Editor:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an editorial titled: “The War on Free Speech.” I would like to respond.

This is a very complex issue not easy to adequately address in a letter to the papers. First, the U.S. Constitution guarantees free speech; corporations do not guarantee free speech. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are private companies and when we want to use these platforms we have to sign a user agreement. Violations of that agreement has consequences.

Most of these social media platforms use automated artificial intelligence to monitor the cacophony of opinions and suppress those that violate company rules and common decency such as abusive and dangerous activities. (Personally, I question how hateful, abusive, lies or pornographic speech advance ideas in the market place of free speech).

Therefore, the idea that social media is censoring one political group over another demonstrates that one political group violates common decency more than other political groups. Furthermore, the editorial undercuts the idea that there is a war on free speech by pointing out that when one platform blocks certain speech those who engage in that speech will just move to another platform. Thus free speech is not blocked. Thank you.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Over the past year, 2,563 neighbors in need of all ages throughout Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties were served by the six programs Catholic Charities offers here. We provided basic emergency assistance, including support for food and finding housing resources.

Our licensed counselors offered counseling services for all ages. Our Friendly Phones program brought a sense of connectivity and enhanced quality of life to dozens of homebound seniors in Genesee and Orleans counties. We worked with more than 100 domestic violence offenders for systemic social change in a coordinated community response.

We are committed to staying at the forefront in providing basic assistance and crucial programs, which serve as a beacon of HOPE for our neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet, or who are facing new challenges with their mental health and well-being. However, we can’t continue to be that beacon without your generous support.

Appeal 2021, which benefits Catholic Charities’ programs and services, recently launched with a goal of $10 million to address the critical need for the tens of thousands through not only Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties, but all eight counties of Western New York.

If you or someone you know needs assistance (even if you have never needed it before) in Genesee, Orleans or Wyoming counties, call us directly at 585-343-0614. We have offices located in Batavia, Albion and Perry.

It is a challenging time for all of us, but thanks to our generous supporters, these crucial Catholic Charities programs continue now when they are needed most. If you can help, please visit ccwny.org/donation. Appeal 2021 runs through June 30.

Kelly Grimaldi

Tri-County District Director, Catholic Charities

Editor:

I commonly hear or read that the impeachment of the former President is a waste of time because he is already out of office. Yes, Mr. Trump is out of office but that doesn’t excuse his culpability in fermenting an insurrection to prevent a constitutionally mandated duty to certify the election.

It is one thing to question the election, file legal briefs in court and argue your case. Mr. Trump’s lawyers filed over 60 cases and produced no evidence of fraud; they lost every case. Furthermore, Mr. Trump’s Department of Justice and Homeland Security also stated that the election was free and fair.

Let’s be clear about what happened. Mr. Trump and his cronies continued to lie, undermining confidence in the courts and the most basic underpinning of our democracy; free and fair elections.

These lies led directly to the putsch of Jan. 6th, 2021. The whole purpose of the Jan. 6th “rally” was to overturn the election that every state had certified as free and fair and that every court case found lacked evidence of fraud.

There must be accountability for this lawlessness and attack on our democracy; people died. Since Mr. Trump and his cronies instigated the crimes they must be held accountable.

The argument that Mr. Trump is out of office and therefore should not be held accountable is like claiming that people who invaded your home should not be charged since they are not in your home now.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

With no public explanation by the Yates Town Board about the Town of Yates taxes within the Village of Lyndonville on your 2021 County & Town Tax bill, I will do my best to give an explanation.

There are 7 funds that are incorporated into developing a budget for the Town of Yates: A – General Townwide; B – General Outside the Village; DA – Highway Townwide; DB – Highway Outside the Village; SF – Fire Protection District; SW2 – Water District #2; SW4 – Water District #4.

Taxpayers outside the Village are billed by the Town for the costs of the Town’s Fire Protection District and for the costs of the Water District in which their property is located. Village taxpayers pay for fire and water services in their Village taxes.

The Town tax rate is developed each year based on the amount of money that needs to be raised by taxes in the A, B, DA and DB accounts described above. All taxpayers within the Town (inside and outside the Village) are taxed to cover  the A and DA accounts.

Only taxpayers outside the Village are taxed for covering the B and DB accounts. Services covered in these 2 accounts are covered by Village taxes for Village taxpayers. Thus, with more money needing to be raised by taxes for those living outside the Village, the tax rate for those outside the Village is greater than for those inside the Village. Village taxes more than make up for the difference!!

For 2021, the Yates Town Board approved going over the NY State 2% Tax Cap. The amount needed to be raised by taxes for 2021 was an increase of 15.29%. To cover this increase, the Board worked out a tax rate outside the Village that increased by about $0.50 / thousand dollars of assessment ($50 for a home assessed at $100,000) and a tax rate within the Village increasing by about $1.16 / thousand ($116 for a home assessed at $100,000), 2.32 times more than for outside the Village!!

When I questioned the Board about this at its Jan. 14th Town Board meeting, Supervisor Simon explained that the Town Board found that there was a disparity between the tax rates inside and outside the Village. He stated that the imbalance has been in place for a long time and that the only way to get it back in balance was for this increase in the Village.

My reply was that the discrepancy is caused by the taxpayers outside the Village being responsible for covering the costs of the B and DB accounts that those inside the Village aren’t taxed for. Supervisor Simon stated that he couldn’t agree with the way I summarized my concern. He stated that the Board closely looked at all the numbers and came to the conclusion to do as they did.

I served as a Councilman on the Town Board for 10 years from 2010-2019. In preparation of budgets, never did I witness anything close to this situation. I also looked at the tax rates since 2010 for the 6 towns within Orleans County that have rates for municipalities both inside and outside their town. Again, I could not find anything close to this situation. Would it have made a difference in making this decision if any of the five Town Board members lived within the Village? Just asking for a friend!

If this explanation of what happened with Town of Yates taxes, specifically within the Village of Lyndonville, concerns you and you have ever given any thought to running for the Town Board, this might be your year to give it a try.

Three Town Board seats will be up for election in November – Supervisor and 2 Town Council positions. The process of political committees choosing who they will endorse is beginning in towns as you read this. Should you contact your local political committee to express your interest in a position and not be selected for endorsement, you can individually complete a petition and submit it to the Board of Elections. There are timelines for this process.  For more information contact your local political committee or the Orleans County Board of Elections as soon as possible.

Wes Bradley

Lyndonville

Editor:

Got a 2-page color “Senior Fraud Alert” from Chris Jacobs in the mail the other morning (although he didn’t mention how much of our tax money he spent to send out a few thousand of them.)

Talked all about the latest scams we should be careful to avoid: Medicare scams, Grandparent scams, Fake accident scams, Charity scams, etc., etc.

I was disappointed though he didn’t mention one of the biggest scams out there, one he himself has been working on: the big lie that the recent presidential election was “stolen”!

He’s one of the minority in Congress who thought they all should spend more of their time, and our money, pursuing false claims of election fraud in the states where his candidate got fewer votes, but was somehow not declared the winner. All in the middle of the worst pandemic in a hundred years – but first things first.

Now Grandparent scams, etc., can result in the loss of serious chunks of money, which we grandparents can really use while sitting around eating snack food all day, due to the amazing management of the Covid pandemic by our new ex-president (well at least he managed to get us the most of something!)

But Jacobs’ fraudsters weren’t just stealing our money, they were trying to steal our government, our electoral democracy.  An election in which thousands of loyal Americans, of every stripe, worked hard, diligently and honestly, to count our votes and certify an accurate result.

Unfortunately, the scam our congressman has been supporting caused an insurrectionist riot and attack on our national Capitol. That may well not have been a consequence he intended, but does it really matter? Should those who act irresponsibly be held accountable for the unintended consequences of their reckless behavior? Even if he’s only doing it so the right-wing radicals will vote for him again?

At any rate Chris Jacobs, thanks for all the advice about Senior Scams. And we know you didn’t mean it, but because a bunch of crazies believed that lie, our national Capitol was ransacked and people died, including a policeman. You really did us proud!

Don Welch

Clarendon

Editor:

I read with interest Mr. Glogowski’s letter urging public schools to adopt a business practice to improve efficiency—a methodology called Six Sigma.

He stated, “If the educational system pursued a business-quality standard for education, and achieved the business standard of Six Sigma, they would have just 1 person out of the last 100,000 students to pass through the school system not graduate with a functional high school education. We are not coming anywhere close to that standard.”

He insisted that public schools strive for a “Six Sigma quality education product.”

Curious as to his view of students as “products”, I began to read up on this technique that promised such incredible results. Wikipedia states Six Sigma “… seeks to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing impact variability in manufacturing and business processes.”

I spent most of my professional career as a teacher in Orleans County, and I can say with certitude that I never envisioned my kids as a products that I was stamping out on a production line. Maybe this method was revolutionary for Motorola and General Electric when it was adopted in 1986. “Removing causes of defects”? Some kids have troubling home environments, some come to school hungry, some have learning disabilities, and brains don’t all develop at the same rate.

I don’t think any teacher today who cares about his or her students would seriously equate the classroom experience as some kind of manufacturing process, striving for “defect-free” high school graduates.

We are talking about people—human beings here. Teachers today are doing the best that they can dealing with evolving human intelligences and emotions on a one-to-one basis. A school system where only one student in 100,000 would be “defective”? That kind of thinking defies logic.

Christine Bronson

Crossville, TN

Editor:

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to clean my morning coffee off my computer screen following something I’ve read – but today is the proverbial day.

First, let’s get up to speed with what’s going on in America …

• A virus that will have killed a half-million people by spring.

• A vaccine distribution program in total abject failure.

• A spurned lover in North Korea who says he has submarine nukes that can destroy any city in America. (Talk about an ex scorned!)

• Mexico already caught cheating on our “wonderful & fabulous” new trade deal. (Well, at least they paid for the wall right?) Wall? Someone built a wall somewhere?

• Florida on its way to becoming the world’s most populated sink hole.

• The seat of our Democracy pillaged, urinated in and looted by treasonous lunatics incited by our own president.

• Insurrectionist whack-jobs seen beating people over the head with the AMERICAN FLAG in a riot viewed by the entire world (complete with gallows & noose) leaving five people dead.

• Our Constitution imperiled by the same elected officials charged with its defense.

• Iran, vowing retaliation, blaming America & Israel for the assassination of its leaders.

• Our Nation’s Capital, literally the beating heart of American freedom, is now a fortress under heavy armed guard looking more like Syria and Afghanistan than any coveted “shining city on a hill.”

• An economy in the toilet fueled by record unemployment & business failures with no end in sight.

• Racial, political and social unrest everywhere we look throughout our country.

• A soon to be ex-president who publicly claims that the only person more famous than himself is Jesus Christ. (Which, I suppose, leaves Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Judas Iscariot and even Satan himself among other lesser-known runners-up)

• But most tragically, the entire world watching our beloved country quickly becoming a case study on how democracy dies. No, I’m wrong. It pales tragedy.

So, given all this, now we’re going to get all snarky and whine because the next President of the United States of America, a President elected by “We the People” interrupted Wheel of Fortune? Seriously?

But not to worry, I called a friend of mine in Canada who told me that the final puzzle ended like this:

Things: “CL _ ELESS REP_BLICANS”

Anyone care to buy a vowel?

Tom Graham

Rochester

Albion High School ’78

Editor:

A few weeks ago when I let out a fully surprised and incredulous laugh when a friend let out he really believed Trump won the election – he is a good man, bright, and I was unfortunately caught off guard .

I had accesses via Westlaw etc. to read Court briefs, exhibits, decisions. I had watched unedited tapes. He was just listening to highly “motivated” partisan news sources.

But it made me look at why people believe Trump won. Sure Trump was saying it but his veracity is not exactly sterling. He said if he lost 2016 it would be fraud too.

But today I ran across old polling figures from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  I found that maybe 61% of Republicans think something was wrong. But similarly in 2004, 37% of Democrats thought Bush stole Ohio and in 2012, 36% of Republicans thought Obama stole Ohio. Only 30% of Republicans thought the 2012 election was legitimate.

The pollsters found that the more a respondent knew about politics and issues, the less likely there were to question the results. And they found that the more “motivated” the voter towards a candidate the more apt they were to think something was fixed against them.  Motivation to get a result is what Murdoch’s son implied about his Dad’s Fox network last week.

Of course in none of those elections did a candidate claim fraud and take, and invite, extreme actions to stay in power. This year was a first. And people wonder because of that if we can go back to being a law abiding nation in which all would respond in horror to anyone who would storm the Capitol, prepared to take hostages, kill and do whatever to get their way.

But, fortunately, looking at the historical numbers demands we consider that we are simply in the smarting period after a hard fought loss. It does not mean the mainstream of any party would ever be so blind to let this happen again. With luck the horror we saw will mean we all become more careful to never let it happen again.

And maybe the shock of what happened will mean we open our eyes to the difference between protest and violence. Last summer some protest was marred by violence. On Jan 6th planned Supremacist and neo-Nazi violence assault destroyed what was, for a few MAGA, mere protest.

The numbers-driven conclusion is we need to talk things through rather than being sure those who disagree with us are out to get us and will destroy things. I respectfully submit that if we adapt that attitude we will all get by just fine. This is the USA!

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Oh, no, what cataclysmic event is pre-empting the tail end of Wheel of Fortune I wondered last week? Why, there’s a very, very familiar political face (three decades).

He’s without an official office (I checked the U.S. Constitution) and already he believes he is more important than Jeopardy!? This has got to be super important.

I unmuted and in less than a sentence, he made it clear to me that he had absolutely nothing important to say. The same as his entire political career. After blathering on for over half an hour (re-muted and left the room) it amounted to less than a paragraph long press release from the DNC that was in the news cycle for about 15 minutes.

What was CBS thinking? Are they trying to push to the head of the line for “exclusive” interviews with the incoming regime? (Old stuff, most of them; clearly Obama re-treads). Joe… you need a new Communications Director. Suggestion: get one in the Jeopardy demographic.

The only saving grace was that it wasn’t Chuck Schumer. Yet.

It’s going to be a long four years.

Ralph E. Smith

Lyndonville

Editor:

We, the members of the Town of Ridgeway Republican Committee, believe that social and political issues are as important at our local level as at the state or national levels. Day to day, the decisions of your Town Board, who are your friends and neighbors, impact all of us more than national politics.

Both young and old in our community have knowledge to share about what should happen in our own backyard. Your fresh ideas and insights can affect change for the better. The process to get involved is simple, and your local Board of Elections or Political Committee can help.

2021 positions up for election in Ridgeway include: two Town Board seats, Town Clerk, and Highway Superintendent. Because the current Town Clerk chooses not to seek re-election, nominations are particularly needed for that position. Although incumbents often run unopposed, your candidacy is welcome as part of our democratic system.

Local Democrat and Republican Party committees conduct interviews and endorse candidates based on how their views align with the party’s. While candidates secure a place on the ballot through party endorsement, anyone can run as an independent if you feel your views don’t align with a party.

The Town Board meets two evenings a month – first an organizational meeting, and then a board meeting. Both are public forums.  Board members are charged with determining the town’s direction. Current issues include the introduction of solar panels in the town, managing the town budget amid the pandemic, and ensuring local Fire Departments have the resources to provide necessary services.

Our Town Board website affirms that we are a small town with heart, a township that has much to offer, and just a friendly, hometown community. As the Town of Ridgeway Republican Committee, we encourage you to step up and be a part of your town’s future.

Sincerely,

The Town of Ridgeway Republican Committee

Laura Olinger (585) 733-9602

Ken Baker

Charlie Smith

Ayesha Kreutz

Virginia Nicholson

Dawn Meland

Gary Lawton

Steve Bunch

Matt Kreutz

Melody Parker

Kevin Bogan

Amanada Kroening

Nancy Traxler

Steve Songer

Mary Hare