Editor:

Let me first start by sharing my appreciation for your commitment to free speech and providing an avenue for residents (and past residents) to share their opinions.

With that being said, I am gravely disappointed by the abhorrent and putrid ideas that are festering in my community back home. Something clearly changed in society within the last four years that has permitted individuals to share such vile opinions without concern for others.

In a recent letter titled “Don’t let ‘leftist indoctrination’ rule in school classrooms,” I see an apparent objection to educating younger generations.

Over the course of several letters directed to the editor, the author seems to indicate that our children would be better served in ignorance, unable to critically question what is happening in the world around them. This belief encourages us to accept the great American experiment as an unquestionable success and for that reason, we have ascended above all others. Anything else is pure “Marxism.”

At some point we will stop setting up these straw man arguments, drawing attention away from the true issues put forth. The author would prefer that we understand the genocide of Native Americans at the hands of Europeans as acceptable because of the alleged “genocidal treatment by Indians against other Indians.”

How dare we suggest that our founding fathers were racist? That the enslavement of human beings, the auction or sale of people, is acceptable in some way because “the slave trade was initiated by African kings.” Then again, this is the same person who denies the existence of white supremacy and systemic racism. If we believe hard enough, or at least ignore enough, it does not really exist, right?

At this exact moment in time, there is nothing that makes us superior to all other countries. We are organizing a presidential election while two global superpowers are openly preparing to influence the results. Our nation is currently debating the future of Confederate monuments, statues erected to the memory of white supremacists who lost a war over 150 years ago; seems quite contrary to our founding beliefs?

There is no need to tap into the statistics from that “hoax” called COVID-19 to see where we rank globally. At this point, it seems as though we cannot even guarantee those inalienable rights Jefferson defined in the Declaration of Independence.

If educating oneself to critically question our history and society makes them a Marxist, I guess I am a Marxist? Instead, I would encourage the author to pick up a copy of Marx’s Communist Manifesto and redefine his understanding of socialism, communism, and Marxism. Otherwise, we should expect to regularly read the continued regurgitation of Trumpian rhetoric that so easily defines the right.

Matthew Ballard

Statesville, NC (formerly Clarendon, NY)

Editor:

Mr. Thaine. Your complete leftist indoctrination by the American education system proves the points of my letter. The communist and socialist party’s smile when they see what a good job they have done with your mind and they didn’t have to fire one shot. We are a country unlike any other where although we have made mistakes, we right our wrongs. Just read the Bill of Rights. The ugly righted wrongs left there for all to see.

You say the violence in the country is warranted? You teach children? Scary, frightening. Is the genocidal treatment by Indians against other Indians taught? These people were savagely brutal to one another as well as whites. It is a fact that many had slaves that they brought along with them on the Trail of Tears.

You are aware that the slave trade was initiated by African kings in now Benin and other west African countries. They raided and captured other Africans and traded and sold them for gold to the Muslims, British, Portuguese, Dutch and many others. That’s is some real Black on Black crime.

The men who fought and gave us the greatest republic mankind has ever witnessed and yes a superior country to any and all as we have a bill of rights. Not a set a rights given to us by government, men in black robes or case law, but a set of rights given to us by the creator, by God. Natural rights. Both slave owner and abolitionist ratified and signed our constitution. Both knew the end of slavery was coming. The creation of this great republic was what was most important and necessary to meet that end.

What makes us superior to all other countries and a nationalist model is our constitution and bill of rights. Our genuine American culture. We can go anywhere in the world and as soon as we open our mouth you hear Ahh an American. Being American means you are best.

I guess you would have to be a legal immigrant that came here from an oppressive communist socialist country to understand what indoctrinated people take for granted.

Most important teach your own children the truth. Do not rely on the Marxist point of view that children are obviously getting in school. Thank you Mr. Thaine for exposing that.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

This is in response to Ms. Kennedy’s letter in regards to opening schools. The opinions shared in the letter seem to sum up what I have heard and read from many other “concerned parents” who just now, 9 months into it, are doing, ahem, “research.”

I, for one, have been extensively following this pandemic, and all of its results and consequences, since early January. Remember? Back when you all thought it is no big deal? I have since made several connections in the scientific community, the media, as well as our government.

First, there is absolutely no scientific data to show that wearing a mask are detrimental to an individual’s health. For you to spread such misinformation should be criminal. It appears as though you have taken snippets of information, to fit your argument. For instance, our beloved CDC Director also stated that schools must be safe. As in PPE, reduced class size, etc.

True research requires more than reading headlines, I’m sorry to inform you. Also, and equally important, a key fact has not been realized when it comes to the safety of our children. They are always the first ones protected. That’s just what we do as parents.

Schools were shut down last spring, thus saving countless lives. Those of the children themselves, plus anyone they could have brought the virus home to. If schools open fully, with no restrictions, Covid will find a way in. The proof of this is the second-grader testing positive in GA during the first week of unrestricted school opening.

I hesitate to type something this morbid, but I feel compelled to say if schools open without restrictions, many children will die. Schools closing saved our kids. Let’s not be so eager to throw them into the lion’s den at this stage of the game. Everything will have been for naught if we do.

Charlie Hunt

Syracuse (born and raised in Albion)

Editor:

Guns are a big concern in this rural county. Rightfully so.

The suit to dissolve the NRA, if that’s the penalty,  will simply mean that checks, deposits, and receipts demonstrate corruption.

It will not end gun ownership or conservations about them. The right to own a gun – by a reasonably responsible person in a way that is not legally irresponsible or reasonably restricted to ensure generally against unsafe use – is enshrined in our Constitution.

It should be no surprise that very bad people get away with a lot until they are caught despite the smiles, stories, lies, and claims they are wonderful, maligned. Indeed a few churches have, for example, been corrupted by their leaders but good people still worship. Fire Departments etc. have had their tills raided but brave firefighters have not been deterred.

Abolishing the NRA and court ordered restitution to its members will simply mean that financially honest people will be doing the talking and be required to take good self governance seriously – with no kickbacks, theft, side deals, and funneling of foreign money to candidates. Does anyone wonder – with money and crazy talk off the table nationwide – if honest and well informed people can talk in good faith rather than be rightly suspicious?

Conrad Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

When I learned that the Medina School District is opening 7-12 grades “Every other day and alternating Fridays” unless I petition the district for 5 day a week in-person classes and that all students had to wear masks, I was reminded of the term, “Follow the Science!” Because at least in most school districts in our county, it appears that few actually are.

To start out on my experience living under Covid-19 with my 12-year-old son, I have learned a lot about what my son goes through when his schedule is inconsistent and he has to wear a mask to go shopping.  First, he has autism and needs a concrete schedule, or he gets anxious.  And taking him shopping or to any public place is literally taking his breath away: my son cannot breathe when he wears a mask.

When we shop for even a half hour, after we get outside, he takes off his mask and says, “I can’t breathe!” as he huffs to catch his breath. I experience the same thing, no matter what the mask is made of (we have tried every kind). I just got my suspicion confirmed when I listened to a doctor who was being interviewed last week, when he asserted that wearing masks decreases oxygen flow and can increase one’s blood pressure by an alarming amount.

He had a patient, who has hypertension, come into his office with a mask on and took the patient’s blood pressure: it was 200/150! He had the patient take off their mask and 15 minutes later, his patient’s blood pressure was down to normal for his condition. “So, it is not just me,” I thought… I have shortness of breath for several minutes after taking off the mask, and I have high blood pressure to boot!

So hearing that my son would need to have a mask on for over 6 hours a day, I was deeply concerned about him attending school at all under this mandate of mask wearing, for everyone who wanted to go back to school. I am not a rigid thinker when it comes to wearing a mask, as I have elderly and disabled parents at home, one of whom is suffering with a terminal illness and I am very careful when I am around them, so I suffer the mask when I can’t social distance in stores when they need me to pick up a few things for them.

The thought of children (and teachers) in school all day wearing masks is not following the science at all. The research I have done tells a different story: Wearing a mask may help the wearer stay safer, but not the health of the people around them, no matter what type of mask their wear (even the coveted N95 type).

During respiration, the wearer still emits droplets when exhaling. I learned a lot of other science over the past week as well, and it paints an alarming overreaction on our part regarding the virus, which has harmed our children more that the virus itself.

JAMA reports that 46% of pediatric hospitals have experienced less Covid-19 cases than the seasonal flu.  Also, interestingly, our kids are 99% less likely to die from it, let alone get it at all. In Western Europe, children went back to school in late spring: Neither Denmark, Finland, nor Sweden experienced an increase in Covid-19 cases at all. In the UK, there was not one confirmed case of a child infecting a teacher with the virus.

In the US, it appears that closing the schools did more damage to our children than anyone could ever expect:

• There was a 27% decrease in the reported cases of child abuse.
• Children’s screen time went up by 5 hours on average
• Children experienced 50% less physical activity leading to worsening obesity, which was already a growing problem in this country.
• Children experienced depression and anxiety because 13% of them used to get psychiatric help in school. Over 7.1 million kids went without psychiatric care. There was an increase of 34% for children needing psychotropic medicine.
• The American Psychiatric Association reported a 46% increase in adult stress, impacting home care for children.
• In lower income groups, 76% of children fell behind in schoolwork (thank you “remote learning”!).The summer learning loss, according to the NWEA is 2-3 months. Today, it is twice that, especially in math and reading.
• “Frontline Workers”, i.e.: Doctors, nurses, other health aides’ had put their own children in the WMCA facilities because they had to work through the pandemic.We are talking about tens of thousands of frontline workers sending tens of thousands of kids to the WMCA (over 1,000 locations) and there was no Covid spread among these children.

But don’t take my word for it, this is what the CDC director, Robert Redfield, said just last week: “I don’t think I can emphasize it enough, as the director for the Centers of Disease Control, the leading public health agency in the world: It is in the public health interest that these K-12 students get the schools back open for face-to-face learning.”

In short, closing the schools has resulted in an increase of child abuse and neglect, an increase of kids falling behind in school, an increase of depression and an alarming increase of child suicide for those 18 and younger, and drug abuse and overdoses.

Let’s face it folks, every day when we get out of bed in the morning and back in bed at night, life is a risk…  weigh that against everything I just mentioned above and ask yourself, was closing schools in the first place a good idea or an overreaction?

And keeping them closed for so long in America has not only damaged our kids, it collapsed the economy. Now, I have to figure out how I, as a single parent, can work “every other day with alternating Fridays” so my son can return to school, or maybe worse, request that he go back full time in a mask 6 plus hours a day 5 days a week subjecting him to decreasing oxygen flow/CO2 retention and the risk of high blood pressure.

I’m afraid that by mandatory mask wearing, especially the anxiety over catching Covid-19, will turn our children into neurotic hypochondriacs as well. They’ve had the summer from hell, when everything was closed (splash pads, no fireworks, no summer sports, no indoor children play parks, etc.) and now they are going to have nothing to look forward to (and no summer activity to talk about) going back to school with a stupid mask on.

My feeling is that if teachers and administrators are afraid of catching the virus, they should be the one to put on a mask for 6-8 hours a day.

I get it about the fear of liability the schools are facing, which is why I am suggesting that parents sign paperwork absolving the schools of any infections, should they occur in school. But demanding everyone to wear a mask and the chaos of “every other day and alternating Fridays” is not going to work, and that should be obvious.

Our kids need “normal” back. Full school days, breathing freely without anxiety. And the adults in this county should put their kids’ wellbeing first! I shouldn’t have to point that out, but unfortunately, someone needs to!

Kimberly Kennedy

Medina

Editor:

This is not meant to inform readers who “get off” on killing things or just do not care. Many of us are not aware of how our hurried existences can impact other living things.

On July 30th I found a yellow shafted (Northern) flicker that had been killed by a vehicle not 50 feet from a railroad crossing earlier that morning. Its long beak was still dirt-stained from probing the ground for ants. Its long tongue glistened where it protruded from that beak. Did it have young to feed in a nearby nest? Perhaps they had fledged already.

Flickers are among the many native birds extremely beneficial to humans. They are also something to see, especially when alive and doing their “thing”. Though they are the size of more common red-bellied woodpeckers, they may not leave a dent in a fast-moving vehicle.  And it is true that songbirds can be killed by vehicles traveling at reasonable speeds. Nonetheless, the probability of death increases with speed and recklessness.

Did the driver of the vehicle that killed two Canada geese in front of Walmart recently not see them? Of course, they are not in the same category as Northern flickers, tree swallows, Eastern Bluebirds and American kestrels. And no, they were not in the crosswalk.

Most of your readers want to avoid unnecessarily killing things that cross the roads we travel. And we do have things we must do and places we need to get to. Hopefully, this missive will increase awareness enough to get us to adjust our driving habits a bit without laying a guilt trip on anyone.

Sincerely yours in the spirit of live and let live,

Gary F. Kent

Albion

Editor:

This is in response to the Form Foundation’s letter with their petition on Change.org.

The Foundation compares their first project to the Montreal Mural Festival and the Buffalo Albright Knox Public Art Program. They then state that their project should essentially have little or no oversight, guidelines or regulation. Neither of the previously mentioned programs operates that way.

Guidelines, standards, application processes and juried reviews are the norm in the art world. Only graffiti “artists” who unlawfully and without permission deface buildings, bridges, signs, rail cars, trucks and buses operate without regulation. They violate the law, deface and damage property. The cleanup cost to the taxpayers is high. There are much better ways to spend those funds.

The Foundation’s stated goal is to bring “Cultural Modernism” to Medina. The Foundation should consider the possibility that people come to Medina to get away from “Cultural Modernism” and return to a simple rural small town quiet way of life. They state that they want to “be present” and “garner outside social and economic interest” in the village. Again could it be that people come here and businesses locate here so that their employees can be present in a village that is free of cultural modernism and rich in the atmosphere of small town rural America.

The Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals operate under comprehensive New York State laws as well as within the detailed provisions of the law within their responsibility. The Village regulations for historic preservation are based on the State Historic Preservation Office model and were reviewed and approved by that office before they were adopted. Application reviews and decisions of the Planning and Zoning Boards are made under strict provisions of New York State law. Decisions are required by law to be based on findings of fact in the matter being reviewed.

What the Foundation sees as “overly bureaucratic” is how the State of New York protects people such as them and ensures that local boards are not arbitrary, capricious, myopic or whimsical. Medina’s boards are extremely well trained and have long been recognized by their peers and by applicants before them as being fair, comprehensive, detail oriented, helpful and highly professional.

As Code Enforcement Officer I have, on numerous occasions, had applicants for projects large and small tell me what a pleasure it was to work with the Planning and Zoning Boards. They comment that our local laws and regulations, by being comprehensive and detailed, make their job as applicants easy. They know going into the review what is required in detail, making for a quick and simple approval process.

Likewise, code enforcement in the village has for the past 20 plus years set very high standards. Scores of violations of the New York State Property Maintenance Code, The New York State Fire Code, Village Code and Zoning Regulations have been cited each and every year. Are we perfect, of course not. Code enforcement is by its very nature an ongoing process constantly striving to maintain a level of compliance that is realistic and attainable for the local conditions and economics. As those factors improve, incidence and compliance improves to the next level.

Again, the Village of Medina program has been recognized for years throughout Western New York for being professional, fair, knowledgeable, and helpful. The Foundation however found code enforcement in the village lacking. When they violated the law it was followed by enforcement action and violation notices as required.

Historic preservation and careful accurate restoration of buildings and structures can be a long, expensive and frustrating process. The majority of people involved in it realize that it is well worth it. They do it because they love the buildings and realize the value and rewards in preserving our architectural history.

In the process surprises, sometimes unpleasant, are to be expected. Costs often soar and the time to completion expands. This is especially true of individuals with limited funds often doing most of the work themselves while being dedicated to a perfect finished result. There is no set formula or time limit.

Medina, despite what the Foundation thinks, is firmly in the 21st century. We have capitalized on our rich store of historical assets and charming small town atmosphere to attract new residents as well as new business and jobs. Existing businesses have expanded. The occupancy level in the Central Business and Historic Preservation District is fantastic. Streetscapes and infrastructure have been improved. Millions of dollars have been invested. Medina is a shopping, dining and history visitor destination.

Medina is a premier Erie Canal village. People come in great numbers from Rochester, Buffalo and far beyond for all these reasons and some they don’t fully understand. They come because in some intangible way it just feels right and good. It is the America they imagine and remember, free from the cares and distractions of modern life. Newspaper and magazine articles, online articles, visitor guides economic impacts and visitation numbers bear this out. It is not about “cultural modernism” in which you can be submerged in any urban and suburban area. It is about the small town of your memory and imagination right here to bring you peace and enjoyment.

The Form Foundation could have pursued a goal of public art in Medina in an inclusive, orderly and open manner. They could have sought out the appropriate officials and boards to discuss a way to move forward in an acceptable and legal manner. This is how civic matters and business is conducted.

Instead they consciously and deliberately chose a path of confrontation. They did as they pleased, ran afoul of the law, then proclaimed shock, frustration and dismay at the reaction they provoked. In my opinion, it was calculated from the beginning to play out just this way as a means to present themselves as innocent folks abused by bloated government and to garner attention and sympathy to advance their plan.

In closing let me say that I believe Medina has a great future. All the key elements are in place. It is ours to build successfully or foolishly squander. Is public art a part of that future, it could be and I hope that it is. That said, if a cartoon alligator waving a Buffalo Bills pennant in the Historic Preservation District is the best we have for a first effort, it is over before it starts. I sincerely hope the Form Foundation can step back, evaluate and reconsider their plan, presentation and rhetoric and become a serious, inclusive and valued contributor.

Martin Busch

Middleport

Busch is the recently retired code enforcement officer for Medina.

Editor:

In a recent letter submitted to the Orleans Hub, the author advocated for schools to instill a sense of patriotism and avoid political correctness. I worry that this is an inefficient and dangerous use of an educational system.

A simple definition of the term patriotism may be in order for a clearer idea on the subject to arise. At its base level, most would agree that patriotism is a love for one’s country. This is not a terrible thing in and of itself and can result in passionate people pushing the country to better itself.

I worry that this definition does not fit the previous author’s use of the term, however. A better word for the situation that Mr. Lauricella describes may be nationalism, where one feels a superiority over other nations and looks past their own nation’s failings (which, of course, every nation has). Nationalism breeds selfishness and arrogance. At the height of its influence it dragged European nations into the first World War and the United States into its many 20th Century conflicts. Nationalism is not something to instill in our students.

I worry that Mr. Lauricella has not visited a classroom in quite some time. As someone who has substitute taught and is currently in graduate school for secondary education, I may be able to assist in updating Mr. Lauricella to today’s educational climate. As far as I am aware, the Niagara-Orleans and Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES programs still supply many students with a robust technical education that prepares them to work in trade jobs.

Most students are also competent in science, mathematics, social studies, and ELA by graduating. It is, after all, a graduation requirement for most high schools. Additionally, the Common Core, while lacking in its implementation, seeks to ensure that high school students graduate with college-ready (not necessary) skill sets. The educational world may not be perfect, but it is not quite so dystopian yet.

As for the concerns over the violence in the country, they are somewhat warranted. Everybody should be leery of those seeking to exact violence onto others. However, I do not agree with the causes of these incidents being found in the classroom. Multiculturalism has always existed in this country; any St. Patrick’s or Dyngus Day parade is evidence of that. There is no singular American Experience.

Still, this does not mean that students do not read the Constitution. They are taught the Bill of Rights, elastic clause, and judicial review. However, they are also taught that, according to the United Nations definition, the treatment of Native Americans in the United States is a genocide.

They are taught that the founding fathers owning slaves does actually make them racist (most people alive during that time were). They are taught that the United States instigated a war with Mexico to buy the American South-West for $10 million less than they offered Mexico for California alone. It is arrogant to paint a picture of America that does not have the United States as the villain every once in a while. Just like it would be arrogant if I were to assume I have always been justified in every action I have taken. This is not brainwashing, this is the past as it happened.

I love my country. I know that it has given hope to millions of people for a better life. I know it has also committed terrible acts to harm the lives of millions. It is ignorant to ignore these incidents in favor of the myth of American Exceptionalism. Instead, I want my country to be better and improve. That requires telling students the truth and hoping that they love and care enough about the U.S. to come closer to achieving the ideals of all men being created equal and securing the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is patriotism.

Kyle Thaine

Gaines

Editor:

To the unemployed citizens of WNY, NYS Department of Labor says we are recovering from the worst economic downturn in 75 years. Job losses were greatest in the leisure and hospitality sector, the “service industry.”

Future unemployment benefits are questionable. These are dark, scary times. Please don’t be embarrassed; use your local food pantry. Besides income, you probably also lost a most basic human right, health care during a pandemic.

Our new Congressman Chris Jacobs seems to be confused. Jacobs was elected to a position of service. Jacobs is the only WNY representative who voted to discontinue the Affordable Care Act option for health insurance. Fortunately, the bill didn’t pass. This is not the behavior of someone who “serves” us.

Representative Jacobs will be up for reelection in November. Our vote is power in a democracy.

Carol Nochajski

Wilson

Editor:

Recently the county school superintendents submitted a letter condemning the violent acts against police, citizens and property which I thank them for standing up, but what are they as heads of their districts going to change to assure this does not happen in the future.

Public schools and the curriculum they allow in big part created this monster. You all have to push back. Starting back in the late ’60s with the elimination of prayer then having to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Corporal punishment was removed. The shame of the non-nuclear family was removed. 1979 the Department of Education was formed and was infiltrated with the ’60s beatniks and communist sympathizers. With each administration it became worse especially during a Democrat presidency. The destructive teachers unions have not helped in the least.

The ’80s and ’90s ushered in new think. God was taken out of everything. Children came home and told their parents my teacher told me you can’t discipline anymore they will call Child Protective Services and you will go to jail. Then a child’s self esteem was more important. Underachievers held back the higher learners. Textbooks had all the answers in the back.

Red ink to correct wrong answers was off limits because it was too aggressive and hurt the feelings of children. Then there were no wrong answers. Recess was illuminated and the daily run around the gym and young children especially young boys were who are naturally hyper magically came into a newly manufactured syndrome called ADD and ADHD and were drugged into submission merely so they could be controlled.

Bad behavior was rewarded. A child is allowed say to a principal, a teacher, a superintendent, a bus driver the most vile foul language and make threats, throw tantrums, be violent and the punishment they would get is time out to play video games, an in-school suspension with transportation provided by the taxpayers. The history of our own country and our constitution glossed over with only how evil this country is and how the founders were slave owners and stole land from the Indians. In sports everyone gets a trophy. Everyone gets to be on the team even if you are a detriment.

Patriotism, love of country, American exceptionalism, American culture and the fact that just by being born on this soil made you better than anyone else in the world was replaced with a new God. Environmentalism, children being taught we are destroying the planet, showing them a proven false documentaries like Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance. Scaring them to death with unproven climate change calamity and telling them capitalism, the life blood of our country is the root cause of this and their parents’ and grandparents’ lifestyles are causing planetary destruction indoctrinating fear, hopelessness and hatred for their elders.

Instead of teaching reading, writing , arithmetic, American history and science minus the political slant they are taught political correctness, multiculturalism, that they are global citizens, anti-bullying, I need a friend benches, common core, to embrace the homosexual LGBTQ agenda, handed out condoms and birth control, that racism is hiding in every corner, and this year the completely revisionist history of the 1619 project and white fragility. To hate and guilt themselves for the way they were born and the white color of their skin.

Stop pushing and pushing that everyone has to go to college from the grade schools. It is not for everyone. Many students are so ill-prepared. Many don’t know what they are going for except that everyone is told they are supposed to go. They obtain worthless degrees and incur massive debt and a polluted mind.

Many can’t read or perform math skills past the 8th grade. They sure don’t know any kind of history. When they come out they can’t find a job and are transformed into these people you condemn that are out on the streets right now destroying and defacing everything. Little socialist, Marxist, communists screaming racism that hate our law enforcement with full intent on cancelling everyone and everything that they deem are wrong with the main focal point being destruction of western civilization and the very country that gave them all they have the USA. The Democrat communists elected leaders in these cities and states taught in the same education system allow this to go on.

I want you superintendents to pay attention to this because what I have illustrated here is probably only a fraction of what you allow to go on in your schools. Most of you have gone through this type of indoctrination in college, don’t think we are fooled. If you are truly sincere in what you wrote then you will look within because your system groomed these children’s minds long before the Marxist professors got their hand on them.

Two generations of children and teachers have been intellectually damaged by liberalism and progressivism. They are parents now. You must concentrate on this next generation in kindergarten and forward to reverse this madness. Are you up to the job?

The rioting in the cities are being promoted and funded by the Democrat and communist party. ANTIFA, Marxist BLM and radical Islam are all joined together now to take down this country. They learned this hate in the American education system. Teach the children to love our country and our Flag, show respect to adults, that learning is a lifetime experience and smarts don’t come in young adulthood. That police are there to protect them. Stop with the political correctness.

Citizens be careful who you elect to your school broad. Any board for that matter. Know what they believe. Civilization depends on it that how critical it is.

Paul Lauricella

Yates

Editor:

The evidence is mounting that President Trump and the Republicans, like Chris Jacobs, are going to sabotage the 2020 election with administrative and bureaucratic problems. In this year, with over 150,000 death from the pandemic, it is safer to vote by mail.

The President has stated, without evidence, that mail-in voting would cause voter fraud. “The Brennan Center’s seminal report The Truth About Voter Fraud conclusively demonstrated that most allegations of fraud turn out to be baseless and that most of the few remaining allegations reveal irregularities and other forms of election misconduct. Numerous other studies, including one commissioned by the Trump administration, have reached the same conclusion.”

If Republicans were worried about voter fraud they would provide funding to secure the election. Republicans have refused to provide funding for the Postal Service and to strengthen state voting security. Newsweek reported (7/25/19): “Still, Senate Republicans have blocked four pieces of legislation that sought to bolster the security of U.S. elections since the former special counsel’s daylong congressional testimony, the latest of which came on Thursday when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, blocked two unanimous consent votes.” Slowing the mail service not only will affect mail-in voters but it will also hurt small businesses.

The Kansas City Star reported (4/20/20): “The Postal Service has been an economic lifeline to small retail businesses trying to stay afloat during the pandemic, by allowing them to ship their products to customers at a reasonable cost.”

Furthermore, many older people depend upon the mail for necessities and medicine, especially during this time of the pandemic when people are encouraged to stay home. Older Americans are a key voting block yet there is not a word from our Congressman. Congressman Chris Jacobs’ silence on this issue is clear indication that his priorities are not supporting citizens of N.Y. 27th district. We deserve better.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Last week, the state Legislature reconvened for another session to address a variety of issues, including some of the ongoing concerns New Yorkers are facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

As government is essential, my colleagues and I have been meeting throughout the crisis and are prepared to continue doing so in order to make sure the needs of the people are being fully addressed. Though there is a lot more work to be done, and, of course, there were plenty of bills that I didn’t like that came up for a vote, I was pleased we passed some good measures (which are described below) last week in a bipartisan manner working across the aisle that will help the people of Western New York and the 144th Assembly District – including two bills I am very proud to sponsor.

Perhaps most importantly, we passed legislation (A.10840) to scale back the immunity from liability clauses going forward for nursing homes with regards to arranging health care services during the Covid-19 crisis. Of course, many of our nursing homes and their staff are following protocols and doing good job. But in the instances where someone does not follow protocols and take proper precautions, we are seeing how devastatingly quickly those losses can spread throughout an entire nursing home. We have the personal protective equipment, tests, knowledge and, hopefully, the understanding to know better – everything that can be done to protect our vulnerable populations, like those in nursing homes, must be done. No excuses. I proudly voted yes on this bill.

To ensure every eligible voter has the ability to vote without greater risking their health, or the health of others, I also voted in support of legislation (A.10833) to allow absentee ballots to be obtained during the Covid-19 pandemic by those who do not feel comfortable voting in person due to health concerns or are at greater risk.

To address the food shortage concerns exposed earlier in the pandemic, I also supported legislation (A.10607-A) that would strengthen our state’s self-reliance in terms of farming, food production and ensuring an adequate food supply for New Yorkers. Specifically, this bill creates a working group between various state agencies and relevant industries (agriculture, labor, food transporters, retailers, emergency food providers, etc.) and charges them with compiling a report of recommendations.

I was also the proud sponsor of some bills that came to the floor and ultimately passed. Assembly Bill 9779 creates a task force and report on volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention as well as helps implement a training program within BOCES so that more, younger recruits can get hands-on experience and credit through school. This bill has been passed in both houses, and I hope it will be signed into law by the governor shortly.

I also sponsored Assembly Bill 5070 which passed the Assembly to provide greater assistance to property owners along the shores of Lake Ontario by requiring the state Department of Financial Services to publish information about flood insurance and necessary contact information, including their disaster hotline.

Two other bills I was pleased to support were legislation that creates a registry of workplace fatalities and requires the state Department of Labor to publish a report of such fatalities on their website (A.5965), and a bill that directs that Division of Veterans’ Services to make it easier for veterans with traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder to obtain help (A.8114).

Please know, I am working hard for you and will continue to work with my colleagues on common sense legislation to help New York’s families and taxpayers.  My staff and I are available to assist you if you are in need. You can call my office at (716) 839-4691, email me at norrism@nyassembly.gov or follow me on social media for more updates.

Michael Norris

Lockport

(Norris is the assemblyman for District 144, which includes Shelby in Orleans County and part son Niagara and Erie counties.)

Editor:

Governor Cuomo is at it again!

I am sorely disappointed, but never surprised by the State’s headlong rush to destroy rural New York State. This time it involves our water supply as well as the sport fishing and tourism industries so important to our economy and way of life.

Apparently, the Governor is interested in siting offshore wind turbines within 2 miles of the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The myriad and significant issues that would arise from an ill-advised initiative such as this one would include:

• Contaminated water supply as a result of toxin release from lake bed disturbances during construction and wind turbine nacelle leaks after construction
• Shipping lane restrictions
• Migratory bird flyway disruptions
• Significant disruption of lake sport-fishing
• Significant disruption to pleasure boating activities
• Significant night time light pollution from aircraft navigation lighting installed on turbines

As lakeshore towns, we understand more than most the importance of these resources and the complete folly of destroying them in the name of electrical generation via an obsolete technology that currently generates no more than 0.10% of the State’s daily electrical needs.  Frankly, much more appropriate options for clean energy production are hydro and nuclear. In fact, nuclear plants can be very easily placed Downstate where the energy is needed without destroying prime agricultural land upstate.

The typical 1,000mW nuclear power plant utilizes 640 acres of land. Contrast this with the 12,000 acres of land a 200mW industrial wind turbine facility would use or the 3,000 acres required for a 150mW solar power installation.

Additionally, the Indian Point Nuclear Power plant in Buchannan, NY (Westchester County) produces 2,000mW of power at a 239-acre site in that town. However, the well-heeled residents of Westchester County browbeat the Governor into closing that site, leaving a minimum 39% daily deficit in downstate power generation. The deficit is being replaced with coal-generated power from New Jersey.

Interestingly and not surprisingly, nonprofit consortium Sustainable Westchester (read Albany lobbying group) does not agree that power should be generated where it is needed, as they state in their recent missive to the state:

“Tier 4 resource eligibility should be expanded to NYCA zones H and I deliveries. The same remarks stated…about New York City apply to Westchester County: a Tier 1 land-based renewable generation cannot be built in the County because of the same lack of developable sites for largescale solar systems or wind farms. In order to increase the penetration of renewable energy in Westchester County, the only solution for the communities is to contract a supply with upstate renewable generation and have it delivered in the County.”

So, Sustainable Westchester, believes that there are no “developable” sites in ALL of Westchester County and New York City and that rural, Western New York should bear the brunt of power generation for the Downstate area?

Westchester County = NIMBY land?  Maybe.

Lesson to Sustainable Westchester and Governor Cuomo: Just because there are not skyscrapers on rural Western New York land does not mean that land is vacant and unused.  Fully 100% of all rural land in Western New York is utilized in growing food for Downstate as well as providing a clean environment for constituents and wildlife in kind.

There are better energy solutions than destroying our Great Lakes.

John B. Riggi

Councilman, Town of Yates

Editor:

I read here about the State Sheriffs’ Association’s proposal to add laws and increase some penalties to protect law enforcement officers. Better defined and additional laws to protect police and address new situations is a good idea. Each department has a year to reevaluate itself and what it needs to do to improve unneeded violence. Feeling safe is a consideration.

My entire career I have always thought it wrong-headed that a “push off and run” situation by a defendant could be charged exactly the same as a “in your face fist fight” situation. And now we have electronic ways to harass police. With immunity gone or modified, improving this mess is reasonable.

Unfortunately the Association so far ducked the bigger issue of ensuring better, safer communities, not torn apart by racism and bigotry and excessive violence by anyone.

The impression was that police do not need any extra training or money for “de-escalation” training and implementation. That is facially wrong. For example, “Tactical disengagement” with a mentally ill person needs a mental health specialist on call. The suggestions forgot to include help with things like that.

One Association suggestion runs counter to both the Madison Method and the 1968 “The Kerner Commission” report.  The Association seems to want to be able to arrest anyone who stands to close to wherever the police go. If there is time there is also a Berlin method to help.

The bipartisan 1968 Kerner Commission found – just as we have again seen now – that aggressive police action, including setting perimeters, cornering people, using tear gas, first use of clubs… all trigger violent reactions even among bystanders.

We are seeing that reaction in Portland where the Mayor’s “Wall of Moms” and bystanders are all getting gassed and mauled first. Violence has predictably increased.  (The video of the Buffalo City police crowd control shows military tactics. The ad about Portland uses footage from the Ukrainian revolution. )

Let’s hope the Association is not caught up in the current push to resurrect Nixon’s old tactics which used code words to divide people and created bad situations by indiscriminately throwing police weight about. Hopefully wanted to get a list of concerns out there quickly for the local agencies and the Legislature to consider.

If the Association is being straight with us this is only a start. Let’s see how the Association follows up to help on what the plans are required to address.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

I am Mark Glogowski, Ph.D, Libertarian candidate for NY State 139th Assembly District.

One of the most important issues I believe we face is the unconstitutional tyranny of our current taxation situation. Having an ally in your Assembly is crucial to correcting this.

Being realistic, it will take time to unweave the tangled interrelations between government agencies and departments that have been created since the 16th Amendment was ratified, but it is doable. It will take time to get our obese government trimmed down to be lean and efficient, and with a lower appetite for taxes, but it is achievable.

There are several ways we can begin this process. The first is to get the state to operate within a balanced budget by cutting spending, not increasing taxes. We need a legislature that is aware of and pursues non-governmental options when issues are being considered. A legislature that is willing to hear and apply Libertarian solutions, thus eliminating the need for the wealth of the people to support the government’s involvement. Here are just a few places and activities we could proactively begin.

• Permit our governor and legislature to take control of expenditures by providing both with the equivalent of the ‘line item’ veto ability.

• End the practice of legislation being placed in budgets (it is unconstitutional).

• Remove barriers that prevent local governments from spontaneously working cooperatively together again. The discussions recently between Genesee and Orleans Counties regarding a shared jail is a good example. Unfortunately, no matter what they agree on, the barrier now in place is that the state government has oversight of county governments (instead of the other way around) and the state has in place barriers that prevent spontaneous intra-governmental cooperation.

• Allow all local governments (county, city,  town, and village) to put more of an emphasis on sales taxes and less on real estate taxes and real estate based service charges.

• Eliminate real estate taxes all together. They effectively cause you to not actually own the property you paid for. As with any property tax, if you don’t pay your real estate taxes you will be evicted by the Government and will lose your property.

• Dismantle the Industrial Development Agencies and the Economic Development Zones (famous for setting up competition for existing businesses with taxpayer money and dictating to counties, towns and villages what they can and cannot do.)

• Initially reduce the immense number of grants, and then eliminate grants altogether. Grants are nothing more than acts of tyranny, where government takes money from you and gives it to companies and individuals for projects that are not economically viable (such as putting up 640-foot windmills) and companies with poor business plans (like the local yogurt company that disappeared shortly after state funding ran out), and grants to pay for studies to find out where new grants can be issued (as happens in such projects as the Finger Lakes Forward initiative). Government is going out of its way to find something worthwhile to do with your hard-earned money rather than letting you keep it and invest as you see fit.

Let’s put a stop to government wasting your hard earned money. If we are successful we will see more activity by private enterprise to help spur the economy and build a better community, such as the grant program set up by Heritage Wind.

All these barriers were placed by generations of Democrat and Republican politicians. You cannot employ the same thinking to change as was used to create this mess.

Support my efforts to become your NYS Assemblyman and I assure you, restructuring our financial (tax) structure, rescinding the 16th Amendment, and restoring financial barriers to taxing will be among my top objectives. As your Assemblyman, I will work to initiate a call to rescind the 16th Amendment (giving government power to collect income taxes) and will seek the support of the Assemblies in 35 other States. I will work to give you back control over your wealth and possessions.

Mark Glogowski

Hamlin

(Glogowski is a candidate for the 139^th Assembly District which includes part of western Monroe, most of Orleans and all of Genesee counties.)