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People’s column

Bashaw brings

village down

Editor, OBSERVER:

Fredonia’s three majority trustees have not changed. James Lynden, Kara Christina and now EvaDawn Bashaw — who was not elected but put in the trustee post — continue to make poor choices.

Bashaw just happened to be in the audience the night of the meeting and was nominated to fill the empty seat. Vicky Cunningham, however, was the next highest vote getter in the November election. She should have been put in that seat.

If not, the board should have gone with four trustees until the election. Mayor Douglas Essek could have broken the ties.

But Christina and Lynden did not want that. They, along with Bashaw, want to run the village.

I think it’s terrible that they didn’t want to save $18,000 and hire James Sedota for $10,000, according to a recent OBSERVER article. These funds could have been used to repair village roads.

They keep forgetting. It’s not their money, it’s the taxpayers.

Appointing Bashaw was all fixed by Lynden and Christina. It’s turning out to be a terrible move.

By the way, I did not know that trustees could decide elections. I thought that was the job of the voters.

FRANK DeJOHN,

Fredonia

A silver lining

to the virus

Editor, OBSERVER:

COVID-19 is literally clearing the air. Reduced human activity has also reduced air pollution, including the notorious greenhouse gases. For example, New York City’s carbon dioxide emissions immediately dropped 10% when the lockdown began and continue to do so.

It will require political action to sustain these low emission levels and slow climate change, which, in the long term, is more devastating to the welfare of the planet than this horrible pandemic. It also will require political action to pull us out of the economic hole the epidemic has put us in. This is an opportunity for the politicians to do it right.

Tracy Mitrano, candidate for congresswoman of the state’s 23rd District and endorsed by the Chautauqua Cattaraugus County Women’s Action Group describes that opportunity: “Now is the time to revive the economy with concrete plans for energy investment — i.e. government stimulus money — that simultaneously creates jobs and protects the environment.”

Mitrano is the person I would want in Congress. Someone who will seize this opportunity to do it right. If we re-elect Tom Reed with his propensity for the status quo and a history of favoring the fossil fuel industry, it will be an opportunity lost. He will, most likely, throw the government stimulus money at propping up that increasing irrelevant industry. Which would waste taxpayer money, hinder economic recovery, increase greenhouse gas emission and accelerate climate change.

CHRISTINE

NELSON-SCHERMAN,

Conewango Valley

Writer manipulates message again

Editor, OBSERVER:

A frequent contributor to the OBSERVER commented on a recent news article concerning Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. The writer copied and pasted a portion of the news article and enclosed it in quotation marks, thus indicating that it was the exact wording from the article.

The phrases “of taxpayer money” and “from taxpayer money” do not appear in the original article.

They were obviously inserted by the writer. Brush up on your rules of grammar, style and syntax, sir!

PAT RODGERS,

Silver Creek

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