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NCCF Local Economic Development committee: Teamwork can stem rising costs

There have been a lot of changes in the funding priorities of our federal government during the past six months. As a result, more and more responsibilities will be moved back to the states and local governments, if they haven’t already been, and many funds already allocated to some local projects will likely be clawed back. This comes at a time when it appears funds for many other federal programs we and our neighbors rely upon, like food assistance and health care, also appear likely to be reduced. These changes, and others, will probably make the difficult financial situations ...

Editorial overlooks ‘reasonable’ water options

Without question, the OBSERVER’s View, published (Aug. 16-17), is a classic example of muddled writing. As a journalism teacher and high school student newspaper adviser for more than 40 years, I often challenged students to read carefully and seek the truth when we know adult writers sometimes miss the mark. This editorial that leans toward the destruction of Fredonia’s “antiquated” water plant misses the mark on several levels. First, it assumes that the board will finish what it attempted to do nearly two years ago before a lawsuit stopped them: Ignore the multiple ...

More sour politics in our region

GENESEO—No one could have reasonably anticipated that at 5 p.m. on summer of 2025 Fridays, supporters of Rev. Jason McGuire would gather with him near the Livingston County jail entrance just before his surrender for weekend-long incarceration. Yet that’s what has happened. ≤≤≤ McGuire, a former Livingston County Conservative party, or LCCP, chair, and the current executive director of New York Families Foundation and New York Families Action, is bright, personable, cheerful, dedicated, and principled, all of which make him an effective advocate. According to ...

A holiday that was worth waiting for

Beginning in 2001, I took three writing classes each summer at Chautauqua – for five years. I gradually learned my way around campus absorbing the babbling fountains, magnificent gardens, and snatches of symphony rehearsals. I dreamed of spending a week there. My dearest friend, Ginger, fulfilled that dream – under challenging circumstances. Tom, my late husband, died in May, 2007. Weeks later, Ginger sensed that I needed a change of scenery. I needed new conversations … and time to think. Her enormous gift – a week at Chautauqua – was just what I needed when we went ...

History not on side of potential peace

The Ukrainian Russian War will be difficult to bring to an end. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine, his aim was to sweep into the capital, Kyiv, in days, overthrow its pro-Western government and return Ukraine to Russia’s sphere of influence. Putin failed but, more than three years later, a fifth of Ukrainian territory is in Russian hands. Ukraine’s deep seated animosity toward Russia is rooted in a long and complex history of conflict, territorial disputes, and cultural clashes. Particularly during the reign of Catherine the Great, ...

Brilliance in the Constitution

It seems that the most spirited debate over certain laws is always happening. Even the simplest of writings that outline the desires of freedom are constantly questioned. The men who penned such documents I believe did so to identify in black and white just what was right or wrong. To me there was no reason for interpretation. It was written and that was that. But in the modern-day, fancy attorneys scoop the money in by the barrel to try and interpret just what a man over 230 years older than themselves meant when they put the ink to parchment. They devise loopholes in the ...