You may call the Owego Pennysaver Readers\u2019 Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or e-mail comments to readerscolumn@stny.rr.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message.<\/p>\n
Do people in Tioga County realize that when a law enforcement officer – state, sheriff or Owego Police pulls you over, comes to your residence, etc., that they are to be in FULL UNIFORM.\u00a0This means their HATS are to be on their HEADS. Rules if they can’t follow that simple rule what makes you think they will follow any rules.\u00a0Lead by example.<\/p>\n
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Traffic tip: Right on red does NOT mean you can just blow through the light. It means you can treat it like a stop sign. Stop, look, yield if necessary, then proceed.<\/p>\n
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On Feb. 12, those making a million dollars a year reached the annual tax cap. After that day, none of their income will be taxed to pay for Social Security. Meanwhile, 94 percent of Americans – those who make less than $118,500 a year – will chip in a portion of every single paycheck, all year long. That\u2019s right. A single mother working as an ER nurse pays 6.2 percent of every paycheck toward Social Security, 12 months out of the year. Meanwhile, a wealthy investment banker on Wall Street isn\u2019t paying a dime into the system for the rest of 2015. This is wrong. We can\u2019t afford to keep giving unfair tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. Tell your Representative in Congress (Reed or Hanna) it\u2019s time to end the Social Security tax break for millionaires.<\/p>\n
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I don’t even live in Owego, but the tax creeps are amazing. Joe Chartrand’s most recent letter is completely ridiculous. Does he really believe that eliminating teaching positions and new hires are mutually exclusive? Let’s say the district eliminates several positions. Then, say, over the spring and summer, some remaining positions become vacant. Say, an English teacher resigns to move closer to their family. Say someone decides to retire late in the year for health reasons. Wouldn’t the district have to replace those people? So you see, you can actually eliminate positions AND have new hires. And one more thing. There is always one more thing. How much does Mr. Chartrand think it costs the district to send a group of kids over to Lockheed for a very valuable experience which may inspire a student to work hard in Math and Science, go to college to study Engineering, and return to the area to work at Lockheed and buy a house in the OACSD? I think the tax creeps should have studied harder when they were in school.<\/p>\n
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I have old eyeglasses (frames and lenses) I don’t need anymore. Where can I drop these off so they can be put to good use?<\/p>\n
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In a quest for justice, the Tioga County court system seems to have failed. If the objective is to get to the truth, what truth is to be obtained by shielding a jury from \u201call\u201d information pertinent to the case? Circumstantial evidence seems to be the court\u2019s forte. In the Cal Harris case, there is no weapon, no body and no eyewitness. He\u2019s being accused of murder, a victim has not been found! How many other women have gone missing in this area, never to be heard from again? Some of who had an occupation that brought them in contact with the public. Perhaps one should be looking for outsiders passing through our area? As were the men the defense sought to bare light upon, but were denied by the court.<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s face it people, the tax base in\u00a0Tioga County\u00a0cannot afford its schools. The State was trying to tell us that when they were recommending consolidation.\u00a0The population of Tioga County would just barely be equal to a small town. Anyone who thinks different is just fooling themselves. We have nine towns, none of which can provide the services that are expected by the residents.\u00a0The governments are mostly run by part time\u00a0untrained elected officials who have their own agenda and lack the knowledge of how government is supposed to work.\u00a0It\u2019s about time that the school systems were consolidated.\u00a0The towns should also be consolidated into maybe three at the most. Make state training mandatory for elected officials, share services and concentrate on providing the services and orderly tax base\u00a0development\u00a0that the residents deserve.<\/p>\n
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We have no idea how unequal our U.S. society has become. The top 20 percent of U.S. households own more than 84 percent of the wealth, and the bottom 40 percent combine for a paltry 0.3 percent. We don\u2019t want to live like this. In the ideal distribution for a democracy, the top quintile owns 32 percent and the bottom two quintiles own 25 percent. According to research studies, people in the U.S. actually live in Russia, although they think they live in Sweden. Researchers asked about 55,000 people from 40 countries to estimate how much corporate CEOs and unskilled workers earned. Then they asked people how much CEOs and workers\u00a0should<\/i>\u00a0earn. The median American estimated that the CEO-to-worker pay-ratio was 30-to-1, and that ideally, it\u2019d be 7-to-1. The reality?\u00a0354-to-1. Fifty years ago, it was\u00a020-to-1. Researchers found that people in the U.S. overestimate the amount of upward social mobility that exists in society. We may not want to believe it, but the United States is now\u00a0the most unequal\u00a0of all Western nations. By overemphasizing individual mobility, we ignore important social determinants of success like family inheritance, social connections, and structural discrimination.<\/p>\n
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Thanks to former President Bush, virtually every state\u2019s tax system is fundamentally unfair, taking a much greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families.\u00a0And New York State income taxes are amongst the worst.\u00a0It wasn\u2019t always that way, even as recently as a decade ago. The Bush tax cuts in particular the Bush-era reductions in capital gains and dividends tax rates, really put a big dent in what used to be a much more progressive tax code that can actually help address inequality.\u00a0We need to get back to the pre-Bush tax rates or even better.\u00a0Think about this as you struggle to file your federal and state income tax returns. Contact your state and federal representatives to express your outrage at this continuing injustice.<\/p>\n
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To the person on Gage Road who had your dog killed. If you faced the truth, you know it is your own fault for letting your dog run loose at night. Do all of your “family members run around on the road?<\/p>\n
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Yeah, we have a booming economy, according to “our dear leader”.\u00a0Unfortunately, stats do not bear those words out;\u00a031.1 million AMERICANS out of work and looking.\u00a0A large percentage of women and minorities are out of work, yet it’s the Republicans who supposedly wage a war on women and minorities.\u00a0Yeah, right.\u00a0Just like, “If you like your plan, your doctor, etc., you can keep them.”\u00a0And if Hillary were to be elected, we’d be assured of more of the same.<\/p>\n
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There will be a Spaghetti Dinner Benefit for Jesse Howe Sr. on Sunday, May 3, from noon to 5 p.m. at the VFW Hall in Owego. Jesse has been recently diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. There will be door prizes, 50\/50 drawings, a baked goods wheel, live auction, a silent auction, and live music by Borderline. To donate go to Gofundme.com<\/a> (search Jesse Howe).<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n I wish to respond to a comment in the April 5 edition of the Pennysaver concerning the Owego-Apalachin CSD. The caller states, \u201cShouldn\u2019t the District cut your cost of collecting and remitting monies for the Teachers Union Political Action Committees? OACSD taxpayers should not be expending a penny for support of Union PACS.\u201d The political action of NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) is VOTE-COPE, which is a nonpartisan action fund that coordinates the voluntary contributions of NYSUT\u2019s members, both active and retired. Since VOTE-COPE is supported entirely by voluntary contributions of NYSUT members, the OACSD does not expend a single penny to support the Teachers Union Political Action Committees as the caller claims. All the district does is deduct contributions from members through payroll deduction and forward those deductions to NYSUT, similar to those who choose to donate to United Way and other organizations through voluntary payroll deductions.<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n Once again Tioga County residents spring has arrived. Doing hiring with your new contractor with any type of work? Make sure you get a written contract and make them sign it and ask for insurance. Don\u2019t get ripped off this year people!<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n This is an apology to the Tioga County Sheriff\u2019s Department about the comment in the Pennysaver about them not doing their job. They did do their job. They did show up and there was a babysitter there.<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n How come the state is giving schools less money when the lottery money is supposed to be going towards education? How about increasing casinos and gaming tables instead of limiting them?<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n I too, was a big fan of Paul Harvey on the radio. Got more important news in 15 minutes from that man than from all the idiot reporters today. That said, last week\u2019s letter to the editor in the Pennysaver by Joe Chartrand about the Owego Apalachin school district was very informative. As a life long taxpaying property owner living in the Tioga Central school district who is in the final turn of life, we need the wisdom of people like Mr. Chartrand. Looking at a 30 percent increase in school taxes this year is unacceptable. Some blame the State of New York but I suspect there is local blame in the mix as well. Taxpaying property owners in the Tioga Central school district had better unite this year and vote NO May 19 on the school budget.<\/p>\n ~<\/p>\n