Published: May 13, 2008 01:07 am            

SOUND OFF: Published May 13

I read in the paper that the city of North Tonawanda found a way to save $600,000 in the water department and council Member Dennis Pasiak is against it? I guess he thinks our water bills are just fine and dandy. He raised taxes every year he was on the school board. Some things never change.

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The marina the town now owns is not Niagara River Yacht Club. Niagara River Yacht Club was evicted by the town, and now resided at 346 River Road. The residents of North Tonawanda now own the marina. Come up with your own name for the marina at 1010 River Road!

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Can you please tell me why these people who work at big corporations like General Motors earn the highest amount of pay? For one thing, we are not being paid that, at least anymore. Also, we have been getting that pension and insurance and healthcare in our contracts, an actual agreement, for over sixty years now it has been promised to the employees in their contracts. Tell me tell you what the teachers and the county workers get for their retirement or the people in the private sector. I am a retired auto worker and they are trying to take away our pensions and our healthcare that was promised to us for 30, 35 or 40 years depending on how much seniority you have. So, the people who are whining about us overpaid workers. We are not overpaid anymore, we are getting paid just like the rest of the underpaid workers in New York State- except for the teachers, police departments, and utility companies, etc.

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I know this is going to upset the inner circle people in Tonawanda, but how did our schools get in bad shape with the amount of school tax that we pay? Maybe it’s because we have three principals for one school. Maybe we should take that $48 million and get a principal for every room in the school. And how about the sports? C’mon, you need a new sports director? That’s all North Tonawanda is about is sports, sports, sports. That’s going to look really good on their resume - yeah I participated in sports, but I can’t read. And Wal-Mart- we need it. I don’t want to pay $4 a gallon for gas and have to drive 15 minutes to the store. Get the Wal-Mart in here and get done with it.

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This is to the individual who addressed the people of NT regarding Wal-Mart’s charitable contributions and stating that with the exception of Bill Gates, Wal-Mart has given more to charitable contributions and the poor. Who ever wrote this stands to be corrected. There is also Warren Buffet. I think this individual needs to look a little deeper into what he or she said. The question that really needs to be asked, is what has Wal-Mart done for the local communities, for example North Tonawanda? Should they build a store here? Wal-Mart has been a predatory company since the beginning. It preys on the elderly, and it preys on the young, offering substandard health benefits if any. Therefore the folks in the city where Wal-Mart happens to build a store are burdened with such costs as Medicaid. The families working at Wal-Mart not making enough money are eligible for such government benefits. If Wal-Mart is such a wonderful corporation, why does it not pay for proper benefits for the workers and why does it generally employ the elderly and the young, who are victims of the predatory system?

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I’d like to see top 10 things I am going to do with my stimulus check. Maybe buy my mom new lights, buy energy lights, give my nephew $20, help somebody who needs help. What are the top 10 things people are going to do with their stimulus check?

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This is for the lady complaining about the City of Tonawanda Post Office. You cannot take it out on the employees because the mail today is not how it used to be. I find the employees very nice and helpful. I have not had a grumpy employee wait on me ever. They are all very nice. I’ve had problems with mail going to Texas, but I would never blame our postal workers. They are fine people and they do their job well. Thank you.

        

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