Editor:

I see that January 6^th, 2021 remains in the news. I, Steven A. Colon, declare to the people that I went and was at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

I sent the January 6th Select Committee a signed, sworn before notary affidavit of why I went to DC and up to the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

I went along with a large number of Americans because the U.S. Constitution was attacked and voter fraud was open and obvious. I give the people notice that a coup d’état happened at noon on January 20th in the year of our Lord 2021, resulting in an unconstitutional pseudo US government.

I give notice that the F.B.I. already came out and saw me. They did not want a signed statement or see a video of Ashli Babbitt getting shot. I sent out many notices, affidavits, amicus briefs and grievance letters.

President Donald J. Trump had in no way led me up to the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021; Treasonist, traitorous, lying rat actions drove me there. I stand by what I have written and will defend what I wrote in a court of law.

I am in Lyndonville, NY. Willing to talk and explain how the people can help make America great again. Get involved, do not sit in the bleachers.

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” ― George Washington

Steven A. Colon

Lyndonville

Editor:

The Lyndonville American Legion Post 1603 will hold a U.S. flag burning ceremony at 4:30 p.m. on June 14. It will held at the Lynhaven Cemetery near the cannon and flagpole.

The public is invited to attend with their children. This is an opportunity to learn about the retiring of old worn and torn flags the correct way.

Bring your chairs and refreshments so you can observe this ceremony in comfort. See you there.

Carl Boyle

Chaplain of American Legion Post 1603 in Lyndonville

Editor:

We would like to offer a response to address some of the inaccuracies demonstrated in Tom Crawford’s recent letter to the editor about Heritage Wind (June 4, 2022). Our response reiterates the information we presented at the May 2022 Town of Barre Board meeting.

To begin, Heritage Wind has not been issued an amended permit. Rather, the project is planning to submit an application to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) to amend its existing permit.

Second, we want to be clear about the wind turbine model selected. The proposed turbines are the same model that was submitted in the original application, with the same rotor size. However, due to technological advances, the turbines have a larger megawatt (MW) nameplate capacity, or power generation capability. The turbine that was permitted was 5.6 MW, and the turbine in the amendment will be 6 MW.

Regarding the moving or addition of any wind turbines, Heritage Wind is not adding four additional turbines to the permitted layout; Mr. Chandler’s statement is incorrect. Heritage Wind is removing six turbines (T1–T6) and replacing them with four turbines in new locations. The permitted layout includes 33 turbines, and the new layout will include 31 turbines. Per ORES regulations, there will be a notice sent to all residents within five miles of the project boundary, and we have agreed to Councilwoman Richardson’s recommendation to add the wind farm layout map to the notice.

As stated at the Town of Barre Board meeting, there will be a public hearing process once the amendment, with the new turbine locations, is filed. Once that happens, residents will have 60 days to provide written comment, or they may provide verbal comment for the record at the public hearing.

We also want to clarify “lightened regulation,” which pertains to Section 68 Certificate of the NYS Public Convenience and Need (CPCN), filed with the Public Service Commission (PSC). First, Section 68 CPCN is separate from the ORES permit application, and it does not apply to the specifications of the wind energy facility and layout.

Second, lightened regulation in a Section 68 CPCN refers to the type of PSC regulation applicable to power generation facilities. Lightened regulation is routinely granted by the PSC to most, if not all, large power generation facilities—wind and solar facilities, as well as traditional coal or natural gas power plants. This is because many of the PSC’s regulations were written for oversight of the day-to-day operations of utility companies to protect captive ratepayers. The PSC has stated that it does not make sense to apply the stringent regulations placed on utility companies to private market participants like Heritage Wind—hence “lightened regulation.”

We are here to answer your questions about Heritage Wind. We also want to ensure that you are receiving true and accurate information. Please reach out to us at any time if you have questions by emailing us at info@heritagewindpower.com.

Carmen O’Keefe

Development Manager

Apex Clean Energy

Editor:

Woodward and Bernstein (one Dem and one Rep) did the dogged reporting which resulted in the Watergate hearings. That was the all-time biggest Congressional investigation until the current Jan. 6th commission.

The public portions of those Watergate hearings were televised daily and ultimately brought down a crooked President 48 years ago. Woodward and Bernstein are now releasing their audio tapes of ex-President Trump and say Trump thinks nothing of things Nixon would never dream of.  So what will the hearings bring. Fireworks it appears.

Thursday (June 9) starts the public portion of the Jan 6th Commissions results to date after interviewing a thousand witnesses.

The first night they have a tape of the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers meeting in an underground garage doing final prep for insurrection. We will finally get to hear what they say. Those  supremacists (replacement theory and worse) were so sure that they and Trump would usurp the election results the next day that they brought a video documentarian.

But where is Fox News in all this?? It’s not showing the hearings! Fox learned its lesson when it correctly called Arizona for Biden first and lost viewers for months. You know who was angry and you can’t have that.

If Fox is not an alt right, cancel culture operation with woke politics. The fact is that after running 1,000 Benghazi segments, Fox would run the Jan 6th Committee hearings for real unvarnished testimony. It will even feature Vice President Cheney’s daughter for impeccable conservative creds.

(Anyone who wants to read the proof of the “big steal” can join “Pacer”. Look up the Court name and case name each time Trump lost. So long as you only look and do not print (which costs money) you can look at all the bogus exhibits Trump and his gang said proved the election was rigged. (Last count 65 Trump attorneys have had their licenses pulled or under review.  They are getting scorched for pursuing TV style fakery.))

So between this hearing and the discredited Court exhibits you can get an education Thursday night and start to figure out who is pulling for you or just pulling your leg.

It’s just not going to be on Fox which would lose viewers for showing real democracy in action.

For real reality TV, Thursday night is a must see.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I would like to point out a correction for the article titled “Rock the Park returns to Albion on August 6th, at first big event at new amphitheater.”

This is absolutely untrue. Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries held a 100% free event on June 4th. This event offered the community a place to talk, praise worship and have a meal with each other. Offered by the church were hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, bounce houses, face painting and family-friendly lawn games.

While they could not get coverage in any of our local papers, digital or otherwise, the event was very successful with over 400 hot dogs and hamburgers given away by word of mouth and Facebook sharing only.

Great things are happening here without being a paid event.

Nicole Horn

Albion

Editor:

A statute outlawing the purchase of protective vests passed both legislative houses and signed by Governor Kathy Hochul early this week.

Many of the regular citizenry want to know what reasons underlie such action. Apparent reasons for passing such a foolish legislative edict seem spurious at best.

The salient question here is: How do protective vests endanger anyone?

Are protective vests not defensive devices? How is anyone in the public potentially endangered when a law-abiding citizen purchases or wears a protective vest in public?

Indeed, this action seems to raise questions about public safety, but not in the way promulgated by Governor Kathy Hochul and company.

Is it true that government officials in NYS and much higher up have goals of reducing world population by up to 50 percent as evidenced at the recent meeting of world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland?

A top transhumanist advisor to Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the Forum, Yuval Haari, stated that a rising class of “useless people” urgently needs to be addressed “both politically and scientifically.” There are many others proposing drastic reduction in world population, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

This needs to stop. The first thing that needs to happen is waking of the people to increasing restrictions on defending ourselves and the dire situation afflicting our Republic.

A prohibition of law-abiding citizens to purchase, possess and wear protective vests is an embarrassment to NY and undeniable proof of what agenda NY leaders are following.

Dr. Randall Shortridge

Albion

Editor:

Congressman Chris Jacobs announced his support for some common-sense gun laws to make our communities safer. Making our communities safer so offended the Republican establishment that they demanded Mr. Jacobs not seek re-election.

Mr. Jacobs could have easily won re-election in the new 23rd district which voted for the Republican Presidential candidate by 59%. However, standing up and fighting for what is right requires moral courage, something lacking in Mr. Jacobs and his Republican clan.

However, the real story here isn’t the lack of moral integrity by Mr. Jacobs, it is the refusal of the Republican Party to even consider making our streets and communities safer. Strengthening background checks and closing loopholes would prevent criminal activity.

The Gifford Law Center reported that 80% of firearms acquired for criminal purposes were obtained through unlicensed sellers to avoid background checks. Furthermore, they reported 96% of inmates convicted of gun offenses would have been stopped with tighter background checks.

The Republican agenda is to force us into armed encampments with locked doors guarded by battle-ready forces of dubious allegiances. This is their dystopian dream. For a better future we need common-sense gun regulations.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

The 2022 Medina Unified Basketball Team just finished their season with a three wins in seven games. But the record does not reflect the quality and accomplishments of this team.

The Mustangs started quickly, winning the first three games. They defeated Newfane, then Lewiston-Porter, and finally Lockport.

The next two games Medina played short-handed with their point guard and leading scorer out due to sickness. In the third game Medina lost to Akron by only two points.

In their regular season finale against Pembroke, and now without both their starting point guard and backup point guard, Medina lost 39-30. The players gave it their all without two of their best in the lineup.

Next came the playoffs. In what was probably their best performance of the year the Unified team met Williamsville North in the first round. Williamsville North had not lost a game in over two years and was the highest scoring Unified team in Western New York this year.

The Mustangs played right with the best team and even led after three quarters. A huge upset was in the making! However, with a roster of over 35 players, Will North was able to control the game. They dominated the last quarter to get their deserved win. Medina held them to their lowest point total of the year.

In the playoff consolation game with Olmsted the Medina team lost by one point. Olmsted made a layup just as the buzzer sounded. The kids deserved a better fate than a 3-4 record but they held their heads high. They rarely, if ever, complained.

There were a couple obvious differences this year compared to the Unified teams of the past.

Number one, no one complained. If someone made a mistake you would not see a teammate yelling at them. If a call went against them, they just played on. Competing was nice for them, but just playing was so much fun. And it showed!

Number two, the team performed as a basketball TEAM. Plays were run, and players knew their positions on both offense and defense. Each player had a role and they performed it to their best. It was an eye-opener and a joy to see this year.

There is one person responsible for the high quality and character of the 2022 squad, Coach Gary Scholes. What Coach Scholes did with the kids this year was amazing.

At first, there was doubt that Medina would even have a team due to a lack of players. Coach Scholes (and others, I am sure) started recruiting, asking many kids not already playing a sport if they would like to play basketball. The effort paid off with approximately 13 players on the squad – the largest Medina has ever had.

The level of play this year was light years ahead of any team in the past. Coach Scholes treated them like a varsity squad and the players acted like varsity players. The skill was not as high but the effort and desire surely was. Coach Scholes is why.

The job done by Gary Scholes this year can only be described as heart-warming. I hope he continues to coach in the future. He treats the kids fairly. He treats them as a team. He gets them to play basketball. The kids played so well!

Anyone who knows Coach Scholes knows that he is a kind, giving person. He coaches because he wants to. I do not know how much basketball he played when he was younger but he coaches like he has played for years.

In 2022, the Unified Basketball Team truly was “unified.”  I thank Gary Scholes for this.

Carl Tuohey

Medina

Mr. Tuohey is a father of a Medina Unified Basketball player.

Editor:

Heritage Wind was issued an amended permit for their industrial wind project in the town of Barre, NY. Now they want to make major changes to that permit which include turbines with bigger rotor size.

They also want to move several of the turbines and add four new ones. They have also asked for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Pursuant to Public Service Law Section 68 and for an Order Granting Lightened Regulation.

In western NY there is no need for more green energy as we are supplied with hydro-electric power from Niagara Falls which does not run at 100% capacity. Why trade a reliable energy source for an intermittent one?

Why should they be granted lightened regulation? They knew the rules before they started. Why should the health and welfare of Barre residents be minimized?

I hope that there is a public hearing so that residents can be informed and have an opportunity to voice their concerns to this redesigned project.

Tom Chandler

Barre

Editor:

I would like to thank all the veterans for their dedication and service to our great country. It is because of them that we can enjoy the freedoms and privileges that we are afforded today.

However, I am extremely disappointed in the lack of remembrance efforts for our veterans in Albion. In recent years, families of many local veterans had the opportunity to purchase banners to commemorate their family members who served our country. However, they were not displayed on the light poles during Memorial Day for all to see.

I’ve seen banners on display marketing the Strawberry Festival (both big and small), and I understand that those banners will be replaced with the ones for our veterans after the Strawberry Festival is over.

However, I think the importance of our veterans’ sacrifices is lost on the current village leadership, which is hard to fathom considering the newly elected mayor is a veteran himself and would foster this lack of appreciation.

I enjoy the Strawberry Festival like everyone else, but I think the promotion of the festival should wait a day or two as we pay respect to our local veterans. Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy our freedoms, so that we could put on festivals, and so that we could assemble as a community.

I hope that this error in judgement can be a lesson learned, and will be corrected moving forward.

Suzanne Sheldon-Bourke

Waterport

Editor:

I’m disappointed in the county legislators’ decision to not participate in the sales tax relief on gas. All roads in New York State are in need of repairs and ours is no worse than neighboring counties. Was this a unanimous decision?

We will probably lose out as we can travel to nearby Niagara County and the Reservation for a savings and buy less gas in Orleans County. And once again they say it’s Albany’s fault for the imposed 2% tax cap.

And no thought about the price that our farmers are paying for diesel. This was a poorly thought out plan.

Jeanne Crane

Carlton

Editor:

Am I the only one who plans to be filling up his car in Monroe or another nearby county for the duration of the gas price crisis?

It will lower my expense by a dollar or two each time, and Orleans County will not get sales tax on any part of a gallon. I don’t intend to make special trips, but every time I go, I’ll eat in another county, grocery shop at Wegmans instead of Tops, and perhaps go to a Wal-Mart not near Albion.

Do the local leaders really believe they will receive more sales tax revenue by encouraging local residents to “buy elsewhere”?

Tom Taber

Albion

Editor:

Leigh and I have been on a grief journey since June 1, 2019, the day our son Mark passed from a substance use overdose.

There have been times when we were angry, sad, frustrated, and depressed – sometimes separately, sometimes all at once. There are so many others who have shared this experience, and too many who are, and sadly will. This madness of the opioid epidemic has to stop!

Orleans Recovery – Hope Begins Here, Suite 190, 243 South Main Street in Albion, offers “Missing Angels” a program to help those coping with grief from substance use passing.

Orleans Recovery offers this program as an outreach to the citizens of Orleans County, Genesee County, western Monroe County, and eastern Niagara County in Western New York. Leigh and I are happy to do this, to be A Voice For Mark, in this continuing struggle.

Leigh and I have had the opportunity to share this mission with so many others from so many walks of life. Some lessons learned: it does not benefit anyone to stigmatize the person who has passed – addiction is a disease, not a character flaw.

Many who have suffered from the disease have recovered, and work daily to maintain their recovery – their loved ones also deserve support and recognition. Memorials for our loved ones, pictures, paintings, or other items provide a place for us – parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives and friends – to heal as well and to keep their memory alive.

Missing Angels meets the first and third Thursday of each month either in person or online meeting. Meetings are held at Orleans Recovery. Please contact us at 585-721-7332  or chuckandleighkinsey@gmail.com for detailed information.

We welcome any and all who have gone through this horrible experience of living with, and losing, a loved one who has suffered with, and died from a substance use disorder.

You are not alone in your grief.

Chuck and Leigh Kinsey

Clarendon

Editor:

The NRA, the old NRA, was a national club for hunters, marksmen and various stripes of gun enthusiasts. There were some problems with home-made zip guns and the like but no mass killings. That NRA was supported by dues and subscriptions to its informative magazine.

The old NRA, for example, supported a ban on the sales of assault weapons. It discussed red flag laws although it was sure to be sure they were not knee jerk. It discussed fingerprint activated trigger locks.

It was skeptical of a national data base but that was before SCOTUS made clear gun ownership was a constitutional right (subject to rational regulation) that could not be simply taken away.

But big money got into the club and politicians’ bank accounts from the gun industry – including  in 2016 a Russian gun club whose members owned no guns (go figure) – which changed the NRA to a massive arm of the gun industry.

Excuses for all gun problems except blaming the exponential increases in gun sales which the US has experienced over the past 25 years were advanced for the equally exponential increase in gun deaths.

Taking money and politics out of the equation is where we start but these newer excuses have been repeated so often that fringe advocates (about 10 to 15%) have come to believe them.   For example they think  “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”,  “the best way to protect yourself from a gun is to have a gun”, “gun violence is a solely a mental health issue, not a gun issue” and so on … It’s folklore now.

It’s as silly as people forgetting the 9th Amendment provides all our rights are not written down in the Constitution; they are out there undefined for Courts to consider. But baseless beliefs are hard to dispel with fanatics. They will take longer.

We have to face it. There are a minority of gun owners who have flipped out over the issue.  We will have to face down their scorn and ignorance if we are going to stop mass murder.

Factually the number of guns and gun violence is NOT a chicken and egg problem!  We know, for example,  that “hardening” schools does not work. (Texas, inter alia,  made huge, fruitless, investments pursuing this myth.)

The fact is the old zip gun crew can now buy guns far better and more lethal than the police have. They can buy armor as good or better than we provide our soldiers. That just happened in Uvalde, Texas – a state in which this 18-year-old shooter, who can not legally drink, had a modified AR-15 and body armor.

The truth is fewer gun “sales” because of simple measures to keep them in responsible enthusiasts hands does work. Populous counties with similar social problems as ours have school kill rates in single digits this year. The US just hit 288. Numbers don’t lie.

There are a mix of easy matters we need address at the national level to ensure a fair balance between safety and gun rights. We have to act nationally to be sure individual states can not continue to be bought off and help crooks etc. if they cross state lines to safe havens.

We need to ignore the crazy fringe and their insults and nonsense. It’s stand up to them or continue to fear or our kids’ lives. Living in fear at school is no way to grow up.

As an example of red flag laws: we know to a certainty that men who impede a woman’s breathing (choke them) will, 75 percent of the time, eventually escalate to killing someone.  Should any state give them a gun? The FBI say white supremacists are our greatest domestic danger. Of course those involved in child abuse/neglect and being on the no-fly list should be included.

Should we feel sorry for  miscreants like this if they can not get a license? No, of course not.

This uniquely American problem – mass shootings – will not be  solved overnight. We are at point that taking on the now corrupt NRA and captive politicians will not stop the mindless whining by the minority not savvy enough to study and understand the numbers and real issues. Periodic reregistration will be part of the mix.

But we have to start somewhere and it’s with money and politicians. They need to be voted out no matter the party. Let politicians try to get re-elected by fringe elements only. The leaders are not loyal to the members anyway so why vote blindly for them because of a party label or they come across well. Look at what they do and where their money comes from.

Until we do all this children’s lives are just a cost of getting elected. Until then – we can remove special legal protection for gun manufacturers protecting them from responsibility for treating deaths as a cost of doing business – mass shootings will continue. They need to pay if they refuse to put fingerprint trigger locks on their guns or specifically advertise guns and violence to teen-agers. (The recent Connecticut suit shook that information loose).

Kids’ lives are a single issue that crosses party lines. Children can not be brought back to life when each cheap excuse for doing nothing fail. The evidence for reasonable ways to bring these sales numbers down in line with the rest of the world is there. The evidence to drastically lower deaths from mass shooting is there. We just have to vote for what is proven.

Conrad Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I understand that the Strawberry Festival has been cancelled due to Covid for two years; however, that does not excuse the fact that this weekend is Memorial Day and the banners of those men and women that defended and still defend our county are not visible.

The Festival is June 10th & 11th.  There is plenty of time to display those banners after Memorial Day. Every village and town in our area has their patriotic banners displayed.

I feel this was a very poor decision on the parts of the Village and Committee. My son is an active military member and his banner and those other fine individuals should be displayed.

Jane Murray

Albion