Readers’ Column for the week of August 17, 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.

 

The Town of Owego paid $10.6 million for the new building, and they can’t have one of their workers, whom they pay poverty wages, go out and mow in front of it. Ridiculous!

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I would just like to give a friendly suggestion to the Village of Owego: how about putting some lines on Main Street down by John Street, so when people take a right out of John Street and want to take a left onto Erie Street, they actually know which side of the road they’re supposed to be on? That would be a great idea! Thank you.

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The river walk in Owego is embarrassing. I don’t know why the Village cannot maintain it. It seems they’re okay with one good Samaritan and his wife doing most of the work.

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Why is the Village of Owego worried about chickens in the neighborhood? They should concentrate more on cleaning up the blighted properties in the village. Believe me, if village officials lived by them, they would be cleaned up or torn down. Where is the code enforcement? All violations should be enforced, not just some. Also,I’d rather put up with the chicken waste than the human waste.

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Tractors, minibikes, ATVs, golf carts, and side by sides are not highway-approved vehicles in New York, regardless of your slow-moving vehicle placards, and Glenmary is a county highway, not a town road. Clearly it must be who you know these days.

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Hopefully, the owners of recently vacated larger stores here in Owego and/ or the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce have gone for a drive, noticed what we lack here in the immediate area, and have approached such places as Ollie’s, 5 Below, etc. Also, I hope they have approached the too many to-list area credit unions for the empty bank building. Let’s keep selling needed items right here instead of resorting to online shopping or charging off to Vestal, Elmira, or Ithaca. Bonus: we could surely use the sales tax revenue.

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I live in the village of Newark Valley, and I pay my taxes and water bill, and to have only five minutes of people’s time that we elect and compensate is absurd! If you should attend all 12 meetings, that equates to 1 hour per year. It sure sounds and looks like a ploy to keep our voices quiet!

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For those who think the answer to getting a better education for their children means government vouchers to put them in private schools, think about how much education in public schools would improve if they had the unlimited funds to support smaller class sizes. Make public schools better by supporting them; spend more on education and less on sports programs.

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It’s appalling as a taxpayer in the Village of Newark Valley that we pay every quarter for water, and every year we pay the Fire District money in our county tax bill for the Fire District to send to the village; last I heard, it was $11,000 a year to supply water and maintain hydrants. Supply is not a problem; maintenance is lackadaisical. 

 

National Political Viewpoints

Looks like in a week or two it should be safe again to take your family to Washington, D.C., on vacation. Just give the greatest president in my long lifetime a few weeks; the Labor Day holiday trip should be fine. I watched the news conference on CNN, and as President Trump was speaking, CNN put up BOGUS stats, like crime was down 20% last year. The banner ran across the screen as the president was reporting that 70% of the criminals arrested for felonies last year were released on NO CASH BAIL and never went to court. See you in D.C. soon.

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Two hundred plus days is not very long, but still, gas here is over $3, prices on food items and other necessities (toilet paper) continue to increase. I remain unable to afford to eat out; apparently, parents still need help providing basics for their children, and utilities continue to rise. Yet – a 90,000 square foot ballroom? Funded supposedly by “donations.” What about maintenance and upkeep costs? Phooey!

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TO THE PERSON who said they read James King’s letter and questioned his opinion of “peaceful protest”: Look up real statistics; most PRO-PALESTINIAN protests are calm; they are routinely disrupted by the throwing of fireworks by ZIONIST students.

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We have a 1st Amendment, FREEDOM OF SPEECH. I suggest you read the Constitution because I can only assume from reading your “opinion” that you have no clue what it declares. No one in the media wants to talk about the genocide going on in Palestine. Do you know that Israelis are murdering innocent Palestinian and Christian [civilians]? Of course, you didn’t; you watch FOX NEWS and believe everything they report. I have news for you: try looking at ALTERNATIVE MEDIA, where they aren’t funded by big money; that’s where you will find the truth.

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“Although I think I know why he went up there, he can’t answer your questions if he can’t hear them. I mean, if his poll numbers get any worse, he’s going to start doing press conferences on top of the Washington Monument.” — Seth Meyers

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Trump is like “Hood Robin,” he is stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.

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You Trump supporters are a more astonishing cult than the Branch Davidians. Your cult leader is clearly implicated in the Epstein saga. Guess whose name doesn’t appear in the Epstein files? Biden. Guess whose name doesn’t appear? Obama. Not once, and certainly not hundreds of times. Guess whose name appears hundreds of times? Donald J. Trump. This shouldn’t be a Democrat vs Republican issue. If Clinton and Trump are guilty, then they should be punished. It’s weird and gross that Trump supporters are trying to protect Trump.

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The tactics being used by both political parties of lying, cheating, manipulating, investigating, and stalling are not doing anything to make the country better. Wake up and work together to make positive changes; putting all your eggs in the basket of a convicted felon with a long history of bad business decisions, bankruptcy, sex scandals, and lies is not making us great; they are making us the laughingstock of the world.

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Since Trump has taken office, we’ve seen more wars and unrest in the world than ever before. It doesn’t help that Steve Witkoff, the envoy from America, has no diplomatic background. He is a real estate person and Trump’s friend. So if he thinks things are going to be done diplomatically, you can hang your hat on that one. It’s not going to happen. We actually need to get qualified people in all aspects of our government, which there are not.

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I just can’t believe that you continue to print lies in the readers’ column. I read that the Biden administration told us we couldn’t go to church, an absolute lie. I read that the Republican primary winners are going to be sworn in in the fall because there’s not an election in the fall. There is a general election, and there is just so much stuff in here that the Republicans just make up. It’s just unbelievable!

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Chuck Schumer is a good reason why we need term limits. No more career politicians!

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Now the Supreme Court has given our “terroristic” government access to all of our personal records. They know where we are, what we do, and how we live. Why is this different from Russia, except it’s getting worse? You don’t see Russia grabbing people off the streets. When is this country going to wake up and start fighting back against this guy in the so-called White House? A so-called president, he’s not our elected president, but he’s wormed his way in there. Good luck getting him out; he’s not going to leave without force.

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It makes you wonder what Putin has on Trump. Trump is willing to give Ukraine to him, no sanctions, no tariffs every time he backs down from them. The same with Ghislaine Maxwell: what does she have on him? Trump’s lawyer went to interview her; lo and behold, she gets changed to a cushy camp serving her time. I suspect it’s one and the same. Trump used to have beauty pageants in Russia, and I suspect that Putin has the same dirt on him that Ghislaine Maxwell does. Come on, let’s get it out in the open. 

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Have you heard Beto O’Rourke? That is the Democratic way; that’s just as much as saying F the Constitution, F the people, that is the Democratic way! People, when are you going to wake up? Joe Biden sat there and said, “This is not your father’s Republican Party.” Wrong, Joe. This is not my father’s Democratic Party. That’s why I’m leaving you.

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The Democrats killed a bill for tuition assistance for children of veterans killed in battle; then they approved giving illegal immigrants free tuition. Let that sink in. — Mama Gump

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Breaking news: Democrats warn that abolishing the Department of Education could result in kids being too smart to vote for Democrats. — Alfred E. Neuman

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Not much shocks me these days, but Chuck Schumer agreeing to have Democrats approve the appointments of President Trump’s highly qualified and respected nominations, ONLY IF the president restores billions of dollars that were cut from USAID due to fraud, waste, and abuse. I KNOW Democrats were angry that the cuts were made and demonstrated against the cuts by holding events, instead of offering a solution or excuse to address the claims made by DOGE. 

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When Trump leaves office, will they melt down all his tacky decor and pay down the debt?