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The Full Moon

If you live around this area, you certainly cannot have missed the beautiful full moon that has been present for the last few nights. Thanks to John Stehlin, the meteorologist for WICU television, I learned that this moon is called the “Hunter’s Moon”. It was actually a Super Moon this year. He has been a wealth of information about all things meteorological that are going on around here. Just the week before we were able to see the northern lights. I did not know that you had to view them with your camera instead of the naked eye. We have been able to see them for several months ...

Decline Of The Mainline Churches

It was announced recently that an old, established Roman Catholic Church in Jamestown — Saints Peter and Paul — would be closing its doors. That church has been here forever it seems, at least in my memory. Though the decision is being appealed, it was just one of many churches being closed by the Diocese of Western New York consolidating them with other local parishes. Though it came as a “surprise,” it really shouldn’t have. Church attendance has been falling throughout Christendom, especially in the old, established Christian denominations that are spread out across our ...

County Taxes Are Increasing For Many

The big lie in Chautauqua County municipal budgeting was in force as the County Legislature passed its spending plan and proclaimed that the tax rate for county property taxpayers has been reduced for 2025. The adopted 2025 $301 million County budget increases spending overall by about $7 million over the 2024 spending document. With some funding coming from other sources such as sales tax, state/federal tax sharing and other sources, the local property taxpayers will make up the rest of the spending with $73.4 million to be collected in 2025 from property taxes we homeowners pay ...

Government Should Focus On Solving Basic Problems

Currently, over half of our states have so-called ‘right to work’ (RTW) laws in place. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an independent non profit think tank, anti-union RTW laws damage state economies and result in lower wages than non-RTW states. These laws restrict workers’ ability to collectively bargain, resulting in lower wages, reduced access to healthcare and retirement benefits, as well as higher incidents of workplace fatalities. None of this should be surprising. With the exception of New Mexico, the poorest states in the U.S., by standard economic ...

Proposition One Has Serious Ramifications1

There is great controversy over the meaning and scope of Proposition One to amend the State Constitution. The ballot summary states that the amendment would “protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive healthcare and autonomy. The amendment allows laws to prevent or undo past discrimination.” Supporters claim that the amendment is needed to expand the existing equal rights amendment, prohibit discrimination against ...

‘Rendezvous With Destiny’ Continues

What became known as “The Speech” took place 60 years ago this week. The Speech was on behalf of a major-party-American-presidential candidate shortly before Election Day. Years later, the candidate recalled that supporters had proposed he give The Speech himself. The candidate, however, said it didn’t sound like him, so it wasn’t a speech for him to give. Instead, he suggested supporters get someone more “professionally trained.” So they recruited a speaker. Although the candidate didn’t win the presidency, the speaker later did. The speaker’s conclusion ...