Op Eds

October 24th, Make a Difference Day, a small group of Oswego Girl Scouts and leaders from troops 10461, 10982, and 10301, gathered at the Kingsford Park School Memory Garden to pull weeds and trim back overgrown shrubs. The girls worked hard and made an improvement in the short amount of time they had to work. Girl Scouts strive to make the world a better place.

A Safe Harbor Conference, focusing on the issues of human trafficking and exploitation, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 9 at Lake Ontario Conference Center, 26 East 1st St., Oswego, it was announced by Brian Chetney, executive director, Oswego City County Youth Bureau.

All motorists and residents are advised that East Avenue between Maple Street and City Line Road will be closed to through traffic on Tuesday, November 3, and Wednesday, November 4, 2015, in order to facilitate reconstruction of the CSX Railroad grade crossing.

Interested in learning more about the services and programs available to youth in Oswego County? If so, you won’t want to miss the Oswego County Youth Forum to be held November 4 at the McCrobie Building, 41 Lake Street in Oswego. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the program starting promptly at 9:00 a.m.

Everybody Sing! The newly formed Morningstar Resident Choir recently entertained the staff at Morningstar Residential Care Center with its debut performance.

U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24) today released the following statement on the proposed federal budget:

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 455, the Northern Border Security Review Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24). This bill, the seventh sponsored by Katko to pass the House, would require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a much-needed analysis of current and potential threats along our nation’s northern border.

One of the biggest legislative challenges in Albany is to make sure that there is parity in state spending between Upstate and Downstate New York. This is particularly challenging when it comes to transportation spending. Downstate New York relies on mass transit for their transportation needs, while in Upstate, we are much more reliant on our cars for our transportation needs. Accordingly, the needs of each region tend to be very different. Downstate, to a great degree, relies on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“MTA”) to maintain their bus, subway and train systems and Upstate relies on the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) to maintain our roads and bridges.

With all the challenges that we face in our daily lives, it easily can be overlooked how lucky we are to live in the United States. Our form of government, the structure of which is set forth in the U.S. Constitution, is surely an integral part of our greatness. It is undeniable too that the people who make up this country make us, as Ronald Reagan famously said, “the shining city on the hill.”