Editor:

According to the Humane Society of the United States, for every person that is born in the United States, 45 cats and 15 dogs will be born. There are more than 70 million homeless cats and dogs in our country. People should spay and neuter their pets.

About 3.7 million pets in shelters are euthanized each year because homes cannot be found for them. It costs taxpayers more than a billion dollars in a year to capture, feed and euthanize dogs and cats that can’t be taken care of. Overpopulation costs lives and lots of money.

Spayed and neutered pets are less likely to bite or wander away from home. In addition, pets that are spayed or neutered are often healthier. They have a smaller chance of getting some kinds of cancer.

Some people say that it costs too much to spay or neuter their pets and spaying and neutering is painful to dogs and cats. However, the cost for spaying or neutering a dog or cat is less than taking care of a single kitten or a puppy for a year. Furthermore, serious harm as a result of spay/neuter surgery is rare. After surgery, some animals feel some discomfort, but it usually disappears in a few days.

So you see, people should spay or neuter their pets. Animals that are spayed and neutered are healthier. Spaying and neutering pets can help with cat and dog overpopulation and can save money, too.

Sincerely,

Albion Middle School Grade 6 Literacy Class:

Brayden Cassidy

Breanna Drake

Jaquies Johnson

Wendy Lagunas Perez

Iris Rosario Reyes

Perla Santiago Franco

Editor:

Once again Mr. Riggi is spewing alternative facts!

His theory is a manipulation of the facts and a massive campaign of misinformation. He speaks of all the comments against the wind turbines that are on the PSC website but fails to mention that with all those comments a great majority of them have been submitted by the same 11 people. (Their comments made up 220 of the comments.)

There are also many comments that speak against the turbines that came from people who are not residents of Yates or Somerset – much like many of the voters that we had voting in the Town of Yates election when Mr. Riggi ran that were not from the Town of Yates.

This is just one more example of the the way that SOS will manipulate the facts to make you think that the turbines coming here is a bad thing. And make no mistake, Mr. Riggi speaks for SOS and the conglomerates that fund them and the other groups like them that are against the turbines and other renewable energy sources

He wants to speak about home rule? The majority of the people who are writing to the PSC and in fact the majority of the people who are speaking out against the turbines at the Yates Town Board meetings are not even from the Town of Yates.

Many of them are cottagers who are here only during the summer months and actually live somewhere else – somewhere where economical advantages are already available. Most of them in their “home towns” have more than one store in their their area, they have a grocery store they can get their groceries from that would not be considered a “convenience store.” They have more than one gas station that they can choose from to buy their gas. They have a variety of places that they can go out to eat.

The majority of the people who actually live here and not just vacation here in their summer homes would also like to have some of these choices.

The turbines coming here will be our opportunity to have some economic growth. I work two jobs and my husband is disabled and we would love to have something that helped lower our taxes and brought revenue into our town as well as money for our school and fire department.

Many, many, many people in this town can’t afford to go on a vacation, let alone own a vacation home!

Home rule?? More like I can afford to own two homes…therefore I should rule!

Susan Campbell

Lyndonville

Editor:

We are beginning to realize that we are all susceptible to bed bugs. Though the pests are more likely to lay dormant during the hours that we are out and about, the risk is still there. So, if you like to go out to eat, to work, to school, the doctor, and so on, it is important to take some measures of precaution.

Our children are learning and it is our job to teach them safety- why not bed bug safety? (Which, by the way, goes hand in hand with head lice and cockroaches). We, as parents, must take the extra precautions to prevent our precious littles one from bringing home even smaller, not so precious, little ones. Creating routines and informing our children will prevent the frustration of infestation later.

Schools are public places. Thankfully, our schools do the best they can to avoid becoming host to these lovely creatures. Still, it is important to be vigilant. When our children get home from school, the first thing they do with their coats and backpacks is throw them on the floor. Have a protocol in place to have the child immediately place their jacket and backpack (after emptying) into the dryer for 40 minutes. Simply removing the items at the door and storing them in an area that does not have a lot of traffic, is outdoors, or has vinyl flooring, can prevent the transport of bugs into the home.

Our children attend sleepovers. Since it is rather difficult to ask if someone has bed bugs, let alone get an honest answer with the stigma attached to infestation or even the host to know they have them, we must take measures to leave the bugs where they are. When your child attends a sleepover, send their items in a plastic material bag that securely closes. Fabric materials allow bugs to travel easily. The smoother the material, the more difficult it is for the pests to migrate.

We must remember the immature bed bugs are tiny and can fit through the smallest spaces; including the teeth of a zipper, so choosing a bag that is smooth will prevent the bugs from getting to the zipper. When your children get home, immediately put all items (within reason) into the dryer for 40 minutes. Then wash, and dry again. Ensure that you are cleaning out the lint trap in between uses (but you do that anyway, right?) If there are too many items to fit into the dryer at once, place all other items into garbage bags and securely tie them. Keep them outside, if possible, while waiting for the dryer to be ready. After you empty the items into the dryer, re-tie the bag and dispose of it in an outside garbage.

We can do this. Make the small changes, avoid the frustration. For more information, be sure to check out my Facebook page: Bed Bug Free Orleans.

Respectfully,

Andrea Skowneski

Medina

Editor:

Lakeshore property owners are under attack from the north and the south – the threat of wind turbines from the south and property erosion from high water to the north.

Both of these situations should be considered manmade disasters. Our property is considered premium and carries the highest tax assessment of any in Orleans County. The County and the State should be working to protect this pot of gold.

The State is ignoring Home Rule with Article 10 which allows an unelected group to determine wind farm approval regardless of community sentiment. The Governor has big plans for renewable energy and has billions to spend, to make this happen.

We have not heard a peep from the Governor about our area but he went to Long Island, who may have an offshore wind farm off the east end of the Island, and instructed the Power Authority that the setback for these windmills must be 30 miles away from shore. I think Apex needs the same setback restriction. Don’t you agree Governor?

The IJC (International Joint Commission) is a Federal agency, and the DEC (Dept. of Environmental Conservation) a State agency.

The IJC has been in charge of water levels in Lake Ontario since 1960. Their old plan was 1958D and the new edition is called Plan 2014. Under Plan 2014 the Lake is 18 inches higher than the long-term average and the forecast calls for an additional 11 inches by mid-May. The IJC spokesperson blames it on precipitation and storms, not plan 2014. He also explained the Commission expected a small increase in coastal damage from Plan 2014 but it is a very small part of the overall picture. That is either living the dream or CYA. No big problem according to the spokesman.

The problem of high water and the new plan happening at the same time is pretty damning. I am not a big believer in coincidence and we all know government cannot be the blame for not knowing what they don’t know.

I think every property owner has seen erosion of 25 to 50 feet of land since 1970. High banks have become common because of the erosion. Millions of dollars in damage. Land owners have paid millions of dollars to install retention walls to conserve their property and trees. That fits the definition of a conservationist.

I read in Buffalo News a women in Wilson made an application to the DEC to install boulders to protect her property and was denied. She was told to plant trees. Really? Trees could take years to grow. Using the theory put forth by the DEC the lake shore will be on lower Lake Road by the time a tree would mature. The DEC and Army Corp should have an expedited application and approval process. Local politicians could see this coming but were ignored by IJC. The DEC does not seem to understand the problem. The land owner better start praying.

Ray Watt

Town of Yates

Editor:

This past weekend the Orleans County 4-H Dairy Club held their annual Roast Beef Dinner. The proceeds from this dinner support the calf scholarship program which annually presents two youth with calves to be raise as 4-H projects and be exhibited at the following year’s 4-H fair.

This year club members and volunteers from the dairy and beef programs made extra efforts to locally source many of the items served in the dinner.

We’d like to thank the those who donated to the meal and helped the youth work towards the goal of local foods. Beef was contributed by Bannister Beef, SK Herefords, and Patrick and Rachel Woodworth. Potatoes were donated by Stymus Farms. The coleslaw was made by Robin Neal using cabbage donated by Root Brothers Farm. Apples for the desert came from Patrick and Rachel Woodworth. Rolls came from the Bread Basket Restaurant. And the milk and butter served at the meal was donated by Poverty Hill Farms.

Several other businesses donated items for a basket drawing. Over $1,000 dollars was raised which will be used to purchase the calves for this year’s scholarship.

Youth interested in applying can contact Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension and get an application from the 4-H office. The scholarship calves will be on display at this year’s Orleans County 4-H Fair from July 24-29. Thank you again to everybody who supported this year’s dinner by donating items, volunteering to work, or coming out and supporting the program by purchasing tickets.

Chrissy Bloom and Zack Welker

Orleans County 4-H Dairy Club Leaders

Editor:

Knowledge is important when contemplating development in your community and there is a lot of information about industrial wind turbines available.

When researching, it’s important to look at the source of information and what that source has to gain. Most of us, even when making everyday purchases and even more so when making a costly purchase, research, look at reviews and get references. The same approach is even more essential when a project that has the potential to have significant impacts on your life is being proposed.

Save Ontario Shores, Inc. (SOS) was founded in January of 2015 as a response to the Lighthouse Wind project. Our mission has been to research and present information other than what has been, and continues to be, disseminated by the developer, Apex Clean Energy.

Our reasons for opposition are many.

The loss of Home Rule in New York State is of primary concern because, if our town boards could make the decision about this project, Apex would have already left the area. Multiple surveys of citizens as well as elections in the towns of Somerset and Yates show the majority of individuals oppose the project. But Article 10, put in place in 2011, has given the power to a siting board in Albany to decide whether this project is approved. The majority of that board is made up of appointees by Governor Cuomo.

SOS is concerned about the impact this project would have on our health and quality of life. People around the world are suffering because industrial wind turbines have been constructed near their homes. We have spoken to many of these individuals; we have read or watched their stories. An increasing number of them were not opposed to the turbines until they began operating and negatively impacting their lives and health.  They warn us not to trust the words of the wind developers. Developers have a great deal of financial gain at stake and once the turbines are operating, no amount of citizen complaint is going to bring them down.  The cost is too great.

Other issues include potential negative impacts on the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will be making the ultimate decision on whether the base remains open. It will be up to the commission to determine whether industrial wind turbines taller than 600 feet would impede future missions.

It is well-documented that the southern shore of Lake Ontario is a major migratory pathway for raptors, songbirds and bats. Studies by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have shown that the height at which these birds migrate would be directly through the path of the turbine blades. USFWS has been in favor of renewable energy and so its warning of severe impact to birds should be given great weight.

Many of us feel that any tax or PILOT contribution from Lighthouse Wind would be more than offset by these negative factors.

As this debate continues, seek out the facts and let’s not resort to personal attacks. Nothing productive can come of that.

Pam Atwater

President

Save Ontario Shores, Inc.

Editor:

The Town of Murray Water Department is in financial trouble. They have been kicking the can of mismanagement down the road far too long and water district residents are left holding the bag.

Each water district contract is clear. Operation and Maintenance is already included in your water bill and should not be included in your property taxes. Water district tax is specifically levied to pay long-term bond principal and interest for construction, nothing else.  When the bond is paid off, the water tax should go away and residents left with only a water bill, no tax.

However, the Murray Town Board has not been applying all your payments towards your long-term bond debt by diverting a portion for unintended purposes including operation and maintenance. Consequently our water districts are not being managed as they were designed resulting in an unsustainable department which relies on a tax-and-spend philosophy.

A major contributing factor to the financial shortfall in our water department is water loss. Water District #2 extends along Ridge Road and has an alleged water leak beginning in 2014 of approximately 15 million gallons at a cost of $50,000. The Town Board has budgeted for a continued water loss in that district this year. Why is the Town Board not proceeding full steam ahead to locate and stop that leak? Where’s the puddle? Where’s the sink hole? Where’s the water going? Questions loom.

The Town Board just approved raising our water rates .25/1000 gallons. Raising our rates is merely kicking the can down the road. Although the town adopted a revised policy for water users it neglected to comprehensively address the operational funding shortfalls of the water department. It never mentioned water loss.

At the April meeting the town board was provided with a resolution adopted by the Town of Gaines in which Gaines refunded to its water district residents their water district taxes used for unintended purposes. The exact same scenario we are experiencing.  I look forward to the Murray Town Board’s response and subsequent refund.

Solutions can be found in better management. Management of the town’s water department is fairly simple. Basic water district policy is commonly used throughout the state. If our town board can’t properly account for our water department, what else are they mismanaging?

Joe Sidonio

Murray

Editor:

The table below shows the results of an analysis of public comments made to the DPS website in relation to the Lighthouse Wind Project as proposed for the Towns of Yates and Somerset by APEX Energy.

A total of 915 comments submitted were assessed by quarter with comments tabulated and organized by support (in-favor) and opposition (opposed) to the project.

All comments made to the DPS site regarding the Lighthouse Wind Project were included in the assessment and as stated, cover the time period from Q1-2015 through Q1-2017. All comments were read fully in order to ascertain position regarding the wind project. The positions were tabulated as in favor or opposed to the project.

The results are as follows:

The overall results for the time period December 2016 to January 2017 are as follows:

Comments in favor of Lighthouse Wind Project = 0

Comments opposed to Lighthouse Wind Project = 25

Percent of comments in favor of Lighthouse Wind Project = 0%

Percent of comments opposed to Lighthouse Wind Project = 100%

The overall results for the past two years (Q1 2015 to Q1 2017) are as follows:

Comments in favor of Lighthouse Wind Project = 156

Comments opposed to Lighthouse Wind Project = 759

Percent of comments in favor of Lighthouse Wind Project = 17%

Percent of comments opposed to Lighthouse Wind Project = 83%

The results of DPS comment analysis show a clear, ongoing and massive opposition to this project. Interestingly, these results show a greater level of opposition than have all previous surveys performed by: The Town of Somerset, Save Ontario Shores (SOS), The Town of Yates, The Buffalo News, The Batavia Daily News and Buffalo Business First Magazine.

These surveys only averaged a 70% Opposed/30% In-Favor breakdown of survey results.

In an effort to assist all in monitoring and trending these results, an analysis will be performed at the end of each quarter to show these same statistics. The quarterly analysis will continue until this issue is resolved.

To close, DPS comments and multiple surveys show the truth. The will of the people is clear. This project must not move forward.  Article 10 must not be allowed to suppress the Home Rule and the will of the people.

Thank You.

John B. Riggi

Councilman, Town of Yates

Editor:

I’m amused by the article requesting Democrats, (the party of “free everything” and “boycott everyone who supports President Trump”) find someone, ANYONE who will run against Chris Collins in the next election.

The Democratic Party today is NOT your daddy’s Democratic Party, but instead a band of ideological purists who will do anything to undermine our way of life.

Collins has great courage, defending our way of life, our district and has been fearless in his position to support and defend our president, our constitution and our rights as Americans.

Any liberal (there is no other) democrat running in opposition to him belongs in la la land California, Seattle, Hawaii etc… if he or she thinks they have a snowballs chance in hell of unseating Chris Collins.

I say God bless Collins for standing up to the liberal leftists, who are trying to undermine everything American; they are sick, ignorant people who need help.

Kimberly Kennedy

Medina

Editor:

The current crop of NYS wind mills generate no power 74 percent of time over a year. So out of 8,760 hours in a year these unwanted, unsightly monstrosities take up space and accomplish nothing for 6,482 hours.

In a 24-hour day, one’s power would be off for 17.76 hours and on for 6.24 hours. Think about your power being off for nearly 18 hours of every day. No sump pump, no heat, no lights, no refrigeration, no television and no power tools to operate.  Homeowners would need to purchase home generators.

Try operating an electricity grid system with a 74 percent unreliability factor. No one looks forward to that.

Meanwhile, years ago the NYPA with great strategic vision began a “Life Extension Modernization” program at Niagara Hydro Power. The Niagara Switchyard and transmission line circuits are receiving a similar modernization program. Expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars will elevate this world-class jewel into a clean power generating machine that can no longer be disregarded.

Information and data used here was gleaned from NYPA 2013, 2014 and 2015 Annual Reports.

For 2013 “Net Dependable Capacity” was 2,441 megawatts with net generation at 13,000,000 MWH which equates to a 60.80% capacity factor.

For 2014 “Net Dependable Capacity” was 2,680MW with net generation at 13,680,000MWH which equates to a 58.27% capacity factor.

For 2015 “Net Dependable Capacity” was 2,682MW with net generation at 14,320,000MWH which equates to a 60.95% capacity factor.

With the expenditures outlined above one can assume that the NYPA is not satisfied with 60% capacity factors.  If the Niagara Hydro Power could move to an 80% capacity factor this would go a long way in meeting NYS CES goals and completely negate the need for the unwanted APEX Lighthouse Wind.

A 20% increase at Niagara Power would generate 2682MW x 8760 hours x .20= 4,698,864MWH/year. APEX’s Application for an unreliable, expensive 201MW x 8760 hours x .26 =   457,800MWH/year.

Moving from 60% capacity to 80% capacity indicates the  Niagara Hydro Power would generate over 10 times as much power EVERY YEAR as the APEX folly.  (4,698,864MWH/457,800MWH = 10.26)

Again 80% at Niagara Power eliminates the need for APEX and nine more wind plantations similar to APEX. Niagara Power generates around 2 cents/kwh. APEX cost to generate is TOP SECRET.

From the above the APEX application should be denied and objectors compensated for the APEX farce.

Gregory G. Woodrich

Williamsville