The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Friday, May 15, 2009

Rebecca I. Gould, 94; Unfailing Caregiver, Collector Of All Things

COOPERSTOWN – Rebecca I. Gould, 94, a lifelong area resident, died Monday, May 4, 2009, at Robinson Terrace in Stamford.
Born Aug. 31, 1914, in Middlefield, she was the daughter of Ezra and Carrie (Wickham) Wiltse.
She married Homer Gould in 1936, and they had one daughter, Doris Addison. She was a longtime, active member of the First Baptist Church in Cooperstown.
Rebecca will be fondly remembered as an unfailingly warm, happy and giving “care giver.” As a longtime care giver at both Woodside Hall and Bassett Hospital, her caring and nurturing nature was put to good use and appreciated by everyone. It can honestly be said that she was loved by everyone who knew her. Whether at work or at home, she always put the needs of her family, friends and others before her own.
Although the warmest spot in her heart was reserved for her family and especially for her grand and great-grandchildren, she was always happy to have friends drop in and it was well-known that no one who visited her ever left hungry, she simply loved to provide for others.
She was a “collector of all things.” Among her treasures, from her many years as an Avon representative, she had a large and remarkable collection of Avon bottles. Not only was she a collector but, in keeping with her nature, she loved to share and give gifts to others. She especially loved making decorative pillows for any occasion and for anyone who had a need or desire for one. She also loved polka music and would dance for hours on end if given the opportunity.
Rebecca was predeceased by her beloved husband, Homer, in 1981; and by her special friend, Kenneth McCracken, in 2003.
She is survived by her daughter, Doris Addison of Lake Placid, Fla.; her granddaughter, Rebecca Rowley, of Cooperstown; her three grandsons, Gregg and Todd Foster, of Florida and Butch Foster, of Cooperstown; by 10 great-grandchildren; and by her second cousins, Homer Lindstadt, of Cooperstown, Herbert Lindstadt, of Milford, Harry Lindstadt, of Rochester, and Judy (Lindstadt) Gardner, of Fort Pierce, Fla.
Family and friends will gather to celebrate Rebecca’s life later in the summer at a time and place to be announced.
The family suggests that those who so desire make contributions in her memory to either the “Activities Fund,” care of Robinson Terrace, 28652 State Highway 23, Stamford, NY 12167 or the Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc., 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Arrangements are under the supervision of Tillapaugh Funeral Service, Cooperstown and Milford.

Labels: 05-15-09, Obituaries

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Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO
Died – In this village on Wednesday last, after a severe illness of a fortnight, Colonel Harvey W. Babcock, aged 44 years. It may be truly said, that by this visitation of Providence, the family of the deceased have suffered a severe loss, for he was a kind husband and an indulgent father, who looked well to the interests of his household.
The public, too, are sufferers by this dispensation, inasmuch as Colonel Babcock was endowed with a strong, discriminating mind, engaged extensively in business transactions, and alive to every subject connected with the general welfare.
May 19, 1834

150 YEARS AGO
The Gymnasium – The reading of an article on our first page may suggest to the young men of our village, the propriety of forming clubs for exercise in rowing, base-ball, &c.
The building of a few four or six-oared boats might be a source of profit to those who keep them to let, and a benefit to persons who take pleasure in rowing – which is justly regarded as excellent and health-promoting exercise.
Strangers who visit this place often express surprise that so few persons devote anytime to exercise in walking, riding, rowing, &c. Are we all too busy, or too lazy? Or, do we too little appreciate the importance of rational outdoor exercise and amusement?
May 13, 1859

125 YEARS AGO
Decoration Day will be suitably observed in Cooperstown. It occurs on Friday, May 30. Turner Post has decided to decorate the graves of soldiers – as has been done the past few years – with flags and pots of plants and flowers. Ladies having the latter to give can notify Mrs. Andrew Davidson, or Mrs. S.S. Edick.
All the children of the village are invited to participate in the ceremonies of the day. The graves will be decorated in the forenoon and addresses will be delivered at the Court House in the afternoon.
Personal – The Wilber National Bank of Oneonta claims to have lost less than $400 in the ten years of its prosperous existence.
While butter, cheese and hops continue to command remunerative prices and goods are low, the farmers of Otsego County as a body will continue to enjoy reasonable prosperity. Those farmers who have an eye to the growing grass crop do not complain of the recent unpleasant weather.
May 17, 1884

100 YEARS AGO
Briefs – John A. Reynolds, formerly of Cooperstown, fell into the clutches of the law in Schenectady last week and was fined $15 for speeding his automobile. Schenectady is a rather slow town for John.
The debate at the Y.M.C.A. will be held next Monday evening at 8 o’clock. The subject is: “Resolved, That California is justified in excluding Japanese students from the public schools.” The affirmative will be taken by Rowan Spraker and Charles Harbison, and the negative by Geo. Wheeler and Daniel Mason.
May 13, 1909

75 YEARS AGO
Where Nature Smiles. Word has been received in Cooperstown that Mrs. August A. Busch of St. Louis is planning to open Fox Run Hill Farm, her summer estate on Otsego Lake for the season. She will arrive about the last of June.
Cooperstown Rotarians will find a one-page illustrated article by George H. Carley in the June number of “The Rotarian” of special interest. Titled “Here Baseball Was Born,” the story is illustrative of Carley’s best style and it details the birth of the national game with pictures of the field from the air, of Major General Abner Doubleday and the state historical marker at the entrance of the field.
May 16, 1934

50 YEARS AGO
The new Cobalt-60 radiation unit of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital will be open for public inspection on Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. according to Dr. James Bordley III, Bassett director.
Following the open house, Dr. Charles G. Zubrod, clinical director of the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., will give a brief descriptive report of current radiation studies and an address in the hospital library. Dr. Zubrod is a recognized world authority in the field of cancer therapy.
May 13, 1959

25 YEARS AGO
Through rain, sleet, and two or three pairs of shoes a year, John Adams has carried the mail. Last week postmaster Roger Smith cited Adams for his service – 25 years of it to be exact – delivering mail to Cooperstown residents and businesses.
The Cooperstown native said he went away to college where he studied forestry, math and education, but came back home and held several jobs before joining the post office as a full-time employee. “I don’t mind the cold or snow,” he said. “The only weather that bothers me is rain.” Dogs can be a problem for a postman but Adams says, “I make a point when I see somebody has a new dog to try to make friends with it.”
May 16, 1984

10 YEARS AGO
Arby Schlather, a talented 7th-grader at the Cooperstown Central School, took home third place honors for Junior Individual Performance at the recent New York State History Day competition. Costumed as Ben Franklin, complete with padding, Arby performed a work that he researched and wrote himself, titled “The Glass Armonium: A Franklin Invention.”
Arby is looking forward to appearing in the world premiere of “Central Park” at the Glimmerglass Opera this summer. Along with friends, Arby will also stage a production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner” in which he will play the lead.
May 14, 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: 05-15-09, Bound Volumes, Columns

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Letters to the Editor

Project Prom Seeks Support To Keep Special Night Safe

To the Editor:
Project Prom 2009 is now in full swing. Committees have been formed, planning is underway and fundraising has begun for the June 13 event.
As in previous years, parents of the graduating class of 2009 are committed to providing a safe, alcohol- and drug-free evening of entertainment and activities for their seniors following the prom.
Project Prom is made possible each year through generous contributions from parents, teachers, friends, organizations and businesses in the greater Cooperstown area.
As chair of the fundraising committee, we would like to thank several people who donated their time and talent to helping us with the preliminary work for this fundraising endeavor. We appreciate the secretarial staff at CCS: Darlene Bennett, Denise Thayer and Janette Lyons, who provided labels and address information.
Elise Schiellack, of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, who also provided labels and area business address information.
We thank Anthony Bailey and his staff at Bassett Healthcare’s Distribution and Media Services for their time given to the printing of return labels and the “Supporters of Project Prom” posters.
The success of Project Prom 2009 is dependent on the generous support from the Cooperstown community. If you would like to make a contribution to ensure the safety of our Seniors, please send a check to:
Project Prom 2009
678 County Highway 26
Fly Creek, NY 13337
This gift will be well invested in the safety of our young men and women on prom night.
Thank you.
Michael & Carole
Lachance
Fly Creek

We Can’t Be Blasé Over Losing, Finding $400,000

To the Editor:
Thank your new village board members!
Mr. Katz doesn’t think $400,000 in misplaced money means anything. It’s about time accountability means something. Do we want a mayor that thinks misplaced money is an everyday event?
Village employees were put under stress over a 2 percent raise, not even a cost of living raise. The employees were put on the spot, made to look as if they were greedy.
None of this was necessary if only Mr. Katz, the mayor and the past majority of board members that handled everything in such a blasé manner. Our village employees do not deserve this kind of harassment scrutiny they are placed under every day.
Mr. Katz, now that you are not going to deliver every cockamamie idea that you come up with down the throats of the citizens of Cooperstown, you might consider resigning instead of thinking about running for mayor.
We need common sense, accountability and not blasé as a means of doing business on the behalf of our village citizens. Treat our employees with compassion and thoughtfulness of the cost that they have to be able to live in our community.
TED HARGROVE
Cooperstown

Foremost Lake Experts Decry Browdy Mountain Plan

To the Editor:
The major players for protecting Otsego Lake turned out in force at the public hearing on Edward Walker’s Browdy Mountain Road development application on Tuesday, May 5, to urge the Planning Board to use caution and/or to deny his application.
Dr. Willard Harman from the SUNY Biological Field Station, a leading authority on water quality and analysis of Otsego Lake, spoke strongly of the damage done from even a slight increase in runoff which has many nutrients in the sediment.
He described the elevated phosphorus levels in the lake which, if not checked, will eventually mark the death of the lake.
Win McIntyre, Watershed Supervisory Commission coordinator, said although silt basins in the engineering plans meet state requirements, “sediment detention basins degrade after the first storms.” The best way to manage runoff is no development, he said, adding, “I recommend that this project not go forward”.
Martha Clarvoe of the OCCA said the issue of runoff must be addressed at the developer’s expense, not the taxpayers’.
Robin Krawitz, Otsego 2000 executive director, spoke of the masterpiece of nature we have in Otsego Lake and the forested mountains surrounding it, and asked the Planning Board to delay approval of any development until steep-slope regulations are in place.
The chairman of the Planning Board scheduled one more public hearing for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at the town hall in Fly Creek. Anyone who does not want development on the steep-sloped forested mountainsides should be there.
Let’s join together and make it clear that Otsego Lake and its viewshed are a rare and valuable asset, and the lake’s water quality must be protected. We must stop steep-slope development and the destruction of the wilderness on mountainsides around the lake.
CAROL B. AKIN
Cooperstown

Thanks, And Get Ready For Next Cooperstown Concert Series

To the Editor:
We wish to extend a sincere thank you to the greater Cooperstown community for a successful 39th season of the Cooperstown Concert Series. This organization is truly a labor of love, and dependent upon the ongoing and generous support of our concert goers, sponsors, donors and volunteers.
The highlights of the past season are many, including Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, up and coming singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell, and the stunning and colorful performance by Gamelan Galak Tika.
Our community outreach efforts included sponsoring a free concert at Pumpkinfest and working with Pathfinder Village, Cooperstown High School and The Brookwood School to bring David Leonhardt’s Holiday Jazz Show to multiple audiences.
Some major supporters to single out for special mention are The Otesaga, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Mark LaValley and Sound Performance, state Sen. Jim Seward, Otsego County, Wilber National Bank, Don Olin Realty, Jenny Richman, Darla Youngs, Carefree Gardens, Cooperstown schools and the Cooperstown Parent Teacher Organization, and last but not least, The Scriven Foundation.
We are excited to announce our 40th Anniversary Cooperstown Concert Series roster. We’ll open the season with another free concert at Pumpkinfest by local favorites The Horseshoe Lounge Playboys. The official season kicks off in October with Grammy Award winner John Jorgenson and his Gypsy Jazz Quintet. John Gorka, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, will be here in November, and in December Kinobe, an eight-piece band from Uganda, will be in town as part of their North American tour.
We are lucky to have been able to sign two bright new stars: bluegrass favorites Crooked Still for January, and Ollabelle from the Americana/ folk scene for February. We’ll cap off the 2009-10 season with the award-winning cello/classical guitar duo Montana Skies that is sure to be an exciting and innovative show.
The Cooperstown Concert Series is an equal-opportunity organization, and we invite anyone to join us in our efforts to bring great artists to our hometown community. Thanks again for all your support, and we’ll see you in the fall!
DAVE GRIGER
RICH BROWN
Co-Directors, Cooperstown Concert Series

Labels: 05-15-09, Letters to the Editor, Perspectives

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Editorials

Otsego, Cooperstown Chambers Should Protect Baseball, If Hall Won’t

Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, A-Roid.
“That’s five of the top 12,” Buffalo News columnist Mike Harrington wrote the other day.
Now, add Manny Ramirez.
“This was not just Manny being Manny,” Harrington penned. “This was cheating. This was masking steroid use with, of all things, female fertility drugs. This was yet another way to get a one-way ticket to a closed door when the time comes for Cooperstown.
“This is yet another strike against the all-time home run list, what was once one of the sacred stat grounds of sports. Now it reads like a perp walk.”
From a business perspective, there goes another gold-plated Induction Weekend down the drain for Cooperstown and Otsego County businesspeople and the people they have on their payrolls.
The cost in lost business around here from these six alone has to be in the millions.
When baseball is in good odor, summers are sterling around here. When it’s in bad odor, the impact is immediate.
(Vinny Russo, owner of Mickey’s Place and dean of this generation of Main Street baseball merchandisers, recalls the very weekend in 1994 when the impending baseball strike caused the bottom to fall out of his business. The Hall of Fame has never recovered, as the gate peaked at just over 400,000 that year, then dropped to 300,000 today.)
•
April 25 was another sad day for the Hall of Fame.
One of the game’s enduring and foremost legends, Hank Aaron, was in town to cut the ribbon on a permanent exhibition commemorating his career, one of only a handful of heroes so honored.
In the speeches, it was noted that, 33 years after his retirement, he is still the all-time leader in runs batted in, total bases and extra-base hits, and that he still ranks second in home runs.
Second in home runs? Bill Bartholomay, owner of the Braves who brought the team – and Aaron – from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, was having none of it.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s the all-time home-run leader,” said Bartholomay, who cut the ribbon on the exhibit along with Aaron and his wife Billie, and HoF President Jeff Idelson. “He did it without any cloud or deception. It speaks for itself.”
Aaron hit his record 755th home run on July 20, 1976, and that record went unchallenged until Aug 7, 2007, when Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run. However, Bonds was dogged for years by allegations – still unresolved ˜ that he used steroids to artificially enhance his skills.
Steroids and other illegal substances have Major League Baseball in a trap. MLB can’t say: Go ahead, fellas, use what you will. The crash in attendance at L.A. Dodger games since the Manny revelations shows how ruinous it would be.
But it’s been unable to implement a vigorous, consistent and effective program to drive steroids and HGH out of the game. Manny’s 50-game suspension, which is costing him $15 million, is a step in the right direction, but the MLB, under Bud Selig, hasn’t communicated to the public that it means business.
•
The National Baseball Hall of Fame (& Museum) has put itself in the same trap with the MLB, but it doesn’t have to be there and oughtn’t be.
Freeman’s Journal style drops the “& Museum,” because the Hall’s been using the moniker consistently to try wash its hands of both scandal and standard-setting: We only record what’s happened, is the party line.
But scholarship doesn’t give anyone a pass on values.
Frankly, hearing Hank Aaron praised, but not for his foremost accomplishment, at the April 25 ribbon-cutting must have made many a listeners’ skin crawl.
It was a disgrace.
If Barry Bonds cheated, did he indeed break Aaron’s record? Clearly not. If the Hall won’t call him on it, then it is condoning cheating and illegal drug use in our National Pastime.
It’s a value judgment, a pretty clear one. By promoting bad odor, the Hall is hurting itself. But it’s not hurting only itself: Otsego County’s fortunes rise or fall, to a degree, with baseball. It’s hurting all of us.
If the Hall of Fame can’t stand up and be counted, then someone else should. Because of the critical importance of a clean game to our region, why shouldn’t the Otesgo County and Cooperstown chambers of commerce take on cleaning up baseball as an issue – better, a crusade?
Whether or not baseball is pure, the Hall of Fame – “Cooperstown,” the concept, not the place – needs to be a beacon of the ideal of baseball’s purity.
If the Hall of Fame won’t live up to its responsibility, who will pick up the torch?

Dot Every ‘i’, Cross Every ‘t’

The landowner who is proposing a four-lot subdivision on Browdy Mountain Road – atop a steep hillside overlooking Five Mile Point – shouldn’t be subject to a higher legal standpoint than anyone else.
But, given the sensitivity of the site, the likelihood some erosion will occur, and the beginning of the ruination of the viewshed, every “t” should be crossed and “i” dotted before the project is allowed to go forward.
The erosion-control piece has passed DEC review, but the proposed silt basins, which going forward must be maintained by a homeowners association under deed convenants, will inevitably fail.
A case in point: The Watershed Supervisory Committee has discovered, as of its May 4 meeting, that 53 percent of the 366 septic systems around Otsego Lake inspected over the past five years had failed.
People let things slide.
It is also indicative of what government can do that, of the 173 failed systems, 111 have been repaired or replaced, and all but eight landowners are working with the committee.
At the end of the latest public hearing on the Browdy Mountain subdivision, Paul Lord, chairman of the Town of Otsego Planning Board, advised his board to scrutinize regulations governing roads.
It’s unlikely, it seems, that the access road can meet them. If so, so be it.
Unless the development can meet each and every requirement, the Planning Board is under no obligations – in fact, quite the opposite – to approve a project that promises to have a negative impact for so many people who use the lake, or simply love it.

Labels: 05-15-09, Editorial, Perspectives

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AN OX IS SIMPLY......Whatever, But Dan Conklin Keeps Settlers’ Skill Alive

By JIM KEVLIN

HARTWICK

An ox is simply a castrated bull.
There it is.
The operation, as you might expect, shifts the bull’s hormonal balance and characteristics more typical in a cow – placidity, pliancy – come to the fore.
Imagine harnessing a bull to a plow. With an ox, you’re harnessing the strength without the aggression.
Dan Conklin will tell you this matter-of-factly, and much more.
“I didn’t start in cold,” said Conklin, who was raised on a farm in Woodstock, Vt., and knew his way around animals. “I wasn’t an expert. I’m not an expert now.”
The other day, though, he soon had effortlessly yoked Nip and Tuck, his two young oxen, and with a “huish!” and a “gee!” and a “haw!” was directing them across Pleasant Valley Road to visit the elder – and massive – Pollux, sitting placidly in the gently rising meadow.
Conklin’s renewed acquaintance with oxen began eight years ago when he stopped by Billy Balcom’s in Mount Vision shortly after a pair of twin Holsteins had arrived.
“They’re cute,” said Dan.
“Take them home,” said Balcom.
And so it began.
“You get a plow and head out,” Conklin said of his training method. “The more you do, the more you learn.”
He used the team to plow a sizeable vegetable garden.
Many of Otsego County’s original settlers were hauled over rough roads from New England by ox-drawn carts. (One of the originals, it is said, is still owned by the original family in the Town of Burlington.)
Today, not many, but some other farmers have oxen, and Dan, Castor and Pollux would make a point of attending Danny Decker’s plowing day each spring and the corn harvest in the fall.
“The big ones ran away with me a couple of times,” said Conklin when asked about trouble spots in his relationship with his animals. “I didn’t make a big deal out of it.”
He calmly turned them around and guided them back to the furrow.
Other than that, oxen occasionally flip and the yokes end up reversed.
Incidentally, Dan makes the yokes as well. The larger one was crafted from the remains of an old elm behind the house that had died. The smaller yoke is cherry.
Trained as a blacksmith at The Farmers’ Museum, he forged the iron fixings.
All was well on Pleasant Valley Road until last fall, when Castor ate wilted cherry leaves, and quickly died. The leaves contain cyanide, the vet told Conklin.
A short time later, Conklin was visiting Cliff and Patty Brunner, who run that organic dairy near Hartwick Seminary, and there were two more cute newborns.
Nip and Tuck were soon in harness back at the Conklin place.
Dan Conklin must be doing something right.
The year-old team won him the grand champion ox teamster title at the Billings Farm & Museum annual Plowing Competition, held for the 23rd time Sunday, May 3, in Conklin’s Woodstock hometown.
Assisted by plowman Wayne Coursen of Edmeston, Nip and Tuck placed third in the walking-plow competition and first in the sulky-plow class.
After his Vermont boyhood, Dan Conklin spent two years at Harvard, then finished up at UMass’s ag school. “Nothing else really interested me very much,” he said of his chosen vocation. (He has two brothers; one is a farmer in New Hampshire, the other is retired from the federal government in Washington, D.C.)
A dozen years followed in Wyoming, raising beef cows, mostly Herefords. Then, 25 years ago, he bought a farm in the Town of Richfield, which reminded him of his home area. He moved to a farm in Otego before finally finding the acreage in the Town of Hartwick.
Along the way, he met his wife, Andree, who is active on town commissions and in cultural groups around the county.
By now, Conklin has driven the team up to Pollux, who, lying down, looks deceptively small. He breaks out laughing at the visitor’s surprise when the huge ox rises, 2,800 towering pounds of beef.
“A lot of people have horses,” said Conklin,” and they’re no more work than horses.”
“Patience,” he advises. “That’s the biggest thing.”

Labels: 05-15-09, Glimmerglass

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Extending The Harvesting Of Greens

JANO NIGHTINGALE

AS YOUR GARDEN GROWS

Antoinette Kuzminski of Fly Creek has more greens each spring than she and husband Adrian can eat, so they give them away to friends.
“At this time of year, we are harvesting bags of spinach and mache (corn salad) that were planted in March and have been growing for over a month,” said Dr. Kuzminski, a Bassett Healthcare physician. “Seeds of ‘Tango’ and ‘Rouge D’Iver’ Lettuce, in another part of our home greenhouse, were sown in September, and now are producing beautiful red-green leaves.”
Many components of their four-season greenhouse are recycled materials, and water is brought in by an ingenious frost-free hydrant which uses no electricity. As Antoinette operates the hand pump that leads to the greenhouse hose, it is obvious that this is a serious undertaking.
She and her husband, a visiting philosopher at Hartwick College, consider energy conservation as part of their everyday life, and there is no electricity or heat used in the greenhouse. They are founding members of Sustainable Otsego, formed in 2008 to encourage stewardship of natural resources.
The basic structure of the greenhouse was a kit that the Kuzminskis ordered from Rimol Greenhouse Systems in New Hampshire. Advisers from the company provided assistance on their site, which was especially helpful to first-time greenhouse growers.
“I love the ambience of the structure,” said Antoinette, “especially on a sunny day in winter.
“The whole experience has been a learning curve. Some things we did right and others just didn’t work. A serious problem during our first season was an invasion of moles that burrowed their way under the edges of the wooden beams supporting the structure.
“Although I did not want to, I ended up using poison to kill them, since they ate their way through each raised bed and destroyed almost all of the seedlings.”
According to Eliot Coleman’s “The Four-Season Harvest” (Mothers Bookshelf, Maine): “In October, if gardeners sow lettuce and spinach, you could be eating the greens in March or April. The seeds will sit in the soil over the winter and germinate in the spring months. We began to pay attention to the fact that once past the middle of November most of the crops were not growing much anymore.
“They were just sort of hibernating and waiting for us to come and harvest them. In other words, we were not actually extending the growing season as you would with a heated greenhouse, we were extending the harvest season.”
As Dr. Kuzminski remarked, “Once the greens start to grow in March, they have a sweeter taste, more so than any other greens I have ever tasted. And we are able to eat them much earlier than the usual spring outdoor sowing.
“Although the spinach and mache might freeze overnight, during the warmth of the day they will defrost and be completely edible.”
Spinach and mache are popular “chilling resistant” crops. Other winter crops include arugula, tatsoi and minzuna. Many of these can survive winter’s freezes as long as they have some protection.
Many growers use remay, a covering that goes over the crop on the coldest nights, and removed during as the temperature rises during the daytime in the greenhouse.
More information about extending the harvest can be found at Eliot Coleman’s website www.fourseasonfarm.com

Jano Nightingale is a community gardener and works with adults and children on their gardens in Otsego County.

Labels: 05-15-09, Glimmerglass

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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

WPA IN COOP: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, May 15, The New York State Historical Association’s Research Library opens exhibit, “WPA: National Relief for a National Pastime,” highlights improvements at Doubleday Field. Information, 547-1400.

LAST IN SERIES: 8 p.m. Friday, May 15 Hunt Union Ballroom, SUNY Oneonta. The Barra MacNeils, famed Celtic music group presented by the Oneonta Concert Association Information, 432-0147 or www.oneonta.edu/oca .

FLY-IN FOR BREAKFAST: 7:30-11 a.m. Saturday, May 16 Middlefield Vol. F.D. and EEA Chapter 1070 Fly-In breakfast with all you can eat pancakes, eggs, maple syrup, sausage, beverages. Cooperstown/Westville Airport, Rt. 166, Cooperstown. Adults $6.50, children under 12 $4.

READ UNTIL DONE: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, Marathon read of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” begins at the Bright Hill Center, 94 Church St. Treadwell. Come and go as you please throughout the day.

FIREPROOF: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 16, “Fireproof” at the Community Bible Chapel, Toddsville. Admission is free and open to couples, singles and teens. Free Child Care is available during the event. Information, 547-9764.

IN CASE YOU HADN”T HEARD: The Cooperstown Farmers’ Market is once again open regularly on Saturdays from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. behind Key Bank. Fresh veggies, locally produced cheeses, hand made crafts, organically raised meats, homemade baked goods and more. Live music. Information, 547-6195.

Labels: 05-15-09, Glimmerglass, Weekend's Best Bets

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‘Dr. Gretzky’ Hailed At Med School Fete

Henry Weil Praised As Program Launched By Bassett, Columbia

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

Wayne Gretzky wasn’t the biggest or fastest hockey player around.
Looking at him skill by skill, he shouldn’t have become “The Great One,” scoring more goals by far than anyone else.
“My secret,” he says, “is I know where the puck is going to be.”
Lee Goldman, Columbia University Medical Center dean, told that story to a crowd in The Otesaga’s main ballroom Monday, May 11, that had gathered to celebrate Columbia’s partnership with Bassett Healthcare in creating a medical school locally for last-year students.
His point was that the medical-school concept looks ahead, beyond today’s shortage of doctors in rural areas, to create a demand for rural practices.
It turns out he was setting up Dr. Henry F. Weil, who came up with the medical-school idea and continued to nudge it forward against all objections and hurdles – a Wayne Gretzky, M.D., if you will, someone who saw the problem coming and came up with a possible solution.
In introducing Henry Weil to the gathering, Bill Streck, Bassett Healthcare president & CEO, referred to the other famous Gretzky aphorism: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
The Columbia-Bassett program “is his idea,” Streck said of Weil. “Someone must have an idea and believe in that idea and pursue it in the face of doubt, and doubt, and doubt.”
It was then Henry Weil’s turn. He called the medical-school “an idea superimposed on a work of art,” the Bassett concept as it has developed since 1920s, when his great uncle, Dr. Henry S.F. Cooper Sr., and other young physicians at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City convinced Stephen C. Clark Sr. to reopen shuttered Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital.
Four members of the Columbia-Bassett class were in the audience, including Jamie Bordley, a fifth-generation physician and grandson of James Bordley III, who Stephen Clark recruited from Johns Hopkins in 1947 to head Bassett.
Annually, 10-14 “top-ranking” students from Columbia Medical School with a pre-disposition to practice in a rural setting will be assigned to spend their last 15 months at Bassett, treating patients over time in differing aspects of medical practice. Most of the work will be in Cooperstown, but they will be assigned to satellites in Bassett’s nine-county region as well.
Unlike most medical schools, the students will work closely with individual doctors over time. “They are going to get to know what it’s like to be them,” said Weil, who after Hamilton College went to the Columbia medical school, then did his internship and residency at Bassett before practicing here.
(Two years ago, he was credited with introducing EMR – electronic medical record, combining and computerizing patients records – well ahead of the nation.)
Part of the recruitment effort will be to seek out pre-med students at Hamilton, Colgate, Cornell and other top schools in the region to make sure they are aware of the opportunity.
Living in Otsego County is much more economical than New York City, so that can be an enticement. Further, the Scriven Foundation, the local-education arm of the Clark Foundation, has dedicated a significant amount to writing down the tuition.
The idea is that the students will come to like the Bassett system and Upstate New York, and decide to stay here.
State Health Commissioner Richard Daines, who was on a rostrum that also included U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, and Thomas Morris, chair of the Bassett trustees, made it explicit in a press briefing that followed.
“Why are you here?” he reported asking young physicians he meets in his travels around the state. The answers: “I grew up here. I trained here. I married someone from here.”
“It’s an unusual physician who starts practice in some place they’ve never lived before,” Goldman added.
Referring back to “the shots you don’t take,” Streck said it won’t be clear for eight or so years whether the new approach will work, and it will be 30 years before the region will be fully benefitting from the success.

Labels: 05-15-09, Front Page

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Idelson: ‘Perspective Of Time’ Will Sort Out Steroids Scandal

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

In his first address to the National Press Club, Jeff Idelson said the National Baseball Hall of Fame is unlikely to devote an exhibit to the steroids scandal within the walls of 25 Main until time allows it to be put in perspective.
“We won’t shy away from the topic,” said the Hall of Fame president, “but it’s not going to be anytime soon.”
He likened the situation to the decades-long lag before the integration of the Negro Leagues into Major League Baseball in the 1940s was fully reflected in the Cooperstown displays, but that’s only possible with “the perspective of time.”
Visiting the Hall today, “you see very clearly and poignantly how baseball in a lot of ways was ahead of the curve,” he said. “Fifteen years before Martin Luther King’s march, baseball was integrated.”
Idelson appeared before the press corps in the Nation’s Capital less than a week after the latest steroids outbreak: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig suspended L.A. Dodgers star Mannie Ramirez for 50 games due to use of disallowed substances, costing the player $15 million, a third of his $45 million salary.
Predictably, a fair number of the questions fielded by Idelson’s host and the emcee, USA Today reporter Donna Leinwand -- they were e-mailed in from all over the world, she said -- dealt with steroids.
“Major League Baseball has stepped up and done a great job as of late with the steroid controversy,” Idelson replied to the first question. “They have now THE toughest policy in all of professional sports. So you have to give them credit.”
He pointed out that not just the MLB, but the players’ union has a role in developing policies with teeth.
“The past is the past,” he continued. “At this point you have to look forward, and the game is getting much, much better in terms of ridding steroids from the game ... Every time something comes out about steroids, baseball’s just that much closer to getting it behind them.”
Despite suspect slugger Mark McGwire’s poor balloting the year Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn were inducted, Idelson said “no one who’s tested positive is on the ballot yet. Their careers are still going on. They are still being defined.”
The five-year waiting period, plus 15 years on the ballot, also allows the “perspective of time” to come into play.
“With the perspective of time, and with the rules being pretty clear, I think the tools are there for the writers to vote with their conscience,” he said.
What’s his opinion, he was asked. Should steroids-tainted stars be allowed in the Hall?
“That’s the 64-million dollar question,” he replied. “We’re very comfortable with our rules,” which call for the Baseball Writers Association of America to judge nominees on “character, integrity, sportsmanship and contributions to the teams for whom they played.”
He said, “Whomever they choose to elect, we’ll honor at the Hall of Fame.”

Labels: 05-15-09, Baseball Hall of Fame, Front Page

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Washington Button Found In Dead Tree

OTEGO

A button inscribed with “Long Live the President” surrounded by 13 linked states was discovered recently when a dead tree was being removed in Burlington.
The “George Washington Inaugural Button” ended up with Hesse Galleries here, which is auctioning it off Saturday, June 6.
Hesse reports the button is “well-patinated from being in the ground,” but that the inscriptions are clearly legible. The item is detailed in “George Washington Inaugural Buttons and Medalets, 1789-1793,” by J. Harold Cobb.

Labels: 05-15-09, Front Page

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Mountain Lion Seen In County

PIERSTOWN

Chris and Christine Vuolo got a shock on driving home from their 5-year-old son’s T-ball game Tuesday, May 12.
Heading west on Armstrong Road about a half-mile this side of Tanner Hill Road, their car startled a mountain lion, which then dashed away over an open field.
Chris, a retired police officer from Long Island with 20/20 vision, estimated the cat weighed at least 150 pounds, since the family dog weighs 100 and “he dwarfed my dog. It was as big as a small deer.”
The couple, who moved to Otsego County last July, checked out mountain lion photos on the Internet as soon as they arrived home in the Fly Creek Valley, and that confirmed their suspicions.
Vuolo raised the alert, saying that parents in the area should be aware a big cat is on the prowl.

Labels: 05-15-09, Big Cat, Front Page

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Cooperstown and Around

BUDGET VOTES: The polls will be open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, for school-budget votes in Cooperstown, Cherry Valley, Milford and Richfield Springs central school districts. School board contests in Milford and Richfield Springs will be decided.

NO ANSWER YET: The village trustees’ first long-range planning meeting, where the sudden appearance of $400,000 in surplus was to be explained, hasn’t yet been rescheduled after it was cancelled. The trustees plan to discuss it at their monthly meeting Monday, May 18.

LONG READ: A “marathon read” of Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, at the Bright Hill Center in Treadwell, as part of the BIG READ. Volunteers will read the book until it’s done. Admission free.

ARCURI HONORED: The National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association has named U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, its “Legislator of the Year.”

HELP ON WAY: The United Way is alerting food banks that additional allocations have been received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $15,271 for Delaware County and $19,680 for Otsego. Applications are due by Tuesday, May 19. To get one, call 432-8006.

Labels: 05-15-09, Front Page

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Locals

Derouin, Lachance, Kearns, Bernegger Top CCS Scholars

Quinn Bernegger, Laura Derouin, Peter Kearns and Joelle Lachance are Cooperstown Central School’s top four senior students.
They will be recognized at the 130th commencement excercie at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 21, at the Fenimore Art Museum.
Quinn is the son of James Bernegger and Sandra Peevers of Cooperstown. While attending CCS he participated in all four school musicals and the swim team. He plans to attend Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. to study chemistry in the fall.
Laura is the daughter of Arthur Derouin and Cynthia Zehr or Hartwick Seminary. She was the president of her class for all four years at CCS and played on the varisty soccer, volleyball and track teams. She was captain of the soccer and track teams.Laura will attend Harvard in the fall to study political science and international relations.
Peter is the son of Gary and Laurie Kearns of Hartwick. While at CCS he participated on the quiz team, varisty track, Cooperstown Venture Crew, donated blood frequently and is a member of the Leo Club. He also enjoys paiting with pastels. Peter will attend SUNY Geneseo and study Psychology.
Joelle Lachance is the daughter of Michael and Carole Lachance of Fly Creek. She participated in all of the school musicals while at CCS and directed the senior play. In addition she is member of the golf team and the Fly Creek Philharmonic. She will attend Nazareth College in the fall to study Music Education.
The group will write a speech to be given together at the graduation cereomy and then Laura will give one of her own as class president and lead the class in turning their tassels.

CV-S Names Millner, Staley As Valedictorian, Salutatorian

CHERRY VALLEY

Maggie Millner has been named valedictorian and Spencer Staley salutatorian of the Cherry Valley-Springfield High School Class of 2009.
Maggie Millner, daughter of Bob Millner and Barbara Sepp of Cherry Valley, is a National Merit finalist and NFAA Young Arts finalist.
She has been a member of the varsity soccer and track and field teams, winning a number of awards for these activities.
She is a member of the National English Honor Society, National Honor Society, NYS Mathematics Honor Society, foreign language clubs among other activities.
Her musical talent shines in All County Band, Area All State, Jazz Ensemble, New York State School Music Association Festival Soloist, All County Choir, Jazz Choir, and Select Choir.
In the community, Maggie is president of Venturers’ Scouting and corresponding secretary of the Roseboom Historical Association.
Maggie has participated in a multitude of conferences during her high school career including; New England Young Writers Conference at Bread Loaf, St. Lawrence University Young Writers Conference and Pen In Hand Upstate New York Writers Conference, to name a few.
Her gift of writing has afforded her publication in Stone Canoe Literary Magazine, Cargoes Literary Magazine, Ryder University Literary Magazine and the Daily Star.
Maggie will be attending Brown University in the fall, where she will be majoring in English and writing.
Spencer Staley, son of David and Cynthia Staley of Springfield Center, is already a full-time student at Herkimer County Community College, completing his high school requirement for an advanced Regents diploma. He was on the Dean’s List for the fall semester.
He has been a member of the varsity soccer, baseball and basketball teams, winning a number of awards for these activities.
He is a member of several clubs and organizations including; Drama Club, French Club, Varsity Club, and Ski Club.
His musical talent shines participating in All County Band and Jazz Ensemble.
Spencer is a member of the National Math Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Honor Society, and college honor society, Mu Alpha Theta.
In the community, Spencer has participated in Katrina Relief Carwash, Adopt-a-Highway, the Varsity Baseball Clinic for Young Players and American Legion Baseball.
Spencer will be attending Colgate in the fall, where he will be majoring in physics and astronomy.

ST. MARY’S CELEBRATES FIRST COMMUNION

Eighteen young members of St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake” Roman Catholic Church received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on Saturday, May 9. From row, from left, are Delany Holohan, Tyler Koffer, Emilie Perez, Jesse Furnari, Emma Danes, Genevieve Landry, Jack Lambert and Jordan Carpenter; second row, from left, Alex Bukovsky, Kate Trosset, Matthew Hulse, Jenna Lancey, Kathryn Boyle, Kaitlin Curtis, Chino Osuna, Richie Abbate, Jordan Oliver and Michael Rudloff. In the back row are, from left, Theresa Russo, Father John P. Rosson, pastor, and Dorothy Dabrowski.

Morris, Tatunchak Plan Nuptials

Mr. and Mrs. M. Douglas Morris of Cooperstown announce the engagement of their daughter, Erin Colleen Morris, to Alexander Boris Tatunchak, son of and Mr. and Mrs. Boris Tatunchak, Worcester, Pa.
The bride to be, a 1997 CCS graduate, is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz and holds a masters in clinical psychology with endorsements in addictions and abuse from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a behavioral specialist consultant with Greentree School in Philadelphia, serving autistic children and the Salvation Army Youth Program. She has received awards and recognition from the City of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives for her work with autistic children.
The groom to be holds a bachelor in electrical engineering from Penn State University, where is completing an MBA. He is employed as a systems engineer by L3 Communications, Communication Systems in East Camden, N.J.
A February 2010 wedding is planned.

GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS

CCS Athletic Director Mike Cring awarded his quarter Good Sportmanship Awards to, front row from left, Virginia Ofer, Holli Erkson, Katie Booan, Nicole Wischoff and Anne Leonardo. Back row, Joe Fields, Ethan Bliss, Harrison Clinton, the Donnelly brothers, Edmund and Jimmy, and Isaac Huntsman. Behind Isaac is Mr. Cring.

Cornell to Graduate 6 Local Students At May 24 Event

Cornell University has announced the following students from northern Otsego County will graduate Sunday, May 24.
• Amanda Jean Powers of Milford, with a B.S. in animal science.
• Ashley Heather Zydel of Schuyler Lake, with a B.S. in biological sciences.
• Garrett James Eiholzer of West Edmeston, with a B.S. in animal science.
• Ian Jay Del Giacco of Cooperstown, B.A. in English.
• Judith Claire Alishauskas of New Berlin, with a B.S. in animal science.

NYCAMH AWARDED: On Wednesday, May 13, John J. May, M.D., director of the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH), accepted a Farm Safety 4 Just Kids (FS4JK) Professional Chapter of the Year Award for the center’s outstanding contribution to the farm safety and health of children. NYCAMH conducted 60 events and reached more than 4,300 people in 2008. FS4JK is a national non-profit organization that works to promote a safe farm environment to prevent health hazards,injuries and fatalities to rural children and youth.
COLGATE GRAD: Chaz Carrier, grandson of Charles and Patricia Carrier, Cooperstown, was due to graduate from Colgate University Sunday, May 17. The pre-med student plans to spend two years doing laboratory research before proceeding to medical school. His grandfather is also a Colgate grad.

ON DEAN’S LIST: Bradlee Sheldon, son of Scott and Colleen Sheldon of Milford, Pa., has been named to the Dean’s List at Penn State University for the just-ended school year. His grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. William Sheldon and Mr. Stu Taugher, all of Cooperstown.

SUNY GRAD: Daniel Pomarico-Maxson of Cooperstown has received a B.S. in computer science from SUNY New Paltz.

Labels: 05-15-09, Locals

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