Readers’ Column for the week of March 8, 2026

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. Please limit your comments to 100 words or fewer.

Trying times: work hard – have a heart, help those you can, contribute to the well-being of all people: Stand up: come forward. Fertile soil: just grow, resplendent. Be a light – “Do unto others.” “The Good Samaritan.” Can we follow this lead? 

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So we’re getting lots of new restaurants and furniture stores on the parkway. That area is saturated with them, and we’ve got nothing down in Apalachin/Owego area. It’s such a shame; please, something move into Owego. It’s becoming a ghost town!

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I just wanted to give the Candor Highway Department a lot of kudos for taking care of our roads last week. I know how early they were out almost every day.

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I would like to know whom to contact if your propane supplier lets your propane supply run out. I called them and reordered a fill-up on my tank on Feb. 2 when I had 32 percent. They promised within one to three days to show up and never did. The propane source is my only heat source for heating my house, my water, and cooking. I’m 84 with health problems. I wonder if anybody else is having the same problem. I’d like to know who I should contact to address this issue.

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As the Olympics have gone on, we have had a beautiful view of an ancient civilization in Rome, in Milan, all of Italy, old buildings, some built when Christ was still on earth. But the Italians, as many other countries do, value their history. They are not tearing them down to make something else. They’re not spraying gold all over them to have nobody’s names on them, just dates. Maybe our country could value its history too. Thank you.

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Curious about how other projects along 434 have been able to get water supply. And how did the Tractor Supply building get as far as it has without all the proper permits, etc., in place until now? Someone should be held accountable for this slip-up.

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The Village of Newark Valley will be holding elections on March 18 for two trustee positions and mayor. It’s important that we get out to vote, and please don’t forget that as a voter, you can write in a resident’s name if you know or think that person would be better suited for the position than the candidates who are on the ballot.

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To the person concerned about donating to a church that may not be a qualified organization: (1) Don’t worry, the IRS is lenient with honest mistakes. (2) There is a database where you can check which organizations are exempt: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/. (3) Unless you itemized your return, which is unusual, the donations won’t have any effect on your taxes. (4) If needed, you can file an amended return to correct the mistake.

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Wouldn’t it be better for our area if Corning, instead of donating funds to local food banks to celebrate their 175th anniversary, brought jobs back from offshore to our area – once again providing the local citizens they claim to care about with good-paying jobs so they can feed themselves and their children, perhaps for generations, instead of depending on food banks – a stopgap measure at best?

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For those interested, the Coburn Free Library’s chess club will have its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 12, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. This takes place in the library’s Eva Thomas Room, located on the second floor. Players of all abilities are welcome. Information is also available on the library’s website: https://coburnfreelibrary.org.

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Helping Hands Food Pantry, serving Berkshire, Speedsville, and Richford, is taking sign-ups for an Easter food box. You should reside in one of these areas. Distribution will be on Thursday, March 26, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Evening pickup will be available upon request. Sign your family up at the pantry during regular hours, or call (607) 657-2501 or (607) 657-8158 between now and 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 19.

National Political Viewpoints

Mama Gump, whoever you are, you are vile and disgusting! Haven’t you ever heard that if you can’t say anything good about someone, don’t say anything at all? You obviously hate Democrats.

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The United States began bombing Iran for no apparent reason. They cannot reach us with their nuclear weapons; and besides, we obliterated their nuclear weapons. However, Donald Trump said three young men were killed in this war. He said there would be more patriots who may have to give up their lives. He said this from Mar-a-Lago while he was at a fundraiser all weekend. I remember him telling General Kelly, whose son was killed in combat, “I don’t understand why these men give up their lives for the U.S.; they are losers.” And that’s his take on it. 

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I’m just wondering, after four years of Joe Biden, the country was a mess, but we never heard anything about affordability. The gas prices skyrocketed, the food was high, everything was high under Joe Biden, yet we didn’t hear about affordability from the Democrats. Why is this? At least I can say the guy in the White House is working hard to lower prices. They want that fool in the White House to look bad. I’m just afraid we’re going to get another Joe Biden, and it’s over.

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Gasoline went down about 15 cents since Biden left office and Trump took office. But my electric bill jumped up to $115 a month. So, big deal about the gas.

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I would like someone, somewhere, to answer the question: if we get 80% of our oil from Canada, South America, and the United States, why are we penalized for the 20% we get from the Middle East? Our gas or oil should never go up when 80% of it is right here. That’s not right to penalize us for that 20%. I’d love for somebody to answer that question.

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I would like to congratulate Trump for putting our country in such a mess. Thank you for ICE. Thank you for the inflation. Thank you for Epstein and all of it. Let’s not forget about the Middle East war. Give yourself an AAA+ job, Donnie. Is your family going to go to war, or are they just going to count the money?

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This is for the person who had a comment about pistols in New York State. Maybe you ought to quit listening to your radical right-wing news media and stop running down the rabbit hole with your conspiracy theory websites and social media, with people who are twisted. The comment was that she is trying to get rid of ghost guns. So, obviously, you need to do your homework and find out what a ghost gun is. I am also sick and tired of hearing that the Democrats are going to take away our guns. Do your homework.

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“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week projected that the deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, will be $1.85 trillion. Richard Rubin of the Wall Street Journal notes that for every dollar the United States collects this year, it will spend $1.33. The CBO explained that the Republican tax cuts will increase budget deficits by $4.7 trillion through 2035.” — Heather Cox Richardson, February 17, 2026.

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One of the king’s many lawsuits against those he feels aren’t polite enough is against the government. If he wins, guess who pays? It’s obvious what he cares about most.

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Trump will be exposed as the child molester and fraudster that he is. Trump, Bondi, and the DOJ continue to break the law by not releasing all of the Epstein files, nor explaining the redactions they made. They will be exposed and held accountable for their cover-up. Trump will be held accountable for his heartless and evil ways.

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You wanted a clown in the White House; you got a clown. We have a crumbling democracy, global humiliation, escalated danger, your neighbors in shackles, murder in our streets under the names of Noem, Miller, and Trump, less insured, unemployed, taxed by way of tariffs, and a whole lot poorer.

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Before forming an opinion and setting it in concrete, folks should get all the facts first. There is little similarity between January 6 and recent incidents of civil unrest. Jan. 6 was a targeted breach of the legislative branch of the government. It involved a single building. It was not widespread rioting, looting, and arson; nor was there significant destruction of numerous public and private properties, including people’s businesses. Jan. 6 did not result in commonly needed items being locked up in stores. It did not prevent first responders and other individuals from getting to their jobs by blocking streets, bridges, and roadways.

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“Wyden has been investigating the finances behind Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking organization. His investigation has turned up the information that JPMorgan Chase neglected to report more than $4 billion in suspicious financial transactions linked to Epstein. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has refused to produce the records to the Senate Finance Committee, and in September, Wyden introduced the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (PETRA) to get access to them. In November, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but it did not cover Treasury financial records.” Heather Cox Richardson, February 27, 2026.

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It’s the GOLDEN AGE, everybody! Look at all the major fiscal developments. Look at all the tariff money. Look at what DOGE has achieved: a 50,000 point stock market. Folks the MATH is on your side. It’s a huge shift! Still waiting for a measly $2,000? Good luck. The Right can’t produce a one-time stimulus that YOU paid for. Trump’s BOOM is more like a GOLDEN DRIBBLE!

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Chairman of the Board of Peace? This really is getting Orwellian.

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ICE is making two detention centers in Pennsylvania: one for 1,500, the other for 7,500 children, brothers, sisters, parents, disabled individuals, pregnant women, elderly folks, and citizens who are gardeners, cooks, laborers, etc., as directed by Trump, Noem, and Miller. They are our neighbors, stunned, becoming shackled, hammered, and thrown into crowded cells, unless they’re murdered by ICE during the thick of it. ICE spent $895 million of your money on warehouse purchases (141.7% markup over market value) according to “Project Salt Box,” for 10 warehouses so far acquired. They’re making their way closer to a community you love. Beware.

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If not illiterate, did Mama Gump just close her eyes for the surprise? That’s called willful ignorance. And why didn’t she ever learn by touch? A chocolate-covered cherry from a nut roll, maybe?

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Trump/DOGE slashed $1 billion in annual spending on school lunch programs that enabled schools to buy local, fresh food rather than processed, mass-produced food. “Because it was wasteful.” But spending $1 billion a day on a war on behalf of Israel is not wasteful? Got it.

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Thanks to Democrats for passing the CLCPA, Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Governor Hochul’s plan will increase upstate NY residents’ energy costs by as much as $4,000 per household and cause gasoline prices to rise to over $5 per gallon. Blame your problem on your own liberal left. Time for everyone to vote to free New York from the democrats. Google the program and you will see the truth. — Studebaker Hawk 

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I hope Iran doesn’t retaliate with a 9/11.

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Contrary to what President Trump continues to insist, there has not been massive voter fraud in any state that could have changed an election. Multiple groups, including the far-right Heritage Foundation, have gone back 30 years and measured it at around 8 ten thousandths of one percent (that’s only 8 votes possible out of one million cast). Possible voting by illegal immigrants is way lower than that. Look it up yourself. Just because he keeps saying it doesn’t make it true.

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President Trump asked Congress, “Stand if you agree: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Democrats did not stand. Any questions? — Mama Gump 

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Watch “‘Follow the Money: Maddow’s Instant Reaction to U.S. Striking Iran” on YouTube. Don’t worry, she doesn’t have cooties, despite what Fox may want you to believe.

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Hillary supplied Iran with uranium to enrich Iran’s nuclear program; Barack Obama gave Iran $1.7 billion that they used to fund their nuclear program; Joe Biden unfroze over $16 billion of funds for Iran. So don’t even blame this on Trump. — Mama Gump