The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Monday, March 16, 2009

Unadilla Native Ariell Ahearn
Completing Master’s At Cornell

COOPERSTOWN

Ariell Ahearn, a Unadilla native, potter and Fulbright scholar who is completing a master’s in public administration at Cornell, will become the Smithy Pioneer Gallery’s new executive director in early summer.
“She is one of the most magical people you could hope to meet,” said Elizabeth Nields, the Otego potter who serves on the Smithy board.
Ariell’s mother, Susan, lived in Oneonta when her daughter was a toddler, and Nields knew her then. They reconnected during Ariell’s teen years.
Ahearn later took a Nields’ pottery course while a student at Hartwick College, and “her energy transformed everyone,” her mentor said.
Henry F. Weil, Smithy chairman, said the board wants Ahearn to reach out to artists in the region and “make decisions for herself on what will work best.”
The Smithy, housed at 55 Pioneer St. in the village’s oldest building – originally William Cooper’s store – should be “a place for members of the community to be creative” and “a place of surprise and enjoyment,” Weil said.
Ahearn’s studies of art and public administration seemed ideal.
While at Hartwick, Ahearn said, she took advantage of opportunities to study abroad and did so in Mexico, Russia and then Mongolia.
She was inspired to seek a Fulbright to pursue research on the impacts of capitalism on that former socialist republic, the topic of her master’s thesis.
In addition to sculpting with clay – lately, abstracts of goats, which she raised while a girl in Duanesburg – she is a photographer.

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page

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Teachers: Hands Off 6th Grade

McPhail Reverses: Middle School May Not Be Dissolved

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

Cooperstown Middle School’s teachers argued putting Grade 6 back in the elementary school would ruin years of effort to smooth the transition from childhood to teenager-hood.
High School Principal Mike Cring, who was middle school principal until a week before, agreed.
And they were backed up by 100 parents.
In the face of the onslaught, Superintendent of Schools Mary Jo McPhail retreated Wednesday, March 18, from plans to move Grade 6 back to the elementary school, which would have dismantled the middle-school concept created 20 years ago.
Yes, the superintendent told the crowd in the middle/high school cafeteria, the school board, the week before, had announced it would not hire a replacement for former high school Principal Gary Koch, now Worcester Central superintendent. And it would assign Grades K-6 to Elementary Principal Theresa Gorman and Grades 7-12 to Cring.
These steps were taken to save money due to Governor Paterson’s reductions in state aid, McPhail said.
However, she continued, it is “not a foregone conclusion” that Grade 6 would be moved out of the Linden Avenue high school back to the Cooperstown Elementary School on Walnut Street, and the concept would be further studied.
Her announcement, about 90 minutes into presentations and pleas to preserve the middle-school concept as it now exists, drew applause from the crowd.
It was unclear if now Cring would oversee Grades 6-12, or if Gorman, as previously anticipated, would be ferrying back and forth between the two schools.
The evening began with an introduction by Cring and a PowerPoint presentation where each teacher, sequentially, gave reasons why the Grade 6-7-8 combination must stand.
Math teacher Mike Leggett praised the “true culture” and “strong middle school identity” that has been developed through the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound design implemented since Cring arrived on the scene.
“Everything we do is transition,” added Dave Bertram.
“Careful consideration should be made in making seventh grade the transition year,” added Deb Miller.
And another called moving Grade 6 “a huge disruption and loss of our middle school that means so much to our kids.”
When the parents’ turn came, Elizabeth Redd said, “You need to slow this process down.”
Alex Thomas, the SUNY Oneonta sociologist and Hartwick parent, argued no changes should be made until a data-collection model is established to measure relative success.
Added Martha Heneghan, “I was not uinder the impression this is a done deal.”
It seemed that no one was around 20 years ago when the decision was made to create the middle school and move Grade 6, until former school board President Bob Hage was identified in the crowd.
The “seed of the middle school,” it turns out, was not necessarily educational, he said. The elementary school was “bursting at the seams,” so moving Grade 6 made sense for practical reasons.
At the time, he said, he anticipated the move might be reversed if the situation changed, as it now has: There’s room at the elementary school, and it’s the high school that’s now crowded.
Theresa Russo, a SUNY Oneonta education professor who serves on the CCS school board, had collected research – available on www.cooperstowncs.org – that showed middle schools are falling out of favor: When a transition occurs – like the shift to middle school and then to high school – performance drops, and reducing transitions from two to one actually benefit students.
However, the teachers had put together a packet from the National Middle School Association that decried “the rush to dismantle middle schools.”

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page

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It’s Booan, Monie By Wide Margins

Republicans Rout Dems In C-Town

COOPERSTOWN

The Republican ticket trounced the Democrats in the Wednesday, March 18, village elections.
Joseph Booan Jr. led the ticket with 341 votes, followed by Willis Monie Jr., 276, to win the two open seats.
Richard Abbate tallied 177 and the one incumbent, Milo V. Stewart Jr., 137.
Village GOP Chairman Bill Waller credited the margin with the amount of door-to-door campaigning Booan and Monie conducted.
He added, “They didn’t tell people what the issues were; they asked them what the issues were.”
The tally was a little lower than usual, perhaps due to downpours throughout the afternoon.
In all, 440 voters cast ballots at the fire hall, plus 52 absentees, compared to 505 and 50 in last year’s mayoral race.

Labels: 03-20-09, Elections, Front Page

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Cooperstown and Around

BESS BACK: Notre Dame architecture professor Philip Bess will meet with the public at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22, at 22 Main, to discuss how the village might implement the recommendations his graduate students developed last year. The public is welcome. He was invited by the village’s 2025 Commission.

RECTOR TO RETIRE: Christ Episcopal Church has formed a search committee to find a success to Father Samuel Abbott, rector, who is retiring June 30.

AARON VISIT? It is hoped that the hero himself will come to Cooperstown for the 11 a.m. Saturday, April 25, ribbon-cutting of “Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream,” a new permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

MURPHY BACK: Scott Murphy, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 20th District, was back in Otsego County Wednesday, March 18, meeting voters in Milford. He and Republican Jim Tedisco face off in a special election Tuesday, March 31.

DAY-CARE OK’D: The village trustees approved Mary Turi’s application to relocate her Cooperstown Pre-School at the corner of Walnut and Deleware at their monthly meeting Monday, March 16. She had lost her lease to premises at Lake and Fair.

WEEK ON LAKE: The Cherry Valley Chamber of Commerce is raffling off a week at the Sleeping Lion Inn. Tickets are $5 at A Rose is A Rose, Gates-Cole Insurance, Coyote Café, NBT Bank or the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce.

CRAYON FUN: This year’s Crayon Carnival, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at Cooperstown Middle/High School, will feature “The Stroll of Nations,” allowing kids to “travel” to foreign lands.

Labels: 03-20-09, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

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Locals

LADY LIBERTY AND THE SHARKS

Judy Steiner as Lady Liberty is surrounded by sharks in the Fly Creek Philharmonic’s upcoming performance. Also pictured (clockwise from the left) are Bill Hayes, Chris Kjolhede, Tom Huntsman and Kim Stockwell. This year’s performance, “It’s About Time!” will be at 8 p.m. March 27-28 in the Fly Creek United Methodist Church. Tickets available at Augur’s and the Fly Creek General Store.

Local Students’ Artwork Due In Utica

Student winners of the Cooperstown Art Association’s An Artistic Discovery are:
• Marie Dilorenzo, Cooperstown, for her painting, “When Cars Were Cool...”
• Tanner Gelatt, Edmeston, for his photograph, “July 14”
• Phoenix Grivel, Cooperstown, for her photograph, “Anonymous”
• Jared Hamm, Edmeston, for his photograph,“Trip”
• Noah Johannesen, Cooperstown, for his photograph, “Unaltered Digital Photograph”
• Kim Leon, Cooperstown, for her pastel and pen artwork titled, “Silence.”
The works will be displayed at the Munson-Proctor-Williams Institute, Utica, with others from schools throughout the 24th Congressional District.
The top 49 of similar exhibits nationwide will be displayed in the Capitol.

MASONS: The Otsego Hartwick Arbutus Chapter #201 of the Order of the Eastern Star of New York installed their 2009 officers at the Masonic Hall in Cooperstown. The following officers were installed: Matron Nancy Sloan, Patron Christopher Barown, Associate Matron Anita Harrison, Associate Patron William Harrison, Secretary Wilma Dodge, Treasurer Caren Kelsey, Conductress Diane Graf, Associate Conductress Aida Brockway, Trustees Laurie Bard, Violet Moshier and Ruth Jewell, Chaplain Karen Field, Marshall Beverly Hensle, Musician Betty McCarthy, Historian Marion Starr, Warder Elizabeth McManus, Color Bearer Shirley DiSpirito and Martha Mary Eldred.

OFF TO CONFERENCE: Michael Flinton, assistant professor at the SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship to attend the annual conference of the Public Risk Management Association in Dallas, May 31-June 3. A member of the SUNY Oneonta faculty since 2008, Flinton holds a master’s in public administration from Central Michigan University. He was previously executive director of the Saratoga Automobile Museum.

NO SLAMS THIS WEEK: Janet Gorman came in first, scoring 5010 when four tables met for Sr. Citizen’s bridge at the Clark Sports Center on Tuesday, March 17. Louise Allen came in second with 4860 and Ruth Livermore scored 4670 to come in third. Mary Ann Robinson won the Special Prize. The group meets each Tuesday at 9:30 at the Clark Sports Center.

‘Little Eva’ Play Reading Draws Full House To Green Toad Event

ONEONTA

More than 80 enthusiastic fans packed The Green Toad Bookstore Sunday evening, March 15, for a reading of the first act of “Little Eva,” Milford native and New York City playwright Isaac Rathbone’s take on one of Otsego County’s most notorious murders.
A cast of local actors assembled by Sam Goodyear read for a half hour, eliciting several bursts of laughter from the audience – among other things, this is a funny play – and hearty applause at the end. Then Rathbone answered questions for another half hour.
Coo, a local madam and the last woman executed by electric chair in New York State, was found guilty – after a sensational trial at Cooperstown – of heavily insuring her handyman, then running him over to make it look like an accident so she could collect on the policy.
The play will be presented in full on three weekends in June, beginning on the 12th, at the Upper Susquehanna Cultural Center in Milford.
Sunday’s event was co-sponsored by The Green Toad, Hometown Oneonta/The Freeman’s Journal, the Greater Milford Area Historical Society, and Cooperstown Brewing Company, which provided tastings of its Backyard India Pale Ale and other brews. The pale ale label bears a picture of Harry Wright, Eva Coo’s victim.
Rathbone is the son of Tom Rathbone, SUNY Oneonta vice president of facilities management, and Lola Rathbone, Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care executive director.

Labels: 03-20-09, Locals

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Obituaries

Philip Quartier, Horseman, Dies In Florida

Philip F. Quartier of Venice, Fla., and Cooperstown, passed away March 10, 2009, in Florida after a short illness.
Phil was a very well known person in the horse world for all of his life.
Survivors include his wife, Susan; a son, Philip, and his wife Susan; grandson Philip, stepdaughters Pamela, Kimberly and Martha, and sister anna and her husband Walter.
A memorial service will be held later this year in New York.
Memorial donations may be made to the Susquehanna SPCA, 4841 Highway 28, Cooperstown NY 13326.

Mary H. Ross, 98, Dies In Cooperstown

COOPERSTOWN – Mary H. Ross, 98, who retired to Cooperstown from New Jersey 17 years ago, died Monday night, March 16, 2009, at Otsego Manor.
Mary was born April 15, 1910, in Garfield, N.J., and graduated from Garfield High School. One of 10 children, she was a daughter of Harry and Anna (Kapp) Palubniak.
Mary was united in marriage to Charles A. Ross on March 3, 1938, at The Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Brooklyn.
During her years in New Jersey, Mary was employed as a secretary and administrator for Ventimiglia Real Estate in Paterson.
A communicant of St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake” Roman Catholic Church since moving to Cooperstown, Mary led a quiet lifestyle, was adept at needlework, was an avid reader, and enjoyed shopping. She also traveled extensively, but her life always revolved around family activities.
Survivors include a sister, Martha Quinn of Cooperstown, and several nieces and nephews, including Michael Quinn and his wife, Margaret, of Hartwick, Martha Cavallerano of Sudbury, Mass., Mary Doyle of West Newfield, Maine, John and Dan Palubniak and Donna Ellis of New Jersey, and Edward and Arthur Kerle.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was predeceased by eight of her siblings.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 20, at St. Mary’s in Cooperstown, with Father John P. Rosson, pastor, presiding.
A private service of committal will take place on Saturday morning, March 21, , in Calvary Cemetery in Paterson, N.J.
Friends may call from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 20, at the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home, Cooperstown. Mary’s family will be in attendance.
In lieu of flowers expressions of sympathy in the form of memorial gifts may be made to Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820; to Otsego Manor, 128 Phoenix Mills Cross Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326, or to Friends of Bassett, 1 Atwell Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326
Arrangements are under the direction of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.

Labels: 03-20-09, Obituaries

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Letters to the Editor

Let’s Keep On Saving Young Lives

To the Editor:
This is to the Cooperstown community, parents, students, administration and board of education:
Thank you for supporting the continuation of the 21st Century Driver Training Program at Cooperstown High School during the upcoming summer months.
Motor vehicle accidents continue to be the Number One cause of death of 16- to 24-year-olds in our country, and represent an estimated $34 billion per year cost to society.
We can no longer accept these fatalities, injuries and associated damages as the parents’ and teen drivers’ problems alone.
Teen driver safety is everyone’s problem. It is a public health crisis; an important education, health and safety issue that affects everyone in our society.
Driving is an important life skill, and supporting our school-based driver training program year ’round is the best way we can begin to reverse the current trend.
Thank you again for showing your support of this very important program.
PENNEY SILVIS GENTILE
MARY HARMON
Cooperstown

Test For Worms, And While You’re At It, Pesticides

To the Editor:
Last week’s article and photo of a student at the Biological Field Station examining a fish for parasitic worms reminded me that many people eat the fish from Otsego Lake.
The Leatherstocking Golf Course is one-quarter mile south of the Field Station and is a heavy user of pesticides. According to the 2008 commercial applicators’ report, 3,305 pounds and 102 gallons were applied to the golf course last year. The totals for the last three years are: 7,472 pounds (or more than 3 1/2 tons) and 343 gallons.
Given these quantities, I suggest that the Field Station also test these fish for pesticides.
Do you need a formal contract with the state Department of Health to do this, or could you obtain interagency departmental tasking permission and do it as a pro bono public health project?
MICHAEL WHALING
Sharon Springs

Ask Representatives To Do Something About Drilling

To the Editor:
I was in attendance at the “How Gas Drilling Can Affect You” forum sponsored by Sustainable Otsego Sunday, March 15.
The information presented by the well-prepared citizen panel was frightening, to say the least.
The future that awaits our county when (not if) natural gas development takes hold is one of almost unimaginable change.
We are about to morph from a peaceful, rural community into an industrialized nightmare, complete with hundreds of tanker trucks, ruined drinking wells, poisoned air and miles of pipeline.
I’ve been following the growth of natural gas development in the Marcellus shale for a while now, hoping that the horror stories I was reading and hearing weren’t true. But they are true and they are headed our way.
When it comes to our water and air, we have no legal protections, since gas companies are exempt from federal clean air and water legislation.
The personal accounts of folks in Pennsylvania (where gas extraction is in full swing) broke my heart. Their wells are contaminated, their health and that of their animals is compromised and they live with a 24/7 operation of high-decibel compressors just 500 feet from their homes.
They have no potable water and the gas company in their region takes no responsibility nor accepts any blame.
Two exploratory wells are already in operation in Cherry Valley. The time is now to put any and all protections that we can in place.
I urge you to contact your county representatives and Chairman Powers to let them know your concerns and to ask them what the county can do to mitigate the dangers that are headed our way.
Conventional thinking is that we cannot stop this development; the gas and oil lobbies are just too powerful. We must however, do everything possible to protect ourselves and we have very little time.
BETH ROSENTHAL
Roseboom

Single-Payer Health-Care System Way To Go

To the Editor:
I would like to join Dr. DeLong in urging that health-care reform take the shape of a single-payer system modeled on Medicare.
The majority of physicians in both the state Medical Association and in polling conducted by the AMA favor this approach, which remains blocked by for-profit insurance companies that are demonstrably less efficient and by pharmaceutical companies that fear the government’s buying power.
Health-care reform must also be accompanied by tort reform, which drives costs by necessitating the practice of defensive medicine, and by more stringent professional peer and outside review.
At the training level, physicians must be made competent in physical examination and history taking, which together obviate the need for a great deal of the routine expensive testing currently conducted.
They must be freed from the constraints of time frames set by administrators invested in maximizing “productivity,” and supported by efficient systems which facilitate a common goal of patient care.
I hope people will communicate their views on this important issue to their representatives in Congress and directly to the White House.
And while we are at it, Bassett might do something about its phone system, a source of frustration to patients and physicians alike for as long as I can remember.
MARY ANNE WHELAN, M.D.
Cooperstown

Thanks For Helping With CCS History Fair

To the Editor:
This letter is to thank our generous contributors to the Cooperstown Middle High School History Day Fair.
On Feb. 10, students from grades 7 through 9 participated in our school’s History Day Fair. The students put much time and effort into their research and projects.
The projects were evaluated by panel of judges and winners were awarded in individual, group and documentary categories.
Many projects were on display in the school’s library. The awards came from generous businesses and individuals in our community.
Our deep appreciation is extended to: Cooperstown PTO, American Legion, VFW, Glimmerglass Opera, The Fenimore Art Museum, Farmers’ Museum & NYSHA, the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, The Clark Sport Center, Cooperstown Baseball Bracelet Co., Cooperstown Rotary Club, and Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you for supporting our students.
CARINA L. FRANCK
& ERIKA IDELSON
CCS Middle School
PTO Co-Chairs

Labels: 03-20-09, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

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Natural-Gas Drilling Has Potential To Ruin Otsego County

On New Year’s Day, an explosion blew the concrete cover off a well in Dimock, Pa., a few miles from Scranton.
Early this month, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported that the cause was methane from a nearby well drilled by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. The DEP charged the company with contaminating groundwater, according to a report in the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Coincidentally, three forums, “How The Dangers of Gas Drilling Affect You,” were held around Otsego County – in Cherry Valley, Cooperstown and Oneonta – in the days that followed, organized by Sustainable Otsego and other citizens groups concerned about a veritable plague of gas-drilling locusts expected to descend on this neighborhood when the price of oil inevitably begins to rise again.
The speakers – Colleen Blacklock of Oneonta’s Health Communities Campaign, Ron Bishop of Cooperstown, a SUNY Oneonta lecturer in chemistry, and Jim Herman, a Hartwick landowner – painted what, frankly, is a scary picture.
•

To set the stage, at issue is a new techology, hydro-fracking, whereby a vertical pipe is drilled several thousand feet into the ground; an “octopus” of horizontal pipes then fans out in all directions. Chemicals – and they are toxic – are pumped into the ground and cause explosions that create cracks in shale, allowing natural gas to seep through and come to the surface.
Here’s a sampling of the concerns Blacklock, Bishop and Herman expressed about hydro-fracking:
• Each well requires 3.8 million gallons of water, half of which stays underground, the rest, laced with poisonous heavy metals and petroleum byproducts, is brought to the surface and stored in pools until it can be trucked away to special treatment plants.
• Each well requires 1,000 tanker-truck trips to and fro to bring the water in and out along country roads.
• Since 54,000 acres in Otsego County are leased to gas exploration companies, and 16 wells can be sited per square mile, a potential 1,300 wells could be drilled locally. (An aerial photograph near Eunice, N.M., showed one pod after another as far as the horizon.)
• To relieve pressure, those 16 wells per square mile may be “flamed” – lit – a nice picture to contemplate.
• Each well will require an access road to the pad.
• Each well will have to be connected to the main Millenium Pipeline through a pipeline.
• Wells can be active for up to 40 years.
• Compressors at each well head emit 90 decibels of low-frequency noise 24 hours a day.
• The underground explosions create 8,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, or four times that inside a propane tank.
• Fracking can create fissures up to a half-mile (5,280 feet) long, and the shale in the Canadarago-Cherry Valley area are only 1,500 feet below ground. Even at Oneonta, the shale is only 3,000-3,500 below ground.
• Much of the leased land in Otsego County is along streams, near aquifers, the source of local drinking water. Once contaminated, aquifers – huge underground reservoirs – can’t be cleaned.
• After an EPA whistleblower raised issues of potential water contamination, Congress in 2005 exempted the gas-drilling industry from the U.S. Clean Drinking Water Act.
• Along with natural gas, radon can be freed to come to the surface. (In Marcellus, outside Syracuse, where there’s an outcropping of the Marcellus Formation, radon was found to be eight times the national average and twice the EPA “action limit” in every one of 271 houses tested.)
• Radioactive substances coat equipment and the inside of pipes, and have to periodically be cleaned.
•
Even if half of this is true, or a quarter, or less, gas drilling could make the Otsego County we know today unrecognizable.
Granted, Blacklock, Bishop and Herman aren’t trained natural-gas-drill-ologists. They are just brainy individuals who have been researching the potential impacts of natural-gas drilling since the locusts began swarming last summer.
And all of the concerns expressed at the forums are apart from the whole land-leasing issue.
There was so much concern expressed about that – Are the drillers offering enough? Will landowners be stuck with any and all liability? – that state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford – no alarmist – has urged people to be wary and he set up a link on his web site (www.senatorjimseward.com) on that very issue.
But so many leases have been signed it may be too late for many property owners; they’re stuck.
New York City was able to extract a concession that no drilling or exploration can be done within one mile of its Catskills watersheds, but what about the rest of us? Who’s looking out for us?
•
To date, no one in Otsego County government, regrettably, has shown much interest in this issue. The DEC in New York is underfunded and understaffed, even if the political will were there to make the gas drillers toe the line.
Speaking to the Cooperstown Rotary Club Tuesday, March 17, Senator Seward pointed out that 1,000 wells have been operating for decades in Western New York, safely contributing to the local economies.
But those are your grandaddy’s vertical wells – drive a shaft into the ground, and gas comes up. The so-much-more environmentally intrusive hydro-fracking is the issue today.
The people who packed the meeting at Templeton Hall in Cooperstown Sunday, March 15 – or at the Old School Cafe or St. Mary’s parish hall in Oneonta – to hear the presentations will be called NIMBYs, Luddites, hysterics and worse.
As has been stated in this space before, just because someone doesn’t want a loud, intrusive, dangerous, possibly disastrous use in his or her backyard doesn’t mean that use constitutes good public policy.
There are vast, vacant stretches of this great land of ours that may be suitable for this kind of environmental Russian roulette. Otsego County, which has so much going for it, is definitely not one of them.
If Blacklock, Bishop and Herman aren’t the ones to protect us, fine. But then who is?
Senator Seward’s office, or the county Board of Representatives, or our local universities, or the county Association of Supervisors need to marshal the expertise and credibility to create a level playing field for both regular citizens and the gas companies that have huge economic resources behind them.
Let’s not wake up a half-dozen years from now to discover we’re too late.

Labels: 03-20-09, Editorial, Natural Gas Drilling, Opinion, Perspectives

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In Good Times, Less-Good Times, Rotary’s There

CHAD WELCH

OTHER VOICES

The effects of a struggling economy, reports of rising unemployment, home foreclosures and bailouts seem to dominate the daily news of late. Opinions are varied and many on how best to bring this ever-worsening recession to a halt, or what path to follow toward recovery in the years ahead.
While there may be no perfect response to immediately correct the nation’s financial ills, a group of local business people believe they can help preserve hope and promise locally. The Cooperstown Rotary Club, a diverse group of professionals with 82 active members, plans to use the fruits of their volunteer efforts to continue a tradition of local goodwill during a time when charity is desperately needed.
Record-earning fundraisers this past year once again displayed the remarkable continuous generosity of the our residents and businesses within this small community.
As in the past, this year’s Applefest, Cooperstown Rotary’s biggest annual event, Harvest Festival and Election Day Pancake Dinner will help the club achieve that goal.
The success of fundraisers has always been due to the support the club receives from event sponsors and program advertisements, contributions of goods and services from merchants, patronage of families who enjoy the community events, and the participation of volunteering club members. But exceptional fall weather during Applefest and an unprecedented Election Day turnout made the events this year even better.
Following the extraordinary fundraisers, the club was pleased to be able to make donations of $7,000 to local needs this past fall. Dating back to the spring of 2000, the Cooperstown Rotary Club has donated just over $90,000 directly to local charities and organizations.
Cooperstown and regional food banks and Opportunities for Otsego were among non-profits that have received the greatest support, but the scope of generosity has reached Boys, Girls and Cub Scout troops, youth groups and sporting leagues, educational programs, as well as Bassett-led initiatives for school-based health care, to name a few more.
Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, LEAF, Pathfinder Village, Project Prom at Cooperstown High School, the village library’s children’s room, the “Red” Bursey Playground project, 4H, Cooperstown Youth Football, Cooperstown Pony League, Susquehanna SPCA and Brookwood Gardens Restoration have also benefited over the years.
The Cooperstown Rotary Club receives requests for funds throughout the year with biannual distributions made in the spring and fall. An Allocations Committee reviews the requests to make recommendations to the Board of Directors for those nonprofit causes whose use of the funds will focus on the local area. Donations allocated are always dependent on the number of requests received and the amount of funds available.
The Cooperstown Rotary Club would like to extend its sincere thanks for the continued support of our community in our efforts to bring goodwill for the benefit of others.
Non-profit organizations in need of support are asked to submit requests for donations to The Rotary Club of Cooperstown, P.O. Box 993, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Attn: Allocations Committee.
All requests will be reviewed by the Allocations Committee, with final approval to be made during the Rotary board of directors’ next meeting Monday, April 6, with dispersal of funds in the weeks following.

Chad Welch is the Cooperstown Rotary’s Allocations Committee acting chairperson

Labels: 03-20-09, Guest Column, Opinion, Perspectives

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Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO
Franklin Library – The members of the Franklin Library are requested to meet at the house of Isaac Lewis, in Cooperstown, on Tuesday, the first day of April next, to choose officers for the coming year. An address is to be delivered, and a full attendance is requested. R. Cooley, Librarian.
March 24, 1834

150 YEARS AGO
Escape of Prisoners – The notorious S. Reynolds, alias Parish, and a man named Sornburger escaped from jail in this village on Wednesday evening, about 6 o’clock. They were both in for counterfeiting.
The former was tried at the last Court – and the jury, strange to say, disagreed. Reynolds is five feet, eight inches high, thin face, dark hair, spare built and is about 36 years of age. Sorburger is about 6 feet high, spare built, dark complexion, about 30 years old. Reynolds, it will be remembered, once before escaped from jail. He has cost this County a round sum of money – an article of which he is said to have in abundance. A reward of $50 each is offered for their arrest.
March 18, 1859

125 YEARS AGO
Opium in Cigarettes – The Bureau of Statistics at Washington reports that during the ten months ending with last October, nearly 450,000 pounds of opium were imported into this country against an importation of less than 200,000 pounds for the corresponding period of the preceding year and even smaller amounts for previous years.
There have been no developments in the medicinal properties and uses of the drug during the year at all sufficient to explain an increase of 125 percent in its importation. The use of opium as a stimulant, too, though unquestionably on the increase, has not become suddenly so popular. It is said that the large increase of the hurtful drug is consumed in the manufacture of cigarettes – a fact which smokers should bear in mind.
March 22, 1884

100 YEARS AGO
Further commentary upon the life of Elizabeth Scriven Potter, widow of Alfred Corning Clark – Mrs. Potter was a woman of strong conservatism. There remained with her to the end an intense loyalty to the traditions and friends of early life. She was strong in likes and dislikes.
Once she gave her friendship, it was forever; no changes of circumstance, no detraction of those in whom she had once had confidence ever reached the shrine of her affections. So it was with her religion. She lived her life in the Christian faith of early years unchanged, unmindful of rising tides that alter the configuration of modern Christendom. Her years have been filled with noble service to God and men. Ralph Birdsall.
March 18, 1909

75 YEARS AGO
The lightning performance of “Eppie” Hall, substitute forward for the Burseymen proved to be the turning point in what might have been an overtime game when the Cooperstown High cage team topped the powerful Union-Endicott five, 24 to 21, to bring home the Southern Tier Championship.
With the score deadlocked at 17-all and only two minutes to go, left forward “Dutch” LaDuke turned his ankle and was replaced by Hall. This left-handed boy was like a gift from the gods. Inside of one minute he had rung up two field goals, and with another basket and a “gift” shot they were ahead 24-17 with less than a minute to go. Union-Endicott managed four more points, but they were not sufficient. It was the sixteenth straight victory for Cooperstown.
Though it has been denounced by people in almost every locality around the country, both teams used the “zone defense.” Throughout the contest both teams and their respective coaches, “Red” Bursey and “Burdy” Parkhurst, sat on the same bench, just as they did when playing college basketball for Springfield College in 1923, ’24 and ’25.
March 21, 1934

50 YEARS AGO
Big game hunters took a total of 2,080 deer in Otsego County during the 1958 season according to figures released this week by Conservation Commissioner Harold G. Wilm. Throughout the state, the 1958 deer take totaled 66,469, the third largest of record. The deer harvest in Otsego County was far below those in 1956 and 1957. In the former year, a record 3,411 deer were taken, while in 1957, the total was 2,681. Last fall, hunters bagged a total of 1,077 bucks, and 1,003 does in Otsego County.
March 18, 1959

25 YEARS AGO
Dr. Charles Allen Ashley, director of Bassett Hospital, has resigned the position he has held since 1967. “I am pleased that I could have an active role in the direction of the Bassett Hospital during a period of growth and expansion of its programs and teaching, research, and patient care,” Dr. Ashley said in a press release issued by the hospital. Ashley has been a member of the senior attending staff since 1955.
March 21, 1984

10 YEARS AGO
The Cooperstown village board of trustees has decided not to hire an administrator to replace interim administrator Giles Russell, who will resign at the end of May. Instead, the trustees and Mayor Wendell Tripp have opted for Russell’s plan to restructure village government by increasing the responsibilities and salaries of village workers, including members of the board.
A part-time supervisor for public works and a full-time bookkeeper-account clerk will be hired. Sewer and water workers will be paid more and the clerk and deputy clerk will assume more responsibility for administering day-to-day village business. Employees will get raises and the plan will cost the village $15,000 to $16,000 more.
March 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: 03-20-09, Bound Volumes, Columns

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

SHE’S THE TOPS

The Derouin family of Hartwick Seminary learned in recent days that daughter Laura has been accepted by Harvard University, where she plans to study international relations. With her are mom Cynthia, dad Art and brother William. Laura’s GPA at the end of her junior year was 99.1, making her the first Cooperstown Central School student over 99 in a decade. She has been class president all four years, and plays classical piano and three varsity sports. A 2007 CCS graduate, Brian Reiss, will be entering his junior year there when Laura enters her freshman year in the fall.

DEPUTY DAWG ON DUTY

Otsego County Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr.’s newest deputy is a purebred registered bloodhound, who will be trained to search for missing children by Sgt. Jack Wilkens, right, of the K-9 Division. For now, the puppy’s being called Copper, but will be renamed by
Milford Central School students.

C-V Voters Stick With Incumbents

CHERRY VALLEY

Incumbents – Mayor Jeff Stiles and Village Trustee Kevin Flint – turned back challenges by Debbie Friedman and Frank Russo, respectively, in the Wednesday, March 18, election. The mayoral results were 149-79; the trustee tally, 147-82.

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page

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