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SUNY’s important Black History lessons

For the past several years in recognition of Black History Month, the Herkimer County Hunger Coalition and Greater Herkimer Lions Club have each donated a book to Herkimer County elementary and high schools and local libraries. Among the selections have been the “Sweet and Sour Book,” “Weary Blues” and “Not Without Laughter” by Langston Hughes, James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It on The Mountain” Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” and “Stamped” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. When asked recently why I began what’s become an annual tradition, my answer was a ...

County doesn’t need nuclear NRG

George Borello wants you to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for electricity you don’t need. NRG shut down the Dunkirk plant in 2016 because there was no market for the expensive electricity it generated. George now wants to re-power the NRG plant but his recent editorial promoting the idea was filled with half-truths and misinformation. His claim that then Governor Cuomo bowed “to political pressure from the advocates on the far left” ignores the fact that the original repowering project was placed on hold in 2015 when another power company, the Entergy Group, filed a ...

Affordable health care is a human right

Patients at Roswell Park Cancer Institute are offered financial counseling to help them figure out how they are going to pay for their care. I was blessed with excellent health insurance coverage so I declined the counseling. As the statements from Roswell and Highmark Blue Cross and Blue ...

Musician always displayed spirit, soul

Soul. I’m writing about this because a friend of mine, who embodied the essence of soul, recently passed away. To me, Rob Scheuer was the epitome of soulfulness, both as a performing musician and a human being. In music, Soul suggests the ability of any musician, black or white or whatever, to play with emotion, or “feel.” Performing music soulfully takes more than technical ability. It requires the musician to seize the opportunity to express his or her love of music and to do it with conviction – purposefully, consistently, joyfully or painfully, as if every song might be the ...

Wants of the left do not bring freedom

It’s 1984 again. Government servitude is freedom. Violence is a peaceful protest. George Orwell’s masterpiece explores the historical reality of Socialism, and how “newspeak” and “doublespeak” have been used to manipulate naive people. Men can bear children. Healthcare can be free. DEI-based racism is anti-racist. A Jan. 24 commentary headlined “Freedoms being lost right before our eyes” typifies Leftist doublespeak, but could be anybody parroting the Left’s Neo-Marxist nonsense machine. It begins by proclaiming a membership in ANTIFA, the “non-existent” ...

Plate fraud driven by New York City

When I was on the campaign trail for Chautauqua County Clerk, the news stories about possible wrongdoing at our county DMV locations were impossible to miss. County residents were receiving toll charges, in some cases thousands of dollars, for tolls and speeding infractions on license plates they’d surrendered to one of our DMVs. This was a terrible situation for the victims spending countless hours fighting fines and fees they weren’t responsible for. When I was elected, tackling this issue became my top priority. After taking office Jan. 1, I visited all three county DMV ...