Readers’ Column for the week of September 15, 2024

You may call The Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or email comments to ReadersOP@gmail.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message.

 

Whoever purchased the sewing machine at the Nichols Presbyterian Church on Labor Day was given the wrong plug. The lady who donated it for the sale found the correct one to give you. Please respond to this column to let us know how to get it to you. Thank you, and sorry for the trouble. 

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Of course village residents pay New York State taxes! Regarding the Restore NY funds awarded in the Village of Newark Valley – no portion of the grant award was derived from village taxes. This funding (like most other state grants) is made possible through NYS taxes. Estimating village population at 912 residents and NYS population at 20,000,000 people, and assuming all taxpayers actually pay their taxes, village taxpayers funded about $34 of the $732,420 grant through their state taxes. That’s just under 4 cents per resident! Nothing to chuckle about!

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I totally agree that there are entirely too many give-a-ways; free is always paid for by someone. The old “give a fish/teach to fish” saying applies. But isn’t there also a saying that goes “judge not, lest ye be judged”? Persons picking up “free” things that you consider don’t look deserving may be getting whatever for a shut-in who truly needs it and doesn’t have transportation and/or is physically unable to walk. Fewer and fewer folks in this state can afford a vehicle.

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Regarding dollhouse furniture: the most reliable place for absolutely gorgeous, quality, mostly wood items is Hobby Lobby in Elmira. A bit of a drive though. You could call Michael’s in Vestal. Sometimes “antique” stores have the 50’s plastic stuff. Have you tried online? Etsy? eBay? Also, a question regarding the disrespectful wedding attire. I quite agree it is an unfortunate distraction, and you actually can be more attractive and enticing, leaving something to the imagination. But last I knew, doesn’t the bride choose or is at least consulted regarding the bridesmaids dresses so the color(s) / style complimented the theme / bride / groomsmen?
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Do people read over their letters to this column, or are they just comfortable being as judgmental as they are? Or are they really that judgmental?

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Attention Ukulele Players; the Tioga Ukulele Group’s next adult jam session is scheduled for Sept. 21, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Coburn Free Library, Main Street, Owego. All levels of players are welcome to join us, from beginners to accomplished ukulele players. For more information or to receive music ahead of the jam session, please contact us at (607) 743-9803 or (607) 321-8815, or send an email to TiogaUkuleleGroup@yahoo.com.

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Is anyone looking to home kittens? I would be very interested in having a kitten.

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I lost a pair of wraparound sunglasses with a slight prescription on Sept. 5 around Main Street, from North Avenue to Church Street and near Auto Zone. If found, please drop off at The Owego Pennysaver office. Thank you. 

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I watched a little bit of the NFL opening game last night and they have pretty much taken the kickoff out of the game with new XFL rules. It seems it’s a penalty now to touch a quarterback out of bounds, not hit one. You better not touch one or it’s a 15 yard penalty all. Why don’t they just make this two-hand touch and get it over with. Unbelievable what they’re doing to football! 

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Dogcatchers should put a weekly report in The Owego Pennysaver. They don’t need to give the person’s name, obviously they won’t, but it would be nice to know dogs that are running loose, where they are. One went after my son on his bike and he stopped and he got off his bike and talked to the dog. If he kept going he might have been bitten. It seems that it doesn’t do any good to talk to the dogcatcher. Nothing seems to be done about any of the loose dogs in this town and village and I’m not saying the name. It would be nice if they would put the results in the paper or something so people know they are doing something, maybe ticketing people or something. 

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The Owego Fire Department is currently signing folks up to decorate their trunks and hand out candy for trunk or treat. The event will be from 5-7 p.m. on Halloween night at Croton Hose Company, located on Talcott Street in Owego. Please call Judy Hartman to sign up at (607) 972-8516.

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Kudos and praise to the Village of Owego Public Works Department. In less than 24 hours after a complaint was filed with the head of the Public Works department, a hazardous situation at the corner of Division and East Front Street was corrected. Thank you. 

 

National Political Viewpoints

I recently read in this column, “Why would anyone in their right mind vote for a convicted felon! 34 counts.” As I recall it, our far left democrats supported having convicted felons VOTE! What is the chance that a “convicted felon” would Vote FOR a convicted felon? Should DJT be put back in the White House, we only have ourselves to blame. As much as we respect VP Harris, she did not get my vote OR any other vote to be the nominee! I think it’s time to join RFK Jr. and the other “old guard democrats”. Need I say more?

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I, as always, watched the debate. It’s hard to believe how biased it was. Certainly it’s okay to fact check things the candidates say, but you need to fact check both! Harris lied constantly, but was never called on it. In fact, Muir lied about things but never corrected himself. I was also shocked that she was not questioned about why. If she and Biden worked so closely together, she continued to praise his mental capacity, ability to do the job, stamina etc., until he did the Trump debate. Are we really supposed to believe he went from being sharp as a tack to being unable to continue to run for president in a 90-minute debate?

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Post debate. Oh folks, we are in such trouble. The one side has instituted global policies that are inexcusably detrimental and rants about Jan. 6 (while saying we need “to turn the page”), while domestic terrorism continues to be rampant (from Minneapolis to our school children under constant attack). The other side can’t articulate and explain fully the faulty policies. Yikes!

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And the chuckles just keep on coming! The person pointing out Trump’s character flaws as far as illicit relationships. Two fairly recent Democratic presidents immediately come to mind that, if we voted using that criteria, would never have held office are JFK and Bill Clinton. They were both great presidents. Willie Brown was only separated from his wife when he was in a relationship with Kamala. The conclusion should be obvious. Personal flaws haven’t come into play for Democrats. The hypocrisy of that party continues to be astounding.

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THANK YOU Governor Hochul for making vehicle insurance 59% higher than the national rate, ensuring ever more drivers are out there uninsured; resulting in even higher costs for honest folks, and endangering the general population, including infants and school children. Thanks also for not being an enthusiastic supporter of law enforcement, yet now mandating retail establishments have “panic buttons”. How exactly is law enforcement supposed to respond (to many false alarms) without financial support, lack of personnel, low morale, etc. And at what additional cost, again, to everyone else? Keep it up. The exodus from the State will continue, and you’ll be the queen of no one, especially if we start putting in nuclear power plants. WOW.

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Kamala has finally posted her policy pitches, a day before her debate. As far as I can see they are basically the same old policies of the Biden administration, punish the rich for having money, and do nothing to curtail wasteful spending or unlimited monetary help to illegal migrants or the countries involved in war, except Israel. ALL IT REALLY MEANS FOR WE TAXPAYERS IS CONTINUED HIGHER PRICES ON EVERYTHING, MORE ANTI SEMITISM. Again, the policy says lower tax on the middle class (those making under $400,000). How well has that been going since Biden took over, are you doing better now?

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If it weren’t so pathetic, it would be funny how people who write in are so misinformed, especially when all the things about Donald Trump are so easily checked. It is obvious that these people sit around memorizing all the intentionally misrepresented garbage reported on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC.

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Now that the Democrat party has pulled off their successful coup and have gotten rid of Joe Biden, I wonder which of their ranks they plan to oust next.

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I’m a little confused by you folks who keep harping on how Trump will be an autocratic, will take away your constitutional rights, etc. Have you forgotten how many of Biden’s plans have been stopped by the courts because they were unconstitutional? Maybe you forgot how many people, like nurses and doctors, were fired because they refused to take an experimental drug that wasn’t completely evaluated. Thanks to that, most nurses in our hospitals today are travel nurses. Maybe you also forgot who took children out of school for so long that they will never catch up, despite medical professionals saying they should be going to school. This is not to mention the devastating effect this all had on children’s mental health. If you want to talk about an autocratic, how about we talk about the guy who single handedly stopped domestic oil production, then made deals to get oil from our enemies and gave them billions of dollars to use to start wars and buy terrorists to do the dirty work.

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The accessibility of the American dream is under threat throughout the country, but in few places is it as imperiled as it is in New York. Empire State Republicans have the right political environment to once again outperform expectations in November. But conservatives can’t rely on voter dissatisfaction with the current state of the country. That frustration must be channeled into votes at the ballot box. If voters opt to not show up, isn’t that the same as a vote for the Democrats?

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JD Vance’s response to the Georgia school shooting is that we need to beef up security in our schools. What an obtuse and disingenuous thing to say. If lack of security were the problem, we would see school shootings at a uniform rate worldwide. Instead, it’s something that literally only happens in the USA, the nation with the highest rate of gun ownership on the planet. Between 2009 and 2019, the U.S. racked up 288 school shootings. Over that same period, Mexico placed second with eight shootings. A handful of other countries (China, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Russia) each had one shooting. The problem is America’s obsession with guns.

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Kamala Harris, in one of her recent campaign speeches, said, “Brazil was right to take down the ‘X’ platform and all social media platforms should have to adhere to government censorship, including taking down political opponents’ accounts.” Is she running for US Presidency or that of the leader of a Socialist government country like Russia or China? As Walz is her chosen V.P., it is Walz who claims, “I’ve lived in China and taught English there in 1989, as I’ve said, I’ve been there about 30 times.”

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Trump’s plan was like the fall of Saigon.

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So Trump’s plan was to take out the weapons, and leave the soldiers unarmed? That makes a lot of sense.

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Years before he became involved in politics the Apprentice lost the Emmy to “the Amazing Race”. Unable to admit there could be one other show better than his, he called the Emmys irrelevant because they must have been rigged against him. When he lost the 2016 Iowa caucus to Ted Cruz, he said there must have been fraud. When Hillary got 3 million more votes than him he insisted illegal people must have voted. When over 200 polls by multiple organizations, including Fox, showed he would probably lose the 2020 election, he convinced his followers it could only be due to fraud. He will never peacefully accept defeat in 2024. This should scare everyone.

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Gov. Hochul, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, Rep. Tenney, Rep. Friend, Rep. Lupardo, Candidate Riley, what is your responsibility as it relates to the 30% NYS, 23% Federal, and 15-year tax exemption incentives for solar farms? What are the fiscal resources used to provide these incentives? How are these incentives provided? What is the overall long-term effect on fiscal resources utilizing tax revenues to supply governmental services? All of you are or may be involved. Provide a public service and inform the public relating to this situation. Make it accessible, comprehensive, and complete within the next five weeks. Elections are available and provide an opportunity to express an informed decision. Please provide the information as it relates to your position.

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I just got a good laugh after watching one of Harris’s PR people answer a question. The question was, “Why hasn’t Vice President Harris answered any questions or taken any news conferences,” and the guy said, “Well, she just did an extensive interview with Dana Bash last week on CNN. Twenty-six minutes is not an extensive interview, and especially when you have all the questions in front of you. These people will do anything to spin a story.

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I don’t know how anybody could possibly vote for a Republican. Because of their constant blocking and such, more innocent people were killed with unnecessary gun violence because they think it’s okay to have these war weapons owned by regular citizens. Those should only be used and owned and operated by law enforcement and the military. There is no reason for a public citizen to have that kind of a weapon. Vote Democrat and get gun safety laws put back. Ask all the people who have been shot and their family members that have been killed what they think about the gun laws. It used to be that you couldn’t own weapons like that, but the Republicans think it’s just fine.

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Why would anyone in their right mind vote for Harris/Walz after four years of Biden, which has been a disaster? If those two get in we won’t have a future! 

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I’m a bit confused about the comment that someone wrote about burning the American flag; that you should be put in prison, have your rights taken away, all of the above. However, if you’re burning the flag or using it for a weapon, tearing its capital apart, smearing feces all over the statues inside our capital, attacking people with it with Trump’s name on it, which defames it, then that’s okay? I guess I do not understand what the difference is.

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I just want to say congratulations to all those Republican politicians that have the courage to back away from Donald Trump. He’s a loser. He’s going to ruin this country more than he has already. Good luck to all of them.

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Those Democrats sure are funny, but in a sad way. One day hidin’ Biden is at the top of this game with more energy than all of us put together. The next day they boot him out. What happened? And now they want us to embrace hidin’ Harris? Sorry, but that boat has sailed, and the American people are not buying what they are selling. Even if we had the money, we don’t because of Bidenomics. 

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Joe Biden has taken 532 days off since he’s been president. That’s equivalent to 48 years worth of vacation, and you people gave Donald Trump a rough time because he played golf sometimes. What a joke! 532 days; all I can say is it’s too bad he didn’t take more days off, and then this country wouldn’t be in such bad shape as it is now. Our working Democrat. 

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The Second Amendment was put in place by our forefathers because it was for hunting and protecting yourself from a real threat, not a perceived or imaginary threat, and never would they have people using guns with so many bullets that could kill so many people so fast in a short period of time. I’m sure they would be just out of their minds with irritation, anger and frustration with the people having these weapons and going around and killing innocent children and teachers. Quit claiming it’s the Second Amendment right, killing other human beings is not a right. Just because they limit the number and type of guns you have doesn’t mean they’re trying to take away all the guns. They are just taking away, or should take away, the horrible weapons of mass murder.

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Any retiree that’s going to vote in this next election, if you aren’t planning on voting, you better plan on voting, a lot is at stake for you. Trump and his cronies want to privatize Social Security and Medicare and then they want to cut Social Security so they can give tax breaks to the richest people in this country, including the corporations and the billionaires. Now, will you see nothing wrong with that when you see your money cut? Then you go right ahead and vote for it. He’s a criminal and you people know it.

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I was reading in this column about the guns, all the guns, the shootings in this country, but not once did they stop and talk about all the drugs that are killing our children in this country. Way more than guns, and it’s all coming from the open border that Biden and Harris have given us for the last four years. But not one time did anybody mention anything about drugs, so before you start complaining about guns again, do your homework. What’s really killing our children?

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For all Trump supporters, take a minute to look up the word autocrat. That is what Trump says he will be if elected. He idolizes autocrats, leaders in Venezuela, China, North Korea, Russia. They have no rights. Their elections are run by the autocratic government so guess what? The head always wins no matter what. The people have no rights. Free speech is nonexistent. If you do dare to speak freely you will be jailed and often killed. No Second Amendment rights. You are not allowed to own a gun. No freedom of religion. The press is controlled by the state. People in these countries are starving. Absolutely no rights, leaders stealing the country’s blind, building super mansions, buying super yachts, and storing billions in offshore accounts. Trump said Israeli Venezuela would be a better place to live. Please let me buy him the first ticket to go, a one-way ticket!  

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Saturday, evening in rural Kentucky, drivers on I-75 were shot at by a 32-year-old former Army reservist. Twelve cars were shot, and five people were seriously injured. Schools in the area remain closed today due to the ongoing threat. The alleged shooter was on bail for making terroristic threats in April of this year. He purchased the AR15 and 1,000 rounds of ammo the morning of the shooting. This follows a school shooting last Wednesday where four were killed. The father of the shooter purchased that gun. Now is the time to reinstate the assault weapons ban. Guns are the number one cause of death for teens and children in 2020 and 2021. 

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Trump and MAGA have a new talking point to harass public school teachers about and it is a whopper. Do you remember the litter boxes in the classrooms? Completely insane and untrue. The new whopper is that public schools are performing gender reassignment surgery on kids without their parents’ consent. This is completely untrue! Who in their right mind would believe that schools have the financial resources, time or medical expertise to perform surgery? Nurses can’t even pass out Tylenol without parents’ permission. 

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Let’s get one thing straight to you Democrats on fake news media. Donald Trump did not write Project 25 and has nothing to do with it. There might be some things in there he agrees with, I don’t know, but he is not responsible for it, so stop pinning it on him. And besides that, I’m sure anything in there is better than anything on your agenda, because you really don’t have one. 

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What characteristics do we want in a president? Love of country and its people, honesty, reliability, upholding the laws. We’re voting for a president, not a party and belief in a higher power, inspiring so that we can look up to them and to make our country better. Think about it. 

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After watching the debate, once again it proved how biased our Media really is. Harris, after practicing for a week, tried her best to show her JOY, and smiling, but not really telling the people much about her vision for America. She did, however, try her best by baiting Donald Trump with answers and questions so she could get a BIG reaction from him. SHE was not fact checked once during the debate, but that certainly was not the case for Trump. SO UNFAIR. Our media does not offer EQUAL coverage. I think the American people can see what is going on and are smart enough to realize that Donald Trump has proven he is a great leader. Donald Trump will make America Great Again by upholding our Constitution, honoring our Supreme Court decisions, closing the border, creating jobs in America, and fixing our economy. I could go on and on.