Editor:

Voters in Murray, you have a chance to show the good old boys’ club that you are paying attention while, at the same time, keeping your voice on the Town Board by voting for Joe Sidonio.

He is a person who truly puts the people of Murray ahead of the party. That is why the Republican party ran their “pick” against Joe in the primary. If you care about your voice being heard in the town, vote for Joe on the Conservative line.

Ken Longer

Kendall

Member of Orleans County Conservative Party Committee

Editor:

Yates Councilman John Riggi continues to deceive the public and manipulate data regarding the Lighthouse Wind Project (LWP) proposal in the Towns of Somerset and Yates. According to his latest post, “Yates councilman says…” on 7^th October, he claims to have performed “an empirical assessment of public comments made to the DPS website” between “January 1, 2015 through September 30, 2018.”

The New York State Department of Public Service – Public Comments section is not a quantifiable survey or “voting” mechanism.

Having questioned Mr. Riggi’s previous posts here on OrleansHub.com, without response…  Having listened to Mr. Riggi manipulate data regarding bird mortality at the Yates’ Town Board meeting in September…  Having heard his question about a supposed “concrete leaching” threat read and answered unequivocally at the Apex presentation in Lyndonville…  Having read numerous comments and public postings questioning the validity and integrity of two other surveys recently conducted….

I decided to examine the DPS data itself.

Since the first Public Comment on November 3^rd, 2014, there have been 1,508 submissions to DPS Comment No. 1642 on Oct. 12, 2018. Mr. Riggi claims there were 1,483 “votes” through 3^rd Quarter 2018, and 26 “votes” were submitted since his accounting… 1,508 versus 1,509. This confirms Mr. Riggi’s input data is well defined and consists of only public comments on the DPS website.

All comments were read and “vote” ascertained. Less than 5 were excluded for lack of position clarity.

There are 750 “Unique Submission Names,” indicating 750 “votes” should be considered.  Impartial surveys should attempt to minimize double voting in order to be credible.

If the DPS Public Comments are to be a measure of public support, even though this is not the intention of the DPS website at all – holding an election, I have omitted votes/voters for the following 3 reasons;

1) elected or government officials,

2) any agency or group claiming to represent voices of others, and

3) employees/representatives of vested interests; i.e., APEX Clean Energy.

Results of “Votes” removed…

Submissions

Unknown –  1

Agency  –  20

Somerset or Yates Reps  –  65

Niagara/Orleans or State Reps –  7

Apex  –  1

As the DPS does not consider elected officials “public,” something Councilman Riggi knows, given he is listed in the DPS Party List, as are most other, but not all, elected officials, he should have excluded these “votes” himself.  He has not.

There are now roughly 1,400 votes.

For each “unique submission names” identified above, each was examined over time to locate that person’s first submission. It was registered as a “vote” in support or opposition accordingly. All “votes” after the first submission for each person have been excluded.

This resulted in 596 “votes,” not the 1,500 confirmed above.

Here are the results of a “One Person, One Vote” tabulation;

Number of Submissions  –  1,508

Support/Opposition Unknown  –  0

Unique Submission Names  –  708

Unique Family Names   –  431

Unique 1 Person, 1 Vote Submissions  –  596

In Support  –  199  (33.4%)

In Opposition  –  397  (66.6%)

All eligible submissions, including repeat “votes” were organized by date, in a manner consistent with Mr. Riggi “survey” results.

Here are the results.

One Person, One Vote

Quarter         Support      Oppose         Support

4Q14               0                      1                      0%

1Q15               0                      32                    0%

2Q15               0                      49                    0%

3Q15               26                    60                    30%

4Q15               54                    62                    47%

1Q16               22                    40                    35%

2Q16               0                      7                      0%

3Q16               12                    18                    40%

4Q16               1                      3                      25%

1Q17               0                      6                      0%

2Q17               0                      29                    0%

3Q17               4                      8                      33%

4Q17               9                      4                      69%

1Q18               16                    18                    47%

2Q18               2                      8                      20%

3Q18               51                    47                    52%

4Q18               0                      7                      0%

Totals              197                  399                  n/a

Repeated Votes

Quarter         Support     Oppose     Excluded        Totals

4Q14               0                 0                0                      1

1Q15               0                  9                6                      47

2Q15               0                 36              8                      93

3Q15               9                 70               7                     172

4Q15              8                  112             11                    247

1Q16               12                 75              23                  172

2Q16               1                  21               7                     36

3Q16               9                  45              5                     89

4Q16              0                   17               6                    27

1Q17               0                   18              1                     25

2Q17               1                   34             5                     69

3Q17              1                    11              2                      26

4Q17              15                    15            4                     47

1Q18              19                    47            4                     104

2Q18              7                      78            7                     102

3Q18               20                  104           7                    229

4Q18              1                      12              1                    21

Totals              103               704           104               1,507

In real terms, only 103 Support “repeat votes” were submitted in stark contrast to 704 Oppose “repeat votes.” Repeat OPPOSE submissions occurred 7 times as often as repeat SUPPORT submissions.

Reading multiple letters recently in the Orleans Hub, where opposition parties claim irregularities within 2 other surveys conducted recently showing a roughly 50/50 split in Support versus Opposition, we all must be made aware the only other “survey” conducted and promoted, as seen on countless Save Ontario Shore’s signs, “Survey says…” is in fact the numbers and results published by Councilman Riggi from data obtained from the NYS DPS “Public Comment” section.

Analysis of the “One Person, One Vote” data over time, although not showing overall Support for Lighthouse Wind Project exceeds that in Opposition, does reveal the data trend in Support is growing.

Councilman Riggi’s analysis of DPS “Public Comments” is extremely flawed. “Public Comments” are not “votes” and were not intended to be used as data for “surveys” as the Councilman has done and Save Ontario Shores has embraced and promoted his (their?) “results” publicly.

Save Ontario Shores’ “Survey says…” signs, require modification to read…

“One Person One Vote Surveys Say… Opposition is Greatly Exaggerated!”

Hans Hyde,

Lockport

Barker High School graduate

Editor:

Let’s not be fooled – Chris Collins is selectively back on the campaign trail for one reason and one reason only – Chris Collins!

Collins isn’t campaigning to represent the people of NY-27. He has never concerned himself with anyone other than himself, his family, his investors and his donors. Any thought that Collins’ campaign to return to Congress to do the work of the people is foolish.

That Collins, on the advice of his criminal attorneys, has decided to hit the campaign trail is disingenuous. The reality is that Collins will stroll into various select safe havens, Republican booster clubs and candidate affairs, VFWs and of course, gun clubs. You won’t find him where the average working men and women, single moms, seniors or students are to be found.

Collins will make his grand appearance, genuflect to the altar of the most corrupt administration in American history, attack his opponent and leave.

In contrast, Nate McMurray has been all over the district meeting voters of all stripes. By all accounts Nate is a decent, well-educated, family man; a credible Congressional candidate who has been out among the voters all across the 27^th district for months, not accepting the kind of corporate money that Collins shills for. And Collins refuses to debate – no surprise. You will remember that Collins would not attend a student-led forum after the Parkland shootings.

The reality is that Collins needs something to offer prosecutors in return for his guilty plea in an effort to stay out of prison. His seat in Congress, our seat in Congress, is his bargaining chip.

Should Collins be elected he will trade his seat, and our representation, for a plea deal, leaving our district without representation in the House during a very turbulent time in our history. But we are used to being unrepresented in this district.

Paul McQuillen

Hamburg

Editor:

Mid-October and mid-May are “prime time” for white dogwood trees. Their Fall color is about as sweet as foliage gets, and their Spring blossoms are nearly impossible to miss against their otherwise bare branches.

Of course, they also sport bright red berries which become more noticeable as their leaves fall. These fruits are a favorite of many birds.

Thanks to the efforts of volunteers—including A.C.S. students doing community service—Albion is graced with numerous examples of cornus florida. They provide a glimpse of what trees can mean to a community if given a chance.

Fall is the time to prune most trees—dogwoods included. Before doing so, it is wise to check for proper pruning techniques. Dogwoods benefit from mulching, and special care should be taken to avoid hitting them with line trimmers and other things that may damage their bark.

During prolonged dry periods it is advisable to make sure dogwoods have enough water.  Special thanks to volunteers such as Larie Vagg, who have shepherded many Village of Albion dogwoods through the first 15 years of their existence.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

Friends, no matter what you think about Marc Molinaro’s message, and no matter what you think about his choice for Lt. Governor, we have to get behind him and support him by voting for him in the General Election.

You may like the message of the Libertarian candidate and his Lt. Governor choice better, but history shows that a third-party candidate distracts primarily from the Republican side.

The Democrats don’t seem to be hurt by third-party candidates. Liberals, like the third-party challenges as those from Perotites and Libertarians, knowing full well that it will help the re-election of their left-wing Democrat incumbent namely “America was never that Great” Andrew “the Egotistical Bully” Cuomo.

No matter what the weather or the circumstances, get out to vote for Marc Molinaro.

We won’t know how you voted but by the records at the Board of Elections, we can find out if you made the effort. In obtaining signatures on petitions from some people, they talk like they get out and vote, but the records state otherwise. This is real serious business this year, and if we don’t want another four years of Cuomo, we had better treat it as such.

Allen Lofthouse

Kendall

(Lofthouse is chairman of the Orleans County Conservative Party)

Editor:

Article 10 was created to allow for energy production in areas where more energy is in demand. We in WNY have plenty of energy. The grid is not using all the energy now being created in this area.

Why then are towns being pulled apart and dissension created among family, friends and neighbors?

Greed and money seem to drive wind turbine companies at all cost. The devil at work with subsidy money from the State and Federal Government!

Taxpayers’ money is being wasted. It takes thousands of pounds of fossil fuel to build a turbine and thousands more to keep each one operational. No clean air here!

William Nacca

Barre

Editor:

Republicans, wake up!  Congressman Collins’ “Best-money-can-buy” lawyers have stalled his trial to at least 2020.  (Advice to “Lyin’ Chris”: Just tell the truth.)

If elected, Collins would serve a lame-duck term. If he did finally resign, the party bosses would control the nomination at a special election. (Recall how the now indicted Assemblyman Errigo substituted for the shamed Bill Nojay.)

Republicans: make a moral stand and skip Collins’ name on the ballot; maybe you could show real courage and vote for McMurray. The 2020 election would then be about real options: candidates chosen in open and free primaries and slightly more truthful and non-indicted choices.

Think about it; make a stand.

Gerard M. Morrisey

Albion

Editor:

There is a power struggle taking place in Somerset and Yates regarding those who support the Lighthouse Wind project and the majority who oppose it. It is interesting to watch how Apex reps are doing it using age-old tactics.

It seems that they’re taking a few pointers from Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, a handbook that illustrates how to get, and maintain power. Take Greene’s Rule #12: “Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim. One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift.. a Trojan horse….”

Apex has this one down. A free hot dog, a pig roast, a fireworks donation, a new sign, suggestions of lower taxes, or even magically no town taxes at all! Free garbage collection! Apex is aware that they need to divert attention from the destruction of the fabric of these two towns. Will these “Trojan horses” get us to ignore the reasons we want to live here? Is this enough distraction for us to forget our peaceful rural neighborhoods, the abundance of birds and wildlife, our starry night skies, our eagle sightings?

At the Oct. 2 presentation, Apex’s Paul Williamson suggested that this developer would help the towns spend whatever money they receive and develop them into a “high value area to live and work.” Interesting that Apex is using Greene’s Rule #9: “promising nebulous reward………” Have you seen the booming metropolis of Sheldon, NY? Here’s a wind turbine facility about 45 miles south of Yates, which Apex loves to use as an example of what wind turbines bring to a town. I’ve been there. Not exactly my idea of a “high value area to live and work.”

I have not been sufficiently distracted by Apex’s promises. I have watched a videotape of a Town Board meeting in Arkwright, NY, where the residents have just now realized that their wind developer lied about the noise, lights, and destruction they’d witness from 36 IWTs. Only two weeks into the operation of their project, residents were up in arms at their Town Board meeting on Sept. 10. As they complain to the town officials they are met with the reply, “What do you want us to do about it?” (Click here to watch) Their only recourse now that they are living with this, residents say, is to warn other towns about what really happens when industrial turbines are installed. It’s too late for them.

What does Williamson mean by “high value area” anyway? In my mind, we have one very “high value area” in Golden Hill State Park. Nothing shows Apex’s disdain for us more than placing eight turbines across the road from an historic lighthouse. Imagine eager visitors arriving to sleep in their tents and campers. Instead of hearing waves, they are treated to thumps, and blinking lights all night. For the next 30 years. Tourist attraction or detraction? “High value” or “Devalued”?

How about clean energy? How about renewable energy? Forget the need for construction. Forget the bulldozers and the habitat destruction. We can preserve our rural communities and keep fossil fuels out. We already have it in the hydropower produced in Niagara Falls, the fourth largest hydro-generating plant in the whole United States. In 2017, it contributed 25% of the electricity generated in New York State, with a capacity of 2,675 Mw at a minimum of 85% efficiency. Apex’s grand plan is for 197.4 Mw, operating at best at only 30% efficiency. Besides cost in dollars, Apex’s Lighthouse Wind will come at a terrible permanent environmental and human health cost as well.

Apex continues to weasel its way through its misleading materials through the mail. Their postcards attempt to minimize the hideous look of huge industrial wind turbines either by partially concealing them behind bucolic barns, or by attempting to romanticize them. Their October 2 presentation was standard American Wind Energy Association (wind developer lobby group) and wind profiteer handbook material. We heard how they will turn the turbines off, or down, to mitigate bird kill. Can they afford to turn them off at night, as they promise, during the high bird migration months of July and August? Or will they be turned on to produce the summer’s high-need electricity? Which is it?

I know there are some who also possess power. It’s the inner strength to resist the smooth talk and promises. I am referring to the two large landowners in Yates, and those few in Somerset, who did not sign leases. My admiration and appreciation for them is boundless.

I, along with most of the residents of Somerset and Yates and both Town Boards, respectfully request once again that Apex move on, go home, and leave us to revitalize our towns in a manner consistent with our character. We too have power and we will use that power with honesty and integrity to defeat Apex’s attempt to turn our towns into an industrial wasteland.

Sincerely,

Susan E. Dudley

Lyndonville

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Editor:

I was very surprised in more than a few ways that I was the only one from the public that attended the Western Orleans County Comprehensive Plan update public hearing on Sept. 19.

I was also equally surprised that there was no media coverage from the Hub or the Daily News on this boot-to-throat piece of legislation. What surprised me the most was that there was nobody else besides myself and a room full of bureaucrats. I read today in another news source about a couple of  public hearings in Shelby where residents complained about the town over regulating them.

Guess what, by you not attending the comp update and voicing your opinions you gave them even more power over every aspect of your life and property. This update “Global Citizen” plan should have never made it out of the first hearing.

This update has sustainable development in it that comes from the United Nations. Sustainable development was written by G Harlem Brundtland, the vice president of the world socialist party, a communist and introduced to the world as UN policy at the 1992 earth summit in Rio de Janeiro. In 1995 Democrat President Clinton in compliance with Agenda 21 signed Executive order # 12858 to create the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. It was introduced to “harmonize us” with UN environmental policies and directives. I’ll bet none of you, including our local politicians, know that.

This has been spoon fed by the left in our Congress to the whole country and with all the hysteria in these insane times over the environment, fools that believe in climate change, carbon foot prints, and buckle to their knees to political correctness.

The environment will become a weapon against our freedoms, properties and businesses. I was the only one who spoke out against this and there was only one person on the Comp plan board that had the courage to vote it down, but there was no coverage of it.

I hope like the dickens that you all don’t sit home on November 6th and let the Democratic Party take back control of our country or our county. Don’t vote for Cuomo. Save the Republican seat from the “Democrat” endorsed by The Working Family’s Party (Communists).  There are others choices on the ballot. Mine is Marc Molinaro. Say NO to Cuomo and his ruination of our state. Say NO to the UN Comprehensive Plan, it is coming to your Town or Village for a vote soon.

Paul Lauricella

Lyndonville

Editor:

The Yates Town Board passed a resolution in a 3-to-2 vote to enter into a 50/50 split to pay an attorney to stop the turbines from coming here and Lighthouse Wind will bringing tax relief to our town.

As Ed Urbanik said in his letter, referring to the school merger hearings, “the common remark from the Barker meetings  – We are not here to subsidize the Lyndonville tax payer.”

The town of Somerset already has a PILOT with the coal plant and  Niagara County granted them $15,000 to help pay for their lawyer fees. The town of Yates that has no extra income other than our tax money. Why are we paying for high-priced lawyers who have accomplished no more than the lawyer we had who was highly capable of doing the same thing? Somerset does not need us to subsidize their taxpayers.

Together, we can let our Town Board know that we think their decision was wrong.

Sign our petition and join us at the next board meeting. If you would like more information about our team, you can go to the Mothers Out Front website or contact us personally.

Harvey Campbell

Yates

Member of the local Mothers Out Front team