Readers’ Column for the week of January 19, 2025

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 messages.

 

If you are struggling with drinking, AA is always available to help. Call the AA Hotline in Tioga County, N.Y. at 1-800-307-4285.

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We are living in the time of the end. Jesus will be here very soon. 

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I think those disgusting prescription drug ads should be taken off TV. No wonder they’re so expensive. They make the medicine sound like it’s so great, but then they turn around and have those disgusting side effects that, upon hearing about them, make you feel sick. I think taking them off TV would help with the prices. 

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Not that long ago, when a business was closed for a while (say for remodeling), especially during a busy time (say holiday shopping season), they would hold a grand reopening event to welcome customers back, including a treat (say a sample size coffee or a donut hole). Corporate greed evidently doesn’t care about any of this. I hope folks discovered locally owned small businesses that actually care about customers and stick with them.

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What is a remote access code? Why do we need it and how do we get it? Thank you. 

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I have a working, playable Yamaha Electric Organ I would like to give away. I can help with moving. Please contact John at (607) 642-8290. It is located at St. John’s in Speedsville.

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Just a heads up to read the labels on any manufactured products that you buy. I just got a bag of cornflakes. It is made in Mexico, and there is a warning label that states: It may contain ingredients known to the State of California to be the cause of cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov. It is important to read labels these days, and this product is manufactured by Golden Foods.

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I couldn’t agree more about the transparency issue in the Village of Newark Valley. One example is the keeping of the 2011 plow truck after purchasing the new 5500 Ram truck using ARPA funds. Looking up the minutes, it is stated that the old truck needed replacement. There is mention of a five-year plan to replace equipment. Quite a way to start off a five-year plan! Without the rumor mill, no one would have known.   

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Maybe someone can explain how the Village of Newark Valley tax burden for this year is a 1.5% increase, to $535,416.00, for close to 1,000 residents and 446 houses (2022 census) and covers .99 square miles. The Town of Newark Valley went down by 0.30% and its tax burden is $801,070.00 with 3,513 residents and 1,618 houses (2024 census) covering 50.4 square miles. In my opinion, both are excessively high. However, why does the village tax burden account for around 66% of the town’s budget, considering that the town has three times as many houses and residents (approximately) and covers 49.5 square miles?  

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I compared my most recent NYSEG bill with my bill for October 2023. The rates have gone up a lot. Why? Do I just blame Biden? Is that how this works? Seriously, this is bizarre. The supply rates (i.e., the cost of the actual energy flowing through the wires) have gone up 7.5%, whereas delivery rates (what NYSEG charges to send the energy through the wires) have gone up 60%! And that’s over the course of just a little over one year. Why 60%? 

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I am 80, and was interested in a recent article stating the temperatures most “locals” keep their thermostat set at. The most popular was 70. As I was frugal and saved for retirement, I am just slightly above the income level for heating assistance, so mine is set at 64. If I’m cold, I add a fourth layer. Also, the article provided tips from NYSEG on saving energy costs. One tip was to lower your heat to 58 when you are not at home. It seems to me that this would be counterproductive. Letting everything in your home get down to 58, then running your equipment to get it up to people’s preferred 70 would use a lot of electricity plus gas/oil, etc., negating any cost savings. I wonder if NYSEG would like to comment?

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A couple of years ago, there was a PSA about whooping cough that featured a very young child who had it. It was quickly removed from the air, likely due to being considered too scary. Well, that’s the nature of whooping cough, and it is very frightening to experience. I know because I had it. I sincerely hope that no one in your family contracts whooping cough, but if they do, consider recording a video and sharing it online to encourage others to get vaccinated. However, I truly hope it doesn’t happen to your family. Thanks for the tip! Thanks for the heads up. Ugh.

 

National Political Viewpoints

Fox News has just fired Neil Cavuto, the last remaining TV personality who had the audacity to occasionally call out unethical or illegal behavior by Mr. Trump. He was replaced by a MAGA loyalist. First Mike Wallace, then Shephard Smith, now Neil Cavuto – dissent or contrary opinions are not allowed. With Elon Musk’s 200 million people on X, Trump’s 70 million on Truth Social, and Fox News, he has total control over all information received by about 3/4 of all Americans. Add that to total control over both houses of Congress, the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, the Justice Dept, FBI, CIA, and all power in our country is concentrated in one individual. This would terrify our nation’s founders.

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I just saw Joe Biden again talking about democracy and our freedom. Joe’s not going to give it to you. Well, I’d like Joe Biden, Hochul, and everyone else to come down here and show us in New York where that freedom they’re talking about is. Politicians – come to New York and show us where freedom is because we, the taxpayers, would like to know where it is. We have high taxes, rules, regulations, and laws that are constantly emerging. It just keeps growing. If there’s anything out there that makes a buck, they’ll pass it. Similar to what’s happening in the town of Chemung, the supervisor and the town board are trying to upgrade a single-lane road into a highway for their own gain, allowing more ticketing for cars parked on the side. 

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Every past president has left legacies behind: good, bad, but the one we have now, Biden, the corruption, the lying, the cheating, and the debt that our kids and grandkids are going to have to pay for. How he has destroyed the country instead of bringing people together, that’s quite the legacy he is going to leave. 

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I think it’s time to get Joe Biden’s dirty little fingers off the coal industry. Two weeks cannot get here soon enough. 

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So California is burning down on the Democrats’ watch and because of the Democrats’ policies. That about sums it up. But of course, they’re going to try to blame it on climate change, their go-to answer. No, it’s not climate change, it’s your policies. 

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Donald Trump has 34 felony counts. He’s been found guilty. He’s not going to do one day in jail. I repeat, he’s not going to do one day in jail, you and I certainly would. I’m so sick and tired of hearing no man’s above the law in this country, what a bunch of BS. Let me tell you something, if this is the way it’s going to be, we really have no law and order in this country. It’s going to hell. 

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Well, I told you right. Didn’t I tell you? The Democrats are going to address the wildfires as a result of climate change. I told you, and there it is. They are scaring the people about the climate and it’s working for them! They just keep going. The money they’re raking in on this. It’s unbelievable that people can’t see through this! Those poor people in California, and they’re turning it into climate so they can claim more money. Are you serious? 

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Who would have thought that John Fetterman would be the smartest guy in the Democrat Party? He seems to be the only one with any common sense and a brain. 

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The Roberts un-Supreme Court has transformed in an activist way; the presidency is now a “get out of jail free” card. We all know that’s why Trump ran this time: to keep himself out of prison, and it worked. For the first time in American history, will we have a convicted and sentenced felon as president. This is horrible, no matter how the Republicans and Trump try to spin it. 

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The next four years of the Trump presidency will stain America’s reputation not only in the world’s eyes, but in our own citizens’ eyes. America has reached a new low with a Trump administration. 

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So, in his final days in office, Biden has taken action to impose a ban on drilling for oil and gas wells in federal waters and modified visa programs so that more foreign workers to enter the U.S. He commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal prisoners on death row, approved more federal spending, and the list goes on. Inflation is up 15% for groceries, prices are up by 20%, gas is up by 62%. So please, Biden, I invite you to call into this column and remind me who this threat to democracy is. Because I just don’t get it. 

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Well, folks, here’s the best one of all. Biden moves to ban cigarettes on his way out. Now tell me again, who is evil? Is it Trump or the Democrats? You have a guy trying to ban everything, gasoline, cigarettes, your fans, your refrigerators, your air conditioners, and so do your Democratic governors. Look, I don’t smoke, I don’t chew, I don’t drink. But I know a person has the right to choose for themselves. We don’t need you bureaucrats telling people what they can and can’t do in this world. They love power, they love control. In 2026 people, that’s your chance to clean them out. Clean them the hell out of there!

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When people on the news are asked, how will President Biden be remembered, his presidency, his legacy, let me give them a little bit of help. He was the president who sabotaged our future. He embraced policies that didn’t work. He demonstrated no leadership. He was an absentee president, and there was breathtaking dishonesty. Need I say more? There’s plenty more, but I thought I’d just give you a few. Thanks. 

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What happened to Trump nominating “all the best people”? Instead of competency for the position, Trump’s number one goal is loyalty and subordination, and not having anyone in his cabinet who would put the Constitution over himself. Our country is sadly going downhill, with Trump accelerating the decline. Americans deserve the best people for the jobs, not people who aren’t capable and would have to learn on the job. That’s way too dangerous a route for Trump and America to go. 

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Biden just forgave 150,000 more student loans. How does he go against the Supreme Court time and time again? Also, isn’t it interesting how he’s trying so hard to do so many things in the last weeks of office? He had four years. I’m sure glad he’s leaving office. 

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“In 2022, the most recent year for which information is available, California paid $83 billion more to the federal government than it received back. Washington state also subsidized the rest of the country, as did most of the Northeast. That money flowed to Republican-dominated states, which contributed far less to the federal government than they received in return.” Heather Cox Richardson. January 13, 2025

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To Governor Hochul: Please get out of my kitchen, my basement, my laundry room, and my wallet. Your proposals for so-called climate change control are draining my bank accounts. Charging 85 million dollars to energy companies means that oil companies will add that cost to an already high cost per gallon of heating oil. Gasoline, already higher than four years ago, will increase to cover this fee; utilities will request rate hikes to cover the fee. Ultimately, this translates to us citizens shouldering the cost. Forcing me to spend thousands of dollars on heat pump appliances is ludicrous. I have used them in Europe and they take longer to wash and dry, which means more cost to me in utility rates. Parts alone are in the hundreds to repair. You and Joe will force me to spend thousands on water heaters because the global temperature has risen .001 degree in ten years. I like my gas range. Do not force me to get an electric range.

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Due to liberal and so-called “environmentalist” half-baked actions, governmental mismanagement, and far-left policies, countless animals, fish, and plants have been destroyed in California in the most thorough and horrific manner… through fire. The habitat will require an extensive amount of time to recover, if it ever does. The human impact is incredible for the entire planet; the smoke, ash, the remaining debris disposal, some of which is hazardous, plus all the impact associated with rebuilding. Hopefully, this serves as a wake-up call for Californians and individuals with tunnel vision, don’t think things through, or are unaware of them. And shame on government officials that have to read comments – they can’t memorize facts and speak to people from the heart? Still totally disengaged.

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It’s imperative for Manifest Destiny that Trump conquers Canada, Panama, and Greenland. We need to preempt the march of Panamanian Panzer Divisions. We must prevent them from linking up with the Fire Breathing California Democrats. Greenland, with a population of Tioga County, has been, with Denmark’s permission, occupied by us since 1943. Located at Thule is US Pituffik Space Base, 76.32 N. latitude. Occupation was and remains for the prevention of NAZI’s, Commies, Putin, and now China from stealing it. Greenland has the world’s second-largest, but most valuable, deposit of rare-earth ores and is the lettuce-growing capital of the world. After 81 years, we have squatter’s rights like in NYS. In 1968 we accidentally dropped four thermonuclear bombs in Greenland and only recovered three. We occupy and defend it. The Canadian armored divisions and amphibious forces cannot be allowed to annex New York City. For the preservation of peace, California needs to be ceded to Panama and New York to Canada. We win! 

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The epitome of sour grapes, sore loser, anti-Trump pettiness. Someone once held an umbrella for the Trumps; they are going to take White House furnishings when the term is over. Wow! Move on! Turn the page! Get a life!

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How can this be allowed in America? We have a President who is not, nor has been, competent to run our country. Even his own party talked him into stepping down and letting Kamala run, after his disastrous debate with Trump. The secret of his mental scrutiny lapse is now public. Since the loss of the election, he has been in hiding, yet signing all these executive bills to ensure that Trump cannot Make America Great Again. Knowing the border wall is going up, he has tried to sell materials on hand for pennies on the dollar. Not only has he allowed millions of immigrants into our country illegally, but he has also granted prisoners on death row the right to live so us, the taxpayers, can pay for them. With the Democratic Party knowing he is not capable, why are they allowing this to happen? I love God and America, but I cannot give you one thing the Joe Biden administration has done good for America. We’ve watched our country and the world become a disaster in the last four years. God bless us all.

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I find it curious that Republicans keep harping on Joe Biden’s mental fitness when one of their own representatives hadn’t been in DC and had not voted on any legislation in several months because she was in a home for people suffering from dementia. God bless families dealing with dementia, but the Republicans under Donald Trump have become a party of liars and hypocrites.