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Budget is flawed, but persistent advocacy paid off

Local Commentaries

The state budget has finally passed, long after it should have. Let us be clear from the start: This is not a budget worthy of celebration. It spends too much. It came too late. It carries with it the marks of a state government that too often confuses activity with achievement and spending with leadership. For families, farmers, seniors, small businesses and school districts across Western New York, this budget does not fully answer the most important question before us: How do we make New York a more affordable place to live, raise a family, and do business? And yet, even in an ...

The beast finally settles in

Local Commentaries

Last July I wrote about Finian, our Maine Coon cat, and his stubborn need to be outside. For some reason he is well-behaved at the front door – as long as visitors don’t stand chatting with the storm door open. I mean, give the furry kid a break. A 10-minute open door is temptation even a well-tamed feline couldn’t resist. But who am I kidding? A well-tamed cat? There is no such animal. Dear Richard and I are the only ones who are trained in this relationship. We have learned to work around Finian’s strict schedule. His day directing us begins early. If Finian decides ...

County isn’t better or worse. It’s treading water

In Our Opinion

Is Chautauqua County in a worse place than it was 15 years ago, as Democrats in the Chautauqua County Legislature contend? The answer to that question depends on one’s point of view. We've often said the government doesn't, by itself, attract jobs. It does, however, set the stage to attract jobs. The county is in the midst of building two industrial parks - the controversial Ripley site near I-90 and another in Sheridan. We wholeheartedly support efforts to complete public sewers around Chautauqua Lake, a costly project that will help decrease nutrients entering the lake as ...

Hegseth misses the boat in D-Day anniversary address

Letters To The Editor

To The Reader’s Forum: Self-proclaimed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth outdid himself last Saturday when he sought to link the D-Day anniversary with Europe’s current “invasion” by immigrants. He berated our European allies for permitting immigrants to “invade” their nations--- as if immigrants willingly elected to leave their families and friends, take long and dangerous trips over land and water to deliberately and negatively impact European societies. In many cases they had few options other than death. Much the same could be said for those immigrants seeking ...

Living on the Great Lakes

Local Commentaries

Growing up around here you get so used to living around the Great Lakes that you don’t appreciate them. Recently, in reading a book about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, it hit me again about how significant this watershed is. The Great Lakes make up 80% of the freshwater in North America and over 20% of all the freshwater in the world. When Alexis De Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831, he described the Great Lakes as one of the wonders of the world—and he only saw the smallest of the lakes, Lake Erie. I remember, as a kid, our parents taking us to go ...

Visit a Chautauqua County museum this year

Local Commentaries

Do you remember years in which winter lasted until mid-April and then it was 90 degrees by mid-May? Those were years in which spring lasted about a month. Not by the calendar, of course, but by the weather. Following the heavy-snow winters of decades ago, some snow banks took until May ...