Some questions to ask before voting
The presidential election of 2008 is closing in on us quickly. As voters, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:
Do we feel safer than we did seven years ago? Osama bin Laden is still out there, it seems and terrorists are making camp in war-torn Iraq.
Is it right that the majority of our young service men and women are in Iraq when the work in Afghanistan still needs to be finished?
Do we feel secure with our economy? More than 6 percent unemployment across America, the financial crisis worse every day, your retirement at risk, your very homes at risk. So much foreign borrowing _ money going to Iraq is staggering!
Do people have access to quality health care and health insurance without going bankrupt?
Do small businesses have the breaks that they need to succeed?
Can we afford to help our kids go to college?
If you answer yes to these questions, then vote for the status quo _ for John McCain, who has voted with the current president more than 90 percent of the time! This seems elemental to me _ if you are better off now than when Mr. Bush took office, then vote for Mr. McCain.
If you vote for John McCain, be prepared that if he wins, Sarah Palin may be chief executive at some point. Her qualifications? Six years as mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as governor of Alaska (650,000 people). She just got a passport; she learned about foreign countries from education and books and being close to Canada and Russia ... hmmm.
If you want real change, then vote for a change _ the true change _ a new regime. Let's give Barack a chance!
Roberta L. Steere
Schuyler Lake
Barber will help citizens of New York
I had the opportunity recently to meet Don Barber, who is running for state Senate against Jim Seward, our senator for the past 22 years. For those of you who don't know him, Mr. Barber is a farmer, a small-business owner and has been the supervisor of the town of Caroline for the past 10 years.
When asked about issues that affect us locally, Mr. Barber says he supports gas drilling after a time-out to put the proper environmental protections in place. Rising property taxes have been driving people out of New York state in recent years. Mr. Barber plans to fight this by placing a tax on millionaires, the top 1 percent of the income-earners in the state, to offset a reduction in property tax for you and me.
When searching for information on Mr. Barber's opponent, I discovered some disappointing facts. Jim Seward has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from insurance companies. He recently voted to pass a law that allows car insurance companies to raise their rates 5 percent every year without oversight by the state insurance department. Mr. Seward has blocked bills over the past seven years that would've helped regulate HMO premiums, allowing their rates to rise nearly 80 percent in recent years. It appears that Mr. Seward has grown too comfortable in his job and is more interested in helping the "good ol' boys" in the insurance industry instead of helping you and me.
It's time we vote, Mr. Seward and his insurance friends out of office and give this great state of ours back to the people! I, for one, am voting for Don Barber in November!
Dave Rissberger
Oneonta
Businesses need help on parking
Will the parking problem in Oneonta ever be corrected for business owners and their employees?
My husband works in Clinton Plaza and parks in the parking garage everday. When he arrives to work for his 10 a.m. shift to open the store, parking spaces allotted for all-day parking have already been taken, so he must take a four-hour space. This means he must take time out of assisting customers and whatnot to move the vehicle four hours later.
The other day he had a delivery and wasn't able to go move his car within four hours. So 41/2 hours later, when he was able to go move it, he found he had gotten a ticket. It was only $10, but something needs to be done for people running stores who can't leave to move their vehicle every four hours.
Maybe there could be a business-only parking section to deter those living in apartments from taking the all-day places or parking passes could be given to store owners?
Something needs to be done!
Katrina Matthews
Sidney
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