from ZACHARY ALDRIDGE Article Complicit In Suffering Of Native People To the Editor: In the May 23-24 editions of your newspapers, Jim Kevlin wrote that “paddlers in the 59th annual General Clinton Regatta can compete with a clear conscience” because the native inhabitants of a single village, Onaquaga, had deserted it. As he goes on to explain, they had fled a different genocidal campaign the year before Clinton’s, led by Lt. Col. William Butler. The bylines read “Clinton Didn’t Destroy…
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Letters To The Editor - Page 121
from SETH CLARK Build Future On Student, Resident Collaboration To the Editor: Last week, I wrote to this newspaper to report at least 58 Oneonta stores and restaurants have closed down in the past three years. These establishments are NOT being replaced at nearly the rate at which we are losing them, thus creating an unsustainable situation. That calls for an “all hands on deck” attempt at working together to clear the air of a fog of blame that pervades…
from Anthony Casale In Most Elective Bodies, Members’ Vote Required Unless There’s A Conflict To The Editor: Recently the Otsego County Board of Representatives voted on a resolution regarding the issuance of New York State driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. I have no particular issue with those who voted yes and those who voted no. I am, however, very concerned over those representatives who “abstained,” as reported by your newspaper and confirmed in the draft meeting minutes. In my view,…
from MELISSA NICOSIA Environmentalist Davies Sought To Make City Greener To the Editor: As outgoing city councilwoman for Oneonta’s Second Ward, it is my privilege to endorse Dr. Mark Davies for the Ward 2 Common Council seat in the upcoming primary election on Tuesday, June 25. Mark has been a city resident for 17 years. He is employed as a Hartwick College professor of education, and is coordinator of the environment, sustainability and society major there. On a personal note,…
from ARTHUR HENRY There’s No Place For Gay Marriage In UM Church To the Editor: To all of our Methodist friends at the Fly Creek Methodist Church. I read your statement in local papers about the Church and its position on homosexuality. The Book of Discipline, the law that governs the Methodist Church, states that Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Several attempts to change the wording have failed at general conference, defeated three times with a larger vote the…
from CHIP NORTHRUP Texans Say, Don’t Mess With Cattle To the Editor: Had the local dairyman moved to Texas and knowingly allowed his cows to starve to death, he would have been charged with up to 25 felony counts, each carrying up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine per head – which adds up to 250 years in the state pen and $250,000 in fines. About the same as for manslaughter. In New York, he gets a…
from SETH CLARK 58 Businesses Shut Leaving ‘Spooky’ City To the Editor: Oneonta has felt spooky to me lately. “Spooky” is kind of a funny word for a newspaper, but it really is the word that best describes how I feel about so many longstanding local businesses closing. Several were touchstones of my life, businesses that have operated in the greater Oneonta area for decades. I decided a couple of weeks ago to see if my spooky feeling could be…
from NICK PALEVSKY Super-Majority Aims To Keep Tyranny Out Of Zoning Plans To the Editor: For 150 years after Independence, government attempts to limit how landowners use their property were seen as unconstitutional because: 1. Zoning laws take property rights without compensation, and 2. Zoning laws constitute unequal treatment under the law. Then came the ‘progressive’ era, in the early 1900s, which brought us the income tax, direct election of Senators, the Federal Reserve and Prohibition – all the so-called…
from NICHOLAS CUNNINGHAM Take Heart: Make Capitalism Work For Us To the Editor: Adrian Kuzminski (May 30-31, 2019) recalls Garrett Hardin’s classic 1968 “Tragedy of the Commons” with appreciation, but closes with a rather forlorn, indeed hopeless take-home message. As I recall, Harden pointed out that, faced with exploitation of “the commons,” rationing provided a workable solution: for example, if “free” parking becomes scarce and is being exploited by the powerful or the feckless, parking meters offer a simple practical…
from CARL SEELEY Nothing Is Perfect, But Green Movement Is Looking For Answers To the Editor: I don’t always catch Mike Zagata’s column, but every time I do, he’s revisiting the same two themes—one right, one wrong. Theme One is that even “green” technologies have negative environmental impacts. This is true, and it’s important to understand and keep in mind. When we get electricity from photovoltaics rather than coal or gas, we reduce our CO2 emissions, but we increase other…
