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 In the News This Week -- Nov. 3, 2006 |
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 Cooperstown Peace Rally Features Cold Wind, Hot Rhetoric COOPERSTOWN No draft.” That’s how Joel Fox of the Town of Maryland, a Vietnam veteran and, later, a Vietnam protester, explained it. In the fourth year of a war President Bush finally compared to that earlier conflict just the other day, only 75 people marched in protest from Lakefront Park to Templeton Hall. There, another 75 were waiting. The signs echoed that earlier time. “Impeach Him.” “Peace.” But there was a new one: “Preemptive War: Never Again.” Those who did participate expressed an anguish reminiscent of Vietnam protests, but not the same level of anger. “Work as one voice, one heart, for justice, for all the people of the world,” declared Elizabeth Peterson, widow of David Dellinger, one of the Chicago Eight protesters arrested at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. She’d moved from Vermont in the past year to live with her daughter in the Town of Westford. “Why have we initiated killing and destruction to bring about our goal?” asked Sam Wilcox, a retired Bassett Healthcare social worker and administrator, who emceed the hour-long open-mike rally. “Where did we get to the point where torture is the topic of public debate?” asked David Grodsky, who with Paddy Lane represented Restore the Soul of America in Oneonta. Elliott D.S. Adams of Veterans for Peace, Sharon Springs, reported that when he began a solitary peace vigil in Cobleskill before the invasion of Afghanistan, he set up a video camera across the street, evidence in case he was mugged. “Today, I go down there and it’s like a love fest,” he said. Still, before the hour was out, people began wandering away and the crowd dwindled down to about 50. Adrian Kuzminski of Fly Creek, one of the organizers, said: “I think it was a good turnout, considering the weather” – windy and cold – “and the circumstances.” But, he added, in reference to the protests and mass meetings in Town of Otsego over proposed Conservation Subdivision Regulations: “This is about our rights. That’s what the guys in Fly Ceek were saying. I don’t know why they aren’t here.” In fact, the discussion veered off in the direction of the right to vote and electronic balloting, with fears expressed that the current administration is not above fixing an election, or even declaring martial law if things don’t go as Republicans hope on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7. “When you go to the polls,” said Wayne Stinson, one of the Schoharie County contingent, “demand a paper ballot.” Although the rally occurred 10 days before elections, no candidate was present, except Howie Harkins, the Green Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate, who drove up from Brooklyn. His proposal: “Take $1 billion from the Pentagon budget and put it into a world-wide fund to seek energy alternatives.” Weaning the world off oil would be a great step toward peace, he said, and he encouraged those present, “use your vote to make a statement” of protest against the major party candidates, incumbent Democrat Hillary Clinton and her Republican challenger, the former Yonkers mayor John Spencer. Andy Mason added a touch of humor. To express his support for all that had been said, he echoed Rush Limbaugh: “Ditto.” Then he continued: “George Bush is going out at Halloween as the commander in chief.” Saying the president was accusing war opponents of wanting to “cut and run,” Mason said, “I think that’s exactly what we should do: Cut and run. That’s what we’re going to do anyway after the election.” Whether the turnout was disappointing or not, those who participated expressed thanks and relief at the opportunity presented. Hilda Wilcox, who teaches at SUNY Oneonta, said of attending the march and rally: “For me, it’s a kind of prayer. It’s my way of saying, this is what I believe. This is what I don’t believe.” Audrey Scotto reported, “I’ve been very angry for a very long time” and being able to say so publicly was a relief. She told of reading an article where young women were writing messages on the side of bombs that would be dropped on other young women “and feeling my blood run cold.” Reading on, however, the article noted “most people in the world live in peace most of the time,” and that gave her some consolation. “We’re a very small part of a very large movement,” she concluded. “And it’s all over the world.” Joel Fox’s “no draft” comment resonated when Kate O’Donnell, who teaches at Hartwick College, said: “The majority of my students are not following the issues. I had students in my class who didn’t know what Abu Ghraib was.”  By JIM KEVLIN OTSEGO Bowing to pressure expressed at two packed and rowdy community meetings, Otsego Town Supervisor Tom Breiten expects regulations that would require developers to be more environmentally and aesthetically sensitive will simply be voluntary. While this would be stepping back from what appears to be the next generation of land-use regulation, the proposed Conservation Subdivision Regulations have become too hot a political potato to hold on to, various people involved in the controversy said. “That’s great,” said John Phillips, one of two property owners who mailed out a “WARNING/ALERT” flier in September declaring the proposed regulations “tyranny” and summoning townsfolk to the Fly Creek Fire Hall on Oct. 4 to organize. He added, “Yes, as long at they’re truly voluntary.” His fellow organizer, Jim Ainslie, was equally enthusiastic, adding, “Nobody’s against open space or having this done in a good way, it was the way they were going about it.” Ainslie said many of the provisions the objectors considered most objectionable – he mentioned a provision that may have required property owners to maintain open space, or the town would do the maintenance and put it on the tax bill – have been removed in work sessions following the second mass gathering, at a town board informational session Oct. 16 in town hall. “It sounds like it’s heading in the right direction right now,” said Ainslie, who had first proposed a “non-regulatory option” at that second meeting. Right now, the town has a three-acre minimum lot size, which planning consultant Nan Stolzenburg has pointed out requires a cookie-cutter approach, regardless of the terrain or features of a development plot. Conservation Subdivision Regulations would not only protect wetlands, viewsheds and historical features, it would be “density neutral”: If 12 lots were allowed on a 36-acre parcel under the current system, 12 lots of varied sizes would still be allow under the proposals. It would also allow one road cut to serve a number of houses tucked back from the road, instead of requiring homes to be strung along roadways. A voluntary program would free developers to be more creative, but there would be no requirement to be so. Breiten said making the regulations optional is one of three questions members of the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals will explore at a meeting that had been scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in town hall. (For details of the outcome, visit www.thefreemansjournal.com the following morning.) The gathering will also discuss whether to extend a one-year development moratorium that expires in December, and whether to set aside any subdivision adjustments until work on a revised Comprehensive Master Plan is complete. “I think voluntary planning tools with incentives could work,” said Stolzenburg, the founder and principal planner of Community Planning & Environmental Associates of Berne, near Albany. “Unless there’s an incentive, past history of similar voluntary programs have been shown not to be successful.” She mentioned the “density bonus” as one option: “A commmunity says, ‘We value open space and, in return for doing this kind of development, we will give you an incentive of added density’.” Because of public outcry, the planner said, the innovative regulations probably couldn’t be moved forward in the Town of Otsego right now. “Unfortunately, i think there’ stil a lot of fear and a lot of misinformation on what it (Conservation Subdivision Regulations) is trying to do and how it works,” said Stolzenburg. “To design with the land. I think that’s a smart thing for any community to do.” COOPERSTOWN Parent Rose Abate called it “crazy.” Realtor Patti Ashley said she was “appalled” by the idea of closing the second floor of Cooperstown Elementary School to save $200,000 on a federally mandated elevator. “One of our biggest treasures is our schools,” she said: They contribute to home values, attract new families to the village – even retirees like quality schools, because they buoy real-estate prices. “How could an entire building be eliminated and programs be maintained?” asked parent Jason Oliver. Parent Wendy Kiuber said she and her hubby Peter braved Cooperstown’s “inflated real estate,” buying a house in the school district solely for the benefit small classes would offer their seventh-grader and, in the future, their 1-year-old and 3-year-old. “If it does go through,” she told the school board at its Wednesday, Nov. 1, meeting, “I may seek out other opportunities in private schools.” Audience member Cathe Ellsworth pointed out that closing the second story isn’t the board’s idea. Rick Hulse of the Concerned Citizens group claimed credit for the suggestion, which he raised at the previous school board meeting, Oct. 18, calling it an “opportunity,” an opportunity to “continue to provide a good education” despite dropping enrollments and rising costs. School board member Kelly K. Branigan, who was filling in for chairman Anthony J. Scalici said it was one of many suggestions from the public that the school board considers. “We have to look at dollars and cents,” said Brannigan. “But we don’t want to do that at the expense of the kids.”  One Man’s Obsession Nears End
RICHFIELD SPRINGS When Biagio Marra, 56, arrived in New York City on St. Patrick’s Day, 1966, with his two boys, “his life was over,” said the older son, Isidoro. “It’s like a bird. You can put him in a cage and feed him caviar,” said the son. “But he’d rather be digging a worm in a field.” The father moved his family up to North Greenwood, where his sister was living. And, after a life of working outside, and speaking no English, he could only find work in the kitchen at Lombardo’s, the Albany restaurant. He retired at 62, was ill for 10 years, then died. So why did he leave Calabria? “For us,” said the son, who in addition to a brother, Sal, has two sisters, Joanne and Grace. “For a better life for us.” Now 56 – the age his dad was on that St. Patrick’s Day 40 years ago – Isidoro Marra, a sturdy man with an open face, easy to talk to, is in a much better place. A successful contractor in the Albany area, Marra is about to see a longtime dream and 15 years of toil come to fruition: His Villa Isidoro, in that striking stone mansion set back from Route 20 three miles east of Richfield Springs, a haute-cuisine restaurant in the elegant main house, and a comfortable tavern in the attached side-buildings that used to serve as a garage and barn. A crown jewel of the operation is Enzo Fargione, a Piedmontese chef who learned to cook at his mother’s side, trained in Turin from age 14, worked in some of northern Italy’s finest restaurants, and for the past 17 years has run and owned restaurants in San Diego, Washington, D.C., and, most recently, the Atrium in Jupiter, Fla. He had just closed the Atrium when Izzie Marra called. They clicked. Enzo liked what his future boss is trying to do, so here he is.Today, it might seem to Marra that what happened had to happen. But, in the beginning, it seemed more like happenstance. Marra and his family have a camp at Six Mile Point, but “I get fidgety if I don’t do something.” So 15 years ago, he was out scouting the area, when he drove by the old stone mansion, completely overgrown, with the distinctive widow’s walk. The house itself was stripped bare. All that was left of the original interior decoration were deep wooden sills and jambs around the windows, and that’s because they’re an integral part of the wall. The porch was long gone. The garden had been stripped of its flowers, (except for two English roses, which Izzie tended, revived and made part of the pleasant landscaping.) The house, he learned, had been purchased two years before, but the new owner had been shot dead in a bar in Brooklyn. He didn’t buy the house that summer, but dickered over the winter. The price kept dropping, and he bought it the following year. A 15-year “hobby” was born. “People go skiing, golfing,” he said. “This is my hobby.” He did virtually all the work himself. Renovating older homes in the Capital Region, he would salvage appropriate material and reinstall it here – doors, fixtures and the like. The porch had collapsed years before. So he rebuilt it from scratch. Today, it’s hard to imagine what the property looked like, it’s so close to done. The front rooms, where the gourmet diningroom will be, are bright, illuminated by long, wide windows. Fargione hasn’t fully briefed Marra on his plans for the gourmet menu, although a menu he was drafting for the Richfield Springs Rotary Club had such enticing entrees as roasted leg of lamb with fennel. Upstairs are bedrooms and baths, a possible B&B. But Marra plans to keep the rooms available for diners from afar, who would rather stay the night after the culinary experience rather than drive home. The tavern, all stone and woodwork, is warm, welcoming. The plan is to serve gourmet pizza there, baked in wood-fueled ovens. And panini, Fargione added. Izzie says it’s his favorite room. He wants everyone, from gourmet diners who might frequent the Horned Dorset in Leonardsville to construction workers, he said, looking down at his jeans and workshoes, and he laid out the establishment accordingly. As it happens, little is known about the house. Gary Aney of Mohawk, the Warren town historian, said all the land in the neighborhood was originally owned by the Tunnicliff family, dating back to before the American Revolution. The property passed on to a Frank White, and Aney believes he may have built the house. He raced horses, and the town historian said he believes there was an oval racetrack on the property at one time. Marra’s heard that story, he said, as he paced around the interior of the widow’s walk, a square 20-by-20 room at the peak of the roof with two large windows on each side that provide a 360-degree view for miles around. He’d been told at one point that the horse races could be seen from there. Only in the last few months has he hired people to help him finish up – plumbers and electricians, primarily – and also a staff. He “drafted” his second son, Nick – Nicolino, 28 – who was between jobs in Albany. He and wife Gail have two other sons, Benjamin, 33 - Biagio in Italian, after his grandfather - Catarina, 26, named after her grandmother, and his youngest son Guiseppe – Joe, 24 – an aspiring writer. Bringing others aboard has been hard, he said, to give up the control he’d exercise for all those years. So why the obsession? Izzie Marra paused. George Mallory, asked why people climb Everest, famously answered, “because it is there,” and Marra was similarly motivated: It was there, he wanted to do it, so he did it. “Anything can be done in this great country,” he said. The second reason is why he was drawn to his vocation. “It was a beautiful home. With me being in construction, it was a shame to see it almost go to the ground. Something had to be done.” So Izzie Marra did it. | Jan. 04, 2008 | Local Honor Roll | Pages From The Paper | july 6th 2007 | Hall of Fame Friday | Hall of Fame Saturday | Hall of Fame Sunday | Hall of Fame Monday | July282006 Archive | Aug042006 Archive | Aug112006 Archive | Aug182006 Archive | Sept012006 Archive | Sept082006 Archive | Sept152006 Archive | Sept222006 Archive | Sept292006 Archive | Oct062006 Archive | Oct132006 Archive | Oct202006 Archive | Oct272006 Archive | Nov032006 Archive | Nov172006 Archive | Nov242006 Archive | Dec012006 Archive | Dec082006 Archive | Dec152006 Archive | Dec222006 Archive | Dec292006 Archive | Jan052007 Archive | Jan192007 Archive | Jan262007 Archive | February092007 Archive | February162007 Archive | February232007 Archive | March162007 Archive | March232007 Archive | March302007 Archive | March302007 Archive | April132007 News Archive | Chris Gentile | Obituary | April272007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May252007 Archive | June 22, 2007 | July 13 2007 | Sept05 2007 | Sept 7th 2007 | Aug 31st 2007 | Local Law Parking | October 26, 2007 | Nov. 2 2007 | Nov. 16, 2007 | Glimmerglass Oct 5,2007 | Nov 16., 2007 | November 30 2007 | Nov. 30, 2007 | Dec. 07, 2007 | Dec. 14, 2007 | Dec. 21, 2007 | Dec. 28, 2007 | Jan. 11, 2008 | Jan. 18, 2008 | Jan. 25, 2008 | Feb 1, 2008 | Feb. 8, 2008 | Feb. 22, 2008 | GlimmerGlass Feb. 15, 2008 | Sports Feb. 15, 2008 | Feb.28, 2008 | March 7, 2008 | March 14, 2008 | GlimmerGlass March 14, 2008 | March 21, 2008 | March 28, 2008 | April 4, 2008 | April 11, 2008 | April 18, 2008 | April 25, 2008 | May 9, 2008 | May 2, 2008 | May 23, 2008 | | Our Services | Contact Us | Great Links | Return Home | Classified Ads | News Archive | Cooperstown Homes | Calendar -Best Bets | Letters to the Editor | |
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