Editor:

I appreciate Mr. Lauricella taking the time to respond, and I want to clarify, I am not dismissing concerns about public safety. I am dismissing concerns about public safety that are built on anecdote while ignoring the data in front of us. Those are not the same thing.

Any honest debate about safety in our communities requires a careful blend of data and lived experience, not one at the expense of the other. Mr. Lauricella has been a vocal advocate for fiscal responsibility, so I’ll ask directly: is it responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars to fund programs, initiatives, and legislation based on how some people feel, particularly when those feelings run contrary to what the data actually shows?

Mr. Lauricella points to a rise in unpunished “quality-of-life” offenses, and here is where we clearly part ways. So-called victimless crimes and quality-of-life offenses are precisely the category where we’d be better served addressing root causes rather than reflexively reaching for punishment. The prevailing instinct among hardline conservatives on this issue is a punitive one, which conveniently keeps the prison-industrial complex well fed. Perhaps that’s no accident, given how central the prison system is to the economic “health” of our region.

From what I’ve observed, public criticism of bail reform in New York tends to lump every offense together — petty theft and manslaughter treated as though they sit on the same shelf. That criticism conveniently ignores both the facts and the actual intent of the legislation, which is to reduce recidivism rates for low-level offenses. This is exactly where data matters, because one person’s lived experience, however real to them, isn’t a stand-in for the experience of an entire population. I don’t think Mr. Lauricella is actually disputing the validity of the research. I think he’d simply prefer that “observing reality” mean whatever aligns with his existing opinion.

I’ll skip the broad brushstrokes this time and instead leave Mr. Lauricella with a question. He argues that academia and statistical models shouldn’t “supersede the firsthand experience of local business owners, residents and crime victims.” Is that a standard you’re prepared to apply consistently? Take, for instance, the firsthand experience of parents, teachers, school administrators, and survivors of school shootings — should their testimony be what drives legislation restricting access to firearms? Or take the firsthand experience of survivors of rape, incest, or molestation — are conservatives equally willing to let those lived experiences shape how we legislate abortion? Or is the anecdote-over-evidence approach reserved for the topics where it happens to be politically convenient?

Much of this latest letter reads as an argument for governance by the loudest minority rather than the majority informed by evidence. It would help if Mr. Lauricella defined, in concrete terms, what qualifies as a “genuine community concern,” listed the actual problems facing Orleans County, and identified their real causes. Absent that, this amounts to little more than an appeal to emotion.

Matthew Ballard

LeRoy

Editor:

 How exciting for movie fans everywhere! Santa Claudia supports using millions of dollars of your public funds to renovate and upgrade private commercial movie theaters all across Orleans and Genesee counties! Who says socialism isn’t alive and well within the republican party?

Problem is, the joke’s on you taxpayers – there are no qualifying movie theaters in either Orleans or Genesee counties.

Keep in mind voters, business & corporate taxes become public money.  Tax “credits” equal less taxes owed, which in turn, means less public money for your schools, police protection, fire safety, water, street repairs, parks, public services and so forth.

Not only do you receive no benefit whatsoever from Claudia Tenney’s “timely and important” SCREEN Act legislation, your public resources are subsidizing these private business projects in other towns and cities! Finally, adding insult to injury, she then leaves it up to you to make up the difference in your own communities!  What a gal!

How patently unfortunate. Just think of all that missed growth if only Albion had a newly renovated Main Street movie theater directly across from the real Santa Claus! Heck, even with Sneezy’s and The Olde Coach long gone, a colossal attraction of that magnitude would likely have drawn scores of people from as far away as Kent, Fancher or maybe even Millville! It sure makes me nostalgic for the old Rialto lost to the ages so long, long ago.

Oh well, no sense mourning what might have been. Perhaps Claudia can live up to her name and “claw back” enough of your corporate welfare, hard-earned tax dollars to at least re-open the Sunset Drive-In in Middleport.  Which, by the way, was better than any movie theater around!  Although it’s technically in Niagara County, it’s still way more than what you’re getting from this dud of a deal – nothing.

That reminds me Claudia, didn’t you catch Ms. Mager’s letter to The Hub a little while back?  Here in New York State, we’re already terrified to walk our dogs in broad daylight let alone venture into the unknown just to see a movie. Perhaps a change in priorities is in order?

As for me, living on a fixed income makes it a challenge just to buy a small bag of popcorn and still feed my three-legged cats. Perhaps, if I could afford to turn the lights on, I could then find my car keys, roll up all my loose change, get to a gas station and buy a half-gallon of gasoline. Only then might I risk murder and mayhem for a trip to the closest movie theater. That being said, it’s already been six months since my brakes didn’t pass inspection. My how time flies when you’re winning under Donald Trump.

Rochester, Buffalo and their surrounding areas already have some of the finest movie theaters anywhere.  The hard reality is that unless the “SCREEN ACT” has provisions to stop the rude jerk from talking in the row behind me, the oblivious idiot down in front lighting up the place with their cellphone, or reeling in the cost of a small Coca-Cola below $5.00 – neither I, nor most people, will be enticed any time soon to return to the cinema in spite of their tax-payer subsidized seating, sound systems and HVAC.

In other words, great give-a-way Claudia!

Voters, come this November, make a quick note to yourselves: “CLCL” in remembrance of Clueless Claudia and her “SCREEN ACT” which, in communities across America like Orleans and Genesee counties, will go over like passing gas in church.

Before I close, any guesses why all my cats have three legs?

Fact is, under the Tenney/Trump economy – it’s the only way we all can afford to eat!

In short, it’s not just for immigrants anymore.

Tom Graham,

Rochester

Editor:

Why is it that when a Democrat in Congress is accused to sexual misconduct he is pressured into resigning while Republicans refer their own to get lost in the Ethics Committee process?

Why is it that Congress – constitutionally the branch of government that declares war – is silent while we have won the present Iran war weekly since February –  and more money yet it being requested for it?

Why is it that the total cumulative debt in 1986 before tax cuts was $2.125 trillion but now that is $37.64 trillion  In 1986 the middle class share of Federal revenues – 40% to 50 % on  spending that helps them – has decreased from 39% of revenues to 25%.

Why did the Republican in charge of protecting elections from foreign and electronic interference in 2020 give that election a clean bill of health while we now are told that undisclosed assessment show the machines were hacked. Didn’t Fox News already pay the firms providing our machines over a billion dollars for claiming that? (Same for illegals’ voting and voting by mail.)

Why is it that Republican campaign coffers are overflowing with huge contributions to anonymous PACs while the DNC is having to mortgage their building to raise funds for the fall?

Why do we need an Arch De Triumph type structure over the M Street Bridge or a Ball Room to hold more of the rich and famous in addition to officials needed to attend State Dinners.  (I happened to like the former East Wing that no one ever complained about.)  (And I detest all the solid gold ending up on everything including While House toilets.)

The answers are simple if you want do not want your grocery bill or gas prices to keep spiraling upwards.

So, married women be sure to have your birth certificates and marriage licenses handy in case those proposals are imposed by executive order. Naturalized Canadians and others have those papers with you. Blacks, in former black districts, look for the officials at the state and federal level who will give you back your rightful voting power.

And anyone who is not in the top 1,000 monied elite, who now help rung Washington, vote your pocket book – but remember that will mean shedding old ideas and bad math which is cherry picked just to convince get your vote helping someone else. All turn out!

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

In his recent letter (“The ‘Right’ ignore statistics, common sense when it doesn’t align with views”), Matthew Ballard takes a victory lap on behalf of academic studies and government statistics, dismissing anyone concerned about public safety as operating purely on “fear and anecdote.” It’s a clever piece of satire, but clever rhetoric doesn’t make a neighborhood safer.

Mr. Ballard mocks for questioning “ivory-tower research” on bail reform. But the frustration with bail reform in Upstate New York isn’t about being “anti-education”—it’s about the disconnect between official data and lived experience.

When shoplifting spikes, small business owners stop reporting every incident because they know repeat offenders are processed and released before the paperwork is finished. When police departments report lower numbers, it often reflects fewer arrests being made under new legal restrictions, not fewer crimes occurring.

Pointing out that “crime is down on paper” rings hollow to a community watching local quality-of-life offenses go unpunished. That isn’t “ignoring common sense”—it’s observing reality.

Furthermore, Mr. Ballard criticizes for objecting to partisan labels, yet his own letter relies heavily on broad brushstrokes and personal jabs like “orange demagogue.” If we are going to debate policies like criminal justice reform or regional economic health, we should be able to do so without treating every local citizen who voices concern as an uneducated partisan.

Academia and statistical models have their place, but they shouldn’t supersede the firsthand experience of local business owners, residents and crime victims. Dismissing genuine community concern as mere “fear-mongering” does nothing to address the actual problems facing Orleans County.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

President Trump has usurped the Constitutional authority of Congress by declaring emergencies where none exist. These actions align with Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt who argued that the power in a democracy can be exploited by using emergencies to create exceptions to the rule-based Constitutional order.

Republicans, including Congresswoman Claudia Tenney and Congressman Nick Langworthy, have not only acquiesced, but have enthusiastically encouraged this behavior.

Mr. Trump has declared emergencies, where none exist, to deploy troops to American cities. Declaring an emergency, again where none exist, to levy tariffs. Tariffs are taxes, we the people pay, bypassing our representation.

Mr. Trump has declared that there was an imminent threat from Iran to justify military action, despite U.S. intelligence assessments that indicated Iran had not started a nuclear weapons program, contradicting any imminent threat claims.

Mr. Schmitt also wrote that self-determination should be erased. That the individuals should be one with the state. This explains why any criticisms of Mr. Trump or his administration is seen as criticism of the state; as Mr. Trump says, “the free press is the enemy of the people.”

It is interesting that Vice President J.D. Vance cited Carl Schmitt in an interview with Ross Douthat. This explains the recent court documents where government lawyers told the judge that this administration has withheld millions of Congressional approved funds from states for purely political reasons. States that didn’t vote for Mr. Trump need to be punished by withholding moneys for disaster relief, healthcare and education.

Our Constitution gives the power of the purse, and right to declare war to the people through their Congressional representatives. As a result of Ms. Tenney’s and Mr. Langworthy’s actions their constituents have higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, increased unemployment, weakening GDP, inflation and above all pervasive corruption throughout the government.

Ms. Tenney and Mr. Langworthy are surrendering their responsibility and our Constitutional democracy to give Mr. Trump the authorities of a king.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

It is important to put the proposed data center at the STAMP site in Genesee County into the  broader context of artificial intelligence (AI).

AI technology in the US is experiencing a huge economic bubble, with investments far out of line with likely future profits. That financial bubble is likely to pop, thereby devastating the current AI landscape and dramatically reducing the need for new data centers. This vulnerability of AI has been overlooked in the irrational rush to invest in the technology.

AI depends on data centers. They hold the expensive, power-guzzling hardware on which the AI software runs. They are the physical brains of AI.

Very legitimate arguments against data centers like the one proposed at STAMP cite inefficient land use, excessive power use, large tax breaks for the ultra-rich, few jobs created, noise, infrasound, heat, air and water pollution, risk to wildlife, and quality of life effects on local residents.

Decent arguments all. However, to these we must add another: Data centers and the companies that build them are part of a looming AI crisis that could leave locals with a huge mess to clean up. We need to consider the economics of AI.

Consider the two “rock star” AI companies, OpenAI and Anthropic. Both are developing cutting edge LLM’s (large language models), both are privately held and lavishly financed, both want to go public via IPO’s, and both predict that an overwhelming demand for AI computations will ultimately flow through their systems.

Both put out incredible hype about the capabilities of their systems, how they will fundamentally change the world. Both downplay the obvious and well-documented risks of their systems (hallucinations, urging users to commit suicide, the recent major security breach, and many others). They also downplay the fact that for the foreseeable future, they are unlikely to generate any profits at all.

Right now they are losing large amounts of money by selling  computations  (or “compute”) for far less than their actual cost (Estimates: $13 of compute sold for $1 to $3). Customers have chafed at attempts to raise prices. Moreover, AI, unlike so many modern technologies, does not “scale.”  Making it bigger does not mean that the cost per customer will go down.

 When OpenAI and Anthropic go public the stockholders will demand profitable operations.  There is no evidence that either company can deliver the promised value to their customers and still make a profit for their shareholders. This could pop the AI bubble, send the country into a recession, and leave the skeletons of half-built data centers across the USA.

So when you go over the list of reasons why the proposed STAMP data center doesn’t make sense, don’t forget to add the uncertainty of the future of AI, and how it may affect data center construction. The AI industry appears to be far less robust than its leaders would have us believe. Don’t be taken in by their hype.

Dave Giacherio

Kent

Editor:

I have to ask: what has education ever done to Paul Lauricella that he treats it like a personal enemy? At some point one has to wonder if he skipped the units on self-awareness, because he seems remarkably unable to hear himself.

He bemoans Mr. Fine for “throwing around labels” and attacking people who raise “valid, common-sense concerns,” a sentence so rich in irony I nearly needed a moment to compose myself.

I’m confident that if the Orleans Hub search bar were a bit more forgiving, we’d unearth a small library of Mr. Lauricella’s past letters, glowing with admiration for his favorite orange demagogue and his “America First” agenda. Funny how so many on the Right adore a man who “tells it like it is” right up until the truth doesn’t flatter them, then suddenly it’s someone else who’s being “divisive.” A moral high ground claimed several years and several letters too late.

And remind me again; who’s the snowflake?

As for bail reform: multiple studies – yes, those dreaded “ivory-tower” studies – show it hasn’t driven crime rates up. Crime statistics, reported not by professors but by local law enforcement agencies across Upstate New York, show crime rates are down. So, are we to conclude our own police departments are cooking the books? My mistake, I forgot that research only counts as legitimate when it happens to agree with the populist talking point of the week.

But who needs facts when feelings will do? It’s certainly easier to build an argument on vibes, and plenty of Right-wing policy proudly stands on a sturdy foundation of fear, anecdote, and the ever-reliable “many people say…”

Credit where it’s due, though: not once did Mr. Lauricella reach for “Communist,” “Marxist,” or “Socialist.”

Matthew Ballard

LeRoy, NY

Editor:

The 2026 County Wide Recreation Day was another incredible success, welcoming our largest crowd yet! We estimate that more than 600 children and family members joined us for a day filled with fun, laughter, and community. It was wonderful to see families from across Orleans County and beyond enjoying everything the day had to offer.

We were especially excited to welcome children who traveled by bus from Byron-Bergen, Elba, and the Liberty Partnership to be part of this special event.

An event of this size takes months of planning and the dedication of many individuals, organizations, and volunteers. We are truly grateful for everyone who helped make the day possible.

A special thank you goes to Jami Allport and the staff at the Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern for once again partnering with the Village of Albion Recreation Department. Your commitment to creating opportunities for local children and families is deeply appreciated. Thank you as well to Rosie Friedl for your assistance throughout the day.

We are grateful to the many community organizations that participated by sharing information about their programs and engaging children with games and activities. Your presence helped make the event even more meaningful for the families who attended.

A heartfelt thank you to Ann Vail of the Salvation Army and the Knights of Columbus Council #1330 for their continued dedication to serving children and families throughout our community. Your ongoing support never goes unnoticed.

A huge thank you to Albion McDonald’s for bringing the Hamburglar and Grimace, who were a tremendous hit with the kids. Magic by Patrick once again entertained and amazed audiences throughout the day, while Rowdy Rentalz kept children smiling with their water slide and bounce house, which stayed busy from start to finish.

We also extend our sincere appreciation to the Albion Police Department, Albion Fire Department, our local ambulance personnel, and the Village of Albion Department of Public Works. Your support, assistance, and commitment to keeping everyone safe are invaluable and greatly appreciated.

Our heartfelt thanks go to the Village of Albion Summer Recreation staff and counselors, who did an outstanding job supervising activities, ensuring safety, and creating a welcoming and fun environment for every child. Thank you also to Rome for leading the popular rock painting activity and to our staff members who spent the day creating smiles through face painting.

We are incredibly grateful to Jeff Holler and the Albion Masons, who generously served food and refreshments to hundreds of attendees throughout the day. Thank you as well to Jeff and Vicki Elsenheimer for warmly greeting families and helping manage registration as everyone arrived.

Most importantly, thank you to the families, volunteers, sponsors, and community members whose continued support makes County Wide Recreation Day possible year after year. Seeing so many children laughing, playing, and making memories together reminds us why this event is so important.

We are already looking forward to making next year’s County Wide Recreation Day even bigger and better.

Sincerely,

John J. Grillo

Village of Albion

Recreation Director

Editor:

Good for Gov. Kathy Hochul on the moratorium on permits for data centers. I have no idea if this effects the proposed center near in the Town of Alabama near Oakfield. Also, I don’t quite understand why these centers are so huge and need so much power and cooling water.

I spent my entire working life, 35 years, designing, building and repairing computers for the USAF, NASA and, lastly, when they computerized in the 1980s, the National Weather Service.

So, it’s obvious that my knowledge of computer systems is very out of date. I do know that many of the billionaires behind these centers are those who refuse any regulations of the social media platforms they run. I also know that Sister Delores’ Green Orleans folks are against the data center project. I trust their judgement.

Dennis Seekins

Lyndonville

Editor:

Paul Lauricella accused me of “outright hostility towards his neighbors,” and using words like “racist, bigoted, and hateful.”  Those are lies. I have never used those words or been disrespectful in any of my letters; never.

It is interesting that Mr. Lauricella attacks me, personally rather than the facts or my arguments.  It is also very disappointing that the Orleans Hub prints such a libelous letter.

Crime has always been a problem and is a problem everywhere. It is  an emotional issue and not all crime can be stopped. Universities have established programs to study the causes of crime and ways of reducing and hopefully preventing crime.

We have a choice, we can continue to use an emotional response for crime issues, or we can use what has proven successful through actual study and facts.

Bill Fine

Brockport