Editor:

As I keep reading headlines of deaths in the local news at The Villages in Albion it makes me think back to five years ago when there was a lot of negative feedback about turning over the county nursing home to a private company.

The jobs there before the sale were county jobs with state benefits. Which is exactly what those people deserve for the work they do.

With the recent number of deaths there and Albion hitting the news on almost a daily basis, maybe if it was still county-run, our county leaders could get some answers when they inquire about what’s going on.

Maybe the next time we look into breaking off part of the county to private sector, we should sell off the Orleans County Legislature and have an outside firm run it.

Eric Baker

Barre

Editor:

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the Catholic Charities Tri-County District Office is committed to helping our neighbors throughout Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties who are struggling to make ends meet or are facing challenges impacting their health and well-being.

Our Emergency Financial Assistance staff continues to conduct assessments and provide information and referrals to other available community resources helping with access to food, household items and personal care items. We are also assisting where we can with housing, rent, utilities and other related basic living needs.

We understand the effect self-isolation can have on both our aging population and on one’s mental health. Our Friendly Phones program in Orleans County is operating and accepting referrals. Our Home Visitation program serving Genesee County is operating as well, but they have adapted by using phone calls. In addition, Ashlee Nowak, LMSW, has joined our team as a mental health counselor. Ashlee is accepting referrals and conducting sessions via phone.

If you or someone you know needs assistance, please call us at (585) 343-0614 and leave a message. You will receive a call back from a blocked or private number and we will immediately identify ourselves as a Catholic Charities staff member.

These programs can continue both during this crucial time and into the future, thanks to our generous supporters. If you are able to help, please visit ccwny.org/donation for more information.

Be well!

Kelly Y. Grimaldi, LCSW-R

Tri-County District Director, Catholic Charities

Editor:

As a former Albion resident (Albion HS class of 1960) I have wondered for a number of years why Orleans County has 10 town and a number of village governments and a county government, while my current county of Loudoun in Virginia has only one.

I wondered if the 400,000 residents of my county had been ill served by our single board of supervisors and if our services such as water, sewer, health, welfare etc. had been neglected by our comparatively streamlined governmental structure. The answer is no.

We live in Ashburn, a community of 40,000. We have no Ashburn Village government, no Town of Ashburn government, only the Loudoun County government. If we want to talk with our elected county supervisor, he/she is a phone call away or we can meet with him/her at a convenient time.

Exactly the same way you interact with your leaders, only we do not have to go through a village and then a town government to be heard by the county government. And we pay lower taxes than Orleans residents. Of the approximate 3,000 counties in the U.S., many are consolidated.

Would turning over village and town functions to the Orleans County Government reduce costs and improve efficiency?  Is it time to discuss consolidation in Orleans County?

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Virginia

Editor:

Apparently, the largest public health crisis in over 100 years is the prime opportunity to attack the opposing political party over the mishandling of a slew of other unrelated issues. I will admit, however, that I got a good chuckle out of the “Dear Leader” letter that Mr. Lauricella penned on April 22nd. It sounded like propaganda that typically originates in the DPRK.

We are living in a kakistocracy, a system of government that is led by the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous citizens. The critique is not limited to Democrats nor Republicans but spans the political spectrum in an era where corruption has become the norm.

In fact, it would be quite easy to argue that we are living, once again, through a Gilded Age with an exploited working class, excessive wealth inequalities, extreme partisanship, and raging anti-immigrant sentiment. Perhaps this is what “Dear Leader” promised when he would “Make America Great Again?” Perhaps that is why Andrew Cuomo said, “America was never that great?”

Over the last few weeks, writers have attacked one another over the apparent successes and failures of President Trump and Governor Cuomo. The President spent the earliest months of this ballooning worldwide public health crisis downplaying the potential severity of a future outbreak in the U.S.

While the intelligence community attempted to brief him on the spread of the virus in China and other parts of the globe, he seemed preoccupied by vaping and the need to keep confirmed cases low to pad his polling numbers. Apparently, the intelligence briefings were concerning enough for Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler and others (including Democrats – I’m looking at you, Dianne Feinstein) to dump millions of dollars’ worth of stock shares; Loeffler of course purchased shares in a company that manufactures PPE.

I suppose this is all “Fake News,” right? A simple, cheesy catchphrase that has lost all meaning in a society which so easily shares true misinformation vis social media. Instead of answering questions, Trump criticizes media outlets, flags inquiries as “nasty questions,” and continues to blame a previous administration that left the White House nearly 4 years ago.

I will agree with Mr. Lauricella that “Gov. Cuomo post virus will continue to be a failure to this state,” and that “The Democrats in the House and Senate like Cuomo have been a disgraceful, anti-American failure.” The same should be said for Republicans in the House (and particularly the Senate), and our “Dear Leader” in the White House.

Congress dumped $1.5 trillion into shoring up a falling stock market – how is your 401k now? The average American received (or should have received) a piddly $1,200 stimulus check, littered with means testing, while the “Foreclosure King” got his $500 billion slush fund to dish out to corporations. Yet somehow, we cannot find funding to ramp up testing, tackle the ballooning student debt issue, or address massive healthcare disparities when millions have lost coverage due to sweeping unemployment. God forbid we engage in a discussion about Universal Basic Income when state governments cannot straighten out their unemployment systems.

These back-and-forth arguments continue to distract Americans from the true issue at hand. COVID-19 has exposed massive failures in society, but will we choose to remedy the problems, or will we continue to allow partisan politics to turn us against one another?

Matthew Ballard

Clarendon

Editor:

There is little doubt that President Trump was informed about the impending pandemic and acted intentionally and knowingly to benefit his own political and personal interest over the health and safety of the American citizens. New York Times reported 4/12/20 that the National Security Council informed Mr. Trump in early January.

Mr. Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, wrote a memo to the President on January 29th detailing the potential risk with as many as half a million deaths. Alex Azar, Health and Human Services Secretary, warned Mr. Trump of a possible pandemic in a phone call on January 30th and in a memo to the President two weeks later.

At the end of February health experts were urging the Mr. Trump to recommend social distancing and working from home. We know Mr. Trump was informed early and often.

Mr. Trump has benefited from continuing coronavirus crisis in the following ways. The Supreme Court postponed hearing a case about turning over to Congress Mr. Trump’s financial and tax records (even as they rushed a case on Wisconsin’s election). The ruling, possibly issued after the November election, could show conflict of interest and why Mr. Trump is benevolent toward authoritarian rulers.

Furthermore, the Department of Justice was to turn over to Judge Reggie Walton on March 31st the unredactable version of the Mueller Report. Again, public access to the unredacted Mueller report could negatively impact Mr. Trump’s re-election.

Furthermore, Mr. Trump can continue his nightly campaign rallies, with blatantly false rosey claims. Mr. Trump will, I believe, continue to dismiss the crisis and blame others for his missteps as long as he see it as beneficial to his election.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Our mom, Connie Brakenbury, is now Covid positive. This is a direct result of the incompetence and mismanagement of The Villages in Albion. My mother went into The Villages about 5 weeks ago for rehab.

On Tuesday, a week ago, my dad was told she was ready to go home. When he showed up to pick her up, he was told she was exposed and tested. We understood there was always a chance of exposure.

Do you still want to take her home? Now, my dad had zero information prior to showing up. So his next question, well was she negative? Answer, we don’t know.

Next question, can you find out? After a lengthy wait they came back and said she is negative.

Next question, you swabbed her on Saturday and today is Tuesday. Was she isolated pending the result? Answer, we can’t tell you that.

Do you still want to take her home? Now my dad has to make a decision based on lack of information, incompetence and personal danger to himself to take her home or not. He decides to take her home. This past Saturday he calls us and says he thinks she needs to go back to the hospital. She has a fever and weak.

Justin Niederhofer of the Carlton Fire Company meets us at the house, putting himself in danger to help. We finally decide, after Justin made some calls, to send her to UMMC in Batavia.

They swabbed her and were aggressive from the start. She is now positive for Covid which means The Villages swabbed her then put her back among others, pending the result and she turned positive.

My dad, pulling her out with misinformation and incompetence, put himself in danger but has given her a fighting chance, even though he is now on quarantine. She is at UMMC and they got a jump on it.

If he had left her there who knows how long the disease would have festered and who else would have been infected. Interesting to note that from the time she left the Villages until my dad called Justin, COVA Transport and UMMC, mom received more informative, professional, acute medical care in two hours than she did in two months.

She has a fighting chance. Dad is strong and trying to keep busy. Many packages have been dropped off. The thing about small town living, it is rock solid.

The Villages needs to be held accountable. To be clear we are not talking about staff we are talking about management. In fact some staff have tested positive and quit. We are not looking for any personal gain just awareness to help others.

At this point we know who our hero is. Thank you for all the support, thoughts, prayers and first responders and health care professionals. Words cannot express our feelings.

Kyle Brakenbury

Medina

Editor:

One of the most devastating things to a liberal democrat’s mind process beside a correct interpretation of the US Constitution is to be confronted with the truth. It is like showing Dracula the cross, a full exorcism of the demonically possessed, or shoving a job application in the face of the chronically unemployed.

Mr. Cuomo’s failures at HUD are well documented. His policy of forcing banks to lend money to minorities and people with no money down, no skin in the game, to buy houses that that could not afford let alone the payments. Democrat social justice policy tanked the country with the face of HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo all over it.

First, the US loan guarantees for 1366 Technologies were rejected because the company presented an undue risk. Much like the failed Solyndra Solar project promoted by the Obama administration which cost US taxpayer $500 million in loan losses.

Second, how exactly was the land purchased, homes purchased, roads built and water line installed? No taxpayer money? Did the owners donate the land? Did the construction companies provide free services? If you look on the Orleans Hub, August 18, 2016, or better yet type in the little search box at the top of the page “Cuomo and the stamp project” and article after article of broken dreams and false hopes to our area will come up. All with the smiling face and maniacal eyes of Governor Cuomo. He makes big economic promises but never delivers.

This failure of a man ordered his health department to return sick Covid-19 nursing home patients back to the nursing homes they came from to infect the rest of the poor residents there. People died as a result. He also sent supplies and with the supplies were body bags. How incompetent and dangerous this man is.

When questioned about it he denied knowing anything about it. This man is a true definition of a narcissist. The man literally has blood on his hands. How the people and state elected officials are not clamoring for his resignation is beyond me. Not a word out of the fake news left wing propaganda media only more love for this failure. The president says one thing out of step and it’s fake news for a week.

Mr. Fine must have forgotten 9-11 and the numerous bomb, biological and chemical threats made to NYC and the subway system by radical Islam over the decades. Cuomo’s failure to be prepared for this virus or any kind of attack is inexcusable.

Mr. Fine says how would he have known? Cuomo knew. He is the governor of a target state. He did nothing. The man is where he is because of poor vetting by the left wing fake media that ignores his failed history and because of his name.

With the backwards thought process of liberals, failure is seen as success. The bigger the failure you are, the more you rise as a star in the Democrat Party. This is what gave us an Andrew Cuomo, the enemy within. A cancer on NY.

Paul Lauricella Jr.

Lyndonville

Editor:

Report from the Covid-19 fight:  Here in the Lattin Road “bunker” our youngest  (name omitted for fake privacy) had the “Creeping Crud” six weeks ago and spread it to her Mom and me.  She called the State testing hotline and left information with no reply.

On Thursday the phone rang from a State worker in Crown Point NY saying that daughter was “selected” for testing.  After giving the worker a NY State geography lesson, Albany was nearest site!

Hoping to help, three of us drove to Albany yesterday (Thruway tolls all electronic, service area open with limited service). The vast SUNY Albany campus is now a closed National Guard camp.  Many thousands of cones, tents and guards. Flashing billboards for “Appointment Only” testing, “keep windows closed”. All for drive-up, in-car test.

Final result, test was a swab for current Covid-19 (Six weeks too late!).

Well, we tried. Drove home, ten hours.

Gerard M. Morrisey

Albion

Editor:

A letter writer to the Orleans Hub spewed misinformation. This writer tells us that Andrew Cuomo, who left HUD in 2001 was responsible for the 2008 financial crisis.

The letter writer does not tell us what “social justice policy was a big part led to the meltdown of 2008.” He gives no specifics, and no example of what he means, he just spews invectives.

Furthermore, the writer says Mr. Cuomo could have bought ventilators in 2015 for the 2020 crisis. I wonder, if the Governor knew five years ago we were going to have a pandemic, why didn’t President Trump know two months ago. More to the point, what the writer stated does not match the facts. Chris Churchill of the Albany Times Union wrote on 3/31/20: “As I’ll discuss in minute, the claims, (that Governor Cuomo could buy ventilators in 2015), about the report were terribly misleading, at best. I’d say they were blatantly dishonest.” PolitiFact wrote “Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.” Saying that Mr. Cuomo could have bought ventilators five years before a crisis arrives is disingenuous.

The writer also criticizes the Governor for the STAMP project in Alabama N.Y. Let’s state the facts: the company, 1366 Technologies, withdrew from the project because it could not get proper Federal Financing according to the company spokesperson. Danny Spewak from WGRZ reported on 3/5/18 that “1366 Technologies CEO Frank Van Mierlo said in a statement that withdrawing from the federal loan guarantee agreement was “difficult.”

Mr. Spewak goes on to report that: “At the time, the state offered $56.3 million in economic incentives— but only if 1366 Technologies created at least 600 jobs. That clearly did not happen, so the state will no longer be on the hook for those incentives. No state or local taxpayer dollars have been paid out yet.”

The failure of STAMP project was not Mr. Cuomo’s but that of Mr. Trump’s federal government. I get it, you don’t like Governor Cuomo and you love Dear Leader Trump but please stick to facts, stop making things up and give specifics to support your position.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

This weekend brought to light much of the stress that we are feeling as a nation as a result of the global COVID pandemic. The demonstrations that occurred in numerous states are a grave reminder that issues of health are so closely tied to our social and economic well-being.

At Community Health Centers, we call these the “social determinants of health.” Access to healthy food, water, shelter, transportation, and positive family support, we have always known, are as meaningful to our health as the correct diagnosis and treatment options for disease.

One thing I have learned as a Family Physician, although you certainly don’t need to be a doctor to know, is everything in moderation. Extremism, based on belief that is unsupported by science, leads to the destruction of societies and things that we hold dear. We know this when we stop to think about 9-11, to which Mr. Cuomo compared to the present pandemic.

What scientists and mathematicians, who are often the most rational among us, have observed, is that in countries that have maintained social distancing, and hand and face hygiene, the virus has had the least impact. We have heard over and over what this means: stay 6 feet from those around you; wear a mask in public so that droplets do not spread, sanitize your hands whenever you touch an object or another person, sanitize surfaces and items that you bring into your home.

As often is the case with health prevention—these solutions are fairly simple, everyone can do them.

Please: stop and think about this. Are you doing these things? These are the most important. Politicians and public interest groups may speak about words like “essential” and “nonessential.” We should ask ourselves…essential for what? In the end, we are all “essential” for the virus to live. It is also essential for us to use our brains to think critically about what is going on, and to be a part of solving the problems that this pandemic has presented.

Some of our solutions will involve the use of new technologies and ways of working, and we will need to learn them in order to adapt. But, there are very basic things that we have in our power to do right now, to stop the virus from spreading or resurging.

Stay safe and healthy!

Nancy Ciavarri, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Oak Orchard Health

Editor:

There are actually people out there giving praise to Governor Cuomo. So let us never forget who this guy is and the complete failure his political career has been. His time at HUD was a disaster for this country. His social justice policies in a big part led to the meltdown of 2008.

His time before the virus as Governor of this state has been a complete failure, again his progressive social justice, economic justice and environmental justice policies have ruined this state, morally and fiscally.

Before going into this shutdown the state was 6 billion dollars-plus in debt and the Governor was handing out grant money to towns and counties like penny candy. Not to mention the billions on failed economic development projects given to his corrupt friends. People are leaving the state because of him in record numbers. A foul nanny state dictator with no regard for the people of upstate. He does not want conservatives in his state and he never thought America was that great. His words.

His handling of the virus has been a dismal failure. You wouldn’t know that by the fawning questions that the leftist globalist media give him on a day to day basis at his press conferences. Contrast that to the nasty gotcha questions that the fake press gives our great President Trump every single day. Thank God President Trump is in charge at this awful time. A leader and a man in charge. Governor Cuomo was completely unprepared for this pandemic.

This man in 2015 turned down buying more ventilators and masks and wasted the money on wind and solar projects. How’s that STAMP project doing for everyone? Which by the way, if green energy was all energy we were depending on right now to mobilize and fight, how many more would be dead? His vision for NY in the future is another dismal failure that must be quelled.

He was completely wrong about what he needed, yet our great president and the industrial might of the American worker and citizen not only got him the hospital ship Mercy and a 1,000 beds in record time. 10 days.

The Army Corps of Engineers built a make-shift hospital in the Javits Center with 2,000 beds and Franklin Graham brought in a mobile hospital into Central Park for free and the militant LGBTQ crowd gave him flack because of his Christian faith and wanted it gone.

None of this he needed, yet his fear mongering was met with action by the president. If it wasn’t for the direction of President Trump and all the help given, Cuomo’s failure would have been even more devastating to the people of NY City. He dropped the ball and he keeps demanding more. The crybaby tactics are not working. The people of this country are not going to stand for bailing out NY for Cuomo’s failed progressive economic policies. Help for the virus yes but not to balance his budget.

Governor Cuomo post virus will continue to be a failure to this state. Like all liberals and progressives, Cuomo sees everything backwards. Example, criminals are good, good people are criminals. So I do not trust this man to open up the state in a timely manner. It should be left to the county’s and the localities, and that’s legitimate 10th amendment “or to the people.”

One thing for sure. The Democrats in the House and Senate like Cuomo have been a disgraceful, anti-American failure. President Donald J. Trump’s handling of this country for four years has earned him four more years.

Paul Lauricella Jr.

Lyndonville

Editor:

I understand that there is a real and collective anxiety and concern among Western New Yorkers and it continues to grow with each passing day. We all agree that public health and safety is paramount in the fight against this virus that we’re still trying understand, but the economic impact of this shut down is very frightening and troubling for so many of us here in WNY.

Due to the collective spirit, perseverance, and selfless cooperation of all New Yorkers, the pandemic has slowed, however our goal now must be to find the right balance between maximizing New York State’s economic output while minimizing our public health risk.

Today, I am joining Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay and encouraging Governor Cuomo to prepare a phased in “Regional Re-opening Plan” to be released by April 30th, with anticipated time frames (subject to change of course based upon public health data), testing requirements, and detailed information of how our businesses will start up again (i.e. 25% in the beginning), all coupled with proper and continued social distancing measures for our Western New York region. At this time, based upon current infection data, I am not calling for a firm phase-in start date yet, but a plan to be released by April 30th so preparations can be properly made.

Leader Barclay’s recommendations provide for a broad-based panel of medical experts, business leaders in technology, manufacturing, entertainment, food service and agriculture should be convened to make detailed recommendations of a re-open plan that can be vetted and executed upon at the appropriate time.

I have heard from hundreds of businesses in my district that have already developed action plans to incorporate safe social distancing practices into their operations and are prepared to implement and/or maintain them throughout this pandemic. Businesses across the state are flexible, creative and deserve to know the details of a phased in program so they can reasonably anticipate and adapt as time moves on. Furthermore, if a plan is set forth now by the Governor, it will provide ample time for businesses and organizations to offer feedback so the plan can be modified if needed before full implementation.

Providing a comprehensive regional reopening roadmap that prioritizes low risk industries within low risk areas that have safety plans and protocols in place to protect both employees and the general public, will ease people’s frustration and allow for them to strategically plan.

As we gradually reopen our economy, I strongly believe our that businesses in Western New York are eager to meet the challenges of this “new normal” and look forward to the opportunities that it will undoubtedly present.

State Assemblyman Michael Norris

Norris represents the 144^th Assembly District which includes Shelby in Orleans County, and parts of Niagara and Erie counties.

Editor:

Governor Cuomo’s disdain for upstate/western NYers has never been so evident as in his coronavirus update of 4/20/2020.

He calls for the federal government to provide a “50% bonus” to essential workers – 50% of what, Mr. Cuomo? Since the majority of these essential workers are state employees, does the state not hold that obligation? Maybe New York could have used the millions of dollars you have wasted in ill thought-out programs that never bore fruit.

The rest of his proposals are targeted specifically to downstate.

Coronavirus testing for NYC public housing residents. None for upstate. Upstate first responders, doctors, nurses, and hospital/nursing home staff apparently don’t matter to “our” governor. They are having an extremely hard getting tested. In reality the same goes for cloth masks and hand sanitizer. He says for public housing in general, but the number of items available for distribution will not allow for that. There will be 400,000 masks made available. There are more than 400,000 residents in NYC Housing Authority’s 326 public housing developments.

The creation of a task force to “improve systems in downstate NY once the state is no longer on PAUSE.” Again, we lose out. But as always, we will pay for it.

And upstate Democrats continue to vote for him. I honestly do not understand that.

Bob Harker

Clarendon

Editor:

In just a little over a month, I have seen great strides made in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak in this state and country. From volunteers giving their time and spare resources to those in need to community leaders and members rallying to support our counties, I can’t be more proud of the work that has been done and the selflessness that has been shown during this pandemic. That being said, with news of declining cases in the state of New York and the reality of our economic crisis becoming more and more prevalent, we need to start preparing for what comes next.

As Deputy Minority Leader, and in concert with the Assembly Republican Conference, I am advocating for a regional re-opening of the state to allow our workers to get their lives back, one step at a time. The proposal I am making is that starting April 30th, the state government should begin to allow more leniency in its lockdown rules where it can be allowed, particularly in districts and counties where the number of cases is not as high.

The goal is to slowly reopen society, beginning with 25 percent of employees returning to what was determined as non-essential work, and gradually increasing that number over the course of two-week periods. This strategy aims to follow social distancing guidelines and public health guidelines while at the same time getting ahead of helping people to return to work and jump-start the economy.

Some of the initiatives I am hoping to implement to get us going again include requiring face coverings for newly reopening businesses, ensuring businesses maintain 6-foot buffer zones, prioritizing online payments over cashiers when feasible, and making hand sanitization/hand washing stations available to employees and customers. These steps are far from simple, and the key to making this work will be in the combined collaboration of local communities with each other. That being said, I believe these steps, among others, will go a long way toward helping individual districts begin to economically recover.

I recognize that this is a very delicate time. Our leaders in state and federal governments are correct in saying that this period, on the downswing of cases counted, is where things can either go well or poorly. And while I can appreciate that caution and careful nature that larger bodies want to abide by, I also have to recognize that the need to get people back to work so they can support themselves and their families is a priority. I encourage you to read the full proposal attached, drafted by the Assembly Minority Conference, and to reach out to me with any comments or questions you may have.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley

Batavia

Hawley represents the 139^thAssembly District which includes most of Orleans, all of Genesee and part of western Monroe counties.

Editor:

There is no rational reason for closing Glenwood Lake Park in Medina. People need a quiet, peaceful place to help settle their minds.

Strange that hundreds of people can go in and out of Walmart daily, but a few dozen people can’t go sit alone in an open air park. The pandemic is horrific, but I am confident our healthcare professionals will get it under control, hopefully soon.

However, the “Infodemic” may cause more lasting damage and there will never be vaccine. Open Glenwood Lake Park!

Paul J. Hartigan

Medina