Readers’ Column for the week of May 11, 2025

You may call The Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2434, extension 2, 24-hours a day, or email comments to ReadersOP@gmail.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any messages. To allow more callers to be heard, please limit your comments to 100 words or fewer. We will not be running comments that exceed this number, give or take five words. And please note the new number!

While it’s great to see our Owego representatives patting themselves on the back about the $500,000 we spent from the DRI money for a skateboard park, why can’t we get some money to make the park more enjoyable for the people who actually pay the taxes to maintain it? Maybe a bathroom on the west side of the park for walkers, and maybe even some trail markers for the walkway. And why not even splurge and actually put up nets for the paddleball courts and maybe a fence so you don’t have to chase the ball out into the road?

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Recently, the village of Newark Valley’s garbage service broke the lid off my trash can and then tossed the can and lid on the ground. I have a video and pictures of the incident, and when I sent them to the DPW, I was told the village doesn’t replace trash cans accidentally broken in the course of their duties. I just wanted residents to know.

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I want to point out the great treasure we have in the Coburn Free Library. The staff there is excellent and goes out of their way to help you. If they don’t have the book you are looking for, they will search many local libraries and have it sent to Owego in a few days.  They contact you when it’s ready and even automatically renew it when it gets close to the due date. The staff couldn’t be more pleasant and helpful. Please visit and support this library.

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“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

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If my NYSEG bill jumped by over $400 a month, I would certainly be on the phone to set up an appointment to sit down with them and figure out what’s wrong; clearly, something is. I’ve always found them very cooperative and concerned. There may be some technical problems. I know a relative in another state moved into a new condo, and his readings were switched with a neighbor’s. The electric company there tracked it down and made the necessary corrections, along with issuing an apology and refund. People and anything made by people are fallible.

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The Owego Lions are always collecting glasses. Now we can take sunglasses, eclipse glasses, prescription glasses, and reading glasses. Drop-off boxes are located at the Community Center, Owego Mission, Country Florist, and the Parkview. Or see any Lions member. 

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So the Newark Valley Central School District wants to raise our TAXES by 3.50%. I think it’s time the TAXPAYERS send a message to the school district and VOTE NO! Voting is on May 20 at the Newark Valley High School auditorium from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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I’ll say one thing about Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Subway, and Arby’s: at least they honor our veterans’ service and give military discounts. The same cannot be said about others.

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Sending the street sweeper out at 8 o’clock in the morning on the road that everybody uses to go to school wasn’t the best idea ever.

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Sex offenders must let people know where they’re at. They should do the same thing with people on drugs, so people know that they’re living next door. These people are just as bad as a sex offender. That’s my opinion because who knows what they can do. 

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I would like to express my sympathy and condolences to Nancy Brown on the loss of her young cat, Arthur. He was so beautiful and a really sweet boy. I was very sad to read that he had passed away on Easter Sunday. Bless you, Nancy, for giving him a wonderful home.

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I would like to thank the ukulele girls who came to the nursing home to play for our residents. They loved it, and they’re hoping they will come back again. They had a wonderful time. They are very good at what they do. Thank you very much.

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Hey, I saw you last night in your pickup truck dump all those weeds and yard debris right across from Holiday Hill. I saw you and got your license number, and you’re probably the one who dumped all the bush debris last fall. So let me tell you, I’m going to turn it over to the state police unless you come to clean it up today. I saw you do it on Saturday night, May 3. 

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Is anybody else in the Town of Candor getting updated 2025 property assessments because ours went up very drastically? Just wondering if it’s all across the board or just a few properties here and there.

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I am very disappointed with the guy who wrote about the skateboard park in Owego. Does he realize there isn’t much for kids in Owego to do? They could spend hours there; it always seems busy. Kids could get together with friends and stay out of trouble. I guess you were never a kid. I’m glad they have a nice place to gather with friends and something to do.

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I’m calling about the clock the Village of Owego had on Lake Street just a few short years ago. It was a beautiful 10- to 12-foot-high clock that stood on the street with “Village of Owego” on it. That clock has disappeared. I wonder if that’s in storage somewhere and if we could put it back up, perhaps in another spot. They changed the street around, but the clock is gone, and I’d like to see it erected again.

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Whatever you think of the world – it’s not that.

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My name is Theresa Heimbuecher. I am interested in running as a write-in candidate for the OACSD Board of Education. I have lived in Owego for 32 years, and I was a high school business and special education teacher at OFA for 28 years, retiring in 2020. My primary goal as a BOE member will be to better understand the managerial and financial aspects of operating the OACSD, keeping in mind the responsibility to the taxpayers of the district. When you vote on Tuesday, May 20, please consider voting for me by writing my name on the ballot.

National Political Viewpoints

“All the experts say the economy is in pretty rough shape. However, Trump’s doctor says it’s the healthiest economy he has ever seen.” — Jimmy Fallon 

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“In one weekend, he upset the two most religious groups of people on the planet — Catholics and ‘Star Wars’ fans.” — Jimmy Kimmel

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Bernie Sanders and AOC are now going all over the country talking about oligarchs. I find it kind of amusing that they (or at least AOC) are flying first class to some of these tour stops. When not flying first class, both she and Bernie are renting private aircraft that cost $1,500 an hour. Who’s paying for this, some oligarch like George Soros, or Bernie, who is a multimillionaire himself, or is it the low-dollar donors they claim to have?

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Has anyone else noticed how much Democrats hate rich people who worked for their money, like Trump and Musk, but have no problems with rich people like Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, or Joe Biden, who acquired all their wealth from their careers as politicians?

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America last: Illegal aliens sent $56 billion in cash to their home countries last year alone. That’s after their kids enjoyed free education, free lunches, and free medical care paid for by you. Thanks, Democrats.

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I do believe Donald Trump has been sent by God because he ran out of locusts.

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Does anyone else remember when Donald Trump was convicted by a jury of his peers on all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial? Then escaped sentencing because he won re-election by a “landslide” of 1.5% of the popular vote? Good times.

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Some questions? Where are the promised checks from DOGE? When are prices going down in the grocery store and utilities becoming lower? Where is PEACE, promised on day one of Trump’s election in November? Where are the spreadsheets showing savings and costs, RIO? Progress is not good at all! MAYBE get some experienced people to help you.

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Forrest Gump wasn’t an immaculate conception. He just wasn’t mine. Believe me, look at what I ran away from. — “Papa” Gump

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If The View didn’t have Trump to talk about, they wouldn’t even have a program.

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Well Mr. Trump, I just see he’s appointing another criminal as an ambassador for his cabinet. Two thirds of the people he’s picked are either criminals that he pardoned or have been convicted of a crime in the past. Mr. Businessman, we have the worst economy since 1973. How many years ago was that? What a sick joke. He’s ruining our economy; he’s ruining our country. He set himself up to be a dictator, and nobody can deny it; if you do, you’re crazy.

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Trump said he doesn’t know if he needs to uphold the United States Constitution, despite having taken the presidential oath twice, stating to Americans that he will. Following the Constitution is his job that we elected him to do. If Trump doesn’t follow it, he is abandoning it, and we will lose our country to a possible all-out dictatorship, which Trump admires and seemingly aspires to. What a mistake hiring a convicted criminal to be our president. Trump isn’t keeping his oath of office or his word to the American public. He’s proving he’s not an American patriot. 

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Whoever said you can’t make this stuff up obviously never worked for CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, or the Washington Post. — Studebaker Hawk

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This is a message for the Democrats: Trump spends more time in the courtroom than the judges do.

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Hey Studebaker Hawk, are you special?

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This morning, I thought I would Google Dr. Phil and RFK Junior to see what exactly their medical backgrounds are. Guess what? Neither one of them are doctors, they’re simply snake oil salesmen, with a thought, one with a worm in his brain. Dr. Phil is a psychoanalyst and cannot technically call himself a doctor. RFK Junior’s education is mostly in history and the arts, so please, people, don’t listen to what they’re saying. They don’t know what they’re talking about.

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Trump will ruin Christmas with his stupid tariffs. Shortages and high prices are coming. Didn’t vote for this? You foolishly believe liar-in-chief Trump? Welcome to every country’s nightmare called stagflation. Japan is still struggling decades later to get out of it. Trump is stubbornly heading us right into it, according to all economists not on Trump’s payroll. Trump is turning from orange to the Grinch’s green, not only at America’s expense but also at the world’s. Trump is an accelerating disaster!