Opinions

Editorial - My Last Issue

: By Dan Veaner; Opinions; | Dec 18, 2020 |

This is my last chance to pontificate on our Opinions page. This issue is my last as editor, pencil sharpener (yup pencils, even for an online publication) and reporter for the Lansing Star. Or should I say publisher, editor, reporter, complaints department, filing clerk, receptionist, technical support person, and janitor? The Lansing Star is a mom and pop business (I'm the pop) so we do just about everything. But mostly it's been about popping out a new issue every week, and periodically trying to fix technical problems when they arise.

It's been a good 15+ years. At this point, putting togher my final issue, I am thinking about the dolphins trying to leave humanity a message as they abandon the planet shortly before the Earth is destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass in Douglas Adams's book The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (book four in the trilogy).

Their message? "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Thoughts - Some Final Thoughts

: By Casey Stevens; Opinions; | Dec 18, 2020 |

Well, I guess this is The End. But don't roll the credits yet.

I finally figured out how to find my previous Thoughts in the Lansing Star. The actual on-line version, I mean. My hand-written chicken scratch originals are in a stack of loose-leaf tablets near my bed. When I got to the Search and Archive of the Star (hallelujah) it was almost a shock to realize my first column was October 6th, 2017.

What did I say? Well, I commented on the Tweet-in-Chief, encouraging the world just to stand down and shut up for 60 seconds as we lurched pell-mell into the Trump years. I also thanked three very important people in the genesis of Thoughts: Kate, Eleanor, and especially Dan Veaner. All three of these incredible people are still circling and embedded in my life as Thoughts and the Lansing Star come to a close. Not a bang but a sigh, intentionally misquoting.

Editorial - Getting Tested for COVID

: By Dan Veaner; Opinions; | Dec 11, 2020 |

In case you have been wondering what happens if you need to be tested for COVID-19, my wife and I just experienced the process, after she was exposed to someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus. There were a few little surprises, but generally the experience has been a testament to how lucky we are to have such a professional, compassionate, and efficient county health department. (And yeah, we tested negative, so we're OK.)

Friday morning my wife's friend called to say that her husband had tested positive for the virus, and that my wife had been exposed. So we called the Cayuga Medical Center number we found on the Tompkins County Health Department website to make appointments for us both, and they scheduled us for 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. A bit later in the day she was contacted by the Health Department to tell her she had been exposed. She told them we already had appointments to be tested.

Thoughts - A Military Coup In America

: By Casey Stevens; Opinions; | Dec 11, 2020 |

All right. I'll admit it. I'm scared.

Now I'm not one who scares easily. I spent a year doing my best to avoid little guys in black pajamas with automatic weapons who wanted to hurt me. But I was 19 years old then, and how many 19 year-olds do you know who are scared of anything?

Fifty years later, and here I am scared by something I never thought I'd see in a million years: the first stages of a military coup in America.

Letters - Lansing Too Expensive

: By James Sullivan; Opinions; | Dec 11, 2020 |

We have a home in Hawaii that normally we stay at during the not fun weather. Because of COVID-19 we could not return to our home in Lansing. Our home here has the same asset value as out home in Lansing. Now the fun part our property taxes here are about 500 dollars, in Lansing 6000 dollars. Cost for recycling and trash disposal is any where from 12 dollars and up per month in Lansing if we haul it to the transfer station, cost in Hawaii (we haul it) ZERO. Lansing and NY State are forcing seniors to move out of the state.

James Sullivan
Lansing, NY

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Letters - TC3 Stable and Looking To The Future

: By TC3 Board of Trustees; Opinions; | Dec 11, 2020 |

Dear Fellow Community Members,

In these uncertain times, be assured that Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) is stable and is already looking towards the future. To be clear, many difficult decisions have been made, and will continue to be made. Fortunately, the sense that "we are all in this together' is shared in every rank of student, staff, faculty and leadership of this strong community.