Readers’ Column for the week of February 27, 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 have a box of 40-50 folding state maps. They are in excellent shape. No browsing, you must take all of them. Please leave your phone number in this column. First response gets them.

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If what I read is correct and not a rumor about the write-in vote for Village of Newark Valley Mayor, you do need to come clean! The voters, taxpayers, and the residents don’t need to be kept in the dark. We are at the very least entitled to know your viewpoints and opinions on what affects our village. If you’re running for mayor or one of the board seats, please don’t have a personal agenda. Remember, it’s what’s best for taxpayers and residents of the village. To all those who live in the village, come out and vote!

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HEAVEN OR HELL Your Choice. Limited time offer; submit your response to Jesus Christ.

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How climate change has altered migration. Dave Nicosia, the Binghamton weatherman, spoke to the Chemung Audubon group and noted that what had been considered southern garden birds in the 60’s; Carolina wren, cardinals, tufted titmouse and the red-bellied woodpecker are now common residents of the twin tiers. Having begun my career in the southern Catskills of Sullivan County and seeing an occasional cardinal, I clearly remember having to drive south deep into Orange County to see my first titmouse. Carolina wrens and red-bellied woodpeckers weren’t in my thoughts. Now when I do my daily walks at the Carantouan Greenway’s Wildwood Reserve in the Town of Barton I can look forward to seeing them all.

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Why isn’t OACSD in on the many lawsuits against New York State over the masking mandates for our children? Parents would then believe the district is actually looking out for the well being of the students and not just terrified of getting their hands slapped by the State Education Department.

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If the Tioga County Legislature wants to show true leadership during these hard times people are having to pay their fuel bills, drop the 3% tax on how we heat our homes. Heating our homes is not a luxury, it’s a must have. Maybe if you take a good hard look you could come up with an idea to save 3% another way! Just because some or all of you might not be affected by 3%, there is a whole lot more that it does. All of you don’t have a problem raising our taxes. Try to find a way to give us some relief. I’m sure this message will fall on deaf ears!

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This is a scam alert. A friend recently received a call informing her she had won $600,000 from Publisher’s Clearing House and they’d be making a delivery shortly. A little later they called and said she also won a Ford Fusion. She would have to give them a check for delivery of the car and they would give her a check for her winnings. We think because of all the questions she asked they never showed. We suspect their payoff would be the delivery check because the car would never be delivered. Also, of course, the $600,000 check would be worthless. Everybody be on guard, period.

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Congratulations to the girls’ varsity basketball team. Good luck at the Class B playoffs!

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To the person who wrote about the storage containers on the railroad tracks, I would just like to know why it matters so much to you why they are there and where they are going. I’m sure in time they will go where they have to be. But for now they are not hurting anything. There are more important things to worry about.

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Answering last week’s caller, the train was stuck on the tracks in Owego because, according to the Courier, the engineers only get so much time. Also, when their time is up, Central Command shuts them down right where they are. Apparently like pilots, they can only go so many hours.

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I have a safety concern and I’m not sure whom to call about it. The Court Street Bridge fencing is very unstable in several areas of the bridge. Some of it is ready to fall in the river and some is very wobbly.

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I don’t know how other people feel but I am so sick and tired of calling a place and all I get is a recording, and it takes 10 minutes of listening to know what number you want to press. What has happened to having a person answer the phone and answer your questions? I don’t have all day to spend on the phone with these recordings. I’m just so frustrated with all of this!

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What is this country coming to when you have to have an officer sitting outside of the high school at 9 a.m.? 

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About the mask wearing, all of my grandchildren wear their masks. They have no problem with it whatsoever. It was explained to them why they have to wear masks in the beginning. It’s second nature to them. It’s like putting a hat on. It only takes one germ, and apparently some do not get it. We should do everything in our power to keep the kids safe. What a terrible world we live in now. No one wants to follow rules, period!

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I had to chuckle last week when I read a comment encouraging people in the village of Newark Valley to come out to vote and have their voice heard. This doesn’t make any sense to me as most of the seats are unopposed. They are listed as both republicans and democrats, even though when you speak to them they identify as republicans. None of this makes any sense, but this is what’s going on and how politics has been reduced to this low level in Newark Valley.  

 

National Political Viewpoints

I hope all the voters who voted for our current president got what they wanted!

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In response to the person who thought it was justified for Trump to be flushing top-secret documents down the toilet because of the toilet paper shortage, you have some real issues. You sound like a true republican.  

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Hail the prescience of the Democrats. Under so-called “impaired driving prevention” Dems want to install kill switches in automobiles, including trucks. This would eliminate the possibility of peaceful civic protests like those happening in Canada. We should also have barcodes tattooed on our forearms to ensure things like vaccine compliance and other requirements of obedience from Federal and State governments, which have no constitutional authority or power to demand such obedience. The number of fires, lootings, assaults, window smashing, etc. committed by the Trucker Freedom Convoy is ZERO. Washington is in the process of fortifying itself in anticipation of a Freedom Convoy.

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Stop blaming Biden for the campaign promises not kept; it is the GOP that is blocking everything. Stop getting your political information from Social Media and Bloggers; read more than one source, not just the U.S. biased side.

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CPAC 2022 will again be taking place Feb. 28, 2022 in Florida, having moved out of Washington, D.C. last year. Will it be another T-Pac event? Or will we see Ron DeSantis able to meet and hold sway with the Republicans who will come from all states to listen to those who want to be in contention for the Republican ballot in 2024. As of now you have to acknowledge that what Ron DeSantis has done for Florida, no Democratic leader can come close in any Democrat run state. New York State and City is a testament to the Democrat incompetence in policy and leadership. At the national level, Biden is the poster child for the title of “Most Incompetent” – and not even a 2nd to Carter. Trumps’ presidency is exactly what this country needed at this point in time in 2016. Come 2024, DeSantis has demonstrated by his intensity to recognize this new direction and has the benefit and the capacity, intelligence, policies with planning and gravitas to bring the country back to recognize it’s about governing for all. 

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Don’t look now but Hillary is running again! She gave an extensive speech at the recent New York City Democratic Convention. It cost people $25 to get in and $100 to leave early! Go John Durham! 

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Being for Trump is like being for Boss Hog against Bo and Luke Duke.

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Biden botched the Afghanistan pullout, now he will botch the Ukrainian crisis. The Chinese have pledged $100 million of support to Putin if the West puts sanctions on Putin. Those sanctions do not, I repeat, do not include halting Russia’s oil and gas supplies to western Europe and to the USA. President Trump made us energy independent. We were number one in oil and gas supplies. Biden destroyed our energy independence by bowing to the Green Deal idiots like AOC. Now Russia is number one and Biden is begging Russia and the Saudi’s to increase their exports to us. The Biden idiotocracy is alive and well and things will get much worse. 

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Thank God Trump’s not our president. He would have given the Russians the green light to take over Ukraine. 

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I hope you people who voted for Biden are happy with your choices. So far he’s screwed up the country by letting immigrants in, shutting off the oil, messing up Afghanistan, and now Russia thinks he’s a pushover so they’re going to start expanding their country. I think this guy ought to be impeached just for the safety of our own country. Get rid of him!

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Somebody in this column wrote that Hillary is not in the same league when it comes to corruption and crime. Remember the word Benghazi? Just try telling that to the families of the victims!

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It seems like yesterday that the world was peaceful, our enemies cautious, our borders secure, prices stable, crime under control, and the stock market booming. What happened? Is it fair to blame Biden? I believe so. 

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Someone please tell Wilson it is unconstitutional to change a legislator’s pay during the current term. He’s not doing well on identifying changes he can actually implement.