Editor:

Congressman Chris Jacobs is quick to blame The American Rescue Plan and pandemic stimulus payments for disincentivizing workers, without evidence. It is true that there are about 9.7 million Americans actively looking for work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and businesses, especially in the service sector face an inability to hire workers.

The cause, however, is unclear. The evidence for blaming The American Rescue Plan is only anecdotal. In fact, there are several studies looking at the $600 of unemployment insurance paid out last year that dispute the Republicans’ claim. One study by Joseph Altonji et. al. at Yale University reported: “The findings suggest that, in the aggregate, the expanded benefits neither encouraged layoffs during the pandemic’s onset nor deterred people from returning to work once businesses began reopening.”

Another study by the Federal Reserve of San Francisco reported: “The findings in this Letter suggest that the $600 UI, (unemployment insurance), benefit supplement in the CARES Act had little or no effect on the willingness of unemployed people to search for work or accept job offers.”

Recent studies point to other reasons people are not looking for work. Aaron Sojourner, a University of Minnesota economist found a correspondent between people worrying about the virus and seeking jobs. “The first-order issue is the virus, and if that’s what caused the crisis, then it is also the path out of the crisis,” said Professor Sojourner.

No one wants to get a deadly virus slinging burgers. While government should get everyone back to work, it should not force employees to work with the general public when those in the general public feel it is their right to put the health of those employees at risk. (Refusing to wear a face mask or get a vaccination maybe your right but your deadly germs stop at my nose and thus you have no right to be in public).

Another possible reason why people may not be seeking employment is family care concerns. The Census Household Pulse survey showed that in late March about 14 percent of adults were not looking for work because they had to take care of a child not in school or an older person.

Further studies are needed to substantiate the cause of unemployment while businesses are looking for workers. What is clear is using anecdotal evidence is the knee jerk, lazy reaction of Republicans more interested in grabbing headlines and soundbites than solving problems.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

The Orleans County Legislature would like to thank the Police Reform Committee volunteer members: Trellis Pore, James White, Margarita Aldaco, Eddie English and Thaddeus Nauden.

Each community member that served gave concerns and input from our community members pursuant to requirement of Executive Order 203: New York State Police Reform and Reinvention collaborative. This committee met for two months, holding five in-person meetings and two meetings via Zoom to gather input from the public.

The members offered the knowledge, experience and professional judgement, combined with data, analysis and research to develop our Sheriff’s Office policing strategies, policies and procedures to accomplish compliance for the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.

Each volunteer offered knowledge through each of their various community and/or professional knowledge. Trellis Pore handled the use of force which is governed by New York State Penal Law Article 35; as he is certified use of force and training instructor with NYSDOCS. Mr. Pore also gave insight on corrections programs, discrimination, anti-bias policies, trainings, community-based outreach and conflict resolution. As a reverend he also has great insight of community issues.

As a member of the Marine Patrol Division, James White provided skills through de-escalation training with Law Enforcement Academy Trainings, curriculum content, deployments, policies & procedures.

Margarita Aldaco contributed restorative justice through her advocating for victims as a program administrator of the PathStone Domestic Violence Program. She also provides Spanish interpretation, works with community-based outreach and conflict resolution.

Thaddeus Nauden supplied awareness on how to handle discrimination through his community-based outreach and conflict resolution skills, anti-bias policies. Mr. Nauden is a Vietnam veteran and represented the senior citizens of the county.

Eddie English contributed input on discrimination as a participant of community-based outreach and conflict resolution, anti-bias policies. Mr. English is also a Pastor of the Lord’s House.

As participants each of these individuals proved to be a great asset and was very helpful in the discovery of community needs during this process keeping the committee’s goals on track and moving forward.

We want to thank the wonderful Advisory committee members for their vital insights, perspectives and leadership in creating a plan that is the beginning of reform and reinvention, not the end.

Lynne M. Johnson, Chairman of the Legislature

Chris Bourke, Orleans County Sheriff

Editor:

There are two excellent candidates running for the Medina School Board as write-in candidates: Jennifer (Palone) Buondonno and Debbie Tompkins.

Jennifer is married to John Buondonno, was born and raised in Medina and has two children in the district. She is employed at Tompkins Bank of Castile, and is involved in many local organizations, such as Medina Mustang Band Boosters and the 2020 Leadership Orleans. This past year she was a community representative on the Audit/Finance Committee for the Medina Board of Education. I am certain that she would bring a fresh approach to the current issues and goals for the district.

Debbie is married to Medina graduate Chris Tompkins and has two children in the school district. An employee of Tompkins Bank of Castile, she is actively involved in Medina Sports Boosters, Medina Band Boosters, Growing Orchard Foundation President, Home for the Holidays Co-President, and past President of the Medina PTSA. She too would bring forth fresh ideas and work with the Board of Education in setting policies benefitting both the children and the taxpayers.

Both candidates have excellent leadership skills and good business backgrounds. I wholeheartedly endorse them for election to the Medina School Board.

Please vote on May 18 between noon and 8 p.m. at the District Office of the Medina Central School District.

Nelda B. Toussaint

Medina

Editor:

As you know President Trump’s attorney Sydney Powell and Tucker Carlson took the same tact in lawsuits and claimed what they say is too outrageous to be believed.

Fox entertainment persuasion is now being used as a  defense by one of the criminals who broke into the capital. Unlike many, his defense is not that he legally obeyed a President’s orders.

This new defendant is claiming Fox brainwashed him into it. He therefore avoids having to show what President Trump’s orders actually were. The defense is called “Foxitis.”

Unlike the failed defense of “affluenza” which claimed people are too spoiled to understand the consequences of their actions, the symptoms of “Foxitis” include delusional thinking leading to the irresistible urge to follow the entertainers’ urgings to storm the Capitol.

It’s ingenious since it’s already known that Fox entertainers contributed to people taking the pandemic less seriously and that resulted in more deaths. Logically this defense could have “legs” with a similarly naive jury.

This is another interesting detour in the Trump, ultra-conservative media, propaganda axis which is using fear, lies, TV and social media to distort information.

Will a jury decide it’s enough to ignore the Rule of Law?

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

New York State has established a new fast-tracked route for large-scale renewable energy projects (over 25 megawatts) to obtain a certificate of operation. The new regulations that have been established seem to be very much advantageous to the developer, to the extent that if an application is not decided upon by one year of the application submission, a certificate is automatically granted.

The proposed Heritage Wind Project proposes 33 industrial wind turbines 686 feet tall for the town of Barre. The application has been submitted to the 94-C process, and right now is possibly the only opportunity for public involvement, which can be done through comments on the ORES site.

Link to share comments on this application, click here or by  attending the virtual (webex) public comment hearing on May 20, 2021. Participants must register to participate by 10 a.m. on May 19 for Public Statement Hearing Via webex.com or Via phone: 1-800-342-3330.

The Town of Barre board members were shared with on Monday (May 3, 2021) for the first time a presentation by an attorney hired by the Town to represent the Town in this matter and informed that the 60-day public comment period will end on May 21 at 5 p.m., and in their (Knawf and Shaw, Labella Engineering and Town Attorney) review of the application they found many significant areas where the application does not comply with the Town’s recently revised local law. Below is a brief list of some of the areas where compliance is not met.

Noise Standard – Application does not demonstrate compliance with Town’s nighttime 9-hr noise limit for non-participating residences of 40 decibels (dB) and 50 dB for participating residences.

Potentially 102 non-participating residences may experience  greater than 40 dBA but less than 45 dBA. This is about 13% of the Town of Barre residences!

It is very quiet at night in our town. Decibel levels are in the low 20s. Residences that have a 20 decibel increase in noise level will may experience the increase as “intolerable” according to DEC noise guidelines.

The application appears to be non-compliant with ORES 1-hour LEQ for substations of 40 dBA at receptors 119 and 158.

Shadow flicker – Non-Compliant with 25 hour per year shadow flicker standard in Wind Law. ORES proposes to override this requirement and apply ORES standard of 30-hours per year at non-participating residences

Modeling in application indicates 40 non-participating residents with potential for more than 30 hr/yr of shadow flicker.

Setbacks – Confirmation of waivers from participating properties included as a pre-construction permit conditions. These waivers have not been provided to the town.

Blade glint – Wind law requires Blade Glint Study and this has not been completed.

Property value assessment – Town law requires a study regarding this and the completed study is not included in application. ORES has indicated is it not required by ORES. Issue is not related to public health and safety or the environment, which are requirements for adjudication.

Decommissioning – Application factors in salvage value in financial surety calculation, whereas the Local law does not allow for this.

Local law provides for 90 days to execute decommissioning plan, with extensions available for a total of 360 days. Application and permit provide if non-operational for 12 months, and no waiver granted by ORES, facility must be decommissioned in 6 months.

Post-Construction noise and structural assessments – Local law requires fund for an independent “third party” company to do twice a year structural and noise assessments

Draft permit provides for pre-and post-construction noise assessment and noise complaint procedure for post-construction noise evaluations. Post-construction noise assessments required (“leaf-on” and “leaf-off”) with first within 7 months and second within 13 months of commercial operation. Additional assessments based on results. This does not provide certainty of ongoing testing.

Aircraft detection lighting system(s) (ADLS) – Local law requires ADLS or similar to extent allowed by FAA or, if not allowed, a lighting mitigation plan.

Post-construction surface/ground water impact assessment – Local law requires biennial assessment for 4-year period to confirm anticipated impact. Draft permit requires pre-and post-construction water supply well testing based on proximity to construction activity with well replacement requirements. This testing may not be sufficient to clearly understand the impact to local wells.

Performance bond for spills – Local Law requires bond for response to environmental contamination causes by spills. Draft permit includes a description of spill response and control measures, but no financial assurance for cleanup response by the Town (though applicant would be liable the town may have to go after the company to get the funds for cleanup).

Whether you are a resident of the Town of Barre or reside in the surrounding community, this proposed project will have an impact on you, and the list above is not an exhaustive list of the impact this project would have – only areas where the application does not comply with our local town law, which is intended to protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents.

If you are concerned about any or all of these proposed infractions of our town law, or others please take five minutes and express these concerns to ORES through the comment section on the link at the top of this article by May 21, 2021 (you do not need to provide a solution, only what your concerns are).

Comments will be used to determine what aspects of this application, if any, will be adjudicated, or if the application will be approved as is. No matter what your stance is on industrial wind turbines, I hope that we can agree that the impact to our health, safety and welfare should be limited and our residents protected.

Click here for link to Heritage Wind Application and comment section on DPS, Department of Public Service Matter Number 21-00026.

Click here for link to Town of Barre Workshop where the above information was shared.

Kerri Richardson

Town of Barre Councilwoman

Barre

Editor:

Every citizen has a duty to obey the law and every police officer has a duty to enforce the law. If you haven’t yet jumped aboard the anti-police rhetoric train, please take a moment during this National Police Week to acknowledge the men and women of law enforcement.

And on May 15th, which is National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day, please remember New York State Police Sergeant Harry Adams – End of Watch September 1, 1951, and Orleans County Sheriff’s Deputy David Whittier – End of Watch September 8, 1989.

Both of these individuals made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the citizens of Orleans County.

Steve Smith

Churchville

Editor:

Congressman Chris Jacobs staged a phony phone town hall on April 21st to discuss actions at the Southern Border. Mr. Jacobs stated that the Biden administration was allowing the cartels prey on migrants before they enter the U.S.

To be clear U.S. law stops at the border. Forcing migrants and asylum seekers to stay in Mexico, which is what the previous administration did, is what allowed the cartels to prey upon the migrants.

Human Right Watch reported: (Washington, DC, March 5, 2021) – “Asylum seekers sent to Mexico by the administration of former US president Donald Trump have suffered violence and extortion by Mexican police, immigration agents, and criminal groups.” Human Rights First wrote: “As of February 19, 2021, there are at least 1,544 publicly reported cases of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, and other violent assaults against asylum seekers and migrants forced to return to Mexico by the Trump Administration.”

Another false (lying) claim of Mr. Jacobs is that migrants failed to show up at court after being given an appearance ticket. Vox reported: “About 99 percent of asylum seekers who were not detained or who were previously released from immigration custody showed up for their hearings over the last year, according to new data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, a think tank that tracks data in the immigration courts.”

Mr. Jacobs’s lying may make good sound bits, but it makes bad corrupt policies exacerbating the immigration problems. To stem the flow of migrants we need to address the root causes which include poverty, violence and climate changes. These are all addressed in President Biden’s immigration bill he sent to Congress after being sworn in as President on Jan. 20, 2021.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

We are being asked by President Biden to invest in ourselves and our future. I think the need for the changes he proposes is demonstrated by QAnon and the similarly outrageous tales that are animating by so many.

It seems to be the same phenomenon we see in the Mideast, South America, dictatorships, and third world countries in general – find someone else to vilify for your own failures. Conspiracy theories and hate speech goes a long way.

It’s true some people are gullible and also true that some are thrilled by the attention they get when repeating conspiracy theories or having “smart aleck” answers. But typically when  outrageous stories and propaganda gain traction it’s a sign that things are not working well.

Propaganda keeps politicians in power and lines the pockets of those who benefit the most.

A major reason President Biden’s proposals are so popular is that he was at the center of political power when things worked well! FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and to a lesser extent Carter all had our economy humming. They took a bankrupt country with people starving and turned it from the 20^th ranked agrarian country into a capitalist country that dominated the industrialized world. Social policies served the needs of the many while not ignoring those of the few.

Since about 1982 in many ways the US has coasted and in other ways backtracked, both economically and in trust that change can accommodate all. By the 1986 tax act we started down the slippery slope in which taxation started to be paid disproportionately by the lower and middle class. There were cut backs in essential services. Four-year college started to become less accessible. Money started going into stocks rather than job creation. There have been incredibly enormous increases in the deficit (all under Republicans),  strategic goods started getting produced overseas, and the effective tax rate on corporate America dropped precipitously – now averaging 8% on multinationals.

As setbacks mounted and cooperation died, people have increasingly accepted the sort of outlandish claims those who were around used to chuckled at. Fables and conspiracy theories are so popular that TV ratings demonstrate people who do not get enough on Fox are leaving  Fox and turning to RT (formerly Russia Today) and OAN, both of which are Kremlin affiliated, and NewsMax.

Turning seriously complicated issues into TV entertainment with childish name calling demonstrates how bad off some are (or think they are) and how much some have to lose when we recapture what made us great.

The simple truth is we can recapture our greatness because we know our problems and we know what to do. We have done it before.  The other side, such as it is, prays on fear pushed by those who want to cover up the failures of the past 40 years.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Consider this: when the US has gone to war in the past, it made people go and fight and kill whether they wanted to or not. It was to protect the people of the country, all the people.

Some volunteered, being true patriots. Now we have people refusing to fight against a viral enemy that seeks to injure and kill us. They refuse to do their duty, refuse to care about their fellow Americans and squawk about temporarily being asked to live under wartime conditions.

Imagine this: you are in a defensive position in  foxholes with you fellow soldiers. How would you feel if several soldiers decided to not load their weapons because they didn’t think the enemy was coming? Would those people be caring about their country and you? Would you tolerate it?

What if the enemy was attacking and killing men by the hundreds because some of your fellow soldiers did not have loaded weapons? One of the things to remember in this land of freedom is quite simple: Your rights stop where mine begin. If your “rights” endanger me, you are violating MY rights.

Gregory T. Schmitt

Kent

Editor:

Recently the NYS Legislature passed a law making it legal for youths aged 12-13 to hunt deer with any weapon legal for adults, only while accompanied by a licensed adult.

Every older adult has grown up with this opportunity, if his/her parents allowed or encouraged it. Most of us survived.

It was an important step in our learning about and appreciation of nature, and in my case, at least, set me up for a lifetime of outdoor recreation and enjoyment.

The new state law requires counties to buy in. If your county legislature doesn’t enact supporting legislation, the law doesn’t count in your county.

I urge the Orleans County Legislature to draft and pass legislation to enact this new state law and promote youth hunting opportunities.

Respectfully,

Jerry Adams

Carlton

Editor:

The Orleans County Conservative Party unanimously endorses NY Congressman Lee Zeldin as candidate for Governor of New York in the 2022 election.

I first heard the congressman make his announcement on the Sean Hannity radio show last week. After personally speaking to him while he was on the floor of Congress in the process of casting a vote, I was sold that this was the right man to take on failed Governor Andrew Cuomo or whatever kind of incompetent evil that the Democratic Party puts up to further destroy the soul and business climate of a once great state like New York.

The destructive one-party leadership of progressives in this state is causing the smart people with the means to leave to go to well-managed law-and-order states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee among others where they can live free from burdensome regulation and nanny state bureaucrats, where the money they retire on or earn will go much further.

Lee has impeccable credentials and is a combat veteran, a paratrooper and infantryman of the Army’s Elite 82nd Airborne Division having participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds many other military titles.

He is a proven winner. Elected to the State Senate in 2010 then to the US Congress in 2014, representing NY-1 successfully ever since. In just 2 weeks he has raised well over $2.5 million dollars. Lee will be leaving his position in Congress because he knows it’s do or die for the Empire State.

New York can not survive 4 more years of regressive progressive leadership. Lee is a true conservative. More conservative than many of his counterparts in Congress. He has what it takes to bring this sunken ship called New York back up from the depths of despair.

That is why so many of us are pleased that we have a candidate so conservative and getting out in front a year and a half ahead of the election. We hope Lee Zeldin becomes a household name and the Orleans County Conservative Committee is very excited to endorse this man as a candidate to lead our state.

The people and businesses are begging for real leadership. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic Party have failed us miserably and left a path of destruction and real human suffering. Cuomo has ruled as a King, a Tyrant and a Gangster. Cuomo is an embarrassment to our state and our country. We have had enough! Cuomo and any gubernatorial candidate they may put up needs to go!

Paul Lauricella

Lyndonville

Chairman of Orleans County Conservative Party

Editor:

President Trump was right to invest in new delivery methods for a Covid-19 vaccine – vaccines which provide astonishing protection. President Biden has an experienced team doing a remarkable job on the rollout.

Lessening the situations where the numbers indicate masks help – restaurants, churches,  sports stadiums, malls, hospitals, and so many other things – is there for the taking.

We can get back to life if all take 5 minutes to protect themselves and others. So it’s time to stop bickering on this one and take the win! Get vaccinated.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

Congressman Chris Jacobs visited the Southern border stating that the situation is a “national security and humanitarian crisis.”

Yes it is and it has been for years. But it is not just immigration at the Southern border; we also have a Northern border and two oceans and airports with multi points of entrance. That is one reason why we need a comprehensive immigration policy.

Mr. Jacobs only highlights the arrest of suspected terrorist at the Southern border but not the fact that most suspected terrorist attempt to arrive by airplane. PolitiFact reported in 2017 there were 2,554 individuals on the terrorist watchlist who tried to enter the country, most of those by airplanes.

Even Mr. Jacobs’s predecessor former Congressman Chris Collins expressed concerns about our Northern Border. He told Howard B. Owens of The Batavian that “Canadians (are) pouring over the border to get health care that’s just not available within their universal healthcare system,” (The Batavian August 3, 2017).

Furthermore, it needs to be pointed out that Mr. Jacobs gave tacit support to predominately white terrorists who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6th wearing body armor and carrying bear spray, baseball bats, climbing gear and pipe bombs to prevent Constitutionally mandated activities.

By only emphasizing the Southern border, Mr. Jacobs is showing his racism and appealing to his anger-based fearmongering disinformation politics of his base. The immigration issue is multifaceted and can only be addressed with knowledge-based problem solving not scaremongering disinformation of Mr. Jacobs.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

What would it take to get someone who had not yet come to the realization that “speed kills” to become convinced that it does?

The latest edition of Living Bird, a magazine sent out to contributors by the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, contains photographs of chestnut sided, magnolia, black and white and other warblers. They are generally not much larger than chickadees, a delightful little bird seen around Orleans County year around. If you hit a chickadee, or any one of over twenty types of warblers, with your vehicle, it would almost certainly die, and you would likely never know it.

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, six young tree swallows were killed by one vehicle in a single pass as they sat in the road mourning the loss of their mother. It really is sickening when you know that it does not have to be this way. But insects do certainly benefit.

Our “country” road has two American kestrel nests on it. There are bluebirds, catbirds, song sparrows, chickadees, orioles, and innumerable other species of avian delights that speeding vehicles will kill all over Orleans County without denting the machine. Often, all we must do to prevent it is get started earlier, travel more slowly, and think about how our actions impact other living things.

When my good friend, the owner of Hojack’s restaurant, saw his first American redstart up close, as someone without much birding experience, he was nearly speechless. “What the heck is that?” he exclaimed about the bird that was hovering two feet in front of his face.

We were getting firewood when he got his first look at one. Redstarts are one of our migratory birds, as are over twenty different types of warblers. The speed at which we choose to drive impacts how many of them—and dozens of other songbirds—we kill without ever knowing it.

Warblers, redstarts, and chickadees favor woodland habitat.  Driving our vehicles more slowly favors them.

Traveling on country roads as if we have taken leave of our senses really can have consequences we may never have considered. It may increase the rodent population by killing birds such as American kestrels, or result in our descendants never having a chance to hear a bluebird sing, among many other things. Speed may even result in the death of another human being.

So, for those travelers who can only get to 80 miles per hour by the time they get to the railroad tracks, perhaps you should get an electric vehicle with some serious acceleration.

Warbler migration will soon be upon us. Know that responsible behavior can benefit them.

Sincerely yours,

Gary F. Kent

Albion

Editor:

In Steve Smith’s recent letter he advocates amending the public school curriculum to include lessons apparently to insure the public’s safety in the event of an encounter with police, especially those leading to an arrest. In other words, lifesaving protection from the protectors.

Although well intended, Mr. Smith’s letter misses the point. Despite what some people may think, it’s not about whether one resists arrest or not. It’s about who resists arrest or even when they don’t resist.

This may come as a surprise to many people in Orleans County, but even white people have been known to resist arrest during an altercation with law enforcement. In fact, when taken into account that blacks make up only 13.4% of the U.S. population and although blacks are nearly twice as often charged for resisting as whites, the overall incidence of whites resisting arrest is still greater. But even that doesn’t matter.

Here’s the issue. With rare exception, white people who resist arrest and are then taken into police custody ultimately will end up either 1. Pleading out or, 2. Found innocent or guilty by a jury of their peers as our Constitution so wonderfully provides.

If found guilty in New York State, resisting arrest is a Class A misdemeanor (according to https://statelaws.findlaw.com/new-york) and is punishable of up to one year in jail, 1 to 3 years’ probation, a fine of up to $1,000 or … “twice the amount of the perpetrator’s financial gain from the underlying crime.” In the case of George Floyd, twice the amount of an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

Unfortunately for a disproportionate number of people of color, that very same offense carries a dirt-nap sentence from which they will never wake up. Even though at the very moment they died at the hands of the police, they were secured in police custody, no longer posed any threat and remained innocent until proven guilty.

Maybe that should be taught in public schools as well.

Or is that just simply too “PC”?

Respectfully,

Tom Graham

Rochester

Albion High School ’78