Editor:

This election week, thank you to the writers of the United States Constitution, seeking to “secure the blessings of liberty” for us, seeking to “form a more perfect union” and seeking to “promote the general welfare.”

Due to their effort, we have a system of governance designed to evolve as we try to be more perfect, as we try to be more caring, as we work to count our blessings (and votes) in challenging circumstances.

Thanks to the foresight of those writers (and much strife) women are now voting. Thanks to their foresight, we have developed a system of secret ballots for citizens, and there is no need to declare publicly our candidate of choice. Every vote counts.

Among leaders, though, we need organization among those with ideas. We need capability to come together openly and peaceably. We have a process for political parties to be recognized by the state.

From many ideas come a few good ones. For a county neighbor to declare in print that “a politician that loves this country would never ever belong to the Democrat Party” and to make assumptions about someone who has served her community in democratic leadership for 50 years is divisive in a time when we need to be unifying.

Not only the highest office in the land is at stake this week. Among those still to fill in ballots, please consider the values of your congressional candidate choices. My suggestion, Nate McMurray, who traveled to Orleans County, smallest population in the district, to meet even more of his future, multi-partisan constituents with only 6 days of voting left.

Nate McMurray, a candidate promoting dignity, decency, kindness, science, and most of all, a candidate deliberately seeking to serve and find common ground among all in his constituency, regardless of political affiliation.

Beth Wood

Barre

Editor:

In response to Paul Lauricella, Orleans County Conservative Party Chairman, I hope your hateful rant helped you feel better. Beware, stress is a strain on the body, contributes to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and mental disorders like depression, anxiety and personality disorders. Find a healthy outlet.

You like the USPS, a socialistic system because it benefits your business. Hate-fueled misinformation is ruining the Republican Party, which united to block Obama from making more progress.

If you love our country, as you say, you will want parties to work together to provide benefits for everyone, like the USPS and the billions of socialistic aid for farmers. If you love our country you would want our environment protected for the benefit of everyone and future generations. If you love our country you will put country over party.

Big business moved jobs offshore, not Democrats. To expand and sell in the very large Chinese market, China required building products there, and so big business conformed. It’s “fake news” to say that the Democrats are behind it.

With Michael Caputo’s cancer, he is being treated, with great public healthcare. Americans do not want to be denied the basic right to healthcare in a pandemic or when they lose a job.

The Me-Me thinking hurts everyone. The coronavirus teaches us that it does not discriminate. We must work together to reduce the risk so citizens and businesses can survive and thrive again. We’re all in this together. No one has the corner on love for our country.

Me-Me attitude entrepreneurs often opt for moving to tax havens abroad or South Carolina.

Carol Nochajski

Wilson

Editor:

To my fellow residents of Orleans County, I personally believe that much of the political divide that exists in our country today arises more from misunderstanding than anything else.

The word socialism is often tossed around in our area as a slur by many Conservative voters and it seems as if they do not understand the effect that socialist ideals and practices have had on our county/country.

It is not controversial to imply that Orleans County is one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas in Upstate New York and that the vast majority of us residents rely on inherently socialist systems to make our daily lives possible.

The vast majority of Orleans County residents depend on public schools as a means for their children to obtain an education and climb the socioeconomic ladder, but in a completely capitalist, “free market” America, public schools would likely not have the funding to exist, leaving many children in our community without the opportunity to chase their dreams, or even pay their bills.

Many of our elders in Orleans County depend on Social Security to live independently after retirement, even if they do not have enough money saved on their own to do so (yes, I understand that each member pays into SS over the years, but it is still an inherently socialist program).

How many of you, or a loved one, have ever collected Unemployment or Workers’ Comp during hard times? Well, both of these programs are also deeply rooted in socialist philosophy and practice. To clarify, I am not advocating for a completely socialist society, but it seems ignorant for many of you to denounce socialism when it has most likely had a profoundly positive impact on your life or the lives of loved ones.

It is also not controversial to imply that sometimes, Orleans County becomes a little too disconnected from the trends and changing values of the majority of the United States. Statistics show that the Republican Party just does not align with the values of younger generations of voters overall and this is not by accident.

The Republican Party is a relic at this point and if it ever hopes to gain support from more open-minded and ethnically diverse young people, I personally believe it must adopt policies that support the utilitarian good of all, rather than just capitalizing on fear and misinformation to manipulate poor white people into supporting madmen like Donald Trump, who only act with self-interest in mind. You can read this and shrug my opinions off, but the writing is on the wall.

To my fellow citizens of Orleans County, either we adapt or we die, both spiritually and economically. To quote both Theodore Parker and later Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Either we can come together as a community and advocate for justice ourselves, or justice will eventually overcome anyway, whether you like it or not. Would you rather have your legacy be on the right or wrong side of history? The choice is up to you.

Also, do not forget to vote for Nate McMurray for Congress, a true American who advocates for liberty and justice for all.

Eric Neace, Jr.

Lyndonville

Editor:

For 19 years, I have worked in the Orleans County Clerk’s Office serving our residents with respect and competency. It is an immense source of pride in my life to serve as your Acting County Clerk and I take my appointment seriously.

My staff and I strive to provide excellent customer service to the residents of Orleans County, and I believe we are doing just that. My desire is to continue serving Orleans County residents as your elected County Clerk for many years to come.

Regardless of occupation, the ability of a supervisor to be able to work beside or in place of any worker which they are tasked to oversee is important. Anyone who has had a boss that knew less about their job than they did will understand this implicitly. Unfortunately, it seems this concept has been falling by the wayside over the years. Too many people feel their ability to simply delegate responsibility is in itself all the qualification necessary for any particular managerial position.

The possibility that I would one day be thrust into the political arena had never crossed my mind, and in hindsight I was quite naïve as to how the process actually worked. Exactly one year ago to the day, a small group of friends gathered together at my house for what has become a tradition during Trick or Treating, “the Halloween Lasagna”, and it was that night the first utterance of a possible campaign escaped my lips.

Although not one person in the room had ever before been personally involved in a political campaign, the idea was met with a high level of enthusiasm. A truck driver became a “Campaign Manager”, a boyfriend became a trusted consultant/helper/companion, and a worker became a candidate. Completely lacking experience in the political arena, we collectively learned the basics of a political endeavor as we muddled through a stressful, exhausting campaign.

And now just days before November 3rd, I now share with them a delicious pan of lasagna as thanks for all their hard work and effort.

For the last eight weeks, the blessing of beautiful weather afforded the opportunity to walk and visit the voters in every township in Orleans County on the weekends. Although some would have you think I have spoken harshly against my opponent, I assure you that I have not spread a single unkind word. My only focus has been to tell the voters of my experience and the many years I served in the County Clerk’s Office. That has been my focus from the very start of this campaign.

I ask every voter, every Republican, Democrat, Conservative and Independent, please exercise your right to vote in this 2020 election. Is it important to our country, state and county. Regardless of the outcome of the County Clerk race, I remain proud of the campaign that I have run and grateful to those who have supported me along the way.

Diane L. Shampine

Holley

Editor:

Responding to Paul Lauricella’s post, so full of untruths about Nate McMurray and hateful stock lies that it’s hard to know where to start.

Let’s begin here: Aren’t we tired of the divisiveness? Patriots are abandoning the truth to Russians – consistently identified by Trump’s own appointed intelligence agencies – as actively spreading lies for the precise reason of dividing us and weakening democracy.

The red-flag warning words, “socialist radicals” always precede words of fear, not fact, to persuade people. It is the Trumpian way. But Americans are smart. Hoards of Conservatives across this country are lamenting the death of family values and fiscal responsibility, leaving the GOP, and actively fighting against it through groups of Conservatives like the Lincoln Project.

People are onto the desperate last breaths of fear-mongers trying to steal the future from average working folks. Groups like the large gathering of Republicans, Independents and Democrats: farmers, ministers and teachers, who came to Albion last week to support Nate McMurray for Congress are tired of the empty rhetoric. Years of control by Republicans who presume we will vote for them brought us together. We are through being taken for granted.

Politicians like Trump and Chris Jacobs have lied to us and distorted the Conservative movement by mishandling the economy. Their policies bring small temporary gains to hard working farmers, teachers and others: everyday folks trying to eke out a living, but burden us for generations to come by rewarding the rich and punishing the working class. They’ve added trillions of dollars to our national debt.

This all happened before Covid-19 but has been dramatically worsened by the Trump administration’s “hands-off” no-plan-policy and lies about the seriousness of Covid-19. Hospitals in the Midwest have no ICU beds open and Covid-19 is spreading like wild fire because we continue to be misled by our federal government. We have a long road ahead of us because of these failures.

After years of Republican control our Congressional District has the worst job market in the entire country, according to the Wall Street Journal. We are sick and tired of politicians scaring us into voting for them promising help, then doing nothing for us. Neither Chris Jacobs nor his predecessor Chris Collins even bother to talk with voters on the street or in town halls. Average people just don’t count as far as they’re concerned.

Nate McMurray knows we do count because he knows struggle. He grew up in a poor family with seven kids and a young widowed mother who worked three jobs and had her husband’s social security benefits to barely make ends meet. Nate wants us all to have the opportunities he realized through grit and hard work. He fights policies that do not benefit us, whether offered by Democrats or Republicans. He is a gun owning corporate attorney – a capitalist who supports the second amendment.

Let truth and civility, not hateful lies, guide you as you vote.

Nate McMurray is the right choice for Congress.

Cindy Fleischer

Mendon

Editor:

I have already voted for Joe Biden. There are many reasons why. One, he will use the presidency and the power of the federal government to fight the Covid-19 crisis.

He and President Obama used this ability to lead the country out of the 2008 financial crisis. Covid-19 is an area where Trump and his sycophants have been failures. Please read the recent letters to the Hub that support Trump. Most do not even acknowledge the Covid crisis. And none of these writers backed up Trump’s first Covid lie, back in March or so, or his latest lie that we’ve beaten Covid-19.

I  voted against Trump because he has taken the country’s traditional blind eye (exploited mostly by the Republican party) of this country’s racism to an incredible new low.

I’m 81 and remember Richard Nixon’s southern strategy. Nixon, using the coded language of “law and order”, appealed to all the bigots in this country that hated the civil rights acts of the 1960s.

And then, 20 or so years later, Ronald  Reagan gave his first campaign speech, which upheld states’ rights, about 10 miles from where three civil rights workers had been murdered. A bit of definition here: “states rights” was the principle behind which the white murderers were acquitted.

Reagan also talked of welfare Cadillac queens, while admitting he really knew of none. Then came George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton ads which played on white fear of blacks. Nixon, Reagan and Bush all exploited this white fear while, on the surface, officially condemning it. Then came Trump. He not only does not condemn racism, he praises it. He said there were “good people on both sides” in Charlottesville. He very recently  told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

Trump’s praise is a new low which, to their credit, a few Republicans have condemned. We can hope these Republicans will help vote Trump out.

Some of these Republicans started the Lincoln Project, the subject of a recent 60 Minutes show.

One founder was Steve Schmidt, a senior advisor in McCain’s presidential campaign. In 60 Minutes, Schmidt said Trump made him realize how naïve he had been about the embedded racism in the Republican Party. Schmidt is to be commended for the acknowledgement of his naivety.

This is the second most important election since the country’s third election when George Washington chose not to run for a third term. He’d been unanimously elected in the first two and knew that that unanimity could continue to third and later terms, thereby setting the president up as a de facto monarch.

Trump has clearly stated his desire to be a monarch by musing about deserving a third term.

Washington’s lesson has stood us in good stead for over 220 years. Please terminate Trump now and make George Washington proud!

Dennis Seekins

Lyndonville

Editor:

Definition of cronyism: The appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

If Ed Morgan was so worried about the right person getting into the highway superintendent position to replace him, maybe he should have attended the Town of Murray Republican Committee meeting to observe the interview, ask pertinent questions and cast a vote. Instead, in usual fashion, he sent his secretary to the meeting to place a vote for him.  Since your good choice didn’t win the committee vote, you and your buddies have supported this individual to run against Dirk Lammes. Dirk’s opponent is running on popularity, instead of qualifications.

Ed, you know darn well Dirk Lammes is the most qualified for the job. You had a thousand questions for Dirk about his techniques when he put the booster pump station in Murray those years ago. Dirk ran the job and yes, Dirk also ran machinery. He bid on that job, ran his own numbers. He can do it all.

Dirk does paper work all the time. Reports, pay apps, administrative, payroll, bids, contracts, insurance, personnel. The details of the job are what you make them. Dirk will redefine it.

Art Knab

Murray

Editor:

As a group of Orleans County Democrats, we are writing this in support of Diane (Bower) Shampine who’s running for Orleans County Clerk.

Our primary reason, as Democrats, for strongly endorsing Diane Shampine is her extensive experience in working in the Clerk’s Office. She’s been a file clerk, appointed Deputy Clerk and since January 2020, she has been the acting Orleans County Clerk.

At any time, a person with Diane Shampine’s experience would be an expected choice for a demanding position such as County Clerk. During the pandemic, it has been an additional challenge to continue to serve the residents of this county but Diane Shampine has risen to that challenge.

We urge you voters who are still to cast your ballot to look to the Conservative Party line candidate and please vote for the only candidate with the experience necessary to efficiently and effectively run the Orleans County Clerk’s office and that person is Diane Shampine.

Thank you.

Mary Beth Lindsay, Clarendon

Nate Lindsay, Clarendon

Debbie Monacelli, Village of Holley

Mark Monacelli, Village of Holley

Anne Smith, Clarendon

Lynn Vendetti, Fancher

Mark Bower, Village of Holley

Editor:

In response to Jeanne Crane, recently retired Democrat Party chairwoman. I made the assumption that you were probably getting out because your party had become so radical anti-American that no one with any common sense could in good conscience belong to a party that so hates one’s country. Let alone be a representative.

I was wrong. I stand by my statement that Nate McMurray is a radical socialist and even worse. Jacobs voted party lines 16 out of 19 votes. I see it as he voted to make the country better and those 3 votes he didn’t does not make me happy.

I can tell you he votes with the traitorous Democrats a lot more on other votes. You should like him. The Postal Service had problems long before Chris Jacobs’ vote. It’s called labor unions and mismanagement. I like the Post Office and I use it all the time in my business but I would have been very mad if Jacobs had voted the other way. I’m glad he made that mistake.

I and the Conservative Party of NY supported Beth Parlato, a real conservative. She didn’t win. We love the country so we are backing Chris Jacobs because on his worst day he is better than someone who belongs to the Democrat, America-hating party like Nate McMurray. The fact that he is a Democrat in this climate makes him the enemy of his country in my book. Not someone that loves it. A politician that loves this country would never ever belong to the Democrat Party.

Nate McMurray, if he wins and that is very doubtful, would as a Democrat oversee the destruction of this country as Democrats in Congress want to transform it. That wasn’t said carelessly or falsely but by listening to his own words.

I am not fooled by him nor is anyone with any common sense. The Democrats have very ill intentions for this country and people who do not agree with them if they win. I ask voters to save the seat. Yes that seat or any seat in this country should never be filled by a Democrat.

We see this by all the lunatics that are mayors and governors or city councils controlled by these Democrats throughout the country who allow violence and destruction of property, murder, looting, hatred for police just doing their job, brainwashing in the education system.

Nate McMurray is not a nice guy especially after what he said about terminal cancer patient Michael Caputo.

“I wish death on no one,” the candidate wrote on Twitter. “But this man will enjoy the best public healthcare imaginable. While denying millions the same, and lying about a virus that’s killing us.”

“My pity is limited,” McMurray added.

You say he’s endorsed by 26 labor unions like that is good thing. You say he will fight for health care, yes he will fight for single-payer government-controlled healthcare. To ruin everyone else’s health care like Obama did. So let me let the readers in one more time on the dangers of voting for a radical socialist Democrat like Nate McMurray. He, like all Democrat gun grabbers, is out to abolish the Second Amendment. Says radical leftist Congressman Brian Higgins isn’t aggressive enough. Says he doesn’t like Trump. He wants to Un-Trump NY 27. He wants Medicare and weed for all. He supports open borders.

He is endorsed by the communist Working Family Party. He is endorsed by the radical public employee unions AFL-CIO and NYS Teachers Unions that bleed the taxpayers dry and protect incompetence in this state.

He will push the Anti-American Agenda 21 globalist policies of the UN, the Democrat Party and be a lap dog to Nancy Pelosi.

Democrat politicians are the most incompetent, are purposefully destructive and hateful to all America stands for and they all must be driven from office through the electoral system or we will not have a country.

Give the entire Democrat Party in the NY State Senate, the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and for president of the United States a decisive defeat at the ballot box or our country is over as we know it.

With all sincerity.

Paul Lauricella

Lyndonville

Orleans County Conservative Party Chairman

Editor:

People have or will have voted soon. I just heard an astute observation. “Where or what is the Republican platform?” Indeed, they did not adopt one.

The final saw is “People are not dying from Covid; the huge increase in deaths this year is a billing issue.” Some platform.

In fact, if most of the country voters turn out for Biden it will mean that issues like good health and economy through subsidized private insurance and stimulus to avoid depression won. It will be an endorsement for good equal pay, taking on climate change, helping farm trade,  inclusiveness and the like. We will have adopted what was once tilted towards modern Democratic concerns

That would be what happened in the 1830s when the Whig party members voted in the Democratic Party’s ideas. The Whigs disintegrated and all that remained was the “Do Nothing” faction which was anti-Irish, anti-Germany, anti-Catholic, anti-immigration and anti-Italian – to point these folks were barred from public employment in some cities. It too quickly fell apart under its own weight once exposed to the light of democracy.

Hatred over good ideas is not sustainable in a democracy. Epithets over ideas is not sustainable in a democracy. That’s the history lesson, here and elsewhere.

So in a few days, or weeks, we will find out if we are still a capitalist democracy or a country dominated by private power, private wealth with rulers and undeserving  and contemptable servants. When the election is viewed according to these issues and not epithets this is a heck of an inflection point.

It’s the same point we were at when the Declaration of Independence was penned and stated: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the               pursuit of Happiness.”

In it the laws of nature and God to advance these rights were declared to take priority over the laws of government and man. They are the greatest sentences in our founding document.

In sum this election is about the historic fight of personal rights against hate by voting to advance our founders’ reliance on natural law to  secure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Tory or Patriot? Your vote marks you and history awaits.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to go on record as enthusiastically endorsing Nadine Hanlon for the office of County Clerk.

Nadine is an exceptional individual and a professional of the highest caliber. Having been in public service to my community for over thirty-five years, I have both seen and worked with many tremendous individuals – Nadine is one of the finest I have ever met.

I won’t go into detail with regard to her professional experience and qualifications. They have been well publicized throughout the campaign and they are sterling. There is, however, more that I would like to offer as you decide who will lead the Office of County Clerk in the future.

I have known Nadine Hanlon both personally and professionally for thirty years. Nadine has worked effectively and efficiently in the Clerk of the Legislature office for fourteen years. She brings excellent credentials to this position and also holds the Records Management Officer position for the County.

The County Clerk’s duties require thorough, timely and accurate filing of official records. The department oversees both the Department of Motor Vehicle’s Office and the Pistol Permit Office within the County. It requires the level of professionalism, experience, and personal attention that Nadine Hanlon readily possesses.

She has a thorough understanding of the importance of superior work in all tasks that she undertakes and has the requisite personal attributes to deal cordially with the public. She is exceptionally dedicated and stands ready to work the long hours needed for the position. There are precious few in any field today who could claim to possess the depth of knowledge, character, savvy and preparedness that she has.

Nadine also possesses sound management skills, communication capabilities and problem solving expertise. She is focused, has integrity and discretion, and enjoys a well-earned reputation for reliability. She is of good character; trustworthy; is someone in whom you can be confident; is someone with whom colleagues can work well. Moreover, she is also a good and decent person.

All of these attributes in addition to her considerable experience make her the candidate of choice for the job. Period.

Throughout my own life, I have known people who’ve made an undisputed impact in the lives of others; people who will long be remembered for having made a tangible difference through their service to others. Nadine Hanlon is one of those people.

Much more could be written here at the risk of losing the most important part of what needs to be said: Nadine Hanlon is extremely dedicated to her vocation and has proven herself to be an invaluable asset to the County of Orleans and its citizens. Simply put, public service and service to others are her calling. It is obvious she has so much to offer. The County of Orleans is indeed lucky to have Nadine Hanlon and will be a better place because of her.

It is my privilege and honor to endorse Nadine Hanlon for Orleans County Clerk– the Republican endorsed candidate and the candidate endorsed by Senator Robert Ortt.

Vote integrity, leadership, professionalism and experience. Vote Hanlon.

Christopher M. Busch

Medina

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Editor:

I would like to ask that all Shelby voters to join our family and friends in voting for Craig Stalker as a write-in candidate for Councilman for the Town of Shelby.

Being born and raised in Shelby, Craig would like to serve the residents on the Town Board. We know he will have the best interests of the residents while keeping spending and our taxes down.

Craig’s father (the late Dale Stalker) served many years on the Shelby Town Board. Craig’s dad instilled the values of the town in him at an early age. Therefore he would like to follow in his father’s footsteps working for the people of the Town of Shelby.

We know Craig will do a great job therefore we are asking you to join us in supporting Craig Stalker by writing his name on the ballot for Councilman of the Town of Shelby.

Sincerely,

Sharlene Pratt

Medina

Editor:

I have always thought very proudly of myself as an educator. Although I was only a teacher by trade for 16 years, deep down inside I have always been and always will be a teacher.

As you mature and evolve into an adult with a compassion for shared learning experiences and a commitment to fostering academic excellence in your students you are constantly invigorated by their successes, as well as their challenges. It is truly the greatest profession to which you might aspire; it is an honor to be an educator.

I mention this not that the intent of this letter is to be about me, but it is about how truly valuable a quality educational experience is at any level, in any community and at any time in history.

Very sadly and very honestly when I awoke the morning of November 9, 2016, I was overcome with the realization that the public educational system of the United States had failed us. And I felt guilty and ashamed because despite our best efforts to educate and enlighten our students; ignorance had won, and America had lost.

It is inconceivable to me that any woman could have voted for POTUS in 2016 or could so again in 2020 as he is a misogynist who treats women as chattel. In the same way, I cannot believe that any African American or member of any ethnic minority group could support him knowing that he is a racist autocrat who has put your children in cages and unapologetically embraces radical White Supremist terrorists like the Proud Boys.

Although I had not been a teacher for quite some time, in 2016 I felt personally guilty that the national electorate had failed our nation and elected a President who lacks integrity and dishonors the truth with impunity.

It does not take a constitutional scholar to know that this man was not who our Founding Fathers had envisioned in their design of this great nation.

Socrates, who was among the greatest of the Ancient Greek philosophers, believed that knowledge was the ultimate virtue, best used to help people improve their lives. He wrote that “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”

It is imperative today and always that we use our gift of the ballot for good and be proud that as an educated populace we are empowered to reject the evils of ignorance; even when found in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

RBG ut vos RIP.

Doug Miller

Albion

Editor:

If you look on the Orleans Hub Letters to the Editor, you will see a letter written by Pat Eick. This is why we need change in the Town of Shelby. Her letter is highly inaccurate.

Not only was Ryan Wilkin’s application turned in past the deadline that it was due, but Pat Eick (Republican Committee Chairperson) was not even present at the time of the interviews. So my question is how can she talk as if she was there first hand and knows how the interviews went with each candidate?

From what I was told at the interview before I left from the committee “just so you know there is another interview from an application that was turned in tonight.” So was it that Mr. Wilkins interview went better than mine or was it the result of a friend doing a friend a favor without the community’s best interests in mind? It clearly has nothing to do with him being the stronger candidate.

If the Shelby Republican Committee would have done a little research, they would have found out that Ryan Wilkins has many views which are contrary to many members on the Town Board. He was a registered Democrat from 12/13/05-3/2020 and then changed to non-affiliated from 3/2020-6/30/20 when he changed to Republican effective 6/30/2020.

Not only that but there seems to be some confusion amongst the Shelby Republican Committee from the Letter to the Editor from Pat Eick. She claimed Mr. Wilkins was chosen to fill the vacancy due to Kenneth Schaal’s passing, but that wasn’t the case. The position that was open, was Jeff Smith (Councilman) being he moved to Town Supervisor after the Supervisor resigned

FYI, the Hub must have been notified because they edited the article rather than leave it and post a whole new article. Is this the direction you want to see our Town moving towards? People that hold elected office that are unsure of what’s going on?

Also I think it’s important that the Town of Shelby residents know where Mr. Wilkins stood on the following proposal from a few years back.

Mr. Wilkins was a big advocate of the dissolution of Medina (One Medina) which would’ve merged Ridgeway, Medina and Shelby, as can be seen in many of his posts on social media.

This would’ve had a huge impact on our community by raising property taxes for anyone outside the village (Shelby & Ridgeway), and could have resulting in lose our police department, losing  our paid Village Fire Department and losing our ambulance service.

Those are just a few of the things we would be impacted by in our community and we can’t have someone sitting on the board that thinks let’s just throw the burden onto those people in the Towns neighboring the Village of Medina.

Instead of dissolving our Village I myself think we need to continue to find ways to share services and cut costs with the Village of Medina. I’ve been a registered Republican for the past 18 years or since I was able to register. I will always consider all views from everyone in the community when making a decision and will always try to make the best decisions for the Town of Shelby. We have to preserve the values, land and the community that makes us who we are as Town of Shelby residents!

Craig Stalker

Write-in candidate Shelby Town Councilperson

(Editor’s Note: Eick contacted the Orleans Hub soon after her letter was posted and apologized for making a mistake about the vacancy, which was then corrected to say the seat was open due to Jeff Smith being appointed town supervisor.)

Editor:

I would like to take a moment to thank the former Highway Superintendent for shedding light on the diverse responsibilities of the position. As the Supervisor of Holley’s Department of Public Works, I agree experience matters.

As a former contractor I was responsible for budgets, bidding, equipment purchases, personnel and leadership. You get up pre-dawn lace up your boots and set the tone for the day and often work late after dinner preparing for the next day. In the end there is no better education than risking your own home to build a successful business. You understand that it’s your employees who make it happen. Mutual trust and respect are earned in time and it takes management and employee cooperation to succeed.

I also interviewed for the Murray Highway Superintendent endorsement. The underlying theme of the interview was experience. The questions were direct and all business. They were interested in experience in roads, water and leadership qualities.

Mr. Morgan repeatedly acknowledges experience matters. From Dennis Mandigo’s 20 years of experience to the Town of Murray employees with “the operational skills and “experience” to maintain the high level of service that you, the residents, have come to expect and deserve.”

It is the years of practical, hands on, highway project experience that train an individual, allowing him to accumulate the wisdom and gain the knowledge to be able to most effectively LEAD and administer a highway department.

When you go to the polls on November 3rd, elect a highway Superintendent who understands the inner workings of the highway business from the ground up. Someone who will lead the Department with the experience learned over decades in the industry. Someone who understands the administration as well as the operational requirements with a proven track record.

David Nenni

Superintendent of Public Works, Holley