Lack of fairness in federal tax

March 28, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: Many of us are looking forward to a check for a return on overpayment on our 2025 federal income tax. Others are expecting to pay a little more on April 15. I have never minded paying my federal tax. I kind of look at it as payment of club dues for the privilege of living in this great country. What does bother me is that companies like Tesla had a profit of $5.7 billion and paid no federal income tax for 2025. A big fat zero. At the corporate tax rate of 21% they avoided $1.2 billion in federal tax. And they are not alone. The four big Tech Companies combined had ...

Area cannot keep up with ‘expenses’

March 14, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: I read the OBSERVER article about police coverage for the town of Dunkirk. It seems everyone in our local municipalities are experiencing substantial increases to cover costs in a somewhat dwindling population. I know they will work out some arrangement. It’s a necessary resource. But isn’t the real question: “Do we need two overlapping municipalities with their duplicative expenses?” Seems to me in a more comprehensive restructuring, I’m sure we could save a good portion of these costs. Those savings could then be used to upgrade civil servant ...

More U.S. troubles start at top

March 10, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: If we had abolished the Electoral College years ago we never would have been subjected to President Trump’s first term after he lost by 2.9 million votes. And if we had installed a recall provision for every elective office at the federal level, we could have already begun proceedings to remove Trump from office for his dangerous and erratic behavior. Instead we have to wait 8 more months before we can put an end to this nonsense ... but hey at least he’ll get a lot of mileage out of his latest Epstein distraction, an unprovoked war that has already cost American ...

Sitting Democrats damaged party

March 9, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: President Donald Trump walked in strong, clear, disciplined, not tired, not wandering, to deliver his State of The Union Address. The opening statistics were overwhelming, rapid fire, border, inflation, energy, jobs. There was a rhythm to his speech and he was commanding as the President of the United States. But that’s not the story. Although that’s big news, the story was the Democrats. You don’t have to love everything the president said. You don’t have to love every word he said or how he said it. You don’t have to agree with every policy. This ...

Money driving Fredonia water talks

March 7, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: Don’t be misled my friends, we are the prey: the water customers in the village of Fredonia. We are being pushed by wildly misguided people to spend a fortune switching our water supply over to an architecture with far more opportunities for service interruptions and failure — instead of giving serious attention to the distribution infrastructure. To push the idea, they force-fit weak rationale, present clown-level costing figures, and repeat misinformation over multi-media outlets. They point to county staffers with inflated credentials and use selected ...

Office closing lacked transparency

March 3, 2026

Editor, OBSERVER: After U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy publicly cited safety threats as the reason for closing his Jamestown district office; newly obtained public records raise serious questions about that claim. Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests with both the Jamestown Police Department and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office seeking records of reported threats tied to the office were submitted. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed it found no records responsive to the request. Jamestown Police records show only a single February 2025 informational report involving minor ...