|
|
In The News This Week Nov. 30, 2007 |
 |
 |
|
|
‘Go slow” appears to be the maxim from here on out in regards to the Village of Cooperstown’s shift to paid parking. As it surfaced that merchant and paid-parking foe Neil Weiller may run for the village board, Mayor Carol B. Waller is talking about an extensive process that includes having the plan reviewed by the village Planning Board, and perhaps the Zoning Board of Appeals as well. “There’s a terrible hurt in the village right now that needs healing,” said Waller on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Deputy Mayor Paul Kuhn said the Police Committee he chairs intends to take up the paid parking again at its next meeting 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, but said he is approaching the conversation with an open mind. “I will listen to arguments pro and con for rolling everything out at one time,” he said, “or rolling it out in phases” – the Doubleday Field Parking Lot first, then the streets. “I want to get us back, if we can, to a point of unity on the board, now that we have the law approved.” Meanwhile, Weiller’s supporters gathered at his home Monday, Nov. 26, and the Muskrat Hill proprietor said later that, while he hasn’t made up his mind whether to run, “I’m thinking about it.” The Republican and Democratic caucuses will be occurring at the end of January to select candidates for the March village elections. Kuhn, whose term expires, said he won’t run again. Trustee Jeff Katz, who became something of a lightning rod for criticism at a stormy public hearing on the proposed paid-parking plan Monday, Nov. 19, at CCS’ Sterling Auditorium, has said he plans to run again, and he has even been mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate if Waller decides not to seek another term. The trustees have staggered terms, with two of the six up for reelection each year. Kuhn said he’d heard that Weiller might run and said, “I hope he does run; he’s a resident and a merchant.” For her part, Waller said many people have stopped by her store, Mohican Flowers, to ask about when the caucuses will occur. “It sounds like people are getting interested,” she said. There was some question about whether the Police Committee, which developed the embattled plan, would continue to have jurisdiction over its continuing development. Waller, who had said she was considering moving it out of committee for consideration by the full board, said she plans to attend the Dec. 11 committee meeting, as does Katz and possibly other non-committee members as well. In addition to Kuhn, Trustees Lynne Mebust and Grace Kull are on the committee, with Police Chief Diana Nicols serving ex officio. If things go forward, the mayor said, the next step would be for the trustees to decide which “Pay & Display” machines are best for the village. While it’s not required, there’s been a precedent that such village projects be reviewed by the Planning Board, which – among other things – has looked at the water tower and, in reviewing a wood stove proposed for the Public Works Department, discovered it would be illegal so close to a school. The mayor will ask the village attorney if a Zoning Board review would be prudent as well. For his part, Weiller said he doesn’t oppose paid parking per se, in the Doubleday lot or even on-street. He said, however, that the community and trustees lacked “the proper information” to make an informed opinion at this time. At the end of the Nov. 19 hearing, the trustees, despite the audience’s objections, approved a law authorizing paid parking, as well as a set of guidelines that would enable it in the Doubleday lot and on Main and Pioneer streets. However, the trustees can adjust the guidelines at any meeting by a simple majority vote.  Aah, vacation. How we look forward to those too-few days of relaxation when we forget our work-a-day cares in some distant locale, perhaps even overseas, maybe Europe. So why did Martha Frey, on a vacation in England with hubby Andy, have Yogi Berra’s deja-vu-all-over-again feeling? Well, she WAS sitting in a hearing room. And, up front, experts were debating the merits of wind power. But instead of Holy Family Monastery’s golden onion domes, they were discussing a wind farm in the context of Alnwick Castle’s turrets. Frey, whose efforts as Otsego 2000’s executive director convinced the state Public Service Commission to scale back the 68-turbine Jordanville Wind Project to 49 towers, was touring the vicinity around Alnwick – its castle is Hogwarts Castle in the Harry Potter movies – when she picked up a copy of the Northumberland Gazette, the local paper. Screaming headlines brought her back with a jolt to the issues and debates she’d left behind. One of Great Britain’s leading wind-energy developers – npower renewables – was proposing an 18-turbine farm at Middlemoor, and the community was in an uproar. A three-week “inquiry” was on at Alnwick’s town hall. Martha couldn’t resist sticking her head in to see what it was like. The proceedings were somewhat free-wheeling compared to the more formal public hearings – one person talking at a time, with no response from the public officials – that she had experienced in the Warren Town Hall in Jordanville or the Owen D. Young auditorium in Van Hornesville. In response to community concerns, the British secretary of state had appointed an “inspector” to convene the inquiry. The topic being hotly debated the day Frey visited was npower claims – unfounded and overstated, the public claimed – of the amount of power that would be produced. As the public discovered in Cherry Valley and the Town of Stark, npower’s power-production projections were based on the wind blowing 100 percent of the time; there as here, the wind actually blows less than 30 percent of the time, slashing the estimates. On one side, the company experts held forth; on the other, experts interested in protecting, yes, the viewsheds around Alnwick Castle. The inspector jumped in from time to time with pointed questions. Whereas turbine foe Denise Como had her Starksville barn torched during her campaign for Stark Town Board, in Alnwick it’s otherwise. “I asked, ‘Where at the property owners?’” said Martha. “They said, ‘They don’t want to come here; they’re afraid of being attacked.’” The opponents ranged from Alnwick Gardens, a contemporary landscape being developed by the Duchess of Northumberland under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, to Britain’s National Trust, to the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association, whose herds are the sole survivors of cows and bulls that freely ranged England in olden times. “There’s a real love of place,” said Frey, “a real sense of place, a real sense of stewardship.” The issues, in addition to ones familiar here, included a national-security twist – Would the towers interfere with radar? – and economic development – Would turbines popping up along the horizon stall the region’s burgeoning movie-making industry? The newspaper covered the proceedings breathlessly, extensively and up to the minute, with updates in its morning and afternoon editions throughout the course of the inquiry. Check out www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk Monday, Nov. 26, Martha Frey was back in her office in Pioneer Alley, awaiting a judge’s opinion on an Article 78 action brought against the Jordanville Wind Project, and seeing if the PSC will reopen its hearing on the project, as requested by supporters. Next vacation? Somewhere, anywhere, perhaps, where the wind doesn’t blow. You may not be surprised to learn that Charles Dickens was never a radio broadcaster. However, the still-beloved Victorian novelist was called upon with some regularity to read his works out loud, most notably the greatly beloved “A Christmas Carol,” often at this time of the year. To read the whole “A Christmas Carol,” relatively short as it is – paid by the word, Dickens usually wrote long – would nonetheless take three or four hours. And so it happens, actor and script-writer Dorothy Reiberg of Cherry Valley related the other day, that Dickens had actually boiled down “A Christmas Carol” into a reading he could get through in 90 minutes. Dickens’ amended version turned out to be, not a replacement, but something of an inspiration when Dorothy, earlier this year, found herself boiling down that famed novel of redemption, of Scrooge and Marley’s Ghost and Tiny Tim, into a radio play. That wasn’t the original idea. Cherry Valley Artworks, that community’s umbrella arts organization, had gotten a $1,200 Otsego County bed-tax grant earlier in the year to stage an original play, by Roseanna Sheridan of New York City, a cousin of the local Erway family, about the first Miss America Pageant. That didn’t happen. If Artworks didn’t do something, it would have to give the money back. So the idea surfaced to put on a play to correspond with the Greater Cherry Valley Chamber of Commerce’s annual Holiday Open House, which is 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2. (The performances are 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Old School Cafe.) To her surprise, Dorothy, a transplant from Indiana by way of Manhattan, had plenty of people say, “I’ll do costumes. I’ll do props. I’ll do the sets ... but there were not enough actors.” It turned out that the idea of learning the lines on a whole play at this busy time of year was deterring to anybody with a family, and so the idea of a radio play – a script, but a script that could be read and, like “Prairie Home Companion,” acted – emerged. And notables in the Cherry Valley thespian community tumbled into line. David Leo (pseudonym for a four-syllable surname) will be Scrooge; lawyer Dennis Laughlin, Bob Cratchit; Jim Faliveno of Monumental Computer Applications, Marley’s Ghost; Joan Noonan, the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Jim Linehart, Scrooge’s nephew. Dorothy, as an old-time live-radio host, will provided the super-structure, complete with commercials. Narrators are Beth See and Breath Hand. Tiny Tim? You’ll just have to go and see for yourself. Dickens divided “A Christmas Carol” into five “staves, a stave – tellingly – defined as a verse or stanza of a poem or song. Dorothy found she was able to maintain the original structure, boiling down the text stave by stave, modernizing some of the language and smoothing out some of the dialogue to make it more accessible to the 21st century ear. Dorothy has been in Cherry Valley for 20 years now, since Debsie Horvath, a fellow paralegal in New York City, introduced her to the area. For years, she helped out her significant other, Brooks – Don Brooks – in operating The Rose & Kettle. She was active in Leatherstocking Theater and, more recently, in Ilion Little Theater. She did dinner-theater – “The Importance of Being Earnest” among the plays – at The Lake House on Canadarago Lake. (Her favorite role? Luna Cee in “Eclipsed.” Another character: Cress N. Moon.) Getting reintroduced to “A Christmas Carol” brought some interesting surprises. For instance, Reiberg found the tale was a bit of a protest against extreme wealth – Dickens thought England’s wealthy class was sapping the financial strength of the rest of society. So there is a contemporary message. And she discovered Tiny Tim, who has grown into a larger-than-life character, was ... well, go see.  Christmas Fund
In this busy holiday season, we remember that, for some, there is less cause for celebration. In Otsego County, there are many who could use our help to be just a bit happier. The Freeman's Journal Christmas Fund was established in 1921 by Rowan D. Spraker Sr., editor and publisher, as a way for neighbors to help others enjoy a happier holiday. This week will mark the 85th year we have been able to offer this opportunity to the community. Opportunities For Otsego has compiled a list of families in need. If you, your family, a neighborhood or office group wish to provide gifts for these children and families, call The Freeman's Journal at 547-6103, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Let us know which family you would like to help. Gifts should be both new and unwrapped. Opportunities For Otsego will be unable to deliver wrapped gifts or used items. Gifts may be dropped off at The Freeman's Journal office at 21 Railroad Ave in Cooperstown or at OFO's headquarters at 3 West Broadway, Oneonta. With their approval, donors' names will be published in The Freeman's Journal at the close of the season. We thank you in advance for your time, initative and heart-warming generosity. Here are the families on this year's list: SPONSORED*Family # 1 Mom is disabled and in a wheelchair. She could use some socks, drinking glasses and a twin size blanket. She has a 3-year-old son who wears size 4T and shoe size 9. He could use PJs, gloves, socks and underwear. He likes stars and moons, "Mr. Potato Head" toys, and "cars". Family # 2 Mom is age 24 and could use things for her kitchen. She likes the birdhouse motif. Her daughter, age 5, wears size 7 and shoe size 12/13. She needs a winter coat and boots. She likes Princess items and "Bratz" dolls. Family # 3 Mom and Dad are teen parents with a six month old little boy. The baby wears a size 9-12 months and shoe size 2. Mom would like a trac phone with minutes and Dad could use a tool set. They also need a vacuum. SPONSORED*Family # 4 Great Aunt has taken on the responsibility of raising her nephew, age 2. He wears a size 3T and shoe size 9. He needs hats and gloves and warm clothing for winter. He would like a Fisher Price "Little People" toy garage and likes fire trucks. Family # 5 Mom is a single parent raising an 11 year old son. He wears size 16 husky pants and a men's small shirt. He could use sweatshirts and pajamas. He likes hunting, camouflage, Rubik's Cube, puzzles. Mom would like a coffee maker and frying pans. SPONSORED*Family # 6 Mom and Dad work full time to make ends meet. They are raising two children. Their daughter, age 3, wears Size 4T and shoe size 9. She needs a winter coat and boots and her favorite color is dark pink. She would like Lincoln Logs. The younger daughter, age 18 months, wears size 24 months and shoe size 5. She needs training underpants. She also needs | 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 | |
||
 |
 |