It’s tough digging out in Dunkirk

Editor, OBSERVER:

I am writing about the snow plowing in Dunkirk.

My understanding of reverse parking is that the plow should make a pass down the middle pushing the snow toward the side that’s open and then come back and push the snow off to the open side, not put the snow up against someone’s car.

They have been placing a 3-foot wide and 4-foot high wall around our cars daily. This has been an ongoing problem for many years.

I’ve tried to talk to people at City Hall and the Department of Public Works and get no results, so I decided to use this forum. If others agree with what I’m saying please write the Dunkirk OBSERVER.

I am a senior citizen and snow removal is very difficult for me.

PHILLIP HOPKINS,

Dunkirk

Keeping freedom for all in U.S.

Editor, OBSERVER:

This newspaper ran a letter to the editor (Dec. 12) with the headline: “We need to maintain values of America.” The writer makes extensive use of the pronoun “we.”

He asserts, for example, that “We want the Ten Commandments on the wall of your kids’ school.”

I must respond that for many of us, this is not what “we” want. Instead, we want a separation of church and state, not a government that establishes official religion or favors one religion over another.

The Ten Commandments offer powerful moral and ethical guidance, which each of us can choose to follow, or not (and wouldn’t it be great if we all chose well?)

In America, the First Amendment gives us that choice, a choice our forebears didn’t have. Most early colonists left England due to religious persecution. Many of those, including the Pilgrims and Puritans (the original immigrants), sought to escape the oppressive religious environment they suffered in England. State-sanctioned religion is a slippery slope, one which never ends well.

Case in point: Once here, the Puritans exhibited significant religious intolerance, contradicting the ideals they sought for themselves. (Just ask the poor “witches” they hung.)

My late mother-in-law grew up in rural Pennsylvania, part of a small Catholic community. She recalled being sent into the hallway, as a young child, while her classmates prayed a Protestant version of the “Our Father.” She told this story many times, into old age: clearly, it had left its mark. Schools can instill ethical values without playing the religion card.

The First Amendment also protects freedom of speech, and the recent writer is entitled to his opinion. However, he speaks just for himself.

GAIL A. CROWE,

Fredonia

We all have a role in 2026 elections

Editor, OBSERVER:

Maybe it’s time to consider some or all of the following: Abolish the IRS and its absurd 16,000-page tax code. Switch to a consumption tax where every citizen and business pays tax according to their consumption. No exceptions, no exemptions, no loopholes — every person and business contributes. Neal Boortz discusses the framework in his “The Fair Tax Book.”

America has never had a revenue problem. What we’ve always had is a spending problem. Any politician who votes for deficit spending should be ineligible for re-election. Abolish the emoluments clause, preventing every politician from accepting any gift whatsoever. Trump will cost us up to $400 million to retrofit the Qatar jet, and then he plans on keeping it? Beyond belief! Establish a new law preventing a convicted felon from running for elected office, from president to dog-catcher.

Establish term limits for every office: 15 years for Supreme Court justices, 2 terms for the Senate and the House, and one 5-year term for president so he/she doesn’t spend enormous amounts of time and money on re-election.

Take away the pardon power from the president. This Congress has proven repeatedly that it is without a spine, a conscience, or a clue. Let ‘s make sure in the 2026 midterms we blow the doors off what remains of the GOP, and allow people with courage and conviction to lead us down a much brighter path.

DENNIS REGAN,

former Gowanda resident,

Pittsford