There’s No Reason To Destroy Beauty, Americana

To the Editor:
Another slice of Americana, please!
The day brought sunshine, and a large crowd of about 4,000 to the Town of Springfield for the Annual Fourth of July parade. Friends greeted each other with hugs, babies bounced to the Sousa marches on their grandparent’s lap and Brooks BBQ chicken smoke wafted throughout the air. School bands marched and folks stood with pride when flags were carried down the street.
This is Americana at its best. It is all about why we, who choose to live in the town of Springfield, do so.
Let’s hope those days are not numbered by the Type I development that threatens to rob us of our small-town values and small-town feel.
The majority of people another resident and I have spoken to do not want the MSG Entertainment Music Festival to come to town. Not only do the majority of residents along the lake object, but the Amish community objects, as well.
A large cross section of the town residents do not want it, and unlike the town supervisor, we actually did speak to a lot of residents, door to door, over the past week or so.
Almost unanimously they can see that having 75,000 people camping and attending
a huge concert will cause a myriad of problems, not the least of which is traffic, miles and miles of it. This Type I development will, in fact, affect the land by erecting a fence which will obstruct the view of the most beautiful view in the area, and fill the area with thousands of parked cars, which make this NOT a green concert.
Others will control this view by owning 910 acres or more of the best farmland around. Esthetically it will affect our town forever.
One particular road, Continental Road, the site of the monument, was where Clinton’s March occurred, which is significant to New York State history.
Native Americans used this land as home, as they hunted and fished here prior to European contact. Many of the roads we use now, were once Indian trails.
This is a unique and special area. If this concert comes about, which I hope and pray it will not, Andy Lynd of MSG Entertainment,
who spoke to the Advocates for Springfield on June 28, said, three times, that there “will be loud music ... a significant amount of noise ... a lot of noise, until 1:30 a.m.” And lighting as well.
Bouncing off the hills of Cherry Valley, which is an acoustically unique setting, the concert promises to destroy the peace of all, for miles around.
What about the animals native to the area? Should they rent a camper and “go away for the month,” too, as others tell me they plan to do?
This isn’t “minimal intrusion,” Mr. Lynd. We all know how the movie ends when “man is in the forest.”
A recent editorial asked, “why not?” I ask “why?” No reason can come up with destroying this beautiful area and changing the character of our Americana.
Take a ride some night over to Continental
Road. Look at the stars fill the sky. This view inspires a sense of awe, and calls up the happy memories you had here growing up in this area.
If you want to save it, speak up, speak out. Now is the time.

MAUREEN CULBERT
Springfield

Help Us Send Books To GIs

To the Editor:
The neighbors of the greater Cooperstown area have once again donated a great variety of excellent books to our annual book sale. Please stop by and check it out.
Usually we have books remaining at the end of the sale that we save for the ongoing sale and donate to groups that can utilized them. The sale will continue until July 15.
Last year, we were grateful to sent boxes to four local service members in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We selected general adventure, mystery and some non-fiction paperback books and mailed them in the Post Office fixed rate boxes.
I would be glad to receive the names of local service members. You can send me the names and addresses or let the library know.
We will celebrate if we ever get out of this tragedy. My friends and I “Support the Troops but Hate the Occupation.”

DOROTHY HUDSON
Cooperstown

Teens Need More Driver’s Education

Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to the articles “Father Advocates for Stricter Teen Licensing Laws” (March 2008) in AAA New York Car & Travel.

To the Editor:
I agree stricter graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws are necessary. Although the incidence of teen passenger fatalities has decreased since the implementation of GDL laws in New York, it needs to decrease more.
This, however, is not the case with teen driver fatalities. GDL laws and restrictions cannot replace education and training.
As my son Rob, 21, says, “If we are not trained to be good drivers as teens, we will not be good drivers as adults.”
Our high-tech teen drivers are driving in faster cars on busier roads under a variety of conditions they are not prepared to face.
My 18-year-old son’s first accident took his life. Chris was driving 60-65 mph on a 55-mph road without a seatbelt, on his was to church on Holy Thursday 2007. Someone swerved into his lane to avoid hitting a possum.
He drove into a rut on the side of the road (no shoulder because of flooding the June before) and overcorrected to get out of the rut, was headed for trees and overcorrected to avoid hitting them and rolled the Jeep. Fortunately, there were no other injuries or deaths.
According to many studies I’ve read, it is not uncommon for young drivers not to wear seatbelts, or drive minimally 5-10 miles above the speed limit; in Michelle Arout’s case, maybe 30 mph over the speed limit.
While I believe parents are strong role models, my wearing a seatbelt and driving the speed limit did not prevent my son from doing otherwise.
Our teens need to be trained by someone other than a parent. Studies prove this is not an effective method in which to train our teens to drive.
The June 2008 article ended with the statement, ... “now is the time for state lawmakers to do their part. As a historical leader in traffic safety efforts, New York should not continue to defer action on saving young lives.”

PENNEY S. GENTILE
Cooperstown

Letter From Castagnole Piemonte

Editor’s Note: Evan Jagels of Cooperstown, who was a stringer last summer for The Freeman’s Journal, is touring Europe and promises an occasional
letter.

Hey, Jim:
I just attended an jazz workshop in Italy and thought it would make a nice little mention, seeing as some of the finest living American jazz musicians were instructors and that I know there are plenty of jazz fans in Cooperstown.
Jazz music is alive and well in the small northern Italian village of Castagnole Piemonte, where recently more than 100 students from all over Europe (and one from the United States) gathered for the 16th annual “We Love Jazz” festival and workshop to study under American jazz masters.
Collectively, Buster Williams (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) and Benny Golson (tenor saxophone)
have collaborated with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Sarah Vaughn and Count Basie, to name a few.
Younger professionals such as Joey Di Francesco (organ), Byron Landham (drums) and Paul Bollenbeck (guitar) also offered valuable instruction.
Benny Golson, who led the ensemble and composition class, stressed the importance of individuality and creativity – often reminiscing of his early days with John Coltrane in Philadelphia.
Nightly concerts were held in the central piazza of the village, giving students the opportunity to see their teachers stretch out artistically.
While English was the spoken language of the workshop,
it was quite apparent that music is the true international language. Following the concerts
were nightly jam sessions where one might find Czech, German, French and Italian musicians all playing jazz standards together – one finger in the air signifying the key of B-flat and a few snaps to set the tempo.
Driving 12 hours south from Dresden, Germany, to get to the workshop, I noticed plenty of American influence on the European
landscape – the golden arches of a McDonalds could be seen from the autobahn, for example.
However, being surrounded by so many jazz musicians in an Italian village smaller than Cooperstown, it was heart-warming to see that this piece of patchwork of American culture
has been so firmly rooted and has prospered in other corners of the world.
I am living in Dresden, and my next trip is to a jazz festival in the Czech Republic. I’ll be playing.

EVAN JAGELS
Dresden, Germany
Evan, son of Rick and Kathy Jagels, graduated from Wagner College in May and will be pursuing graduate studies in music at SUNY Oneonta in the fall.

I Learned To Be Good Neighbor. Everyone Can

To the Editor:
On Sunday, June 29, Emily Bliss, 16, spoke to the congregation at the Methodist Church about lessons she has learned. I was so touched by her talk that I asked her for a copy of it to send to the newspaper in hopes of getting it printed. The following is her speech.
“When asked the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’ a few years ago, I would’ve answered, ‘The couple next door.’
“However, as I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize that every single human being on God’s green earth is your neighbor. Whether it be someone you have never met, or someone you have known all of your life, we are all neighbors.
“When asked the question, ‘How can you be a neighbor?’, it took me back to the weekend when I found the answer.
“In June 2007, as a sophomore, I attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership conference
in Troy for three days. There, I found a strong sense of leadership and a desire to better myself and my community.
“Since June 2007, I have completed 260 hours of community service. I have done projects such as food drives for Thanksgiving, Christmas cookies taken to shut-ins, Edmeston Rotary Club events, and many more.
“That conference opened my eyes to see that you don’t necessarily have to save a person’s life to be a good neighbor.
“Those three days at the conference affected me so much that I returned this past June as a volunteer staff member.
“You can be a neighbor to anyone and everyone, and you should be.
“Whether it be an extreme act of kindness or something as small as a smile, we should all follow the actions of the Good Samaritan and remember that in our time of need we would want the same.”

LINDA SMIRK
Cooperstown

Dismissed by MLB, Let’s Go International

To the Editor:
Since everyone would like to see an outstanding game once a year in Cooperstown, why not go international?
How about the United States against Canada or Japan or Mexico or Brazil or England, etc. This might create enough international interest to start international competition prior to a Cooperstown championship game.
We are sure that many Canadians would love to come to a U.S./Canada championship game. How about a Chicago/Toronto game?

JIM and MARIE MURREY

Labels: Letters to the Editor, Opinion