News Channel. 

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Bernie Sanders and his wife are now under FBI investigation for fraud, but why isn’t that being reported in the news? 

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Put up a few more cheers for the good guys! The Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s travel ban. Isis is being crushed all over the world. The loser Democrat Marxists got smoked in various recent state elections and conservatives are smiling all over the country. Now we know Obama knew all about the Russian election hacking but refused to do anything because he thought Hillary would win anyway. Nobama’s legacy is one of incompetence and inaction. Go Trump!

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Mr. Trump is only in office a few months and Isis is on the run. Isis is in trouble. Now why didn’t we make this kind of progress in the last eight years? 

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This is the third time I’ve called the readers column to voice my opinion on this and it didn’t get printed. Why does Trump lie? Do you remember on 9/11thousands of people were cheering it on. Did people forget that? His hundreds of lies were in the New York Times since he took office. It’s amazing! No way to teach our children that it’s okay to lie. I want to be proud of our president and speak highly of him, but this one is a no-no. I wish he was smart but you can’t change a 71 year old. But thanks to New York City, they won’t lend him any more money. He’s a con artist. Trump conned them and he conned the voters and they believed him, and that’s why he got votes – and it’s not because he’s intelligent. 

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This is an excerpt from a speech that Trump recently gave in Iowa: “We’re going to have all forms of energy. But coal is something we have a tremendous advantage at. But we’re going to have all, whether it’s natural gas, whether it’s alternative sources. We’re going to have everything. But a power, it’s called, it’s a power for our electric different plants and for our furnaces. It’s a power. We use electric. We use wind. We use solar. We use coal. We use natural gas. We will use nuclear if the right opportunity presents itself. We’re going to be strong for the future. We’re going to be strong for the future. I don’t want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and your factory. As the birds fall to the ground.” Does this sound like a comprehensive energy policy to you? According to the American Wind Energy Association, Iowa has the second-most installed wind capacity of any state — including much, much larger ones. More than a third of its energy comes from wind power, enough to power 1.85 million households. In 2016, 9,000 people worked directly or indirectly in the wind energy industry, with 11 manufacturing facilities across the state. The state has nearly 4,000 turbines.

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President Trump, in his move to erase President Obama’s legacy has abandoned his campaign promises to provide affordable health care to all Americans and signed on to a Republican plan written entirely by the health insurance industry; A plan which does absolutely nothing to improve health care. 

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How do you feel about your representation in Congress? Are you sick of partisan bickering and gridlock in Washington D.C.? If you, like me, and the vast majority of citizens, want to see this situation change, there is some good news. You probably won’t see this covered by most news sources. It isn’t sexy, it may be a bit arcane, but it will revolutionize the way we elect our representatives. It is called the Fair Representation Act, H.R. 3057 and it was introduced to Congress with little fanfare on Monday, June 26, 2017. The bill has four core components: it establishes ranked choice voting for primaries and general elections, it establishes multi-winner congressional districts in states with more than one representative, it mandates independent citizen commissions for congressional redistricting, it establishes fair representation voting rule instead of winner-take-all voting rule. What does that mean? In the simplest of terms, it means better representation in congress for all of us, not just special interests. Find out more about the act at www.fairvote.org and read the full text of the bill at www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3057. Learn about it, make your decision, and support the bill by letting all your friends know about it. Write, call, visit your congressional representative and urge them to support H. R. 3057.