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Education system keeps failing America

In October 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel. Which side of that issue you are on is your business, but something very important was revealed during the ensuing conversation. At our “elite” universities, anti-Israel protesters parroted the slogan: “From the river, to the sea…” whereupon a number of reporters asked these elite students: “From what river, to what sea?” One would think that students at our most prestigious colleges – being taught by our most “progressive” professors – would actually know which river and which sea they were talking ...

Libraries need sustained support

Think of this. If someone asked you to list the most significant inventions in humanity’s history, what would you include? Wouldn’t you include the printing press? To be sure, humanity could — before the printing press — transmit knowledge, wisdom, and culture from one generation to the next. Yet the printing press—invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany around 1440 — broadened the transmission. Eventually, books became so prevalent that they needed repositories, so libraries — and eventually public libraries—were born. Parents and guardians who haven’t ...

Progress at home — and in our nation

Several things caught my attention in recent days. The old high school on Main Street in Silver Creek is finally coming down and surprisingly not under the weight of its decaying structure. When the Kirkpatrick family arrived in Silver Creek 45 years ago it had already stood abandoned for several years and in the ensuing years various plans for repurposing it were floated but nothing ever came of them. Over the years more windows were broken and as the years passed a deteriorating roof allowed rain and snow melt to enter the building hastening its decay. In times past travelers ...

The heart is a good companion

Last Friday I received a pacemaker. I’m still not over the shock that I needed one. I was skeptical because surgeons want to do their job. You know, they’re trained to cut. Same as my hairdresser. But the cardiac surgeons at St. Vincent’s in Erie were convincing. Long story short, my heart did beat normally most of the time, but when it chose to go on a whoopee spree – into atrial fibrillation – the low heartbeats were much too low. Solution? Kick them back into normal gear by giving this lady a pacemaker. I’ve been told by people who have one – all men so far – ...

Council comments are ‘inappropriate’

I am writing in response to the recent article concerning the homeless individual residing on the benches near City Hall in Dunkirk (May 10-11). I was deeply disheartened by the tone and content of the remarks made by several of our city officials, which reflected a disturbing lack of compassion, professionalism, and understanding of the complex issue of homelessness. Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak’s assertion that “the only one that can save him is himself” blatantly ignores the well-documented relationship between homelessness and mental health. Being “young, healthy, ...

Bridge reconstruction ramps up

I don’t know if you have observed it, but it looks to me like there are at least double the number of people as usual now working on the Chautauqua Lake bridge. It is obvious that the contractor is taking advantage of the good weather and reconstruction work is ramping up. What you see visually is that new decking is proceeding on the south side of the bridge coming from both ends of the bridge towards the middle. I don’t know all of the engineering reasons, but it seems to make common sense, as this is the way the original bridge was built, i.e. after the girders were ...