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The OBSERVER’s View: Add dental plans to state marketplace

The OBSERVER’s View

Too many senior citizens in New York state don’t have access to affordable dental care. That fact makes it hard to disagree with legislation (A.11235/S.7594) introduced by Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright and Sen. Cordell Cleare that would require the NY State of Health Marketplace to require companies offering health insurance plans on the marketplace to also offer at least one dental plan for senior citizens. There are too many senior citizens paying out of pocket for dental care in New York state – and that means there are many who aren’t getting dental care at all because they ...

Rallies for peace bring vandals, violence

Commentary

At an anti-ICE rally recently in Minnesota, a burly bully belligerently shoved a petite Hispanic woman from her blindside to the blacktop. This was after the woman was assaulted by an onslaught of screams, curse words and obscenities as unhinged protesters blew whistles and horns in her ears. The tactics the anti-ICEers do to ICE were despicably deployed on the traumatized female reporter merely observing, not engaging or even interviewing. For simply showing up, Savannah Hernandez of TPUSA suffered a concussion, after being body slammed by an angry man in a mean-spirited Antifa-like ...

Dots have been connected, don’t look away

Commentary

The simple minded and the uninformed can be easily led astray. And those who can not connect the dots look the other way. People believe what they want to believe when it makes no sense at all. Walk Tall — John Mellencamp 2004 I implore readers of this column to watch the village board workshop meeting of May 4. This meeting truly contains the good, the bad, and the ugly of village government. The good begins at approximately 44 minutes into the meeting when the mayor, the trustees, the LaBella engineers, and the DPW chief discuss replacing the village’s ancient water mains. ...

Getting past the noise for freedom

Commentary

As anyone who has ever tried to escape reality can tell you, you’re more than likely to end up back in it. We can imagine things to be different. We can dream away the night, but when the sun comes up, it’s the same sun as yesterday. We find ourselves in the same material world at the same fixed place in time’s continuum. Despite our ingenuity and resourcefulness, we are still bound by natural laws. We can undergo joint replacement and cosmetic surgery, but we can’t stop aging. We can disown family members but we can't change our DNA. We can build B52 bombers, but we can’t grow ...

Inept Fredonia content to be in crisis

The OBSERVER’s View

Fredonia’s follies just will not go away. Last week, after a contentious Village Board meeting marred by a minor scuffle after the public comment session, trustees went into executive session and created even more chaos. When they came out of it, the board terminated its Department of Public Works supervisor. While trustees have every right to do so, there is no replacement waiting in the wings. David Bird, a former trustee, had been hired in November to lead the department. From most accounts, he had been doing an acceptable and above-average job. Three trustees — all Democrats ...

Battling adversity spurs patriotic virtues

Commentary

Americans by nature seem to root for the underdog — in sporting events and in military battles. Many times, in our nation’s history we have been on the side that must beat all the odds. This was the story of our nation from the very beginning. Even farther back than the creation of the United States. We can look to the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia to see how a small group of people could stand against the elements of the harsh new land to prosper and grow a thriving community. We saw the puritans sail through terrific storms to land upon the beach of Plymouth and for the ...