I am hoping that readers of the Finger Lakes Times and beyond have many things in their lives to be grateful about. Most importantly, that your families and friends are safe and have been together this holiday season. In my own clan, I have to acknowledge that I have been blessed with a fair share of good cheer.

From a wider perspective, in the region and the country there are things to be grateful about as well.

Imagine, our County Board of Supervisors is now working on a closure plan and post-closure operation for our county landfill, the sixth largest in New York. We should be grateful to all those who made this possible: Public servants from both sides of the county, legislators from the Geneva area — supervisors James Kennedy, Lou Guard, John Pruett, and Mark Venuti (the “East Siders” who by themselves did not have enough weighted votes to carry the day) were joined by those on the west side who listened to our dilemma, being caught between two mega landfills (the other being Seneca Meadows) and joined in the closure vote. This took a lot of discussion and persuasion and also some leadership by Seneca Town Supervisor Drew Wickham Jr., who joined with his farm constituents (in spite of the monetary benefits they currently enjoy from the landfill) and also voted for closure.

Much gratitude also goes to the advocates for environmental action throughout the Finger Lakes region. Our “guardians” who constantly speak out and lead the public response to fracking, gas storage, landfills and bitcoin threats over the course of the last 25-plus years. Seneca Lake Guardian (Yvonne Taylor and Joseph Campbell), Concerned Citizens of Seneca Falls, Zero Waste Coalition, Water Front (Peter Mantius, although moving to Massachusetts, we are told will continue to watch over the Finger Lakes environment; thank you, gratefully yours), Waterloo Container Corp. (Bill Lutz, president), and the many other brave public and private citizens between Seneca Falls, Geneva, Watkins Glen and Ithaca.

On the national scene, in spite of the results of the presidential election, we have a lot for which to be grateful. As much as some of the ridiculous cabinet nominations are worrisome, they will sit on top of departments that have many career professionals who have worked through different administrations and who have sworn an oath to the Constitution. I am not only grateful that many will remain in place, but also that the new president, ironically, will have to again publicly swear allegiance to upholding the Constitution. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Other things for us all to be grateful for are the American free press and the journalists and production people who endeavor to provide unvarnished facts about our civic life and other events of note in the country. A special shout out to CBS news for its “60 Minutes” and “Sunday Morning” organizations that regularly bring important stories to us about our civic and community lives.

I am also grateful to the public news organizations — Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) — and all their financial supporters who assure the American people and beyond we will get important, unbiased, and factual information about the world in a timely fashion. It should be noted how these reporters and their support teams work tirelessly and sometimes at great personal risk to tell us about world events. The Middle East and elsewhere are dangerous places and although far away, we need to know about these events and developments. Along with that gratefulness, we need to speak out against the Musk/Trump suggestions that we defund these organizations. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars that assure every state has this unbiased, reliable news source. Besides their news operations, PBS brings our children joy, wisdom and fun through PBS Kids.

I am also grateful to the Finger Lakes Times for continuing its free press work in our midst here in the Finger Lakes. Thank you, Publisher Mike Cutillo and your entire team for your ongoing commitment to the free press and providing a venue that presents national and regional stories and supports local columnists reporting on the events in western NY that affect this vibrant region. We all should make sure to renew our subscriptions so that we may continue to have this source of local free press.

And finally, I am grateful to our backyard neighbors, the black and grey squirrels that have been happily feasting with relish on the Thanksgiving pumpkins on our compost pile. They have been busily hollowing out all the seeds and feasting, which will help these jaunty creatures weather the winter.

Robert “Ken” Camera formerly represented Ward 4 on Geneva City Council.

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