Readers’ Column for the week of May 13, 2018

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.

Has anyone studied the 2018/2019 Candor school budget proposal? It’s showing what the teachers and employees are making. It’s about $7.3 million and they want a raise! Also, they’re getting fringe benefits of $4.5 million. Aren’t our taxes high enough? I believe so! That’s why on May 15 I’m voting NO to the proposal. There must be a stop to all these raises. The schools are for our children and these raises won’t educate them any better. 

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Isn’t it about time that we put Common Core education where it belongs? In the dumpster!

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Nice letter to the Owego Pennysaver last week Mark Trabucco. I have an issue with item number 5, the sewer department upgrade complex and expenses. It looks like this is very complex and too complex and too expensive for the Owego Village to handle, therefore the sewer system in Owego should be for sale. Privatize it! You people cannot do it and I don’t want to pay for it with my toilets.

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What a great spot for a Dunkin Donut in Candor at the corner of Honey Pot and 96B. A new commercial location has just opened up. Wouldn’t that be great for the town!

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Owego EDU’s! Don’t waste time calculating fair priced EDU’s for the Village of Owego because it’s nothing but a cash grab. There’s only one solution, class action lawsuit! We need to form a coalition to go after these thieves. If any landlord or business owner has a friend or family member that is a reputable lawyer, please supply contact information to this column. We can all supply him with the funds to get this matter resolved. 

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It’s good to see the Town of Berkshire has cleaned up the majority of its abandoned junk cars in its town. Sometimes towns talk a lot and do nothing, just talk. Berkshire should be the role model to other local towns in cleaning up junk vehicles.

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The right and left sides of a street are understood to be as one faces the direction of increasing house numbers.

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Looking for someone to do light gardening at my house. Call 687-1512.

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This concerns Mill Street in Candor. It’s part of Route 96, the cut off from Candor to go up through Spencer. The street is terribly bumpy and potholed at the intersection of Main Street and further down to the bridge. That road needs to be completely taken out and repaired. I’m wondering why it is that the Mayor of Candor can’t talk with the New York State DOT to get this done. It’s been that way for years! As a private citizen I should not have to be calling or showing up at the DOT office to ask them to please repair roads here. This needs to be taken care of or anybody who has car repairs, their bills should be sent directly to the Mayor of Candor, Eric Halstead. 

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So happy to see in this column the amount of money, $3.42 million, that the Owego Apalachin school district gets from the New York State Lottery. I never see it listed in the budget. I wonder why. 

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The Apalachin Public Library is seeking an additional $30,000 in taxpayer funding. Owego Apalachin residents will need to vote on this on May 15. A lot of people do not even use the library. This is a huge increase and we need to vote against this increase.

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The author of the comment on classified material in the May 6 column needs to read up more on the subject. The multiple statements made about what is classified are incorrect. We have multiple defense contractors in the area and many of their employees have clearances and the training to know what is involved. The author should find one and ask and learn.

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Does Tioga County have a bingo inspector? Do we need one?

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“You can waste your lives drawing lines, or you can live your life crossing them.” — Shonda Rhimes, “Grey’s Anatomy”

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If the great migration is under way, is there anything I can use to keep pigeons and hobos from nesting under the eaves of my roof? I like them just fine when they are over on your property, but when they are over here, I don’t. Will dryer sheets work? Mothballs? I looked into robotic owls, but they are rather pricey and the AI seems kind of rudimentary.

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What makes me sad, and is Mankind’s biggest problem, is how we can look at the same data, the same situation, and come to completely opposite conclusions. I know we are intelligent people, so how can this be? For example, the Supreme Court. Do you really think a 5 to 4 decision is good law? I think it is a horrible law. How could that many people not agree on what the law should be? This kind of thing tells me there is no law, it’s all written in sand that will change with the next breeze. This polarization is in every aspect of our life. I have no faith in Mankind! We are horrible creatures that have learned nothing! SHAPE UP!

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I came upon an Order of the Eastern Star booth this week and saw two cars near it parked but running for a long period of time. I asked at the booth if anyone knew where the owners of the cars might be, as there is an idling law to protect the air and climate. The member said, “Well poopoopeedoo!” So I looked up the mission of the Order of the Eastern Star, which said they embody the spirit of love and work for the benefit of mankind. Really?

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This in response to the caller from Candor who questioned their school taxes going up each year. My children are grown, and I am on a very limited income. I don’t work for the school, nor does anyone in my family, but I feel like my school taxes are perhaps the best money I spend. We have one of the best schools in the area, doing great things for children and families, without a lot of bells and whistles. I encourage you to visit the school and see for yourself that Candor has great kids and a great staff that truly cares about our children. Of course we have to give raises and partially pay for benefits. We have to compete for the best people to care for our kids, and teachers have at least five years of college, so we can’t expect them to work for nothing! The fact is, Candor is a great school, and I firmly believe that a good education is the great equalizer. It can overcome poverty, and ignorance, and prejudice. The budget does not exceed the tax cap, and if I can pay my taxes on a very small pension, I encourage others to visit the school and see for themselves that those dollars are very well spent at Candor Central School.

National Political Viewpoints

Will someone please lock our governor in a room without any means of communication? I’m sick and tired of these swamp dwellers, both state and federal, who are in their own way trying to do away with our 2nd Amendment rights. 

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I think Rudy Guilani and Donald Trump are both as crazy as outhouse rats, or at the very least, crazy old men. 

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You got to love it! The law is closing in on that chump Trump. Go Trump! Go to jail!

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God bless Neil Cavuto from Fox News. Finally, someone with a sense of integrity.

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What’s the difference between a Republican and a Democrat? A Democrat knows when he’s being lied to. 

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President Trump has done more for this country than the last three presidents in just a year and a half, especially for the working class. Anyone who thinks differently is either cheating the welfare system and afraid he will put them to work. Go Trump go!

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Vote Republican if you want to be entertained, vote Democrat if you want to be governed. 

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There are three types of people you cannot reason with – infants, drunks and Republicans.

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To the person embarrassed to be an American. It’s very simple. Leave the country and don’t come back. Nobody wants you here if you feel that way. Hillary is the one colluding with the Russians when she paid millions to the Russians and the spy to throw the election. Obama also tried to throw Netanyahu’s last election and spent tens of thousands of dollars of our money to do it. They both should be in jail. Also, Hillary just can’t believe she lost a year and a half later. What a loser she is! Get over it.

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The only reason Republicans left the correspondence dinner is because you’d be an idiot to go there and constantly be harassed by those dummies. And talk about Trump not having any respect, since day one he’s had nothing but people on the left bad mouth him each and every day, I mean hundreds of times and when he says something back they can’t believe he said that. They’re the ones who can’t take it. They are terribly thin skinned! 

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According to many news outlets, Trumps lies, since he has been nominated, are up to 3,001 so far. These lies have been backtracked and are true. Trump is pathological liar! Where are all the Republicans in all this? Parents, please teach your children not to lie like Trump. 

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They didn’t want President Trump to attend Barbara Bush’s funeral and John McCain doesn’t want a damn thing to do with President Trump. What does that tell you? Even the dead and living don’t like him except for the blind-based Republicans. Stay the course, make America great again now.

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I just can’t understand why some people can call in every week bashing Donald Trump and their nasty little comments get posted. I can call in three times a week and it’s been six months since I’ve actually read any comments that I’ve called and left for this column. I just wonder if there is bias at the Owego Pennysaver or what the deal is. I don’t feel it’s right that people can call in and bash Trump the way they do; but if somebody calls in and says something about Hillary or the Democrats, it doesn’t get posted. I would like to know. Could someone put a comment in there that maybe someday one of my comments will get put in?

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Now that Guliani is dumber than a bag of hammers, he’s ready for a higher position on Trump’s merry-go-round.

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At one time I had respect for Guliani when he went after the mafia. Now it appears like he’s joining the ranks.

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I understand Senator John McCain of Arizona fathered a Vietnamese baby while he was a soldier in the war. This has been hidden from the people for years.

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There were several things mentioned why President Trump did not attend Barbara Bush’s funeral. I had heard that it was because it was a security risk and would have caused quite a distraction, so that’s why he sent his wife instead.

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Wedding cakes have tiers, as do TV cable companies and our injustice system. If you are in a certain tier “political party” the rule of law does not apply to you even when you commit crimes. So forget the political parties and see things as they are and help right the wrongs and apply our constitution for the sake of our country.

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New York State Liberal Democrat Attorney General Schneiderman’s defense of his alleged attacks of his girl pals was that he was role-playing. Apparently for anti-Trump resistance and Me Too leaders, role playing includes violence, beatings and choking. Maybe feminists need better role models. 

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Good thing lying isn’t against the law. Mr. Trump would never get out of jail.

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A reader commented about a moron being in the White House. Barrack Obama is no longer the President. I’m surprised they didn’t hear about it. The story was in all the papers and on television.

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Interesting. The previous occupant of the Oval Office accomplished VERY little of value during his eight too long years in that office. The current occupant, President Donald Trump, has accomplished absolutely astonishing things. No wonder the Liberal media won’t report it. After all, 60 million Americans voted for him. Guess that explains why the Libs are fighting tooth and nail to obstruct, because it makes them look really, really bad, plus it endangers their power and lifestyle at taxpayer expense.

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Ivanna Trump will be standing up for cyber bullying with children. Maybe she should start with the child she’s married to.

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I am writing about President Trump’s speech at the NRA Convention. To start with, I am a gun owner and a former NRA member. I feel that the NRA has become an extremist organization and their only goal is to not allow any reasonable gun control laws to pass. I firmly believe some people should not to be allowed to have a gun. I also feel if I have to carry my gun everywhere I go to feel safe, I don’t want to live in this Country. I served my Country and would die to protect it. When I served we only carried our weapon when we were training or going into harm’s way. By President Trump giving the speech shows that he is an extremist also. Or it’s just the money they donate. For him to bad mouth our allies how they are dealing with gun violence and terrorist acts in their country is way out of line. We have turned from being the leader of the free world to the unwanted stepchild. There are so many things that need to be dealt with in this country. I feel we will only accomplish anything if we take a moderate approach to addressing these issues.