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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Cooperstown’s Jim High District Rotarian Of Year

COOPERSTOWN

Jim High, a Cooperstown Rotarian since moving to the village in 1999, has been named District 1070 Rotarian of the Year by District Governor Lana Rouff.
High, who has been a Rotarian since 1992 – in Brookfield, Conn., where he ran a printing business – plays multiple roles in District 1070, which is based in Binghamton.
He is district chairman of the Rotary International Foundation, editor of the district newsletter, prepares district governors for office as district trainer, and serves on the district finance committee.
High was also active in the revival of the Schenevus-Worcester Rotary Club over the past year.
“They hold the same values that I do,” he replied when asked why he was attracted to Rotary. In particular, the club’s motto, “Service Over Self.”
He first connected with Rotarians in Connecticut during Operation Desert Storm, the Iraq war in the early ’90s, when a local radio station encouraged people to buy an extra Christmas card to send to military people overseas.
High offered to print cards and, when his collaboration with local Rotarians was complete, 50,000 cards had been sent.

Cooperstown Pair Teach In China

After graduating from Bennington College in December, Wesley Bernegger and Aurora Dawson of Cooperstown are living in the Shanxxi Province of Central China, where for a year they will be teaching English at the Aston School in Hanzhong, a “small” city of 200,000 surrounded by mountains.
The city has almost no westerners, so they are turning heads wherever they go. They’ve bought bicycles and are meandering their way through the streets to start their workday, according to Wesley’s mother, Sandy Peevers. They teach several courses on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to students ranging from seven to 18 years of age; an exhausting schedule. However, this leaves four days for exploration, and they are taking advantage of the opportunity.
They recently went on an excursion to the western part of China, in the Qinghai Province, 25 kilometers away from the capital city of Xining, and close to Tibet. Xining was once an important stop on the centuries-old Silk Road. They visited the impressive Kumbum Monastery (also called Ta’er Monastery), one of the two most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of Tibet.

NYU Graduates Maggie G. Kuch Magna Cum Laude

COOPERSTOWN

Maggie G. Kuch, the daughter of Gary and Ellen Kuch/Tillapaugh graduated, with honors, magna cum laude from New York University Tuesday, May 12, in ceremonies for the College of Arts & Sciences at Radio City Music Hall.
At an academic awards ceremony the week prior, she was named a University Honors Scholar, received a Founders Day Certificate and the Prix Germaine Bree, consisting of a gold medallion to be worn at graduation.
On May 13, she participated in the university-wide graduation ceremony at the new Yankee Stadium for 15,000 graduates. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the speaker.

FRIEND OF SUNY: Jane Forbes Clark of Cooperstown will receive a Friend of the College Award at the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Banquet Saturday, June 6, during Alumni Weekend 2009.

ON STATE COMMISION: Gretchen S. Sorin, of Springfield Center, has been confirmed by the state senate to serve as a member of the Central New York State Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission. Sorin, the director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies with SUNY Oneonta and the New York State Historical Association, holds a Ph.D. (ABD) from SUNY Albany, an M.A. from SUNY Oneonta and a B.A. from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She is the past chair of the Governor’s Commission on the New York State Freedom Trail, and has helped coordinate various historical exhibitions.

Labels: 06-05-09, Locals

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Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO
Our countryman, Mr. Cooper (James Fenimore Cooper), is reported to be now engaged upon a work which will probably be entitled “A Comparative View of France and the United States.”
Real Estate – The lot at the Out-let of Otsego Lake, upon which is a stone building, 40 by 64 feet, two and a half stories high, erected for a Distillery, in which is a new Steam Engine, and mill for grinding grain, to which may be attached any kind of machinery. The engine is estimated at 20 horse power. The out buildings upon this lot are extensive and new.
June 9, 1834

150 YEARS AGO
The Seminary – We are requested to state that the citizens of Cooperstown interested in having the Seminary in operation again, are solicited to meet the Committee appointed by the Oneida Conference at the Session Room of the Presbyterian Church on Wednesday afternoon at three o’clock.
Strawberries! Mr. Thomas Johnston, of this village, sent to our office yesterday the first strawberries we have seen this year. They were fully ripe, of large size and were from his garden.
June 3, 1859

125 YEARS AGO
Orders and regulations published by the village Board of Health (in part): That no person shall slaughter animals for food or keep a slaughter house inside the village limits during the months of June, July, August and September, under a penalty of $25 for each animal slaughtered.
No hogs or swine shall be kept or allowed to remain upon any hotel premises or boarding house premises, or on any yard or lot adjoining such premises during the months of June, July, August and September, under a penalty of $25 for each day the same are kept in violation of this order.
All persons collecting swill or slops are required to keep the same in barrels closely covered, and not suffer the same to stand for a period beyond 12 hours, under a penalty of $10.
No undertaker shall bury any person who shall have died of any malignant, infectious or contagious disease without a permit from the Health Officer of the village and such Health Officer is charged with the duty of taking charge of such burial…. A penalty of $50 will be imposed for every violation of this order.
June 7, 1884

100 YEARS AGO
It developed at a hearing before the State Highway Commission in Albany that Senator Hooker, chairman of the commission, had never seen Otsego Lake. The other two members of the commission, Messrs. Allen and Earl, also showed a woeful lack of intimate knowledge of this beautiful country.
They were invited to come to Cooperstown and promised to do so before making their decision regarding the proposed route for a state highway running through Otsego County.
The commission believes that the route over the hill from Cooperstown to Fly Creek would be impracticable and seems to favor the idea, should the Oak’s Creek route be adopted, of running a spur up to Cooperstown from Index. The Cooperstown committee favors a road to run along the west shoreline of Otsego Lake.
June 3, 1909

75 YEARS AGO
Miss Lucy E. Cooke will present her music pupils in a piano and violin recital at her home, at No. 16 Chestnut Street, on Saturday afternoon, June 9, at 3:30 o’clock.
Piano solos will be played by Janet Atwell, Barbara Hall, Mary McGown, Barbara Plumer, Richard Plumer, Betty Whiting, and Moussia Wolkonsky of Cooperstown, and Thelma Griffith and Janice McCredy of Springfield Center.
Violin solos will be played by Robert Gros and Dorothy McCredy, both of Springfield Center.
An interesting feature of the program will be several selections played by the Springfield Center High School orchestra. Miss Cooke has been in charge of this group since last November.
June 6, 1934

50 YEARS AGO
Nearly 250 persons, many from out of town, attended the fashion show and supper, sponsored by the Cooperstown Woman’s Club at the Treadway Otesaga Hotel, the evening of May 31. Fashions from the Smart Shop were attractively modeled by a number of Cooperstown misses and matrons.
With music by Robert Root at the piano, each model entered the dining room, took a pose on a raised platform at the end of the room and displayed the attractions of her apparel. Meanwhile, its style and material were described by Mrs. Robert M. Atwell.
There were striking Hawaiian swim suits, simple frocks, versatile sportswear, dresses for cocktails and dining, and fascinating evening gowns.
June 3, 1959

25 YEARS AGO
The Farmers’ Museum will host a Draft Horse Training Day on Sunday, June 10 as the Eastern Regional Draft Horse Association of New York will sponsor a training seminar for members and owners of draft horses.
The public is welcome to attend the event which will include a demonstration of mane and tail decorating by Cheryl McGrath of Cherry Valley, free wagon rides and a display of draft horse breeds including Belgians, Percherons and Clydesdales.
June 6, 1984

10 YEARS AGO
The Cooperstown Bat Company announces the signing of baseball great Sandy Koufax and George Brett to bat contracts. Company owner Don Oberriter, says the limited edition Sandy Koufax bat, second in its series of Famous Pitcher Series bats, became available on June 1 in a limited edition of 1,000 bats signed by Koufax featuring his portrait, an action photo and career statistics. George Brett, the Kansas City Royals third baseman will be the lead-off hitter for the company’s Famous Player 2 series.
June 4, 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: 06-05-09, Bound Volumes, Columns

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Letters to the Editor

Terry Graves Awarded Congressional Medal of Honor

To the Editor:
Thank you for printing the text of Paul Elkan’s fine remarks at the Memorial Day commemoration.
One correction to the list of the deceased: While it’s probably only a typo that snuck into the newspaper version, I think the record should show that the Marine Corps officer from Edmeston who died in Vietnam was Second Lt. Terry Graves (not Grauss).
Terry was awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on the day he died.
RANDY BROWN
Ocala, Fla.

Editor’s Note: Here is the text of the citation issued when the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to Second Lt. Terrence C. Graves of Edmeston for actions in Vietnam on Feb. 17, 1968.

Citation for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Platoon Commander with the Third Force Reconnaissance Company, Third Reconnaissance Battalion, Third Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam on 16 February 1968.
While on a large-range reconnaissance mission, Lieutenant Grave’s eight-man patrol observed seven enemy soldiers approaching their position. Reacting instantly, he deployed his men and directed their fire on the approaching enemy.
After the fire had ceased, he and two patrol members commenced a search of the area, and suddenly came under a heavy volume of hostile small arms and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior enemy force.
When one of his men was hit by enemy fire, Lieutenant Graves moved through the fire-swept area to his radio and, while directing suppressive fire from his men, requested air support and adjusted a heavy volume of artillery and helicopter gunship fire upon the enemy.
After attending the wounded, Lieutenant Graves, accompanied by another Marine, moved from his relatively safe position to confirm the results of the earlier engagement. Observing that several of the enemy were still alive, he launched a determined assault, eliminating the remaining enemy troops.
He then began moving the patrol to a landing zone for extraction, when the unit again came under intense fire which wounded two more Marines and Lieutenant Graves. Refusing medical attention, he once more adjusted air strikes and artillery fire upon the enemy while directing the fire of his men.
He led his men to a new landing site into which he skillfully guided the in-coming aircraft and boarded his men while remaining exposed to the hostile fire.
Realizing that one of the wounded had not embarked, he directed the aircraft to depart and, along with another Marine, moved to the side of the casualty. Confronted with a shortage of ammunition, Lieutenant Graves utilized supporting arms and directed fire until a second helicopter arrived. At this point, the volume of enemy fire intensified, hitting the helicopter and causing it to crash shortly after liftoff. All aboard were killed.
Lieutenant Graves’ outstanding courage, superb leadership and indomitable fighting spirit throughout the day were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Richard M. Nixon
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

There’s No Basis To Deny Walker Plan

To the Editor:
I write in support of the Walker subdivision.
It is our constitutional right to own property and to use it as we wish, within the rules and regulations of our governing bodies. I applaud the Planning Board and the citizens who are concerned about the safety of the road, and the conservation and preservation of the land and water which we are all so fortunate to enjoy in this beautiful place. Because of their efforts, the Walkers’ plan is now a state of the art model for any other development in our town. I welcome such thoughtful development, and I especially welcome some additional taxpayers.
Those who object have the right to be certain all safeguards are met; they do not have the right to stop development.
The Town of Otsego land subdivision regulations state:
“It is declared to be the policy of the Planning Board to consider land subdivision plats as part of a plan for the orderly, efficient and economical development of the town. This means, among other things, that land to be subdivided shall be of such character that it can be used safely for building purposes without danger to health, or peril from fire, flood or other menace, that proper provision shall be made for drainage, water supply, sewerage and other needed improvements, that all proposed lots shall be so laid out and of such size as to be in harmony with the development pattern of the neighboring properties.. .”
The Walkers have met all requirements of these regulations. There is no legal basis to deny approval of this subdivision.
ANNE O’CONNELL
Town of Otsego

Don’t Ruin The Special Lake Views

To the Editor:
How often do the citizens of this county have to man the ramparts in an effort to stop the disfiguring of the natural landscape of Lake Otsego?
Clearly the proposed Walker development on Brody Mountain represents such a threat.
In fact, all one has to do, as I did on a recent Sunday, is to motor on the lake past that site and note the very conspicuous green house near the top of that property that hardly acts as a subtle statement of what may be anticipated.
More learned and informed men than I, namely Dr. Harmon and McIntyre, have expressed grave concern regarding this proposal for scientific reasons.
To cut to the chase, I am strongly opposed to this development for aesthetic reasons!
Do we need to permit the “scenic” landscape of the northwestern side of the lake to metastasize towards Cooperstown?
DR. ROGER MacMILLAN
Cooperstown

Development Risks Quality Of Our Water

To the Editor:
Your editorial of May 15 regarding the proposed subdivision on Brody Mountain Road got it exactly right.
There are too many risks in the project to allow it to go forward.
It is almost certain that, if built, it will degrade the quality of water in the lake which is the drinking water supply for many residents around the lake, as well as the Village of Cooperstown.
The proposed road cannot be safely built and will surely violate state regulations.
Since it is within the Glimmerglass Historic District, the project should be subject to a higher legal standard.
The Planning Board does have an obligation to reject a project that will have such negative impact on so many people who use and love the lake.
ROBERT J. POULSON, Jr.
Cooperstown

Labels: 06-05-09, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

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If You Understand It, Then You Can Fix It – Perhaps

It doesn’t take too long out in the real world we call the United States of America to figure out that health care is expensive.
Businesspeople trying to provide the benefit to employees know it. All but a very few, particularly sheltered patients know it. Everybody, in and out of the system, acknowledges it.
But the health care system is huge, and hugely complex. It’s easy for a layperson to feel intimidated and, also, easy to be wrong in whatever conclusions he or she may reach.
Even the experts don’t know it all.
•
Just as you get an inkling things may be going wrong, you also have inklings – living in a community that would be dominated by Bassett Healthcare, except there are a handful of other semi-equally dominant communitiy players – that some things are going right.
For instance, that celebration the other week of the Columbia-Bassett Partnership to help recruit physicians to rural areas in general, and this rural area in particular.
Get ahead of the curve, as Dr. Henry Weil proposed. It makes perfect sense.
Identify med-school-bound undergrads from prestigious Upstate schools – Cornell, Hamilton, Colgate – in rural settings. Offer them enticements, bring them to fair Cooperstown for their final year of med school, then make ’em an offa they can’t refuse. (Didn’t Grisham write a novel about the lawyerly version of that?)
•
Likewise, what Dr. John May is doing at the Center for Agricultural Medicine & Health, applying social-studies techniques to medical research.
So you compile data on farmers killed or maimed in tractor rollovers. Then you devise various programs, financial and otherwise, to entice macho farmers to install rollover bars. Then you collect the numbers again to see if you’re making any progress.
Dr. Bill Richtsmeier is doing something similar with cancer research to determine, statistically, what treatments are getting results.
With these kinds of positive models around, maybe the national health mess we’re in can be worked out.
•
If you’re inclined to think that way, you should dig out “The Cost Conundrum” by Atul Gawande, a Harvard physician, in the June 1 New Yorker.
He went to McAllen,Texas, where Medicare reimbursement rates – reflecting costs generally, Gawande posited – are three and four and five times higher than other communities.
It’s a bit of a detective story, as Gawande gumshoes around rancher-doctors and hospital CEOs, some of who aren’t particularly happy to see him.
In the end, he finds two main reasons why medicine is so expensive there.
One, McAllen has a culture of doctors-slash-entrepreneurs, who own clinics, and strip malls, and apartment houses – they’re in it for the money, and so they figure out ways to maximize the extraction.
He concludes a model like Bassett’s, where doctors are on payroll, removes the profit motive – and that’s good. (Although he cites Geisinger, in Danville, Pa., as the model, as well as the Mayo Clinic.)
Second, though, is the culture of individual medical communities; some minimize expensive tests, others consistently prescribe the maximum.
That can be influenced by the original medical training and by caring institutions that emphasize teamwork in the pursuit of patient care.
The story’s too complicated fully plumb here. Read it yourself. What’s encouraging is that if the problem – runaway medical costs and poor outcomes – can be understood, it can be fixed.
Gawande has a bias toward bigness – competition, properly crafted, must have a role to play in cost control and quality – but his conclusions are heartening nonetheless.

Labels: 06-05-09, Editorial, Opinion, Perspectives

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Cooperstown and Around

STATE OF COUNTY: Jim Powers, chair of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, will keynote at the Otsego Chamber’s State of the County breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 16, at the Holiday Inn. $20. For reservations, call 432-4500.

DON’T MISS IT: It’s worth the short drive to Iroquois Farm, Route 33, this Sunday, June 7, for The Farmers’ Museum’s 13th Annual Benefit Horse Show, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. In addition to horsemanship, a patron’s lunch ($45 for adults, $10 children) begins at noon.

GOLF, DINE: Restaurateur Sam Ross has opened The Mount Wellington Grill this summer at the Otsego Golf Club at the lake’s north end, serving steaks to pasta Thursday through Sunday evenings, and Sunday brunch.

BARN RAZING: The village’s Historic Preservation & Architectural Review Board will consider a proposal to raze 10 Chestnut St., the former Smith Cooperstown Ford dealership, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, at 22 Main. JGB Properties is proposing a seven-home planned development there.

YOU CAN GO: Tickets are still available for the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert Friday, June 12, at Doubleday Field. For tickets, go to www.cooperstownchamber.org, or call (607) 547-9983.

A DAY EARLY: To avoid the conflict with the concert, the CAA will have its next opening Thursday, June 11.

Labels: 06-05-09, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

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In Tight Times, MacLeod Finds Handel Inspires

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

In the 1720s, Handel was in London, writing expensive-to-stage operas in Italian, when the economy went south.
Contributions and ticket sales began to dry up.
So, strapped, Handel switched to oratorios, which didn’t have to be fully staged, and he wrote them in English, accessible to a wider audience.
Michael MacLeod, Glimmerglass Opera general and artistic director, takes comfort in that and, more generally, with the genre’s 400-year struggle for financial viability.
He’s also taken lessons from his fellow strugglers over the centuries.
Take Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” one of four operas Glimmerglass is putting on this summer in its two-weeks-shorter, but only-slightly less-compact season – 38 performances vs. the usual 42-43.
It was originally put on in a girls’ school in London. So the plan is to present a “concert dramatization,” much like the original performance must have been. (This year is the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth.)
“I’m not doing a diluted ‘Dido,’” said MacLeod in an interview in his corner office at the far back of the opera’s headquarters the other day. “I’m doing it as it was originally conceived.”
However it is or isn’t staged, director Jonathan Miller “will make it dramatic by directing the singers.”
The three other operas are: Verdi’s “La Traviata,” always a crowd pleaser; Rossini’s “La Cenerentola,” a retelling of the Cinderella story, and Menotti’s “The Consul.”
This is not an easy time for opera companies, with the continuing recesssion and the market down 40 percent.
“Personal wealth has plummeted,” explained MacLeod, and that caused a dip in both contributions to the annual fund and the commitment to buy tickets.
Plus, the value of the endowment, intended as a secure port in financial storms, and the related revenues have dropped significantly, he said.
Still, MacLeod is implementing a $6.3 million budget, down just 8 percent from $6.9 million the year before, (although he’s been spending his days struggling with the 2010 projections.)
And construction will begin in September, as planned and paid with a state grant, on a new rehearsal building.
“We run a very responsible financial ship,” said the director. “And rather than fall into an abyss of debt, we would rather attack it head-on at an early stage and redress the financial balance.”
A scholar of opera as well as an administrator, MacLeod seems to relish returning to its more Spartan roots, or at least applying the virtue of positive thinking to necessity.

Labels: 06-05-09, Front Page

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Soccer HoF’s Challenge: Make Ends Meet, Expand Soccer’s Reach in U.S.

Ullman Must Make Ends Meet, Expand Soccer’s Reach in U.S.

By JIM KEVLIN

Jonathan Ullman was a museum guy, not a soccer guy, when he came to the National Soccer Hall of Fame as vice president and director of development.
But he must have made that transition in the hurry.
For after only 18 months at the Oneonta soccer mecca, he is president and COO.
“It wasn’t until I became part of this organization that I received a deep appreciation for this game,” he said the other day in an interview in his new office, where nothing yet was hanging from the picture hooks that dotted the bare walls.
Can 3.5 billion people who play it be wrong?
“It’s a very special game,” he continued. “If you are exposed to it on a regular basis, you really come to appreciate the tremendous athleticism it requires.”
And, while he didn’t play soccer while growing up in Randolph, N.J., he scored twice – more than anyone – at a Hall of Fame staff pickup game last summer.
His new job, however – the Hall’s board of directors named him to the position at a May 16-17 meeting in New York City – doesn’t require him to kick a ball into a goal.
To use a football – not futbol – analogy, his job is to move the ball down the field toward the goal. The goal: To raise the fortunes of the world’s most popular sport in the world’s most powerful nation which, generally, has been more enamored with baseball and the gridiron.
When asked about his goal for the Hall of Fame, he doesn’t respond in terms of the physical building, or Oneonta, but of the sport itself.
“We want to get to the point where the greatest achievers in the field of soccer are known and celebrated by people throughout the United States,” he said.
When soccer is wildly successful, the Hall of Fame will have achieved its mandate.
“You can’t even accomplish it in one single geographic location,” he added.
As noted, Jonathan Ullman was raised in New Jersey in the New York Metropolitan Area’s outer suburbs.
He went to Rutgers, studied neurobiology, and graduated in 1992 intending, after a year or two hiatus, to either get a Ph.D. in neurobiology or go on to med school.
Fatefully, his dad sent him a newspaper clipping, a come-up story on the prospective opening of the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.
On his office wall – or soon to be on his office wall – is the framed letter from 1992, offering him a part-time job at the princely sum of $6.25 an hour.
He keeps it handy as a reminder of how one thing can lead to another. He ended up working at the Liberty Science Center, in positions of increasing responsibility, for the next 14 years.
“What it symbolizes to other staff members” – and to Ullman – “is: There is opportunity, if you work hard and care about what you do.”
He might not put it this way, but the recent grad found the science center to be pretty cool. He realized that early on when he found himself trying out a scanning electron microscope.
One day, he’d do something related to geology. The next day, something about human health.
Where a neurobiology doctorate or a medical degree would have focused him even more narrowly, at the science center “you could really dabble in all sorts of disciplines.”
As he moved up the management ladder, “what really started to captivate me was management leadership, organizational issues,” particularly how to meld varied staffers into a like mindset in pursuit of an organizational goal, while allowing their individuality and sense of ownership to flourish.
He went back to Rutgers parttime and earned an MBA.
Ullman had gone through the original Liberty Science Center startup, and in 2007 he went through a second, $109 million expansion. He could have stayed, perhaps for the rest of his career. Instead, he was recruited by Steve Baumann, his predecessor at the Soccer Hall of Fame’s helm.
The Liberty Science Center had a $30 million budget; the Hall’s is $1 million. The science center attracts 1.2 million visitors a year; locally, 55,000 people visit the Hall’s campus annually, but only 20,000 go into the Hall itself. The center had more than 150 staffers (until 37 were laid off in February, due to the economic downturn); the Hall has 10 fulltime, and another dozen seasonal workers in the summer.
“This organization is challenged to make its revenue meet its expenses,” said Ullman.
There are some sponsors, most notably the State of New York and the Century Council, an anti-drunk-driving advocacy foundation based in Arlington, Va., that sees soccer as one way to promote healthy lifestyles among young people.
But more are needed.
Ullman praises the “enormous efforts and generosity of people in this county” for the Hall of Fame’s progress to date, but he recognizes that, for the Hall to thrive, he must reach beyond the county line, perhaps to national sponsors, certainly by upgrading soccerhall.org, perhaps by travelling exhibits – as the Cooperstown Hall has done with “Baseball as America,” its travelling exhibit.
The challenges, clearly, are many.
Meanwhile, however, the Hall’s young president – he is this side of 40 – is enjoying Otsego County’s rural lifestyle after the stresses of his congested home state.
He and wife Joanne, who recently completed her master’s in labor relations through Farleigh Dickinson University, have a home in the Fly Creek Valley and a growing family: Aaron, 7, Sage, 5, and Amalia, 1.
The topic of young people and soccer kept resurfacing in his discussion of the Hall and the sport. It promotes good health. It fosters good values.
“Kids are playing in numbers unlike any other sport,” Ullman pointed out. And given its world-wide scope, they are mastering what the Hall of Fame president terms “almost a common language.”

Fawcett, Agoos Will Be Inducted This Year

Five-time MLS Champion Jeff Agoos and two-time World Champion Joy Fawcett will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame at ceremonies Sunday, Aug. 2, in Oneonta.
Agoos, currently the sporting director of MLS club New York Red Bulls, played 134 times for the U.S. Men’s National Team, the second most in the team’s history. His national team career included participation in two World Cups (1998 and 2002) and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Fawcett won two FIFA Women’s World Cups (1991 and 1999) and two Olympic Gold Medals (Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004) in a career of epic proportions. Her 239 international matches played is fourth in U.S. Women’s National Team history, surpassed only by the currently active Kristine Lilly and Hall of Famers Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm (Class of 2007).
In her remarkable 15-year national team career, she received just two yellow cards and was never red carded.

Labels: 06-05-09, Front Page, Soccer Hall of Fame

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Fire Chief Says Otsego Lake Plan Creates Hazard

By JIM KEVLIN

FLY CREEK

Many of the same arguments were revisited.
The four-lot Walker subdivision on the side of steep Browdy Mountain would cause erosion.
The silt traps – to be maintained by a prospective homeowners’ association – would inevitably fail, eventually, causing runoff into Otsego Lake.
The steep driveway is inaccessible to emergency vehicles.
That brought a new piece of testimony.
An e-mail from Paul Bedworth, the new chief of the Cooperstown Volunteer Fire Department, was introduced, stating:
“I drove up the road just after we” – he and Marilyn Bradshaw, a neighbor who opposes the subdivision – “spoke. I find that it would be very difficult to fight a fire there. If my home were on that road, I would be very concerned.”
He continued: “There is nowhere for vehicles to pass or turn around. But being a private road, most of the regulations do not apply. I would like to see a turn-around at the end of the road large enough for fire vehicles. Everything else we can deal with.”
Bradshaw – her sister, Carol Akin, who co-owns a camp on Route 80 near Five Mile Point – said she had approached Bedworth Sunday, May 31, during the monthly breakfast at the fire house on Chestnut Street.
The former chief, Brian Clancy, had not opposed the subdivision, she said, but she thought she would try again. (Bedworth had been installed as new fire chief Wednesday, May 27.)
The Bedworth e-mail surfaced in the course of public comment at what is likely to be the Town of Otsego Planning Board’s final public hearing on the project, which has been going through the regulatory process for 17 months.
Ned Walker, who owns a home on the mountain, is proposing to subdivide his property into four lots, selling off the other three for homes.
Not all the comment from the crowd of 40 in the Otsego Town Hall here Tuesday, June 2, was negative.
Walker’s neighbor on the mountain, Anne O’Connell, spoke in favor of the project, as did Doug Walker of Cooperstown, Ned’s brother.
A contingent from the Town of Stark, Shirley Mower and the Phetterplaces, who have expressed anger at Cooperstown-based efforts to block wind turbines there, supported it, too.
Bill Michaels, the town board member, handed out a list of driveways now in use he said were as steep as Walker’s.
At the Planning Board meeting in May, representatives from organizations that seek to protect Otsego Lake – Bill Harmon of the SUNY Biological Field Station, Win McIntyre of the Watershed Supervisory Committee and Robin Krawitz from Otsego 2000 – expressed their concerns.
This month, a letter from Jane Forbes Clark was read making similar arguments, and concluding, “We also are concerned about the damage this project and others like it will have to the aesthetic value of this irreplaceable, natural resource.” (Shirley Mower lumped that opposition together as “a close knit group with control on its mind.”)
But again, in the public comment and board discussion that followed, it appears the fate of the subdivision depends on the steep access road.
Although Planning Board members Joe Galati and John Phillips voted against further delay, the board called a special meeting – the final meeting, perhaps – for 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 15, after chairman Paul Lord suggested it would take a minimum of 90 minutes to go through the town’s Zoning Code and determine which provisions apply in this case.
Some discussion surrounded the “Donovan specs” for roads, state regulations that were not in effect locally when Walker original built his driveway, but have since been incorporated into town guidelines.
Further, there are provisions of subdivision regulations that apply to the road.
For his part, Walker said he can meet all provisions but one: “Grade is the only one.”
If that’s the case, the Planning Board would have to approve a waiver to allow the project to go forward.

Labels: 06-05-09, Fly Creek, Front Page

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Obituaries

Robert A. Utter, 77; Marine Captain, School Administrator, Stockbroker

HARTWICK – Robert (Bob) August Utter, Ph.D., died in the afternoon hours of Memorial Day, May 25, 2009, at his home on Wells Avenue in Hartwick, surrounded by his loving family. He was 77.
Born Aug. 9, 1931, in Sydenham Hospital in Manhattan, Bob was a son of Edwin and Hertha (Bromm) Utter. As a young child, he moved with his family to Teaneck, N.J., where he attended Teaneck High School and graduated in 1947. He earned state championship in wrestling.
Bob attended Springfield College, majoring in physical education and English and earning a B.Sc. in 1954. He served in the Marines until 1968, achieving the rank of captain.
He then attained his doctorate in education administration from Columbia in 1966. Throughout his long and successful career in education, Bob was superintendent of the four geographically largest school systems in New York State: Ramapo, Utica, Plattsburgh and Niagara Falls. In 1977, the state Department of Education named Bob one of the top 10 school administrators in the state.
Retiring, he embarked on a career as stockbroker and certified financial planner with the former First Albany in Oneonta, retiring in 2000.
Bob was an avid reader; he loved walking in the woods, and gardening. His family and many friends will remember Bob as a kind, gentle and selfless person who never complained, even during his long illness. He touched the lives of many people, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
His wife and friend of 23 years, the former Patricia Sugarick Ryan, whom he married on April 3, 2005, at their home in Hartwick, survives Bob. He is further survived by his step-children; his sister, Irene Utter of Milford, and his niece, Darlene Wedderspoon and her family of Ballston Spa.
There will be no formal services held.
Memorial donations may be made to the Hartwick Emergency Squad, P.O. Box 208, Hartwick, NY 13348.

‘Grandma’ Edna H. Bliss, 99; Lifelong Cooperstown Resident

TODDSVILLE – Edna H. Bliss, formerly of Toddsville, died early Sunday morning, May 31, 2009, at Otsego Manor. She was 99.
Born May 28, 1910 in Cooperstown, Edna was a daughter of Willard Lee Houck and Winifred E. (Aylesworth) Houck.
A lifelong resident, Edna was a member of the Native Daughters of Cooperstown, the Cooperstown United Methodist Church and Otsego-Hartwick-Arbutus Chapter No. 201, Order of the Eastern Star.
Known by many as “Grandma Bliss,” she truly loved life and lived it to the fullest. For many years she enjoyed golfing, square dancing, quilting, tending to her flower gardens and going to Florida. She had the time of her life!
Edna is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Louise Newell of Florida; two granddaughters, Cheryl A. Phillips and her husband, Craig, of Herkimer, and JoAnn Dow and John Schallert of Cooperstown; one grandson, Roger W. Newell and his wife, Teresa, of Dallas, Texas; four great grandchildren, Neil Dow and his wife, Jaime, of Middletown, Brian Dow and his wife, Teri, of Manhattan, Kansas, Matthew Newell and his wife, Tiffany, of Missouri, and Lindsay Pendergast and her husband, Jeff, of Middletown, Conn.; five great-great-grandchildren; two sisters, Caroline Trinkaus of Fly Creek and DeEtte Pratt and her husband, Frank, of Averill Park; and many nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by two sisters, Mrs. Virginia Small and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Ross; two brothers, Floyd M. and Adelbert Houck; and her son-in-law, Roger Gavin Newell, who died May 30, 2008.
At Edna’s request , there will be no formal funeral service.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Country Meadows’ Activities Fund at Otsego Manor, 128 Phoenix Mills Cross Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326 or to Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Arrangements are with the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

Joseph Dugan, 60, Dies Suddenly

COOPERSTOWN – Joseph E. Dugan, 60, who lived in Cooperstown for seven years, died suddenly Friday, May 29, 2009, at Bassett Hospital.
Formerly of Maplewood, N.J., he is survived by his wife, Georgiana, and stepchildren.
He had retired from Verizon.
Services were in Maplewood.

Pearl H. Abrams, 85; Raised Family In Richfield Springs

RICHFIELD SPRINGS – Pearl H. Abrams, who raised her family in Richfield Springs, passed away after a lengthy illness Thursday, May 28, 2009, at her home in Spring Arbor of Williamsburg, Va. She declined gracefully and departed with dignity.
She was born Feb. 19, 1924, in Norton Hill. She met her future husband, Charles Abrams, when they were in the third grade. In 1952, they moved to Richfield Springs, where they spent the next 32 years building a life and raising their family.
Pearl was a strong support to Charlie as he built two successful businesses locally. Her greatest joy was to be with her family and nurture the friendships she forged during her lifetime.
She was a great communicator and loved to write letters and cards to the many people far and wide who became special to her. She took great pride in the accomplishments of her children, in watching the lives unfold of her six grandsons and in welcoming into the family two great-grandsons.
Left to celebrate her memory are her husband of 63 years, Charles Abrams; children, Paulette Culbert and husband, John, Carole Molnar and husband, Steve, Barry Abrams and his friend, Betty Schermerhorn; grandsons, Michael Culbert and wife, Catherine, David Culbert and wife, Danielle, Daniel and Mathew Molnar, Patrick and Chad Abrams; and great-grandsons, Dylan and Charlie Culbert.
A memorial service is 1 p.m. Sunday, June 21, at the J. Seaton McGrath Funeral Home, Richfield Springs.

Harry L. Mattison, 62; Decorated Vietnam Vet

MILFORD – Harry L. Mattison, 62, currently of the Village of Cooperstown but a longtime Milford-area resident, died Sunday evening, May 31, 2009, in Cooperstown.
Born April 7, 1947, in Sidney, the son of Choral and Phyllis (Foote) Mattison, Harry’s family moved to the Milford area when he was 15. He graduated in 1967 from Milford High School and attended Herkimer County Community College.
In 1969, Harry enlisted in the Air Force, attained the rank of staff sergeant and served his country during the Vietnam era. He was honorably discharged in 1973 with a number of service medals and commendations.
On Aug. 25, 1973, Harry married his high school classmate, Cheryl Adee, in the Milford Center Community Bible Church. For most of their life together, they made their home in the Milford area.
Harry was an avid reader of Westerns and science fiction. He enjoyed watching sports, particularly his beloved Giants and Yankees.
Harry’s church and his family (especially his grandchildren) were always his first priorities.
Harry is survived by his wife, Cheryl, of Cooperstown; his son, Robert Mattison, of Milford; his daughter, Heather (Dennis) Cotten, of Maryland; his grandchildren, Toby and Isaac Cotten, and his stepgranddaughter, Katie Cotten. He is also survived by his mother, Phyllis Mattison, of Milford; his brothers, Choral (Marilyn) Mattison, and their family, of Milford, Stuart Mattison, of Unadilla, Rod Mattison, of Milford and Terry (Becky) Mattison, and their family, of Oneonta; as well as by many aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws.
Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at the Milford Center Community Bible Church, with the Rev. Stephen D. Fournier, pastor, officiating. The Rev. Larry Adee will officiate at the committal and burial in the Milford Center Cemetery. A reception will follow at the church. Calling hours are 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 5, at the Tillapaugh Funeral Home, Milford.
The family suggests, for those who so desire, that contributions in Harry’s memory be made to either the “American Diabetes Association,” 1508 Genesee St., Utica, NY 13502 or the Milford Center Community Bible Church, 2582 Route 28, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Arrangements are under the supervision of Tillapaugh Funeral Service, Cooperstown and Milford.

Marian P. Hall, 80; Took Special Care of Her Residents

HARTWICK – Mrs. Marian P. Hall, wife of the late John R. Hall and formerly of South Street in Hartwick, died early Thursday morning, May 28, 2009, at A.O. Fox Nursing Home in Oneonta.
Just three days shy of her 82nd birthday, she was 81.
Born May 31, 1927 in Norwich, she was a daughter of Clayton Walter Stevens and Marjorie C. (Sliter) Stevens. She married John Rutherford Hall on June 15, 1950 in the Second Baptist Church of Edmeston and the couple shared their life together for the next 53 years.
John, who was known by many as “School House John” for his pictorial collection of one-room schools in Otsego County, died December 31, 2003.
Since 1961, Marian and her family made their home in Hartwick, where she was a vital member of the community. She held a variety of jobs, but will best be remembered, though, for providing a place to live at her house on South Street for people who needed a home.
Over the years Marian took special care of her residents, often taking them places including the former lunch counter at the J.J. Newberry store on Main Street in Cooperstown.
She was a member of the Hartwick Senior Citizen’s group. A faithful reader of The Bible, Marian was a devoted and faithful member of the Hartwick Christian Church.
She is survived by one son, Richard J. Hall and his wife, Maria, of Bath, Maine; two granddaughters, and two great-granddaughters. A son, Robert Clayton Hall, predeceased her.

Labels: 06-05-09, Obituaries

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Clarinetist: From White House To Cooperstown

COOPERSTOWN

Anthony McGill, the clarinetist who performed with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman at President Obama’s Inauguration will headline this year’s Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, in its 11th season, Aug. 2-21.
The Festival, under the direction of flutist Linda Chesis, features celebrated works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, contemporary chamber music, sultry jazz, an international flute choir, a family concert, a Baroque recital, and a zany night of music and comedy.
The Festival opens Sunday, August 2 with jazz vocalist Hilary Kole, whose first solo album Haunted Heart debuted in April.
On Aug. 5, Hopkinson Smith returns to the Festival for a recital featuring Baroque music from Germany, France and Spain performed on lute and Baroque guitar. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo will join Smith to perform works by John Dowland.
Both artists have connections to the area. Smith lived in nearby Springfield, NY as a child, and has spent many summers on Otsego Lake. Costanzo was a 2008 member of Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artists Program, and will perform at Glimmerglass in both 2009 and 2010.
On August 9, the award-winning Daedalus Quartet [Kyu-Young Kim and Min-Young Kim, violins; Jessica Thompson, viola; and Raman Ramakrishnan, cello] performs two Beethoven string quartets, and join with Festival founder Linda Chesis on a work for flute and strings.
On August 12, Anthony McGill, clarinet; Benjamin Hochman, piano; and Inbal Segev, cello perform the much loved Brahms Clarinet Trio and join with Festival artistic director Linda Chesis to perform works inspired by visual art and dance.
On August 18, the Festival presents “A Little Nightmare Music with Igudesman and Joo.” Violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo combine enchanting music and zany humor, to bring classical music to a larger audience.
The Festival ends on August 21 with an all-Bach program featuring Linda Chesis, flute; Brian Manker, cello; Bradley Brookshire, harpsichord; and Catherine Cho, violin.
Tickets go on sale June 9.
For more information, visit: www.CooperstownMusicFest.org

Labels: 06-05-09, Glimmerglass

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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

BENEFIT HORSE SHOW: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, June 7, at the Iroquois Farm Showgrounds, County Route 33, Cooperstown. Competition with handcrafted jumps of local landmarks in Cooperstown. Admission $3. Patrons’ Luncheon at noon, $45. Proceeds support education programs at The Farmers’ Museum. Info, 547-1524.

BIG GARAGE SALE: Bargain hunters on the mark, ready, set, GO! The Village of Milford will have its annual Village-wide garage sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday June 6. There will also be a book sale at Milford Free Library.

BARNYARD SWING: Attention all mini-golfers, Barnyard Swing opens for the season at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 1. Head on over for some family fun, they’re open until 11 p.m. daily.

UNDER THE STARS: 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 5, at Glimmerglass State Park they will be showing “The Adventures of Milo and Otis” in the West Shelter, refreshments are available. Bring a blanket or folding chairs for a night under the stars. Donations appreciated. Info, 547-8662 or friendsofglimmerglass.com.

BIKE RIDE: Opportunities for Otsego will host its 9th Annual River Ride on Saturday, June 6th. The bicycling event, which will benefit OFO’s programs. The event is open to riders of all levels of experience. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the ride starts at 9 a.m. in Neahwa Park, Oneonta. Registration forms can be found at Opportunities for Otsego’s main office, 3 West Broadway, Oneonta, Sport Tech on Main Street, Oneonta, or online at www.ofoinc.org. Info, 433-8000.

PANCAKES: 8 a.m.-noon, Sunday, June 7 Grange Hall, Cemetery Road, Fly Creek. By donation. Sponsored by Fly Creek Area Historical Society.

...AND ICE CREAM: From 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 7, in Wilbur Park, Oneonta. The Oneonta World of Learning will offer free ice cream, live entertainment, Utica Zoomobile at second annual Ice Cream Social.

Labels: 06-05-09, Glimmerglass, Weekend's Best Bets

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Art Everywhere

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

The other Saturday, Verlyn Klinkenborg wrote an editorial in the New York Times entitled, “Some Thoughts on the Art of Reading Aloud.”
In the 1960s and ‘70s, hip people everywhere were devouring Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving.” Alfred Dunhill, venerated purveyor of tar and nicotine, promoted, in a bygone day, “The Gentle Art of Smoking.”
During my years living in Paris, I had a concierge (a profession normally much-maligned in the old days) who qualified as an artist for the sheer skill, commitment, thought, and personal involvement she put into executing her duties.
I have gone to people’s houses for dinner and come away transformed by the artistry of the cuisine, not to mention the floral arrangements, and the raiment of the assembled company.
In other words, art seems to be everywhere in one form or another.
This, in spite of the the frequently and apologetically expressed, “Oh, I like music but I’m not a musician,” or, “Well, of course, I don’t know anything about art,” or, “I’m no expert.” Well, thank heaven everyone isn’t an “expert.”
For whom would musicians, painters, writers, poets, et al., be creating their wonders? And, besides, you have to be pretty “artistic” to appreciate the artistry, expert or not.
On doctors orders, I have recently taken to doing a lot of walking, a good way to focus on what normally whizzes past when one is driving.
One day, I came across some exceedingly arresting art that stood unobtrusively on the front lawn of a house at the corner of Maple and Spruce Streets in Oneonta.
It takes the form of three stately cairns rising to a height of three or four feet. Composed of rocks and stones of various sizes (numbering about 60 per figure), each one stands precariously perched on either a stump or a larger rock as a base. Beautiful.
Two of them have diminutive arches through which the other side is visible. The third, behind the other two, is closed tighter than the proverbial drum, as if concealing age-old secrets.
The pieces have been painstakingly, harmoniously assembled with skill, commitment, thought, personal involvement, and impressive inspiration. There are traces of humor here and there, as well as affection and understanding.
I inquired one day who the creator was. It turned out to be a modest and gentle resident of the house, and he seemed surprised at my interest and the effect his sculptures had on me.
I had seen him quietly taking walks in the neighborhood and now I felt privileged to shake his creative hand.
When you find yourself in that neck of the woods, slow down to take a look. You may want to park, so that you can contemplate at leisure.
Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage.” I would add (if asked), “...and a forum for all the arts.”

Labels: 06-05-09, Art Beat, Glimmerglass, Sam Goodyear

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500 March At 11th Relay For Life

By LAURA COX & JAMIE LANGLEY

WESTVILLE

Three of five of the Bush brothers have battled prostate cancer. They marched as the Bushwhackers.
Three NBT Bank branches – Cooperstown Commons, Richfield Springs and Cherry Valley – joined together in NBT Team Bonnie, in support of Bonnie Domion, a teller in Richfield Springs (and member of the Richfield Town Board.)
Nine girls from Cherry Valley marched as Team Judy in support of Emily Schafsteck and in remembrance of Judy Ditmars, who was like a grandmother to the younger girl and died of lung cancer in November.
They were among 500 people who gathered at dusk Friday, May 29, at the Westville Airport runway for the 11th annual Cooperstown Relay for Life, dedicated this year to the memory of Jean Wyckoff, the Cooperstown English teacher who passed away after a battle with cancer in December.
The 12-hour overnight event kicked off by means of an opening ceremony with invocation by Rev. Betsey Jay, a welcome from organizer Carla Eckler and a keynote address from cancer survivor Bob Hage.
The Cooperstown High School Choir sang from the bandstand just before Jean’s family members lit the Flame of Hope, a cone-shaped torch that remained lit throughout the night and the duration of the Relay.
The first lap – as always – was for cancer survivors and the loved ones who cared for them during their hardest times, on the second lap, the rest of the Relay participants joined in the
march up and down the runway.
Tents were raised around the track with team names hanging prominently. Team members gathered together to share memories of loved ones lost and survivors still living strong. An air of hope, love and remembrance moved throughout the camp.
With a disease as widespread as cancer, it did not take much for anyone to recount a connection to cancer, their reasons to be there that night, their reasons to raise money for the fight against cancer. Most teams formed around a single local survivor, others formed around someone passed but whose memory still remains very much alive in the hearts of loved ones.
At the Bushwhackers’ tent, Peggy Bush, the team leader and top fundraiser for this year’s event, said she was inspired to put together a team in honor of her father, Doug, of Mount Vision, and her two uncles, John and Les, of Hartwick and Edmeston respectively, who have survived prostate cancer.
“Cancer is a huge issue in our family,” Peggy said. “We’re advocates of early detection, and without the American Cancer Society, there wouldn’t be research and development.”
In its fifth year, the Bushwhackers boast 55 members, including members of the Bush family, friends, and other cancer survivors. With all of those members, there were ample fundraising opportunities.
“Each team sets a fundraising goal. Last year, we got just over our goal. We wanted to see if we could get more this year,” Peggy said.
The Bushwhackers definitely got more. Between luminary sales, breakfasts held by the team, donations on the American Cancer Society website for the team, and a scrapbooking event last fall, the Bushwhackers were the top fundraisers for this year’s Relay for Life.
Chris Martin, captain of NBT Team Bonnie, brought 22 marchers to the Relay on Team Bonnie.
“We were the NBT Stars up until this year, when we switched to Team Bonnie after bringing in the Richfield Springs branch,” Martin said.
The Edmeston Central School Panthers of Hope weren’t participating in the Relay for Life in honor of any one specific person.
“We all know people who have had cancer,” Tanner Gelatt, a senior at Edmeston Central School and barista at Stage Coach Coffee in Cooperstown, said, “This is a good cause.”
The ECS Panthers of Hope are comprised of about 20 students from ECS who are a part of Interact, a Rotary-like program for younger students. “We have to do projects that benefit the community,” Gelatt explained. “Not every member from Interact is here. We’re doing it because we have a stake in it.”
This is the first year that the ECS Panthers of Hope participated in the Relay for Life, but it was Gelatt’s “4th or 5th” Relay.
The team did well with their fundraising efforts, Gelatt said, for a “small team made up of high school kids from a very small town.”
Team Judy sported bright pink shirts decorated with flamingos and the words, “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” a phrase that Judy would have appreciated.
The Farmers’ Museum and Fenimore Art Museum team had more than 30 members, and was led by tri-captains Kate Betz, Meg Preston, and Kajsa Sabtke.
At first, there was not a specific reason the two historic Cooperstown museums started a Relay for Life team, according to Paul Kuhn, team member. Then, two people at NYSHA succumbed to cancer, and the team’s participation in the Relay became all the more important and poignant. The team participates in the Relay in honor of members of NYSHA who have both won and lost battles with cancer.
The team raised more than over $5,000.

Labels: 06-05-09, Glimmerglass

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