Editor:

Final returns on more claims by people with over-active imaginations – GOP zealots, bigots, senile rants – were exposed this month.

Trump first claimed there were 250,000 illegal voters in Nevada. Then DHS claimed 16,000 and, when pushed, reduced it to 185. Nevada and others audited and the final real number was 0. (Search news outlets generally for verification.)

Also, GOP Riverside Co., Cal Sheriff Chad Bianco seized 650,000 votes and faces felony charges for corrupting the election process. (See news reports generally for successful prosecutions of similar conspiracy fans in several states.)

Facing weaponized talk and actions, Congressional Committees recently tried, without success, to get Administration Officials to promise that DHS, Justice, ICE, and even the reshaped military will not step in to pervert the vote.

Skewing the vote steals our future. Currently, economic fantasies which have resulted in long festering, now precipitous, problems with our pocketbooks.  We want our standard of living back and not political myths, now proven.

Every politician choosing to support a politician and falsehoods which hurt you has to go.

Huge turnout in November is critical while we still have one man one vote and the ability to improve our lot by top to bottom house cleaning.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

The truth is out, and every resident in Orleans County needs to look closely at what our local government is Illegally forcing onto our shoreline. Right now, contractors are rushing to build a 150-foot heavy industrial cell tower at 961 Wilson Road (the Albion Water Treatment Plant property).

They are doing this with full knowledge of severe safety, financial, and procedural defects that place our entire community in immediate harm’s way.

Here is what the Orleans County Legislature and the Town of Carlton are desperately trying to hide from you:

1. Legislature apprised and refused to act

I personally stood before the Orleans County Legislature at their monthly board meeting and explicitly informed them of these major unlawful actions and oversights. I formally asked the county to hire one of their own independent engineering firms to oversee this project and audit these exact structural deficiencies. They flatly refused. Why? Because they know these fatal flaws are completely uncorrectable and uncertifiable at the current location. Instead of pausing the project to protect the public, they chose to plow ahead blindly, banking on the hope that nobody would call them out.

2. Steve Nesbitt confronts the board on zero notice

Steve Nesbitt from Nesbitt Farms also stood up at that same legislature meeting and called out the board directly. He stated on the record that he owns the property wrapping around all three adjacent sides of this tower site and was completely left in the dark—never receiving a single legal notification from anyone that this was being installed there.

Steve explicitly offered the County an alternative location on his nearby property that would remove every single safety risk and meet their exact broadband coverage goals without ruining our historic lakefront terrain with a massive tower just 250 feet from Lake Ontario.

3. Legislator Ed Morgan breaks the silence

During this confrontation, Orleans County Legislator-at-Large Ed Morgan spoke up on the floor and agreed with Mr. Nesbitt. Legislator Morgan turned to us and asked if our neighborhood coalition had obtained legal counsel yet, and our answer at that moment was no.

Morgan then turned directly to the rest of the legislative board and demanded to know why they wouldn’t talk with the community and review this legitimate alternative farm site. The rest of the Board sat in absolute, stone-faced silence. They had no answers. You don’t have to take our word for it—this entire meeting is recorded and fully available online for public review.

4. Carlton’s permit issuance charade and total deafness to code violations

The Town of Carlton has recklessly issued multiple, conflicting building permits for this exact site without a certified New York State Code Enforcement Officer on duty to legally sign them. First, uncertified official Kevin Sheehan signed off on Permit No. 2026/033. Then, they quietly rushed to issue Amended Permit No. 2026/051 under an outside inspector, John Higgins, who admitted on the record he was left completely in the dark.

The Town never received proper engineering certifications from the County that would protect them from the liability of approving this project. Worse, the Town of Carlton has been formally served with detailed notices of these flagrant New York State building code violations, and they are actively ignoring and refusing to respond to our demands.

5. Total failure to notify local residents

The Town of Carlton completely failed to properly notify any local residents of this massive tower installation. Their own official FOIL records prove they did not send a single certified mail notice to adjacent neighbors. They skipped Steve Nesbitt, Richard Stacey, Dave Coleman, Gary and Ruthie Smith,  and the Brownings. For my property, they mailed the notice to a lakeside lot with no mailbox, even though the town successfully sends our tax and water bills to our home addresses in Albion every single year. They purposefully hid this build from the people who live here until heavy equipment showed up.

6. The contractor is a startup with zero subscribers

How did we get here? North Shore Networks was handed a massive $11.2 million initial contract—ballooning under this infrastructure umbrella—without a single competitive bid. They were the only bidder because the previously awarded contractor is in litigation with Orleans County over a failed first attempt.

Public records from the New York State Public Service Commission reveal a shocking truth: North Shore Networks had ZERO corporate contracts, ZERO subscribers, and had never offered consumer or commercial service before being handed this massive project. Founded in Medina in February 2022 specifically for this network, this company operates out of a PO Box and formerly a residential home address. They have absolutely no technical backing, no field experience, and no logistical infrastructure to manage a project of this magnitude.

7. North Shore willfully ignores engineer’s directives to anchor tower

To try to manufacture legitimacy, North Shore Networks hired a local firm, Albul Engineering, to review the metal bracketry that holds the broadband hardware to the structure. Albul stamped a document certifying that the brackets themselves meet NYS Building Code requirements—but the tower itself is completely unrated for these coastal configurations.

Worse, the county and North Shore Networks are willfully ignoring the rest of Albul’s explicit directives. Albul’s paperwork mandates strict subbase improvements and structural anchoring to achieve a verified load-bearing capacity of 4,500 psf. This was completely skipped. Instead, they are dropping this multi-ton steel structure into a flooded hole that actively breaches the dynamic beach water table, sitting on a cheap 12-inch shallow gravel pad. Both the County and the contractor are fully aware of these uncertifiable defects.

8. No P.E. stamp and exposed coastal hazards

We have directly verified with the engineering firms that this tower does not possess a valid site-specific Professional Engineer (P.E.) structural stamp for this location. They are putting up cheap, generic equipment manufactured in Vietnam that is only rated for an inland wind threshold of only 40 mph. This completely violates ANSI/TIA-222-H/G coastal safety codes, which strictly mandate that structures within 600 feet of the Lake Ontario shoreline must withstand 109 mph ultimate wind velocities with solid radial icing. In shoreline gale forces, this flat-sided pole faces catastrophic failure.

9. Project uninsurable putting taxpayers at 100 percent liability

Because these footprints fail to meet state life-safety building codes, this project is completely uninsurable. The county has been formally put on notice that municipal insurance carriers will exclude coverage for this site. By plowing ahead anyway, our elected officials are operating under reckless negligence—which completely strips them of standard governmental immunity and leaves Orleans County taxpayers 100% on the hook for multi-million-dollar structural collapse and utility damage claims.

10. Critical infrastructure & water disruption threat

To force this lot to fit, they shifted the tower for a fourth time, crowding it within a point-blank 28-foot window of active National Grid power lines. These lines are tied directly to the main transmission corridor 200 feet away that powers the Village of Albion Water Treatment Plant. If this tower collapses or drops massive, horizontally projected sheets of lake ice, it will snap the grid, shut down the water plant, wipe out municipal water pressure, and completely cripple emergency fire protection water supply across the entire county district.

11. Illegal FOIL lockouts & extensive secrecy

What are they hiding? Orleans County has refused to respond to our Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests filed over 8 weeks ago. Stalling these records is flatly illegal under New York State Public Officers Law. They are actively trying to run out the clock, build the tower, and hide the paper trail from the taxpayers.

What Happens next:

Our neighborhood coalition is not backing down. Because local boards chose backroom deals over public safety and constitutional due process, we are moving forward with immediate, aggressive litigation in the New York State Supreme Court. We have also escalated this entire timeline directly to the New York State Comptroller and Empire State Development to freeze their state grant capital under the New York False Claims Act.

We deserve broadband internet, but we do not deserve an un-stamped structural hazard that threatens our drinking water, our fire protection, and our financial stability.

Rick Stacey

Carlton

Editor:

American Legion National Commander, Dan K. Wiley, issued a statement about the war in Iran, calling on “Congress to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities to ensure we have clear objectives, strong force protections, and a strategy to prevent prolonged conflict.”

However, reports by multiple news media, including Military Times, claim that service members do not have “strong force protection” and are suffering a severe welfare and mental health crisis.

U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan have suffered significant damage from Iranian air strikes, with the use of Russian satellites. The loss of these bases has strained supplying U.S. servicemembers in the area.  Troops are dealing with food rationing, meager meals, and shortages of basic hygiene products.

The Congressional Budget Office and the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office have found that there is a significant depletion of U.S. air-defense munitions. This depletion means that the 50,000 service members defending the U.S. in the Middle East are basically sitting ducks.

The constant stress of war and the lack of supplies is causing severe psychological distress. Meanwhile, Russia provided Iran with targeting and satellite intelligence to kill Americans and a Russian Oligarch, with close ties to President Putin, provided Mr. Trump’s son a gift with an after-wedding party costing thousands of dollars.

Republicans, including Representatives Claudia Tenney and Nick Langworthy, are silent on U.S. troops being sitting ducks; and they are silent on the President’s son accepting gifts from Russian oligarchs while Russia is actively targeting U.S. forces.  It is time for new representation.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

We’d like to share our thoughts regarding the upcoming New York gubernatorial election.  We are not fans of Kathy Hochul, but have previously voted for her, she being our “lesser of two evils” choice.

Her heart is usually in the right place, but she’s seemingly seldom encountered an issue that she didn’t enthusiastically throw (our taxpayer) money at.

Her opponent, Bruce Blakeman, promises to cut our utility bills in half, but doesn’t tell us how he’ll make this happen. Are we to believe that he holds such power and influence over our electric, heating fuel, water/sewer, and telecommunication providers that this pledge could ever be more than an empty, unbelievable, laughable campaign promise? Judging from the number of Blakeman yard signs on display in western New York, sadly, many of our neighbors do!  Pretending for the moment that this could (or would) actually happen, we’d bet our taxpayer monies would be overwhelmingly utilized.

Beyond this silliness, he proclaims our current president “the greatest president in (his) lifetime.”  Setting aside every Democratic president, it would seem even the most ardent “straight ticket” GOP voters would strongly disagree.  A list of Republican presidents since Blakeman’s birth in 1955 includes (among others) Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan, and (the elder) Bush – each “greater” (on their worst day) than our current president.

And finally, any candidate who utters the words “Peace, love, and Donald Trump” in the same sentence seems foolish, desperate, and delusional – thereby unfit for office.

Without question, it’s another “lesser of two evils” vote for us.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Frost

Marcia Frost

Barker

Editor:

We may not be experiencing a temporary economic adjustment. Long-term problems hurting consumers since the Reagan tax cuts and now the further ballooning deficit are out of control. Nostrums to deal with this – too long in vogue – are killing us.

Tariffs hurt prices. Bonds yields are falling as our friends increasingly buy bonds from other, less risky, trade partners. The One Big Beautiful Act ballooned deficits and the printing of money.

Since consumers have to pay a higher percentage of their income for good, the benefits of tax cuts and interest rate increases hugely favor the selfish elites who are now working with politicians to control our lives. No matter what the Administration claims (daily) about ending the oil crisis it started, that is not enough to patch the basic problem.

Since Reagan, our national debt has increased 3,700 percent in absolute dollars. It now constitutes 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product – and with the Trump tax cuts will by 2054 with interest be 166 percent of GDP.  Interest payments on our debt has increased 1,000 percent!

Think for example that even relatively small Reagan’s first round of cuts in ’81 helped the top 1% sixty eight times what reached the average consumer. And tax cuts do not solve the problem. The London School of Economics looked at 50 years of data from 18 advanced economies and tax cuts consistently increased income inequality without growth in GDP!  Growth in GDP is what helps consumers!

Additionally thinking that spending cuts work is a false claim. Trump cut Medicare part A 12% already. It did not result in our promised $2,000 checks and is breaking the budgets for rural hospitals (in particular). By the time we initially fired 10 percent of  government employees, we merely saved 1 percent. Tax cuts since ’81 have simply thrown spending onto localities which are in large part financed by property tax – another regressive effect.

We need  sound economic, principled capitalist, answers. All too many confuse capitalism with profits and not the sound economics of competition. Solutions to talk about include: 1) nominal dollar ceilings each year for non-discretionary programs rather than percentage increases tied to growth formulas ties such as GDP or inflation; 2) Doing away with caps on Social Security contributions; 3) Wealth taxes; 4) Use flat rate, no cost overruns allowed, military contracts as some other countries do; 5) Convert from an estate tax to a capital gains tax – this would avoid the current US problem which results in elites simply borrowing money to live on and pay interest rather than tax estate tax when they die. Obamacare was similar to the Swiss answer for a mixed private and public system but the best features were stripped out by the Supreme Court. There are several less expensive medical systems that combine public and private choices and cost 2/3 or less than what we pay.

We are facing ever increase trouble unless consumer’s income and standard of living come first. Vanity projects like a ballroom and putting his name on the monument built for President Kennedy – The Kennedy Center – not only waste money but also demonstrate indifference to real people problems.

The US needs to return to party politics as they existed when I was young and life was good.  We had two “big tent” parties – Eisenhower Republicans and FDR Democrats. Both put consumers first and said it plainly and without bowing to extremists.

It was Eisenhower who said to beware of the Military/Industrial Complex. We paid our way. If candidates do not meet these tests and rely on hate as a recipe for good governance, send them out to pasture.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Such a travesty to now read of the sale of The Central Hall building at 34 East Park St. in Albion.

This sale is the result of Orleans County’s Legislature – with only negative vote against – decision to move the Orleans County Historian’s Office to its ridiculous site now behind Subway in Albion.

Shame on all of you who voted to move this historical library of local artifacts!

Karen Watt

Albion

Editor:

My name is Kathy Harnischfeger. I am running for Clarendon Town Supervisor as a write-in candidate. I am a moderate Democrat who believes in the 2nd amendment. While this may deter some of our residents, what is important to know is that the position of Town Supervisor holds no more power than the Town Board members.

I decided to run as a write-in candidate after the primary election results because I felt that our community needed another choice. The Town of Clarendon has faced some serious issues the last 9 months which has unfortunately divided our community in a big way.

I want to help the community heal and move forward by serving every Clarendon resident. I have been to too many board meetings to count over the years. I have worked with our Town Board to try to improve Clarendon’s standard of living, so every resident can live happily in peace and harmony with their neighbor.

I have studied the town law book and continue to do so. I believe the leader of a community should hold honor, integrity and most importantly, have the taxpayers’ best interests at heart.

This is an important position. This shouldn’t be a personal race. This shouldn’t be a popularity contest. This should be about who is the best person to lead the town, and who can best represent every resident in the community, regardless of who they support.

Ultimately, my goal is to bring everyone together and move forward in a positive direction.  This is not a partisan race for me, I simply want to serve the community I have called home for 20 years.

I have asked the other candidate to join me on October 16 starting at 6 p.m., at the Clarendon Town Hall for a Community Q&A session. This will be the opportunity to get to know me as a person, what I stand for, and what my goals are for the community of Clarendon.

Enough is enough! It is time we move Clarendon forward together as a community by creating a more unified environment for all that call Clarendon their home. I am so excited to meet everyone!

Clarendon, you still have a choice!

Sincerely,

Kathy Harnischfeger

Clarendon

Editor:

This letter is submitted on behalf of the Community Coalition for Justice (CCJ). The CCJ is an organization based in Orleans County that regularly sponsors programs that are open to the community that focus on diversity and other relevant social justice issues.

In this vein, the CCJ wishes to remind our community that the “lion’s share” of our farmworkers (those who harvest our crops) are migrants and that they are the backbone of America’s food system.

Despite this contribution, many of our farmworkers continue to face housing and food insecurity, fear of deportation without due process, and lack of healthcare.  We need to support programs that address these concerns.

Farmworkers, who are not provided with employer housing, are often forced to crowd together in small apartments and “rooming houses.” We must ensure that these farmworkers are able to find safe and affordable housing.

Additionally, the children of our farmworkers are often faced with educational disruptions and barriers. These children should have access to a quality public education, irrespective of their native language, national origin or immigration status.

We should support programs to assist (via land trusts, training programs, etc.) farmworkers who wish to become farm managers or farm owners themselves. The farmworkers of today could be part of a new generation of farmers that reflects the diversity of our country.

It is time that we treat the people who help feed us with dignity and respect. It is time that the workers in our food system share in the prosperity that they help build. Our farmworkers deserve due process, and, if they meet the criteria (per the U.S. immigration laws), deserve a pathway to citizenship.

In calling on all people to remember each person’s human dignity, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops added “May we recognize the rich gifts that neighbors from diverse cultures bring to our communities.”

In closing, we will add there are many other realms in the U.S. that employ migrant workers i.e. construction, manufacturing, health care, and hospitality.  The people in these industries also need to be treated with the same consideration.

The CCJ is sponsoring an event entitled “What Does A Welcoming Farm Community Look Like?” on Monday, September 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Hoag Library. Please join us as we explore ways to help this important part of our community.

Sincerely,

Bob Golden, Chairman

Community Coalition for Justice

Editor:

I have handed in to the town and to the Orleans Hub some good reasons why a STR (short-term rental) or airbnb  should not be on an easement, shared lane, or private shared lane.

On a private one-way lane, when approximately 10 people reside on the lane, it’s a private lane. People who purchased that type of property have spent their hard-earned money on their properties for peace and quiet and not to see strangers come in and out.

That was not their intentions in buying that type of property. They are not on a public road way. It’s a private one-way  lane where the people should not have to beg  the town not to allow it  when there are other places in the town of Yates/Lyndonville where STRs or airbnbs can reside.

It’s  not like people are asking the town or the people not to have any of them at all. People who have saved all their life just to have something like this, a beautiful home on the lake,  not  a motel in their quiet and peaceful area and for it to be ripped away from them.

The chairman of the board has been asked several times to exclude two of the Yates Town Board and they weren’t, even when one owns an STR in a  different town and the other owns a business here hoping it will generate more business for him which is very acceptable but not on a lane that consists of approximately 10  people. On the private lanes, STRs should be  prohibited, period.

It also seems to me by going to these meetings when we are allowed to talk about it to the Town Board, some of the board members seem to have already made their decision.

I realize it’s stressful to the town supervisor and board members because they are being  pulled in different directions and trying to make everyone happy but like I said these properties were purchased before STRs and airbnbs where ever as popular as they are today.

I am pretty sure most people would of thought twice before purchasing if they knew they would be next to an STR. We personally own two properties on the private one-way lane  and I would be very disappointed if Town Board allows STRs on these private one-way lanes.

Please think this through to the fullest extent due to the people who paid  a large amount of money to own this type of property, and not be next to a motel and have to not to worry  about who is who and what is what when their children or grandchildren are at play.

A  private one-way  lane is not a public roadway. It’s a private one-way  lane for the people who own and pay taxes and lane  maintenance, period.

Bonnie Mack

Yates