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Finding truth with Fredonia water

Recent claims that Fredonia’s December Boil Water Order and the water main breaks are somehow the fault of the Save Our Reservoir group and the pending environmental lawsuit set for this month, would be laughable, if the situation were not so serious. The most recent boil order was reportedly the result of a piece of failed equipment and the failure of plant management to have spare parts on hand to address predictable equipment failure. This occurred after Trustee Paul Wandel promised months ago to investigate the Standard Operating Procedures of the plant in order to prevent future ...

For Old Times’ Sake

An old friend of mine, pretty much of the same vintage, sent me an email suggesting that the words of Auld Lang Syne (roughly translated as meaning “for old times’ sake”) might be an appropriate topic for a column at New Year’s. I will give it a try. Most of the research I have done attributes the song to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns in 1788. There were other similar songs written prior to that, but he made it famous. The other person who made it famous was Guy Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians, who started playing it on New Year’s Eve in this country in ...

There’s still time for resolutions

We can thank the ancient Babylonians for our tradition of New Year’s resolutions. Going back to c.2000 B.C., they celebrated the new year during a 12-day festival called Akitu which began the farming season. The gala included resolving to pay debts and returning borrowed farm equipment; obviously, theirs was an agrarian society. Over the centuries, the occasion evolved into today’s guilt trips. Most of us resolve to do something that we felt guilty of doing or didn’t do but should have done in the recent past. And we go public, making resolutions to people who might hold us to ...

Fingerprints from the same hand

If issues are only seen through a partisan lens, you’ll miss the fingerprints besmirching them. There’s the issue of billions in alleged fraud perpetrated by Islamic Somalis in Minneapolis ripping off taxpayers through phony Medicaid and autism claims. As Democrat Gov. Tim Walz curries favor with this burgeoning voting bloc led by Ilhan Ohmar, the classically sarcastic Babylon Bee ran a headline saying how city officials are considering a name change for the Minnesota Vikings to the Somali Pirates. There’s the issue of Zohran Mamdani assuming the mayor’s office in NYC. ...

Challenges remain as new year begins

“Another year over, and what have you done?” If John Lennon were still with us, he’d be singing it once again as he would have needed to every year since he released it in 1971. His anthem to stop war plays every year in the Christmas mix along with “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” and “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” but his message has a much deeper meaning. He hopes we have fun, but he challenges each of us to stay informed, engaged, and civically active. He knew then, as it stands again now, that “war is over, if you want it,” that change and ...

Rounding Third: 24 legs in the house at holidays

Today, the second of January, a working day, really begins the New Year. Fuggedaboudit. I’m hoping people have today off to go along with the holiday. Two long weekends in a row? Now THAT would make for a happy Christmas. Despite housing six additional 2-legged residents and two 4-legged critters for the fun of Christmas week, our house is now back to its boring everyday quiet. Every bed was full including a new twin inflatable. Each seat at the dining room table was occupied. And the matriarch’s heart was full of comfort and joy I noticed the noise level that normally arrives ...