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Finding Old Mexico

By Margot Russell I wish more people could see Mexico as it would surely be seen if we lived in a world without corruption. Or greed. The real Mexico is not Cancun. Cancun is a wonderful place if you’re looking for a margarita and a wide beach, but it actually rose up from a Mayan jungle that once boasted a small fishing village and was surrounded by pristine undiscovered shores. Today it looks like Las Vegas but with a lot more water. And like Vegas, the 25 million Americans who visit Mexico each year head to the resorts. And drug cartels do not tell Mexico’s story very ...

USA! How Things Have Changed

A couple months ago, (November 26th, to be exact) as in my usual morning routine I am now into, I woke up about 2 in the morning and turned on the coffee, and then the television and watched reruns of Leave it to Beaver, and My Three Sons, while enjoying my early, early morning first cup of coffee. As I did that, I did a little channel surfing and stumbled onto the showing of the movie, Miracle, the story of the 1980 U.S.A. Olympic Hockey team and their quest for the gold medal which they had waited four Olympic competitions to recapture. This version of that story, which starred ...

The Exciting World View From The Cockpit

Those were the days. Before the savagery and idiocy of 9/11, the aviation world was calmer. More relaxed. Nicer. And w-a-a-a-a-y before, when I flew as a stewardess in the ‘60s, and ‘70s, the atmosphere allowed for lots of wonderful experiences. Every flight has a designated lead flight attendant. In those days we were all women. We bid for specific positions on trips – each position has slightly different job responsibilities. I enjoyed bidding for the #1 position for a few different reasons. In my early flying days, I was airsick. A lot. I didn’t mind working the ...

Speaking Truth To Power

This year, our President, Donald Trump, decided to go to Davos, Switzerland for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. While there he gave his usual, off-the-cuff grievance speech about how Europe and most of the rest of the world was falling behind, and how, under his leadership, America was the best of all nations and was charging ahead. There were some lines in his speech that people laughed at, but, in general, President Trump gave his usual meandering political stump speech, the kind that he typically performs at the rallies he has for his base in this ...

Federal Actions Can’t Be Condoned

You cannot consider yourself an informed citizen and condone what this administration is allowing ICE to do in our communities. You cannot rationalize targeting states with immigrant numbers in the low 500,000’s such as Minnesota while ignoring states such as Texas with numbers over 6 million. This is the result of a president whose only “vision” is vengeance, cruelty, and greed. He is the only president in our history that has put the United States on the Human Rights Watch List. The Homeland Security funding bill is attempting to maintain ICE’s annual budget of ...

Majority Leader: Review Needed For Affordability Proposals

During the January 28, 2026 meeting of the Chautauqua County Legislature, two resolutions; Resolution 18‑26 (the “Affordability Act of 2026”) and Resolution 19‑26 (Amend Senior Real Property Tax Exemption) were brought directly to the floor without having gone through the Legislature’s required committee process. Because neither item was submitted through the proper channels and neither qualified as an emergency resolution, the Legislature appropriately voted to refer both resolutions to committee. This action was not a rejection of affordability measures nor senior tax ...