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Opinion

Vote today, or hold your peace for another year

In Our Opinion

Thousands of residents have already taken the time to cast their ballot during Early Voting, which was Oct. 24 through Sunday. If you have not, there’s one day left — that’s today from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Despite the advent of mail-in and early voting, Election Day remains a heavy turnout day. There is a large contingent of the population that hits the polls on the traditional day. As usual, we urge residents to be part of the process. This year’s races have important implications on the future. If you’re not happy with how things are being run in Washington, Albany and here ...

Signing Kyra’s Law would help domestic violence victims

In Our Opinion

We’ve reached the time of year when Gov. Kathy Hochul begins signing legislation passed by the state Legislature before the end of its session in June. It’s ludicrous to us that this process takes half a year in some cases, particularly when it comes to legislation that was approved with overwhelming legislative support like Kyra’s Law (A.6194-C/S.5998). Kyra's Law is named in memory of 2-year-old Kyra Franchettie, who was shot and killed by her father during a court-ordered unsupervised visit in 2016, and was passed with bipartisan support in the state Legislature this year. It ...

Framing the political language of the season

Local Commentaries

When I hear someone say they are ‘fighting for me,' the first thing I think is well, that’s great, finally! But rather than taking the statement in a strict, literal sense, I might first consider who the source is and what is really going on: it’s eliciting an emotional response, which is the point. It DOES feel good to have protection against an enemy. Hooray! But look at the same phraseology during a heated election season, and upon closer examination you might come to a different conclusion. Let’s look at how messaging — both positive and negative—is currently flying ...

Being creatures of convenience

Local Commentaries

We are inclined to complain about the situation in which we find ourselves. “If only everything weren’t so commercialized.” “If only we could go back to the good old days when things were smaller and not dominated by big box stores and big business.” “If only we could go back to the times when we only used a phone that was hanging on a wall or sitting on a desk, not one constantly going off in our hands, pocket or purse.” We say these things, but, in fact, we are where we are today because we are creatures of convenience. It always irks me a bit when the Amazon, FedEx ...

Misconceptions about democracy, socialism

Local Commentaries

There has been a lot of discussion and assumptions about democracy and socialism that seem to be misunderstood. This led me to review the root causes of our misconceptions. First, Democracy is a Greek word (demokratia) meaning people (demos) and rule or power (kratos). It encompasses the following concept: citizens vote directly on laws and policies for their society. Representative Democracy means citizens vote for representatives who make laws and govern on our behalf. Here in lies the rub: do our representatives make laws for us or corporations? “Corpus” is Latin for ...

Procrastination is not sound budgeting

Local Commentaries

As promised, and as accurately reported on your front page some weeks ago, I voted this week against Chautauqua County’s proposed budget for 2027. Why? First: it is not because I believe that county employees or management are less than dedicated or diligent. They are, by and large, both of these things. It is because this budget fails to get ahead of the two fundamental economic trends that are to blame for our widening gaps between revenue and expenditures. In the 2026 budget the expected overspend vs. revenues was budgeted at $2 million. In fact, it looks like it will come in ...