Editor:

In my letter to the editor on Aug. 8, I asked Ms. Mager to be specific in discussing Trump’s presidency and the criminal charges against him. Instead of providing that information, she said she would not discuss Trump because of the negative reactions it would generate.

She is correct. Many Republican women across the country have found Trump so objectionable, that for them like Ms. Mager, he is now unmentionable.

Jack Capurso

Albion High School 1960

Ashburn, Va.

Editor:

The Medina Joint Recreation Summer Recreation Program in Medina has come to the end of the 2024 season. This program is supported by the Village of Medina and the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby.

Without the support of the representatives from each of these municipalities: Jess Marcaino and Debbie Padoleski from Medina, Mary Woodruff and Jeff Toussaint from Ridgeway and Linda Liminia and Steve Seitz  from Shelby, this program would not be possible.  Also a special thanks to Jada Burgess, the Medina village cler, for all the behind-the-scenes work she does.

This summer we offered park activities at Oak Orchard and swimming lessons at the Roy–Hart pool. Seventy-one children registered for our park program this summer. They played games and enjoyed crafts at the Oak Orchard Playground. Thank you Superintendent Mark Kruzynski for allowing us to use the school grounds. Thank you also to Principal Jen Stearns and the janitorial staff for providing us space inside the building.

The kids enjoyed many activities including 4 square, our new dunk chair, and walking field trips to Cas-Nic Cookies, Mark’s, Lee-Whedon Library, Medina Fire Department and Medina Bowling Lanes. Thank you to these places for having us. The kids loved their time at each.

The group also enjoyed several bus trips during the summer. Thank you to the Medina Central School Bus garage for driving us to our destinations.

There were 224 children registered for swimming lessons. This year, the Medina pool was closed for repairs so lessons were offered at the Roy-Hart pool. Thank you to Superintendent Jill Heck, Dottie Barr and the janitorial staff for allowing us to use your facilities. Children enjoyed learning new swimming skills and had fun in the water.

I would personally like to thank my staff at both the pool and the park: Gabe Mark, Maddie Mark, Baliegh McAdoo, Liliah Class, Honesty Hill, Taylor Frentz, Allie Frentz, Aleena Silker, Hayden Woodroe, Sophia Goyette, Will Rousch, Cam Kenward, Miriam Fike, Brennan Woodruff, Cam Fike, Lexoni Russo, Maddy Farley, Tegan Balaban and Andre Toussaint.

It is clear how much you enjoy working with children by the wonderful activities you provide for them. I hope to see you back next summer. I also look forward to seeing all the children next summer and hope to create new memories and experiences for them.

Michelle Capstick

Director of Joint Recreation

Medina/Ridgeway/Shelby

Editor:

As I am no longer an active member of the Lyndonville Board of Education, I believe it’s important to ensure our parents, teachers, taxpayers and all school employees are aware of some things at the Lyndonville school district.

I wanted so badly to let everyone know the details regarding the negotiations I was part of with the Lyndonville Teachers Association (LTA) during the election, but was I advised to wait until after the election. At the request of the LTA and district, I was nominated by my fellow board members to lead the effort of procuring comparable or better health benefits.

Here are some things about the health insurance proposed that no one wants you to know:

1. No previous benefits would have changed, due to the HRA setup. The only thing that would have changed was the cost (much lower) to the school and employee. There would have been an additional step involved in submitting an expense to the HRA, but for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for the district and premium savings to the teachers, and other school employees, it was well worth it. I also had the rates locked for 3 years!
2. Everyone would have been able to choose an individual, two-person, single parent and children, or a full family plan. Currently, only certain employees get family benefits. This would have been expanded to all employees! Under the current plan, a single parent must purchase a full family plan. The new plan was half the cost, as it was set up for these situations.
3. Dental was part of the new plan! There is no dental plan currently.
4. Retirees would have been fully covered as well, before they turn 65, and then with a supplemental plan after 65. This was never proposed to change. This was a lie from the LTA president.
5. It was brilliant. If NYS schools used this strategy statewide, there would be hundreds of millions of dollars available for budgets.

Teachers/taxpayer’s/substitutes/custodians:

You were not told all the facts. These details were all part of negotiations, and no one wanted you to know. The one day you were allowed in the room, the LTA president requested that nothing be discussed outside of the proposed specific plan. We had three different unions in the room, and some employees that were not part of any union. The LTA’s request was clearly a way of suppressing information.

The union president was so desperate to ensure he had new board members, that he personally lied (I have the texts) to retirees stating they would no longer have any health coverage under any new plan. He used these scare tactics to get people to vote a certain way. LTA members followed along, calling every retired teacher in the district.

I think you should wonder “who is negotiating for the taxpayers and school district now?”

Another fact is that the school business administrator admitted he tried to delay getting information to the teams (licensed insurance brokers) I had working on this for me as a personal favor. No one at the district was any help at all, until I had the full support of board members Ted Lewis, Sue Hrovat, Kristin Nicholson and Harold Suhr.

Anyone who knows anything about insurance knows that insurance cost reduction is all about spreading risk. We were trying to join a pool of millions versus the pool of just about 2,000 the district is currently in.

It’s disappointing to have served six years on a board, and the relationships and trust I thought I had built, got completely ignored. People I called friends literally avoided me over this. There was enough money to lower taxes, make our teachers the highest paid in the county, and provide full and better benefits to all the school employees. These efforts resulted in a teacher’s union president not giving their union full details on the proposed plan with the HRA and dental, interference by the district business administrator, and the teachers union literally endorsing other candidates for school board.

I have all the information on the proposed insurance and would be happy to share with anyone. I also have the text messages sent by the LTA president to retired school employees stating I was trying to take away their benefits. He clearly never gave NYSET all the proposed information either. Their comparison lacked the details of the proposed HRA.

While insurance is complicated, contracts are contracts. We can’t change insurance unless the benefits are comparable or better. They were better.

I think the question to ask now is why the union president wanted new board members so bad that they passed on the largest raise and expansion of benefits they would have ever seen?

I understand some just didn’t want change, as they are comfortable with what they have. I can respect that. It is the lying about what was truly trying to be accomplished that has me worried for our district.

Steven Vann

Lyndonville

Editor:

Week One: You will be represented. Unlike other Congress members, I will not spend my day making calls to raise money for the next election. I will spend my time working to improve your life.

Monday: You will be heard. While DC politicians don’t listen to each other, perhaps it’s time they started listening to their constituents. In week one, we will host our first “NY-24 Conversations.” I will dedicate 2 hours per week to take questions, comments, and suggestions from the residents of NY24 – live, via scheduled videoconferencing (Zoom). You will be heard. Not by staff. Not by a recording. Not by a form letter. Not via a photo-op. But by me, your Congressional representative, doing my job.

Unlike our current Representative, who inundates you with tv ads and emails detailing what she’s got to say – or incite you to be as angry as she is – I want to hear from you.

Tuesday: Reaching out. The finger-pointing and blame game needs to end and getting things done needs to take a front seat. In week one, I will reach out to Democrats and especially Republicans to actually do something about systemic problems such as the Border Crisis. You can complain, or you can do something. I choose getting things done. I will also reach out to start the process of getting the money and influence peddlers out of our governing process. Stock trading, corporate PACs and Congress-to-lobbyist track – out, term limits and public service – in.

Wednesday: Improving lives by making Upstate and WNY more affordable – groceries, gas, healthcare and housing.  Reaching out again to Congress members such as Senator Casey (PA) to fight Big Corporate greed and working to hold Big Oil and other big Corps responsible for price fixing, price gouging and addressing other causes of inflation.

Thursday: Protect, improve, and enhance Social Security and Medicare, not cut them. There is a plan by a group of more than 170 GOP Representatives to cut the benefits we are paid. I will fight them. We have worked our entire lives paying into a system and we should have no worries that it will serve us well in our retirement years.

Friday: Air and water. NY-24 is one of the leaders in cancer clusters in NY. Our toxic waste and superfund sites – and currently operating and closed landfills – threaten our water, our air, our families’ health, and our agricultural and tourism economies. Every day we take in tons of garbage from NYC and the Northeast and are left with toxic “forever chemicals” that threaten our water supply. Building garbage mountains in Upstate and WNY is not a long-term answer. In Week one, I will hire and dedicate staff whose sole responsibility will be to address these issues.

Saturday: Protecting women’s healthcare choices is a priority, as is improving access to affordable healthcare, especially mental health care in our rural areas. While nearly half of all Americans will suffer through a mental health issue, there is a scarcity of mental health professionals in rural areas.

Waiting for three months to see a psychiatrist to get needed therapy and medication, let alone one who accepts your insurance, can have real and tragic results. In week one, I will begin writing legislation that addresses the scarcity of mental health care in rural areas, including insurance parity, incentives and making training and education more accessible.

Sunday: Rest, mass, recharge with family and friends, watch the Bills and prepare for the challenges of the weeks ahead.

The challenges facing our nation will not be solved in a week. But the ultra-partisan standoff needs to end and we need to start listening to – and working for – the American people. I will be responsive from day one to the needs of my Upstate and WNY neighbors. I will listen to what matters to YOU in our weekly conversations and get the ball rolling by bringing a common-sense, positive attitude, and willingness to work across the aisle to get things done to make your life a little better. One week at a time.

David Wagenhauser

Waterloo

Wagenhauser is the Democrat-endorsed candidate for the 24th Congressional District, which includes Orleans and 11 other counties.

Editor:

When I write a letter to the editor, I do not target previous writers who hold differing opinions than myself. I find this type of writing both unscrupulous and crude.

This is the second time I have written a letter to the editor and been bashed for my perspectives. For those of you who take offense to my most recent letter, perhaps, it would be beneficial to reread by POV and see where the facts lie.

In my opening paragraph I provide a timeline of Harris’s unremarkable record. I included her failures at the border and then cited her initial stand on defunding the police and how that changed when she became VP.

I’ll be honest, I don’t say anything about Trump because others writers go overboard in listing everything wrong with him.

Instead, as a former English teacher, I want people to think and relate to my statements. In this way instead of causing an overindulgence in what I think and trying to win control over others, my writing intends to give them time to ponder and decide for themselves what’s best for them.

When you start name bashing other writers, you enter a cruel arena of tactlessness.

That is not a place for me.

I read many letters to the editor on this forum and appreciate and respect their perspectives.

Please afford me the same courtesy.

Mary Mager

Fairport, formerly of Albion

Editor:

As a former high school history teacher, I would have given Ms. Mager’s Letter to the Editor of Aug. 1, an “Incomplete” for two reasons.

First, she criticized VP Harris with generalizations. Teachers always ask their students to “be specific.” She was not.

Secondly, how is it possible to write about the 2024 Presidential Election and mention only one candidate. Perhaps she declined to include Trump because there is so little to praise as a President, and so much failure as a person.

On July 31, Mr. Fine of Brockport wrote an excellent Letter to the Editor that was specific, persuasive, and included detail on Trump’s criminal situation.

Perhaps Ms. Mager should write another letter to the Hub. This time using Mr. Fine’s letter as an example, she could discuss in detail Trump’s presidency, and explain how he came to be charged as criminal in New York, Washington DC, Atlanta and Florida.

Jack Capurso

Albion High School 1960

Ashburn, Va.

Editor:

On behalf of OCALS (Orleans County Accredited Learning Services) I would like to thank the public and local businesses for supporting our annual basket raffle fundraiser that was held this past July.

OCALS is accredited by Pro Literacy and is a non-profit agency that provides free confidential tutoring services for adults, families and children in need of improving their literacy skills (including digital literacy). We provide services to all individuals within Orleans County.

During the month of July, a total of 49 separate items were on display at Case-Nic Cookies in Medina for the public to purchase tickets in hopes of winning one (or more) of these prizes.

A special thanks goes out to the following businesses and individuals who donated these items:  Medina businesses – A Kut Above, ATB Staffing Services,  Author’s Note,  Auto Zone, Avanti’s Pizza, Tompkins Community Bank, Blissetts Specialty Shop, BMP America, Inc., Case Nic Cookies,  Creekside Floral, Cusimano’s, Della’s Chocolates,  Evans Ace Hardware, Key Bank,  Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, Mark’s Pizzeria,  NAPA Auto Parts, Ontario Shore Federal Credit Union, Orleans YMCA, Roberts Farm Market, Rosenkrans Pharmacy Inc., Valu Home Center; Middleport – Friends of the Library Royalton Hartland Community Library and individuals – Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Terry Kirkpatrick, Amy Monti, Kathy Punch and Carolyn Wagner.

The backbone of our community is our local businesses and individuals who reside in the community. Your continued support (by donating items or purchasing tickets to the basket raffle) is truly amazing! We are grateful and humbled by the community support.

A special thank you once again to Mary Lou Tuohey for allowing us to set up in her store front at Case-Nic Cookies on Main Street in Medina and her staff for coordinating ticket sales and distribution of prizes won.

Thanks to all for making this fund raiser a success for the third year in a row!  We could not do it without you.

Carolyn Wagner

Secretary, OCALS Board of Trustees

Editor:

Trump-Vance probably have 3 or 4 days to  shape Tim Waltz’ first impression as Harris’s vice presidential choice.

Day 1. Trump placing blame on Waltz for Minnesota riots: Taped conversations between the two exist disproving what’s being said. Trump said he did “great job.” Strike one on DT.

Vance on timing of Waltz Military Discharge: Congressional campaign filing documents and Waltz retirement application both exist in the public realm. Waltz was on his way to retirement and on to Congress. Off by several months, strike two on Vance.

Both: Waltz a radical leftist claim. Coach’s record shows he’s the real populist. In Congress he was a Blue Dog Democrat. He passed radical things like food for kids in school. Passed  $300,000,000 increase in his state’s police spending. Increased VA programs and insisted on long -erm funding commitments. Both DT and JD whiffed for strike 3.

Regarding Vance’ s image:  Why is he stalking Harris from city to city.  Walking over to her plane for a photo op and fell flat on going out for a beer. Cringe worthy.

And for something bizarre to read check out realdonaldtrump on Truth Social of August 6 at 3:49 p.m. Mostly unintelligible, the rant includes a claim that Biden will crash the Dem. convention to get his “stolen” nomination back. It made the news around the world.

First day: Advantage Harris-Waltz, 0 for 3. Plus a “fell flat”  for Vance  and “whoa” (what’s going on here?) for Trump.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Other than the absence of an Olympic team from Russia, what might have been exceptionally noteworthy about the Paris Games?

Our American gymnastic teams stood out to me big time. Both the women and men displayed enormous ethnic diversity.

There is so much attention to our team leader among the women that it often goes unnoticed that the women’s team – much like the men’s – has high-profile Caucasian, African American, and Asian American components as well. One of the squads has an outstanding Hispanic American, too.

And it has long appeared that much of America’s ability to get it done internationally stems to a considerable degree from our ethnic diversity.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

I’m sure this will strike up a lot of controversy and opinions.

Listening to the radio this morning they were talking about global warming and how New York is behind. With storms getting worse, tornadoes and so on.

Here is some food for thought. Just around Albion alone we are slowly but surely putting up solar panel farm after solar panel farm. This panels attract sun light and heat. How is heat to rise as it should? It keeps it trapped at the surface.

Tornado alley is bigger than it’s ever been. We have had more 90-plus degree days this year than in recent years and winters – not that I am complaining – seem to be getting milder and milder.

Just some food for thought. Do we really need all these solar panel fields? And all so close together?

Craig Wilston

Albion

Editor:

Whenever there is a prisoner exchange someone is unhappy. They have to take place in secret so the deal can get done and not derailed.

This multi-country exchange was going on under our noses while we only knew of little private side meet-and-greets by Biden and Harris with our allies’ leaders.

While our enemies – Russian and Iranian satellites in particular – play games with life and imprisonment, the simple fact is we put more value on the life of our ordinary citizens! So do our many friends.

Trump once released 200 Houthi fighters for 2 of ours. No criticism here.

In the cat-and-mouse world of foreign intrigues each side has its own values and priorities and exchanges only work when all think it’s a win for them.

Russia clearly acted now as it was worried no matter how the races turned out it might lose leverage soon. But in this backwards world of how life is valued, the flip side for us is we could get more of our prisoners now!

I say take this absolutely huge win and be happy we have so many people back where they should be with their families living in the free world!

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I am writing regarding the Lyndonville Board of Education. As many know, in May, there were changes to the Board of Education. Three dedicated board members (two of which served the taxpayers in excess of 10 years) were replaced by individuals hand-picked by the Lyndonville Teachers Association, the union representing teachers within the school district.

As a result of the changes in board members, a new Board of Education President was selected. This individual’s wife is a teacher within the school district, serves on the executive board of the Lyndonville Teacher’s Association, and is on the negotiating committee representing the teacher’s union.

Some might be wondering “Why does this matter?” It matters because the teacher’s union is in the process of negotiating their Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the Board President is directly involved in those negotiations. To put it simply, the Board President will be sitting across the table, negotiating a contract with his wife on the other side of the table.

As a Lyndonville graduate, resident, taxpayer and parent who will have a child in the school district in a couple of years, my concern is not personal. Knowing many of the Board President’s family members since I was a child, I am sure he is a good and caring person. My concern is the direct conflict of interest, and questionable ethics surrounding these circumstances.

How can the taxpayers trust the Board President to negotiate in the best interest of taxpayers, when any subsequent raises teachers receive will directly benefit his immediate family and household income?

During these challenging economic times for most families, we need all levels of government to be as fiscally responsible as possible. My hope is that this letter will bring transparency to the taxpayers, as it is what they deserve.

Respectfully submitted,

James C. White

Lyndonville

Editor:

Since President Biden has ended his presidential bid for 2024, Americans are now faced with the probability that Kamala Harris will be vying for that title.

I think many Americans would agree that they did not want Biden to drop out of the race, because Kamala Harris’s political resume doesn’t offer much. Her tenure in the Senate was unexceptional. Her own 2019 bid for President was so pitiful that she didn’t make it to a single primary. Her time as VP has been filled with cringeworthy remarks and staff disorder.

Of course her biggest failure has been the border. When she was interviewed by Lester Holt (NBC), he approached her on why she hadn’t been to the border. With her signature hyena laugh, she devalued the importance of that visit. Again to sidestep the question, she awkwardly tried to compare not visiting the border to not going to Europe. Sorry Kamala, as usual, you made no sense.

The Washington Post cited her attempt to downplay the urgency of the visit.  It took her months to go there.  In 2023 the Border Patrol Union condemned her for lack of progress. The illegal immigration exploded to levels never seen before. Biden and the White House were pressured to issue a statement insisting that the President did depend on Kamala Harris, but in reality her reputation has never fully recovered.

When she is faced with a question she can not answer, she talks in circles and repeats some buzz words which then brings her back to square one with the audience wondering what the heck she’s talking about. Her rhetorical blindsides and political gaffes have even her constituents wondering what makes up her mission.

Over and over she has failed to present her vision for America and actually explain to voters how she would make their lives better. Good government servants spend years honing this skill. At times she seems unable to elaborate on her own policies.

In regard to defunding the police, Harris lauded the “defund the police movement” in June of 2020 during a radio interview. It was even on the record that she heaped tons of praise on then Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcelli for reducing $150 million from the police budget and relocating much of that into social services.

However, when Biden chose her as his VP, she suddenly supported increasing police funding.

She has demonstrated unbelievable ineptitude and has not come close to fulfilling her assignments and accountability. She did not uphold the immigration laws, causing much suffering to the American people.

How she is going to turn this all around will be quite a magic act. The party will try and reinvent her as an articulate, intelligent politician who will get the job done, but all her unfinished jobs and inaction should speak volumes to the American people.

Mary Mager

Fairport, formerly of Albion

Editor:

This year as motorists parade down my street in a show of “Backing the Blue,” I want to remind everyone of Donald Trump’s and Republican’s association with crime.

Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his assistant Rick Gates are convicted felons. Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former National Security Advisor, is a felon.

Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon is in prison. Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is a felon and Mr. Trump’s campaign aide, Roger Stone is a felon. Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade advisor, is a convicted felon.

Allen Weisselberg, former Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, is in prison. Mr. Trump is himself convicted of 34 felonies and convicted as a sexual predator. The Trump Organization has been found guilty of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Trump University had to pay $25 million for fraud. Mr. Trump’s charity was forced to shut down after it was discovered that it operated fraudulently.

Not only is Mr. Trump a criminal and surrounds himself with criminals but also with unethical people. In Mr. Trump’s administration, these key officials faced ethics violations bordering on criminal activity: Scott Pruitt, Secretary of the EPA; Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Interior; Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation; David Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of Treasury; Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce; Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy; and Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education.

Finally, the Republicans Study Committee in the House of Representatives released a budget proposal calling for cutting funding for the FBI, the Department of Justice and, most telling, cutting the Community Oriented Police Service program which provides grant money that local police departments use to hire officers.

Republicans want to defund the police, both on a national and local level. Republicans have chosen a known criminal and sexual predator as the leader of their party. It is not a stretch to say that, at least on the national level, Republicans do not show respect for law and order and do not back the blue.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

One important factor overlooked in the upcoming Harris vs Trump Presidential Election is the voting power of some Republican women.

Over the years a minority of Republican women have been repelled by Trump’s actions:  his conviction for rape, his stand on abortion, his criminal convictions in New York City and his demeaning public comments about women.

One example of this female political power is they helped Biden win Maricopa County, Arizona in the 2020 election. All across the country this group of Republican women may appear to favor Trump publicly, but in reality they are horrified their party is led by a convicted criminal.

I believe in the November 2024 election, we will see more of these silent Republican women turn away from Trump in the voting booth, and vote their conscience.

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Va.

Albion High School class of 1960