Readers’ Column for the week of May 8, 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.

 

When consumer and industrial prices go up dramatically, that is called extortion. Pay attention to those companies that raised their prices and avoid them. 

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Just last week I had five phone calls claiming they are the Medicare department, and they were talking about needing to have dental and hearing aids and things like that. I’ve blocked all of them; each one was different except for one, it was an 800 number. These apparently are scams, so be careful when these people are calling.

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I have an old motorcycle that, I was told, was raced by Ernie Struble from the Owego area. Can anyone tell me about Ernie and his motorcycle racing history? Call John at (607) 589-4573.

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I want to thank the board of education in Newark Valley for working hard to ensure there will not be an increase in school taxes this year. It’s a tough year for everyone. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the mayor and trustees in Newark Valley who are raising water rates over 20%, just like they raised property taxes a few years ago over 20%. They could easily find the money for the water costs by only having the village office open part time instead of full time. A full time office for fewer than 1,000 residents is really unnecessary.

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I wish men would stop going after women about abortions and pregnancies. They are a part of it and cause pregnancies. There should be a law; if men make a baby they should take care of them 24/7 and I’m sure that wouldn’t last very long. I believe men will be sorry, this will backfire; and if it does, that’s what they deserve.

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It took a while and a lot of money, travel and paperwork and everything but I took my squatter to court, he was a no show. Apparently, I won the case. He still hasn’t left! The sheriff was trying to find him today to serve papers. I just want to thank all involved that assisted me as best as you were legally allowed to. 

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This is for county residents, you need to look at the legislative minutes for the Tioga County Legislature, particular resolution 22-108 where the county personnel director who retired was rehired at 15 hours a week for $150 an hour through March of 2028. That’s nearly $700,000 for six years. What is up with that?

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The members of St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Apalachin, who are responsible for moving the donations away from the chute so that it doesn’t get blocked, very much appreciate the donors who place their items in tied plastic bags. Many thanks to all who donate!

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I’m wondering how people can demonstrate against abortions even to the point of invading and blocking the clinics and insulting the women going there, then turn around and claim kneeling silently should be severely punished. I guess they somehow think protesting should be limited to only their causes.

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On April 29, my OACSD Budget Newsletter arrived and the State’s Education Department released its statistical data for the School Year ending June 30, 2021. Taxpayers should be pleased with the improvement of OACSD Regents test scores. We have exceeded Vestal’s performance. Thank you to Superintendent Green, the teachers and staff, and especially the students. Unfortunately, we are now in our second decade with the highest teacher salaries in the Southern Tier. The NYSED data shows ZERO correlation between academic performance and teacher salaries. The OACSD teachers’ union compensation cost has at times been a budget breaker, but not for this year. Annually, since 2013, the OACSD BOE has been presented with the NYS ED documentation that OACSD’s compensation package is beyond all reasonable and prudent bounds. Healthcare and salary costs are the preponderance of the OACSD Budget, yet not a word is found in the Newsletter regarding the District’s two biggest financial problems. Nor is there discussion of mitigation of risk to the student resources. On a brighter note, this is the second year the OACSD budget contains no property tax increase, which reflects positively on Mr. Green. We should note COVID was financial manna from heaven. The budget for this and last year has grown at twice the rate of the past 10 years. Hopefully this will not create problems when the manna is gone. 

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Broome County is offering its residents compost bins for $45 each. When and where is Tioga County going to offer its residents compost bins for $45 each? Please get with it Tioga County. We want to do our part for the environment and are ready and able to do so with the help of compost bins. Or is there a place here where we can purchase them now?

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In response to the individual working 15 hours per hour part time with Tioga County and the reported salary of $2,200 per week. As per resolution 108-02, this individual retired and was hired as a consultant earning $150.00 per hour, and is not expected to work more than 15 hours per week.

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Why do we continue to get the government we have here in New York State. There are 19.84 million legal eligible voters in New York State. The number of these residents who are registered and are able to vote count at 13.84 million, inclusive of Democrat, Republican and Independents. In the last General Election in November 2019, out of a possible 13.84 eligible voters, 9.3 million voters showed up to vote; a mere 10%. Tioga County residents present the state with the same historical percentage of voter turnout ranging in the bracket of 10%: 90% ratio. Conclusion; the 90% who choose not to vote seem to be the loudest to complain about government legislation on policy and spending. Your apathy and indifference is the problem. Either show up to vote or keep your opinions to yourselves. You get the government you’re willing to stand up for.

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I see that the community libraries in Owego and Apalachin were mentioned in the school budget pamphlet we received. I support them and have no issue with them being on the ballot. However, what about libraries at the elementary schools with librarians there? I hear that there are no libraries at the elementary schools, and that saddens me.

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Note to Owego-Apalachin School District Budget Office; under New York State’s plan, all new school buses will be electric by 2027, and by 2035 all of the state’s roughly 50,000 school buses will be zero-emission. Fill-ups and oil changes will be replaced by trips to charging stations. So why don’t we start buying electric school buses this year? They are cheaper to maintain and don’t cause asthma with toxic diesel fumes. 

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“It is impossible for any culture to be sound and healthy without a proper respect and proper regard for the soil.” – Andrew Nelson Lytle

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I’ve been all over the state over the last few weeks and I can tell you, there are no worse roads than what we have here in Tioga. The village streets in Owego are shameful, and the water company made them infinitely worse; but 17 to Vestal is by far the most atrocious stretch of pavement in the state.

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It’s absolutely true that the county is paying $150 an hour for a 15 hour a week job.

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The Broome County Legislature unanimously approved a plan to suspend a portion of their county’s gasoline tax from June 1 through Dec. 1. It would serve the Tioga County legislature to follow suit to maintain stability to our county’s gas tax revenue. The action would provide an incentive to Tioga County residents to continue to do their “fill ups” in Tioga County as opposed to taking their business a hop and skip into Broome and losing the total tax revenue.

 

National Political Viewpoints

I’m sitting here reading the headlines and I see Joe Biden wants to forgive student loans. I think that’s a wonderful thing! There’s only one point I don’t understand. I drove junk cars, didn’t go on vacations and didn’t eat in expensive restaurants, and was frugal for the first four years that my kid was in college. Together, along with his mother, we paid that bill. My question is will Mr. Biden reimburse me for the $48,000 that I paid off in four years for my kid to go to college?

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I love the way the democrats try to blame the border crisis on Trump and the republicans. Give me a break. How stupid do you think we are?

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Newsflash. We now know that Putin has cancer and has been contacted at least 56 times by his radiology doctor. Word is he will soon receive surgery. We have a severely compromised president in the U.S., and so is Putin. Sweden and Finland are joining NATO. Ukrainians are now using missiles to attack targets inside the Russian border. Will Putin go out with a bang? Let’s all pray not. 

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I decided that Biden just wants to fire up his plane to pollute the sky, and socialize all over the country to deal with any issues. Gas is still sky high after all his talking, groceries are up every week, and undesirables are coming into the country by the hundreds. He doesn’t care about the people in this country at all. He will blame anyone but himself for all the problems.

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Wrong again Harry Wilson. The New York City subway shooter was not out on bail. 

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“Today, it was announced that Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19. Yeah, President Biden told her to take her time recovering. He was like, ‘When I was V.P., I was gone for two years and nobody even noticed.’” — JIMMY FALLON

“Thankfully, Harris is feeling good and will remain isolated just like she has since taking office.” — JIMMY FALLON 

“Yeah, the White House said that Harris has been nowhere near Biden for over a week, which pretty much tells you all you need to know about that relationship.” — JIMMY FALLON

“I don’t know, did they have a fight over a jelly bean? Why haven’t they seen each other in eight days?” — JIMMY KIMMEL

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Sure would be nice if people did research. MULTIPLE WESTERN NATIONS, not just us, ousted the Ukraine prosecutor because he was NOT investigating corruption.

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In response to a comment on May 1, some news for the pro-immigrant folks – the “millions of people needed to fill empty jobs” – those could all be filled tomorrow if welfare (and infinite additional benefits-career welfare recipients have it better than a lot of working folks at this point) was done away with. If there are shortages now, what is that going to look like with millions more people? Immigrants did indeed found this nation, however, they came here in the right frame of mind from day one, by obeying our laws and coming here LEGALLY.