Readers’ Column for the week of November 14, 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.

I grew up in downtown Elmira in the 50’s and 60’s. At that time you had to take your bicycle to the police station to get it inspected and receive a small license plate which was affixed to the back of the bike below the seat. The main idea behind this inspection was for safety. You had to have a mirror on the handlebar, a bell, a headlight, and a reflector on the rear bumper. It has been many years since those days of course, but as I drive around after dark I see more and more bicyclists who are indistinguishable. 

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This is Jim Tornatore, mayor of Newark Valley. I read your comments questioning the village government. First, the 9 Brook St. purchase and demolition is 100% FEMA funded. Second, our village office staff has been three members for many years and they are very busy. I fully encourage everyone with questions to contact me at the village office for any details by calling 642-8686. Thank you and have a great week. 

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How many Medicare recipients know that a retiree who makes $15,000 a year pays the same monthly payment to Medicare as a person who makes $156,000 a year? I’m one of those people.

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We in the United States are so wasteful. If you were given a choice that you would have to do without the items you have in your house, which items would you eliminate that you really don’t need? We are such a wasteful economy.

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I have a question for the New York State Governor. How many more thousands of dollars do landlords have to lose before you can get rid of deadbeat tenants? It seems very unconstitutional to me. Who is going to make up for my loss? Do I get a tax break? 

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The Apalachin post office has been a mess for years. My friends, neighbors and I have had each other’s mail for years. I’ve called and talked to them and even visited them, but nothing lasts. This happens to everyone. I guess the only thing to do is to call the Postmaster General.

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I’d like to say thank you to Sweeney’s for serving the Apalachin community for 55 years.

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Has this ever happened to you folks out there reading The Owego Pennysaver? You call somebody and you need an answer for something, and they are professional people but they never call you back! 

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I have an idea for the declining supplies on store shelves lately. Why don’t we issue ration coupons, such as were used during the war? If they worked at that time they should work now, at least until we get this shipping situation under control. It’s an idea for a solution at least.

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Black Friday bowling for school age children is back this year at the Owego Bowl from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. There will be free bowling, free pizza, and free soda. Hope to see a bunch of people there!

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It’s time for the best fishing of the year in the river. Why haven’t these launch ramps been cleaned off? Why are they being left muddy? Who is responsible for getting them cleaned up?

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Thank you to the people who cleaned up the Newark Valley Cemetery, but what happened to all the personal belongings that were next to the stones? Some of that stuff is kind of expensive and is hard to replace.

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The laws of New York State are terrible (referring to tenant and landlord rights, squatters rights). 

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I was just wondering when the bridge on West Creek Road in Jenksville is going to be reopened. It was supposed to be reopened by Oct. 31 and it is still closed. Who is responsible for this and why isn’t it open? It is a well-used road and bridge. The detour is not the greatest.

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Would you rather be dead than to find out that you were an unwanted child? Today, even unwanted pets are not killed. That would be cruel. How do you think it feels to be aborted? May the Lord have mercy.

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If you are interested in more information regarding concerned parents and citizens of Tioga County, contact Terry at concernedparentstioga@yahoo.com. 

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To the person that was wondering how the Village of Newark Valley bought out 9 Brook St. It was FEMA. Here is a thought, it happened over an approximate two-year period. It was posted in newsletters and also discussed at board meetings. So until you actually do research, keep wondering to yourself.

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I have a question? If a person is vaccinated and can still get COVID and spread it, or a person is not vaccinated and can get COVID and spread it, then what is the difference? Please reply with a scientific or medical answer. I understand the shot protects me, but I don’t understand how it protects anybody else. Please help me understand.

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I am responding to the person who wrote, “How would you feel if you knew that your mother wanted to get an abortion when she was pregnant with you but was denied and that you were an unwanted child? How would that make you feel?” I would like to start off by saying that 98% of all pregnancies are unwanted because of careless actions on both parties involved. The other 2% is due to rape or a defect of some sort that is not the fetus’s fault. You asked how I would feel if my mother was denied a part in having me, and how this would make me feel. I will tell you how I feel. I can tell you because my mother HAD to have me, and I am alive enough to feel. I am a part of her genetics, which makes me happy, even though she may not be or never will be. I can live with that because I am alive to enjoy my life, not her life. Thanks mom that you had to have me. Thanks Aunty, Grammy and Pappy for raising me. I love you all and that is how I FEEL.

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In response to the concerns surrounding Hope Cemetery; thank you for your effort. I agree, the utmost respect should be given to those in their final resting place. There are a few volunteers (ages range from 14 to 80 years of age) that have donated time, loaders, chainsaws, dump trucks, etc. Thanks to them too! There is one woman who stands out from all of us who volunteers her time – from getting windows fixed, picking up brush and garbage, to coordinating what should be done next. On Saturday, Nov. 6, she spent two hours with a broom, brushing off headstones, while the rest of us hauled two trees away. So if it appears that no one cares, I can assure you that is not the case. 

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Do you know what really grates my cheese? It’s when somebody responds to a “Thank you” with “No problem,” or “Don’t mention it,” or the one that bothers me the most is “Yup.” The only and proper response to a, “thank you” is, “you’re welcome,” or if you want to be flashy then you can go with, “you are welcome.”

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I live in the Village of Newark Valley and I’m curious, too, as to why we need a staff of three in the office. I think it’s time the Mayor and board members take a long hard look to try to come up with a more cost effective solution. I believe there are alternatives we could implement, but one that should not be considered is to raise our taxes. Cost of personnel takes the biggest bite out of the Village budget.

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Wow, just WOW, to the people who are so upset about the vaccine mandate. Do you not realize that you already have to vaccinate your kids in order to send them to school? Do you not realize that any new vaccine is NEW? The polio vaccine was new once? Chicken Pox? And don’t say that the COVID vaccine is different and rushed and not researched enough. COVID is one of many in a group of viruses that was already being researched and tested for years. I am amazed by people who don’t want to get the vaccine because they don’t know what’s in it, but want to be able to inject horse hormones into their bodies. Do you know what is in the long list of other vaccines your children get? I am old enough to remember having measles and mumps as a child, and I knew people who had polio. Children used to die often before vaccines were available. God help you if you refuse to vaccinate your children and one of them gets sick from COVID, or one of them passes it to a parent or grandparent who then dies. 

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In response to where the Village of Newark Valley got the money to buy the house on Brook Street, FEMA! It was in the newsletter sent out by the Village. If you need more detailed information I suggest getting in touch with the Mayor or going to a board meeting.

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Before you demand that the school stop teaching something it would be wise to find out if it’s being taught. Otherwise you are just demonstrating a serious lack of knowledge and investigative ability.

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OACSD should not have some teachers stuck underneath the teacher’s union contract. They should be paid on merit for their excellence and value-add for our children. They earn it! Some other “heroes” should find employment more suited to their skills and/or professional devotion. Review of pre-COVID NYS Education Department data red flags these deficiencies. Our children’s time is valuable and shouldn’t be wasted. For example, visit https://data.nysed.gov/assessment38.php?instid=800000036526&year=2016&subject=Mathematics&grades%5B%5D=8&prof24=0. If parents had seen this, perhaps there would have been a riot. Permanent contract tenure should be forbidden. The excuse our students lacked intelligence was unacceptable considering our demographics. Thanks to teachers, staff, and a Superintendent who made such rapid and tremendous improvement of academic performance in the span of three years. How nice it would be to see what progress would have been made without the COVID interruption.

 

National Political Viewpoints

How would you like it if strangers came into your house, sat down and ate your food, took your checkbooks and bought things, and you have no say in it? That’s what you are getting from our government. Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer are crooks! They’ve been in there for much too long. Get them out of office! Get them all out of there and pick someone else that is more deserving and more intelligent to spend your money. That’s your money, my money; they’re spending it.

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How dare this country, the U.S.A., take my hard-earned tax money that they have robbed from me and give it to migrants that were separated at the border! Give them ten dollars and a ticket back home. Don’t give them my hard-earned tax money. How dare this country do that!

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I guess the Biden supporters are nothing more than a laughing matter because every time any of them get on the news and are asked a question, they all just laugh. I guess that goes to prove they are a big joke.

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Pelosi looks like a music director. She ought to sit on her hands when she is trying to talk. 

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What is it with this idiot in the White House? He has done more damage to the economy in this country for the short time he has been president than any president prior to him. I’m surprised nobody has started a protest to get rid of him. 

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Follow the news. The republicans were against the Biden infrastructure bill, and most voted against it. Led by Mitch McConnell, the chief obstructionist for the republican GOP, he stated he was delighted that the house voted to pass the Biden bill. Oh my, oh my.

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We need DeSantis as he thinks of we, the people, and not himself.

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All of you people out there saying that critical race theory is not being taught in schools, you need to dig deeper. It is being taught under many different guises and is in nearly every subject your child is required to take. Parents, please get involved. America, wake up or we will no longer be a free country.

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Biden has just increased oil imports from Russia by 100%. What’s your kick back, big guy? We have had enough oil and gas for over 1,000 years. Let’s use it you idiots. We were energy independent until Joe took over. Impeach Biden now!

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It was nice that we were informed last week that New York City holiday events are back. Unfortunately I don’t know for how long, these events were supported largely by bus tours, which, at least in our area, are no longer available. Despite the current administration’s hype regarding public transportation, evidently this sector received no help to offset COVID losses. That in addition to many years of harassment of tour buses by Mayor “Duh Blah Zee Oh” killed any chance of hundreds of folks taking in (and spending money) at the city’s holiday events. Go Democrats! Nancy will still enjoy her freezer full of ice cream at $23 a pint, and be able to fly by private jet to anywhere in the world, escaping those of us huddled at home trying to survive in what is rapidly becoming third world country conditions. Happy Holidays!

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I find it amazing that poor jobs reports are because the president is a failure, but good job reports aren’t due to the president’s success.

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The caller who is so upset that Joe Biden received five deferments, and that we follow him at our peril, really should do some research. Only four Presidents since World War II have served in a combat zone – Dwight Eisenhower (Army), Gerald Ford (Navy), John Kennedy (Navy), and George Herbert Walker Bush (Army Air Force); one served on active duty, but never saw combat (George W. Bush). The comment that someone went to Vietnam in Joe’s place is totally inane! Let’s remember that Donald Trump also received five deferments, so to use the caller’s logic we followed him at our peril and who went to Vietnam in his place. Really, if you are going to dump on Biden, make sure your argument can’t be pushed back in your face.

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If a vaccine mandate of any kind had been put in place under the Trump administration, everyone who is now in favor of the current mandate would have been against it, and the people who are against the current mandate would have been against that one too. It’s not about politics.

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“I have to admit it’s a tough one. I mean, who are you siding with, the beloved and iconic children’s character widely celebrated over a half a century by people of all ages and backgrounds from all parts of the world, or a widely disliked wannabe werewolf with the charm of a serial killer and the voice of a dying barn owl who was once called ‘Lucifer in the flesh’ by one of his fellow Republicans after another fellow Republican joked he was so unpopular you could murder him and get away with it.” — SETH MEYERS [on Ted Cruz]

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For people who call in and complain about republicans and democrats, I have one thing to say – STOP, JUST PLEASE STOP!

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The separated families were asylum seekers. Legal. They were separated and the kids sent to parts unknown. Yes, unknown. They couldn’t be found when it was time to reunite them.