Breaking News

Commentary

The newspaper and local sports

This week I opened the newspaper, and there on the front of the Sports Page was an incredible photograph of three girls from Frewsburg with hands raised celebrating their State Championship in basketball for the second year in a row. It wasn’t just the photograph but also the write-up which made the article so powerful. There was an analysis of how the game played out, how the team rallied, what the coach had to say, and, of course, the euphoria that swept the crowd and the small community of Frewsburg upon being named State Champions once again in Class C Girls Basketball. I have ...

Economy drives people out of state

Across New York, families and businesses are facing an affordability crisis that is making it increasingly difficult to live, work, and stay here. High taxes, rising energy costs, burdensome regulations and the ever-growing cost of living are pushing people to leave the state. The data tells a troubling story. Since Governor Kathy Hochul took office in 2021, more than 1,045,000 people have left New York for other states through domestic migration. Recent data shows that in just the past year alone, New York lost more than 137,000 residents to other states, bringing the five-year total ...

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, ...

No Kings participants relish freedom, peace

Today, Saturday, March 28, there will be more than 3,000 No Kings demonstrations all across the country. They will be a celebration of our First Amendment right “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances.” We are a nation of laws and we want to stay that way, with free and fair elections. Locally there are several options. Jamestown will be hosting a rally in Dow Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Chautauqua Institution is hosting one at 67 Bester Plaza from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Here in the North County Marchers will gather at Cottage Street ...