Editor:

I am writing you today to inform residents in the Town of Murray of the Comprehensive Plan update we are undertaking this year. The Town Board has appropriated funding in its budget to retain LaBella Associates, a Rochester engineering and planning firm, to help guide us through this exciting and important project.

The Comprehensive Plan is important because it provides the vision for elected officials to justify their decision-making policies in what is best for the community. The “Plan” is the base line by which a community develops its zoning ordinance regulating land use.

The Plan develops community goals and sets forth a strategy to achieve them. Since no one governing body can speak for us all, it is important to include the voice of the community throughout this process.  Inclusiveness is essential for a healthy future.

To develop a successful community based comprehensive plan it is vital to hear from you. There are several ways we can achieve this. Surveys work, but are expensive and are well, surveys, many of which end up in the trash.

In my view, the best effort to obtain community input is directly from those interested at our work meetings. LaBella would like us to form a Steering Committee to meet periodically throughout this year to organize what is important to us. LaBella will do the lion’s share of the work but cannot read our minds.

It is a rewarding experience to shape one’s community. Please consider joining the steering committee. The committee will meet periodically throughout the year under the leadership of Labella. Public hearings will also be held to solicit your viewpoints. Either way, it is a great opportunity to be proactively involved in something that directly effects your lives.

We need your help.

Please join our Steering Committee. Contact us at your Town Hall for more information. 585-638-6570

Joe Sidonio

Town Supervisor

Murray

Editor:

As the Town of Yates continues to explore how best to take advantage of the $2.531 million dollar grant awarded for the Yates Town Park by the NY State Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI) Commission, a wide range of suggestions and concerns about the future of the park have been raised.

Why should we enhance the park? According to the National Recreation and Park Association, quality parks are recreational spaces which improve health and wellness, conserve open spaces, ensure social equity by providing free public access to all, increase property values in the community, and are cited as one of the top three reasons people and businesses relocate to an area.

Why not spend the money elsewhere? The REDI Commission has made it clear that the grants are only to be used for lakeside communities negatively affected by Lake Ontario flooding to provide for shoreline resiliency and economic development opportunities. The $2.5 million is money already taken from the taxpayers, and it will not be given back. Presumably, unspent REDI grant funds would be moved to other REDI projects, but it will not be spent in Yates.

Why enhance the park when not enough people use it? What does “not enough people” mean?  I applaud those who had the vision to establish the park in the first place almost two decades ago. Many believe (myself, the town board and the REDI Commission included) that enhancing the park with things like a playground, a pavilion, and a nature path will lead to an increase in usage and will be appreciated by future generations.

What impact will this have on taxpayers? The town spends about $10,000 a year maintaining the park. This includes grass cutting, renting porta-potties, and other facility upkeep tasks. The enhancements from the project would increase costs for facility upkeep and insurance, but current analysis is that the increase would be small.

How will the town pay for the 5 percent local match required by the state? The Town estimates 25 percent of that local match will come from in-kind services (like highway personnel helping with excavating, etc.). The Town is seeking other grant funding for the remainder of the local match, and, short of that, will consider a long-term bond.

What will be the final design of the park? The Yates Town Park Task Force, formed last summer and made up of community members and town personnel, continues to listen to any and all suggestions, and will make its final recommendations to the Town Board next month. Some changes to the original design the task force has made are – among others – an open pavilion rather than an enclosed pavilion, an L-shaped break wall rather than two jetties, and some security enhancements.

The Yates Town Park Task Force meets on Monday, February 10, 5:30 p.m., at the town hall. All are welcome. This meeting is a workshop, so the public may attend but not ask questions. As in the past, task force members will be available after the workshop to talk one-on-one with people.

The Yates Town Board is hosting a public forum followed by a public hearing on February 13 at 7 p.m., at the town hall.  All are welcome.

For the latest updates about the park proposal please go to the town website (townofyates.org) or send me an email at jamesjsimon11@gmail.com.

Jim Simon

Supervisor, Town of Yates

Editor:

What follows are a few observations about the impeachment of the man who has called himself the “Chosen One” as well as some related thoughts that his impeachment has elicited.

First, the frequently expressed idea that the way our President acts is acceptable because “All politicians are alike” is—at least to me—ridiculous. We must do what is necessary to differentiate the better ones from those who are less equal to the task. If it is a lot of work, that is the price that we must pay for the privilege of living in the republic envisioned by our Nation’s Founders.

Secondly, the notion that President Trump has done nothing wrong is absurd just as conservative attorney George Conway told Jake Tapper on CNN recently. Anyone remotely familiar with the Constitution knows that—among other things—Trump has violated his oath of office repeatedly.

For example, did he forget that he is sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States? Did he forget that he promised to take care that the laws be faithfully executed? Laws appropriating money for the defense of Ukraine (which must begin in the House of Representatives) are laws that must be faithfully executed just as any other law. This is not to mention attempting to use taxpayer money to bribe a foreign leader.

Since when does a President get to defy subpoenas, order members of his administration not to cooperate with legitimate functions of the House of Representatives, and otherwise obstruct its will? President Trump is no more above the law than Nixon and Clinton were.

But what else is new? Before becoming President, he used his lawyers and money to avoid paying legitimate bills. For example, contractors who worked on the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City still are owed. He has yet to make public his tax returns, as was customary for his recent predecessors.

Why is this President so determined not to allow witnesses at his Senate trial?

And why did Russia inject itself into the 2016 election (per the Mueller report)? Why did Vladimir Putin use his disinformation skills to discredit Trump’s opponent? Who benefits from the nonsense that has gone on in the area of foreign policy alone over the past three years?

We may not be around to see it, but this country will pay dearly for this President’s actions, conviction, or no.

For the record, I am still not sure impeachment was a good idea, though it certainly was justified.

Frankly, I would welcome the opportunity to have a choice to vote for a republican such as Bill Weld or Mark Sanford in November, even though that may sound like heresy to my democratic friends.

Sincerely yours

Gary F. Kent

Albion

Editor:

The rank-and-file Republicans were told that their candidate for Congress in the 27th district will be Chris Jacobs. Most of us, outside of Mr. Jacobs’ State Senate district, have never heard of him.

I call on him to write op-ed pieces to the newspapers to introduce himself to the citizens of the district. I would like him to address his style of governing; will he hold town-hall style meeting with constituents or will he pander only to his donors as his predecessors have done?

What is Mr. Jacobs’ view of congressional oversight? Will Mr. Jacobs seek to hold those who abuse their authority for personal gain to account, like Scott Pruitt or Ryan Zinke, or will he overlook their malfeasance like other Republicans in the Congress?

Does Mr. Jacobs support the administration’s cuts to Social Security, Medicare, S.N.A.P. and C.H.I.P while cutting taxes on corporations and increasing the national debt? How will Mr. Jacobs protect our elections from foreign interference?

Will Mr. Jacobs debate issues affecting the district with Nate McMurray? Will Mr. Jacobs hide from the voters and hope, because he has an (R) after his name, he will be elected?

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Fentanyl, while providing great help and hope to those suffering from chronic pain throughout the United States, has also been the cause of tragic suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of people.

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and its chemical variants or analogues are significantly more potent and lethal than heroin. Carfentanil, for example, is an analogue of fentanyl that is approximately 100 times more potent than fentanyl and approximately 1,000 times more potent than heroin. Its commercial uses include serving as a tranquilizer for large animals such as elephants and rhinoceroses. Even the tiniest amount of a fentanyl analogue – just a few grains, less than an eighth the size of a penny – can be fatal to humans.

Over the past decade, each of our offices has charged large-volume illegal distributors of potentially lethal fentanyl. And yet, the death toll continued to rise because drug trafficking cartels responded to our enforcement efforts by manufacturing equally and even more dangerous analogues of fentanyl.

To address this deadly trend, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began using its scheduling authority – that is, its authority to designate substances as illegal narcotic drugs – to criminalize the distribution of particular synthetic analogues of fentanyl. The response of criminal syndicates, motivated by the high profitability of the trade in potentially lethal fentanyl analogues, was to alter the formulation of a particular prohibited analogue so that it fell outside the ban, which could sometimes be accomplished by changing a single molecule in the drug’s chemical composition.

Each time that new formulation was prohibited, the criminal producers would come up with a new analogue with a chemical formula that again fell outside the ban.

In February 2018, the DEA instituted a two-year ban on all fentanyl analogues to obviate the continual race to keep up with criminal producers. That ban has played an essential role in each of our offices’ efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, and to prosecute large-scale distributors responsible for peddling deadly fentanyl analogues in our communities.

Unfortunately, the DEA ban on fentanyl analogues will end on February 6 unless Congress acts. We urge Congress to pass a bill that ensures the permanent class-wide scheduling of fentanyl analogues. We are confident Congress can accomplish this without impeding responsible medical research or interfering with medically necessary prescriptions.

A number of organizations have voiced opposition to the proposed legislation, pointing out, among other things, that the bill does not embrace public health approaches to the overdose crisis.

We agree that a comprehensive approach to the opioid crisis is needed, and permanent class-wide scheduling should be viewed as part of a broader program. But a bill banning fentanyl analogues should not be opposed because it doesn’t also address addiction treatment. Outlawing fentanyl analogues will save lives.

We urge Congress to make permanent the DEA’s temporary scheduling order for fentanyl analogues.

Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York

Grant C. Jaquith, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York

James P. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York

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Editor:

This is an alert to Orleans County taxpayers. $2.5 million of your state tax dollars are being spent for the Town of Yates Park enhancements.

Raise your hand if you even know where the park is located. If you have never heard of it, call Governor Cuomo at 518-474-8390. Take a ride and use your GPS to find the isolated park on Morrison Road.

We still have the right to voice our objections – whether anyone will listen is the question. Please plan to attend the Feb. 13 meeting, which is open to the public, starting at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.

Bill Jurinich

Lyndonville

Editor:

In 2013, Apex Clean Energy (a Charlottesville, Virginia-based renewable energy developer) quietly began approaching farmers and landowners in the rural, pristine towns of Yates and Somerset, New York to sign leases for an Industrial Wind Energy Project.

Historically, Yates and Somerset have always been rural, farming communities on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Residents of these towns as well as most of rural Western New York are fiercely self-reliant folks that bristle at any governmental agency telling them what is best for their communities.

Nevertheless, Apex covertly imposed itself on the communities of Yates and Somerset in 2013 with the proposed Lighthouse Wind Project. This project is a massive 201 MW, 47 wind turbine installation currently being discussed with the New York State Department of Service (NYSDPS) under the New York State Article 10 Administrative Law.

Article 10 was enacted by New York State Governor Cuomo in 2011 to meet a 50/30 initiative that would require New York to generate 50% of its energy via renewable sources by 2030.

As the Towns of Yates and Somerset became aware of the project in October 2014 (twelve months after leases began to be signed), a massive opposition to the project began in these towns that has grown dramatically over the ensuing six years.

Not only has the opposition force known as Save Ontario Shores (SOS) grown in size and strength, both Yates and Somerset Town Boards have remained unanimously opposed to APEX’s Lighthouse Wind Industrial Wind Turbine Emplacement Project.

Our towns were, are and will continue to remain fully and fervently opposed to Apex’s imposition on our communities. Clearly, given the strength of local laws and our “no Payment in Lieu of Taxes” (PILOT) resolution, the company is hoping that the State will allow waiving of local laws and regulations, as well as local constituent protections so that they overrun our towns with their unwanted and unwarranted Lighthouse Wind Project.

Due to our successful opposition, Apex informed their leaseholders in early 2019 that an Article 10 application would not be filed in 2019. Imagine, therefore, our collective dismay at Apex statements in the January 16, 2020 edition of Lockport New York Union Sun and Journal: “Apex…does not have an update as to whether it will submit an application in 2020.”

My question to the readers:

If the town where you choose to live your life is threatened by an industrialization project that will directly impact your health, livelihood, property value and environment, would you not be at least anxious about these proposed changes to your very quality of life? Now imagine that this question has hung over your town for the last six years with no end in sight, due to developer’s self-interest and State disinterest?

This is where we are in Yates and Somerset and enough is enough.

We call on APEX to:

1. Immediately withdraw the Lighthouse Wind Project (NYSDPS Matter:  14-F-0485) from the NYSDPS Article 10 process.

2. Immediately withdraw the Lighthouse Wind Project from the New York Independent System Operator Project Interconnection Queue.

3. Immediately remove the remaining Meteorological (MET) Tower from the Lighthouse Wind project area.

4. Immediately cancel all leases and pay the leaseholders what they are owed through the end of their lease contracts.

The majority of our town’s constituencies may have been on different sides of this issue with the leaseholders, but we are all neighbors. We have all suffered through this Apex era together and they deserve the lease payments they are owed.

Apex, six years is enough. Time for you to pull the plug on Lighthouse Wind.

John Riggi

Councilman

Town of Yates

Editor:

I have concerns about the Trump Administration’s profound and pervasive abuse of power and the Republican’s acquiesce. The White House’s memo, witness testimony, and Mr. Trump’s own public statements confirm that he asked Ukraine’s President Zelensky multiple times to investigate Joe Biden as well as a bogus, Russian-generated conspiracy theory that suggest that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, opposing every U.S. intelligence report.

Witnesses testifying under oath and documentation show that nearly $400 million congressionally appropriated military aid was withheld to benefit the President, and only the President, period. Withholding the aid did not benefit or further U.S. interest. In fact, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Mr. Trump that releasing the aid was in the U.S. interest, Mr. Trump refused to release the aid.

Republicans refuse to investigate or hold the President accountable for this blatant misuse of funds and violation of law – the Impoundment Control Act.

With the impeachment trial moving to the Senate, the President ordered the killing of Iran General Qassem Soleimani. The killing could have occurred at any time, since Mr. Soleimani never hid his whereabouts.

I believe the that Mr. Trump is trying to start a war as a distraction for his impeachment and help his re-election. General Soleimani was not a rouge actor but a government official of Iran and thus any imminent plans for attacking U.S. targets was approved by Tehran.

The government in Tehran will just appoint a new General and proceed, if such an imminent threat even existed. A major objective of Iran and Russia is to get the U.S. out of Iraq and the President just helped achieve Iran’s and Russian objective. This was done to benefit the President.

With this reckless and capricious act, Mr. Trump weakened the U.S. standing in the world and destabilized the region and furthered Russian and Iranian interest. It is noteworthy that Republicans support this behavior. They support the abuse of power, the lack of oversight, and the lawlessness.

They even support subordinating U.S. foreign interest to that of our adversaries. Congressmen Tom Reed and John Katko should be asked by local reporters to explain their support for this saber rattling before young American lives are at risk. Thank you.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard numerous good reasons for the Town of Yates to abandon its $2.5 million planned expansion of the Yates Town Park.

But there are really 612 exceptional reasons to halt this ill-advised boondoggle – 612 is the current student enrollment at Lyndonville Schools.

As this letter is being written, school officials and the Board of Education are developing the 2020-21 school budget. The gorilla in the room during these discussions is New York’s projected budget shortfall of $6 billion (billion with a B) dollars. One of the biggest items in the state’s budget is state aid to schools. For Lyndonville, state aid is the largest revenue item. Virtually every dollar of lost state aid is replaced by Lyndonville taxpayers.

Town fathers are quick to point out that the bulk of the $2.5 million comes from the state, leaving Yates taxpayers to contribute only $125,000. But on a town general fund budget of about $1.5 million, that’s a big percentage increase in taxes.

Then there’s the increased annual operating expense. Early ballpark guesses are up to the $20,000 range. But with the town’s track record in handling its finances, that number could easily double. (Refer to the blistering October 2018 NYS Comptroller’s audit report on the Town’s poor financial management.)

The Town Board has a “task force” trying to rush through a coherent plan for the $2.5 million endeavor. An expansive pair of piers jutting hundreds of feet into the lake with walkways and navigation lights comes and goes; a concrete kayak launching dock/ramp; an enclosed pavilion with modern rest rooms; hiking trails (originally ten feet wide, then five feet wide, then back to ten feet).

Security? One Town Councilman suggests a state of the art remotely monitored TV spy system. And gates controlling access. The next task force meeting is scheduled at the Town Hall for Monday, February 10, at 5:30 p.m. Do not expect to be able to voice your opinion during this meeting until the meeting is adjourned. A Town Board workshop follows immediately

A public forum to present the plan is currently scheduled for Thursday, February 13. You can view the latest version of the project and hopefully voice your opinion. The Town Engineer has to submit his first report to the state the next day. The Town Board would vote on the project no later than March 16.

Right now, the best thing to do is email the town supervisor at jamesjsimon11@gmail.com. Ask him to put the brakes on this unnecessary project and send that $2.5 million state aid to our 612 students.

Respectfully,

Ralph E. Smith

Lyndonville

Editor:

The Cancer Services Program (CSP) of Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming & Niagara County has great news to share with your readers. Some cancers can be prevented! February 4th is Cancer Prevention Day and the CSP wants you to know that regular cancer screening can prevent certain cancers or find cancer early when it’s easiest to treat.

The CSP provides breast, cervical and colon cancer screening to eligible, uninsured New Yorkers. This program is supported by the State of New York because cancer screening works — it saves lives. These cancer screenings are covered by most insurance plans as well, so nearly every person has access to these preventive services.

How can cancer screening prevent cancer? Cervical and colon cancer screening can find abnormal cells that can be removed before they turn into cancer. This actually prevents cancer from starting. And while breast cancer can’t be prevented through screening, a mammogram can find breast cancer early. Early detection of cancer means treatment may be easier and it is more likely to be cured.

Here are some basics about cancer screening:

• All men and women ages 50 and older should be screened regularly for colon cancer. There are several ways to be screened, including a stool test that can be done in the privacy of your own home.

• Women age 50 and older should get screened for breast cancer. A mammogram is the best way to find breast cancer early.

• Women ages 21-65-years-old should get screened for cervical cancer.

Individuals should always talk to their health care providers about personal risk factors (family history, personal history, lifestyle) as some people may need screening at a younger age or more often. Some cancers have multiple types of screening options. The individual, along with their health care provider, can decide which screening option is the best choice.

Uninsured residents of Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming & Niagara Counties can call the CSP at (716) 278-4898 to learn if they qualify for free cancer screening.

Jessica Capurso

Health Educator for Cancer Services Program of Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming & Niagara Counties & Community Partners of Orleans Community Health