Readers’ Column for the week of February 3, 2019

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. 

Jan 30, 2019 Wednesday was unbelievably cold and yet the recycle trucks were out. Just want to thank them for all the work they do, especially on such a frigid day. Thank you so much!

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Electric Car Charging Stations would be a great addition to the Village of Owego. While the car is charging (Tesla?), the driver and occupants can have a meal at one of the restaurants, go shopping and maybe even stay overnight. I wonder if any business is interested in this?

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Last night and this morning I received phone calls from the Tioga Central School regarding bus runs that were going to be late because they didn’t have enough bus drivers. Maybe they should look into hiring more bus drivers, or looking into incentives to keep drivers.

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Village of Newark Valley, on Monday, Jan. 28 at about 2 p.m., I heard a noise like metal on black top. I thought I saw a plow truck zip by with its plow down, can’t be! Then about 15 minutes later heard the same noise, saw the Village of Newark Valley DPW actually pushing the sand off to the side of the road! REALLY! Spring is still a few months away! I personally think this is a waste of resources, time and taxpayer money. Not really a good idea to use a plow truck on dry pavement to remove sand and cinders. (This is not what it’s designed to do.) Truck and plow and cutting edge are pretty expensive to replace! In all fairness they do keep our streets clean of snow, but what I witnessed Monday was boarder line absurd! This has nothing to do with the two men that work for village, they are doing what they’re told to do and that is where the problem lies. If there is a rational explanation for plowing bare streets in January, or anytime, I am all ears!

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To the writer of the blue LED lights on other vehicles: Every time you leave your high beams on you are doing something illegal! The New York State traffic law goes something like this: Switch over to your low beam headlights when you are within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle or within 200 feet of a vehicle in front of you. If you fail to do this, you should get a ticket, especially since you are doing this on purpose. And, section 388 states: Every owner of a vehicle used or operated in this state shall be liable and responsible for death or injuries to person or property resulting from negligence in the use or operation of such vehicle. So if you cause an accident by using your high beams in an illegal way, you are responsible.

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The Newark Valley Food Pantry would like people in the 13811 area know that we will be open on the third Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to noon; the first time will be Feb.16, 2019.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest growing occupation in the U.S. is solar PV installer, with a projected growth rate of 105 percent from 2016 to 2026. And the number two jobs for growth is wind turbine service technician. Visit https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/26/solar-pv-installer-wind-turbine-tech-are-fastest-growing-occupations-in-us/.

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This is in response to the person that alleges that somebody has been killing their cat; maybe, just maybe if you spent more time caring for your cat, not leaving it outside and feeding it and watering it, your cat might not be trying to get into people’s pools to get something to drink. So just remember when you’re pointing a finger at somebody there’s three more pointing back at yourself, so why don’t you take a deep soul-searching look at your faults instead of trying to put them off on somebody else. I personally know the man that you’re trying to blame and that man would take his shirt off his back and give it to any stranger that he met; that man has several animals of his own, so maybe you should check into where you’re at fault for the lack of care of your animals.

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Recreational marijuana is not safe. It’s destructive. It makes you euphoric and lethargic and may be the beginning of a lifetime of drug abuse. If it is legalized, expect to see an increase of DWUI. Good luck on staying in school or keeping a job. 

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Candor residents, what’s going on with our board of education? Is this what we want our children to look up to? Come on board; clean this mess up. We’re sick and tired of what’s going on.

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I’m very disturbed about hearing of another cat drowned in a pool on Kirby Street in Nichols, N.Y. I hope someone is looking into this. It would be really nice if the mayor would announce something in the small village, put a letter to the editor in the paper or at least look into this. 

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I want to notify the Town of Owego taxpayers that we all need to show up in force. On Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Hall building, our wonderful Town Government wants to propose a law that will override the tax levy limit. I’m not sure what problems they have created for themselves that they need to tax us and assess us more than what the current tax levy limit is but I, for one, feel we’re getting shafted because I still find it very hard to understand what services I actually get from the Town of Owego for the exorbitant outrageous taxes and tax rate that we pay. So let’s all show up in force and show the Town Board, along with the Town Supervisor, that this is 199,000 percent unacceptable!

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Tioga Central School had a musical play, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, on Friday and Saturday and it was spectacular! All of the kids were wonderful, and they did a great job. It was just amazing! To all the kids who were in it and everyone behind it, good job.

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I watched an older man park his car in the street and start to go through a bag of my shredded documents that were put on the curb for pickup on Monday. I don’t know why shredded paper would be so interesting to a stranger but I would suggest that he come to the door and ask for it if he wants to walk away with a good deal of shredded documents. Very uncomfortable in Campville.

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If someone knows of an exercise program for senior citizens in the Owego area, could they please respond in this column?

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This is for the caller who called in about the bright blue L.E.D. Headlights. I believe the caller has such a bright idea to blind a person coming at you while you’re driving. That really makes a lot of sense. Get it?

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Once again the mainstream media blew the federal worker going to food banks out of proportion. Are you kidding me? A federal worker as reported in your column last week makes a salary of $83,000? That’s about $1,600 a week! I make well below that and I’m doing just fine. You always save for a rainy day. Maybe Cortez can give a lesson on finance. What do you think? After all, she’s all for Socialism.

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Another joke! Hillary running in 2020. Why will this woman not quit? Is she really up to another loss? Or will the American people have to hear about it day after day after day for years to come.

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Yesterday at Marvin Park around noon, I found an envelope with some money into it. If somebody could call me and let me know what was written on the envelope I would give it back to you. My number is 972-7625.

National Political Viewpoints

Abortion is a no-win, difficult, and tragic issue. Absolutes on this issue are wrong and unnecessary by any stretch of reason. Pandering to his no compromise Liberals, Cuomo’s first business of the year was to ram through legalization of abortion to its extremes. It even legalizes termination of a child that survives the abortion procedure. All the crimes committed by Abortion “Doctor” Kermit Gosnell are now legal in New York. Cuomo and extremists then had a party at taxpayer expense. This is what’s important! As of today, the 2018 Resident Income Tax Return form is not available and many other functions of New York State, which are to be completed by the New Year, are not. Who are we to elect such people as Cuomo? What’s next? State sponsored gambling and drugs (marijuana)? Remember, the revenue, it’s for the children. 

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We have a Russian double agent acting as president in the White House. He cuddles, lifts sanctions, and has secret meetings with Mr. Putin. Disgracefully undermines his own intelligent agency and tells them to go back to school. He is past the point of being responsible. My question is when are Americans going to stand up to this nonsense?

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Can’t wait to see how that’s paid for. Again, the loons are pushing free education for all. End result, everyone goes to college, even those who shouldn’t. We end up with people with mediocre educations, waiting for a high paying job to magically appear, while they live in Grandpa’s basement playing video games. In the mean time, who fixes your car when needed? Who repairs your refrigerator when it needs repair? Just another goofy idea based on absolutely no logic or facts!

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Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and other loons think healthcare for all is a good thing. It’s not. Drs. and hospitals currently accept a limited number of Medicare and Medicaid patients that they basically make no money on. They balance that off by accepting patients with private insurance, or those who pay for themselves. If we had free medical care for all, Drs. could no longer make any money, and would thus stop giving service, same for hospitals. Why should they give their services for free? Would you?

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We all like to believe the worst about people we don’t like; this is especially true when it comes to politics. There comes a time, however, when we must accept reality. Almost all of the evil things we thought about Hillary Clinton came either from Russian propaganda or the vivid imagination of President Trump.

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The way the new democratic majority and Gov. Cuomo are marching toward destruction of ethics necessitates a comment. It does not look good for our state. The Democrats passed a new abortion / infanticide law. The left wing press, that dominates the New York market, has not exactly put out much detail on what gruesome acts the new law allows. There used to be a time limit for abortions. The new law eliminates that. Children can now be murdered during the birth process, and many will be. President Obama gave birth to the TEA movement with his blatant ignoring of laws and decency. Andrew Cuomo is as much out of line as Obama was, and is very deserving of the same kind of opposition that Obama got from the TEA movement. That resulted in the Democrats losing majorities in the Senate and House. If there exists an opposition group focusing on this issue, what is it, and if there is not one, is one forming? Count me in!

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To the person who wrote in last week saying Robert Mueller said Buzzfeed lied is not true. Mr. Mueller said not all was accurate. Need to listen closer. 

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Sounds like Mr. Trump has his mind made up. He doesn’t appear to want to negotiate with the democrats. He’s already saying if he doesn’t get his wall, he’s declaring an emergency to get it built.  He doesn’t want to work with anyone; he just wants his own way.

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We are witnessing the decay of American society. Spitting, urinating and defecating on public streets is no longer considered a crime. Instead of trying to stop the use of needles for drugs we place boxes in parks so the druggies will not throw them on the ground. What about jeopardizing the health of those that are exposed to that? Commit a felony, like killing a police officer, robbery or assault? So you do a little time and then you’ll get out because you’ve “paid your debt to society”, and receive freebies from the government; an education; and you get to vote for the person that granted those to you. Paid your debt to Society? I think not. You will have paid your debt to the Justice System that put you in jail but you will never repay the people that have lost a loved one, are afraid to be alone, or spent money on security systems. We already have an issue with people that drink and drive so now we can add smoking marijuana and driving to the mix. There will be another government program to warn those people about that. We worry more about moving dirt on our shoes from one area of a state to another than about not testing or treating people that may be carrying infectious disease. All of this and no one has the decency to thank the middle class worker that performs their duties without taking drugs or alcohol, doesn’t commit crimes, takes care of their property be it house or apartment, and respects people and their property and pays the ever rising taxes to support the politicians and their pet programs.

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Let’s see, 15 inches of snow last weekend, temperatures in the single. Yup, definitely proof positive of climate change/global warming. Have you noticed; first it was Global Warming, that didn’t fly, so they changed it to climate change? All the same, where’s the FACTUAL PROOF?

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Someone thinks U.S. carbon emissions have been reduced 35 percent under Trump. OMG, what hallucinogen have they been ingesting?

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Could some of you Libs out there, using logic and FACTS, explain to me how a 10-foot high wall around Nancy Pelosi’s compound is moral, but a wall at our southern border is immoral? Makes NO sense to me! 

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Have you been listening to Mr. Trump lately? He loves the spotlight. He wants a down payment on the wall. Now isn’t that exactly how he lived his life? Even though they say he’s got so much money, he lives his lives on down payments and bankruptcy! Come on, where is our heads? Dig them out of the sand and pull up your muscles. You can do it! Have a wonderful darn cold day.

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I see where the walls are closing in, the noose is going around Trump’s neck and all his friends and all his cronies and his family. I see they got Roger Stone now, you know the one who has a tattoo of Nixon his shoulder. I wonder if Roger Stone will get a tattoo of Trump on his other shoulder. 

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I am 89 years old and I have never seen politics become so unreasonable and childish as to the way we should solve this southern border crisis. It is evident we could have a closer fellowship with a friendly dog than we could have with an unfriendly human being. 

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What’s wrong with New York State? I can’t believe they passed a measure to let these dream children go to school free! How about our own children and grandchildren? Maybe our great grandparents came over but they came over legally. What is wrong with people? Our grandchildren should be the first ones to get all this free help, not the people who are here illegally. What is wrong with New York State doing this? Fred Akshar had a survey and so many people said no, help our children, our grandchildren, help us first to pay our loans. What is wrong with this picture! Who passed this? Democrats? Democrats and Republicans need to work together and stop fighting. 

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It is now 2:45, the president was supposed to have his speech time at 2:00, he was 45 minutes late, we watched the jerk for 10 minutes now I’m getting older and time is getting shorter and I want to see that big word, impeach the sucker!

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So once again President Trump proved to be the only adult in the room. The government is reopened. He now needs to hold the Democrat’s feet to the fire so they deliver on their promise to negotiate. If no negotiating, President Trump must declare an emergency at the southern border and get that wall built. Northern border wall will be next.

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Ocasio Cortex, the 29-year-old Socialist politician, who 74 percent of Democrat’s say they would vote for president if she were age eligible, says the world will end in 12 years if we do not address climate change. She does not have the mental faculties of a nine-year old. Hysterical Democrats need counseling and rehabilitation, not favorable fake news media exposure and support. 

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My mother passed away, and she was a wonderful Christian woman who loves her country. If she were alive today she would really be disgusted to tears over the comments people make in the political section of this column. She would really be disgusted over the Trump haters and the people yelling impeach Trump. I know my dear mother would be very sad over all that nonsense that is going on today. 

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Oh God have mercy on the women who will now be forced right before the moment of delivery to have their baby murdered because of the New York court system. Is this a way to protect fathers from paying child support? Doesn’t the court care about the mother or the infant child?

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Shame on governor Cuomo for passing the reproductive health act. He is supposed to be Catholic? Well I’ve got news for you Andy boy; you cannot be a Catholic and support abortion.

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Just wondering, why is capital punishment illegal yet it is legal to kill your baby one minute before birth?

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God gave us this life to live. We are supposed to get along together. Why in American politics do we have to have such a hateful attitude toward one another? United we stand, divided we fall. 

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We are sad and appalled at the new abortion law from last week. Who would take the life of a full term baby, as it was due to be born? No man has that right. We lost a baby midterm years ago and for those who are not able to have children, this is heartbreaking and close to murder. We have seven of these precious great grandchildren, each one is a miracle from God.

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A Russian 777 landed in Caracas Venezuela a few days ago. Reportedly 20 tons of gold from Venezuela Central Bank will soon be on its way to Russia. Apparently that’s how Socialists Marxists and Communists fund all their free giveaway programs. Wait for it to happen here next. 

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Thank God that clown of a president, Mr. Trump, wasn’t in office during the Cuban missile crisis. We all know that fool would not side with America. He would side with the damn Russians. Oh, by the way, so wouldn’t all the Republican congressmen and all the people that vote for him. You guys, the man’s dangerous! Get him out office and impeach the fool.

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God have mercy on us! The Democrats want to murder the babies. I would hope you wouldn’t treat your animals this cruelly. 

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Okay, the ole lady’s at it again and I’ve got to know, I have a book called Trump, put out in 2000. The book sold for $24.95, marked down to $19.95, marked down to $4.95 at the stores and I picked up the book along side the road in a pile of junk from a rummage sale. That’s how important this man is and his friend at the time, Jessie Ventura, had plans about how Trump was going to run for the White House in 2000! Now I’ve got to know, how come it took all those years for him to make up his mind what he was going to do with that, could go before the banking boards owing billions of dollars and want billions more, and got it! Could you or I do that? Come on, I’ve got to know what’s going on and how this guy managed do life the way he did in debt, lots of women, all this stuff and we put him in the White House. Shame on us! We cannot even judge character anymore. He has no character, he has no style, he can’t tell the truth, and we accepted it. No wonder we are in the shape we are today. And then he has a letter of condolence from John F. Kennedy Jr. the day before he died in the plane crash of sympathy for his father’s death. Wrap that up real good but never said much about his mother. I don’t understand, and yet they were married 63 years. So there must have been some good in his father but it sure didn’t rub off on him. 

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Anyone who has travelled outside of the U.S. (or even if you haven’t), knows that you must produce identification to enter another country. Whether it be by plane, train, ship, car, ferry, automobile, bus, or on foot, you are asked to produce SOME sort of identification: a passport; tourist visa; work permit; green card; student visa – and explain the reason for entering the country. If you can’t, or don’t, you’re packed up and shipped back from whence you came. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to try to prevent anyone from entering our country, without proper papers.