Readers’ Column for the week of September 29, 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.

I think a lot of people, other than myself, would like to see an investigative, an in depth report regarding the homeless encampment in the Village of Owego. I, for one, have a lot of unanswered questions. Who exactly owns this property? Someone certainly must. Private person? The Village? County? State? Is it paying property taxes? Carry insurance? Why was this situation allowed to exist and grow? Where did all these people come from? Surely they are not all natives of our tiny village. Why was no authority called in before it got out of control as far as endangering the health of not only the people there, but also the Village residents and the natural environment?

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For the person who bought the sewing machine at the Nichols Presbyterian Church on Labor Day, the person who donated the machine for the sale has found she gave us the wrong plug and has the correct one for you. Please respond to this column or leave a message at (607) 699-3050. 

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It’s true, NYSEG will not answer your complaints because they don’t care but they will if they are fined by the public service commission, so you must call the PSC and complain about terrible service and constant interruptions or just accept resetting your appliances every couple days. The number is 1-800-342-3377.

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I was at Price Chopper and Dunkin Donuts on Sept 14. I had in my pocket a watch that had a broken watch strap. The strap is black and the face of the watch is rectangular and I believe it is a Timex watch. This has a lot of sentimental value to me as my husband gave to me almost 50 years ago. If it is found, you can take it to The Owego Pennysaver during business hours. Thank you in advance, and God bless.

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Could not agree more on comments about grant money in last week’s column. What you overlooked was the time and expense that our Village staff put into making that grant possible, and we as village taxpayers paid for that time and effort! To the person that wrote in the Sept. 14 column that only 4 cents came from Village residents, you forgot to mention that. Sounds like typical political rhetoric! 

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I’d just like to mention to OPD and TCSD, I’m through the village every morning between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., and lately I’ve seen a lot of 20-ish year old folks. There are two kinds of things happening at that time, people going to work, and crime.

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Attention Ukulele Players – The Tioga Ukulele Group’s next adult jam session is scheduled for Oct. 5 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Coburn Free Library, Main Street, Owego. All levels of players are welcome, from beginners to accomplished ukulele players. For more information or to receive music ahead of the jam session, contact us at (607) 743-9803 or (607) 321-8815 or send an email to TiogaUkuleleGroup@yahoo.com.

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On Saturday I was trying to take a walk to the levy here in Nichols. I think we need a farmer here to rake up all of the loose grass. I mean it’s bad! The guy only mowed it twice this year and there’s large mounds of hay out there. A farmer should come in and break it up and bale it for his cattle. 

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I was just wondering, 4th of July in Candor, all the news stations were here about our previous mayor, wondering what’s going on with the money deal. We heard he went to court. So, if anybody has any idea of what happened or what’s going on, please comment. 

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Does Nichols have a code enforcement person? I’m getting the runaround; I keep calling numbers and getting answering machines. I finally got a real person, and they gave me a phone number to call and that phone number sent me to Owego and then an answering machine. So, I guess it’s not important enough to put the number in there somewhere. I call and nobody calls back. So, I guess I’ll give up. 

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There’s something wrong with the pay scale around here. Fast food, stores, and restaurant starting pay is $15 to $20 for people with some or no education. A school bus driver’s starting pay is $18.50, and they’re responsible for 30-some kids and need extra training to get bigger driver’s licenses. What’s up with that? 

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I lost an ornate desk key; I believe in the Waverly Chemung Street Laundromat or nearby there. There is a $50 reward for its return. Ask for Jim, (607) 565-7696. 

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Whoever is looking to get cats or kittens, look for one through Gail’s Tails, the Humane Society, Animal Care Council on Washington Avenue in Endicott, or every Cat’s Dream on Route 434 in Vestal, just before the Dollar General. 

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I keep changing my password because they prompt me to, but then they lock me out for doing it too much because the bag lady next to me in the library hexed me. 

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Why do all alien abductions occur while leaving the bar?

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Credit cards and loans change the amount I owe, despite the fact that I pay the same amount every seven weeks.

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Candor New York has their own Pothole Pete. We can’t seem to get potholes filled, shoulders mowed, it’s unbelievable. I just don’t understand. We got the best equipment in the county and we still can’t get things done. This probably won’t get printed because the paper decides who’s going to put in what. I thought we had freedom of speech in this country. 

National Political Viewpoints

Has anyone actually SEEN Kamala’s firearm? Is it a rifle; pistol; is she LICENSED? 

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I laughed out loud when I read the letter to the editor that said, “I can tell you for a fact that President Trump used Air Force One for Official Business only.” How, exactly, does an ordinary citizen know that for a “fact?” That is Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative fact.” Trump may have used his own plane when he originally ran for the presidency, but as the writer said, “Look it up for yourself.” When he ran for re-election he clearly used Air Force One at the taxpayers’ expense. It is sad and scary that so many people believe a person who may have never told the truth in his life.

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On Monday, Sept. 23, Pentagon Major General Pat Ryder announced the U.S. is deploying additional troops to the Middle East, as Israel moves toward all-out war with Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah. He provided no additional information regarding the number of additional troops or their intended mission, citing “operational security.” The unknown number of forces will join the 40,000 troops already in the region. Now reconcile this with VP Harris’s very recently stated statement on the campaign trail for President, “And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world.” Who are you going to believe? The Military Pentagon or the wannabe Commander-In-Chief?

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If our politicians are serious about electric cars and ovens, they first have to harden the grid by burial. After Hurricane Andrew, New York refused federal funds to bury power lines, but now horizontal drilling (learned from subways and mining) makes this more feasible. Insulation can protect from flooding and deep burial from frost. Aseptic packaging of milk did not take off in the U.S.A. because our refrigeration was reliable. Brazil came up with off pump bypass because they could not guarantee power for heart and lung machines. We need to return our grid to our standards.

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I woke up, and as I had my morning coffee I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life and they are so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind! 

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Florence from Candor had another letter in support of Trump last week. She laid out some of the things Trump SAYS he will do. The problem with that is that he never tells the truth. And don’t count on him to lower your taxes. He only lowers taxes on the extremely wealthy. There is no one in Tioga County who will benefit from a second Trump term. He lies, he cheats and he steals from the poor and middle class. And then he makes fun of us and calls us trash. It makes no sense to vote against your own interests and what is best for your family and your neighbors. A vote for Trump is a vote for the rich getting richer.

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“Evangelicals for Harris” are promoting an egregious, underhanded attempt to devise a moral equivalence between the evangelical faith and the values of the Harris / Walz campaign. Stating, “Our political involvement should be rooted in the values of the Kingdom of God, seeking to uphold righteousness and care for the vulnerable, while always remembering that our ultimate allegiance is to Christ and His eternal Kingdom (Matthew 6:33).” An oxymoron stated for its equivalence, which categorically does not exist. If those who are members of “Evangelicals for Harris” and Harris actually embraced this passage cared about our kids, she wouldn’t be in favor of irreversible sex change operations for the youngest among us.

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I, for one, think there should be NO signs, etc., displayed by individuals supporting a political candidate. It is utterly pointless. Why should anyone care who YOUR choice is? Isn’t that YOUR business? Why do we have privacy booths in polling places? If they were absent, you’d be the first to complain. If I agree with your display, then we are in accord. If I don’t, your sign poked in your yard or sticker defacing your vehicle is not likely to change my mind. Who, exactly, do you think you are? How presumptuous and condescending! Not to mention insufferably divisive! 

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How dare you. I am a woman. I worked hard all my life. I love Donald Trump. He will get the job done. Who in the hell wants four more years of the crap we have just endured? Not me.

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I know of no one afraid to put out signs supporting democrats! Quite the opposite! Republicans I’ve spoken with all over New York State, and even Pennsylvania, are afraid of retaliation for showing support for their candidate. Which party, exactly, harassed folks for standing on a public sidewalk outside of the Capitol on Jan. 6? Which party has repeatedly tried to assassinate the opposing candidate, managing to murder a supporter whose only crime was attending a rally to support their choice? Which party supporters trashed Minneapolis and New York City during “peaceful protests” that burned or severely damaged or totally ruined public property and private businesses? I seriously doubt they were Republicans. There are a lot of you out there with your heads buried in a very dark place.

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The gist of most pro-Trump opinions printed in this column is that anything a Democrat does is terrible and unacceptable, and Republicans are beyond reproach. In the Sept. 22 edition of The Owego Pennysaver, a letter to the editor complained at length about the expense of flying the Vice President. No mention of the fact that Trump’s vast entourage always utilizes Trump-owned facilities, i.e. hotel rooms, meals, etc. When Secret Service agents are lodged at a Trump owned hotel they do not put two agents per room, they put one person in a room, at astronomical prices. The bill for the room is ultimately paid by U.S. taxpayers, and the proceeds all go to the Trump Organization. Perfectly legal racketeering!

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Trump is a financial dud. Anyone see how his stock DJT is doing? Trump’s current crypto project, World Liberty Financial, is also a total scam. I hope Trump supporters invest heavily; the returns will be HUGE!  

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PROPOSITION 1  – Do you know anything about it? Most never heard of it. Only voters in New York will vote Yes or No on the ballot in November. You need to be a lawyer to understand any of it. It is so intentionally confusing for the average New Yorker, me included, to figure out what it is all about. What I know about it is parents will lose their parental rights to stop their children, eight and up, from getting sex changes without their parents ever knowing about it. VOTE NO! The proposition will also allow men into women’s sports and bathrooms will be used by whoever feels they are WHOEVER they feel like that day. I can’t believe New York is becoming so deranged to think of trying to pass such an INSANE Proposition.  

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In response to the statement that Democrats are doing God’s work on earth, I am certain that killing babies in their mother’s wombs is not doing God’s work! 

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I just heard for the third time, Kamala had asked, are you better off now than you were four years ago? And again, she refused to answer. She kept talking about how poor she was when she was a kid, which, by the way, she wasn’t. There you go again, no policies, no plans, just the fake media trying to push you through. 

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You think it’s your privilege and your right to abort babies. It doesn’t bother you that tens of thousands of American children are dying because of fentanyl and other drug overdoses because of your open border policy. It doesn’t matter that there are 250,000 immigrant children that nobody knows where they are. It doesn’t bother you that your party has twice tried to kill a political opponent in the last two months. Does anything bother you people? 

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Trump lost his mind again. He says that the debate audience went crazy even though there was no audience at the debate. That guy’s nuts, not to mention he talked about Haitians, saying they ought to go back to Venezuela; Haitians are from Haiti. Somebody needs to inform that guy. Teach him something, you know. 

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To the person stealing our Trump signs down here on East Main Street in Owego, I want to remind you that it is a crime and if you are caught you will be charged with theft. We have marked every sign so we know which one is ours if we find it. Just be warned; please leave your hands off our signs! 

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Why do the Republicans have to start lying when they don’t like the way the polls are going? Why can’t they just tell the truth once in a while? They tell lie after lie! It’s all over the place and even included in this Pennysaver, and you people keep printing it! Why don’t you print the truth?

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If she gets placed in there as president, you notice I say placed not elected, this country is doomed! 

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I have been a Democrat all my life and I’ve lived a long time and one thing I have noticed, and I’m sure everybody else that has a brain noticed, is when politics comes up every fall the Republican Party does not have a platform of what they’re going to do to help the people. The only thing they do is cut down the Democrats, and they lie when they’re doing that. They have nothing good to say about what they’re going to do. They’re not going to save Social Security, they’re not going to save Medicare, they’re not going to give you tax cuts, not going to drive down gas, food prices, the only thing they do is attack Democrats with lies. 

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Okay, it’s the third week in September and three states have started early voting. That’s ridiculous! Why? Covid is over. All this does is increase the chance of somebody cheating. You don’t need seven to eight weeks to vote. Maybe one week would be fine, I agree. I can live with that. But seven weeks to vote, wow! You’ve got to get out and vote Republican or this country will never ever be able to recover. Please people, go vote red.

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I’ve never been a big fan of Oprah, but after last night’s ridiculous, repulsive so-called IS Town Hall with Kamala I can’t stand her; and needless to say, you’ve now turned half the country against you Oprah. So good job! You talk about biased, ridiculous reporting; and, by the way, nobody cares about the four has-been actors you’ve run out to endorse her to. It only proves that the Democratic Party is out of touch with what real Americans want, and it’s not Hollywood. 

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I think Donald Trump really doesn’t even want to be president. I think he just wants to stir everybody up and support him so we can have the same thing that we had on Jan. 6, and then he can sit back and laugh at all of his supporters. I really feel so sad for this whole country. There are two losers running for president. 

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Anybody that would let Taylor Swift’s endorsement influence their vote probably is not old enough to vote or smart enough to vote, but it is what it is. 

So, Joe Biden had his first cabinet meeting in over a year and his wife, Doctor Jill, ran it. Are you Democrats serious? I mean every day your party gets more and more pathetic. Wow! 

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All this talk about eating cats and dogs. My husband’s uncle went to Korea to live, left his dog with us because over there they ate dogs. Maybe Haitians do it too. It’s a very poor country. We’ll see. 

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I have a message to the person that wrote in about Kamala Harris using the plane assigned to her that she has every right to. She is the vice president of this country and that’s for security reasons. Someone needs to wake up there in Newark Valley and get their facts straight and find out how things really work. First of all, Donald Trump had that plane, Air Force One, for four years, going golfing every weekend, which cost the American taxpayer $2,000,000 plus. Look that up if you don’t believe me. The Republicans have no policies except rhetoric and attacking the good people in this country. 

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I have not flown my American flag on my house since the disastrous Biden/Harris so-called victory. Well, I’m happy to report the American flag is flying high again, showing my huge support for a Trump landslide in November – just a few weeks away. Finally, the American people will get big time relief from so many huge issues. 

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I have to say thank you to Tim Walz for campaigning for President Trump. He recently said in one of his small gatherings that we couldn’t take another four years of what we have. How true he is, how right he is! So, thank you, Tim, sounds like you’re on the Trump train. 

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Apparently Mr. Trump is not well liked. I mean, they had two assassination attempts on his life within a couple of months. Yep, he’s a beauty! And uh, yeah, good luck to you. Even an old, registered Republican takes a shot at him. What in the hell is that telling you? It tells you Trumpster’s nothing because you just don’t get it. 

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Brazil is a mess; the people feel the last election was fraudulent. So our behind-the-scenes U.S. government sent the FBI down to the U.S. consulate in Brazil. They also sent the State Department later. Now Brazil has no free speech, the only place they have freedom of speech is Elon Musk’s X. Are you beginning to get the picture? 

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Don’t be taken in by the misleading name of Proposal 1, the Equal Rights Amendment. If enacted, it would permanently legalize abortion without restrictions and up until the moment of birth in New York State. Courts could also permit children to make destructive permanent decisions on their own. Vote no on Proposal 1. 

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It’s quite apparent it’s Trump country around here. About 90% of this column favors Trump. You know it’s also America, right? You know, the Democrats deserve some praise in your column. Thank you. (From the editor: Please do your math again.) 

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This is the Biden/Harris performance report. 1. Open borders. 2. High, repeat crime offenders. 3. Inflation to the mill. 4. Interest rates double in three years. 5. Fentanyl is all time high. 6. Iran is wreaking havoc all over the Middle East. 7. Gasoline utility prices are up 40%. 8. China and Russia regard the Harris and Biden administration as a national joke and weak. Why would it possess anyone with intelligence to vote for four more years of this catastrophe with Harris? God save us!

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It was Prohibition that ended the last pandemic; even the gang warfare eliminated the heathen urban super spreaders. With reduced immigration, the American heartland could rebuild a family-oriented society. It is no accident the Greatest Generation was born during Prohibition, but the Ellis Island drunkards elected socialist FDR. The Greatest Economy of America was during Prohibition. We need to deport all alcohol and drug addicts and merchants to colonize outer space because they are the marauding scourge and street urchins that lead to domestic abuse, broken families, homosexuality, abortion, and crime and it corrupts our police, teachers and clergy. We can no longer afford the medical cost to treat inebriants, or consumers of home remedies. If legal gambling made Trump, like liquor Kennedy, how worse legal drugs and whores? The only reason tycoons like Arman Hammer, Herbert Hoover and Fred Koch went to Russia was the booze. We cannot restore American Morality without returning to Prohibition. 

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Week two, and no additional responses from any of the eight requests. Where are all the tax credits, exemptions and other uses of our potential tax resources going? Ignoring present needs?

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I read a comment last week about how people were afraid to put up Harris signs on their lawn because of the damage that could be done to them, their property or their family for having a Harris sign instead of a Trump sign, and I thought how sad in this county that we have to worry about that. But then I heard other people say the same thing, that they read that message and they said I wouldn’t put up a Harris sign. Why is it that we have to worry about putting up Harris signs? It’s because the Democrats wouldn’t do anything like that. We have a sense of decency that Trump supporters don’t have. 

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I love the comment in this column last week about people being so sick of people picking on immigrants and saying that we were all immigrants. We were. If you’re not a Native American, then you’re an immigrant, so how can you find fault with immigrants coming to this country? This is how we all got here. I really appreciated that message and I think we all need to think about this and treat immigrants better. The problem that’s going on in Ohio with the immigrants, it’s just horrible. Those people are working hard to try to support their family. They have their visas and yet Donald Trump and his people are still putting them down saying they eat cats and dogs. Come on! More intelligent people than that live in this country. In real life, we do not eat cats and dogs. It’s been proven, but they keep saying it. What is wrong with us? There’s nothing wrong with the immigrants. It’s us. 

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Kamala wants to get people out of debt. They are the ones that put people there. 

Yes, I believe Donald Trump will do more for me and my family in this country than Kamala Harris will do. For those that are afraid of the Trumpster mentality, I’m really not afraid of that mentality. They have more common sense. Sorry, I will vote for Donald Trump.  

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I was a registered Democrat for 65 years. I have lobbied in Albany and Washington DC at the Rayburn Building numerous times on behalf of the working person. During the time of the Clinton/Gore administration, I could see small changes being made in governing that always leaned towards Democrats with no thought for Republicans. It was as if the Democrats wanted to be the only party in charge. Over the years that has gotten worse as any normal person can see. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is the best choice for president. We all know we were better off four years ago than we are now under Biden/Harris. 

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It really amazes me how some people can be so easily duped. I mean after eight years of Obama and Biden, why would anybody vote for Harris? It’s more of the same garbage and lies. As I said before, it really amazes me how gullible some people are. They are like lambs being led to the slaughter.