The McDowell Memo

Why Tioga County Needs A Local Hospital                  Up until the early 1980’s , Tioga county had a hospital , Tioga General in Waverly where Elderwood Nursing facility is now. The reason that this hospital was non-sustainable economically then was the proximity to Robert Packer in Sayre, Pa. only about a 5-minute drive from anywhere in Waverly . Since that time Tioga County has been one of the very few NYS Counties without a hospital. For along part of the ensuing history, there was almost no need for a local hospital because Ideal, Wilson and Robert Packer were all growing and services especially Emergency Room services were enough for the population that the county had. Yes, they were in many cases a long drive in an emergency but manageable. First, United Health Closed Ideal and turned it in to a type of nursing home. Then when the population started to diminish in the triple cities, Wilson ...

As we enter 2020, we are faced with the potential to improve the lives of our children and grandchildren and the opportunity to fail them miserly.          This year we will be faced with decisions such as staying in the Middle East, eliminating the North Korean threat, impeaching a President for disagreeing with the opposing party, and reducing the size of government and the huge number of regulations on us all.   We have for over 20 years had a presence in the middle east to "keep the peace" when in reality , they do not want peace it is a religious war between rival Muslim factions against each other and all "infidels". Do we have the need or right to keep them from killing each other? Do we have to be on the ground there to protect our interests in oil? I would propose that we need to back away and let them settle their wars. But keep protection of the oil that they owe us for driving out the dictators. And I contend that we need to do mos...