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Brocton schools recognized for safety excellence

The Brocton Central School District is one of at least 157 school districts and Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in New York State to receive the Utica National Insurance Group’s “School Safety Excellence Award” for 2026 at the Titanium level. The honor is presented annually and recognizes school districts’ safety efforts as they work to help keep students, staff and visitors safe. The Brocton Central School District received its award at Utica National’s 44th school safety seminar, one of six such seminars the company hosts in the state. For over 50 years ...

What we have is a failure to communicate

I have a friend who is an unabashed Trump supporter. When I asked him what he thought of Trump’s State of the Union address, he told me that he didn’t need to watch the SOTU and that he rarely watches Trump’s speeches. My friend told me that although he doesn’t care for Trump’s personality and delivery, my buddy believes in MAGA and the America First message. As he puts it, Trump is the first president in his lifetime to really put this country before wokeness, politics and greed. He supports the President unconditionally. I have another dear friend who is convinced that my ...

Americans still allowed to disagree with president

The topics I write about that seem to get the most response from readers have to do with dogs or politics. I’m always glad to hear from the good dog people. Not so much from political hacks, on either side. I recently posted a piece that was, I’ll admit, a harsh and perhaps overly generalized rendering of Trump supporters. Apparently I offended some folks who had previously been readers of my peculiar ramblings. It’s not that I lament losing a reader or two. It’s that ever since I graduated from being a ninth-grade hyperactive bully and all around major jerk (several relapses ...

Attacking the fears that bring paralysis to individuals

Last month I wrote about loneliness, and gave the reader options about managing it. If you have never thought about it, loneliness, over a long period of time, creates thinking patterns of fear. Just as the gentleman in my Halfway House was deathly afraid to ride in an elevator because according to him, “these things go down and kill people.” The fact that Herman, my client at Friends of Cazenovia Manor Halfway House had been a loner his whole life and had massive trust issues led to many irrational thoughts with little proof to back up his irrational thinking. As you may recall, ...

Spotlighting the women of nature

Forest, fields, ponds, and oceans. Habitats of all kinds have attracted humans throughout history. We’ve worked to conserve creatures and places, study habitats to understand how they work, and simply enjoy spending time in wild areas. And while human’s impact in these areas has always ...

Top intermediate students listed

Dunkirk Intermediate School has announced its Students of the Month for February. Its overall student of the month was Greyeliz Morales-Torres. Others include: Isaac Billick, Aleaius Rojas, Josiel Rosado, Avery Carmen, Deysi Cruz Bautista, Maximus Killion-Fuller, Grace Alvarado-Alvarez, ...