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Editor:

Other than the absence of an Olympic team from Russia, what might have been exceptionally noteworthy about the Paris Games?

Our American gymnastic teams stood out to me big time. Both the women and men displayed enormous ethnic diversity.

There is so much attention to our team leader among the women that it often goes unnoticed that the women’s team – much like the men’s – has high-profile Caucasian, African American, and Asian American components as well. One of the squads has an outstanding Hispanic American, too.

And it has long appeared that much of America’s ability to get it done internationally stems to a considerable degree from our ethnic diversity.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Editor:

I’m sure this will strike up a lot of controversy and opinions.

Listening to the radio this morning they were talking about global warming and how New York is behind. With storms getting worse, tornadoes and so on.

Here is some food for thought. Just around Albion alone we are slowly but surely putting up solar panel farm after solar panel farm. This panels attract sun light and heat. How is heat to rise as it should? It keeps it trapped at the surface.

Tornado alley is bigger than it’s ever been. We have had more 90-plus degree days this year than in recent years and winters – not that I am complaining – seem to be getting milder and milder.

Just some food for thought. Do we really need all these solar panel fields? And all so close together?

Craig Wilston

Albion

Editor:

Whenever there is a prisoner exchange someone is unhappy. They have to take place in secret so the deal can get done and not derailed.

This multi-country exchange was going on under our noses while we only knew of little private side meet-and-greets by Biden and Harris with our allies’ leaders.

While our enemies – Russian and Iranian satellites in particular – play games with life and imprisonment, the simple fact is we put more value on the life of our ordinary citizens! So do our many friends.

Trump once released 200 Houthi fighters for 2 of ours. No criticism here.

In the cat-and-mouse world of foreign intrigues each side has its own values and priorities and exchanges only work when all think it’s a win for them.

Russia clearly acted now as it was worried no matter how the races turned out it might lose leverage soon. But in this backwards world of how life is valued, the flip side for us is we could get more of our prisoners now!

I say take this absolutely huge win and be happy we have so many people back where they should be with their families living in the free world!

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I am writing regarding the Lyndonville Board of Education. As many know, in May, there were changes to the Board of Education. Three dedicated board members (two of which served the taxpayers in excess of 10 years) were replaced by individuals hand-picked by the Lyndonville Teachers Association, the union representing teachers within the school district.

As a result of the changes in board members, a new Board of Education President was selected. This individual’s wife is a teacher within the school district, serves on the executive board of the Lyndonville Teacher’s Association, and is on the negotiating committee representing the teacher’s union.

Some might be wondering “Why does this matter?” It matters because the teacher’s union is in the process of negotiating their Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the Board President is directly involved in those negotiations. To put it simply, the Board President will be sitting across the table, negotiating a contract with his wife on the other side of the table.

As a Lyndonville graduate, resident, taxpayer and parent who will have a child in the school district in a couple of years, my concern is not personal. Knowing many of the Board President’s family members since I was a child, I am sure he is a good and caring person. My concern is the direct conflict of interest, and questionable ethics surrounding these circumstances.

How can the taxpayers trust the Board President to negotiate in the best interest of taxpayers, when any subsequent raises teachers receive will directly benefit his immediate family and household income?

During these challenging economic times for most families, we need all levels of government to be as fiscally responsible as possible. My hope is that this letter will bring transparency to the taxpayers, as it is what they deserve.

Respectfully submitted,

James C. White

Lyndonville

Editor:

Since President Biden has ended his presidential bid for 2024, Americans are now faced with the probability that Kamala Harris will be vying for that title.

I think many Americans would agree that they did not want Biden to drop out of the race, because Kamala Harris’s political resume doesn’t offer much. Her tenure in the Senate was unexceptional. Her own 2019 bid for President was so pitiful that she didn’t make it to a single primary. Her time as VP has been filled with cringeworthy remarks and staff disorder.

Of course her biggest failure has been the border. When she was interviewed by Lester Holt (NBC), he approached her on why she hadn’t been to the border. With her signature hyena laugh, she devalued the importance of that visit. Again to sidestep the question, she awkwardly tried to compare not visiting the border to not going to Europe. Sorry Kamala, as usual, you made no sense.

The Washington Post cited her attempt to downplay the urgency of the visit.  It took her months to go there.  In 2023 the Border Patrol Union condemned her for lack of progress. The illegal immigration exploded to levels never seen before. Biden and the White House were pressured to issue a statement insisting that the President did depend on Kamala Harris, but in reality her reputation has never fully recovered.

When she is faced with a question she can not answer, she talks in circles and repeats some buzz words which then brings her back to square one with the audience wondering what the heck she’s talking about. Her rhetorical blindsides and political gaffes have even her constituents wondering what makes up her mission.

Over and over she has failed to present her vision for America and actually explain to voters how she would make their lives better. Good government servants spend years honing this skill. At times she seems unable to elaborate on her own policies.

In regard to defunding the police, Harris lauded the “defund the police movement” in June of 2020 during a radio interview. It was even on the record that she heaped tons of praise on then Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcelli for reducing $150 million from the police budget and relocating much of that into social services.

However, when Biden chose her as his VP, she suddenly supported increasing police funding.

She has demonstrated unbelievable ineptitude and has not come close to fulfilling her assignments and accountability. She did not uphold the immigration laws, causing much suffering to the American people.

How she is going to turn this all around will be quite a magic act. The party will try and reinvent her as an articulate, intelligent politician who will get the job done, but all her unfinished jobs and inaction should speak volumes to the American people.

Mary Mager

Fairport, formerly of Albion

Editor:

This year as motorists parade down my street in a show of “Backing the Blue,” I want to remind everyone of Donald Trump’s and Republican’s association with crime.

Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his assistant Rick Gates are convicted felons. Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former National Security Advisor, is a felon.

Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon is in prison. Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is a felon and Mr. Trump’s campaign aide, Roger Stone is a felon. Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade advisor, is a convicted felon.

Allen Weisselberg, former Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, is in prison. Mr. Trump is himself convicted of 34 felonies and convicted as a sexual predator. The Trump Organization has been found guilty of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Trump University had to pay $25 million for fraud. Mr. Trump’s charity was forced to shut down after it was discovered that it operated fraudulently.

Not only is Mr. Trump a criminal and surrounds himself with criminals but also with unethical people. In Mr. Trump’s administration, these key officials faced ethics violations bordering on criminal activity: Scott Pruitt, Secretary of the EPA; Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Interior; Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation; David Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of Treasury; Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce; Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy; and Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education.

Finally, the Republicans Study Committee in the House of Representatives released a budget proposal calling for cutting funding for the FBI, the Department of Justice and, most telling, cutting the Community Oriented Police Service program which provides grant money that local police departments use to hire officers.

Republicans want to defund the police, both on a national and local level. Republicans have chosen a known criminal and sexual predator as the leader of their party. It is not a stretch to say that, at least on the national level, Republicans do not show respect for law and order and do not back the blue.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

One important factor overlooked in the upcoming Harris vs Trump Presidential Election is the voting power of some Republican women.

Over the years a minority of Republican women have been repelled by Trump’s actions:  his conviction for rape, his stand on abortion, his criminal convictions in New York City and his demeaning public comments about women.

One example of this female political power is they helped Biden win Maricopa County, Arizona in the 2020 election. All across the country this group of Republican women may appear to favor Trump publicly, but in reality they are horrified their party is led by a convicted criminal.

I believe in the November 2024 election, we will see more of these silent Republican women turn away from Trump in the voting booth, and vote their conscience.

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Va.

Albion High School class of 1960

Editor:

We need to know how our Congressional candidates feel about these programs being on the cutting block under Project 2025:

1. the FSA (Farm Services Administration)
2. the Risk Management Agency
3. (Reorganize) the Crop Insurance Program
4. eliminate Farm Subsidies Program
5. the Price Loss Coverage Programs
6. Rural Development,
7. the World Business Cooperation Program
8. the Agricultural Marketing Service
9. the Agricultural Market Access Program
10. the Market Access Service
11. the Promote Free Trade in Ag program
12. Various food access programs like school lunches and food stamps that buy farm products

Is any program perfect? No. But these surely have a major effect our local economy and we still have a right to know.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Very few people would put the need to fight a movement, with immoral leaders and amoral objectives, ahead of their own interest in running for re-election.

Joe Biden is a public servant used to overcoming huge tragedies and making tough decisions. The Senator took the train home to Delaware every night to care for his boys who had survived a car crash that killed his young wife and daughter.

History will write this was one of his many moral and hugely consequential decisions trying to secure unity and our country’s best interests.

Really the only concern left is turnout and election-cheating by the minority.

Fortunately Biden’s supporters can immediately get behind his very able VP choice unlike the other guy whose supporters erected gallows for his.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

On behalf of the Village of Albion Recreation Department, I would like to thank the following for their assistance, help and support for providing a very special and successful County Wide Park Fun Day at Bullard Park on Wednesday, July 17:

Jami Allport and the Genesee Orleans Ministry of concern, Jeff Holler and the crew from the Albion Masons, Village of Albion Recreation Committee, Village of Albion office staff and Village Board, Dan Conrad and his Job CorpS crew, Keith Lutes from Summertime Bounce, Patrick Holman and his daughter from Magicman Productions, Lori and crew for rock painting, Village of Albion Maintenance Department, Village of Albion Park Supervisors, Job Development Supervisors, Hoag Library, Bobby and the Elba Recreation Department, UConnect Care, Catholic Charities, Adult Educational Opportunities, Orleans Community Action, Tom Rivers and Bob Stilwell from Lake County Pennysaver and Orleans Hub, Vickie and Jeff Elsenheimer, and to the families who donated funds to this event.

Your support was greatly appreciated.

John J. Grillo

Village of Albion

Recreation Director

Editor:

Donald Trump is running to be an authoritarian. He has already tried to overthrow our democracy in 2020 using a slate of illegally chosen electors and pressuring state election officials to illegally count votes that did not exist.

Mr. Trump has stated that if he is elected, he will reinstate Schedule F by Executive Order. Schedule F will replace civil service employment with political appointees who owe their jobs and benefits to the President.

And it is Mr. Trump’s stated intention to politicize the Department of Justice, the FBI, the military and other government agencies. Politicizing these departments will overthrow our democratic checks and balances.

In his prior presidency, Mr. Trump attempted to suppress or alter information deemed unfavorable to the administration including the path of a hurricane and scientific data on Covid-19. With political appointees there will be no accountability to the Congress or to the American people.

Mr. Trump, with a politicized Justice Department, will be able to order the arrest of his political opponents by an official act. With a politicized FBI, Mr. Trump will be able to order, by an official act, the investigation of any protesters.

We know that Mr. Trump is a convicted felon and a convicted sexual predator. Mr. Trump claims that all the evidence brought against him is political persecution. It is this attitude, that he is above the law, and not accountable for his actions, that is the hallmark of a totalitarian.

Mr. Trump is running to destroy our democracy and make himself an authoritarian.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

In response to Mrs. Shingelton’s letter, all writers here – no matter the stripe – write the Orleans Hub about what they think is best for the country.

Thomas Paine and other writers published facts and observations which stirred the leftist most 60% to 70% of our county (Ben Franklin’s estimate) to support the Revolution. Then as now there was a large fringe with blinders on for various reasons.

Madam, I fully support the “unity” you mention if they are not mere words to you. That includes opposing violence being concerned about the best interests of the majority of us just as you mention. After 8 years of threats, accusations and seeing individuals being victimized by ardent supporters, I too am tired of it.

Recently conservative SCOTUS Justice Barrett observed there is a “continuum of history.”  It is a tidal wave which can not be turned back but we can prepare for. That is worthy of discussion.

Well-researched facts about our history, our heritage, law and order, our standing in the world, about what has worked and what has not are all getting drowned out by the daily din. Truth needs advocates. Our founders and the voters who insisted on it, knew that.

Paine in Common Sense kept Tory feet to the fire. In our times we have several proven felons in positions of power,  the nonsense of a hidden but pervasive deep state and many novella worthy conspiracy theories floating willy nilly on all to many wagging tongues.  That there is a public and well laid plan to keep states from certifying their election results is terrifying.

Say what you want, in fact please do, but the Hub and its “Letters To Editor/Opinion”  section is actually an important local forum for local readers.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

To Ms. Shingleton, Mr. Cropsey and I are not expressing mere political opinions. We are reiterating (time and again) the potentially devastating  threat of an amoral, unempathetic, self-centered sociopath.

That’s not political – that’s the red flag of unbounded human degradation. His desire to be a virtual dictator is very real and if given the chance  he will rot our democracy from the inside out.

Bruce Kirby

Albion

Editor:

I read with interest Mr. Burgess’s letter to the editor in which he endorses Trump for President.  While condemning Biden and discussing immunity, Burgess said absolutely nothing about why Trump deserves to be president a second time.

My guess is he could find little positive to say about Trump’s first term and his legal problems.

It is certainly understandable why he did not include the following:  (1) Trump’s being found guilty in two trials; (2) the 23 women who accused him of sexual misconduct; (3) the upcoming trial on the classified documents in Florida; (4) the trial in Georgia on Trump’s election interference; (5) the trial in Washington DC on his attempt to overthrow the presidential election; (6) and Trump’s medical problems including aphasia and malignant narcissism.

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Va.

Mr. Capurso is a 1960 Albion graduate.

Editor:

I am appalled that political vomit continued immediately after an attempted assassination!

Mr. Cropsey, no one chooses to be the target of anyone, political or non political. Stop your negative political opinions and voice your concerns and choice on Nov. 5th. Enough is enough.

I love my nation and all that it has stood for. We all have opinions of some sort but not everything we think needs to be aired (or read) by everyone. Why can’t we stand united for the best interests for all of us?

Sincerely,

Sandra Shingleton

Albion