Readers’ Column for the week of February 13, 2022

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 think we are making a big mistake in doing away with mask wearing and social distancing and hand sanitizing at this time. Thank God the COVID cases and the omicron and delta variant have all slowed; but they have all slowed, not ceased. We have not yet reached herd immunity. This is not the time to let our guard down. Please continue to wear masks, social distance, and hand sanitize until we do indeed reach herd immunity.

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Looking for a dog that needs a good loving home to be a friend to my older dog. Call (607) 687-1512.

I agree with the caller last week regarding the need to wear masks in a church setting. It seems if you were a true Christian your concern would be for others, not just your own convenience. We are members at a local church here and it is obvious that the clergy feels otherwise. We have many families with large numbers of children who refuse to wear masks. The first clergy member refers to this as a “theoretical” pandemic, implying that it is not real and therefore masks are not necessary. He, in fact, had COVID. The second clergy member recently admonished those of us who wear masks by saying he does not want any “civil disobedience,” and we should be understanding of those who choose not to wear masks. 

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On Jan. 31, a Monday, my wife stopped at the Apalachin Dunkin Donuts to pick me up a half a dozen bagels. There was a lady in a small white car in front of her and she paid for the bagels. I just wish I had a way I could thank her in person. I think it is nice that people do this, but I wish I could pay her back. I hope they get this message somehow.

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Whoever has a dog in the area of the Apalachin Fire Station that barks all day every day, you need to take care of that animal. Make it so it’s comfortable and not barking constantly. Take it in the house; give it a good shelter, whatever it needs. It’s illegal to let that dog bark all day. If it’s not rectified soon I will be calling the dog warden because this is ridiculous!

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I, also, would like to see age 55 or 60-plus ranch style housing available in Tioga County; one- or two-bedroom houses or stand-alone cottages with garages for sale in the $75,000 to $100,000 price range. I’ve been looking for six months without any luck. The need to downsize with outside maintenance is clearly there. Any developer would probably quickly have a waiting list.

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It’s nice to see a Grand Union store back in Owego after all these years. I remember the Grand Union store that was located where Walgreens is now. 

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I want people to be aware of two Medicare scams that are going around. I was called twice this week about Medicare updates. They ask you about cards and medical updates. That is not Medicare. I have reported them both. They are scams. Please, don’t give any information out to people calling saying that they are calling from Medicare.

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If you’re thinking of running or are going to run for Village of Newark Valley Mayor or Trustee, please do not have a personal agenda. Make sure every decision is based on what’s best for all residents and taxpayers.

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Want to read a feel-good story? Last week on the one sunny 40-degree day, my Mom went for a walk. The streets looked bare, but she happened to step on some slush with slick ice underneath and down she went. She was trying to get up when two cars stopped and kind folks came over, helped her up, and made sure she was okay. She is fortunate to live in a special place, Newark Valley, where the people are so friendly and caring.

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As a long time resident of the greater Owego area, I remember back in 2003 when the new Court Street Bridge finally opened up. What a great job by the construction crew, and it came out beautiful. But as I’ve traveled past it on my daily commute to work it’s been quite obvious that the electrical work on the bridge isn’t quite right. The street lamps as well as the Christmas lighting seem to be a problem. I can’t recall ever seeing the entire bridge lit up without at least several lamps or snowflakes not functioning. Sometimes an entire side is not working, lamp globes are missing or broken, and the paint is peeling everywhere. Isn’t there any real maintenance work done? Who is in charge of getting it done? Our beautiful bridge isn’t so beautiful anymore.

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“…I do not care to enlarge my menagerie of pets, and I find the animal man less docile than a dog, less affectionate than a cat, and less amusing than a monkey.” — Miss Sparrow [Response to the question “Why are you a spinster?” taken from a British newspaper in 1889.]

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Why do we spend so much time worrying about who can pay what amount in bail money instead of stopping the crimes altogether? If you didn’t do the crime you wouldn’t have to worry about bail.

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We would like to thank the person that used their snow blower to clear the driveway and all of the sidewalks at a residence on Davis Hollow Road in Newark Valley during the first snowstorm we had. We are late in sending this THANK YOU, but certainly do appreciate what was done for us.

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“Lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the weekend in town astride a radiator.” — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

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I just wanted to say what a great job the Owego Highway Department did plowing the Maple Lane and Crestview Heights area. They worked very hard and we were all able to get out, and they did it in a timely manner. Thanks again you guys!

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It’s been over 700 days since the coronavirus pandemic ended our lives. We’ve been exposed, it’s time to move on and live. 

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Attention Tioga County Taxpayers – You might want to start becoming aware of what you are supporting with your school tax dollars. It’s not about reading, writing and math anymore. You’re helping advance an agenda that’s infiltrated our education system. The American Rescue Plan has been used to push more radical curriculum into the schools, more administrators to keep track. Go to your school board meetings and help change the direction of our education system. Watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

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Is OACSD really cutting libraries and librarians while building a 10 million dollar wellness / sports facility? If you pay school taxes you should know!

 

National Political Viewpoints

I would like to know how much it is costing taxpayers for Trump’s shenanigans to overturn the election. Many thousands, I’m sure. He should go to jail already, enough is enough.

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So, Joe Biden says, “We’ve got to figure out why so many people want to come to the United States.” Would somebody please give this so-called leader the correct answer?

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To the person who wrote in, there have always been illegal aliens coming into the country and there have always been illegal drugs coming into the country through our southern border. Yes, this is true. Donald Trump was trying to and doing a very good job of stopping this. He almost had it under control, or at least as best as anyone has in my lifetime. Now Joe Biden has opened the borders and has encouraged it for political reasons, mainly votes and to redistribute the voters around the country to be democrats. 

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Remember the traitor during the revolutionary war, Benedict Arnold? Now we got one, Benedict Donald.

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This is to the guy that was insulted by some politician that was running for a political position and said he was patronizing, and you said he hurt your feelings. He was probably a democrat.

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This is an answer to the question about why don’t stores go back to ration coupons. All the shortages will go away if you vote the democrats out, once and for all. Get rid of them! All this crap will stop if you get rid of the democrats. All they want is control over you.

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This is a fact. Oil prices are up 23% over a year. Gas prices are up 50% over a year ago. Now who is ripping off the consumer? Is this politics? Are they trying to hurt Biden to get their man, Trump, back in there because they know he won’t tax them and he’ll give them all this free money? It’s surely beginning to look that way. 

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Here’s what the democrats have given us so far: gasoline is 3.69, 1.50 over what it was before the elections; crime is rampant throughout the country and honest people will suffer through being afraid to go outside, higher prices or closed stores; enemies are developing implements of war faster than we ever thought; there is no concern about who is coming over our borders but we plan on sending thousands of our soldiers to protect another country’s border; crack pipes will be distributed to minorities, crack pipes that honest taxpayers will pay for and what good is a pipe if you have no crack or will we supply that also; it goes on and on and the person you put in office is concerned about what flavor ice cream he can get. Look in the mirror if you can.

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Temperatures in our parts of the country have been designated as some of the coldest on record. So I have to wonder how much good will come out of the China made four piece COVID Swab kits being mailed out free by the U.S. Post Office? These are statements put out by contracted distributors of the test kits. An Ellume spokesperson said, “If the product is exposed to extreme temperatures it could damage the test and trigger a “Test Error” rather than a false positive.” SD Biosensor says, “Store the kit at 36-86 °F / 2-30 °C and protect from direct sunlight. The expiration date of the materials is indicated on the external packaging. Do not freeze the kit.” CareStart says, “Store the test kit as packaged between 1 ~ 30°C. (33.8 F- 86 F). The test device must remain in the sealed pouch until use. Do not freeze any contents of the kit.” These shipments are being sent via air to distribution points where they are loaded into uncontrolled air spaces. Lack of planning, foresight and execution is becoming a habit with Biden. “A Day Late” but “Not a Dollar Short,” as he is doing it on our dime.

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I would have to be a homeless refugee that just got fished out of the ocean to accept a towel from the MyPillowGuy.

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“A military is designed to maximize violence. You can’t take an institution that is designed for violence in its DNA and just do some training and shift it around and have it be a force that is contributing to healthy, safe, happy communities. If we don’t address this empty nationalism, this plastic patriotism, we are never going to get the economic and racial justice that we say that we want. There can be no racial, gender liberation without addressing the militarism that is strangling morality and empathy out of our society.” On Veterans Day she used the platform to call attention to an awful statistic: On any given night, more than 50,000 veterans are homeless. — Veteran Brittany Ramos DeBarros quoted in The Nation magazine on Dec. 13/20, 2021, running for Congress in NY-11.

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TRUMP BROKE THE LAW! So the Trump administration has admitted to shredding and burning documents. Even worse, when Trump left the White House he took boxes of Presidential records to Mar-a-logo in violation of the law. When Nancy Pelosi tore up a State of the Union speech, Trump had the audacity to tell the world that she broke the law. If that is true, then he shattered the law! I want to know where the same rage is from Republicans today that they had over Hillary’s emails, Benghazi, and Pelosi tearing up his speech? I want to see Trump testify for 11 hours straight under oath about why those records were destroyed or hidden. I also want him to testify about why the National Guard was not called out sooner on Jan. 6. But I won’t hold my breath because Republicans are hypocrites and what they expect from Democrats in no way applies to them. They feel they are above the law, just like their hypocritical leader.

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I absolutely believe what Dr Fauci says. He’s been an acting doctor for the last six presidents. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.

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The same people that condemn anti-police violence protests are saying Jan. 6 and anti-mandate protests are okay. Why? 

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I’ve been a staunch Democrat for over half a century and now that we are in Power again for 1 year, I am ashamed. I have decided to SWITCH TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. Especially after what my Party has done to the economy, and spending billions of our TAX dollars on ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, and now they are dealing with the coyotes and the cartels to schedule the entry of illegals into our country. Then to feed, clothe, free cell phone’s, and a choice of what city they want to live in the U.S., plus housing. All TAX PAYING citizens get is the privilege of paying for all of this. Also, I have a problem with the fiasco with Ukraine and the Olympics. Oh yes, let’s not forget sending all our manufacturing to China and shutting down our Petroleum Pipelines. Because of these problems, we are currently faced with exorbitant high prices and shortages. We should have kept the Republicans in POWER. My Party is ruining our Country.

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Stupid? Agricultural fertilizer prices are at all-time highs and climbing. Fertilizer costs are determined by oil and gas prices. New York requires 10% ethanol in gasoline. This comes from corn and is subsidized by the Feds. Follow the trail; use oil and gas, thus producing CO2 => fertilizer=> corn=> more oil and gas to process ethanol, thus producing more CO2=> fill gas tank=> drive=> burn ethanol=> produce CO2=> save the planet. Can our useful idiots see any of the many very damaging consequences of this, besides inflation and agricultural use of marginal land in the 3rd world? They are profound. Fact checking won’t reveal this insidious truth, but New York democrats are moving, via the existing law, to ban heating with wood and natural gas. Using your woodlot is “Green”, right? But using it will be illegal. Did that change? Call it “Green” and the Useful Idiots come running. “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Bleat bleat.

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Okay, let’s all stand up and pay attention. China, where the coronavirus originated, is now making masks for Joe Biden. Joe Biden is sending millions and millions of dollars to China to make these masks now, and as the mask mandate is ending in New York and other states. As you look, the next time you are at the grocery store, see how many people are wearing N95 masks, maybe one? 

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Newsflash! Nevermind the highest inflation in 40 years or the price of gasoline or the totally incoherent statements on COVID or the 140,000 drug overdoses per year, or the 200,000 people per month illegally crossing our border; but our beloved leader is now funding crack pipes in a supervised safe zone for crackheads. This will become known as the Hunter Biden initiative. God save the U.S.A. from the Marxist democrats.

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Biden and Harris must go! This country will not withstand another two years of such poor decisions.

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The idiotocracy continues. $30 million of your taxpayer dollars will now go towards crack pipe equity. This means that the homeless and just plain bums will get Joe Biden’s certified crack pipes and do so in safety. That means they will have an equivalent of a Hunter Biden crack pipe to use. Isn’t the democrat philosophy and mental acumen a thing of real beauty?

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Scratch a liberal and you’ll find a fascist. Studebaker Hawk.

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People in the U.S.A. march in the streets to protest police brutality and the conservatives condemn them and pass laws that excuse motorists that run them down because protests are immoral. Truckers block the streets and border crossings in Canada to protest vaccine mandates and U.S.A. conservatives cheer them on and start GoFundMe campaigns to support them. Way to show your true colors, conservatives. 

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