Readers’ Column for the week of October 29, 2023

You may call The Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or email comments to ReadersOP@gmail.com (please note the new email address). Also, and to align with our political policy, we will not be running any comments that are political in nature until after the Nov. 7 General Election. We also reserve the right to revise or reject any message. Thank you.

 

We are changing our email address for submission to this column. If sending your comment via email, please send to ReadersOP@gmail.com. Thank you.

~

I have a correction on last week’s comment, Social Security payments are going up 3.2% in January, not 2.3%. 

~

The Newark Valley Food Pantry is currently accepting requests for the holiday food boxes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, with a cutoff date of Nov. 11. Thanksgiving food boxes will be distributed on Saturday, Nov. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon. Christmas food boxes will be distributed on Saturday, Dec. 16, from 10 a.m. to noon. There will be no food pantry on Nov. 15 or 16, or on Dec. 13 or 14.  You can sign up by calling Sue at (607) 642-3339 or Sherry at (607) 642-8176. Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to the pantry can call the aforementioned numbers.

~

I’d like to thank everybody that decorates their porch, yard or house for the holidays and the different seasons. It brings a lot of joy to your neighbors. 

~

It’s good that the town of Berkshire has good junk car laws. They set a fine example for the other small towns in Tioga County to follow. 

~

Tioga County Rural Ministry desperately needs toilet paper and laundry detergent for people who come in and need supplies. 

~

This is to the lady who is asking for someone to walk her dog at the Hickories and at Marvin Park. I would like to say that I would love to walk the dog. I live in the village and I love dogs and I’m very familiar with both areas. So if you’re interested, give me a call at (607) 222-4390.

~

To the lady that has trouble opening cans with the tabs, I will take a spoon and lift it with that. It makes it much easier, and I hope this idea helps.

~

We would like to know who the genius is at the Town of Owego who thought it would be a good idea to oil and stone Long Creek Road! I guess they can’t afford to re-pave it, that’s fine. However, it would have been adequate if they just did a really good patch job on some of the affected areas. This oil and stone crap is just ridiculous. What a dusty mess; and then today they put a coat of oil over the whole thing and our white cars become a mess driving up the road to our home. We would certainly prefer the potholes to this. I would also like to mention that on my drive in to work this morning that the potholes were still there; the fix did nothing.

~

Could New York State DOT please repave the entrance to Brown Road in Berkshire before the asphalt plants close for the winter? The entrance is so bad that we can’t dodge the holes. It is like driving on the moon. This is the only entrance for Brown Road since the south end has been closed due to the bridge being closed by the county. It would be greatly appreciated for this situation to be addressed.

~

The Food Bank of the Southern Tier in Elmira, which oversees and helps most of the pantries in six counties including Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego and Tioga, encourages all of their pantries to service anyone coming in, regardless of their place of residence. But, with the price of gas being what it is, why would someone drive 10 or 15 miles past the pantry in their own town? In regards to the amount of food items available, that is a direct reflection on the present state of the economy. Consider the prices you pay anywhere. Have they gone up? I’m sure they have. SNAP benefits were returned to pre-COVID amounts in March of this year. Are more people accessing pantries to help feed their families as a result of these two items? Yes. Have you considered helping your local food pantry by hosting a mini-food-drive? Even just a bag of groceries could help another family. Why don’t you ask the volunteers that work at your local pantry what you can do to help them? Maybe they will have other ideas.

~

The phone rings. Caller ID says, “Watertown Pediatrics.” Yeah! Right! I’m 80! I almost answered, just to have some fun with them, but why would I waste my time? I have plenty of other dopes to deal with. There will be plenty more. Oregon has decided to suspend high school graduation requirements. Coming soon to other states, I suspect, as the country slips ever closer to third world status. Even the scammers are losing their edge. With Veterans Day approaching I feel especially sad for those who fought for our once exceptional country, and what they expected was a promising future for subsequent generations.

~

I just want to comment on the discussion around cats using flowerbeds as litter boxes. I can’t believe the cat owner actually expects their neighbor to spend their own time, energy, and money cleaning up after THEIR cat! This happens to us too, and it is so annoying! Try to imagine what it’s like for people who choose not to have pets. You go out to weed your flowerbeds and enjoy some fresh air and find cat droppings that smell disgusting and are covered with flies. Why is it my responsibility to clean that up or do something to try to prevent it from happening in the first place? Please keep your cats indoors, fenced in your own yard, or on a leash in your own yard. In addition to the stink, cats also kill chipmunks and songbirds, so please just be a responsible pet owner.

~

There are miles of orange tubing being laid along Montrose Turnpike in Owego. Is this for gas, communication, or something else?

~

Just wondering if any other landowners in our area have received gas-drilling proposals from Southern Tier Solutions? If so, have any signed up? It would be nice if they held some informational meetings. Also, it would be nice if The Owego Pennysaver provided information about STS if they have any.

~

Agreed, the best place for a house cat is in the house. Responsible pet owners realize this, if only to protect them from the ignorant humans out there. Do be aware that any pet, aside from perhaps fish, can occasionally escape; even caged pets. And in 80 years I have yet to hear of an infestation of woodchucks in a cupboard or basement in anyone’s house, or in a vehicle’s engine, chewing the wires.

~

I’m glad, when the world is in complete chaos, there is someone out there whose apparent primary concern is tabs on cans and the lack of a bag on their newspaper. Suggestions so they can be in total bliss: use a spoon to pry up the tab; leave a small gratuity with a note explaining the issue for your paper delivery person. I wish the rest of the world’s problems could be solved so easily, or were so trivial.

~

I saw on TV that there’s a company called the Binghamton Lighting Company. It’s on Main Street in Endicott, and they will decorate the lights on your house for any occasion – Christmas, weddings, it doesn’t matter. They string lights and they take them down. I didn’t know anything like that existed in the area. Just thought people would like to know. 

~

On Monday evening, Oct. 23 around 9 p.m., in the vicinity of the Candor Dandy Mart, some unknowns were banging on a door. When the occupants responded and headed for the door the potential burglars fled. The sheriff responded and searched the area. Let’s hope your loved ones are not grieving over your grave because you died from lead poisoning.  

~

I was at a local food bank and when I had a question about produce I was told that beggars couldn’t be choosers. It was said to me twice. This is not what should be occurring at food banks. I have not received an apology from the person and the person is still there. I have spoken with them. I do not know who determines who gets what, what comes in and what should be quality. Someone has to be aware of this situation. 

~

To the ungrateful person regarding food pantries, they are not a grocery store. You should be grateful for what you can get. Thank you.  

~

Would you like to have more spendable income? If you belong to a union, withdraw and give yourself a raise. The unions are only trying to stir up trouble. When it hits the fan they want to make sure that they’re on the winning side, and they really don’t care about you. So wake up and start doing a little checking on your own and find out what’s really going on. Buy gold and silver; stack your cupboards with food that you can use later on. And God bless our country.