Congress And The Impeachment Process

January 24, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: As I write, the House plans to send impeachment Articles to the Senate for a trial of Donald Trump. That action is, perhaps, next to going to war, the most significant thing our republic can do and should not be taken lightly. Whether Senators ultimately acquit or convict, while important in its own right, in my opinion is secondary to the process by Congress. The Founders apparently also believed in the process or they would not have included it in the Constitution. The process is straightforward - the House must pass an “indictment” to the Senate, which ...

A New Year Brings New Beginnings

January 23, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: The New Year brings a new beginning to Chautauqua County in interesting ways. Jamestown and Dunkirk both have new mayors, as does Falconer and Lakewood. Our County Executive is new as well. It makes for an important time in our area’s history. The possibilities are many and include relationship building, the development of trust, and working together in a strategic way, and of course, consensus building. I’m not sure if this situation is unique to the year 2020, but hopefully it is seen as good luck and an advantage. The opportunities are ...

A Statement In Support Of Choosing Life

January 22, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: How good it was to read Dr. James Faulk’s letter to the PJ (12-2) about his cousin who chose life for her unborn child. With every conceivable politically-correct justification to abort, her eventual decision through the timely and thoughtful intervention of her aunt not only preserved the child, but her life-affirming choice also turned out to be a blessing exceeding expectations. It reminded me of a clip from the 2019 Ohio State-Michigan football game announced by prolific play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson. After JK Dobbins scored four touchdowns and ...

America Seems To Have Forgotten Its History

January 17, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced that Washington is not willing to bow to Iraqi demands to withdraw its troops and any future discussions with Baghdad will be purely confined to the future structure of our forces in their country. Earlier in the week, President Trump threatened to impose economic sanctions on Iraq if it refused to house US troops. I seem to recall a similar situation about 244 years ago. Americans have grown so arrogant that we have forgotten our history. We have forgotten that the self-evident and god given truths of ...

Caucus Is Not Place To Look For Leadership

January 16, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: Interested to see the two articles recently in “Area News” regarding the Problem Solvers Caucus, of which our Congressman, Tom Reed, is co-chairman. I learned that the Problem Solvers Caucus is “building bipartisan consensus on policies,” and Mr. Reed suggests that these bills “will provide real help to real people.” Reading through the information in the article on the four bills the group has “endorsed,” you will see financial assistance proposed for the post office, restauranteurs, retailers, breweries, wineries, distilleries and ...

What Actually Makes Up Property Taxes

January 15, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: It’s Property Tax time again, the bills are arriving in the mail. Grrrr. And just so we’ll know why those taxes are where they are, we get a little explanation of what makes up the tax levy. Sure enough, Medicaid, and county tax make up a whopping 92 percent of my property tax. Grrrr. So we will all hear the complaints about “welfare bums,” and “county taxes.”. Well, I am now going to tell you who the biggest welfare bum is. And who really takes almost all our county taxes. Really. And I know. I was commissioner of Social Services here from ...