The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Thursday, March 26, 2009

COOPERSTOWN

If you had seen Hall of Famer Bob Feller, tall and strong, signing autographs in front of Legends Are Forever last summer, you never would have guessed he was 91 and never would have thought his baseball-playing days are over.
Well, he is 91. And his baseball playing days aren’t over: When it’s “play ball” at the first Baseball Hall of Fame “Classic” at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 21 – Father’s Day – at Doubleday Field, Feller will be on the mound.
Feller, who was one of the “Big Four” Cleveland Indians of the 1950s and, inducted in 1962, has been in the Hall of Fame more than half his life, is the third oldest Hall of Famer after Lee McPhail and Bobby Doerr, both also 91.
“They don’t call him ‘Bob Rapid’ for nothing,” said Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, who also announced Monday, March 30, that Ford Motor Co. has been recruited as a major sponsor. “He’s been loosening up most of the spring.”
To a degree the appearance is symbolic, although the Hall of Famer continues to train with the Indians each spring, Idelson said. Asked how long Feller will pitch, the HoF president responded, “He can pitch as long as he wants.”
Feller – batters who faced both him and Nolan Ryan said the former’s pitches were harder – will be one of at least five Hall of Famers who planned to participate in the first “Classic,” which is designed as a replacement for the Hall of Fame Game, held for the last time last summer after seven decades.
The other four who will play in the seven-inning exhibition game are Ferguson Jenkins, Paul Molitor, Phil Niekro and Brooks Robinson, along with 20 other former Major League stars, including George Foster, Bill Lee, Steve Rogers and Lee Smith. Other players will be announced throughout the spring.
Echoing Hall of Fame Game traditions, the “Classic” will be preceded by a game day parade at 12 noon as well as the popular pre-game home-run contest at 1. A full complement of activities are planned throughout the weekend , Idelson said.
Ford’s sponsorship will allow the weekend to be affordable for families. Tickets, which will go on sale Saturday, April 18, are $12.50 for first and third base seats, and $11 for outfield seats.
Hall of Fame members will be able to buy tickets over the phone 9 a.m. to 5 p.m . that same day by calling 1-866-849-7770.

Labels: 04-03-09, Bob Feller, Front Page

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Proposed 2009 Village Budget May Rise 4.5%

COOPERSTOWN

The village trustees are proposing a 2009-10 budget that would raise taxes 4.5 percent and basically funds the status quo.
“You can only do the best you can do with what you’ve got,” said Treasurer Mary Ann Henderson.
The proposal, the result of weeks of debate among trustees, will go to a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, at 22 Main.
The total budget actually drops, from $5.23 million to $5.13 million, but the tax levy rises from $1.62 million to $1.7 million.
The new trustees – Joe Booan Jr. and Willis Monie Jr. – will be asked to vote on the budget at their first meeting.

Labels: 04-03-09, Budget, Front Page

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The Otesaga Thrives As ‘Place Of Meeting’ for 100 Years

The Otesaga’s history dates back to March 1908 when Edward S. and Stephen C. Clark purchased the Holt-Averill property in Cooperstown for a summer hotel. Ten acres fronted 700 feet on Otsego Lake.
Percy Griffin of New York City was architect, and construction began in July 1908. The hotel opened on July 12, 1909, and was “conceded to be the finest summer hotel” Upstate. It was named Otesaga, an American Indian word meaning “Place of Meeting”.
The hotel originally had 179 sleeping rooms, including 26 rooms on the top floor for staff. Today it has 135 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites. An “American Plan” hotel, it has a dining room serving breakfast and dinner, plus a lunch buffet that includes seating on the veranda overlooking Otsego Lake.
There are nine meeting rooms, the largest being the ballroom which will accommodate 250 guests.
Originally built as a social hotel, 60 percent of its business today is group meetings and conferences.
During Hall of Fame Weekend, the hotel closes to accommodate the MLB greats.
The first business group at the hotel in 1909 was the New York Press Association, which will be meeting there again in September to celebrate the centennial.
Twice the hotel was used for other purposes.
From 1920 to 1954, it was used by the Knox School, an exclusive two-year finishing school. In 1961-1970, AT&T used it for training. In each instance, the hotel continued to operate as a resort during the summer months.
Across Lake Street are the two hotel tennis courts, built in 1961.
The other major amenity for the hotel guests is the Leatherstocking Golf Course, which is considered to be one of the most scenic and challenging courses in the Northeast. It was 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 state-of-the-art driving range.
At the height of the season, the staff is 300.

Labels: 04-03-09, Front Page, The Otesaga

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Quietly, Bob Harlem Did Good – And He Honored Rule Of Law

By JIM KEVLIN

Once upon a time, there was a young man who went to Richfield Springs High School who “was in fights all the time.”
Lucky for him, his father was a friend of Oneonta’s Robert A. Harlem Sr., the retired state Supreme Court judge.
“He was incorrigible,” Harlem said the other day in an interview from his winter home in Venice, Fla. “You couldn’t rein him in.”
So dad and friend got the boy into the boxing program at the Oneonta Boys & Girls Club.
“If he wanted to fight, let him do it in a organized way, where you have rules,” Harlem told his friend.
The boy, as you might expect, turned out to be a pretty good boxer. And “he turned out to be a fantastic kid,” said the judge.
To hear Bob Harlem, who will be honored Friday evening, April 3, with the Otsego County Chamber’s Eugene A. Bettiol Jr. Distinguished Citizen Award in a gala at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom, talk about his life, a similar dynamic surfaces again and again.
As Harlem tells it, he just happened to be there. Then – coincidentally, he’d have you believe – something good resulted.
One Saturday morning, Fred Knott called from Goodyear Lake. This was in the late ‘60s. NYSEG, Knott told Harlem, was ready, after resisting all attempts at negotiating, to breach the dam at the lake’s south end. If that had happened, Goodyear Lake would have been an overgrown gully today.
Within a half hour, Harlem and Knott were conferring in the lawyer’s office. Over the weekend, state Supreme Court Judge Joseph P. Molinari issued a stay, which Harlem served on NYSEG Monday morning. By the time it was over, the dam was under new ownership and the lake was saved. (Good bass fishing there, incidentally.)
Then there was the time Bob Jr., then 17, got a speeding ticket on an errand from his mother to pick up sweet corn at Reynolds’ on River Street.
The son asked the father to defend him, and when the case got to City Court, Judge Al Baldo said to the lawyer, “What do you want? Parking on the pavement?”
Said Harlem, “Read the charge.”
The judge did, then asked, “How do you plead?”
“Guilty,” said the lawyer, and he made the son pay the fine.
On the way out of court, Bob Jr., now president of Otsego Ready Mix and other ventures, said to his dad: “Next time, I’ll get a better lawyer.”
In addition to Bob, they are Ramona Palermo, attorney Richard – his father, at 82, is still doing research for their former firm – Rebecca Lloyd, and Ruth and Rosemary Wood. (In the same vein, Rebecca remembers, when there was something she knew she ought to do but didn’t want to, her father would tell her, “You have to do it; it will build character and instill discipline.” At the time, she bristled; since, she’s used the same strategy on son Derek, now 25 and a sergeant in the Army, and daughter Jaclyn, 23, to good effect.)
Robert A. Harlem Sr. was born in Yonkers, one of five children. Their father, a letter carrier, died when the children were young and their mother struggled to make ends meet.
“We scrimped,” he remembers. “We didn’t have very much. We never had welfare; we never took a dime. We just had a lot of pride.”
After a stint in the Army at the end of World War II, a high school friend got him a job filing papers and doing office work for a law firm in New York City that defended Travelers Insurance Co.
It was there, listening to the lawyers tell their stories, that he found his vocation.
“It really excited me,” he said.
Using the GI Bill and working two jobs, Harlem got his bachelor’s up in Plattsburgh at Champlain College, one of the Associated Colleges of Upstate New York, established by the state to handle the post-WWII demand for higher education, then got his law degree at SUNY Albany.
He was the first member of his family to go to college. There was no desk in the family firm waiting for him.
But fate intervened. The law students sat alphabetically, so he spent a lot of time next to Bob Hathaway, a student from Oneonta, who, as graduation neared, told him of an opening at Harrington & Bookhout.
He’d never been to Oneonta before he came to town for the job interview.
Afterward, he went to Mac’s Barber Shop, then on Broad Street, where “the barber was telling me there was nothing here for young people, about the tragedy that young people had to go elsewhere to get a job.”
As it happened, Bob Harlem got the job. He lived on Academy Street for a little while, then moved to the Town of Oneonta; within a year, he was town attorney. Within five years, he was county attorney. Meanwhile, at Harrington & Bookhout, which also did a lot of work defending insurance companies, his practice was burgeoning.
When attorney Dick Bookhout went on the bench, he handed over a lot of the insurance work to Harlem, who went into practice with Walter Terry.
“I did a tremendous amount of trial work,” said Harlem, estimating at times his cases made up half to 2/3rd of the court calendar.
His advice to lawyers just starting out is three-fold.
One, you have to be better prepared than your opponent; there’s no substitute for preparation. Two, expect the unexpected, as “the unexpected is more usual than the expected.” Three, always be yourself, as “juries can see through people who are trying to play a role.”
As it happens, his most memorable case was one of his last. A Delhi school bus had tipped over, and several students were injured. Defending the school, he sued General Motors which, instead of settling, brought in heavy hitters from New York City’s Thatcher Bartlett, then the biggest firm in the world. In the end, GM ended up stuck with three-quarters of the award.
It was one of his heroes, Judge Molinari, who by example caused Harlem to seek a judgeship: “I totally admired the way he handled people. How gracious he was. How considerate he was. I felt if I could get on the bench I could do something like that.”
Dr. Carson, Democratic county chairman, Oneonta mayor and Fox’s chief surgeon in the 1950s, was another hero: “He taught me more about medical aspects of personal injury law than one could learn in school. A great man.”
And Attorney Sheldon Close, “a student of the law” who was up-to-the-minute on changes in the law until shortly before he died at age 100.
A longtime friend, attorney Ed Gozigian of Cooperstown, said the same thing about Harlem: He loves the law. (Also, “he hits the long ball.”)
So it could be expected that when the opportunity came, he went on the bench, elected as county and surrogate judge in 1972. In 1978, he was elected state Supreme Court judge, serving until 1991, when he went back into practice with son Richard.
In the courtroom, Harlem was in charge, Gozigian remembered: “When an attorney objected, he ruled. And as far as he was concerned, that was it.”
All the trial work he’d done prepared him well.
“Don’t give me an objection like, ‘My client doesn’t know the answer’,” he’d tell the attorneys. “I tried enough cases that I knew all the tricks – or most of the tricks. I didn’t want them tried on me.” Harlem had seen all the tricks.
Over the years, he presided in Albany, Rochester, Brooklyn. Only once, in Manhattan, was there a lawyer he couldn’t control.
“He kept challenging my rulings. And I warned him this was not his role. If he felt there was something wrong he could always take an appeal,” said the judge. “He kept doing it. I finally had to declare a mistrial, the only one in my years on the bench.”
A big part of the job was writing decisions, the most memorable involving Betty Mucha, wife of a Cornell professor, who, although not a lawyer, kept bringing lawsuits in her own name.
If she didn’t like the result, she would sue the judge, and it got to the point she had suits pending against every judge in the Sixth Judicial District.
Harlem’s turn came. She sued him. And he wrote a decision invoking the “rule of necessity,” concluding Mucha could bring no more suits without the approval of a Supreme Court judge.
The ended that. Betty Mucha went on to get an actual law degree and, practicing in Rhode Island, she was disciplined for calling the chief justice of that state’s Supreme Court a member of the “judicial mafia.”
“Ironically,” said Harlem, “the chief justice of Rhode Island was later found to be part of the Mafia and was removed from the bench.”
Mark Grygiel, who chaired the Otsego County Chamber committee that chose Harlem for the award, said he was surprised and impressed by how much good the judge had quietly done.
Few knew, Grygiel said, “because he liked to do things behind the scene, not for the glory, but for the right reasons.”
Often, recalled another friend, Geoff Smith of Medical Coaches, they’d be talking and the phone would ring, with someone asking for a donation or to make a call on behalf of a cause.
“When I started to practice law, life was a lot simpler than is it today,” Harlem explained. “Every lawyer back in those days did pro bono work.
People would come into the office; if they didn’t have any money, we would help them anyway. I never took a fee up front.”
He continued, “We didn’t practice law because it was a business; because it was a profession. We wanted to give something back. We wanted to elevate the role of the lawyer in society.”
Harlem, Geoff Smith said, would have been successful anywhere. Why did he stay in Oneonta? Why does he continue to come back?
“First of all,” the judge replied. “You couldn’t find a better place to raise kids.”
Crime is low. Schools are good. The two colleges “ are more than willing to share whatever attributes they have” – the library, the sports facilities.
“My family understands this,” said Harlem. Son Rich, the lawyer, has been president of Hartwick College’s citizen advisory board. Bob has been chairman of the school board.
“You should create the environment you live in to the degree you can,” said the honoree. “You’re going to be a lot more comfortable, a lot happier, if you help create the environment yourself ...
“...and you do it by involvement.”

Labels: 04-03-09, Front Page, Robert Harlem

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Agway Sale May Spur Redevelopment

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

COOPERSTOWN

Mike and Carol Manno, who redeveloped dilapidated 21 Railroad Ave. into some of the only Class A office space in the village, has purchased the former Agway across the street.
“We want to protect our investment,” said Manno in advance of the closing, adding, “We’re old house people.”
The sale was finalized on Wednesay, April 1. The seller, Niles Curtis, operated the Agway for years before selling it to Julie and Matt Barnes. The Barneses moved their business to Hartwick Seminary in March.
“Right now,” said Manno, who lives in Cooperstown but operates Apple Converting in Oneonta, “I just want to put the building back to its original structure as a feed mill and get a feel for it.”
The structure, he said, is sound, could be adapted to any number of uses, and he said he welcomes any suggestions people may have.
Some he’s received so far include a fish and meat market, arts and crafts shops, an Army-Navy store, a restaurant or a flea market.
Agway is at Railroad and Glen, but the purchase also includes a building at Railroad and Leatherstocking that was used for storage. That’s been suggested as an auto repair or tire repair shop.
While Notre Dame architecture professor Philip Bess was in town the weekend of March 20, Bill Waller, chairman of the village’s 2025 Commission arranged for Bess and Manno to sit down and brainstorm together.
The Railroad Avenue neighborhood has been seen as a likely “second downtown” as baseball stores took over Main Street, but the concept never came to pass.
Manno said he would like to see the street closed off during summer Saturdays or Sundays for a farmers’ market.

Labels: 04-03-09, Front Page

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When You Listen To John Irvin, Otesaga’s Prowess No Accident

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

When John D. Irvin was a junior in high school in Virginia, his father Doral – that’s The Otesaga general manager’s middle name – took him on a business trip to the old Hotel Roanoke.
Fred Walker, the hotel’s sales manager, asked the tall young man what his plans were.
Young John wasn’t sure.
“You ought to do hotel sales,” said Walker; his protege can still remember the older man’s raspy voice today. “It’s a great career. I’ve loved every minute of it.”
Three weeks before he graduated from high school in Lynchburg, the phone rang.
“Johnny, what are you doing this summer?” said the raspy voice.
That summer, his mentor got Irvin a job at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, where he said he worked some, but remembers the summer mostly as a good time.
The next spring, the phone rang again. Same rasp: “I checked on you. You didn’t work hard enough.”
That summer, Irvin worked at the Hotel Roanoke, and Fred Walker made sure he worked hard enough.
Monday through Friday, Irvin had a split shift, toiling on the front desk during the crowded check-out time in the morning and the crowded check-in time in the afternoon. On Saturdays, he worked into the wee hours as the night auditor.
“That was the job where I fell in love with the business,” said Irvin, top executive at the Cooperstown resort hotel that will be honored Friday, April 3, with the NBT Bank’s Distinguished Business Award at the Otsego County Chamber’s annual Banquet and Celebration of Business at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom.
The hotel was founded 100 years ago by brothers Edward S. and Stephen C. Sr. of Cooperstown’s notable Clark family. Jane Forbes Clark, Stephen’s granddaughter, is The Otesaga’s president today.
In addition to Irvin, other key executives during The Otesaga’s 100th anniversary year include Bob Faller, director of sales and marketing; Katie Sanford, reservations manager; Glenn Schilling, director of rooms operations; Gordon Clarkson, director of catering & conference services, and Chris Stecher, director of restaurants.
Irvin’s approach to recruiting the team that seamlessly operates Otsego County’s hub of business and social gatherings on Glimmerglass’ shores: “I believe in letting people do their jobs. I want to have someone in every position who’s smarter in that position than I am.”
That approach to running a 300-employee operation – it includes not just the hotel proper but the Cooper Inn and the first-class Leatherstocking Golf Course – was honed in a 40-year career. The centerpiece was two decades with the multi-national Marriott Corp., but Irvin’s love was always historic hotels that The Otesaga exemplifies.
He was raised in what he remembers as Lynchburg’s small town atmosphere, where his father had two careers.
The first, with the Chapstick company, where Doral Irvin developed the “turn thing” – for lack of a better term – at the bottom of the Chapstick tube. Young John would ride back and forth to Richmond with his dad as he checked the machine shop that was developing the device’s prototype. (Later, every time his father would pass a display of Chapsticks, he would test the tubes to make sure they were working right.)
The second was as executive director of the Elks National Home in Bedford, Va. (“We’re in the same business,” he’d tell his son. “The only difference is my guests don’t check out until they REALLY check out.”)
John went on to Virginia Tech and, after graduation, two years in the Army, overseeing a program in Texas training soldiers to speak Vietnamese before they were deployed to Southeast Asia.
As his discharge neared, he picked up the phone. Soon, he heard that familiar raspy voice at the other end. Four or five interviews and two job offers later, ex-lieutenant John Irvin found himself in sales at the famous Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., where J. Edgar Hoover was a daily luncheon guest in The Rib Room.
In the years that followed, he was director of sales at the Spanish-style Hotel Hershey (run by the Milton Hershey Trust to benefit his school for orphan boys); the Sandestin (the innovative resort in Florida’s panhandle went bankrupt before it opened, but – reorganized – flourished in later years), and the historic Homestead in Hot Springs, Va.
At the Mayflower, there was a bellman who was so frail guests would carry their own luggage, fearful he would topple over from the weight. Why didn’t he retire? It turns out he spoke 27 languages, making him indispensable to the operation.
At Hershey, Irvin was organizing the annual conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State, hosted that year by Pennsylvania then-Secretary of State Dolores Hoffman, when he was summoned to summer training at Fort Indiantown Gap.
When Hoffman called to check on progress, she reacted with dismay. At her direction, the reservist soon found himself standing in front of the commanding general at The Gap, who advised Irvin testily that his “special assignment” during his two weeks of training that year was to run Hoffman’s convention.
“Lieutenant,” the general barked as Irvin turned to leave, “...and get a haircut.”
In 1976, Irvin jumped at the chance to move from sales into management at the Whiteface Inn & Golf Club in Lake Placid. When it was sold at the end of the season, he went back to sales at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Long Boat Key, near Sarasota, Fla.
“The best thing that happened” during the Lake Placid sojourn came during a visit to Atlanta, where the 6-foot-4 Irvin met a lively 5-foot young woman. She was “cute,” had “a charming personality” but, best of all, “she laughed at my jokes.” He and Nancy married a year later in Florida, (where her equally petite mother succeeded in cutting the top off the groom’s head in all the photos.)
Nancy had worked for the Hyatt on Peach Street in Atlanta, so knew what she was getting into. These careers are 24-7. Their enduring 33-year marriage produced two children. Daughter Nicole, 29, is studying for a second master’s in psychology at The New School, after graduating from Auburn and getting her first master’s from University College, London. Son Ren, 26, is a life support systems operator at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.
After his marriage, Irvin managed Dunfee’s Houston hotel and The Lodge of the Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, Mo., before joining Marriott for what would be a 20-year association. He managed its St. Louis Airport site, The Grand Hotel in Port Clear, Ala. (nine years), The Bay Point in Panama City, Fla., and – again – The Grand.
Over the years, Irvin had been active in the American Hotel Lodging Association (he is currently on the board of directors) and had made a lot of contacts in the industry. So it was only natural that he heard Frank Maloney was retiring after a successful stint as The Otesaga’s general manager. Before long, Irvin found himself, after an afternoon of interviews, sitting in a rocking chair on the veranda overlooking Otsego Lake, the Sleeping Lion in the distance, chatting with the guests – “The loved it” – as he waited to join his hosts for a business dinner.
Irvin was smitten with The Otesaga from the start – the white pillars and brick front reminded him of The Homestead – but it was the level of service – and the multiple layers of service in the diningroom – that sold him.
“I want this job,” he said to himself. Today, he says, “I’m really the envy of a lot of my peers.”
Irvin calls The Otesaga “the heartbeat” of the community,
the way only a hotel in a resort town can be. On any given day, there might be a christening party in the morning, a wedding in the afternoon, and a reception for mourners in the evening. The resort’s many longstanding guests, who come back year after year as their families grow, also create an inviting continuum.
And, of course, there’s Hall of Fame Weekend, when The Otesaga hosts baseball legends.
This – a place he loves, working for people he admires – will be the last stop in his career, which Irvin nonetheless anticipates will continue for another half-dozen years. He and Nancy have bought a retirement home in the village, and plan to do the same in Atlanta, where they will spend their winters near their son and two of Nancy’s sisters.
In recent years, he had been on the board of advisers at SUNY Delhi, which has an ever-more respected hospitality program.
“The industry has given me a wonderful life,” explained Irvin. “I like to give something back.”
Fred Walker would be proud.

Labels: 04-03-09, Front Page, The Otesaga

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Cooperstown and Around

Scott Murphy Leads By 25 Over Tedisco

At presstime Wednesday, April 1, Democrat Scott Murphy was leading Republican Jim Tedisco by 25 votes for the 20th District Congressional seat that includes eastern Otsego County.
The tally was Murphy, 77,217, to Tedisco, 77,192, according to the state Board of Elections. Tedisco edged Murphy in Otsego County, 1,052 votes to 1,001.
The outcome of the race to replace Kristen Gillibrand was seen to hang on the absentee ballot count.

ORGAN DONORS: Tim Wiles, National Baseball Hall of Fame director of research, will appear Sunday, April 5, as his alter-ego, Casey at the Bat, at St. Malachy’s Catholic Church, Philadelphia, to raise money to renovate the church’s organ, built by the father and grandfather of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” lyricist Jack Norworth. The Phillies home opener is also that day.

DEAL IN WORKS: The village’s Doubleday Field Committee closeted itself Wednesday, April 1, to develop a counterproposal to a proposal of Tom Hickey, Fly Creek, to bring a New York Collegiate Baseball League franchise to Cooperstown in 2010. Chairman Eric Hage said the discussion was promising, but would say little more.

RAIL BOOM: Here’s some good financial news: The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley excursion trains out of Milford have sold out this weekend.

Labels: 04-03-09, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

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Obituaries

Wilma C. Bloomer, 98; Eldest Member Of First Baptist Church, Cooperstown

COOPERSTOWN – Wilma C. Bloomer, 98, of Cooperstown, died early Sunday morning, March 29, 2009 at Otsego Manor.
Born Jan. 30, 1911, at home in the Town of Otsego, Wilma was a daughter of John A. and Ella (Griffing) Curry.
Raised in Hartwick on the family farm, she often recalled driving her family’s horse and buggy to school. She later graduated from Hartwick High School with the Class of 1928.
On Feb. 20, 1929, Wilma married J. Emory Bloomer in a ceremony at her parents’ home in the Town of Otsego. For 54 years, the couple enjoyed life together raising their family. Mr. Bloomer died May 18, 1983.
When their children became older, Wilma joined Cooperstown Elementary School where she served on the cafeteria staff from 1960 to 1975.
The oldest member of the First Baptist Church of Cooperstown, Wilma was always active in church life, serving as greeter and organizing many family night dinners.
For more than 75 years, she was a member of the Otsego-Hartwick-Arbutus Chapter No. 201, Order of the Eastern Star in Cooperstown and was a member of their Past Matrons Association. She was a former member of Westville Grange No. 540. Throughout her life, she bowled and enjoyed flowers and red cardinals.
Wilma is survived by three sons and daughters-in-law, John E. Bloomer of Esperance and Lois Bloomer of Hermon, Maine, Malcolm H. Bloomer and his wife, Brenda, of Mount Vision, and Kenneth E. Bloomer and his wife, Mary Ann, of St. Louis, Mo.; four daughters and one son-in-law, June Travis of Zephyrhills, Fla., Elaine More of East Springfield, Genevra Placek of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Velma Vibbard and her husband, Kenneth, of Burlington Flats; 28 grandchildren; 49 great grandchildren; several great-great grandchildren; and one niece, Susan Waldner of Florida.
In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by one son, Ernest D. Bloomer, who died July 17, 2001; one daughter-in-law, Mary Bloomer; three sons-in-law, Robert Travis, Avery G. More, who died Feb. 9, 1973, and Robert Placek, who died in May 2001; three grandsons, Joseph Bloomer, Thomas Bloomer and Wayne Lester; one brother, Willard Curry; and one sister, Lillian Fitch.
The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 4 at the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home with the Rev. Douglas Deer, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cooperstown, officiating. A service of committal will follow in Hartwick Cemetery.
Calling hours are 6-9 p.m. the evening before at the funeral home.
Memorial donations may be made to First Baptist Church Memorial Fund, 19 Elm St., Cooperstown, NY 13326, or to Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Funeral arrangements are with Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

William D. Devenpeck, 89; WWII Veteran

COOPERSTOWN – William D. Devenpeck, 89, a native of Cooperstown, died Tuesday, March 24, 2009, at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Born June 30, 1919, Bill was a son of Garry (Garrett) C. and Hattie R. (Crounse) Devenpeck
Raised in the Cooperstown area, Bill graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1938. He received an associates’ degree in electrical engineering from SUNY Alfred in 1940, and joined the American Locomotive Co. in Schenectady.
He entered the Navy on Nov. 23, 1943, serving on the USS Currituck, a seaplane tender nicknamed “The Wild Goose,” in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 10, 1946, with the rank of radio technician, second class.
For many years, he worked for the state Department of Standards and Purchases, where it was his responsibility to verify specifications on blueprints for various projects. He retired in 1974.
On Dec. 24, 1992, he married the former Anne Sanders in Sarasota.
He a former member of the Cooperstown United Methodist Church and had been a member of the First United Methodist Church in Sarasota.
He was a 62-year member of Otsego Lodge No 138, Free & Accepted Masons in Cooperstown, of Sgt. Walter P. Eggleston Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7128 in Cooperstown and the Wedocandors. He was a life member and past president of the Gulf Coast Woodcarvers Association and enjoyed attending their meetings up until just recently, even when his eyesight didn’t allow him to carve.
Bill is survived by his wife of 16 years, Anne, of Sarasota; his son, Allen G. Devenpeck, and his wife Linda of Altamont; his grandchildren, Stuart Allen Devenpeck and Mark Allen Devenpeck; a great granddaughter, Juliette Rose Devenpeck; a sister-in-law, Mary Devenpeck of Toddsville; and three nephews, Shawn E. Robinson and his wife Michelle of Conklin, Charles R. Devenpeck and his wife Jennifer and William H. Devenpeck, all of Cooperstown.
He was predeceased by his father, Garry (Garrett) C. Devenpeck who died July 23, 1977; his mother Hattie R. Devenpeck who died Jan. 25, 1998, and his brother, Garrett (Sonny) O. Devenpeck, who died March 20, 1998.
A memorial service was offered on Tuesday, March 31, in the Chapel at the First United Methodist Church, Sarasota, with the Rev. Art McClellan, senior pastor, officiating. A memorial service and interment with military honors will occur in Cooperstown later this spring.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601.
Arrangements are with the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown

Margaret Moore, 99, Founding Member Of Ladies Auxiliary

COOPERSTOWN – Margaret Dixon Moore, former resident of Cooperstown and founding member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary here, died on Feb. 12, 2009, in Tempe, Ariz. She was to celebrate her 100th birthday on March 20.
She was predeceased by her husband, Raymond F. Moore on April 18, 2005; he had reached 100 years old on Dec. 4, 2004. A World War II Army veteran, he was later an Internal Revenue agent in central New York.
Margaret was born in Hamilton, the only child of Matthew and Ella Dixon. At Alfred University, Class of 1928, she discovered a talent for painting, which she enjoyed until the age of 95. The couple met at an IRS Christmas party in Syracuse. They married on May 27, 1948, and lived in Cooperstown for more than 30 years.
She was active in the Brush & Pallet Club and St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake” Roman Catholic Church.
The couple moved to Friendship Village in Tempe, Ariz., in 1984, a lifelong care facility, where they remained active for many years.

Labels: 04-03-09, Obituaries

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Locals

PASTOR LEAVES: Pastor Judy Barrett of Cooperstown Assembly of God, her husband, Dr. Tim Barrett, a Bassett ER physician, and family left town Tuesday, March 31, for New Mexico, where she accepted a call.

AT GLIMMERGLASS UNIVERSITY

Forty-four attended the first one-day session of Glimmerglass University, a day of scholarly interaction organized by Bassett M.D. Frank Harte Saturday, March 28, at The Otesaga. From left are volunteer Jessie Shelton; Hamilton College professor James Bradfield, who spoke on “Economic Collapse”; Jason Kwai, Colgate University, “Greed and Everyday Life”; Hamilton’s Michael Woods, “Where Did the Music Go?”; Audrey Murray of the Cooperstown Food Bank, the day’s beneficiary, and Harte and his wife, Marianne Ray.

NEW COOPERSTOWN EAGLES

Three members of Cooperstown Boy Scout Troop 12 were elevated to Eagle rank Sunday, March 29. They are, from left, Jacob Fenno, Calvin Hardy and Robert Harmon. At right is Dr. Lee Edmonds, scout master.

Labels: 04-03-09, Locals

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Don’t Give Up On Middle School

DAVID PEARLMAN

THE PARTIAL OBSERVER

I came to Cooperstown in 1990, the year after the middle school was established, to be its first full-time principal.
My charge was to lead a core group of teachers in their transition from a traditional K-6, 7-12 organization to a structure that had emerged nationally in the 1970s and ‘80s. It was then that junior high schools, usually Grades 7-9, were acknowledging the significant research of the time that supported two ideas about education.
First, that adolescence is a unique period in young people’s lives, that educating them had to take into account the effects their physical metamorphosis had on their learning, and that this change, the onset of puberty, was occurring earlier than it did in previous generations.
Second, that districts needed to adopt a curriculum that employed this knowledge, and that teachers had to be trained how to best work with this age group. This research was cited in a landmark study completed by the Carnegie Corp. in 1989, titled “Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century,” and then again in the corporation’s update, “Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century,” published after a decade of further study.
This recognition of the need for change in how we approach the education of early adolescents led to the move to 5-8 and 6-8 groupings that were then called “middle schools,” in order to identify this group not just as “junior” versions of high school students. In the mid-1990s, I served on the board of directors of the New York State Middle Schools Association and during that time, we witnessed the tremendous growth of middle-level schools throughout the state and the nation. Throughout my career, I learned all I could about middle-level learning.
With all due respect to Dr. Russo, the research she has submitted does not make a strong pedagogical argument for abandoning either the administrative structure or the grade level organization of our current program. Rather, it appears that Dr. Russo was given the task of finding support for a direction our Board and Superintendent found themselves forced to take in the face of the present economic problems.
As most of us know, there is research out there that will support almost any side of any issue. Some of Dr. Russo’s findings cite research done in rural Louisiana, presumably because Cooperstown is in a rural area. It would be dangerous to make any educational decisions based on research conducted on rural Louisiana schools.
While doing graduate work at Columbia’s Teachers College in the early 1980s, a group of us set out to find a better way to compare school districts than the typical “average income, socio-economic” measuring sticks. What we settled on was much harder to research, but ultimately a method that we felt would give a better portrait of the type of community that made up a particular school district.
The quantifiers for this comparison included the number of post-high school years of education, or degrees attained, by the parents of the current and former students in that district.
We felt that these parents, though certainly not exclusively, placed a high value on education and would be both supportive and demanding of their school district.
Furthermore, they would transfer their respect for scholarship to their children. If we accept these premises, it becomes more clear that Cooperstown does not share the typical characteristics of most rural communities, certainly not those in the rural Louisiana that I know.
In many ways, Cooperstown is a suburb without a city attached. With this in mind, it seems that we need to make use instead of the research done on the cognitive development of children and how to teach them, and then decide what we want for our own children here in our own community.
Most of the scholarship cited for moving away from a separate middle school calls for the establishment, or in some cases, return to, K-8 or K-12 organizations.
The most prevalent reason for this, as Dr. Russo’s research indicates, is to cut down on the “transitions” students have to endure in their journey toward graduation, citing a drop in retention following a move from one building to another.
One claim was that the middle school sixth grade forces students to learn from several teachers, while the same students in an elementary school get to stay with one teacher for all their core learning. I would contend that sixth graders are quite capable of learning from several different people, if the teachers are skilled and the program is good. All parents have an instinct to want to protect their children from the disappointment and pain of life. But we can’t, and we shouldn’t.
Instead, we need to prepare them to deal with whatever they will encounter. Life is full of transitions, and preparing them to cope with change is much better than sheltering them from it. If the board and superintendent feel that the middle school students are suffering, then they need to directly address whatever the data shows is wrong instead of systemic change.
More than anyone else, the stakeholders in this issue are the parents, their children and their teachers. We need to be very careful that we first decide what is best for the students, not what we think we can afford. The figure the public has been given as a savings realized by not replacing the high school principal is $100,000, including benefits. That figure is not quite two thirds of 1 percent of the budget (.625).
While we may not want to hire a replacement principal, we may want to find an assistant for the middle school, at a lower salary, who will also take on the duties of the athletic director. However we approach this issue, the “bottom line” cannot be the bottom line. Our kids’ welfare must be foremost in making such a major decision. The number of middle school students, however reduced, does not change who they are or what they need.
And there are a host of middle school alumni just down the hall in the high school who would love to have their voices heard before this decision is made.
I guarantee that, regardless of the dedication and talent of the teachers, without its own leader - its own voice at the administrative table – the middle school and its students will suffer.
We need to do whatever it takes so that does not happen.

David Pearlman is former CCS Middle School principal.

Labels: 04-03-09, Opinion, Perspectives, The Partial Observer

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Letters to the Editor

New Vistas For Grace Kull

To the Editor:
This is the last month of my tenure as a village trustee. It has been a privilege to serve and I appreciate the confidence that was shown in me when I was elected to a second term.
I chose not to run for a third term because after six years of serving my village, there are other interests that I would like to have the time to pursue.
Many of you have asked what I will do with all of my spare time. I have become very interested in the problem of the need for clean water and better sanitation in the third world countries.
Many people, especially children, die from diseases from having to use contaminated water. A well can be dug that will supply a village with clean water for as little as $6,000.
My immediate goal is to raise that amount of money and give the gift of clean water to a village in Africa from our Village of Cooperstown. Maybe more than one will follow. This is just the inception of the idea and much more research has to be done.
To start the fund I am donating my last year’s trustee salary. I will be asking for help to raise funds from Cooperstown organizations and individuals. So, you haven’t seen or heard the last of me.
Thanks to all who have been kind enough to commend me for my time in office. I assure you that I always acted in the best interest of all of the citizens of the village.
It has been a great ride and I have enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
GRACE KULL
Cooperstown

Volleyball Champs Say Thanks

To the Editor:
We, the CCS volleyball team, cannot thank the community enough for the love and support we have had throughout our 2009 season.
The fans, of all ages, not only supported us at home but traveled to Jamesville-Dewitt and all the way to Plattsburgh.
We are truly grateful. We recently ended our season with a special banquet for the team and their families. Many thanks to all who contributed to making this season more special than you can ever imagine.
We are blessed to live in small town with a community that embraces us. Again, many thanks.
Regional Volleyball Champions 2009
Section III Class C
Cooperstown Central School

Labels: 04-03-09, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

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Ever The Twain

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

The National Endowment for the Arts defines a “reader for pleasure and enlightenment” as someone who has read one book in a period of 12 months.
We agree that that is not a very serious imposition on anyone’s time or attention.
All the more disturbing, then, is the NEA’s finding that fewer than 50 percent of Americans read for the aforementioned great rewards of the enterprise.
What to do?
Nag? No.
Force-read under strict surveillance? No.
Heave a sigh of resignation and ignore? No.
Look into the BIG READ, read the print on the posters all over the place, pick up the little card-flyers on countertops at restaurants and business establishments (bars and doctors’ waiting rooms, too), attend the month-long series of events in the community designed to stimulate interest and desire? YES!
Foothills Performing Arts Center has for the second year in a row been awarded a grant from the NEA to conduct a BIG READ April 18 to May 16.
The focus this time is Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The Kick-Off Event is an afternoon of fun and film at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Teen Center, 4 Academy St., Oneonta.
There will be a double feature (remember those days?): first, the 1938 movie adaptation of the novel starring Tommy Kelly. This was a David O. Selznick production and some of the touches that made his “Gone With the Wind” so memorable are on full display: chiaroscuro dramatic effects, rich musical underscoring, priceless performances, laughter, thought, and some tears as well.
A fun-filled intermission will be followed by Academy Award-winning Will Vinton’s feature-length Claymation fantasy, “The Adventures of Mark Twain,” James Whitmore providing the voice of the great writer/satirist/philosopher. Just as with the book itself, these two films appeal equally to younger audiences and adults.
Speaking of which, when did you last read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”? Way back when? Within the last 12 months? Never? Well, don’t delay in reading it again, or for the first time, today.
If I may be allowed a bit of personal input, I read it when I was 12. I would wake up early to get in a few pages before getting up and going to school. It was that compelling.
I recently reread it, and could not put it down. The adult perspective provides astounding insight into what Twain was getting at. It doubles the pleasure and allows for some deep emotional responses, and I laughed twice as hard as I ever did when I didn’t know much. Or at least when I knew less than I do now.
Pick up a copy. For $4.95 at the Green Toad, for example, it’s a steal worthy of Tom Sawyer himself. Or you can read it online.

Labels: 04-03-09, Art Beat, Glimmerglass, Sam Goodyear

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 3:25 PM 0 comments

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The World According to Connor Gifford Is... WOW!

Best-Selling Author Takes County By Storm,
Helps Sell Out Springbrook’s Annual Benefit

By JEANNINE BOHLER

COOPERSTOWN

When Connor Gifford reads from his book, his voice is filled with conviction. When he speaks, his enthusiasm is contagious.
The 27-year-old author of “America according to Connor Gifford” is an educated lover of history. He is a passionate follower of politics, is crazy about Broadway shows and loves both the Yankees and the Red Sox.
He thanks God for giving him the gift of Down Syndrome – a gift that has helped him become an inspiration to people across the country – as his book has become well known.
Gifford, a Nantucket resident, was honored as Springbrook’s Citizen of the Year at the organization’s sold-out gala at The Otesaga Saturday, March 22. He also enjoyed a weekend full of history and literary rich events – from a book signing at the Green Toad in Oneonta to a private tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“America according to Connor Gifford” was published in June of 2008, but caught the eye of the nation when the late Tim Russert praised the book as “A distinctive American perspective from a unique young man.” Gifford has since made appearances on many nationally televised programs.
A copy of the book is now a part of the permanent collection at New York State Historical Association Library. Gifford read from his book on Saturday afternoon before presenting a copy to NYSHA President D. Stephen Elliott.
Humbled to be standing on the grounds of James Fenimore Cooper, who Gifford dubbed “a very cool author,” he read several passages from the book he penned and illustrated. He read each word carefully and with great meaning – asking for the audience to read along when he wanted to drive his message home.
“My biggest hope is that one day, the nation will pick up this book and read this book and start to believe again,” he said.
Gifford’s love of American history began when he was a kid back in Perrysburg, Ohio, where he graduated high school in 2002.
“I loved history right from the start. When I read about a character or an event, I was right there in those shoes.”
It is this perspective – of walking in another’s shoes – which Gifford carries throughout the book. Each brief essay is a poignant retelling of American history, from “The First Americans” to “Iraq.” The simplicity of the words leaves the reader with something more meaningful then the most complex of historical texts.
The idea for the book all began when Gifford met Victoria Harris, founder of the Harris Group. The two met at her daughter’s home in 2007 and worked together to create the collection.
“I told her we hide behind our freedom,” Gifford said. “She couldn’t get that out of her mind. And that is how the idea for this book actually began.”
The rest is Connor Gifford’s own history in the making. While a local leader is usually honored as Springbrook’s Citizen of the Year, this year the community of adults and children wished to honor Gifford for being so inspirational.
His accomplishments and approach to life fit perfectly with the gala’s theme, “What Do You Dream?”
“Our theme is about realizing dreams, “said Executive Director Patricia Kennedy. “Dreams create our future.”
And Connor Gifford isn’t done dreaming yet.
“My biggest hope is for our generation. I know we have problems from our past and we can’t change them or overcome them. But what we can overcome is preventing them from happening again so our world can be safe not only for the next generation, but for all the further generations,” he said.

Labels: 04-03-09, Glimmerglass

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 3:21 PM 0 comments

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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

OPENING DAY: Celebrate spring with the opening of the Fly Creek Cider Mill on Friday, April 3. Enjoy the 1856 water-powered mill and shop for fresh baked goods, creamy fudge and specialty foods. The mill is located at 288 Goose Street in Fly Creek. Call 547-9692 for more information.

ART, BEER, MORE: From 5-7 p.m. on Friday, April 3 head over to the Cooperstown Art Association, 22 Main St, for the opening of four exhibits with artwork by Jeremy Holmes, Jean Lyon, an EcoArt/Trendy Trash display and award winners from the WSKG Art Auction Competition. The reception will feature beer provided by Brewery Ommegang and a wine & cheese tasting courtesy of WSKG Public Broadcasting. Call 547-9777 or visit www.cooperstownart.com.

B-I-N-G-O: Raise money for a student while having fun and competing for prizes with a game of bingo. At 7 p.m. on Friday, April 7 in the Cherry Valley-Springfield Gym there will be benefit bingo for CV-S student Cody VanBuren. Bingo cards are $10 each. Call 264-3265x330 or 264-3265x337 for more information.

EGG TIME: Have breakfast with the Easter Bunny and then participate in an Easter egg hunt at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 4 at Glimmerglass State Park. Tickets are $5, $3 for children under 8. Seating is limited, visit www.friendsofglimmerglass.com or call 547-8662.

PIZZA
POETRY: Celebrate National
Poetry Month with your kids at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 5 at the Village Library, with the poem “a PIZZA the size of the SUN.” Bring a favorite poem of your own to read or share, the program will end with a craft.

Labels: 04-03-09, Glimmerglass, Weekend's Best Bets

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