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Opinion

Our opinion: One final, sweet note from Barbershoppers

Our Opinion

For more than 75 years the voices of the Conewango Clippers came together to make beautiful music. In recent years the music was still beautiful - though the number of voices blending together in the barbershop style was decreasing. The group’s collective voice has gone silent with the recent decision to disband after years of unsuccessfully trying to attract new members. Over the years membership in barbershop groups has dwindled, with Warren’s unfortunately no exception. Musical tastes have changed and, for many, free time isn’t as ample as it used to be. Technology has made ...

Readers Speak

Letters To Editor

Taking control Dear Editor, It looks like we do need fences, barriers to keep them out. They come in droves and they come individually. They destroy. They do damage. They take what they want, what we have lovingly nurtured and groomed. We need a change in attitude among the few who dictate that “all are welcome.” The do-gooders’” policies vary somewhat. However, these policies have resulted in an over population of their kind in their safe havens and survival needs are being fulfilled with assaults on neighboring lands, crimes you or I would be arrested for doing, but ...

Rounding Third: Late summer’s bounty ­­- a corny story

Local Commentaries

This summer the corn has been especially yummy – worth waiting for. As I write those words, I realize that I have written a fair amount about our favorite golden vegetable in the last 21 years. Let’s just say I’m biased about the buttery, yummy stuff. My mother loved corn on the cob and she taught me how to eat it – old-fashioned typewriter style: Bite into 3 or 4 rows, work that stripe to the end, before returning to the beginning and another 4-row stripping of the luscious niblets. We joked about waiting for the bell to ring at the end of the cob before going back to the ...

Our opinion: Legislature should change assessment rules

Our Opinion

For months there have been complaints and concerns - largely from the region’s senior citizens - over steep assessment increases as Warren County’s first property revaluation since 1989 comes to a close. Of course, part of the problem is the fact that the county is trying to make up for 36 years’ worth of property assessment changes in one year. The “base year” assessing that is allowed under state law allows local governments to go years - or in our case, decades - in between formal property reassessments until lack of taxing capacity eventually forces their hands. ...

Our opinion: Take time for Kinzua Beach survey

Our Opinion

Changes are coming to Kinzua Beach and the Kinzua Point Information Center. We don’t know when those changes are coming, especially in our current federal funding climate. But the U.S. Forest Service is taking initial steps toward improvements at sites located on the Allegheny Reservoir along Route 50 in Warren County. USDA officials said both locations typically have few visitors and there are no current partnerships to support long-term maintenance and upkeep. So, what suggestions do Warren County residents have to increase use of the areas for both visitors and locals? Those ...

Our opinion: No more kicking Clark Street garage can down the road

Our Opinion

A 100-day renovation of the Clark Street Parking Garage will begin this fall. On the plus side, there are enough vacant spaces in the garage that no one who uses the ramp now will have to make new parking arrangements. And, city officials made what we think is the right decision in adding a contingency fund to the project so that, ideally, if something unforeseen comes up contractors can simply deal with it rather than wait for the council’s approval. Everyone wants this rehabilitation project to finish by next spring both to make sure grant funding for the project doesn’t expire ...