The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Mom, Pop Ventures Provide Local Jobs; Leave Them Alone

While the dip now being experienced is the most severe in a half-century, we talk about economic “cycles” for a reason. If things are good, they’re going to get worse. If they’re bad, they’re going to get better.
We’ve also heard a lot in recent years about how markets are self-regulating. It turns out they are self-regulating – with a vengeance. The role of prudent regulation is to ensure the good times are as long as possible and the dips as benign as possible.
And we’d heard much praise for the “category busters” – Home Depot drove out (most of) the local hardware stores. Toys ’R’ Us the local toy stores. CompUSA the local computer vendors. Wal-Mart everything else.
The idea is that, by buying in bulk, they can offer the cheapest prices. In a dip, however, they can disappear overnight – witness Circuit City in Binghamton – taking needed jobs with them. The biggies don’t care about the little markets.
•
One benefit of a dip is we better appreciate the good times.
Those poor folks in San Francisco who experience a temperate climate year ’round can’t know the delight of recent thaw after sub-zero January. They can’t look forward, like we are now, to that first burger of the season that will soon be searing on the grill.
And as we experience macro-economic buffeting and the contracting of Big Retail, we better appreciate localness and diversity in the business community.
Which makes Governor Paterson’s push to allow supermarkets to sell wine so wrong right now.
What doesn’t he get?
First, wine sales account for 70 percent of independent liquor stores’ business, so the governor would be driving out a whole sector of local economies.
Where it’s unlikely supermarkets will add much employment to handle the new line, the loss of liquor stores would eliminate dozens of jobs in Otsego County alone.
Yes, the state would experience a windfall – the governor claims $105 million; the liquor-store industry estimates half that – as supermarkets spend $1,500 apiece for wine-selling licenses. But that money would be lost as independents close.
The Otsego County Chamber struggled with this issue – President & CEO Rob Robinson said he received 40 missives within a few hours after sending out a blanket e-mail soliciting member response.
The chamber’s Business Action Committee and then the full board debated the convenience issue, but ended up falling squarely on the side of small business, the engine of the nation’s – and local – job creation.
“It’s the wrong time to assault another small business,” said Robinson. “It doesn’t level the playing field. If you want to level the playing field, the legislature needs to allow liquor stores to sell beer and soda. Let them be a beverage center, not just a liquor store.”
It’s bad policy, he continued, to formulate policy simply to generate revenue, adding, “Either they reform the whole system or they don’t.”
“At this point,” he said, “we need to protect every small business we have.”
•
Sharon Wilsey, who operates Best Wines & Liquors on Oneonta’s east end – she and her father, Charles Briscoll, ran S&S Liquors at Southside Mall for years – has been an outspoken opponent of the governor’s suggestion.
One point many people miss, she said, is that supermarkets will get wine directly from the Sutters and Mondavis of this world, eliminating the distribution system that supplies the independents and all those related jobs: buyers, supervisors, salesmen, people who work in warehouses, order takers, secretaries, bookkeepers, truck-drivers. These are people who would be spending their local salaries in other local ventures.
As noted here before, everyone goes merrily on his or her way during the good times, like that fabled grasshopper. That’s when reform should happen. Human nature being what it is, no one’s motivated to change things until we’re in a crisis.
This is a case in point. Now’s not the time to cause short term pain. Governor Paterson, put the measure aside. Revisit it – or not – when the good times return.
For now, leave independent liquors stores alone.

What Kind Of Community Is Cooperstown, Anyhow?

In expressing opposition to the proposed New York Collegiate Baseball League franchise here the other night, Wendell Tripp, a civic leader of impeccable credentials, again referred to Cooperstown as a “retirement community.”
Looking around the village trustees’ meeting room, however, there were fewer than a handful of the 40-some folks in the crowd who might qualify as retired. Tripp himself said he is only semi-retired.
The crowd included merchants, teachers, people associated with Bassett Healthcare or the museums, young parents, village officials, a youngish police chief.
In Census 2000, 26.9 percent of the population was over 65, and that’s a lot, but that means the vast majority of local folks – 73.1 percent – are not of retirement age.
It’s a natural tendency to define the world around us in terms of our own cadre, but it’s not always accurate and rarely helpful.
What’s the implication? That Cooperstown should be some sort of unchanging Shangri-La, beyond striving or critical thought? That every innovation should be rejected out of hand?
For years, it’s said, Harold Hollis, as mayor, made no effect to restrain tax increases. The higher the taxes, the more rarified the citizenry.
An influx of retirees in the 1980s – “Retirement Edens,” by Peter Dickinson, touted Cooperstown – led to nine years of no tax increases.
And so the precarious village finances of today, of low water pressure on Irish Hill, of deteriorating sidewalks and streets, of the inability to fight a scourge like zebra mussels without breaking the bank.
Here’s what David Sanford, a member of the village trustees’ Planning Committee and no alarmist, said about the state of the south end’s infrastructure the other day: “We’re having breaks there all the time. It could be a catastrophe at some point ... We know it’s just going to collapse.”
Cooperstown, retirement community, isn’t going to come to grips with these, frankly, scarey prospects.
But a community of professionals, of businesspeople, of merchants, of academics, of Bassett’s brainpower, of young folks looking to get ahead – that kind of community can.
And that looks a lot like a community many of us recognize as Cooperstown.

Labels: 02-20-09, Editorial, Opinion, Perspectives

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:53 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Letters to the Editor

Daunting Times Require Adjustment

To the Editor:
Trustee Neil Weiler and I recently had a very long discussion about the state of the national economy and how it is impacting the Village of Cooperstown.
It is my view that the new economic reality that is sweeping our country and the world is also changing the Village of Cooperstown.
There must be at least six vacant commercial store fronts in the village with possibly a few more by next spring.
The business district of any community is, in my view, the face of the community.
If it is vibrant, the whole town appears to be vibrant. If it is depressed, the whole town appears to be depressed.
While the failure of an individual business is not the problem of a community as a whole, the increasing number of vacant store fronts are very much the problem of the entire community. We all rise or fall with the viability of our Main Street, like it or not.
The problems with the national economy are very deep and structural and may possibly last for a long time. It could be many years before we, as a country, get on our feet again and even then our condition may be on shaky ground.
In the meantime, while we cannot be very proactive to make substantial changes to the national economy, I do believe that we can help to make meaningful differences with our local economy.
I believe that we need to take a business approach to preserve the underlying fiscal well being of the entire community.
Vacant buildings cannot generate enough money to pay taxes and provide for necessary maintenance. Vacant buildings do not appreciate in value and in fact may decline in value.
Over time, with declining commercial building values, the buildings taxes may have to be reduced and the burden of necessary village expenses increasingly shifted to the private home owners in the village.
As private homes in the village possibly decline in value the tax revenue situation may continue to deteriorate.
The issue of rent for commercial space is also something that proactive building owners may also want to review in these challenging times. There could constructive opportunities in this area.
The new first rule of retailing could be that we cannot sell something to someone who is not there. The very serious problem that we may now face is the customer who is not there.
The second new rule of retailing could be that passive retailing is out and interactive retailing is in.
To this end I would like to suggest some changes to the way Cooperstown (I use “Cooperstown” to include the public and private sides) attracts and interacts with visitors.
I would like to call this proposed marketing effort the “have a nice day on us” approach.
I would like to suggest the following to start the conversation:
• continue to encourage the use of the free parking lots and trolley use.
• eliminate or reduce all paid parking to a maximum of $5 per day. All other spaces to be free two-hour limits, overtime tickets or fees after that OK.
• residents are allowed to offer on site parking for $5 per day for the people who do drive all the way into the village. This would keep more cars from driving aimlessly on Main Street and more people in the center of town within walking distance of their cars, with less pressure to leave.
•free admission to Fairy Springs Park for swimming and picnics. The village would make additional money from concessions and other sales. These visitors, who otherwise may not have come at all, would probably visit Main Street before they left town.
• free or low fee paddle boats at Lake Front Park. This would be a daily attraction to the under utilized lake front park that would also keep visitors near main street for longer periods of time. Portable concession carts could be permitted. It is amazing how many people visit Cooperstown and never know about the lake.
• possibly some free fishing locations for younger children
• reduced all-day fares on the trolleys; children free. Some trolleys could go to Fairy Springs and Three Mile Point.
• reduced entrance fees to museums and children free.
• carousel rides free (are they free now?)
• a small menu of standard price fixed meals for children at all restaurants and possibly some complimentary or reduced price beverages for adults.
• a standard (5 percent?) discount for all purchases at local businesses.
• the creation of a series of coloring books, with artistic and educational value, that cover the various interesting areas and history of Cooperstown. These books would be sold, with crayons, at a fixed, fair price. These books would help occupy and educate small children and also carry the Cooperstown story and attractions far and wide and keep them alive long after the visitors have gone home.
• a standard special price (50 cents) for (small) single scoop ice cream cones for children (a small item but good for public relations).
• a bowl of small free treats (one each) for young children, in each store.
• free (or inexpensive rental on honor system) bicycle use from public locations. Simple bikes to be borrowed and dropped at any identified location.
If we have done our job well, they will share their positive experiences with their friends and possibly many of them will come back again in the same season.
My father, who worked in The Otesaga in the late 1920s, remembered the real bad old days. He always said that “fast nickels are better than slow dollars.”
JAMES R. DEAN
Cooperstown

Trustees Failed To Recognize The Better Deal

To the Editor:
Just think. After 70 years, Doubleday Field could become what baseball is all about, beer, hotdogs, loud speakers and advertising. Can you believe we are going to get $5,000 per season for the privilege of letting this happen?
It was only two years ago when Friends of Baseball were asked to pay $1,000 per game, three to four games a day, and were told we will not let you run your business at our expense on Doubleday Field. The price was lowered to $600 per game after bitter confrontations.
As I predicted, at the inflated prices reservations would fall off. This year there are less than 60 games scheduled for June, July and August, but they tell me it will pick up?
Lynne Mebust thinks evening games would be a good use, as we would replace our pony league and VFW who have never paid for the privilege of playing on Doubleday Field. She also has not talked about how many Saturday and Sunday afternoon games would be scheduled in the most valuable time of the day.
Nobody has mentioned portable lights, but I am sure it is in the works.
In the months of June, July and August, there are 26 Saturdays and Sundays. If one-third of those Saturdays and Sundays were doubleheaders that would give us 34 slots. Take out 10 for the month of August leaving 24 game days, cut the 24 in half to 12 games on weekends at only $400 a game. That is $4,800.
What is up with this? You talk about giving away the store. Try this one!
The village could make $10,000 per season just putting up temporary signs in the outfield, which by the way they have turned down for the last 70 years. I will offer the first $1,000 for a sign in the outfield and pay for the sign that they can take down every day.
When will this board come up with common sense? I would like to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to Mr. Katz and Mrs. Mebust. I think it is a great deal! As they say, something is rotten in Denmark! We shouldn’t let our friends and associates pull the wool over our eyes enough is enough.
I can only imagine what paid parking will be like this year!
I’d like to go on record: Is the whole board taking responsibility for this foolishness?
TED HARGROVE
Cooperstown

Tom, Don’t Do It

To the Editor:
Once again, we are visited by the specter of industrial wind turbines rising on Cherry Valley’s lovely East Hill.
This time, however, the threat comes from an unexpected source, the town supervisor, Tom Garretson.
I stand second to no one in my admiration for the way Tom has handled the tough job of steering the town through troubled economic waters.
But this time, Tom is steering in the wrong direction – toward renewal of the most divisive internal argument Cherry Valley has had since the British burned down the village.
Two years ago, we ended up with a divided community – with neighbors angry at neighbors – when outside entrepreneurs tried to ramrod us into accepting turbines on East Hill.
Things settled down with adoption of a turbine ordinance that protected property owners on East Hill and those in nearby areas, including the Town of Sharon.
Cherry Valley again became Happy Valley. And now we want to reopen that old fight?
I think not. But if it is reopened, I and many others would be back in the fight to protect the beauty of our region and the values of our property that would be impacted terribly by 400-foot concrete and steel monsters towering over us.
Tom, don’t do it.

CONRAD C. FINK
Cherry Valley

Labels: 02-20-09, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:50 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

BOB LETTIS’ TALES OF COOPERSTOWN: DINNER FOR TWO

...Plus Three Kinds Of Pie

By BOB LETTIS

Bert Johnson was Gordon Miller’s grandfather. Gordie and his mother lived with her mother and father, the Johnsons, at 41 Susquehanna Ave.
Gordie and I were friends and we used to play together, his house being sixth up Susquehanna Avenue and on the same side of the street as ours.
One time, he and I cleaned out an old chicken house behind his grandfather’s barn and used it as our club house. I remember clearing out boxes upon boxes of papers from the chicken coop. In the boxes were check stubs and bank-account records that must have been part of Bert Johnson’s business (Mr. Johnson was a banker).
One Thanksgiving Day, when I was 8 or 9 years old, my mother and father had a large number of our family in for Thanksgiving dinner.
I can still picture all of us sitting around our large dining room table at 55 Susquehanna Ave. My grandmother and grandfather Hall were there, as well as my Aunt Edith, my great grandmother Fowlston and several others. Eight in all counting my brother, Jim, and myself.
We had a wonderful meal, with all that goes with a beautiful 20-pound turkey. Mash potatoes, candied yams, creamed onions, scalloped oysters and dressing were some of the things that made up the main course.
After that, we had dessert. There were three kinds of pie: apple, mince-meat, and pumpkin. After eating everything of the main course, with seconds on candied yams and dressing, I had one each of the pies.
Now, you may ask: what does this tale have to do with Gordie Miller?
After I had finished our dinner at home I went up the street to Gordie’s house to see if he could come out and play.
When I knocked on the door, his mother answered and asked me to come in while Gordie had his Thanksgiving dinner. His family was about to go into their dining room and they asked me to sit at the table with them.
I might tell you that they had a 20-pound turkey, along with mashed potatoes, candied yams, creamed onions, scalloped oysters, and dressing.
Before I knew what was happening, they talked me into having a little bit of their dinner. I had a little bit of everything and then there was dessert, (three kinds of pie). You guessed it – I had a little bit of each pie.
As you can imagine, when the last forkful of pie was eaten, I was stuffed. I could hardly move out of my chair.
Gordie’s mother suggested that we walk around the block and try to work off some of the discomfort of overeating.
And we did.

Labels: 02-20-09, Bob Lettis, Columns

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:49 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO
The report of the death of Mr. Diefendorf, of Springfield in this County, by hydrophobia, which has traveled the rounds of the public papers, turns out to have been without foundation in truth for Mr. D. writes that he is alive and well.
It is stated in the Schenectady papers that all the members of Union College have signed a pledge of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits during the whole of their collegiate course and we trust to be acted upon during life. They have addressed a Circular to other colleges and academies, soliciting the cooperation of the students in the same meritorious cause.
February 24, 1834

150 YEARS AGO
The American Express Co. will be charged nothing for being told that their charges on freight are altogether too high, even for their own interest. As a sample of the way in which they impose on the people, we will state a case or two: A few weeks ago, we paid $1 on a bundle of printing paper, weighing about 70 lbs., from Albany. Last Wednesday we paid $1 on a bundle of wrapping paper, weighing only 52 lbs., from Albany.
If this company would reduce their charges to anything like a reasonable amount, their business to this place would be increased four-fold. It is also a subject of just complaint that packages are not delivered to those to whom they are addressed, as in other places. For this the company should make provision.
February 18, 1859

125 YEARS AGO
For the Ladies – There is one old and long established custom that women ought to possess moral courage and common sense enough to take into their own hands and settle for themselves on a simple and permanent basis. It is the custom of wearing mourning for departed friends. The putting on and taking off of black within a stated time is in itself, instead of being a compliment, an insult to the dead. One does not put on and put off one’s sorrow in this way; there is therefore no reality in this fashion of symbolizing it.
February 16, 1884

100 YEARS AGO
Briefs – Some automobile tour promoters are planning to run regular excursions from the Mohawk Valley to Richfield Springs and Cooperstown during the coming summer, employing automobiles that will carry 36 passengers.
The annual prize speaking contest by the pupils of the High School was held at Assembly Hall last Friday evening. Miss Hazel S. Bissell won first prize for the girls, reciting “The Joke on Winnie.” Second prize went to Miss Metta A. Telfer, who recited “Bobby Shaftoe.” F. Harold Chrisler, who delivered “Shamus O’Brien” was awarded first prize for young men; the second was given to Lee A. Francis, whose subject was “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
February 18, 1909

75 YEARS AGO
“What you set your heart on can be yours if you rightly and fully use the resources of your kingdom – your mind,” were the closing words of an inspiring address on the “Value of the Mind,” given by Miss Gladys P. Griffith, instructor in English at the Cooperstown High School, at a well-attended meeting of the Cooperstown Woman’s Club.
Miss Griffith, among many other things, told the club women that although we are in the habit of regarding as important the things we say to other people, the things that are the most significant are what we say to ourselves. Life, she declared, is measured not in terms of years, but in terms of appreciation. We can only appreciate beauty when we come to realize that beauty consists not in external line and color, but in the inner motif. Miss Griffith declared that it is possible for anyone to control her mind product – her thoughts.
February 21, 1934

50 YEARS AGO
A total of 2,681 deer were taken last fall by hunters in Otsego County according to the tally on the state’s 1957 deer harvest report released this week. The total was 730 less than the record total of 3,411 taken during the 1956 deer season in this county. Last fall, hunters bagged a total of 1,190 antlered bucks, an increase of 329 over the 1956 total of 861.
February 19, 1958

25 YEARS AGO
For the fourth consecutive year, Cooperstown has been named a Tree City USA, according to Mayor Harold Hollis. The village has between 1,300 and 1,400 trees, many of them maples. The honor comes from the National Arbor Day Foundation, a Nebraska-based organization “dedicated to encouraging tree care and tree planting programs across the country.” To qualify for the award communities must have a tree ordinance, a comprehensive urban forestry program and an observance of Arbor Day. Cooperstown’s long-range tree care program was established in 1972.
February 22, 1984

10 YEARS AGO
Tom Bouton purchased the long-defunct Aufmuth & Sons store in the Fly Creek hamlet in May, 1997 and re-opened it as the Fly Creek General Store. “It happened by chance,” Bouton said. “I’d been looking for a general store, a quaint building in a location with good traffic. Then, one day, I was driving by and saw this place all closed up.” Bouton contacted the owner, Dottie Aufmuth, and within months, a little bit of history changed hands. Now the shelves are full and Bouton is contemplating expanding into the second floor. “I think we’re pretty much on target here,” he says. “People really did miss this store while it was closed.”
February 19, 1999

Bound Volumes is compiled from resources provided courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library. Tom Heitz is the Town of Otsego historian.

Labels: 02-20-09, Bound Volumes, Columns

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:46 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

The Healing Art

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

‘It’s nothing serious,” I told a friend on the second day of five that I recently spent at A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta.
“It’s always serious,” was the rejoinder.
That’s true. And because it’s serious, there is a lot of inevitable, serious thinking that takes place. That’s the “lemons” part of the equation. There was lots of “lemonade” to be had, however, in several surprising ways.
My roommate, for instance, was Roop Verma, an internationally acclaimed sitarist (protégé of Ravi Shankar) who gave me a DVD of “Renaissance Dalai Lama,” a film soon to be released for which he composed the musical score. An arts columnist could do worse in such circumstances.
Medicine is an art, of course, perhaps even more than it is a science, and I found myself surrounded by artists of every description in the form of physicians, nurses, aides, staffers, clergy, and numerous “-ologists.”
I found myself enjoying the position of “work-in-progress” and discovered a lot about the demography of a region I thought I knew reasonably well.
I invariably asked whoever it was that was seeing to one particular need or other where he or she was from. All of a sudden places like Afton, Sydney, Mount Vision, Laurens, Edmeston, Davenport, became places with people rather than just signs on the road. I found myself feeling unusually grounded and connected.
The day before my release, I received the visit of a hospital employee who had seen my name on the roster of patients. I have known her for more than two decades and it was a warm surprise to see her.
In our brief chat, I mentioned the exceptional work of photographer Richard Duncan. Had I seen his most recent book, “Otsego County,” she asked. I had not known of its existence, in fact. She just happened to have a copy downstairs and a few minutes later returned to my room with it to look at.
Old Master Photographs is how I describe Mr. Duncan’s exceptional images. There is a thrilling mixture of balance, harmonious color, light and dark, attention to detail, care and affection in every picture.
They are arranged according to individual town and by the time I came (reluctantly) to the last page, I felt as though I had been taken on an excursion through the entire county.
There were places I had never heard of. There were houses, monuments, buildings I never would have imagined in my own back yard, treasures for the eye and for the historian’s curiosity. Strange to think that the closest thing to being in jail (besides boarding school and the Army) should result in such an exciting sense of discovery.
Now that I have been sprung, and have taken seriously some of that serious thinking, I will make a point of seeing for myself what Richard Duncan so generously shares in his book.
Get a copy of “Otsego County” without delay.

Labels: 02-20-09, Art Beat, Glimmerglass, Sam Goodyear

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:46 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Leaving a Stamp

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

The Stamp Collectors were once paid $100 in cash to play one Lynard Skynard song at a graduation party in West Oneonta.  During the song, there was something of a dirt bike demo, adding flavor to what drummer Orion Palmer thinks was “Sweet Home Alabama.”
He told me this as he scraped chips of blue paint (peacock feather blue, to be precise) out of the inside of one of his drums in the kitchen of the Autumn Café before the band’s show Friday, Feb. 6.
As proprietor of both an interior painting and silk screening business and playing plenty of gigs with the Stamp Collectors and the Native Sons Jazz Trio, among other groups, such a sticky mess seemed inevitable.
The show was part of what the band has named the “Beating a Dead Horse Tour.”  A rather graphic idiom, but they say it is because the musicians play the same songs in the same town to the same audience.
Singing the song, “I Don’t Want to be in NYC” and announcing that there is no real reason to leave Oneonta, it is apparent that the Stamp Collectors have embraced an image as “Oneonta’s house band.”
This may not be an exaggeration, however, as Darcy Gibson, Ned Brower and Orion Palmer (all of whom play multiple instruments and sing) have been a part of some of Oneonta”s best known bands for well over a decade – Darcy and Orion have played together for the past eight years in the Mystical Steerhead Faction, later just Steerhead.
The other Friday, the Stamp Collectors proved themselves an engaging blend of epic rock and roll, dirty country and all things far and in between.  I have never heard a band go from “Psycho Killer” to “Whipping Post” so smoothly – in fact, I’ve never heard it done. 
And at the height of all this rocking, they made the tasteful decision to switch to a country shuffle with a conscious overuse of superlatives.
They call themselves the Stamp Collectors because Ned Brower can claim relation to composer Edward McDowell (1860-1908), who was honored by the United States Postal Service on a stamp in 1940.  Ned has further immortalized his relative with a tattoo of the stamp on the inside of his bicep.
I greatly anticipate the next opportunity to catch the Stamp Collectors. According to Palmer, “We have the ability to go to Anytown, USA, and have the crowd singing.” 
While this is most likely true, it looks like the Stamp Collectors have a future in Oneonta.

Labels: 02-20-09, Evan Jagels, Glimmerglass, Night Life

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:45 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

TAKING CARE OF BABY

Babies from Brookwood School’s infant daycare program observe schoolmates at a French breakfast.

New Web Site Helps Parents
Navigate Daycare Shoals

By JEANNINE BOHLER

Every parent wants the best for the children, especially when it comes to child-care.
The search for quality child-care just got a little easier, thanks to a new Web site launched by Catholic Charities of Otsego and Delaware Counties. Found at www.child-careconnectionny.com, The Child Care Connection Web site can help Otsego County parents navigate the difficult search for registered child-care options.
Registered child-care providers must meet regulations set forth by the state Office of Children and Family Services. Registered providers are trained in topics including health and safety, nutrition, child development, child abuse and maltreatment, first aid and business development. They are also required to complete background checks.
The new Web site advises parents about things to be aware of in their search for quality care and offers assistance for those seeking child-care subsidies.
Child Care Connection monitors each registered child care provider on a regular basis, making sure the facility and the care are in line with state requirements. The staff is also available for ongoing support, giving providers information and techniques for handling anything from the development of their business to addressing behavioral concerns.
The search is not always easy, according to Christy Houck, director of Child Care Connection of Otsego and Delaware Counties. Severe shortages exist in many child-care categories:
Infant care (6 weeks to 2 years) is difficult to find, she said. Many in-home providers opted out of infant care because it allows them to accept more older children.
Care for school-aged children comes up short during after-school hours, during school vacations and on snow days.
Care during nontraditional working hours – early mornings, evenings and weekends – can be nearly impossible to find.
Rural areas tend to have few registered providers.
Cost is a barrier for many families.
Finding solutions isn’t easy. Many families place their children with relatives or unregistered providers, Houck said. Some providers are legally exempt from the requirements, but many are not. When Child Care Connection becomes aware of these non-compliant sites, staff members work to encourage providers to follow the avenues required to register.
“Many people doing child-care illegally don’t realize that there are regulations. They are not trying to be deceitful,” she said. But complying with the state requirements can only help improve the quality of child-care offered.
The State of New York is currently in the process of adopting a quality-rating system – similar to the star hotel-rating system – that will help parents determine the quality of a program, she said.
While this system is not currently in place, the Child Care Connection Web site provides an excellent starting point for parents searching for care. A simple registration including the ages of children needing care, geographic location and the hours care is needed will provide parents with a list of possible child-care options in their area. The listing include address and telephone number, as well as the ages of children accepted.
The site is also a resource for child-care providers, explaining the training required, listing upcoming courses and supplying other pertinent information to registered providers and those wishing to become registered.

Layoff Prompts This Daddy To Pursue Longtime Dream, Operating Daycare

By LAURA COX

When the unexpected happened and one young Oneonta dad was laid off his job, it was the perfect opportunity to start a home business, a registered daycare – a Daddy Day Care.
For James Stark, 27, the father of Madalyn, 2 1/2, and Nolan, 8 months, the idea for the daycare originated while he was on family medical leave from Amphenol Corp. in Sidney after his son was born.
“I was sick of working split shifts and never getting family time with my wife and kids together,” said Stark. “I have always wanted to be a teacher, so I decided opening a daycare would be a great way to do that and spend time with my kids.”
After being laid off in October, Stark contacted Catholic Charities and attended child-care provider professional-development classes – 15 hours on topics ranging from cleaning and sanitation to child safety, diaper changing and how children see the world. He also had to have his home inspected for health and safety standards in addition to being fingerprinted and having his background checked by the state.
“Through working with them and training them, most of the people I can say I helped to get registered have done well,” said Rose Grant, Catholic Charities childcare specialist who helped James.
As a registered family daycare provider, Stark can provide care for up to two children under the age of 2, three more over the age of 2, and two school age children afterschool, including his own two children.
Ideal hours for the Daddy Day Care will be 6:45 a.m. – 4:45 p.m., but Stark is willing to budge a little to accommodate, with his wife Jennifer, an Oneonta Middle School phys-ed teacher who has filled out the proper paperwork to sub for the day care, filling in when needed in the evenings.
To prepare for the day care the Starks renovated the basement of their raised ranch home located just south of River St. They dry walled, installed new carpet, plumbed in a bathroom and utility sink, built a bench for the kids to sit down and take their shoes off, decorated the wall with their family’s hand prints – to which all the day care kids will get to add theirs– and got a couple big comfy recliner chairs for kids to relax in. They have multiple child-size tables in addition to an art station and lots of toys – both fun and educational.
“I want to do a letter of the day everyday and have some educational video time and then build on both of those during the rest of the day,” said Stark, “We will also have physical activity time, going on walks to the park and playing in the yard once it is nice out again.”
During the summer when Jennifer is on break from school, the Starks would like to open the day care to more school age children for summer camp type programming by becoming registered as a group family day care. They are currently looking into this process which is done directly through the state and not through Catholic Charities.
Stark is one of a 18 registered family day care providers in Oneonta, the only male.
For more information on the Daddy Day Care, contact James Stark at 432-3049 or attend the open house being held from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Stark’s home located at 148 Henry St. in Oneonta.

Labels: 02-20-09, Glimmerglass

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:43 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL: After dinner on Friday night head on over to the Fenimore Art Museum and catch “Life is Beautiful,” starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21. Admission is free and there will be a book raffle.

OVER THE AIRWAYS: Sit back and laugh while watching the original production, “Over the Airways,” directed by John and Linda Insetta, of Oneonta. The show will open at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, with a repeat performance at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Foothills Performing Arts Center, Oneonta. Tickets are $20/$18 and there will be a Cash Bar for those 21+.

SPAGHETTI: If it is Saturday night and you don’t feel like cooking, drive out to Milford for the American Legion Spaghetti Dinner. The meal will be served from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, by donation.

JAZZ CONCERT: At 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 a four member band will be playing jazz at the Hoffman Lane Bistro. Music will include anything from standards to hard bop and original compositions. Hoffmann Lane Bistro, Cooperstown. No admission fee, donations appreciated.

MARDI GRAS GALA: St. Mary’s Parish Center in Oneonta will be hopping from 7 p.m.-midnight on Saturday, Feb. 21 as Orpheus Theatre hosts a Mardis Gras Gala followed by a benefit auction. The event includes food, beverages, DJ entertainment, prizes, raffles and more. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door and $10 for students. Call 432-9392 for tickets.

SUMMERTIME IN THE WINTER: At 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22 the Oneonta Community Concert Band will present its 8th annual “Good Ol’ Summertime in Winter” Concert at the Foothills performing Arts Center in Oneonta. Music with a warm weather theme and a touch of Mardi Gras. The show is free and open to the public, donations accepted to support the band. For more information call 432-7977.

LEARN TO SKATE: The Cooperstown Friends of the Park are sponsoring a skill building clinic from 10 to 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22 for beginning skaters at Badger Park. An intermediate level class will follow from 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Some skates are available in the warming hut. Free for the public. 607 547-8333.

Labels: 02-20-09, Glimmerglass, Weekend's Best Bets

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:42 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Cooperstown and Around

GO, REDSKINS! CCS basketball sectionals begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, with a home game at Bursey Gym.

NEARBY BATS: A bat maker is moving to baseball country, sort of. Carolina Clubs, formerly of Wilmington, Fla., has moved to the Charleston Industrial Park in Esperance, Schoharie County, about 35 miles from Cooperstown, the Schenectady Gazette reports.

DEPOT RENOVATIONS: On the same topic, Tim and Connie Haney, who bought Cooperstown Bat. Co. last summer, are moving part of their operation to the former Hartwick railroad depot on Route 45. The building is now under renovations.

RESIGNS AGAIN: Steve Newby, the Village of Cooperstown’s building inspector, has again resigned his position, effective Tuesday, Feb. 17.

IN THE ZONE: The Zone, that Richfield Springs youth center, has completed its community center at Walnut and Ann streets (behind Richfield Central School) and is celebrating with a grand-opening dance 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. Oprah’s donations helped make the building possible.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Paula DiPerna of Cooperstown, president of the Chicago Climate Exchange, will discuss “Benefits to Otsego County for Addressing Climate Change” at the Friends of the Village Library of Cooperstown’s “Last Thursday Lecture,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at 22 Main.

EXPLORING EVA: Milford native and playwright Isaac Rathbone and wife Jennifer were in the county recently arranging a reading from “Little Eva,” his play about the Eva Coo murder trial. The reading will be March 15 at the Green Toad Bookstore, Oneonta. The full play will be performed at the Greater Milford Area Historical Society in June.

Labels: 02-20-09, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:21 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

FOR SALE: Locomotive, Business Car, Much More

Focusing On Freight, NYS&W Sells Rolling Stock

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

When William White, New York Central Railroad president, wanted to inspect his holdings, he would spend a week in the coach car you can now see parked next the Delaware Otsego Corp. headquarters on 1 Railroad Ave.
See it? Even better, you can buy it, for just $38,900.
“The real issue,” Jim Howarth, vice president-business development for the DO’s New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway said the other day, “is moving it.” A locomotive weighs 100 tons.
Over the last few years, since selling the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad to the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, the NYS&W has been moving out of the excursion business into freight.
(Its only remaining excursion is the annual Marathon Maple Festival, coming up March 28-29. More than 2,000 people rode the rails there last year.)
That left the NYS&W with equipment it no longer had a use for, but “requires constant maintenance, particularly in this climate,” said Howarth.
As a result, it’s all for sale – a couple of dozen cars and locomotives, 12-13 of which have already been disposed of – through D.F. Barnhardt & Associates, which specializes in marketing this very thing.
Some of the cars were purchased by developers, looking for an authentic centerpiece for rail-themed malls.
Some are bought be individual rail buffs. “There are a couple of hundred people in this country who have private rail cars,” Howarth said, “just like private jets.”
The NYS&W’s lines extend from Syracuse and Utica south through Binghamton to outside of Newark, N.J., and pieces of the excess equipment can be found in various spots along the routes.
Cooperstown, though, is also home to a 1942 ALCO locomotive – yours for $44,400, plus moving costs – and Rahway Valley Railway 1551 Coach – $11,100.
Jim Howarth walks from the former freight depot that serves as DO headquarters through an enclosed passageway right into William White’s car, and its like taking a time machine back 50 years.
First, the kitchen, stainless steel and compact the way everything is in railroads. A cabin for two crew members who tended the executives is squeezed right next to the galley.
Then a roomy diningroom/office. Then a long corridor – the radiators along the outside are solid brass – that passes alongside four cabins, each two sharing a bathroom. Finally, a bright and airy sitting room on the back, with a platform set just behind it.
That gets Howarth recalling the role such railcars played in U.S. history.
American presidential candidates whistle-stopped across the country, speechifying out the back at station after station.
When Ronald Reagan wanted to signal it was “Morning in America,” he recreated the whistle-stops of yore. Barack Obama and Joe Biden did a very similar thing just a few weeks ago, riding by train from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. for the inauguration.
More practically, these cars were the only way not just for White, but for his vice presidents and general managers, to find out what was going on in the field.
“The best way to see the railroad is from the railroad,” said Howarth, who ought to know: After graduating from SUNY Oneonta almost 40 years ago, he joined Walter Rich, then worked around the country for the big railroad companies before returning to Cooperstown four years ago.
Rich, who developed a small excursion railroad into the DO, which for a time was a sizeable regional railroad, died a year ago August.
Since then, Howarth said, some attention has been paid to sprucing up the DO headquarters, adding plantings, repainting the building, grading the land around it. Once the stock is gone, he said, the plan is to put a memorial to Rich in one section of the property.

Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:13 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Baseball Team Hits 1st Bump

Idea of Minor League Franchise Topic of March 3 ‘Town Meeting’

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

Former mayor Wendell Tripp recalled former mayor Stu Taugher’s immortal words: “Cooperstown is not a baseball town, per se.”
And the battle was joined.
Tripp’s point, expressed to at the village trustees’ monthly meeting Tuesday, Feb. 17, was that the two men hoping to bring a New York Collegiate Baseball League franchise to Cooperstown in 2010 shouldn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms.
After the meeting, Deputy Mayor Jeff Katz, who was presiding in Mayor Carol B. Waller’s absence, noted that pros and cons about a minor league team – and also about zebra mussels – will be aired at a “town meeting” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at the county courthouse.
Tripp continued: “The average resident of Cooperstown cares no more or less about baseball than any other small town,” and he expressed concerns about the impact noise from a proposed P-A system would have on what he termed “a retirement community.”
“The end result will not be positive,” he said. “It will be negative.”
While Tom Hickey of Fly Creek, the dean of liberal studies at SUNY Cobleskill whose partner is the athletic director there, listened with apparent surprise, a half-dozen merchants then weighed in where Tripp left off.
Ted Hargrove of T.J.’s Restaurant said the team would draw 100 fans – the league’s average is 700 – and will harm, not help, downtown businesses.
Decrying the possible selling of beer and the proposed rent – the $5,000 fee proposed would average out to some $200 a game – he said, “That field belongs to the county, it belongs to the world. Anything we do there is going to be broadcast around the world.”
Baseball merchants Pete Henrici, Larry Petraglia and Pat Narcisso also expressed concerns, but Ron Brown, who runs The Factory Store in the Doubleday Field lot, said, “Generally, it’s a great idea.”
When he had a chance to reply, Hickey said beer or no, the idea of the team is “completely consistent with the Village of Cooperstown” and will be a “wholesome family thing.”
Jeremy Bentham’s utility principle – “the greatest good for the greatest number” – should be applied in this case.
“Kids should have a right to grow up around baseball,” he said.
Katz said the March 3 meeting will allow the trustees to get additional input before the next meeting of the village’s Doubleday Field Committee, which can prepare a proposal for the trustees’ next meeting, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 16.
Stu Taugher was in Otsego Manor for a week undergoing a recuperation, so was unable to attend the Feb. 17 meeting, but the quote attributed to him harkens back to 1996, when a minor league team from Newburgh was looking to relocate here.
Taugher’s quote was picked up and repeated far and wide, even being decried in a New York Times’ editorial.
The team decided to stay in Newburgh.

Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page, Minor League Baseball

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:09 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

As 100th Year Begins, Otesaga Honored As County Mainstay

Otsego County Chamber Names
Hotel ‘NBT Business of Year'

COOPERSTOWN

Not a bad way to begin a 100th birthday celebration.
Cooperstown’s Otesaga was chosen this week by The Otsego County Chamber as the NBT Bank Distinguished Business, one of the chamber’s foremost annual recognitions.
Otesaga General Manager John Irvin said he and his staff were “humbled and honored,” adding, “We have worked toward being an important part of the business community of the county and look forward to continuing this role for at least another 100 years.”
The chamber chose retired Supreme Court Judge Robert A. Harlem Sr. of Oneonta to receive the Eugene A. Bettiol, Jr. Distinguished Citizen Award and The Otesaga Resort Hotel as the NBT Bank Distinguished Business.
He and The Otesaga will honored Friday, April 3, at the chamber’s Annual Banquet and Celebration of Business, beginning at 5:45 p.m. at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom.
In choosing The Otesaga, the resort hotel’s longevity as a social magnet on Otsego Lake was noted, but Peter Livshin, chairman of the chamber board, also cited its role in “making our region a better place to live and prosper.”
In particular, The Otesaga’s support for local charities and food banks, including the Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative care, Bassett Healthcare, the American Red Cross and the Cooperstown Fire Department and EMS were cited.
While The Otesaga has long been a revered local fixture, Jane Forbes Clark embarked on a $40 million restoration of the somewhat aging lady on inheriting the property in the early 1990s. The hotel had been built by Stephen C. Clark, Miss Clark’s grandfather, and his brother Edward S. Clark on 10 acres that included 700 feet of frontage on Otsego Lake.
Otesaga is said to be a Native American word meaning “Place of Meeting.”
The hotel originally opened with 179 sleeping rooms, including 26 rooms on the top floor for staff. The renovations expanded that to 135 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites. The diningroom serves breakfast and dinner, and provides a noontime buffet.
It has nine meeting rooms, the largest – the Ballroom – accommodates 250 guests. Originally a social hotel, business groups and conferences today account for 60 percent of the business. (The first such group hosted at the hotel was the New York Press Association, which is planning its fall conference here again in September.)
The hotel has also been used for other purposes.
From 1920 to 1954 the hotel was used by the Knox School as an exclusive two-year finishing school. In the 1960s, AT&T used the hotel as their Data Communications Training Center. In each instance, the hotel continued to operate as a resort during the summer months.
While the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home was being renovated in 2002-03, Miss Clark arranged for the residents there to stay at The Otesaga. When a contractor’s torch caused the newly renovated building to burn to the ground in March 2003, the residents stayed for another year while a replica of the home was built.
The Otesaga has a pool and tennis courts, but a major amenity is the Leatherstocking Golf Course, built in 1909 and designed by Devereaux Emmet, one of the leading architects of that period. The course was renovated in 1996 by Bob Cupp, another leading architect, who also added a driving range.
The annual banquet is $75 per person. For reservations, call Pam the chamber, 432-4500, extension 201, or e-mail her at pam@otsegocountychamber.com

Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page, Otsego County Chamber, The Otesaga

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:06 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Locals

Sunday, February 15, 2009

WHITHER HARTWICK?

Mary M. Burgoon and Walter Kalina, senior planners with Clough Harbour & Associates, advise the Town of Hartwick Comprehensive Planning Committee on the procees that will revise the town plan over the next six months. The committee met for the first time Monday, Feb. 16. Clockwise from the upper right, members are Cliff Brunner, Jessica Breiten, chair; Sandra Austin, Alex Thomas, Mike Basile, Tim West and Andre Conklin. Also present but not in the picture are Katherine Gannon and Town Councilman David Butler. Two additional members are still to be appointed.

Rabbit Goody Plans Workshops, Book

CHERRY VALLEY

Weaver Rabbit Goody, whose Thistle Hill Weavers has woven period fabric for many major motion pictures – from Tom Hanks’ “Road to Perdition” to the most recent Indiana Jones flick – will be offering two workshops this spring.
“Dating and Identifying 18th and 19th Century Woven Textiles” and “American Woven Coverlets” Friday through Sunday, June 12-14.
Registration is $75 for one day, $125 for two days, and $200 fto attend both workshop[s all three days. Call (518) 284-2729 to register.
Rabbit will also be collaborating this year with photographer Richard Walker on a book about weaving for Stackpole Books.

Girls Volleyball Team Takes CCS To Finals

COOPERSTOWN

The CCS girls volleyball team won the semi-finals 25-16, 25-22, and 25-15 Wednesday, Feb. 18, against Tully, and will proceed to the finals at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Jamesville-Dewitt High School near Syracuse.
Top scorers were Katie Horrigan and Sarah Dewey.
The Redskins finished the seasion 11-5.

LIVERMORE VICTORY: Ruth Livermore took first place with a score of 4,660 when Senior Citizen Bridge convened four tables Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the Clark Sports Center. Jane Brayden was second with 4,510 and Mary Ann Robinson third with 3,960. Martha Beals won the special prize. The group meets Tuesday mornings at 9:30; all are welcome. Information, call Marge Ludecker at 547-2471.

ROTARIANS HELP LIBRARY

Polly Smith Thomas, president of the Friends of the Kinney Library, Hartwick, receives a donation to buy books from Paul Kuhn, president of the Cooperstown Rotary Club. The Cooperstown club has been working with the Hartwick library to purchase reference books for young readers. Mrs. Thomas was a guest at the Rotarians’ Tuesday, Feb. 17, meeting at The Otesaga.

A Winter ‘Pic-Nique’

THANKSGIVING HOME NOTES

BY THE HOME REPORTER

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”
~Pietro Aretino
•
Looking outside our windows, we see winter in its true form: though the days and nights have been at times, bone-chilling cold, we are enjoying the warmth within our home, sharing time with family and friends.
On a cold and snowy winter afternoon, we were invited to warm ourselves with tea or coffee, a delightful sweet and conversation!
Residents and staff who partook of this were Fannie Navarra, Bill Bowes and his sister Alberta Bowes, Margaret Rees, Martha Quinn, Rena Lull, Peg Hage, Hildegard Parr, Ruth Druse, Pat Donnelly and Susan Kenyon.
We reminisced about our past winters, sharing memories of sledding as a child, ice skating on frozen ponds, hiking through the snow in our heavy woolen wear, looking through Jack Frost window panes and experiencing the awe of a winter snow storm.
We all wholeheartedly agreed that it was an hour of time well spent and could only come about with winters’ chill.
•
However, the chill of winter would not deter us from celebrating our love of summer with a winter picnic. This Eden event took place on Friday, Jan. 30, in our Activity Room.
Tables set with red and white checkered tablecloths, complete with paper plates, napkins and Gerber daisy centerpieces adorned with giant picnic pests consisting of ants and flies, were only part of the atmosphere.
A beach scene was created with the use of a palm tree donated by the Clark Sports Center, beach balls and umbrellas. Beach Boys music played in the background.
Picnic perfections were made by dining staff which included hot-off-the-grill hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans, coleslaw, Jell-o salad, pickles, olives and fresh fruit.
Our talented resident, Leon Rathbun, prepared his famous potato salad as an added edible delight! Our cook, Darcey Schilling requested that we all sing for our dessert which consisted of a choice of cool and creamy pies and tarts, so without delay we sang together “Ants at the Picnic”.
While enjoying our selected piece of pie, be it banana cream, chocolate, custard, cherry cream cheese or a lemon or lime tart, we learned some picnic trivia.
Where does the word “picnic” come from? The answer – it is French – “pique-nique,” meaning something “of little importance.”
I think many of us would differ in our definition of “picnic,” as we found our winter picnic to be of great importance … but possibly not as important as the Super Bowl to football fans!
•
On Sunday, Feb. 1, we watched and celebrated the Super Bowl with pizza, wings and delicious ice cream sundaes. On Monday, our football pool winners were announced and rewarded with wonderful prizes. The 1st quarter winner was Bill Bowes, half-time winner Doris Blomquist, 3rd quarter winner Maureen Micek and the final winner was Frank Rollins. Regardless of who we’d rooted for…we’d all won… for everyone enjoyed the eats and treats!
•
As we enter the month of February, let us remember to seek the beauty, tranquility and wisdom of winter… for…
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” 
~Edith Sitwell

Apple Converting Employees Brainstorm On How To Expand ‘Buy American’ Drive

Since launching his “Buy American” drive in January, Mike Manno of Cooperstown, owner of Apple Converting Inc., the Oneonta packing and label maker, has sent out thousands of labels to other manufacturers.
In addition to the original 7-by-9-inch labels he uses on every pallet Apple ships out from the Pony Farm Industrial Park, he is producing 15-by-24 labels and making them available to others at no cost.
The Fly Creek Cider Mill and Teddy Glassworks, East Meredith, are among the local business that are using the labels.
He also brought together his employees to brainstorm slogans to put on small labels suitable for envelopes, and they came up with 40 sayings, ranging from “Take This Job And Save It -- Buy American” to “We’ll Keep The Billions -- Let Wall Street Have The Change.”
They also devised a pledge, beginning, “We the people of Apple Converting Inc. believe that one of the things we can do to stimulate the economy is to buy more things made in America.”
Anyone wanting labels should call Peggy Marshall at 432-6500.

Cooperstown Native Partners In New York City Restaurant

If you find yourself in the neighborhood of Clinton and Rivington streets in New York City, look around for the Fat Hippo, Cathy Raddatz of Cooperstown advises.
George Raddatz, son of Cathy and Dr. Don Raddatz, is partners with chef Ten Vong and another person in the new restaurant, which opened Friday, Feb. 13.
“Sometimes things just fall into place,” said the review in urbandaddy.com. “Like when the right restaurant opens in the right neighborhood at the right time. And especially when said restaurant serves food till 4 and will happily pour you a stiff Manhattan.”
A review in the New York Times said “their food twists burgers (in a fondue), spare ribs (glazed with chili and chocolate) and turkey meatloaf (with tamarind ketchup).”
For reservations next time you’re in New York, call (212) 228-0994

ON DEAN’S LIST: Meghan Polus of Cooperstown, a sophomore English major, and Alexander Johannesen of Fly Creek, a senior wildlife & fisheries biology major, are on the Dean’s List for the fall semester at the University of Vermont.

Morrison Cited As Best Teacher

COOPERSTOWN

The Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year Award was given to Gregory Morrison of Laurens at the recent graduation of Bassett Healthcare’s Center for Rural Emergency Medical Services Education’s paramedics program.
Diane Duffy, R.N., was given the Advanced Student of the Year Award.
Among the 40 graduates from several surrounding counties were two from Otsego, Carney P. Harper, Milford, and Aaron Saxer, Hartwick.

Labels: 02-20-09, Locals

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:55 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with: