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Editor:

The endangered Short-eared owl population has declined from 2011-2021 by almost 50%!

Ironically, the Environmental Impact Statement issued to WNY STAMP dates back to 2012 to build in the endangered owl habitat. Seems like a possible connection between these events, don’t it?

NYS and the GCEDC is using taxpayer dollars to provide kickbacks to attract the most noisy, energy and water guzzling data centers and locate them in our wetlands next to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge! This violates several laws including NYS CLCPA, Endangered Species Act, Environmental Justice Siting Law and the Canandaigua Treaty.

GCEDC is fast tracking the STAMP project with no consideration of the changes that the data centers have had from 2012 to now. What about changes in Federal Freshwater Wetlands regulations?

I am calling on the state of NY to reassess the impacts on financial, environmental, water, energy use and wildlife before building a data center in THAT location in Genesee County.

Destroy our wetlands for the profit of private entities is a big loss to our precious last remaining continuous green wildlife wild-way corridor to the edge of Lake Ontario.

Stop STAMP.

Save the owls.

Save our water and power.

Evelyn Wackett

Buffalo

Editor:

Was Patrick Henry a radical revolutionary? When he exclaimed, “Give me liberty or give me death!” was he spouting an extremist sentiment?

Our government has proclaimed that Mahmoud Khalil—a legal resident of the United States—should be deported for his pro-Palestinian rhetoric that makes some Jewish students at Columbia University feel unsafe.

After all he has led anti-Israel protests that call attention to Benjamin Netanyahu’s decidedly anti-Palestinian policies. His detractors apparently feel that, in Khalil’s case, the first amendment does not apply. There are just some subjects about which freedom of speech should be set aside or restricted.

Hey, this guy is no doubt a Muslim. The founding fathers couldn’t have wanted non-Christians to enjoy the freedoms covered by the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, could they?

As citizens of this republic, we must be vigilant. The dissolution of a representative democracy begins with the usurpation of the freedoms unpopular minorities enjoy. After all, there aren’t that many pro-Palestinian people around the United States. How is it a big deal that a few people lose their rights?

That is how the road to tyranny starts. Where does it end?

By the time we start giving this stuff our attention it may well be “game over”.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

Of the seven companies in the world that are worth more than $1 trillion, six are American tech firms. They are fantastically wealthy and profitable, and they all require data processing centers that use enormous amounts of electricity.

Consider the proposed data center known as Project Double Reed at the STAMP site in Genesee County.  It is a nominal 250 megawatt installation that will be built and operated by a firm that will then lease the center to a suitable tenant, presumably a multi-billion or trillion dollar tech company.

Assuming an average usage of 65% of nominal capacity, the center will use around 1,424,000 MW-h of electrical energy in a year. By contrast, the total electrical usage for Genesee County in 2024 was 416,000 MW-h. So the proposed data center will use about 3.5 times as much electricity as the entire rest of the county.  In fact, the data center will use roughly as much electricity as the combined total annual usage for Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming, and Livingston counties!

Governor Hochul, working with the NYS Power Authority, has proposed that STAMP be offered cheap “hydropower” electric rates.  The Power Authority has indicated that the grid can handle the Double Reed load without the need for additional generating capacity. That’s good, since building additional capacity would result in a sharp spike in customer rates.

But something is missing here. If we give multi-billion dollar corporations a big price break on a significant chunk of electricity (in addition to giving them multi-hundred million dollar tax subsidies), wouldn’t that mean that the rest of the ratepayers would face increased rates?  It sure seems possible.

Much has been written about this by reputable sources at Harvard and MIT, detailing how utility ratepayers are paying for Big Tech’s power. The conclusion is that the current data center funding strategies are devolving into a race to the bottom, with government entities giving more and more costly incentives for smaller and smaller public benefits, and with the data centers reaping big rewards.

It is, in essence, a transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to extraordinarily rich corporations. Currently Double Reed and the GCEDC (which stands to collect tens of millions of dollars in fees) are the big winners. The rest of us are losers.

Please consider making your voice known to your elected representatives on this important issue.

David Giacherio

Kent

Editor:

This Thursday, the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) is voting on a purchase agreement with US Stream Data Centers.

This is after GCEDC voted to approve Project Double Reed, a data center, to occupy the STAMP site on Route 77 despite significant public outcry. Before their vote to approve Project Double Reed, GCEDC received more than 800 public comments opposing the data center, with over 600 of those comments received in just a two-day period. GCEDC still has the opportunity to say no to moving the region’s largest data center into Genesee County.

GCEDC claims that it selected Project Double Reed because it would have the smallest environmental impact of the data centers it was considering. That does not mean its environmental impact will be small.

It will be $472 million public dollars allocated to a project with no public benefit that will cause light and noise pollution, traffic on Route 77, increase fire risks from the 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored on site, increase brown and black outs from the massive amounts of energy data centers require, and generally decrease the quality of life of those living in the surrounding communities.

Stream Data Centers is also trying to attract a Fortune 50 company worth $100 billion – why should a company like that get the 250 mw of low-cost hydropower it’s been offered?

GCEDC currently argues that the data center will bring money and jobs to Genesee County. Plug Power moved into the STAMP site in 2021 but is still under construction, and was supposed to bring in 68 jobs, none of which exist yet. I don’t believe a data center will deliver on any of what GCEDC is promising – it will not have a small environmental impact, and it will not bring anything good to the community.

GCEDC can still listen to the local residents who it serves by voting no to a purchase agreement with Stream Data Centers.

Shelby Green

Town of Shelby

Editor:

Although schools need supervision and management, the tiers of administration over the years have become bloated entities. The consequence: resources to the classroom have been affected greatly and bureaucracy has taken hold of American education.

How did this happen? Following a pretty common protocol of gradual integration, under the guise of bettering the educational performance, new departments, committees and policies were added, and ultimately more time and money were plowed into administration instead of teaching.

As this spiraled, a non-stop cycle of compliance and reporting took hold. Many school budgets reduced their financial  obligations to their teachers and students. Instead an almost faddish mindset monopolized better judgment and school budgets began prioritizing the latest pedagogical trends at a significant cost.

Many school districts were spending thousands on bringing external consultants in who were supposedly the experts and could tell everyone who was already doing what should be done to now do it differently. I remember one such man who entered my classroom with his hands folded behind his back. I was teaching a lesson on expository writing at the time. He never greeted the children or me, walked around for a couple of minutes and then exited finally. Yep, the guru – the guru who obviously needed a lesson in people skills.

Even selecting a new superintendent can become an expensive venture when school districts opt to pay external companies big bucks to handle the process, instead of relying on their own internal resources. Just one more drain on the finances.

It seemed every year, some administrator found another new inclination to pursue, uprooting all the proven methodology of the hard working teachers and causing further chaos by implementing a new idea. Instead of piloting the concept with one classroom, everyone was obligated to jump on board and be part of the program.

I taught 40 years and over the last 10 years of my career, there were well over 10 such policies that entered the arena and each time the paper work, time and cost affected efficiently in the classroom. Among them were: Common Core, No Child Left Behind, Learning Styles, Whole Child Focus-just to name a few.

And to add to that bundle, in the last 5 years, schools have indoctrinated extreme controversial ideologies (such as Critical Race Theory) into the classroom, ignoring parental rights completely. In fact some schools have plunged forward and exposed primary aged children to gender diversity without prior notification to the home front. What does this say about parent school communication?  Parents have every right to educate their children with social issues when they think they can comprehend these topics. Not the school! It’s not surprising that home-schooling is on the rise.

“Statewide, 54% of students tested proficient in math last year, up 2 percentage points from the previous year. A total of 46% were proficient in ELA, down 2 percentage points.” Pitiful results.

Over the years an unfair imbalance has occurred because the budget has been directed toward allegiance to regulations. This means fewer teachers and aides in the classroom. When I first started my teaching career, there were many teacher aides available to come in throughout the day to give the little bit of extra attention to someone in need. Then it dwindled down to maybe 3 times a week and then finally once a week.

When the money is usurped for administrative tasks, who suffers? The kids! Up to date textbooks, technology and enrichment programs are greatly compromised.

How do we clean up this mess? We need to concentrate on where the money will have the greatest impact – students and teachers.

Mary Mager

Fairport, formerly of Albion

Editor:

I write today to address an impending threat to Orleans County agriculture. Sadly, New York State loses more and more family farms each year and we have experienced recently the loss of beloved farming operations in Orleans County.

The Empire State chip by chip, acre by acre is losing its ability to feed itself and remain a region of agricultural prosperity.

Farmers are the biggest gamblers. Investing in machinery, seed, fertilizer, barns, packing housing and labor while betting it all against the wrath of Mother Nature in the hope of selling their crops to buyers who set the price with little sympathy for the cost to produce your food.

We complain about taxes in New York driving people out of business and out of state. Recently, on social media farmers were accused of not paying their fair share. Not true.

The Department of Ag and Markets sets annually the taxable value of farm land used in the production of food. Yes, the taxable value per acre is lower than full market value. This is in part due to an orchard, a corn, cabbage, wheat or bean field or cow pasture requiring little to no government services. It is to encourage the affordability, sustainability, and most importantly the ability to feed our people by keeping fertile land in agriculture. When we become dependent on foreign countries to feed ourselves, we become hostage to inflation and oppression, like Somalia, Bangladesh or Sudan.

I wish to address a sensitive taxation issue and would like to volunteer in advance any help I can to remedy it.

The Murray Joint Fire District has in the last two years raised its tax levy by 83%. Its rate of $3.53/1000 is significantly higher than our neighboring communities. The Fire District levy is 18% higher than the Town’s Levy. At first glance it’s easy to blame, easy to fault. But the harsh reality is the equipment is expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. And we need it. Keep in mind we are not paying for labor and benefits as we are fortunate to still have dedicated volunteers.

Because the fire district tax levy has grown so significantly, it places the agricultural viability of farmland at risk. Historically, fire districts across the county assessed farmland at full market value. Ag land was cheap. Equipment was affordable, government was small, volunteerism a civic duty. Not so today. Times have changed and so too must our thinking.

The sharp increase in fire district land tax and its method of calculation is unreasonably costly to farmers. How can an open farm field be assessed at 5 times higher the value for fire tax than for town or county taxes? Think about that? Schools tax you on the full market value of your homes then the State gives you a STAR exemption to offset that financial burden and keep you in your home. The same rationale should be applied to ag land by assessing it at the NYS Ag rate instead of full market value and help keep land in agriculture.

One field in Murray is assessed at $55,000 for Town and County but $283,000 for Fire. The disparity in valuation for fire increases the tax from $194.00 to over $1,000 per year. Keep in mind we all now pay a separate tax for ambulance service.

Some of you will be saying; here we go again, the farmer is looking to avoid paying taxes. On the contrary, farmers own homes, barns, packing houses, shops, markets, labor housing, corn dryers and more and we pay our fair share on those structures and will continue to do so in support of our fire district. We are not talking about parcels containing structures, we are talking about open ground producing your food and the long-term viability of agriculture soils.

The authority to recognize NYS Ag values for Fire district taxation rests with local Fire Commissioners. It requires a simple resolution by the Commissioners to do so as provide in NYS Ag & Markets Law 305 (6) “the governing body of a fire, fire protection, or ambulance district for which special ad valorem levies or special assessments are made may adopt a resolution allowing the use of agricultural assessments in the levy of such charges.”

While this issue is currently a Murray issue, think not.

The Town of Murray adopted the first Ag and Farmland Protection Plan in the County. Educational awareness of the importance of agriculture by the community and civic leaders cannot be understated. Do not take for granted the sustainability of agriculture and the impending financial and volunteerism crisis facing fire districts. For other municipalities in Orleans County the same issue will soon be on your doorstep when your districts need to update their equipment to save your homes, businesses, and lives.

To be clear. I am not placing any blame here, but merely highlighting the unreasonable tax allocation to farmland and the threat it imposes to sustainable agriculture. I respectively request fire commissioners recognize NYS Ag values on open land. It is about the preservation of farmland. The viability of agriculture and ability to feed our population is of national importance.

Lastly, I am raising this issue now to afford the district commissioners in Murray and across the County the time and opportunity to address this important matter ahead of their 2026 budget season.

Thank you to our firemen and thank you to our farmers. Together we can.

Joseph Sidonio

Murray

Editor:

I, Robin Wehling, a taxpaying Village of Medina resident, want to share my story and 100 percent support of the paid Medina Fire Department and the equipment and upgrades that are necessary to maintain the safety of our village and residents.

I strongly support the Village of Medina’s request for FY26 Congressionally Directed Spending in the amount of $1.4 million to expand the existing fire station to accommodate a critical addition to their fire & emergency services.

The current fire station was built in 1930s for the Department of Public Works and not meant for the weight of fire apparatus. The weight of the trucks has caused the floors to crack, sink and separate.

The building has structural damage and needs work done to repoint the block walls and floor repairs.  The new ladder truck will not be able to be housed in the current fire station because of the height. Smaller ladder trucks are not manufactured.

The current ladder truck is 29 years old with many plumbing, mechanical and electrical issues.  The cost of these repairs exceed the value of the truck. In addition some repairs like replacement windshield are no longer available.

Multiple times during fire operations the ladder truck has had failures, where the truck wouldn’t operate properly or even at all due to the age of the truck. This is a safety concern for residents and firefighters.

The new ladder truck will provide greater reach and versatility for the Village of Medina. During operations the collapse zone is 1.5 times the height of the building, which is needed for the safety of the firefighter team. The new ladder truck will be more effective for large-story buildings, especially in historical downtown with 3-story buildings.

The new ladder truck with the extra reach will give the ability to drown out the fire. The expected delivery of the new ladder truck is December 2025. Unfortunately the new truck will not fit in the existing building.

The Medina Fire Department is essential  in the safety of the surrounding jurisdictions of towns of Shelby, Ridgeway, Yates, Albion, Gaines, Barre, Royalton and Hartland, and the villages of Lyndonville, Albion and Middleport.  The response time is critical in these emergency situations.

With a volunteer fire department as in the surrounding districts, the response time for medical or fire situation will greatly affect the outcome. In addition a volunteer fire department has EMT for medical response, while Medina Fire department has trained paramedics that can administer medical intervention, as in my case.

My experience is that minutes are critical in an emergency. My story is on August 30, 2017,  I had a sudden numbness in my left arm. I knew I was having a heart attack. When you are having a heart attack, time is so critical to your survival.

At the first sign of a heart issue you have 90 minutes before it is fatal. It may take several minutes before you realize you need medical attention. In my case it was about 10 minutes before we called for an ambulance. The Medina Fire Department responded within a few minutes. So approximately 15 minutes passed.

The paramedics started heart protocol administering nitroglycerin and aspirin, completing an EKG and transmitting to Buffalo General. Now a 50-minute ambulance ride to Buffalo General. So now I have less than 30 minutes to be assessed and get medical intervention.

Because of the paid Medina Fire Department and trained paramedics, they saved my life. I had a stent put in the main artery and my doctor told me I was a miracle. My heart attack is called the “widowmaker” with less than 1 percent survival.

I know the timing and expertise of the Medina paramedics saved my life, along with God’s intervention. With my 90-minute heart issue a volunteer response would have a resulted in a fatality. With the fire department’s quick and immediate response, I know my life was saved.

I strongly support the need to protect the community and residents of the Village of Medina and surrounding communities. Orleans County is a rural area where response time to a large medical facility is approximately 50 to 60-minute drive. The Medina Fire Department can provide a quick and efficient emergency response, including an immediate response for a fire.

With a 30-year loan to provide a bare bones, 1-bay addition to accommodate the ladder truck, Medina Fire Department will be able to continue to provide vital fire protection and ambulance services.

The current fire station will provide storage for the lifesaving boat and ambulances currently in service. Another location not near the current fire station would only delay response time and with a different type of building Medina would not be able to obtain a 30-year loan.

Please consider this request for $1.4 million for the Village of Medina’s FY26 Congressionally Directed Spending Request, in order to provide a modernized and adequately sized fire station so the medina Fire Department can continue to serve and protect our residents.

Thank you.

Robin Wehling

Medina

Editor:

My name is Marlene Hill, and I am a Board of Directors member of the Arc GLOW. However, more importantly, I am the mother of an individual the Arc has served for 42 years.

Starting at 9 months old, our son has participating in many programs at Arc GLOW. Without the help of the Arc’s amazing staff, I do not know how we could have ended up with a person that is happy and well-rounded. We’ve had opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise.

Arc GLOW has been serving the community for over 60 years, and now covers the entire GLOW region; roughly 2,400 square miles, geographically the largest Arc chapter in New York state. It serves around 2,000 individuals and employs over 1,100 people in order to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) meet their full potential and find full potential and find fulfillment in learning, personal relationships, employment, volunteerism, recreation, the arts, and more. Arc GLOW’s goal is to eliminate barriers and help individuals engage in the world.

With March being Developmental Disability Awareness Month (DDAM), we are seeking to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life, as well as awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still sometimes face in connecting to the communities in which they live.

Arc GLOW needs your help advocating for the people we support. Decades of inadequate funding has caused severe staff shortages and left nonprofit providers agencies, like Arc GLOW, struggling to maintain facilities and provide the high-quality of care New Yorkers with disabilities deserve.

Without action, this lack of funding will continue to compromise the quality and sustainability of services for New Yorkers with disabilities. We are advocating for fair wages for direct support professionals, and capital funding to align with state climate goals, and you can help by visiting The Arc New York Advocacy Center (https://p2a.co/N6MgSBE)

I encourage you to visit ArcGLOW.org and view the advocacy page to learn how you can join their advocacy efforts. Another way you can show your support is by becoming a member of Arc GLOW, which only costs $1 per year.

Becoming a member shows New York state you are an advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and want positive changes for them. Start with Arc GLOW to talk about how we can help find support services for people with disabilities, more information can be obtained by emailing them at info@ArcGLOW.org.

Sincerely,

Marlene Hill

Medina

Editor:

In early February of this year, Trump sent  300 of what he called illegal immigrants to the US base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba (GITMO).  As of March 15, he quietly returned all of them to the US at a cost of 16 million dollars.

He returned them because he feared pending court cases against the GITMO deportation would go against him.

Another example of Trump acting on impulse,  rather  than intelligent consideration.

Jack Capurso

Albion High School, Class of 1960

Ashburn, Va.

Editor:

“Owning the libs” was more important – still may be – than looking at other news sources.

The only sure things are that total US Government payroll is only 4% of a “payroll efficient” budget and the claimed savings numbers do not add up. In 2018, 5,000 jobs were created in steel and 75,000 were lost in other sectors. Telling the CBO to insert a zero (0) as the cost of tax cuts is fraudulent accounting.

In high school you learn the first principle of prosperous capitalism is knowing enough to efficiently plan and project.

We all see that things have gone at breakneck speed and there have been so many reversals and contradictions that no one can predict where we are headed or may end up. Patchwork, hit and miss, is bad for business.

At the international level no one talks about the fact our large trade deficit is in large part offset by equally large corporate inflows of foreign investment. (Our budget deficits are not directly trade related; they are simply a question of who is going to pay and if it’s by income, sales, or property tax.)

No one talks about where we will pull people from to get back to 50% globally devoted to producing goods producing from our current 12%. The motor for job creation and economic revitalization is far more involved than getting into simple tit for tat spats.

At the national level no one is talking about the fact our corporate board rooms are locking up. Unless you are in the top 10% in line for tax cuts, their not knowing how to prepare can hurt everyone equally.

Companies do not know where they are going to buy raw materials and parts, which country will build their own plants or stop buying from us, if and in which country our companies should build.

Our companies do not know if we will continue to do business with the world’s rich counties or turn to poor autocracies and their puny markets. They need to see the detailed plan with rules of the road (the oil) to function or the motor seizes up.

With these huge uncertainties, US economic contraction and labor layoffs are what libs and red hats, no matter their situation, should fear.

Prices, consumer sentiment numbers, and the stock market, all say the economic check engine light is on.

As for the other issues believe what you want but the information is out there. But it’s hard to ignore the pocket book.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

It is an established fact that Vladimir Putin is a murderous dictator. He has murdered his political rivals and those who try to hold him accountable.

It is an established fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in violation of every international treaty and international rule of law. Those facts won’t change because President Trump (convicted of 34 felonies), lies or because a right-wing entertainment network repeats those lies.

The fact that the President of the United States cites Russian propaganda should concern everyone; it certainly concerns me. While Ukraine fights off an aggressor to defend their independence, the Republican-controlled government is cutting off military aid and intelligence while conceding to Russia promises of diplomacy and relaxation of sanctions.

Turning our back on our allies makes us weaker in two important ways. First, those allies now must question the commitment of the United States and our word. Are we committed to democratic principles since we are helping an autocratic government violate international laws? Can our allies trust us?

Second, will those allies come to our defense as they have in the past? It is also important to ask, will Russia stop with Ukraine or continue to make war on the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, followed by Georgia, Moldova and Poland?

I am not a war hawk.  As a combat Vietnam veteran, I know the ravages of war; I have seen how war destroys a nation’s economy and its soul. I have seen how lies and political ambition and power lead to national disasters. Today’s Republican Party’s mollycoddling to dictators and appeasement to an aggressor nation will not bring peace.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

In previous writings regarding The President I have made comparisons to other Fascist leaders throughout history particularly comparing Hitler’s Der Generalplan Ost, the promotion of the idea of Lebensraum and the de-intellectualizing of education to The President’s ideals and ambitions for America. These objectives have been outlined in his Project 2025, which very oddly he has alleged he knew nothing about.

What intrigues me the most is why 49.8% of the participating electorate in the 2024 Presidential Election would prefer to “choose” this for our nation. Which then reminds me of the conversation I used to have with my students who could not possibly understand how a person like Hitler could come to power. Likewise, why does the President of the United States prefer to weaken, destabilize and reduce educational opportunities for our young.

The answer then was as obvious as it is now; things like this happen for example when The President appointed Linda McMahon, a former professional wrestling promoter, with absolutely no experience in education, to be the Secretary of the United States Department of Education. What message does that send to the American People about how little he values education when the founder of the failed and bankrupt Trump University (which was never a university in the first place) shows such total disregard for the significance and importance of public education. Her appointment was an absolute embarrassment to REAL educators nationwide.

Further, upon her appointment he instructed her from the beginning to plan for the termination of this Cabinet-level position and the absolute minimization, if not total elimination, of the department during his administration.

The headline on March 12: “Education Secretary: Mass Layoffs First Step Toward Total Shutdown”. It might as well have said let Der Generalplan Ost, the idea of Lebensraum and the de-intellectualizing of America’s youth begin!

Perhaps you wonder what the Department of Education does for you; some of which comes directly from the federal government, other benefits are parceled via New York State. By Congressional mandate the DOE enforces anti-discrimination policies in schools, they distribute financial aid based upon need, they finance the Pell Grants which provides direct financial aid to students for college, and they help finance localized vocational training programs.

They also provide direct financial aid for physically and mentally challenged students.  These services, which are in part or totally supported by the United States Department of Education, are absolutely critical to a community such as ours, and no doubt some of you benefit from and depend upon.

Lastly, consider this brief data analysis with regards to The President’s disregard for education and academic achievement. In the 2024 Presidential Election the President won the popular vote in 31 states. Of these 31 states, according to an extensive study conducted by the US News and World Report, 20 were identified to be among the absolute worst 25 public educational systems in the country. This includes both public institutions of higher education and all pre-K – 12 school systems.

Ask yourself again why he does not value education … and if the answer does not jump off this page at you – please consider yourself to be one of his deliberately targeted constituents!

Doug Miller

Albion

Editor:

I will do my best to provide a clear response to the Shelby Town Supervisor’s letter date February 21, 2025. However, his letter is very confused and difficult to follow.

To begin with he takes credit for a reduction in the tax rate. That reduction had nothing to do with his reducing the budget, but the result of a town-wide reassessment that substantially increased the area’s tax base. Because of this reassessment many residents saw their taxes increase even though the tax rate was adjusted downward.

The 2024 NYS Comptroller’s letter is indeed a follow-up to the 2021 audit. The failures pointed out in this letter, which you need to read, were the result of extensive interviews with Supervisor Scott Wengewicz and Bookkeeper Miranda Bennett. The comptroller’s office found that of the 7 recommendations made in the 2021 audit, only one had been partially accomplished.

The quotation I cited was not from me but from the Comptroller’s 2024 letter.  Here is the complete quotation:

“Although the bookkeeper was present during our last audit and was aware of the discrepancies in accounting records, she did not correct or resolve the discrepancies. In addition, neither the former Supervisor nor the current Supervisor resolved the discrepancies in the Town’s accounting records and could not provide a reasonable explanation for not correcting the discrepancies in the Town’s accounting records”

This is after Supervisor Wengewicz had been office over a year and a half.

The list of the supervisor’s and bookkeeper’s failures go on. I invite you to read the 5-page letter from Deputy Comptroller Robin L. Lois posted on the Town of Shelby’s website titled, “Review Follow up NYS Comptroller Sept., 2024”.

The common phrase from the Supervisor has been “no corruption and no money missing.”  No one has ever suggested this; however, the facts point to the Supervisor making bad decisions regarding taxpayers’ money, including creating budgets without the slightest idea of the true finances of the Town. In my many years in business, dealing with large budgets, you cannot control expenses if you do not have good accounting information and he obviously did not.

He likes to take credit for work currently being performed by two outside accounting firms.  To date they have completed 2023 and are working on 2024 so we will have a clearer picture when they are done. The presence of these firms was the result of pressure applied by two very determined board member’s, Councilwoman Linda Limina and Councilman Ed Zelazny and repeated pressure by certain members of the taxpaying public.

Such as:

• April 11, 2023 Former councilman John Pratt recommends hiring an outside accounting firm.
• June 13, 2023 Councilman Zelazny notes discrepancies in the finances and pushes to hire an outside accounting firm. Supervisor Wengewicz refuses and states that there is no money missing.
• Councilwoman Limina, who has a 4-year accounting degree, offered on numerous occasions to help the bookkeeper and talk with the software company. All attempts to do so were met by refusals from the Supervisor.

I have compiled a list Shelby Town Board meeting minutes and YouTube recordings which show the Supervisors consistent refusal to seek outside help. Email me at heminway2025@gmail.com for that list.

In terms of the windmills and STAMP projects. As recently as March 2024, Borrego asked the board for a zoning variation that would define a Wind Overlay district. There is currently a moratorium on any wind project until the Town Board gets this Wind Overlay recommendation from the Shelby Planning Board. The STAMP issue is not finished and is still being litigated. Both these projects are like vampires – they are not dead.

He takes credit for using the ARPA money. This was one-time COVID-era Federal/State money that went to everyone. He did nothing to get it and we will never see this type of financial assistance again.

Claims to be in negotiations with the Village of Medina over the rates that Medina charges Shelby for water. He had two meetings with Medina on January 4 and February 8, 2024.  The third meeting scheduled for later in February was cancelled by Shelby and there had not been another until 4 members of the Village board attended the latest Shelby board meeting and in public forced a future meeting date.  I would not call these on-going negotiations.

Claims credit for putting the Town’s money in the NY Class investment fund. This was first suggested by Councilman Pratt in January 2023 and again in December 2023. He finally proceeded in mid-2024.

These are not just “Heminway says” but rather real facts.

If elected, I promise the taxpayers of Shelby that I will apply the lessons I learned as a Chief Operating Officer to the role of Shelby Town Supervisor and never allow the type of poor fiscal oversight and lack of transparency we have experienced over the last two years.

Regards,

Jim Heminway

Medina

Editor:

Dr. Jane van Dis, an obstetrician/gynecologist affiliated with the University of Rochester, spoke on Wednesday, March 5th at the Hoag Library in Albion in a presentation arranged by Sister Dolores O’Dowd and “Green Orleans.”

Following her insightful talk she took numerous questions about the dangers of excessive plastic in our environment. This session was attended by about twenty residents who got an eye-opening reality check from an expert.

Doing justice to the amount of information she presented is beyond me, but this is an attempt to alert people to a problem we know too little about. Much of what we surround ourselves with contains plastic in some form. What it is doing to us may be far more harmful than most of us realize.

What Dr. van Dis had to say was quite eye-opening. Plastic in some form is in much of what we expose ourselves to. Her remarks revealed that its presence has serious deleterious effects on our health.

Among the conclusions Dr. van Dis had come to was that she should expose herself to as little plastic and the chemicals it contains and leaks as possible. That includes avoiding polyester clothing and acrylic paint. Look for paraben-free shampoo. According to her, growing your own food as much as possible works. She described herself as a vegan. Not allowing her children to crawl on polyester carpeting was mentioned.

Those who attended the informative session got a big-time wake-up call. One of the more surprising views she expressed was that attempting to recycle plastic likely does more harm than good. Green Orleans will attempt to alert residents to her next nearby presentation.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

In the aftermath of the President’s speech to Congress, my reflections have brought me to accept certain unsavory truths. Left wing liberal Democrats have a pathological hatred of Trump.

It doesn’t matter what the issue is or if the American people support what he’s doing. One of Trump’s most poignant remarks substantiated this when he stated that even if he cures devastating diseases, he would not warrant their approval. They are totally combative to him. At this point in time it seems inconceivable that the Democrats will admit that Trump has done any good for our nation.

The Democrats are still licking their wounds from the November loss and following James Carville’s advice to play dead.

The walking dead manifested themselves, like true zombies, during that speech. A new low. Except for Al Green of Texas who made a fool of himself and sacrificed his dignity to disrupt and create bedlam. Did he really think he would awaken the zombies in attendance?

Then the “This is Not Normal” sign. You know what isn’t normal – the Democrats had a chance during the Biden presidency to do something about corrupt capitalism but instead sidetracked that to focus on the grievances of extreme liberals, illegal immigrants and gender diversity.

Now that Musk is trying to reduce our national debt, which is unsustainable, and advocate for transparency, they are all up in arms – targeting him as the bad guy. Normal business practice where first and second line supervision are continually under pressure to cut heads has always been the law of the land.

When Musk asked employees to list the 5 things they accomplished in the past week, everybody went nuts. Many huge corporations have done this for years on a timely basis. GM started this in the 1970’s calling them Monthly Highlights – a very common practice.

If you didn’t turn them in, you didn’t get your paycheck. When I taught, my lesson plans had to be done weekly, and if I was out sick, my alternate plans for the sub were ready to execute.

The Democrats have become impotent and that in turn has prevented them from doing the right thing. That is NOT normal!

The ridiculous “bingo signs” ( Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele of MSNBC) reminded me once again of their failures and difficulties as a political party to face the facts. They really never achieved their break through moment and are trying to redefine their identity. However this identity crisis has prevented them from creating a platform that extends beyond their antagonism to Trump.

Their refusal to not even applaud DJ Daniel a boy diagnosed with brain cancer, or Jason Hartley who had just gained admission to West Point  illustrated their stubborn refusal to open their minds. A disgrace!

Marc Fogel, an American school teacher, arrested in 2021 by Russia; sitting in the audience with his 95 year old mother – and the zombies didn’t flinch to acknowledge his release.

When hatred is this intense, one seldom welcomes varying views, belief systems and behavior. It becomes intolerant and is an overt act of discrimination. The unity of humanity is corroded and breaks down.

Instead of listening to James Carville, the Democrats better wake up and redefine who they are, to align their party’s purpose with the goals, safety, prosperity and solidarity of the populace.

Mary Mager

Fairport, formerly of Albion