Editor:

Last week, the state Legislature reconvened for another session to address a variety of issues, including some of the ongoing concerns New Yorkers are facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

As government is essential, my colleagues and I have been meeting throughout the crisis and are prepared to continue doing so in order to make sure the needs of the people are being fully addressed. Though there is a lot more work to be done, and, of course, there were plenty of bills that I didn’t like that came up for a vote, I was pleased we passed some good measures (which are described below) last week in a bipartisan manner working across the aisle that will help the people of Western New York and the 144th Assembly District – including two bills I am very proud to sponsor.

Perhaps most importantly, we passed legislation (A.10840) to scale back the immunity from liability clauses going forward for nursing homes with regards to arranging health care services during the Covid-19 crisis. Of course, many of our nursing homes and their staff are following protocols and doing good job. But in the instances where someone does not follow protocols and take proper precautions, we are seeing how devastatingly quickly those losses can spread throughout an entire nursing home. We have the personal protective equipment, tests, knowledge and, hopefully, the understanding to know better – everything that can be done to protect our vulnerable populations, like those in nursing homes, must be done. No excuses. I proudly voted yes on this bill.

To ensure every eligible voter has the ability to vote without greater risking their health, or the health of others, I also voted in support of legislation (A.10833) to allow absentee ballots to be obtained during the Covid-19 pandemic by those who do not feel comfortable voting in person due to health concerns or are at greater risk.

To address the food shortage concerns exposed earlier in the pandemic, I also supported legislation (A.10607-A) that would strengthen our state’s self-reliance in terms of farming, food production and ensuring an adequate food supply for New Yorkers. Specifically, this bill creates a working group between various state agencies and relevant industries (agriculture, labor, food transporters, retailers, emergency food providers, etc.) and charges them with compiling a report of recommendations.

I was also the proud sponsor of some bills that came to the floor and ultimately passed. Assembly Bill 9779 creates a task force and report on volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention as well as helps implement a training program within BOCES so that more, younger recruits can get hands-on experience and credit through school. This bill has been passed in both houses, and I hope it will be signed into law by the governor shortly.

I also sponsored Assembly Bill 5070 which passed the Assembly to provide greater assistance to property owners along the shores of Lake Ontario by requiring the state Department of Financial Services to publish information about flood insurance and necessary contact information, including their disaster hotline.

Two other bills I was pleased to support were legislation that creates a registry of workplace fatalities and requires the state Department of Labor to publish a report of such fatalities on their website (A.5965), and a bill that directs that Division of Veterans’ Services to make it easier for veterans with traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder to obtain help (A.8114).

Please know, I am working hard for you and will continue to work with my colleagues on common sense legislation to help New York’s families and taxpayers.  My staff and I are available to assist you if you are in need. You can call my office at (716) 839-4691, email me at norrism@nyassembly.gov or follow me on social media for more updates.

Michael Norris

Lockport

(Norris is the assemblyman for District 144, which includes Shelby in Orleans County and part son Niagara and Erie counties.)

Editor:

Governor Cuomo is at it again!

I am sorely disappointed, but never surprised by the State’s headlong rush to destroy rural New York State. This time it involves our water supply as well as the sport fishing and tourism industries so important to our economy and way of life.

Apparently, the Governor is interested in siting offshore wind turbines within 2 miles of the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The myriad and significant issues that would arise from an ill-advised initiative such as this one would include:

• Contaminated water supply as a result of toxin release from lake bed disturbances during construction and wind turbine nacelle leaks after construction
• Shipping lane restrictions
• Migratory bird flyway disruptions
• Significant disruption of lake sport-fishing
• Significant disruption to pleasure boating activities
• Significant night time light pollution from aircraft navigation lighting installed on turbines

As lakeshore towns, we understand more than most the importance of these resources and the complete folly of destroying them in the name of electrical generation via an obsolete technology that currently generates no more than 0.10% of the State’s daily electrical needs.  Frankly, much more appropriate options for clean energy production are hydro and nuclear. In fact, nuclear plants can be very easily placed Downstate where the energy is needed without destroying prime agricultural land upstate.

The typical 1,000mW nuclear power plant utilizes 640 acres of land. Contrast this with the 12,000 acres of land a 200mW industrial wind turbine facility would use or the 3,000 acres required for a 150mW solar power installation.

Additionally, the Indian Point Nuclear Power plant in Buchannan, NY (Westchester County) produces 2,000mW of power at a 239-acre site in that town. However, the well-heeled residents of Westchester County browbeat the Governor into closing that site, leaving a minimum 39% daily deficit in downstate power generation. The deficit is being replaced with coal-generated power from New Jersey.

Interestingly and not surprisingly, nonprofit consortium Sustainable Westchester (read Albany lobbying group) does not agree that power should be generated where it is needed, as they state in their recent missive to the state:

“Tier 4 resource eligibility should be expanded to NYCA zones H and I deliveries. The same remarks stated…about New York City apply to Westchester County: a Tier 1 land-based renewable generation cannot be built in the County because of the same lack of developable sites for largescale solar systems or wind farms. In order to increase the penetration of renewable energy in Westchester County, the only solution for the communities is to contract a supply with upstate renewable generation and have it delivered in the County.”

So, Sustainable Westchester, believes that there are no “developable” sites in ALL of Westchester County and New York City and that rural, Western New York should bear the brunt of power generation for the Downstate area?

Westchester County = NIMBY land?  Maybe.

Lesson to Sustainable Westchester and Governor Cuomo: Just because there are not skyscrapers on rural Western New York land does not mean that land is vacant and unused.  Fully 100% of all rural land in Western New York is utilized in growing food for Downstate as well as providing a clean environment for constituents and wildlife in kind.

There are better energy solutions than destroying our Great Lakes.

John B. Riggi

Councilman, Town of Yates

Editor:

I read here about the State Sheriffs’ Association’s proposal to add laws and increase some penalties to protect law enforcement officers. Better defined and additional laws to protect police and address new situations is a good idea. Each department has a year to reevaluate itself and what it needs to do to improve unneeded violence. Feeling safe is a consideration.

My entire career I have always thought it wrong-headed that a “push off and run” situation by a defendant could be charged exactly the same as a “in your face fist fight” situation. And now we have electronic ways to harass police. With immunity gone or modified, improving this mess is reasonable.

Unfortunately the Association so far ducked the bigger issue of ensuring better, safer communities, not torn apart by racism and bigotry and excessive violence by anyone.

The impression was that police do not need any extra training or money for “de-escalation” training and implementation. That is facially wrong. For example, “Tactical disengagement” with a mentally ill person needs a mental health specialist on call. The suggestions forgot to include help with things like that.

One Association suggestion runs counter to both the Madison Method and the 1968 “The Kerner Commission” report.  The Association seems to want to be able to arrest anyone who stands to close to wherever the police go. If there is time there is also a Berlin method to help.

The bipartisan 1968 Kerner Commission found – just as we have again seen now – that aggressive police action, including setting perimeters, cornering people, using tear gas, first use of clubs… all trigger violent reactions even among bystanders.

We are seeing that reaction in Portland where the Mayor’s “Wall of Moms” and bystanders are all getting gassed and mauled first. Violence has predictably increased.  (The video of the Buffalo City police crowd control shows military tactics. The ad about Portland uses footage from the Ukrainian revolution. )

Let’s hope the Association is not caught up in the current push to resurrect Nixon’s old tactics which used code words to divide people and created bad situations by indiscriminately throwing police weight about. Hopefully wanted to get a list of concerns out there quickly for the local agencies and the Legislature to consider.

If the Association is being straight with us this is only a start. Let’s see how the Association follows up to help on what the plans are required to address.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I am Mark Glogowski, Ph.D, Libertarian candidate for NY State 139th Assembly District.

One of the most important issues I believe we face is the unconstitutional tyranny of our current taxation situation. Having an ally in your Assembly is crucial to correcting this.

Being realistic, it will take time to unweave the tangled interrelations between government agencies and departments that have been created since the 16th Amendment was ratified, but it is doable. It will take time to get our obese government trimmed down to be lean and efficient, and with a lower appetite for taxes, but it is achievable.

There are several ways we can begin this process. The first is to get the state to operate within a balanced budget by cutting spending, not increasing taxes. We need a legislature that is aware of and pursues non-governmental options when issues are being considered. A legislature that is willing to hear and apply Libertarian solutions, thus eliminating the need for the wealth of the people to support the government’s involvement. Here are just a few places and activities we could proactively begin.

• Permit our governor and legislature to take control of expenditures by providing both with the equivalent of the ‘line item’ veto ability.

• End the practice of legislation being placed in budgets (it is unconstitutional).

• Remove barriers that prevent local governments from spontaneously working cooperatively together again. The discussions recently between Genesee and Orleans Counties regarding a shared jail is a good example. Unfortunately, no matter what they agree on, the barrier now in place is that the state government has oversight of county governments (instead of the other way around) and the state has in place barriers that prevent spontaneous intra-governmental cooperation.

• Allow all local governments (county, city,  town, and village) to put more of an emphasis on sales taxes and less on real estate taxes and real estate based service charges.

• Eliminate real estate taxes all together. They effectively cause you to not actually own the property you paid for. As with any property tax, if you don’t pay your real estate taxes you will be evicted by the Government and will lose your property.

• Dismantle the Industrial Development Agencies and the Economic Development Zones (famous for setting up competition for existing businesses with taxpayer money and dictating to counties, towns and villages what they can and cannot do.)

• Initially reduce the immense number of grants, and then eliminate grants altogether. Grants are nothing more than acts of tyranny, where government takes money from you and gives it to companies and individuals for projects that are not economically viable (such as putting up 640-foot windmills) and companies with poor business plans (like the local yogurt company that disappeared shortly after state funding ran out), and grants to pay for studies to find out where new grants can be issued (as happens in such projects as the Finger Lakes Forward initiative). Government is going out of its way to find something worthwhile to do with your hard-earned money rather than letting you keep it and invest as you see fit.

Let’s put a stop to government wasting your hard earned money. If we are successful we will see more activity by private enterprise to help spur the economy and build a better community, such as the grant program set up by Heritage Wind.

All these barriers were placed by generations of Democrat and Republican politicians. You cannot employ the same thinking to change as was used to create this mess.

Support my efforts to become your NYS Assemblyman and I assure you, restructuring our financial (tax) structure, rescinding the 16th Amendment, and restoring financial barriers to taxing will be among my top objectives. As your Assemblyman, I will work to initiate a call to rescind the 16th Amendment (giving government power to collect income taxes) and will seek the support of the Assemblies in 35 other States. I will work to give you back control over your wealth and possessions.

Mark Glogowski

Hamlin

(Glogowski is a candidate for the 139^th Assembly District which includes part of western Monroe, most of Orleans and all of Genesee counties.)

Editor:

A face mask is more than a piece of cloth. It’s a sign of respect. If you can wear a mask, you should do it. It shouldn’t be up for discussion.

If we can save one life, then wearing a mask at the supermarket for an hour or so has got to be entirely worth it.

Think about other people. You might not get sick from the coronavirus, but you might give it to someone else.

So what we need everybody to do is wear that mask. It’s just like wearing a seatbelt. It is important for everyone to realize we all have a role in containing this disease so hospital capacity remains at a manageable level.

There were questions about whether masks were necessary or effective in the early stages of the pandemic, but as knowledge of the virus has grown, the importance of masks has become clear.

Wear a mask. Keep your distance. Wash your hands. Practice safe living. Anything less is selfish.

Successfully navigating this pandemic doesn’t mean getting back to the status quo. It means addressing missed warning signs that defined the pre-covid world, and creating a better world to take its place.

Wearing a mask, ladies and gentleman, is respect.

Lynne Johnson

Lyndonville

Chairman of the Orleans County Legislature

Editor:

We are faced with a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that is disrupting economic activity. Business are closed and employees are out of work. This is negatively impacting their employer-based health plans.

The Republican plan to help people without health insurance is a “phenomenal plan” that has yet, after 10 years, to be determined. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s 2020 budget (which Chris Jacobs supports), calls to cut the Affordable Care Act and cuts to C.D.C.

The American Public Health Association Executive Director, Georges Benjamin, MD stated: “This budget, put simply, is a disinvestment in the health of Americans.” The New York Times reported July 14. “The coronavirus pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million American worker of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses that have ever lost coverage in a single year, according to a new analysis.”

Before the ACA, insurance companies routinely denied coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Business Insider (March 4, 2020), reported: “A study conducted by the American Journal of Public Health in 2009 found that 66.5% of the 1.4 million bankruptcies in the US are related to medical issues.”

Approximately 487,000 people signed up for the ACA after the open enrollment period ended in December, according to The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, mostly in April and May of this year which suggest the surge in enrollment was linked to layoffs due to coronavirus pandemic. Yet, the “phenomenal fantastic plan” of the Republicans is yet to be determined. Now, with a healthcare crisis, cutting healthcare as the Republicans (and Congressman Chris Jacobs) are proposing, leaving millions without insurance, is the wrong course of action.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Recently I have been hearing and reading that Governor Cuomo does not care about upstate or small business.

Personally I think he is a ruthless politician but in truth we should not shoot the firefighter. We need to stop the arsonist.

I run a small business. During the peak of Covid-19 in New York, I was swamped keeping up by myself with the matters considered essential to public safety.

I also know the pain and inconvenience of compliance to reopen – for me virus-rated air filters, plastic seats, matting for a constantly sanitized meeting area, limited access, taking temperatures, etc. etc. Measures like that are part of life for all of us for the foreseeable future.

But, by golly, New York is open and holding C-19 at bay for now. It rages in other places which played politics with it. They ignored, and ignore, that the entire European continent closed more drastically than NY, opened sooner, and has miniscule numbers and deaths in comparison. (And now we are learning about delayed strokes, brain, heart, and kidney damage that may haunt us for years to come. )

I do not like saying it but Cuomo is not the enemy in this case. Trump assumed powers over wages, the right to commander plants, to order production, to close and regulate all aspects of all business all the way back in March when he gave up in telling us the total number of infections would be stopped at 15.

And Cuomo did not take the small business money. Senators’ wives and big business got huge amounts of the PPP money meant for us. In my case I was approved but the SBA ignored the law’s formulas and diverted money so I too ended up without any.

To make matters worse the Federal audit committee meant to protect us was composed of Inspector Generals. But Trump has been firing them one by one – starting the first week with the Chairman, Glenn Fine.

Cuomo is a convenient person to blame by partisans and people suffering because he is at least doing something.

We are in the midst of a breakdown of law which is why SCOTUS has put Trump down several times. On immigration, for the first time, it came out and said they did not “believe” what a sitting President told them. Conservative judges refused to be made fools of in the name of party.

In the two recent subpoena related cases, SCOTUS laid out a two hundred year history of law and held the President’s premise had no validity. They took the time to carefully explain why he was blowing hot air. Sadly, there are too many violations to ever litigate every one through lengthy court proceedings each and every time.

Focusing only on small business and C-19, Trump has squirted – and keeps squirting –  lighter fluid on the flames rather use the extinguisher our laws gave him – and him alone – to use. Our Covid failure is his failure to respect our laws and get off the golf course.

That’s why I say do not shoot the firefighter. Stop the arsonist and every darn fool who plays with matches.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Attention Town of Yates board members. I am making you aware of this because I have not been paying attention to what you have been up to for the last 3 months since there have been no open town meetings and I’m very mad at myself for that. I have just looked at the minutes and I find things to be very disturbing.

I am sick to my stomach and incensed that you would put forth resolutions, Resolution 67-7/20 one that that would handcuff our already demoralized local law enforcement from doing their job. For money! Your job as town fathers is to make sure the safety and wellbeing of this town and its citizens is first and forefront. Not appeasing to Marxist anti-American communist terrorist groups that wants to end civilization or a maniacal Governor.

Since the passing of the globalist manifesto comprehensive plan this town has been on a grant-crazed high. The citizens of the town of Yates have to suffer the consequences. For money!  Resolution 67-7/20 is also a bag of dung. It is asking you to discriminate against one group and give preferential treatment to another. For money! How much is your self respect and dignity worth? Selling out the police? Discriminating against one group to appease another. Everyone seems to have a price. What is yours? Grant money? I’m just getting started here.

There are people lining up for food every week in our county – 300 and more boxes of food gone in minutes. The givers are running out of things to give. Not everyone there is because it’s a chance to get free food. But it’s happening and you out-of-touch, devoid-of-reality politicians are giving the Highway Superintendent 105,000 dollars to buy a new mower. I can’t believe that during a time of pandemic you would even consider this. I would put that purchase on hold because you look like your uncaring to the taxpayers.

The state is in a self-inflicted billions of dollars deficit. The local taxpayers, many broke to their core, are not going to be able to pay their school and property tax and you all act clueless and allocate this money. There is no bailout coming from the feds or the state. Then you do a resolution to override the tax cap.

You spend and spend then give yourself the right to raise our taxes. Then there is this insane park project that is going to be a bigger burden to the taxpayers. Have you been down there lately? You should go try to have a cook out and let the kids play in the goose droppings covered grass. There is goose droppings wall to wall in the grass by the grills and pavilion as big as dog droppings by the thousands. Not very appealing to bring your family to or even walk around to look at the lake.

It would be very unwise to pass those resolutions FOR MONEY. The police will not forget who has and who does not have their backs. You need to have their back and let them know you do. Pull back that 105,000 that you are going to need it to run the town. Highway can live another year. Stop spending money liberally. There really is no conservative thinking on this board.  This has to be going on in other towns, too. Stop taking grant money.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

False, nasty, demeaning, wildly inaccurate political trash used to mark the last few months before an election. In the last couple of decades rabid politics has become a year-round blood sport. The least informed become outspoken experts with the “final” word.

Currently “Defunding” the police is a politically nonsensical term and the attacks on it equally foolish. Calling reorganization “defunding” is as crazy political double speak as the political nonsense which says “tax cuts pay themselves.”

We are in the middle of rethinking police strategy, public services, and community improvement. I write simply to flesh out  some background (and a bit of opinion) for consideration.

With the federal budget cuts of the ’80s costs got pushed down stream and onto states, property taxes went up to cover the federal share while services were cut back.

As a result we have been looking for 40 years to the police to solve more problems which exceed their training.

Many of the better police concepts go back to the ’60s with formalized  ideas “distributed specialization” and “community policing.” “Stop and frisk” police theory is a military-type theory that is cheaper. That is because the stop in part depends on suspicion and on someone looking “suspicious.” It proved to be ripe for racists and for racist justifications.

Stop and frisk theory came along in the ’80s at the same time as those budget cuts and quickly became popular.  But it reversed gains in race relations and in retrospect made matters worse.

You get what you pay for. The recent failures of departments trained to be rough and ready really demonstrated the difference.

There are increasingly good examples of how well rethinks can work. In New York, Child Protective Services or Probation are often called first. If the police need CPS it’s there 24-7. And you certainly have seen that in other areas where police have crisis management, mental health, emergency housing, domestic violence experts, community health centers in support roles – and all sometimes in lead roles.

Right now police go into schools to help keep kids straight but, frankly, there is a huge national shortage of school psychologists who are better trained to address juvenile problems. I hope you get the point. It’s not a put down. It’s about being the best at what you are trained for.

Frankly it will cost more.

This rethink will be hard fought – particularly by those with the least knowledge or the most to lose. In Camden NJ, for example, the union was so dirty/criminal/ (there will always some in any group) that the department had to dismantle to void the union contracts and start over. In the end it worked extremely well.

As to the merits and types of things to talk about I already mentioned a few but also we know better mental health access correlates with less crime. Almost any increase in income correlates with reduced crime – education, sex education, vocational training, public work projects, and higher police wages and training all make for safer, better, communities. All should be talked through.

Catching up to where we were will not be simple, quick, or cheap. It’s just needed.

The biggest impediment is, I think, that tax increases on multi-millionaires will be needed to reclaim our communities. I could be wrong but with the low mean and medium income here in Orleans County if we go back to the old federal funding model, the income tax effect here may be minimal and our property tax could go down. It does require the federal government to step up and once again to make it work. (That is not to say that Congress must do better at floating the economy as red states Covid drags the economy down. It has to!)

I just heard a great example of a rethink from Korea. During demonstrations – very frequent there like France – the police shoot looters with indelible paint balls. Then they take a week or two picking them up and convict them on the body cam footage. There are a wealth of ideas to talk through.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

A letter writer to the Orleans Hub from Yates, whom I have never met, and have never talked to, wrote: “Mr. Fine’s delusion is like most of the backwards-thinking liberal wokesters. He believes that all and everything wrong with society lays on the evil white man just by the happenstance that they were born that way.”

Perhaps this writer is projecting what he believes onto me, but in any case this statement is a lie, period. This lie throws into doubt other statements made by this writer. This writer also states that “The police force is more than half, in most cases, minority.”

However, The New York Times reported in April 8, 2015, “Minorities make up a quarter of police forces, according to the 2007 survey, the most recent comprehensive data available.”

The writer obviously has opinions, but they are not based on available facts. This letter writer makes gross generalizations without facts or data and throws about irrelevant opinions.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

This is directed to the individual who called to report lack of “social distancing” at 39 Problems in Albion. You have learned well from the Brown Shirts of the Nazi era, as they also obediently called on law enforcement because they, too, thought that by doing so, they were being a good citizen.

You just wiped out another small business in downtown Albion. You put a hard working, community loving couple out of business. I hope that every time you pass that building, you remember that it was you who financially ruined your neighbors. You also made a permanent stain on our community.

As a result of your “patriotic” actions, you will make the rest of our small businesses suspicious of opening again at all. The owners of these businesses will be afraid of the nameless Brown Shirt neighbor, shamelessly patrolling the neighborhood for the slightest infraction by anyone not maintaining “social distancing” or not wearing a mask at all times.

You have single handedly made everyone nervous to bring life back to our town; small businesses out here have suffered the worst economic mess this pandemic. But instead of looking forward to opening their doors again, they will be wary of the snake out on the streets looking to put others out of business, ruining lives of people you don’t know, and possibly destroying any potential we have as a community to breathe life back into a small town.

Worse, you have created a probable solution to anyone else who is a castout to seek revenge on their neighbor who they don’t like, whose party you and they didn’t get invited to, on a former boss who fired them from their establishment, a weapon for cowards who don’t have the guts to confront the owners themselves, and anonymously ratting out an enemy of yours simply by picking up the phone and alerting our totalitarian NYS government.

You did didn’t just harm 39 Problems, you hurt all of us – small business owners, the customers who keep them in business, your neighbors who rely on employment that small businesses create and have made the atmosphere toxic in the age of the worst pandemic since 1918, and you couldn’t care less about us all.

So you got my attention, too. What a great job you did. You not only ruined the life of the couple who ran a small bar, but any ideas about how to make life better for everyone else, maybe even one of your children or grandchildren.

But I’m guessing you really didn’t think that through, right? Or worse, you did think it through but really didn’t give a damn about anyone, just wanting to wield your own, cowardly power.  Shame on you.

Kim Kennedy

Medina

Editor:

Sadly our National July 4th holiday was used as a political distraction – a campaign event. I hope you personally had a good time. I did at my home.

But hospitals in Houston ran out of ventilators and ECMO machines. Doctors had to choose which young people to try to save. This was no surprise but was studiously ignored and buried during the President’s party.

The July 3rd speech was from Mount Rushmore. The Sioux Nation was trashed by Donald because they opposed him coming there. But, by God, our Supreme Court in the harshest of terms held 8-1 that Mount Rushmore is on Sioux land! And, unlike you or me who are graciously invited to visit whenever, President Trump – no friend of theirs – was told not to come.

The Sioux message was who cares about minority rights. Similarly, every US citizen or group who has dared question Donald’s leadership was demeaned in that speech with slurs. If you paid attention he added a whole litany of things Democrats aren’t to the 2016 lists when Obama, Clinton, and immigrants were the enemy.

Oddly, did you hear white supremacists or the Boogaloo movement – they carry very real AK 47s – which is preparing for a second civil on that list. NO you did not.

On the  4th, as the ventilators ran out, we got a lesson in theater of the absurd. Donald told us 99% of Covid is not serious. (We all wish that true for his Secret Service agents, advance people, daughter-in-law to be, everyone! But factually it is a lie! There are 130,000 dead.) Does anyone think a US President did not know Texas was melting down or no one told him!

The Texas situation was hidden while Donald partied with his fan club but that was not where the very big, huge, bad news stopped!!

Congress also learned from the Health Industry Distributors Association that by the end of July we may not have enough hospital grade masks and PPE for all the red states. Of course the red states cheated while we were locked down! But they are people too and the Presidential order to produce PPE in volume and set up the supply lines direct to hospitals never went out! Never went out!! There were repeat reminders which were ignored.

These national and red states failures are going to slow down New York’s recovery. We copied Europe which proved a total lockdown continent-wide works! How many times do you have to take the exam Donald? You did not read Obama’s pandemic plan. You say you did not read your briefing that there were bounties being paid on US servicemen.

If it were you or me the law is that recklessly endangering people by ignoring a grave risk or death and proceeding nonetheless is Murder 2. What should it be for Donald and the gutless red state wonders (oops, governors)?  Shouldn’t New York business get a bonus for your incompetent management team extending our pain?

As you know with Ebola and Swine Flu it’s the President’s legal responsibility in a National Emergency to have a national response strategy – that includes procurement and production.   This failure to break the beast’s back is Donald’s fault and not any political opponent’s fault.

From the start the July 4th campaign events were a ploy to avoid dealing with COVID and the bounty on our soldiers which the “Fox News Division” confirmed.

What our National weekend demonstrated was that citizens’ lives are secondary and you better not ask intelligent, informed, questions or you will be on the list.

To be very blunt here these emergency powers of his are so vast I actually wonder if Donald is more apt to use them to interfere with one or more stages of the election between now and when the electoral college votes to throw the election. I wonder if that why he assumed them only to not use them and let things get worse. It a terrible thought. But it fits.

Some Fourth of July. Get real Donald. Our nation’s leader is following all his whims but he is not saving lives or doing anything that makes life better in poor rural America. It’s all pandering to make everyone think he has really helped life for those making under tens of millions a year.

Nothing about the man is plausible and he spent the national holiday gaslighting us as another state’s hospital system crumbled and people died without a word of sorrow.

He knew.

Conrad F.  Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Mr. Fine’s delusion is like most of the backwards-thinking liberal wokesters. He believes that all and everything wrong with society lays on the evil white man just by the happenstance that they were born that way.

What about the children of rich black people? Do they have black privilege? We are all born equal but there is no guarantee of equal outcome. Society gives no person more of an advantage over another. One can choose to work hard or not work to obtain the level that suits them. There’s no color barrier. White privilege is an invented term to cover for the 50-year failures of Democrat politicians to fix any problems while they continue to impoverish and control minorities in the inner cities. They are aided and abetted by the liberal media and the educational institutions, corporations and Hollywood.

Where is the systemic racism? The big cities are controlled by Democrats, many for half a century or more are run by minorities, have minority progressive mayors and city councils. The police force is more than half, in most cases, minority. The police chiefs in a majority of the big cities are black. These cities are being left to die and the people, many of whom are minorities, are left defenseless with nowhere to shop.

If history was properly taught you would know that minorities have contributed to this country since its inception. All the wars they fought in, inventions, contributing to our economy, medical and life-saving drugs. You white leftists seem to think they are helpless and can’t fend for themselves. Congress is full of minorities, a Black Caucus. We have had a black president of the USA, the corporate board rooms are full of black CEOs and board members. Black families are a large part of the middle class.

Your financial history is nonsense. It used to be you had to have skin in the game to get a loan for everyone. 20% down. That meant working hard and saving money. Owning a home is not a right. It’s a business transaction.

Then weak politicians and the banks caved into the mob ACORN and race hustlers like Al Sharpton. They didn’t want to be called that weaponized word “racist” and forced the banks to give loans to everyone regardless of if they had the finances and wherewithal to make the payments. That was Democrats who did that and it caused the financial meltdown of 2008.

Lastly the drum beating and perpetuating of this phony white privilege, systemic racism and police brutality only makes it worse for the people you white delusional wokesters think you are helping. Burned out cities, no where to shop, more crime and deaths. People of color laugh at you and wish you would go away. It’s creating mob rule justice. If it isn’t stopped it will end up at your door step and no amount of I’m on your side will stop the mob.

The wokester will be eaten alive because no amount of anything but the complete destruction of America will satisfy this monster.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

Let me reiterate for those people who do not understand: you wear masks to protect others. Pretend for one minute that you actually care whether you make someone sick and then they die.

The “stay home if you feel sick” mantra doesn’t work for this virus because some people who have it don’t feel sick but they can still make other people sick. And those other people can get sick, suffer and die.

Why are the simple instructions to wear a mask, social distance and wash your hands so difficult? This is the same instructions as during the 1919 pandemic which should tell you something, viruses are complex and apparently smarter than us.

Be safe. Stay well.

Tami Martin

Albion

Editor:

In 1776, brave American patriots formed a new government and declared their freedom and independence  from the oppressive rule of a tyrannical ruler and despot, the King of England.

Now in 2020, New York residents again find themselves under the oppressive tyrannical rule of a man who has declared himself king, Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The issues are the same: denial of personal rights, arbitrary rules made and changed at the drop of a hat, altering or deleting laws enacted by a duly elected legislature, usurping the rule of law to suit his own personal socialist agenda, elimination of liberties and freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. and  New York State Constitutions, denying citizens’ rights to gainful employment to support our families, suppressing free speech and due process of law, shutting down schools and churches while keeping open abortion clinics and liquor stores, and requiring lock-step obedience to draconian Executive Orders which are unconstitutional, illegal and  arbitrary.

The governor’s mandate to wear masks/face coverings is simply designed to be a symbol of total control over the populace. It is a trial run for imposing absolute socialist control over a society as a means of advancing a “progressive” agenda which will have the result of ending our constitutional form of democracy (remember soviet Russia?).

It is time for New York State residents to say “enough is enough!” Duly elected local school boards have passed budgets and have the support of their residents – Open the schools and stop wasting time waiting for the governor’s instructions, which do not seem forthcoming anyway since the plan appears to be keeping students home and utilizing tele-learning. Let the kids back outside to play and go back to work! Open your churches completely without interference from the government. Whatever happened to “separation of church and state?” People have the ability to use common sense – if you are sick, stay home, just as we always have in other situations. The only way to stop this madness and end the power and control trip of a dictator is to stand up and say “No more!”

What is it going to be? We are free Americans, let’s take our freedoms back!

Read the Constitution, “We the People” are still in charge. To let this go is to open the door to a communist dictatorship.

Wayne Lemcke

Waterport