We’d like to share our thoughts regarding the upcoming New York gubernatorial election. We are not fans of Kathy Hochul, but have previously voted for her, she being our “lesser of two evils” choice.
Her heart is usually in the right place, but she’s seemingly seldom encountered an issue that she didn’t enthusiastically throw (our taxpayer) money at.
Her opponent, Bruce Blakeman, promises to cut our utility bills in half, but doesn’t tell us how he’ll make this happen. Are we to believe that he holds such power and influence over our electric, heating fuel, water/sewer, and telecommunication providers that this pledge could ever be more than an empty, unbelievable, laughable campaign promise? Judging from the number of Blakeman yard signs on display in western New York, sadly, many of our neighbors do! Pretending for the moment that this could (or would) actually happen, we’d bet our taxpayer monies would be overwhelmingly utilized.
Beyond this silliness, he proclaims our current president “the greatest president in (his) lifetime.” Setting aside every Democratic president, it would seem even the most ardent “straight ticket” GOP voters would strongly disagree. A list of Republican presidents since Blakeman’s birth in 1955 includes (among others) Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan, and (the elder) Bush – each “greater” (on their worst day) than our current president.
And finally, any candidate who utters the words “Peace, love, and Donald Trump” in the same sentence seems foolish, desperate, and delusional – thereby unfit for office.
Without question, it’s another “lesser of two evils” vote for us.
We may not be experiencing a temporary economic adjustment. Long-term problems hurting consumers since the Reagan tax cuts and now the further ballooning deficit are out of control. Nostrums to deal with this – too long in vogue – are killing us.
Tariffs hurt prices. Bonds yields are falling as our friends increasingly buy bonds from other, less risky, trade partners. The One Big Beautiful Act ballooned deficits and the printing of money.
Since consumers have to pay a higher percentage of their income for good, the benefits of tax cuts and interest rate increases hugely favor the selfish elites who are now working with politicians to control our lives. No matter what the Administration claims (daily) about ending the oil crisis it started, that is not enough to patch the basic problem.
Since Reagan, our national debt has increased 3,700 percent in absolute dollars. It now constitutes 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product – and with the Trump tax cuts will by 2054 with interest be 166 percent of GDP. Interest payments on our debt has increased 1,000 percent!
Think for example that even relatively small Reagan’s first round of cuts in ’81 helped the top 1% sixty eight times what reached the average consumer. And tax cuts do not solve the problem. The London School of Economics looked at 50 years of data from 18 advanced economies and tax cuts consistently increased income inequality without growth in GDP! Growth in GDP is what helps consumers!
Additionally thinking that spending cuts work is a false claim. Trump cut Medicare part A 12% already. It did not result in our promised $2,000 checks and is breaking the budgets for rural hospitals (in particular). By the time we initially fired 10 percent of government employees, we merely saved 1 percent. Tax cuts since ’81 have simply thrown spending onto localities which are in large part financed by property tax – another regressive effect.
We need sound economic, principled capitalist, answers. All too many confuse capitalism with profits and not the sound economics of competition. Solutions to talk about include: 1) nominal dollar ceilings each year for non-discretionary programs rather than percentage increases tied to growth formulas ties such as GDP or inflation; 2) Doing away with caps on Social Security contributions; 3) Wealth taxes; 4) Use flat rate, no cost overruns allowed, military contracts as some other countries do; 5) Convert from an estate tax to a capital gains tax – this would avoid the current US problem which results in elites simply borrowing money to live on and pay interest rather than tax estate tax when they die. Obamacare was similar to the Swiss answer for a mixed private and public system but the best features were stripped out by the Supreme Court. There are several less expensive medical systems that combine public and private choices and cost 2/3 or less than what we pay.
We are facing ever increase trouble unless consumer’s income and standard of living come first. Vanity projects like a ballroom and putting his name on the monument built for President Kennedy – The Kennedy Center – not only waste money but also demonstrate indifference to real people problems.
The US needs to return to party politics as they existed when I was young and life was good. We had two “big tent” parties – Eisenhower Republicans and FDR Democrats. Both put consumers first and said it plainly and without bowing to extremists.
It was Eisenhower who said to beware of the Military/Industrial Complex. We paid our way. If candidates do not meet these tests and rely on hate as a recipe for good governance, send them out to pasture.
Such a travesty to now read of the sale of The Central Hall building at 34 East Park St. in Albion.
This sale is the result of Orleans County’s Legislature – with only negative vote against – decision to move the Orleans County Historian’s Office to its ridiculous site now behind Subway in Albion.
Shame on all of you who voted to move this historical library of local artifacts!
My name is Kathy Harnischfeger. I am running for Clarendon Town Supervisor as a write-in candidate. I am a moderate Democrat who believes in the 2nd amendment. While this may deter some of our residents, what is important to know is that the position of Town Supervisor holds no more power than the Town Board members.
I decided to run as a write-in candidate after the primary election results because I felt that our community needed another choice. The Town of Clarendon has faced some serious issues the last 9 months which has unfortunately divided our community in a big way.
I want to help the community heal and move forward by serving every Clarendon resident. I have been to too many board meetings to count over the years. I have worked with our Town Board to try to improve Clarendon’s standard of living, so every resident can live happily in peace and harmony with their neighbor.
I have studied the town law book and continue to do so. I believe the leader of a community should hold honor, integrity and most importantly, have the taxpayers’ best interests at heart.
This is an important position. This shouldn’t be a personal race. This shouldn’t be a popularity contest. This should be about who is the best person to lead the town, and who can best represent every resident in the community, regardless of who they support.
Ultimately, my goal is to bring everyone together and move forward in a positive direction. This is not a partisan race for me, I simply want to serve the community I have called home for 20 years.
I have asked the other candidate to join me on October 16 starting at 6 p.m., at the Clarendon Town Hall for a Community Q&A session. This will be the opportunity to get to know me as a person, what I stand for, and what my goals are for the community of Clarendon.
Enough is enough! It is time we move Clarendon forward together as a community by creating a more unified environment for all that call Clarendon their home. I am so excited to meet everyone!
This letter is submitted on behalf of the Community Coalition for Justice (CCJ). The CCJ is an organization based in Orleans County that regularly sponsors programs that are open to the community that focus on diversity and other relevant social justice issues.
In this vein, the CCJ wishes to remind our community that the “lion’s share” of our farmworkers (those who harvest our crops) are migrants and that they are the backbone of America’s food system.
Despite this contribution, many of our farmworkers continue to face housing and food insecurity, fear of deportation without due process, and lack of healthcare. We need to support programs that address these concerns.
Farmworkers, who are not provided with employer housing, are often forced to crowd together in small apartments and “rooming houses.” We must ensure that these farmworkers are able to find safe and affordable housing.
Additionally, the children of our farmworkers are often faced with educational disruptions and barriers. These children should have access to a quality public education, irrespective of their native language, national origin or immigration status.
We should support programs to assist (via land trusts, training programs, etc.) farmworkers who wish to become farm managers or farm owners themselves. The farmworkers of today could be part of a new generation of farmers that reflects the diversity of our country.
It is time that we treat the people who help feed us with dignity and respect. It is time that the workers in our food system share in the prosperity that they help build. Our farmworkers deserve due process, and, if they meet the criteria (per the U.S. immigration laws), deserve a pathway to citizenship.
In calling on all people to remember each person’s human dignity, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops added “May we recognize the rich gifts that neighbors from diverse cultures bring to our communities.”
In closing, we will add there are many other realms in the U.S. that employ migrant workers i.e. construction, manufacturing, health care, and hospitality. The people in these industries also need to be treated with the same consideration.
The CCJ is sponsoring an event entitled “What Does A Welcoming Farm Community Look Like?” on Monday, September 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Hoag Library. Please join us as we explore ways to help this important part of our community.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 15 September 2026 at 5:00 pm
Ginny Kropf at 7 or 8 years of age is standing in the road with the Roberts Homestead on the left, with her home down the road on the right and the East Shelby Methodist Church (now East Shelby Community Bible Church) up the hill on the left.
SHELBY – It was with great interest I read about the cemetery tours being offered by the Orleans County Historical Association this past summer.
The tour for Aug. 2 featured Maple Ridge Cemetery, which just happens to be on the property where I grew up. I lived with my uncle and aunt, Murray and Helen Baker, and the cemetery was a favorite place to play for my friend Barbara Boyle (now Schreiber) who lived across the road.
The cemetery was unkept, and weeds were knee-high. There were woodchuck holes which we had to be careful not to step in. We looked at the names on the gravestones, but none of them made any difference to us, other than we did note there was a Revolutionary War soldier buried there. We tried to climb the taller gravestones, and never did any damage. A favorite thing was eating the black caps which grew wild there.
So it was with great joy when nearly two years ago I was able to cover an event in the cemetery honoring a Revolutionary War soldier buried there. How or who discovered the grave I don’t remember. It may have been when his great-great-great-great-grandson James Walker from Pontiac, Michigan discovered the burial location after years of searching for information on his ancestor.
Walker contacted the Sons of the American Legion in Rochester and they secured a marker which was placed on the grave of Benjamin Darling in a ceremony which included members of the Sons from Buffalo and Rochester, a reading by Walker and a firing squad.
Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) An American and Revolutionary War flag fly in the breeze as a member of the Rochester Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution plays Taps during a ceremony on Oct. 27, 2024 at the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Darling in Maple Ridge Cemetery. (Right) A firing squad from the Rochester Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution fire a musket salute over the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Darling in Maple Ridge Cemetery.
During the ceremony it occurred to me that Benjamin had to have lived in the town of Shelby and I asked Walker if he knew where. He said after spending years trying to locate his Revolutionary War relative, he knew nothing else of him, other than the company he served with and where he fought.
I realized that Benjamin belonged to the same company and served in the same battle as my great-great-great grandfather Daniel Roberts. Then I became obsessed to learn where Benjamin had lived. I contacted Catherine Cooper, Orleans County historian. The only thing she could find is that he lived in the sixth house on the east side of East Shelby Road and he had a son who was a master builder and was credited with building many fine structures in the town.
That really piqued my interest, because the Roberts homestead (which was the first house south of East Shelby Community Bible Church and since burned down by vandals) was indeed a very fine structure. It was large and square with an upper balcony and center staircase leading to a sitting room at the top of the stairs.
As a young child growing up in the next house northeast of the mansion, we used to visit our great-aunts who lived there almost every day. A huge woodshed was attached at the back of the house, and an indoor outhouse was attached to that. I can remember clearly going in there in the winter and the wind would be blowing right up through the holes. A Montgomery Ward catalog hooked over a nail was our toilet paper.
They had “running water” in the form of a pump in a sink in the dining room, adjacent to the kitchen. A formal living room on the northeast corner was large and had a Victrola/Gramophone) there. The room was never used as I remember.
Now I am obsessed to learn if Benjamin’s son might have been the builder of that house.
Ginny Kropf, Larry Boyle and Barbara Boyle (Schreiber) in the driveway where I grew up on Maple Ridge Road. The peach orchard is behind us and the Maple Ridge Cemetery is behind the peach orchard.
My oldest son Randy has taken an interest in genealogy, and some months after the cemetery ceremony, I got an e-mail from him with a map from the 1800s showing the four corners in Millville, with location of homes and owners. It shows a Darling lived the last house on the south side of 31A , which begins just past the “Y” in the road where County House Road and 31A begin. Another Darling (which we know was Benjamin) lived six houses south on East Shelby Road, which I assume to be where Meyers lived when I was young and where Mr. Gardner lives now.
But I know of no way to document who built the Roberts Homestead. What a coincidence it would be if it were Benjamin Darling’s son!
I am happy, however, to have been able to provide James Walker with a little more information than he previously knew about his Revolutionary War ancestor.
It should also be noted that a marker designating the name of the cemetery was placed on Maple Ridge Road a few years ago and the town of Shelby has taken over its care. Old bushes and trees have been removed and the grass is kept mowed.
Barbara and I have been planning to go there and walk around.
I have handed in to the town and to the Orleans Hub some good reasons why a STR (short-term rental) or airbnb should not be on an easement, shared lane, or private shared lane.
On a private one-way lane, when approximately 10 people reside on the lane, it’s a private lane. People who purchased that type of property have spent their hard-earned money on their properties for peace and quiet and not to see strangers come in and out.
That was not their intentions in buying that type of property. They are not on a public road way. It’s a private one-way lane where the people should not have to beg the town not to allow it when there are other places in the town of Yates/Lyndonville where STRs or airbnbs can reside.
It’s not like people are asking the town or the people not to have any of them at all. People who have saved all their life just to have something like this, a beautiful home on the lake, not a motel in their quiet and peaceful area and for it to be ripped away from them.
The chairman of the board has been asked several times to exclude two of the Yates Town Board and they weren’t, even when one owns an STR in a different town and the other owns a business here hoping it will generate more business for him which is very acceptable but not on a lane that consists of approximately 10 people. On the private lanes, STRs should be prohibited, period.
It also seems to me by going to these meetings when we are allowed to talk about it to the Town Board, some of the board members seem to have already made their decision.
I realize it’s stressful to the town supervisor and board members because they are being pulled in different directions and trying to make everyone happy but like I said these properties were purchased before STRs and airbnbs where ever as popular as they are today.
I am pretty sure most people would of thought twice before purchasing if they knew they would be next to an STR. We personally own two properties on the private one-way lane and I would be very disappointed if Town Board allows STRs on these private one-way lanes.
Please think this through to the fullest extent due to the people who paid a large amount of money to own this type of property, and not be next to a motel and have to not to worry about who is who and what is what when their children or grandchildren are at play.
A private one-way lane is not a public roadway. It’s a private one-way lane for the people who own and pay taxes and lane maintenance, period.
Head Start is far more than preschool. It gives children a strong start through education, health and developmental screenings, nutrition, and family support services that are especially important in rural communities like ours. A proposed federal rule could weaken the standards and comprehensive approach that make Head Start effective.
The proposal would remove hundreds of requirements, permit larger classes and lower staffing levels, reduce wraparound services, and cut the administrative-cost cap from 15% to 5%. That may sound like reducing bureaucracy, but administration is how local programs pay for fiscal accountability, human resources, technology, compliance, facilities, and safety. For small and rural nonprofit agencies, a 5% cap could destabilize programs or force them to close.
Our community cannot afford further losses. Community Action of Orleans & Genesee is already managing a federally imposed $912,000 reduction that cost valued jobs and reduced available Head Start slots from 244 to 194. Weakening standards or cutting realistic administrative support would put even more children and families at risk.
Submit a public comment by October 6, 2026, at https://www.regulations.gov by searching docket ACF-2026-0595, or email Deregulation@acf.hhs.gov and include the docket number in the subject line. You may also contact your members of Congress, but only comments submitted directly to the Administration for Children and Families become part of the official rulemaking record.
Please speak from your own experience and tell federal officials what Head Start means to our children, families, and communities. This is our opportunity to protect a program that has changed lives for generations. Head Start should be strengthened, not diminished.
Promoting public safety is the goal of all public servants, regardless of Democratic, Republican, or Independent. Since crime is a complex phenomenon, promoting public safety requires serious, thoughtful analysis grounded in data and fairness for the communities and the victims.
That is why after years of studies, Bail Reform, Raise the Age, and other criminal justice reforms were passed by New York State Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. But that is not the end. These programs are constantly evaluated and tweaked to make them better.
Crime statistics are one important way to evaluate these programs. In Western New York, including in the GLOW region, violent crimes (including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) have dropped. In 2021 and 2022, there were approximately 6,000 incidents of violent crime while in 2024 and 2025 there were only about 4,000 incidents, according to New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) data.
Still, far too many, but the trend is improving. Studies by the Brennan Center, the University at Albany, John Jay College, and Loyola University have all confirmed that bail reform and other criminal justice reforms have had little or no effect on crime. The benefit to society is reduced incarceration and cost, while providing a more equitable system of justice for all. Other researchers have shown that long prison sentences do not reduce crime or improve public safety.
Both experience and research shows that the “lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key” approach to crime isn’t working. However, it won’t stop politicians like Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Senator Rob Ortt from telling their constituents that criminal justice reforms, like bail reform, contribute to increase in crime despite the factual evidence.
I suspect that is because crime is a complex issue that is not easy to address in a campaign slogan; to claim that you are tough on crime. It is much easier to claim your opponent is to blame, or immigrants are to blame for crime.
Regardless of what I think, the “tough-on-crime” approach shows a lack of understanding and an indifference to reducing crime. As I stated above, promoting public safety requires serious, thoughtful analysis.
Politicians like Mr. Hawley and Mr. Ortt are not serious about addressing the issues of crime. I urge voters to support candidates that support criminal justice reforms backed by the evidence that these reforms benefit all of society.
In the early stages of dementia, people get nasty and irrational. On any given day there is a different excuse or justification.
Ronald Reagan said the United States and Canada should not have tariffs. He knew our economies are braided together as tightly as well kept pig tails on one head – the North American continent. Closer economically than any other two counties on earth.
For example, now we are going to have a 50% tariff on products like aluminum. Last year the claim was we would buy aluminum from Bahrain instead. But, dah, we can not buy Bahrain’s aluminum this year as it has cancelled all aluminum contracts due to inability to ship through the Strait of Hormuz.
Canada will be hurt but we need many of its products simply to keep prices down. Wood, aluminum, crude oil and gas, electric and wheat to name a few.
I was just there and although they will lose a lot of jobs, grocery bills there are generally far better than ours. We will be hurt badly even before they hit back.
These folks are our good friends and insisting that we get pre-approval over their trade with other countries would indenture them to our whims. Insisting they buy our jets – which require long runways – is bad strategy when they also need more short take-off fighters which can use roads for take-off and landing in the Arctic they patrol along the northern Russian border.
There will be tariffs on products covered by our trade agreement. So we are also breaking our word. Perhaps that is one reason Canada has world-leading investment. Not here; there! That is the price for being unreliable.
And one of the saddest things is that the wealthier a family is, the less they are hurt by tariffs. They spend more of their income on investments and, unlike you and me, less on products they need to live. How the US is using tariffs is another way to shift wealth upstream.
SHELBY – It was with great interest I read about the cemetery tours being offered by the Orleans County Historical Association this past summer.
