Readers’ Column for the week of October 24, 2021

You may call The Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or email comments to readerscolumn@stny.rr.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message. Also, we will not be running comments regarding local contests due to the upcoming elections on Nov. 2. We will, however, have a detailed story on what to expect at the polls in our next print edition.

 

I lost a walking cane; I think it was in front of the farmer’s market at Walgreens. I’m wondering if they could check on it for me. After placing this comment someone named Jim called me and I lost his number. I would like him to call me. My number is (607) 687-5575. I’d appreciate it.

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This is in response to the person who wants to donate some gently used clothing. They can be dropped off at the Apalachin United Methodist Church. They have a clothing closet and they are open Monday thru Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., however they are closed from noon to 12:30 p.m.

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If you want squirrels, come over to West Main Street in Apalachin. We have plenty!

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To donate clothes, call the New Hope Center in Owego. Most churches take them too. There is a church on Nanticoke Avenue in Endicott that takes clothes, as well as Apalachin Methodist Church, or Good Will. You just need to get on the phone and call around. There are plenty of places to take them. 

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First, I’m going to say I am handicapped. My walker was in the back seat broken. My husband went in to buy a screw to fix it in a Vestal store, unnamed. He was there for over an hour. I tooted and tooted out front because I couldn’t walk in without the walker. Not one employee went out to see if someone was in need of help. I could have had a medical emergency. Where does compassion, courtesy or caring come in? Are people that insensitive that they don’t check on someone instead of thinking I’m just a ditsy old lady blowing the horn? It’s a very sad commentary for today’s people.

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The Owego Apalachin School Board is out of control. After several months of increasing public scrutiny and attendance at meetings, we have now gone to virtual meetings only. Each month they have tried different tactics to discourage the public. The stated reason for the change is that they say they can’t trust the public to follow their mask mandates. This is just another tactic to try to keep people from finding out what they are doing and holding them accountable. Every month the main meeting, where matters are actually discussed, takes place in secret behind closed doors. The public never gets a chance to comment or even know what is being decided until it is already done. This is unacceptable.

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Maybe you have to come to Johnson City to see all the chipmunks, toads, songbirds, and squirrels. They are all over the place! I don’t know why you are not seeing them. Maybe the walnuts are better here in Johnson City.

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New York State got rid of one governor and has been replaced with a worse one!

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I would love to meet the 75-year-old reader who mentioned last week she doesn’t like to use the computer. Neither do I; in fact, I am totally computer and high tech illiterate. She mentioned there are other ways to find out information. I wish I could meet her and find out some of those other ways because I went to sign up for unemployment during the pandemic and was told to get on the computer. I go looking for work to fill out job applications and am told to go on the P.C. Good grief! We don’t even have phone books anymore. What other ways are there to find out information? 

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I found a wonderful garbage service in Owego that will help everyone; not only help them, but senior citizens who don’t put out much garbage. They are very reasonable. They recycle and everything, but older people don’t have to pay such an enormous price every week for garbage. 

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For people who like to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables from the store or wherever else, wash everything off. It looks like they are clean, but wash them and dry them before you put them in your food. You will live longer. 

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State Route 38 in the Village of Newark Valley is atrocious; deep potholes, every truck and trailer that hits them makes loud clanging noises. They are so bad I was swerving to avoid them and I got pulled over for suspicion of driving under the influence!

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I am concerned with the recent separation of OACSD from the parents, guardians and taxpayers of the community. The first red flag arose when the BOE Meeting was cancelled prior to the start of the school year. MANY parents had questions regarding the schools’ reopening procedures, but were left in the dark only to have the meeting postponed. The second OACSD BOE Meeting cancellation was blamed on District business items being scheduled, leaving the meeting pushed back again. Frustrated but patient, many community members awaited the Oct. 18 meeting just to discover it would be virtual attendance only. Unfortunately, online participation in the BOE meetings is not conducive to everyone, but this concern was ignored. The reason given for the exclusively virtual public attendance was a supposed uptick in COVID cases in the area. If it’s not safe to hold the BOE meetings in the taxpayer-funded District Office, then the conferences need to take place in one of the schools’ LARGER facilities to allow social distancing. After all, if it’s safe enough for students and staff to attend daily with masks, administration and the BOE should not feel threatened by a 90-minute meeting every other Monday.

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Dear Researcher, visit www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/pmf/, download the PMF file spreadsheet, go to tab “AVG_SALARY”, and advise NYSED they are wrong about OACSD teacher salaries. Their salary data comes directly from NYS, including OACSD, districts. NYSED provides this information to assist districts in managing their budgets and finances and preventing abuse of union oriented Boards of Education. OACSD salary data has been presented to the BOE, annually, over the past decade. Believe it or not, per NYSED, OACSD has the highest paid teachers and staff of the 67 Districts in the Southern Tier. OACSD also pays the highest pensions and taxpayers cannot dream of the Cadillac healthcare insurance. Per the OACSD teachers’ union contract (page 12 section 8.1.3) the starting teacher salary is $48,526, not $43,000. The trick is the speed by which the BOE inflates it, see tab “SALARY PERCENTILES BY DISTRICT”. The BOE doesn’t acknowledge receipt of this information and the OACSD compensation gap between OACSD and everyone else only increases with each passing year. Your property taxes are for the children, not for effluent living. Since the arrival of Superintendent Green our teachers and staff brought our District’s academic performance closer to that consistent with our demographics, THANK YOU! OACSD teachers and staff want to achieve even better. Superintendent Green works to the specific direction of the BOE. In years past it has been quite obvious our children have been hurt. “We are now cutting the bone,” said a prior OACSD Superintendent.  

 

National Political Viewpoints

How bad is it when the fake news left wing even silences Ruth Bader Ginsberg. In an interview five years ago she was asked about what she thought about the players kneeling and she said she was against it and she didn’t like it. But guess what, they cut it out of her interview. So they even censor Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

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You rich democrat voters out there will be happy to hear your heating bills will be up about 50% this winter. Welcome to Bidenville; and don’t you dare ask the big guy any questions. He can’t answer anything by himself.

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How sad it is that we live in a country run by democrats where the police are the bad guys and the criminals are the victims.

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Who the heck writes Joe’s speeches, Karl Marx?

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Newsflash. The big guy, President Grinch, first said there was no inflation; then he said inflation was transitory. Now he says inflation is good! I hope the Marxist democrats choke on the increase in gasoline, natural gas, diesel, and food costs. You ain’t seen nothing yet! The stock market collapse is coming soon and you saw it first in this column. Biden can ho, ho, ho all he wants, but the Christmas present shortage debacle is coming fast.

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Someone just told Joe Biden that fracking exists and that the U.S. was at one time energy independent. Since information not on a teleprompter takes a long time to absorb, Mrs. Biden must convince Joe to start up oil and natural gas operations before our energy sector collapses and prices, which have doubled, will triple or quadruple. 

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Trump alert! Why can’t Trumpsters remember that the patriot Donald Trump is a five-time draft dodger? Somebody went to Nam in his place. What happened? Support Trump at your own peril.

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I don’t know why Biden is doing so badly in the polls. He’s doing great! We have high unemployment, we have no food on our shelves, we have an open border, we have a shortage of workers, and the list goes on and on. Why is he doing so poorly in the polls?

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So, in the middle of the night when he thinks nobody will see, corrupt Joe Biden is flying illegal alien children all over the country; as if nobody would know. 

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Biden wants to increase IRS funding and let them check on all your $600 or greater transactions at your bank. Now with blowback, Biden says let’s increase that amount to $10,000. I suggest the IRS start with the $5.5 million payoff the Biden trio got from the Chinese and Russians. Do you think that will happen? 

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Joe Biden’s appearance in Scranton, Pa. is beyond all hope as a leader. The Marxist democrats have unleashed a buffoon who is destroying the U.S.A. This is a horrible nightmare where we are morally, economically, and legally imploding. This is indeed an idiotocracy. 

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I wish we had a republican back in there. Our economy would be so much better. Right now our economy sucks. I’m 75 years old on social security and I can hardly afford to buy food to eat and I damn sure can’t afford what Medicare is doing to me. 

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I don’t recall the person disappointed that Taylor Garbage is closed Saturday mentioning they were Republican. But they very well could be; they are the ones who are still going to work every day because they find dignity in a hard day’s work. The only time they have to take garbage is on their day off. And yes, it IS a sad world, because many working folks are living on the edge, and do not have the $7 for low cost garbage. Of course, with gas going up 10 cents every week (thank you, Joe) they won’t be able to drive it anywhere. Enjoy your retirement by the way. Working folks today may not be able to.

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To the person who was appalled that President Trump used the word “fight” at a rally, you have selective hearing, my friend. When Elizabeth Warren was running for President, every other word out of her mouth was “fight”. Nancy Pelosi, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and yes, even Joe is rather fond of it. So, glass houses.