|
Friday, April 11, 2008April 11 2008Mayor Sics Chief On Justice Hinkes Confronts Waller Over Court Appointment  By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN Tensions between Mayor Carol B. Waller and Village Justice Enid Hinkes burst to the surface during the village board’s reorganizational meeting Wednesday evening, April 9. The mayor ordered the justice from the village board room and, when Hinkes stood her ground, directed Police Chief Diana Nicols to remove her. “I don’t want to call the officer to escort you out,” the chief said gingerly as she stood between Hinkes and the village board and edged her toward the hall. The issue of the evening was the reappointment of Acting Village Justice Henry Fernandez. The mayor included Fernandez’ name on a lengthy list of appointments to trustees’ committees that was quickly recited, then unanimously approved by the trustees without any opportunity for discussion. Hinkes, who was among the handful of audience members, apparently had hoped to have her say before the vote, but when she stood up Waller cut her off. Waller said the matter was better discussed in executive session, but Hinkes insisted on being heard. When the justice failed to respond to the mayor’s directive, Waller ordered Nicols to intervene. Both elected officials were flushed and clearly rattled by the confrontation. Questioned in her adjoining office, Hinkes said she has been involved in the selection of the previous acting justice, James Kelly, who died in January, and the two had maintained an amicable working relationship. She said she had prepared and distributed a memo on the situation to the mayor and village trustees before the meeting, and had expected to have the opportunity to discuss the appointment before the vote. Asked about the episode later that evening, Fernandez, an attorney, said, “I’m very disappointed in Justice Hinkes’ behavior.” “I’m very, very supportive of the mayor and village trustees and what they are trying to accomplish,” which he said was “an efficient and cooperative relationship” between the justice court, the village and the police department. “This is not about me,” he said. He referred any further questions to Mayor Waller or Village Attorney John Lambert. The mayor and the village justice have been at odds for some time now, a dynamic that last broke into the open two years ago, when the village requested a state audit of the justice accounts. Hinkes, a Democrat, has twice defeated Republican candidates, first Ronald Streek in 2003, then Gary Kuch in 2006. After the reorganizational meeting was completed, the mayor spoke briefly before the board went into executive session to discuss the matter. Village policy renewed that very evening required such matters to be discussed in private, she said. The police chief and Public Works Superintendent Brian Clancy remained in the executive session, but Hinkes was required to remain in the hall. Departing, Kuhn Reflects On Challenges Of Decade By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN ‘They say it’s a thankless job,” said Paul Kuhn a few days after his term as village trustee expired. “It’s not.” Nine people will criticize you, but the 10th will expressed thanks for a step taken with the goal of creating a better community. “That’s what keeps you going,” he said. For a few days, it was the first time in 12 years that Kuhn was not serving in a village post. For most of that time, they were influential ones. After just two years on the Planning Board, he was elevated to chairman. In 2001, he was elected to a three-year term on the village board, and immediately assumed a central role, and was reelected three years later. By the time he decided to step aside, he was chairing virtually all the trustees’ most significant committees: Police, Watershed, Streets & Buildings, Finance and Justice Court. As it turned out, his retirement turned to be only a 55-hour hiatus. His replacement, Neil Weiller, was sworn in at 12 noon Monday, April 7; Wednesday evening, Mayor Carol B. Waller appointed Kuhn to continue to chair the Watershed Committee, which is entering its final phase in ensuring septic systems on several hundred camps are not leaking into Otsego Lake. Still, compared to Kuhn’s central role on two key issues in his last year as trustee – loading zones and paid parking, which he considers central to his legacy – that final chairmanship represents a relatively quiet bridge back into private life, a bridge paved with praise. Compared to the many trustees he has seen come and go over the years, former Mayor Wendell Tripp said Kuhn “was one of the trustees who contributed most to the ongoing life of the village.” Tripp said he appointed Kuhn to the Planning Board in 1995 because of his knowledge, intelligence and impartiality. Village GOP Chair Bill Waller – it took him twice to convince Kuhn to run for trustee – said “the community is in the very forefront of his mind.” Kuhn’s love of the village, his work ethic and skills developed in a 30-year business career – he was an executive with Cigna, the Philadelphia-based insurance concern – made him an attractive candidate, Waller said. Jeff Foster, proprietor of Legends Are Forever who jousted with Kuhn on a number of downtown issues, said he discovered in recent months that the village trustee was, in fact, listening to varied inputs and adjusting to take them into account. “I’m sad to see him go,” Foster said. “Even though I didn’t always agree with him, I liked him.” Now past 70, Kuhn’s relationship with Cooperstown goes back to when, at age 7, his father and mother, teachers in Long Island during the winter, took counseling jobs at Camp Chenango, one of six private camps operating on Otsego Lake in the 1940s. (Only one remains.) “This wonderful lake. The fresh air. The beautiful hillsides. It’s a place you just fall head over heels in love with,” he said during an interview in the lobby of The Otesaga after a recent Rotary Club meeting. (He is assuming the presidency of the local Rotary this summer.) He graduated from Chaminade High School, run by the Marianist fathers in Glen Cove, then from Villanova, Class of 1960, with a mechanical engineering degree. He spent three years in Army Intelligence, then joined Cigna, applying his engineering knowledge to ensuring the insurability of construction projects. He raised three children in the Philadelphia suburbs, but never forgot Glimmerglass’ lure. In the 1980s, married to Mary Margaret, the couple began weekending at The Inn at Cooperstown about the time Mike Jerome assumed ownership. In fact, the Kuhns were Jerome’s first repeat customers. After one “nice long weekend” in the fall, as they were packing the car to go home, Mary Margaret said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if, some day, we didn’t have to go home?” That tilted the balance, and the Kuhns began to house-hunt, an effort limited by Mrs. Kuhn’s insistence that they buy only a brick or mortar home. One evening they were at The Peppermill. Only one other table was occupied, and fellow patron Mabel Atwell engaged them in conversation. “You’ve been spending too much time on the Northeast Extension,” she said after hearing their story. “Why don’t you move here?” They explained the brick or mortar requirement, and she replied, “You haven’t looked at my house.” After dinner, the Kuhns drove by 51 Chestnut. It was brick. They were hooked. (Since, they have meticulously restored the historic detailing of the brick Victorian home.) Moving here, Paul soon found himself drawn into volunteer work at St. Mary’s “Our Lady of The Lake” parish and Bassett Hospital, and making brooms at The Farmers’ Museum. No sooner had the couple settled in than work began on Cooperstown Dreams Park in Hartwick Seminary. Kuhn said he got an early inkling of what was to come when he was awakened by 50 people milling around outside his window in the middle of the night; it turned out to be a contingent of Dreams Park parents from Kentucky waiting for a pizza delivery. As it happens, one of the early issues Kuhn struggled with on the Planning Board was the evolution of B&Bs in the wake of Dreams Park’s growth: He helped craft regulations, controversial with some, that required owners to live in their B&B, and setting safety standards and parking requirements. On the village board, he believes his two greatest contributions were made in the last year, as chairman of the Police Committee, his favorite chairmanship. First, concerned that the 50 trucks and semis that delivered to Main Street weekly were double-parking and endangering public safety, he developed new loading zones – in front of the CVS and on Pioneer Street. Then, after observing their use, the time limits were adjusted so the spaces could be used for general parking in the off hours. “It was not a popular measure in the minds of everyone, but it was in the minds of many,” he said, adding emphatically and characteristically, “It was something that had to be done.” Second was paid parking, which his Police Committee proposed for the Doubleday Field parking lot and Main and Pioneer streets. Despite public resistance that peaked at a packed, 300-citizen meeting at CCS’ Sterling Auditorium in November, Kuhn – along with Trustees Jeff Katz, Grace Kull, Lynn Mebust – adopted the law that authorizes the village trustees to implement paid parking. A scaled-back pilot project is now in the works for the Doubleday lot. “You have a place (Cooperstown) that is being used a lot more than was anticipated,” he said. “...The wear and tear on just about everything that is in the village is scarey.” If the full $600,000 anticipated from the full paid-parking plan is realized, he said, it would “pay for a large bond” – $5 million was anticipated – “to fix this village.” Kuhn picks up on that theme in looking ahead: Finances are the biggest challenge facing the village. He said “relationships” – between the village and the Town of Otsego, the county and the state – have to be reexamined. For instance, he said, the village shoulders the funding of the Village Library of Cooperstown with little help of surrounding towns, even though townsfolk are significant users of the library; likewise, the fire department. Matters can’t continue as they have, he said. “If the political environment is such that we can’t be a city” – a measure Bill Waller and a committee are exploring – “then we need to get some help from the county. Or we have to get some relief from Albany.” Perhaps the General Assembly can authorize Cooperstown to enact its own bed tax, perhaps an entertainment tax that would allow a $1 levy on Hall of Fame tickets. His conclusion: “Without this, the goose that lays the golden eggs is going to get tarnished.” Looking ahead – in addition to his continuing Watershed Committee duties – he plans to continue his downtown walking-tour business – you can see him most summer days dressed as Judge William Cooper must have. He is a eucharistic minister for St. Mary’s, administering communion once a week to Bassett Hospital patients. And he will continue his volunteering at The Farmers’ Museum – you may run into him portraying the innkeeper at the Bump Tavern. Selig Response ‘Appalling’ Hall Of Fame Game Supporter Connolly Levels Blast COOPERSTOWN In response to lawmakers’ concerns about the Hall of Fame Game cancellation, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has sent a "form-letter response" that savethefamegame.com creator Kristian Connolly has labelled "appalling." Connolly, a Cooperstown native now working in Washington, D.C., obtained copies of the letters sent to U.S. Reps. Michael Arcuri and Maurice Hinchey and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. Conceivably, similar letters may have been sent to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, and other politicians who expressed concern at the MLB move. "Commissioner Selig’s identical, form-letter response to members of Congress is stunning in its refusal to directly address the lawmakers’ concerns, and in the way it sweeps the central issue under the rug in favor of self-congratulating or hollow statements,” Connolly declared. “It’s insulting to the senators and representatives that have expressed their desire to see the tradition continue, and insulting to baseball fans across the globe. “The commissioner’s obvious disregard for his responsibility as the steward of America’s national pastime – not national industry – is appalling, as is his clear lack of caring about the sport’s fans – unless it involves how they can increase the bottom line. For all intents and purposes, Commissioner Selig should have used the word ‘customers’ rather than ‘fans’ or ‘visitors’ in his response, since it is unmistakable from his words that he views those of us who care about baseball – its past, present and future – only as sources of revenue. “Furthermore, I am in complete and utter disbelief that the commissioner of baseball believes that people need to be made ‘more aware of the Hall of Fame and its importance.’ As someone who grew up in Cooperstown and has traveled all over the country and met many different people – baseball fans and otherwise – I feel confident that there is not a single village in America that is more well known than Cooperstown, and baseball and the Hall of Fame are the main reasons why. For some, Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame are symbols. For others, they’re a goal. For others still, they’re the centerpiece of debate. And for many, Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame are destinations held in such high esteem that people spend months, years, or even a lifetime dreaming about and planning for a trip to visit them.”  Village Attorney Tapped For County Court RaceCOOPERSTOWN It may be an all-Cooperstown race for Otsego County judge this November to fill the vacancy created by Judge Michael V. Coccoma’s election to the state Supreme Court last November. Village Attorney John Lambert, 39, outstripped four other lawyers in winning the county Republican Committee’s endorsement on Monday, April 7. Richard Harlem, an Oneonta lawyer, received 51 votes to Lambert’s 57, and that could result in a GOP primary in September. Meanwhile, Cooperstown’s Jill Ghaleb, 43, who has been practicing family law primarily, has been interviewed by the Democratic County Committee. Charlie Turi Returns To Village After (What A Winter!) In Qatar By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN  When Charles Turi landed in Dubai in January after a 13-hour flight, his son Richard was waiting for him. As they – counting Cici, Richie’s wife, who had accompanied her father-in-law from New York – flew on to Doha, the capital of Qatar, the son painted a grim picture of what awaited them. Sand, tents, a primitive lifestyle. “Rich was always a comedian,” said Charlie, who most of us recognize as that 80-something gentleman who, wearing a Yankees cap, can be seen most summer days sitting on a bench in Pioneer Park. Yes, there were camels, but what followed were three months living in the lap of luxury in one of the world’s richest nations. The senior Turi got his first inkling of what was to come when limo picked them up at Doha International Airport. When the limo pulled up to a luxury hotel, he figured his son’s humorous streak was at play. “This is where we’re living,” the son told his dad. His father – he has four other sons and two daughters – knew that Richie, who is 54, an architect with a Cornell degree and decades of experience in New York, was a key architect in Qatar’s development plans – he’s working right now on building housing in the desert for 45,000 people. But, like most people who haven’t seen it, Charlie had a hard time visualizing what’s going on. For the tiny emirate, recognizing its vast oil reserves will soon be on the wane, is implementing a $15 billion Tourism Master Plan. The International Herald Tribune calls it “an aggressive construction and marketing strategy intended to launch the nation onto the world stage. Unveiled with fanfare in 2004, the scheme aims to build and attract top hotels; to create museums and theme parks; and to vastly expand the national airline. Its goal is to triple annual tourist arrivals, to 1.4 million, by 2008.” Read anything about Doha these days, and it includes many superlatives. Charlie was amazed by the hotels that commanded thousands of dollars a night for their rooms, the construction cranes everywhere, and the swank – and affordable – shopping malls. “I got myself a whole new wardrobe for $200,” he said. Cigarettes, almost $50 a carton here, were $11 a carton there. However, it was the warmth of the people he met that impressed him most. One night – “we were out to dinner about every other night” – Richie, Cici and Charlie arrived early at the high-end Ramada for dinner. They sat in the lobby, sipping coffee, when the head waiter came over and told them another guest had overheard them speaking English and wanted them to join him. Come to find out, the man was owner of one of Qatar’s biggest trucking firms. Since Charles Turi had experience in the trucking business around metropolitan New York, the two found they had plenty to talk about. A duo – a pianist and violinist – were playing in the corner. His host asked Charlie to name his favorite song: Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose.” Soon, the duo were performing it to Charlie’s complete satisfaction. And every time he revisited the Ramada to confer with his friend, the duo would strike up the song. At one reception, Charlie had a chance to meet one of the royal princes – Qatar is a shiekdom of about 885,000 people – and was grilled about the Social Security and health-care systems in the U.S., and how they work. “All he was concerned about was people,” Turi said. “In all the years I’ve lived here in the U.S.,” he said the other day, soon after returning to Cooperstown, “I’ve wished many times it was like that here. Money doesn’t impress me; what impresses me is how they use it.” The prince was frank about his country’s strategy. The oil won’t last forever, and Qatar hopes to become an international tourism center before it runs out. Part of that tourism push involves sports and – although everyone he met wanted to know about baseball – soccer is king there. Qatar is also positioning itself to host the 2016 Olympics and, Charlie said, has already completed five hotels that have been set aside, unused, to host the athletes eight years hence. Charlie’s back, and you’ll see him any day, sitting in Pioneer Park. If he has a far-away look on his face, you can understand why. “I’ve been invited to come back next year,” he said. Richie told him, “Dad, I owe it all to you.” Said Charles, “What more can a parent say?” Labels: Archives
Subscribe to Posts [Atom] |
|
 |
