Editor:

As a 16-year-old, I watched the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, televised in black and white. Even at that time, I was taking a keen interest in foreign affairs, stimulated, in part, by a classmate’s escape from East Germany (GDR) in the fifties. The Cuban Revolution added to that fascination.

The next day when I went to school I could not believe that the consensus was that Kennedy had “won” the debate. I later discovered that polls indicated those who watched on television tended to take that view, while those who listened on the radio felt Nixon had won.  On the radio, you were able to concentrate on content, rather than being distracted by personal appearance, body language, sweating, suit color, make up and tan.  What a joke.

I was 16 and had watched it on television. Mom was a Democrat and Dad was a Republican. I am proud to say that, to me, there was absolutely no doubt that Nixon had been more substantive, used fewer generalities and generally had a greater command of the facts. But Kennedy won the all-important packaging competition.

In tomorrow’s debate, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be all dolled/duded up and a lot of attention will have been made to the colors each wears. Though body language, including facial expressions, will still be factors, personal appearance likely will not. Trump will come in as one experienced in business and entertainment, the author of “The Art of the Deal”.  Clinton will come in as an experienced/ career politician and the author of “It Takes a Village”.

She will come in as a life-long Democrat. He will come in as one who has changed party affiliation numerous times. She will appear as one who has been cheated on more than once. He will take the stage as one who has done the cheating many times.

The “bar” for candidate Trump will likely be very low.  Can he be serious, respectful, and civil while sounding as if he knows what he is talking about without a teleprompter? For Clinton, the question will be whether, or not, she can get viewer-listeners to acknowledge that she is not her husband or Barack Obama and that a woman should be judged by the exact same standard as men. This has been successfully accomplished in 61 other countries.  Whether it can be here is another question.

Clinton will have to accurately portray herself as far superior to Trump to be considered the “winner”.  As Tom Toles noted in a Buffalo News cartoon last Sunday, her “defect” was discovered in her medical evaluation when her doctor checked the box next to “female”.

Though finding someone who will admit it is nearly impossible, for far too many people, that may be her most glaring flaw.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

With the election season heating up, people are already starting to think about next year’s local elections.

Recently, I have had several people (Democrats and Republicans) reach out to me, urging me to run for the County Legislature again. I want to be clear: I will not be running for any elected office next year.

Due to other personal commitments, I would not be able to give the voters and residents what they deserve—my undivided attention and dedication.

With this being said, I encourage more people to run for office next year. Democrats—it is an uphill battle, but it’s possible. Take a chance! Republicans—step up to challenge the incumbents and endorsed candidates in primaries!

What I would like to see the most is more women running for county offices. Women make up over 50 percent of our population in Orleans County, yet only one legislator is a woman—Legislator Lynne Johnson.

Women, please step up and run, with or without party backing! Also, with all due respect to other elected officials—I think it would be nice to have a “Chairwoman” of the County Legislature, after having a “Chairman” for so many years.

Sincerely,

James White

Gaines

As a lover of music I was thrilled to find out that Ronan Tynan would be performing in the area. Those who were lucky enough to catch a music legend were not disappointed, it was an incredibly moving evening of music and stories in a beautiful venue.

Thanks to The Orleans Renaissance Group for making the event happen and proving Orleans County residents proudly support the performing arts.

All the best,

Thom Jennings

Albion

Editor:

I am a resident and taxpayer in Shelby and have been farming in this town since 1947.  After my sons, Ed and Jim, graduated from Medina High School we began farming as a family and still do today.

I oppose the Shelby Town Board trying to enact New Local Law No. 2 of 2016. The Town Board has not disclosed the basis for creating the law other than the supervisor telling the newspaper “the town doesn’t want a quarry so close to the refuge.” That’s not a strong basis to pass a law that imposes so many restrictions on landowners. Yet, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service are certainly aware of the advantages and benefits the quarry will have on critical habitat in the refuge.

Did the town consult any credentialed, unbiased experts about wildlife or the refuge in order to develop LL2? Because the town did not actively participate with any experts in the SEQR process and the town did not offer any expert witness testimony at the issues conference in April, it’s hard to believe they would have contacted a wildlife or environmental expert in order to come up with a sound basis for LL2.

Will the parcels in the “Wildlife Refuge Overlay Protection District” be exempt from all taxes, like the refuge? They most certainly should be if those of us who own parcels in that district will lose control of our land. That would put more of a burden on landowners outside the overlay district to pay more in taxes.

My family has been called greedy farmers for pursuing the quarry project with Frontier Stone. We farmers are not greedy. We feed all the people here and throughout the world. And all these years, we have supported the wildlife that roamed our land, welcomed them on our property and provided them with a consistent source of food to survive – hay, corn and wheat. We never put up fences or barriers or signs to keep them out.  And our tax dollars have supported the town. Farmers all over Shelby contribute thousands and thousands of tax dollars every year to the town and school.

Mother Nature has been here a whole lot longer than we have. She can take better care of herself after the human race has annihilated itself with drugs, shootings, stabbings, war and fast-food drive thrus. Second to Mother Nature, we farmers are pretty good stewards of the land and we would not support anything going on our land that would annihilate it.

Local Law No. 2 will negatively impact many farmers, sportsmen, developers and other future businesses. This overlay district is not what is best for the town and community. Vote down LL2 in its entirety.

Chester Zelazny

Shelby

Editor:

We have a few landowners in Orleans County that are trying to block what other landowners can do with their property. These landowners have friends on the Shelby Town Board who have aligned with them.

New York State didn’t think that these landowners’ views out their back doors, or the possible devaluation of their land, were grounds for refusing to issue a permit for a quarry.

The next thing these landowners and The Shelby Town Board tried to say was that the quarry would hurt the wildlife on the Iroquois Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is in Genesee and Orleans counties.

Some of the evidence the Town Board presented to the DEC was from a local wildlife rehabilitator. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and an Administrative Law Judge appointed by the DEC ruled “no issues exist for adjudication.

This decision was made after a very prestigious firm of environmentalists and scientists presented a study that refuted what our local rehabilitator presented.

After the DEC ruled against the Shelby Town Board, they are now trying, with the LL2 law, to stop the quarry. To this goal they are trying to limit what the landowners who own thousands of acres of land that borders the “refuge can do with their land. They are trying, with this “overlay district”, to make it seem that they are trying to help the “refuge” protect the wildlife.

If the State or Federal Government felt they needed an “overlay district” they would have bought or used their eminent domain law to establish an “overlay district”.  This LL2 law is just another way the Shelby Town Board is trying to dictate what taxpayers can do with their land.

The Board doesn’t care if this law is detrimental to landowners and will stop future businesses and jobs from coming into the Town of Shelby.

They don’t care if future businesses and jobs would lessen the high tax burden that we are currently paying. They don’t care about the cost of lawsuits that I’m sure will follow.

I’d like to know just how many thousands of our tax dollars the Town of Shelby has already spent to stop this quarry and set up this “overlay district”.

Isn’t it funny that the taxpayers that own land in the “overlay district” are paying the costs of limiting what they can do with their land?

I hope the voters in the next election for the Shelby Town Board members reflects what the voters think about what the current board members are trying to do.

David Schrader

Shelby

Editor:

To all concerned and members of VFW Post #202 in Holley, I sincerely apologize for any of my inaccuracies and false statements to all those involved. I am sorry for all the problems I have caused with this mess.

Sincerely,

Earle F Skellen

Holley

(Editor’s note: Mr. Skellen submitted this letter as a requirement from the Murray Town Court after he claimed to have been a veteran of the Vietnam War. As a member of the Holley VFW, Skellen allegedly used his position of power to purchase a John Deere zero-turn lawn mower at a reduced price of $500, when the value of the mower at the time of purchase was more than $2,000, according to the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office. He has since paid $2,000 to the VFW to cover the difference in the mower’s value.)

Editor:

Today’s sheriffs are proud of the rich history of their office. It is one of the oldest institutions in America, dating back to Biblical times.

The modern office of sheriff in the United States descends from a one-thousand-year-old English tradition: a “shire-reeve” (shire-keeper) is the oldest appointment of the English crown.

Because county governments were typically the first established units of government in newly settled American territories, sheriffs were among the first elected public officials in an area and thus developed a leading role in local law enforcement.

Most sheriffs are elected every four years. It is this election process that makes the Office of Sheriff unique to all of law enforcement. These elections make most of the 3,085 county Sheriffs throughout the United States directly accountable to the people they serve.

We represent the highest order of law enforcement in Orleans County and answer directly to the people. The Orleans County Sheriff’s Department strives to do the following:

• Serve and Protect the citizens of Orleans County;

• Provide a safe and secure jail, providing necessary treatment to better prepare inmates to reenter society;

• Be visible and accessible;

• Maintain peace and order in Orleans County;

• Provide professional public safety dispatching;

• Properly receive and execute all legal and civil processes referred to the Office of the Sheriff;

• Deliver effective law enforcement services to all citizens of Orleans County;

• Support and Defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

This week is “Sheriff’s Week.” Activities planned include:

• Lunch with a Deputy Sheriff and students at all county schools;

• Yellow DOT program presentation at three Nutri-fair sites (Albion, Lyndonville and Kendall)

• Village and Town Park clean up detail by the inmates of the Orleans County Jail.

Randy Bower

Orleans County Sheriff

Editor:

I would like to thank the Shelby Town Board for their vision in proposing Local Law No. 2 for the Wildlife Refuge Protection Overlay District.

It is vitally important to protect the Iroquois Wildlife Refuge from inappropriate land uses in its vicinity. Far too many times we have seen reckless industrial “development” lay waste to natural habitat.

This has been done in the name of “rights of landowners”, “need for jobs”, “progress”, and other such smokescreens. What it boils down to is short-sighted greed, pure and simple.

Town government directly represents the people, and your common sense is very much appreciated.

I would also add the Wildlife Refuge belongs to everyone. Land ownership is not a right to be a poor steward. Let’s not allow human arrogance to harm this special remaining piece of our natural world.

Sincerely,

Al Capurso

Gaines

Editor:

You people in Shelby better wake up. You are getting agenda 21 shoved down your throat. Comprehensive plans are very, very bad. We tried to warn you back in 2002 when they were putting this together but no one would listen. It is a living document and put in the hands of tyrants is as dangerous as playing Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic.

How’s it working out for you now in 2016? You are way less free and you can’t do anything with your property without permission, NOTHING. The radical environmentalists love using it to control your land. You need to educate yourself on this UN mandate that is being imposed throughout the USA since George Bush Senior was president. Sadly our representatives are clueless (smart people behaving incredibly dumb) and gleefully in some cases shoving this down our throats especially when there’s grant money involved.

It has infected every county in the country and your Town Board is deeply infected with it. Your town is the worst next to Ridgeway when it comes to oppressive regulation. You land owners need to step up and run against every member of your board and change them. They have been there way to long especially your Supervisor. This is what happens when politicians make a career of the job.

They are proposing through zoning taking your land. Did you ever imagine this in the USA? Eventually it will be worthless other than being turned into a wilderness zone that you won’t even be able to set foot on. You all are partly to blame by letting these people do all the oppressive things they have done over the years and not stopping them because it didn’t affect you. When you hear them talk about “sustainability” and “Environmental and Social Justice” Red Flags must go up in your mind. It is agenda 21.

You need to ask them what is sustainable? Your farm is not, your airport is not, industry is not, golf courses and a long list of what makes our lives convenient are not. Basically the modern American way of life is not. Humanity is not. The environment before all things, first. You environmentalists need to wake up to because your quiet country way of life is also unsustainable just by the fact of you being there. Wake up and stop being a tool.

All the businesses and land uses that they want to regulate are just as much a part of a community as the grocery store, the tavern, the restaurant and hardware store. Somewhere along the line these businesses became a dirty word. We don’t want them around us but without those vital community businesses nothing would get built or the undesirable things we all can’t bear to have to look at would have nowhere to go. Sorry but a healthy community is made up of all those things even the ones we don’t like.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

Above is the actual and estimated population chart broken down by age for Orleans County. The chart was completed by Cornell Program on Applied Demographics. This shrinking population is not good for the future of present school structure along with economic activity for the County.

A major reason for the projected drop is lack of employment opportunities and high taxation. Those that place barriers to potential projects which create employment and consolidation of government in the County should consider declining population and the negative ramifications that will lead to.

Edward Urbanik

Lyndonville

Editor:

You are reading it here first, the Apex Lighthouse Wind Project should and likely will be denied.

Facts regarding existing dismal MWH wind output, unreliability, need for reliable backup, the outrageous cost to construct a 200 MW project then collect and motivate the electrons to move easterly 400 miles will become so overwhelming that even in NYS common sense and indisputable facts will eventually prevail.

With NY total wind nameplate of approximately 1,750 MW available, why does wind contribute so little now? Adding more wind MW won’t improve the results. The 1,750 MW in NY is scattered all over the state. This fact makes it difficult to feed into the grid on a consistent basis.

A properly located 1,750MW power generating facility with a dependable fuel source positioned on a few acres would feed directly into the grid.

I believe a contributing factor to the downfall of the Apex wind project will be no suitable transmission path to NYC. Table shows anemic wind MW output obtained from NYISO.

Available           Actual Output                 Date /  Time

1750MW               26MW                 01/22/2016     10:30AM

1750MW           1141MW                 01/26/2016       7:00AM

1750MW             464MW                 03/27/2016       6:35AM

1750MW             117MW                 04/18/2016       6:17AM

1750MW             401MW                 05/31/2016       6:20AM

1750MW             855MW                 06/20/2016        2:15PM

1750MW               68MW                  08/11/2016       4:30PM      Possible NY Peak Load Day

1750MW             616MW                  08/12/2016       4:58PM      Possible NY Peak Load Day

1750MW               36MW                  08/27/2016       6:24AM

1750MW             118MW                  09/01/2016      12:20PM

1750MW                 9MW                  09/02/2016      11:20AM

1750MW                 0MW                  09/04/2016       4:55PM      Actual Zero MW

Adding more wind MW scattered around NYS without new and upgraded low and high voltage transmission lines will exacerbate transmission constraints and accelerate the demise of big wind.

Sincerely

Gregory G. Woodrich

Williamsville

Editor:

We who have lived in Orleans County all our lives too often take our environmental assets for granted. This reality is dramatized by the potential negative environmental impact of dozens of 600-foot high wind turbines in Yates and Barre and the prospect of a huge stone quarrying operation adjacent to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

Such developments would constitute a real threat to wildlife habitat and diversity in Orleans County.

Imagine completing a form assessing the environmental impact of such projects. Could you honestly affirm that either type of project would not negatively impact Orleans County’s environment?

Now imagine you are an old guard member of the Orleans County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. You actually have a good idea what we have here. The question is, “Will any threatened or endangered animals, or species of concern be adversely affected by the proposed project?”  Is it even remotely conceivable that anyone with extensive outdoor experience/knowledge could check the “No” box in either instance?

The mining operation clearly comes with considerable environmental risks. The proposed overlay district seems a reasonable way to address the issue from the local level.

While I am all for renewables, in my view, wind turbines are a poor fit for Orleans County. Due mainly to setback requirements, the siting realities for wind turbines inevitably mean that already threatened woodland habitat will be seriously diminished. There are places where access roads and clearings for the turbines themselves would actually add habitat diversity. Think about areas that are heavily forested. Orleans County generally is not one of those places.

Whether it is a stone quarrying operation adjacent to a wildlife refuge or one, or more, wind turbine projects, there will be no do-overs.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

As reported in numerous letters, Save Ontario Shores (SOS) sponsored a rally a few weeks ago against the Lighthouse Wind Project proposed by Apex. Hundreds of people stood in the pelting rain to loudly and publicly declare their opposition to this project and the loss of home rule that Article 10 has wrought upon us.

It is incredibly frustrating to have to continue this fight! The reasons we so strongly oppose this project have been well documented. The overwhelming and negative effects on our environment, wildlife, health, property values and quality of life far outweigh the minuscule and inconsistent power these monstrous industrial wind turbines would bring.

The opposition is tremendous and the fact is that anywhere else in the United States this project proposal would be long gone. But in New York State we have lost the basic democratic right to determine the future of our community.

As ordinary citizens, we have to continue to spend our time and money fighting this poorly conceived nightmare. Make no mistake, Apex has counted on us running out of will power and money. It is also unconscionable that our towns have to continue to spend time and taxpayer money fighting an out of state company that should have left as soon as it was clear the project was not wanted.

Unbelievably, Apex representative Dan Fitzgerald told a group of us at an informational meeting early in 2015 that Apex would not stay where they not wanted. Clearly, that was a lie.

It’s time for Apex to acknowledge their mistake; they chose an area that is too populated; an area rich in wildlife, natural scenic beauty, and tourism. A place too close to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and a place in the middle of one of the largest migratory bird flyways in North America.

It is time they listened to five different surveys, two town elections, and the resolutions passed by three counties, and two town boards.

It is time to heed the concerns expressed by the American Bird Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Orleans County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, the Hawk Migration Association of North America, the Niagara County Board of Health, the Genesee-Orleans Board of Health, the Rochester Birding Association, the Genesee Valley Audubon Society, the Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists, Save the River, the Nature Conservancy, Mercy Flight, The Niagara Chamber of Commerce, and the WNY delegation of the NYS Senate and House.

It is time to leave.

Donn Riggi

Lyndonville

Editor:

I moved to Somerset in 1992, and since then, I have seen a steady decline in the area. Our towns are literally “withering on the vine.”

Lighthouse Wind would bring needed economic development to our area for all residents, for our towns and schools and for the industry that has made this area rich in the past – our farming community.

Our school enrollments have continuously gone down. There is nothing here to draw new people or to keep our young people here. There are no new jobs, and our agricultural industry is being hit with a double whammy of rapidly declining milk prices and drought.

Yet, “those people,” our hardworking farmers, are being called out for looking at farming wind as “money grubbing.” Those farmers, who work from sun up to sun down making a decent living, are watching the anti-wind opposition call them out for looking to improve their own lives as well as the life of our community.

The Town of Somerset has had multiple opportunities for business to come in, and the town has failed. Somerset will never get 100% approval on a new business, but small numbers of opponents have blocked any kind of new business in the past. You know the list which includes Verizon, and one person was responsible for blocking that one.

Our area will continue to struggle if we do not plan ahead. Yes, wind power offers landowners individual payments, but it can also provide needed revenue for our towns and schools. These community benefits and blessings continue over the 30-year life of the project, and with them will come ancillary revenue to local businesses.

Lighthouse Wind will bolster our community, helping us not only survive, but thrive. I encourage readers to research the benefits more and the misinformation out there.

Lighthouse Wind has regular office hours, too, that you should take advantage of. Lighthouse Wind’s doors are open. Give them a visit.

I have found that my research into the wind farming uncovers many more positives than negatives. I encourage you to look further and do your research into the facts and the future of our area.

Floyd Koerner

Somerset

Editor:

Of all the discourse seen on the Town of Shelby’s proposal of new Local Law No. 2, a few questions haven’t been asked.

Did the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge ask the Town of Shelby or any other “group” for this kind of assistance/protection? There is a well-documented paper trail that shows the refuge worked closely with the DEC and Frontier Stone to identify issues of importance, which the DEC and Frontier addressed fully. That’s more than can be said for the Shelby Town Board. I suppose the refuge will be branded “negligent,” as was the DEC.

What was the criteria for the town’s 3,000-foot buffer in the overlay? Why not 5,000 feet? A mile? 5 miles? I can see by the map that the 3,000-foot mark just misses property owned by family members of the Town of Shelby’s Town Supervisor. A coincidence, I am sure.

What about the rest of the perimeter of the refuge? What does the town and those property owners have to say about those borders? I would think Shelby would have addressed this issue, seeing as they are so concerned about the refuge in its entirety. As it stands, it’s like locking the front door of a cattle barn that has three sides missing.

This is not so much an issue about the quarry – it’s a property rights issue now. If LL2 is passed by this Town Board, it will establish a precedent for a ban on new business and other activities in Shelby. If you allow that precedent to be set in one part of town, the board may not stop there.

Anything you may want to do, on land that you pay taxes on, could be prohibited by the Town Board in the future. The wildlife, Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers don’t just stay in the refuge, they’re all over Shelby. Residents and property owners could be banned from building a shed, digging a garden, or blasting the bedrock from under your property because you want a pond for your animals.

LL2 is a very ill-conceived concept that the Town of Shelby has come up with in desperation. Frontier Stone has jumped through every hoop and flame set before them and come out clean. The DEC and the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge are satisfied. The STAMP project is satisfied.  In the end, someone will be happy, someone will be sad. That’s life.

If enacted, laws like LL2 are a Pandora’s box. Anything you may want to do on your property could be subject to Town Board scrutiny in the future, just because someone who doesn’t own YOUR PROPERTY doesn’t think it should be there.

Taxpayers who own 68% of the land in Shelby’s proposed overlay district made it clear they do not want local government officials using taxpayer money to impose restrictions on them. The rest of the town should be mindful of how those same officials may use YOUR money in the future to limit YOUR use and enjoyment of YOUR property.

Patty Olinger

Lyndonville