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Be wary of BESS solicitation

Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to issue more incentives for building lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) throughout New York State. (“Hochul Announces Bulk Energy Storage Solicitation,” July 29). There was no mention of the real costs and dangers BESS sites will pose to our rural communities. Several New York towns recognize the danger of thermal runaway BESS fires and have passed laws prohibiting the installation of Battery Energy Storage Systems in their towns. These towns include Amsterdam in Montgomery County, Duanesburg and Princetown in Schenectady County, Rush, in ...

Why neatness matters

While growing up on the farm, my father always stressed the importance of neatness in the way things were done. He didn’t make a lot of money in dairy farming, but he also never spared spending when it came to keeping the barn painted, maintaining the farm equipment, or mowing the lawn. To him spartan living did not mean slovenly living. It was important to keep things cleaned up, and to do the best with what you had. That has always stuck with me, and I give a “lot of points” to people and organizations who keep things neat and clean. In that vein, for example, I was pleased ...

Textbooks often reveal inconsistencies

“At the present time there exist upon the earth five races… each very different from the other. The first is the Ethiopian or Negro type originating in Africa and finally . .. the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.” This brazen racist quote contradicted the biblical teaching of humanity originating from one set of parents, Adam and Eve. The anti-biblical quote came from the public school biology textbook at the center of a firestorm which resulted in a historic court case known as the Scopes or Monkey Trial in ...

New York state power: Energy gamble may mean lights out

On June 24, New York came frighteningly close to a blackout. A brutal heatwave forced air conditioners into overdrive, and the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) declared an “Energy Warning.” That’s not a minor notice, it means our grid reserves were so low that officials were preparing for the possibility of cutting power to homes and businesses to avoid a total collapse. This is yet another wake-up call. As Zilvinas Silenas of the Empire Center recently warned in A Warning for New York’s Energy Policy, our state’s power grid is under mounting strain because Albany ...

Trump’s tariffs attempting to level playing field

Local commentators recently claimed that President Donald Trump’s general 10% tariff constituted a sales tax on consumers. That would be true if tariffs directly affected consumers, but the point of a tariff is to affect the behavior of producers and governments, not consumers. Trump’s retaliatory tariffs are bargaining chips to level the playing field for Middle America after years of being sold-out and de-industrialized by politicians who “fine-tuned” the tariff structure to benefit Wall Street Billionaires. Some commentators hilariously claim Trump’s tariffs are ...

America’s ‘number one problem’

CHAUTAUQUA — Let’s pick up where we left off 13 weeks ago. “When this columnist was in elementary school, it was common for children from Christian families to ask each other where they went to church. “Almost all such children and their families did so regularly, not just when the church had poinsettias or Easter lilies. ... “It’s no secret that many American Christians have pulled up their own such anchors. ... “Attendance drops because people for many reasons drift away from organized Christianity.” ­­——— Another building block of Western ...