Readers’ Column for the week of Aug. 11, 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. 

I’m a Tioga County resident and I have been repeatedly told that there’s nothing that can be done about juvenile misdemeanor behavior directed at myself, my neighbors and my whole community, because police can’t do anything. And apparently DSS can’t do anything and probation won’t do anything, even though one of the children was on probation. Nobody will do anything to get the parents to manage their children, so we have unruly children on our properties and damaging our belongings and our community life; it would be nice to know who is responsible and who can help us. If anybody has an answer it would be great.

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To the people complaining about the motorcycles on Watkins and Holmes Avenue, yes they have moved over and are riding next to the Family Dollar. To whoever doesn’t think it’s right, maybe it’s because the landowner gave them permission to ride there. They’re down there riding in the swamp, staying off the road, and now you’re complaining about them riding down there. Would you rather have them doing drugs, throwing rocks at your house, being on the computer playing video games all night? The majority of the neighbors love seeing the kids outside. It’s just two of you that are not being nice. Maybe you ought to complain about people dumping their garbage down there and ruining the land compared to kids riding motorcycles who picked all the garbage up and cleaned everything up and made it respectable again. 

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I too would like to weigh in on the issue of the veterans school tax discount. Veteranship is not a vocation, job or trade, it is not a corporation or institution. The veterans, who were drafted, did not even have a choice. The difference between the veterans and all of us is that the level of commitment was non-negotiable. They lost their personal freedom in total. They became G.I.’s, literally they were government issued by the choice or draft, they were owned by our country, by you and me to do the ultimate, to keep our precious freedom alive and well while you and I were alive and well enjoying our precious freedom, every veteran whether in combat or not, has sacrificed more than most can imagine. The decline of America’s knowledge and understanding of this sacrifice is disheartening, but worse is the lack of the heartfelt appreciation for the price paid by veterans for our lifeblood of freedom. The offering of our state governments to grant the discretionary gift of a school tax deduction to veterans is a tangible token of appreciation. I’m saddened that our school boards and our community are batting this issue around as if veteran appreciation is optional. Veterans are not in a league with any other group of Americans and the educational arena is not the place to express indifference toward veterans, neither should we ever, ever say to a veteran, “I cannot give for you freedom fighter because it’s not fair to the rest of us.” 

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Is there anybody in the area that repairs fishing reels? If so please leave your number in this column.

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This is Marilyn Hilker, I live at 95 Franklin St. in Owego. I would just like to thank the village for leaving a message on my telephone that they were going to be working on the roads on Temple, Green, and Delphine Streets. I think it was very nice to let us know that so that we’d know the trucks will be all over and people could be safe and know where to park their cars and everything. It was very nice of them.

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To all Newark Valley residents – Lets all have a yard sale on Aug. 24 and bring in a lot of people from the surrounding areas as the more people that have a sale the better it will be. 

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Congratulations to the Newark Valley Project Neighbor who won the $2,000 grant from Weitsman’s for the Southern Tier Tuesdays. They were the only group in Tioga County who won the award and they should be very proud of themselves.

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Two more babies have died in a hot car. What a horrible thing! I just think that future deaths could be prevented by putting the child in the front seat, have airbags turned off so they won’t deploy and kill the child. If the child were in the front they’d stand a better chance of being remembered. Cell phones are also a big problem that needs to be addressed.

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I never said I was dishonest or unfair or whatever you want to call it, sneaky is the word. I want to know where this money is going into what we call the land bank. We get so many monies given to us that us taxpayers have to pay back through our town hall and whatever, so tell me, where in heaven’s name does the money go into the land bank and for what? I’ve got to know, I’ve go to see it please. Put it in the Pennysaver or the Morning Times. Let us see the facts in black and white; you are really getting pocketed. And that’s a fair question.

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Next year New York State is banning single use of plastic bags. I sure hope dog owners are stocking up.

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This is to anyone that has a ceramic knife in the kitchen. You better get rid of it quick because our illustrious Governor Cuomo signed into law a bill banning them. You better get rid of it before they send the cops after you.

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We have two items we would like to give away free of charge. A Sony bookshelf stereo with AM/FM radio, CD player with two separate speakers, and the other item is a Nordic Track Ski Exerciser machine; it’s old but very good, also free of charge. We are in Berkshire, 657-8035.

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This is a good one. Anybody want to know why you can’t get anything done in the town of Owego Highway Department? They got here about 7:30 a.m. to replace a driveway pipe, here it is 3 p.m. and they’re still at it.

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Good afternoon, it’s Wednesday the seventh day of August, I’m traveling around the back hills of Apalachin and as I discover, the Town of Owego is spending once again thousands and thousands of dollars – this time Bolles Hill and Gaylord and then Honnick Road is like a nightmare. How much more money are we taxpayers going to have to pay for this? I believe it’s time for a change in this town taxpayer. They’re making us go broke because they know nothing.

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Just a word to the wise, in New York State I was pulled over with my car for a loud muffler. As I researched the subject I found out that any muffler, any alteration to an exhaust system other than the factory stock system is not legal. 

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I think if the police patrolled Apalachin more, especially Holmes Avenue, Watkins Avenue and Main Street, you’d see less problems with these kids and small children on these little motorcycles. It has sort of died down a little bit. In the past it was really bad and I agree with some of the other readers that it’s sort of out of control. It comes in spurts, these little kids race the neighborhood some of them only seven or eight years old doing wheelies and flips in the middle of the roads. If the cops patrolled more they would catch these kids and the adults who are responsible for it. There’s got to be somebody responsible for these kids that are riding around in the streets racing these little motorcycles.

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Oh dear please God; grant term limits for all New York politicians, especially the governor!

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Does anyone else have Verizon landline telephone service that is constantly messed up? Mine has so much static, crackling, humming noise that it is unusable most of the time.

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There are many people on a fixed income. Some are veterans. Some are not. The schools need to raise funding in taxes. If you give the veterans a discount the others will need to pay more to make up for it. The schools have to consider the effect on everyone. They have all concluded that to be fair to all they will forego giving the veteran discount. By the way, veterans already get a discount on other jurisdiction’s property taxes so they are already getting a break.

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That English gardener lady has done a great job cleaning up the yard at 433 Front St. in Owego. It used to be such an eyesore. Does anyone know how I can contact her for gardening?

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Maybe the mayor isn’t fixing the crosswalks because they are on state highways, not village streets.

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To the person who believes that the kids on motorcycles (dirt bikes) are totally in the wrong and should be shunned from the neighborhood for minding their own business and finding a healthy hobby in this area to do other than sitting on a porch step doing drugs and inviting / funding the city scum to come take over the neighborhood like you see in other areas close by, maybe you should find a hobby yourself. These people have obviously relocated to another location after probably being harassed continuously by you, and here you are, harassing them again. Seriously, there are way worse things that this group of kids could be doing. We are also considered to be an agricultural community.

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To the person looking for a good and reliable dog boarding facility, I recommend Pawty Pups daycare and boarding on Delphine Street in Owego. I boarded my two little guys there in June. I now have reservations for September and October. Give Tammy a call.

National Political Viewpoints

The World Trade Center towers collapsed because Bin Laden’s engineer knew exactly where the planes should hit the buildings and both pilots hit their targets, which were about a quarter down from the top and to one side. The terrible jet fuel fires then weakened steel and concrete on that side causing the weight above to start to collapse and complete the chain reaction destruction of the rest below. It had nothing to do with poor materials or workmanship.

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The candidates running for president do not like President Trump; they will not like you and me when we vote for President Trump in 2020. They disagree with each other. You’d think they’d vote against the candidate running for president, each one would vote 19 times.

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Well, more shootings and killings this past weekend. Trump said that the white supremacists are very fine people. Who says things like that? Trump says those terrible things to keep the people who are his base. This is not at all funny; words have consequences, period! 

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Is the 2020 election really needed? Not one of the democratic candidates running for president is qualified and we all know President Trump is going to win. He will be reelected. So why not save our time and our money. I vote no 2020 election and just let Trump in there for another four years.

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I hope the democrats go forward with impeachment. It seems that’s all they talk about. It’s nothing but a distraction to keep the American people from realizing what they do not accomplish. Impeachment won’t pass the house or the senate, so let them go for it. They’ll look more foolish than they already do – if that’s even possible.

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This comment is for the shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. My prayers go out to these people and my heart is broken. But before they start pointing fingers at the president maybe we should start checking at the root of playing on our national TV. Over the weekend I searched through every channel on Spectrum that I receive and every channel except for two, you couldn’t find a good decent movie that was fit to watch. It was murder, it was killing, it was hate racists, it was raping, and it was drugs. Let’s check into some of this. How many young kids and teenagers and people watch all this murder and hate, and watch movies on how to commit murder and get away with it. How about printing this and people getting together and start monitoring and watching the cable shows. It’s just out of control. I’ve never seen America as I have seen it today and no, it is not Trump’s fault. 

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As usual the democrats rush to blame President Trump for the recent tragic mass shootings. This is so wrong. They need to understand there is something in our culture that needs to be looked at. The democrats should work to solve these tragedies not just point the finger at President Trump. We need to look at violent Hollywood movies that continue to be released, violent video games, the gang members in our culture, drugs, mental illness, broken homes and the lack of religion and people sitting in churches and believing in God. Easy road for the democrats to sit back and just blame. They work to solve nothing.

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I have to say, after reading the Pennysaver, that I am so disgusted with you people that call in and denigrate Robert Mueller. Robert Mueller is a war hero. Robert Mueller has dedicated his life to the United States and the better of it. How many of you people can say that? Quit being cowards.

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Google and Facebook are obviously pro-democrat and anti-Trump. However, Google is now providing the Chinese communists with methods to identify anti-government Chinese citizens. That is the price Google is willing to pay to operate in China. So much for corporate patriotism. Go Trump!

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Please explain the Clorox comment. It makes no sense just as Gillibrand makes no sense, and she stands zero chance of ever being president.

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In regards to these terrible shootings in Ohio and Texas, I hear a lot of talk about gun control. I don’t hear anyone saying why don’t we control the violent movies coming out of Hollywood, the violent video games and some of these violent shows on TV. Maybe we ought to start there, because some of these young minds get started in places like that.

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There were tragic shootings while Bush, Clinton and Obama were president. Why is President Trump now being blamed? The democrats make this a political issue. Our culture has erased God and therein lays the problem. Bring God back and watch the wonderful change. Why didn’t the democrats come out against Antifa, and now this harassing of Mitch McConnell? If we want to play the blame game, it’s the democrats’ fault.

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I have not been against illegal immigrants coming to America but why do you want to come to our country and change our heritage? Why do you want to be offended by our state and change it to all of these “F” words and paint over our presidents and tear down our statues? If this is what you want to do to America just stay in your own country.

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Here’s an interesting fact, there have been 251 mass shootings in 2019. There’s only been 216 days of this year! Think about it. You think something doesn’t need to be done? Think about it. 

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I see where President Trump’s son Baron is working with Trump’s son in law Jared on a peace plan between Israel and Palestine. Baron will graduate two, maybe three years early from high school. He is very smart, just like his dad. 

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Representative Castro’s backhanded threat by posting Trump supporter names was an act of harassment and potential violence. Since the Dayton shooter was a supporter of Antifa and Elizabeth Warren, why aren’t the deviant democrats threatening them too? So much for fair play and equal opportunity. 

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Castro, who is running for President in 2020, put names who donated to President Trump’s campaign on twitter, one of which donated to his campaign and said he doesn’t want to cause harm to any of these people; then why did he release these names, with what is happening in the world what was he thinking? Beto O’Rourke says the President is not welcome in Texas. Who is he to speak for the people? What is wrong with people not showing respect for the ones who lost a loved one or was injured? I can’t believe just how low they will go and it shows they don’t care about we the people. God bless all the victims who lost their lives and also injured in these last two shootings and God Bless our men and women who have died and lost their lives and who are still serving to give us our freedoms.  

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Our politicians, instead of spending their SIX week break touring Italy or coming up with ever more juvenile ways to insult each other, need to get busy doing something about our national disgrace – gun violence. Start putting mentally ill people somewhere isolated from the public where they can possibly get the help they obviously need. We are worried about opiates, but don’t those with mental illness deserve help? How many innocent people have been killed by gun violence compared to folks who choose to abuse a drug? Ban any gun that can fire sprays of bullets in seconds; guns for self-protection and for hunting certainly do not need this feature. Offer grant money to come up with a way for a gun to be fired only by the registered owner-fingerprint recognition on the trigger? Guns already sold should be registered and retro-fitted. Limit the number of guns registered to any one owner; only one rifle is needed to bag a deer, after all. Guns should be required to be locked up when not in use, or the ammunition. I don’t know how this would be accomplished; your politicians are smart, or think they are, so they should be able to think of something. Anything is better than the nothing we’ve gotten so far. I think most of us are sick of the blah blah blah, and need to see some actual work get done on behalf of constituents – NOW!

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The Democratic Presidential Clown Parade portrays our nation as a tragic, immoral, humanity crushing, hating, and abysmal pit of social injustice. Racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, white privilege, misogyny, income inequality, and more are words of the day. Humanity is flawed, but Dem painting of so many with such malevolence is equivalent Salem witch hunting. According to Dems, our nation is in an even worse state than it was in the 50s and 60s. I mean segregation, discrimination, etc. Along came Democratic President Johnson and his Great Society and War on Poverty Programs. The cost to date is $30,000,000,000,000 (trillion). They are egregious failures. How can any rational being think that more of the same free stuff will yield any benefit? Consider Pelosi’s lap dog, Schumer. He is in support of reparations. Imagine providing $100,000 to 37,144,530 descendants. Where would be the benefit? Starting price for a Cadillac Escalade is $92,190. So with cost and taxes you get a stripped down Caddy. The world is a much better place. For some there will be the need of a guaranteed income to cover insurance, fuel and gas. As self-evident by the Dem run cities and states like Illinois, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, California, Washington DC, etc., poverty will remain and K-12 education will further deteriorate. “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” Critical analysis, independence, education, and individualism for Dems are the equivalent of a Crucifix to Dracula. Talk is cheap and actions, or inactions, define intent talk. Cuomo’s and de Blasio’s actions squelch charter schools or any fix. It was the Rep minority Rep. that made the 1964 Civil Rights Act happen. Fact Check all of this.  

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When you demonize people and that demonization comes from the President and none of the Republicans say that this is wrong, it is only a matter of time before someone thinks it is time to do something about it.  Put that together with the easy availability of automatic weapons and you have killings of many people in a minute. The President is bent on getting rid of Muslims and immigrants because they supposedly are criminals (wrong). Well, the violent killers are white males. White supremacists. The President needs to spend millions of dollars to get rid of them. What is his plan? None! He says it is mental health, what is his plan to improve mental health care? None! Where is the Republican health care plan? None! Where is the Republican plan to control guns? None! Mitch McConnell sits on his hands and does nothing. Bankrupt socially, morally, and fiscally.

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The next time you are around your healthcare professional, ask them what the effect would be if this Medicare for all happened? I did. To a person, all but one said they’d close their office and go out of business because they couldn’t make enough to cover expenses, let alone any profit. Same for the hospital; they stated Medicare doesn’t pay enough to allow them to stay in business. If that’s what you want, then vote for one of these nut jobs pushing it; if not, then vote for common sense instead of wishful thinking.

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The Texas and Ohio shootings are such a tragedy. What’s worse is the fact that it’s becoming more and frequent and non-surprising. We are becoming numb to the violence. If we could focus on stopping the loud noise and division between people we may stand a chance. Someone with character needs to lead and set the tone for the country. God be with the victims and their families.

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We now have daily mass shootings. Are we ever going to learn? The news media are making these shootings an all day event. You’ve got lunatic losers out there, not with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, but of nation-wide coverage of their evil deeds, with their name and face plastered over nationwide TV. How glorious for them. In the old days, before the snowflake Liberals pampered the criminals, we used to humiliate the evildoers. We’d put them in the town square in stocks, for the town’s people to mock and spit at. Do you remember the dunking chair? Another way to shame these bums. Oh no! We can’t do that; it is degrading, beneath our dignity, uncivilized. Okay, be prepared for more body bags. I don’t care about freedom of the press! In the case of mass shootings, don’t give these whack-job losers the attention they are driven by: no name or picture of the SOB, no live TV coverage, just the raw statistics. That might put an end to the fame these crazies hunger for! ROAR!

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Well Mr. Trump gave a good speech, which someone wrote for him, acknowledging the victims of the dreadful shootings in Texas and Ohio. He sounds like the Charlie Brown cartoon – wah wah. He talks a lot, but we’ll see where he stands tomorrow, he tends to flip daily.

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I am so sick and tired of people blaming these mass killings on President Trump. Mass shootings have been going on for years. Happened when Bush, Clinton, and Obama were in office. People don’t believe in God and the younger generation are not being taught about our past history, whether it be good or bad events that happened. They have torn down statues, kneel for the flag instead of saluting it, taken the Pledge of allegiance out of schools, and watched how their parents disrespect our police. The violent video games, and movies are all not to blame, but they can put ideas into people’s heads. Gun control is not the solution; mental health has been around for decades. President Trump is not a racist, but the democrats who are running in 2020 are using this as a tool just to get votes. I am sick and tired of democrats in congress still pushing for impeachment when it was proved there was no collusion with the Trump camp. Instead of blaming President Trump for everything that goes wrong, why not work with him and solve some of the problems. None of this is his fault. Please people, let’s unite with one another and get rid of the unnecessary hatred. The Democrats walk the walk and talk the talk but need to work with President Trump to resolve immigration issues, tax reform, health care, and mental health. God Bless our men and women who have died and are stilling serving to give us this right to voice our opinions. Sure we will not agree with everything but the beauty of it all is at least you tried, so move on and try again.

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The Democratic Presidential Primary Panderfest sent a chill up my spine. Questions and answers were premised on the existence of “white nationalism”, “white supremacy”, and “racism”. Not a single Dem Panderer denounced the false premise; instead they embraced it. By such embrace the Dem Panderers are liars and devoid of all moral and ethical foundations. Americans are the most generous, virtuous, and loving people on the planet. Fact check this. Clearly, Dem Panderers have no education in Western intellectual history, virtues of the Protestant Reformation, philosophy, or American history. They are superb Rabble Rousers. That is why they are dumbing down America. The world’s first grass roots anti-slavery or abolitionist movement originated in North and South Carolina in the decade of 1730 and spread amongst the English speaking peoples. It was led by the Christian Revival; built on the Protestant foundations of Puritanism, pietism and Presbyterianism. In no other race or nationality did this abolitionist movement take root. Lead by the United States, the English-speaking people have done more to eliminate so-called “white nationalism”, “racism”, and “white supremacy” than all other peoples of the world combined. The only problem with the U.S. is that it is not perfect. Take note how so many wrongheaded thinkers are labeled “racists” and “racism” is an institutionalized feature of society. Witch hunters they are. Dems are creating the big LIE. The last time the Dems created such a big LIE was when Democratic President L. B. Johnson manipulated us into the Vietnam War. Johnson’s Vietnam War was all a huge LIE. This big LIE killed 58,000 fathers and sons, as well as 3,000,000 Vietnamese. It tore our country apart; I know, as I was there. At what cost will Dems perpetuate the “white supremacy” and other divisive lies. For anyone who disagrees, first learn some history, before painting loving Americans as agents of evil. Always, vote against Dems.