letters to the editor/opinion

Skate Park is a great addition to Medina community

Posted 3 September 2021 at 3:18 pm

Editor:

I see that the Skate Park is now open and also know that there will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony this Saturday. What a wonderful addition to the Medina community.

I would like to commend the efforts of the Skate Committee, especially Alex Feig. Alex has given time/energy/money to this project. He has directly led the efforts these past few years to organize and fundraise this project.

Without his tireless efforts, we may not have such a beautiful site. Thank you, Alex, and the other members of the Medina Skate Committee. Just another reason why Medina is a great place to live.

Tom Robinson

Medina

Adults should help protect kids from Covid and get themselves vaccinated

Posted 2 September 2021 at 9:08 am

Editor:

As a former Orleans County public health nurse, I am concerned (like everybody else) about the Covid epidemic and the rising rate of cases in Orleans County.

I am especially worried for the elementary children, who will start school soon. They are not eligible to get their vaccine yet, and are therefore not protected. Our fully vaccinated rate is 45%, not even half of the population. August 16th the Pfizer vaccine was fully approved.

This is a good time to get your vaccine. The vaccine is available at pharmacies in Orleans County. The vaccine is free to you. There are no lines anymore either. Public Health also does vaccines on Thurs, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

More children are getting sick from the Delta variant.  Please take the time soon to get your vaccine.

Thank you,

Rosanne Golden Leach and co-signed by Robert and Margaret Golden, Sister Dolores Ann O’Dowd, Gerard Morrisey, Grace and Gary Kent.

When I sent this letter to my brother to sign I remembered that our father wrote a letter to the editor at the beginning of the school year also. It was when I started kindergarten in 1947.

It was also a letter concerning personal responsibility to protect  ourselves and others, especially little children when they start school. He was a captain in the police force in my hometown  and the letter was asking people to be careful driving  and watch for children.

Here’s that letter, which was printed locally in Elmira, NY, 9/6/47, but then traveled all over the country and was still being reprinted decades later, even in the Albion Advertiser 9/3/75.

It still applies today as does my plea for getting vaccinated and protecting children and their teachers and our health care workers:

Dad’s letter:

Dear Driver,

A few weeks ago, I saw a little girl struck by a car as she tried to cross the street. I saw a father race toward her and hold her to him as she struggled in the agony of death. I saw all the plans that have been made for her dashed and saw he look of despair that came over his face. I could only offer a prayer that such a thing might never happen again.

Today, my daughter, who is 6 years old, started off to school. Her cocker spaniel, whose name is Scoot, watched her leave and whined his belief in the folly of education.

Tonight we talked about school. She told me about the girl who sits in front of her, a girl with yellow curls, and about the boy across the aisle, who makes faces, about the teacher who has eyes in the back of her head, about the trees in the school yard and the big girl who does not believe in Santa Claus.

We talked about a lot of things—tremendously vital and unimportant things.

Now, as this is written, she is sound asleep with her doll “Paddy” in her arms.

When her doll gets broken or finger gets cut or her head gets bumped, I can fix them. But when she starts off to school—when she starts across the street—then Mr. or Mrs. Driver, she is in your hands.

Much as I wish I could, it’s not possible for me to be with her all the time. I have to work to pay for her home, her clothes and her education.

SO MR. DRIVER, please help me to look out for her. Please drive carefully. Please drive slowly past schools and at intersections. And please remember that sometimes children run from between parked cars.

Please don’t run over my little girl.

With deep thanks for whatever you can do for her, I am

Very sincerely yours,

A Father


Thank you,

Rosanne Golden Leach

Kent

Vaccination provides best path out of pandemic

Posted 1 September 2021 at 4:49 pm

Editor:

Whether or not to get the vaccination jab is not a factual choice for those who are misinformed and afraid. But it also not freedom. It’s a moral decision.

The facts in favor the vaccine are endless if you do not get all you news from watching an admitted provocateur and dissembler like Tucker Carlson. But in addition the choice has a major moral – actually biblical – aspect that no one addresses.

Unlike the Spanish Flu which killed 50,000,000 and went away, Covid is developing variants that will stay. Covid, therefore will eventually turn from a an uncontrolled “pandemic” killing people worldwide into a persistent, but more manageable, “epidemic” since a portion will always die. It probably can not be wiped out like all the things I was vaccinated for standing in line as the school nurses administered the required shot each time science beat a new disease.

For vaccinated people (and all the unvaccinated people who survive) the quickest way to get our lives back is 1) for all to be quickly vaccinated or 2) for the unvaccinated to contract it and those who are going to die, die. The fact that the sooner the unvaccinated (but susceptible) die is one way to demonstrate that taking the jab has a moral dimension.

The other way of proving that taking the jab is a moral choice is to realize the plain fact that Covid’s spread is outpacing vaccine production worldwide. (The fact that this means as we so often hear that more variants will come back to try to get us as second time is not the point.) The point is that decision to not vaccinate when it’s there to take is immoral because it means the virus will spread faster and infect more people who are waiting and wanting the vaccine will die as they wait.

Till there is vaccine for all those that want it and die are victims due to the lack of morality and risk tolerance of the anti-vax people who justify endangering others as an exercise of independence.

The plain fact is that if the issue is independence and not death of other people, the time to exercise independence is when it’s time for a booster or treatment. Refuse either or both then.

Right now helping to slow this monster down is the only moral choice. For some it means overcoming fear. For some it means that just like not running a red light, they do what is safe for all. Either way, all ways, it’s time to take the jab.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

In many states, Republicans push to restrict voting rights, limit role of democracy

Posted 1 September 2021 at 8:36 am

Editor:

On Aug. 24, 2021 Congressman Chris Jacobs voted against H.R. 4, the John Lewis Act which would allow the Department of Justice to prevent states from restricting voting. Republicans claim that H.R.4 would federalize elections. The Hill wrote, (8/23/21): “The GOP lawmakers wrote that the legislation ‘would federalize our election system, give more power to unelected career bureaucrats in Washington, and unconstitutionally erode the ability of states to oversee elections.’”

Republicans went after states and cities that had the temerity to offer sanctuary status to undocumented people, despite the fact that these measures made their cities safer. There was no claims of State’s Rights when the Trump administration sent in un-marked officers to Portland, Oregon over the objections of both the mayor and governor.

Mr. Jacobs had no problem trying to disenfranchise millions of citizens when he voted not to certify the election of Arizona and Pennsylvania, even though those states had certified their states election as free and fair. Republicans’ claim of State’s Rights is just too convenient.

Beyond this is the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which states: “1) The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 2) The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

New voting laws in many states would make voting much more difficult for minorities. Putting barriers in places to ensure long lines and inconveniences to limit participation in our democracy is abridging people right to vote.

William Fine

Brockport

Better things to write about than playing whack-a-mole with letters to the editor

Posted 1 September 2021 at 8:30 am

Editor:

Mr. Cropsey, Australia is being run by leaders on a similar scale of incompetence and ignorance the likes of what the bumbling Biden administration is doing here. The people there actually despise what their government is doing to them.

You seem to enjoy government putting its boot on the throats of its citizens. It must sadden you Cuomo has left. Australia, unlike “We the People,” doesn’t have a US Constitution, the Bill of rights and a Declaration of Independence that enshrines that our rights are natural, given to us from God and not from government. That we are free men. It is bred into us at birth as Americans. Defiance is our best virtue. As far as I know the Constitution has not been suspended because of this pandemic that 99.5 percent of people survive from if it is contracted.

Tucker Carlson and Fox News won the frivolous case. They won because people in your profession made the laws that not only pertain to Mr. Carlson but all opinion commentators. Because you choose not to believe what was said in the clip I posted does not make it untrue. That is your bias and you are usually wrong. You believed that Joe Biden would be a good President and that Kamala Harris was a great pick for vice president. They are both failures. You believe the lies that the Democratic Party spoon feeds them daily.

Mr. Cropsey you ignored me because you knew that intellectually, politically, you could never match wits with me. There are so many more important things going on in Orleans County than to refute your letters. Like the Town of Yates spending 2,500 dollars for a study and moving forward on a 20 million dollar Bio-Digester project while not ever informing the citizens or asking the farmers first if it is something they would want or would be interested in. A year this has been in the making. Just think this is more important than playing a game of whack-a-mole with a Mr. Cropsey letter.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Lauricella is Conservative Party chairman in Orleans County.

Former governor was wrong to mandate Covid vaccine for healthcare workers

Posted 1 September 2021 at 7:40 am

Editor:

So I’m writing this wondering why our past governor was allowed to mandate health care workers to have a Covid vaccine or lose their jobs. And now Covid cases are climbing and there’s already a shortage of health care workers and our new governor doesn’t have enough sense to rescind that mandate.

Who is going to take care of these patients if we fire health care workers for not wanting to get the shot? We are still a free nation, I thought. Several of my family members are in the health care profession and when they go to work they still have to have their temperatures taken when they go in, wear a mask, wear a gown with Covid positive patients and if they’re not vaccinated they have to be tested once a week.

They do more than most people do to protect themselves and their patients. And now to be told to get a shot or you will be terminated is insane and unfair. Let’s put more people out of work. But wait. If they don’t get a shot and get terminated they can’t collect unemployment.

Hmm, seems like the ones that want to work are being punished for standing up their right to say no. Now I chose to get the shot as did my wife who is a nurse but the key word is chose to. Should people be vaccinated? Probably. But if they choose not to I would hope that they are smart enough to stay safe, mask up and get tested if they don’t feel well.

Governor Cuomo should not have been able to make such a law when he was on his way out and probably should have not been left in office for 2 weeks to make stupid decisions like that. Wake up Albany.

Mike Zeliff

Lyndonville

Don’t let pressure from government sway personal choice in whether to get vaccine

Posted 31 August 2021 at 8:42 am

Editor:

Is this a battle of power, knowledge, wills or fears? To many it is one or all of these. But truly for those that are Vaxed and unVaxed it seems to be becoming a matter of principle.

In a land governed under the principles of liberty and freedom, it seems a bit unsettling when those that we trust with our liberties are now saying phrases like “screw people’s freedom.” There are some citizens of this great country who applaud that sentiment.

Thankfully there are those that do not, both Vaxed and unVaxed. Common ground to be proud of, the respect for freedom of choice. Not sure how my grandfather, who was shot twice in WWII, would feel about depriving people of their freedoms. I wish I could ask him. What do you think he would say? Fighting for freedom changed the course of his life.

I will not be so self-righteous to try to presume, but many people are feeling very self-righteous these days. They don’t care to listen; they only want to be heard. They don’t want to support; they want to shame. They don’t want to comfort; they want to bully.

The Vaxed believe it is best for them to have the vaccine. It is a matter of self-preservation for the Vaxed. They waited in anticipation so they could get to living again. It allows them a sense of self-preservation because they have faith, they are decreasing their odds of becoming very ill if they contract the virus. Take comfort in knowing that if you believe in the vaccine, then you have done your part. The risk is now with the unVaxed.

For the unVaxed it is a complicated mix of why this path was chosen. For most it was not a fly-by-night decision. A lot of research and thought was put into it. At first it was because of fear, mistrust, and uncertainty. The fear of the vaccine is just as powerful as the fear of the virus.

The last 16 months have been filled with misinformation and constant threat to freedom of choice. It is hard to trust in the motivations of those pulling the strings of Covid mandates because they are politicians. To the unVaxed it is an overstep for politicians to be denying freedoms and creating mandates, all the while threatening to take away their financial security if they don’t step in line.

If you believe that the Vaxed have certain short-term securities, then you must know that the risk is with the unVaxed. Who with their freedom of choice have chosen to take that risk. The belief it is better to face the reality of what is known, than the reality of what has not yet been proven. Science shows that surviving the virus is 98.2% or better, especially if you are healthy and not in the top risk of America’s #1 health crisis, which is obesity.

We each have freedom to choose what we do to our bodies, whether it be unVaxed, eat donuts and French fries all day, smoke, drink or whatever. This issue of the Vaxed Vs. the unVaxed is not political for citizens, just politicians and the media. Citizens from both sides of the political spectrum are choosing Vaxed or unVaxed and it does not fall down party lines. Politicians and media want you to think that so they can continue to divide.

The real kick in the pants is when a free country feels it has the right to withhold money to demand you step in line. The unVaxed and many Vaxed can agree this is not something a free society does. At that point it almost becomes a matter of principle. People are hypersensitive to all actions that feel as though they are threatening freedom and replacing it with mandates.

The term “Super Spreader” is now the vernacular of those who want to keep you fearful. Unfortunately, our elected have failed all of us, by pitting us all against each other and making this about money. Money for pharmaceuticals, money in their pockets and taking money from those honest tax-paying citizens who won’t step in line. Instead of trying to understand the unVaxed, they are trying to put the boot of pressure on their thoughts and wallets, which will unfortunately make many dig their heels in.

I have had conversations with Vaxed who have received harsh criticism by their family because their families are afraid of the long-term vaccine effects. To them, I said, be at peace with your choices and don’t let others put shame upon you or make you doubt your choices.

I have had conversations with the unVaxed who have received harsh criticism because people are telling them they irresponsible and selfish. To them, I said, be at peace with your choices and don’t let others put shame upon you or make you doubt your choices. Free people need to make personal choices without fear of social and/or economic backlash.

But in the end the risks we take must be of our own choosing in a land of freedom and liberty. Don’t allow anyone to make you feel shame for your personal decisions. Be proud of yours and stand up for your convictions, even when others try to put doubt in your heart and minds, Vaxed or unVaxed.

Debbie London

Albion

Freedom shouldn’t be used to disparage others, twist facts

Posted 27 August 2021 at 2:14 pm

Editor:

Here in the United States some of us have a rich tradition of doing whatever we can get away with. One of our senior gas customers told us that traffic was backed up for twenty miles in Florida at 5 p.m. on election day 1996. According to her, it was all about making it more difficult for working people to vote, regardless of color.

Mr. Trump, a hero to some, has made it quite the rage again to act on our impulses. January 6th and what he told Billy Bush before his electoral college victory in 2016 were just the tip of the iceberg.

Not paying your taxes or, for that matter, those who build your casinos is consistent with getting away with whatever you can. Sometimes all you need is nerve and a fancy lawyer.

Perhaps if we make a big enough commotion about how we are free people we can ignore election outcomes, do what we like to those who may believe they do not have a voice, discount climate change and resist any further responsibility to our fellow citizens to get vaccinated and wear masks.

No, the enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution should not be taken to deny or disparage others. But neither does the Ninth Amendment give us license to do whatever we please, even if some of us would apparently like to think it does.

Heck, if our freedom loving ancestors had been encouraged by “leaders” such as some of those we have lurking around today, they might have resisted the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. What did our sixteenth President know anyway?

Demagogues such as Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz, Governor De Santis and others seem to believe living free is synonymous with doing whatever you like without regard for the consequences to others.

Why not let it devolve into every man for himself? Doesn’t it make sense that our relationships with our fellow humans should be so misguided? Hopefully no one reading this believes such nonsense has a happy ending.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion

Unemployment benefits aren’t the reason businesses can’t fill some jobs

Posted 27 August 2021 at 11:38 am

Editor:

It has become an article of faith that the reason businesses can not find workers is because of the federal unemployment benefits.

Congressman Jacobs has even offered legislation to cut benefits in the belief that cutting benefits would force people back to work. It is just silly to think that earning poverty wages is keeping people out of the job market.

Why is it that people think that giving someone poverty wages discourages work yet giving millions to businesses in the form of tax breaks etc. does not discourage work? Furthermore, there are multiple studies that dispute this claim.

Last Friday, (8/20/21), the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics showed that states that cut off unemployment benefits have experienced job growth similar to or worse than states that retained unemployment benefits. In other words the unemployment benefits did not affect people returning to work.

Hospitality and leisure section employment also did not improve when benefits were cut. According to the Labor Department data the five states with the fastest job growth have all retained some of the federal benefits.

A recent study by Arindrajit Dube, et al. found that by cutting off benefits workers spent about $145 less a week which puts less money into local economy. Thus, the unemployment benefits bolster consumer demand, increase business activity and help the our local small town economies.

Let’s dispel the myth that the American Rescue Plan’s unemployment benefits are hurting employment and the local economy.

William Fine

Brockport

Editorial: Hochul should put AIM funding for towns, villages near top of agenda

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 August 2021 at 1:23 pm

Photo by Tom Rivers: Kathy Hochul is shown at the Erie Canal in Albion in this photo from 2012 when she represented the community in Congress. Hochul is very familiar with the local small towns and many of the elected officials.

Kathy Hochul takes the reins as governor of the state today. She is facing major challenges on many fronts, including the reopening of schools in a safe manner during the Covid pandemic.

Many businesses still are reeling from the pandemic and state-imposed restrictions last year. The economy has been battered, especially in New York City which is fueled by so many tourists and the travel industry.

The rural areas of the state are seeing a major population exodus. Orleans County is down 5.9 percent of its population from 2010 t0 2020, or a drop of 2,540 people from 42,883 in 2010 to 40,343 in 2020. The percentage loss is the steepest in Western New York and among the highest in the state, where 39 out of 62 counties lost population, despite an overall increase of population of nearly 800,000 in the state. Those gains were mainly in the bigger counties.

Hochul will give an address at 3 p.m. today, outlining her priorities as governor. She won’t have much of a grace period. She is filling out a term that ends in about 16 months on Dec. 31, 2022. The gubernatorial race has already kicked into gear for next year. Hochul is the 57th governor in the past 244 years and the first woman.

She is also a rare statewide official from Upstate New York, and even more rare are her connections and knowledge of small town New York.

Soon after she became lieutenant governor in January 2015, Hochul reached out to me to talk about Orleans County. We met at the Village House in Albion. She meets with many people in diners across the state.

My top issue for her to consider was the gross disparity in AIM funding, or Aid and Incentives to Municipalities. The Orleans Hub has written about this often with charts showing how little local villages receive compared to cities, despite offering similar services. (Click here to see a previous article about the AIM disparity.)

Villages with police and fire departments receive about $7 per capita in AIM, while cities with similar levels of services receive well over $100. In Buffalo’s case, the per capita aid is over $600. In the Village of Albion, it’s $6.41, about 1 percent of what Buffalo gets. Bumping the villages up to $100 per person in AIM funding would result in about a 20 to 25 percent tax reduction for the local villages.

The AIM rates should be tied to a level of services offered by a village or town, and should also consider a community’s wealth. The state ties its school aid to a community wealth ratio. If it did in a similar way with AIM, our most poverty-stricken areas – the villages – would get significant relief.

The AIM distribution hasn’t improved for towns and villages under the Cuomo Adminsitriation. In fact, he made it worse by grabbing some of the sales tax from counties and using that to pay part of the town and village AIM share, instead of using state funds. In this case he robbed from the poor to pay the destitute.

I’ve brought AIM up to Hochul other times over the years when she makes local appearances. She has cited state attention for the small towns through the $750 million annually available through the regional economic development councils. Some of that money includes $10 million for downtowns on an upswing. Medina has tried for this grant several times but has been denied so far.

The regional economic development grants are a competitive process, with communities vying against each other for the money. The grants tend to go to wealthier municipalities which have an army of city managers, economic development specialists, grant writers and in-house engineers. They can put together more compelling aplications.

In Orleans County, none of the villages or towns have administrators or dedicated economic development staff. The county as a whole has a staff of three working on attracting and retaining businesses. The regional economic development councils have favored the communities with more resources.

A simple way to helping the small towns would be giving them more AIM funding, at levels close to what the cities are getting.

Just look at the villages of Albion and Medina. In the 2010 census Albion had 6,056 people and Medina was at 6,065. Albion receives $38,811 in AIM or $6.41 per capita. Medina gets $45,523 or $7.51 per person.

The City of Sherrill, the state’s smallest city with 3,071 people in Oneida County, receives $372,689 or $121.35 per capita. Another small city, Salamanca in Cattaraugus County, gets $928,131 for a city of 5,815 people or $159.61 per capita.

Orleans County has the added disadvantage of not having a city in the county so none of our municipalities get propped up by the state with AIM funding. That hurts us when all of the neighboring counties have at least one city, where the property taxes are much lower than in our villages, mainly due to the state’s AIM formula.

This is an issue that should be near the top of the agenda for Hochul if she wants to help give the villages and smaller counties a fighting chance.

Assemblyman Norris lists priorities for Hochul to tackle as state’s new governor

Posted 24 August 2021 at 11:49 am

Editor:

Our state begins a welcomed new chapter, turning the page on a dark period in our history. It is special for us here in Western New York to see one of our own now become governor for the first time in over a century and to hold the distinction as our state’s first female governor.

I would like to congratulate Gov. Kathy Hochul, and I welcome the opportunity to continue working with her to restore trust and confidence back at our state Capitol and to deliver on Western New York priorities.

On a personal note, I have stood with and seen Gov. Hochul champion key economic, resiliency and tourism projects along the Erie Canal, shores of Lake Ontario, and local businesses. She understands the concerns of New Yorkers – especially those in our Western New York region. I remain optimistic that her leadership style, background in constituent service, and understanding of our concerns will serve New Yorkers well during her tenure as our governor.

There are serious challenges before us, however, and our state needs leaders who are committed to making the reforms necessary to help enable people to succeed. The economic shutdown was devastating and still impacting our small businesses. I’ve written to her asking her to consider a three-part agenda that I believe will help put our state, especially our region, back on track to prosperity. The agenda includes:

1. Restoring fiscal responsibility: Albany cannot balance its bloated budgets on bailouts from Washington or the backs of taxpayers. We are already losing too much population from upstate communities, and now that the pandemic has proven some companies can run successfully and oftentimes more profitably with a largely remote workforce, New York’s population exodus is only going to further increase. Wall Street is already relocating to Florida where there is no income tax.

2. Investing in our infrastructure: Where we should be dedicating additional resources is in infrastructure in order to provide the vital services that employers and citizens alike need on a daily basis. In Western New York there are too many homes and businesses without high-speed broadband access, and where it is exists, it is too expensive. Our roads, bridges, highways, culverts, water and sewer lines need repairs. Our Erie Canal needs to continue the reimagine initiative and make necessary improvements. Let’s make significant investment in this critical infrastructure now to protect our future.

3. Changing the way we do business: Without a systemic overhaul of the Executive Chamber, nothing will change in Albany. Real ethics reform must happen. I am encouraged by the initial statements Gov. Hochul has made, however, if she is serious about reforming the decades-old dysfunction and corruption that has run rampant in Albany, I encourage her to embrace legislation like my State Contracts Sunlight Act (A.3784) or the Public Officers Accountability Act (A.6780). Both of these measures would bring real transparency and accountability to state spending and impose serious, tangible sanctions against violators of the public trust.

I am looking ahead, and welcoming this new chapter in our state’s history. However, with that being said, as a member of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, I believe it is critically important that the unfinished business from our last dark chapter still be dealt with and a public report of the investigation of former Gov. Cuomo be published by the committee to ensure accountability and transparency, particularly for the victims and families of those who died in nursing homes due to his COVID-19. I will continue fighting to ensure that this report is released.

Though I am upbeat about a new beginning in Albany, I remain skeptical that downstate-driven progressive policies will continue to be advanced in the new administration. I am more than willing to work in a bipartisan manner with Gov. Hochul on mutual matters of concern such as infrastructure and ethics reform, but please know that I also will proudly stand up for my constituents and our region when needed to voice our displeasure on radical left wing agenda items such as “bail reform” that negatively impact our state.

I encourage Gov. Hochul to embrace this “back to basics” agenda, and look forward to working with her to on these matters and local priorities in the 144th Assembly District.

As your representative I am working hard for you and here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can email me at norrism@nyassembly.gov or call my office at (716) 839-4691.

Assemblyman Mike Norris

Lockport

Norris represents the 144th Assembly District which includes portions of Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties.

Those who support 2nd Amendment should work together to preserve right

Posted 22 August 2021 at 12:05 pm

Editor:

Who needs a gun? Well the short answer is, all of us, but who needs them the most? Marginalized communities, including women, POC, the LGBT community, sex workers, and all who are most affected by violent crimes are often ignored and overlooked by 2ndAmendment supporting communities and clubs while participating in outreach. These communities not only need firearms, but they also need professional firearm training.

Orleans County has some of the most wonderful 2A communities, and it’s a bit disappointing that they don’t often reach out to the communities that need firearms the most. We absolutely cannot afford to overlook them, their lives are in danger everyday, just like ours may be without firearms.

Let’s work together, all consenting adults deserve the right to protect their life and liberties. The goal is to arm as many Americans as we can, right? Government tyranny isn’t going anywhere. Violent crimes aren’t going anywhere, but they can be reduced with simple firearm education and firearm ownership.

Chase Tkach

Carlton

Orleans County Libertarian Party Chair

Australia shows aggressive action in fight against Covid spread

Posted 22 August 2021 at 10:21 am

Editor:

With all the arguments about vaccines, masks, and accusations of lying being told about this being a public health issue or a privacy issue here in the States, I thought a few might want to see what huge “on the spot” fines, curfews, 5-mile travel restrictions and such measures in place in Australia where Melbourne has had 200 days of lockdown so far.

The death rate for the country is less than a thousand deaths so far. Just as I was typing this a friend in the capital sent that Canberra’s outbreak figures today were 30 some. They want to avoid what is happening here.

And, in regard to Mr. Lauricella who links to Fox News and Tucker Carlson as definitive proof that our military is knowingly involved with sedition by this administration. In fact Fox’s and Carlson’s legal position is – and the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York has explicitly stated –  that Carlson’s show and statements are “[not] statement of facts” but “rhetorical hyperbole and opinion commentary” not intended to be believed (Click here). They won!

No wonder I ignored Lauricella for so long. He did not understand that our men in uniform should not be dragged into partisan fantasies. There really is nothing more to say about this now that we know his sources – no honor there, just perverse entertainment.

But where are the days when we were governed by gentlemen willing and able to talk so we could all prosper? These constant craven attacks based on imagination and half truths is tearing us apart. Name calling does not mean something’s accurate.

What happened to listening, learning, expertise and honor? They are worth defending. They are our true heritage.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Writer showed ‘fake moral outrage’ with rebuke of Conservative Party chairman

Posted 17 August 2021 at 2:12 pm

Editor:

Mr. Cropsey, I’m not going to stand for your false interpretation of what you think I wrote in both letters.  Biden and his administration from the DOJ and across the board have shown no regard for our laws since he took office.

At the very least they pick and choose. They believe they are the law. They have also bungled everything they have touched from immigration, economy, jobs, energy, crime, Afghanistan, spending, the pandemic. You name it, they made it worse. That’s undeniable.

Please spare us all with the fake moral outrage. Where was your letter of anger when this administration made our military sleep on the floors of parking garages in the freezing cold after the unarmed capitol riot and the outrage when this administration, Democrat members of Congress called members of our military, the sons and daughters of Americans, racists and white supremacists?

The media that supports and defends everything Democrat and suppresses the truth from the American people and pushes politicized science. No thanks. I’ll take real media that tells the truth. Click here for a report from Fox News with facts about the issue.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Mr. Lauricella is chairman of Conservative Party in Orleans County

Local political parties should embrace growing minority population in Orleans County

Posted 16 August 2021 at 9:03 am

Editor:

The 2020 US Census not only showed a decrease in Orleans County population to 40,343, but an increase in minority residents to 4,800 people, or 12% of the county population.

To Orleans County political parties, this group of 4,800 potential voters could represent the difference between winning or losing future elections. Will the Democrats simply assume most will vote for them? Will the Republicans ignore them believing they will continue to win elections without this group?

Changing demographics have a way of upsetting political plans as shown by the radical shifts in voting in Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and numerous other states which went Democratic in 2020.

Perhaps  the politics of inclusion, in which both parties work to understand the issues important to these minorities is the way of the future.

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Virginia (former Albion resident)