The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Saturday, July 25, 2009

County’s First Natural-Gas Well Nearing

Drilling may begin as soon as Monday, Aug. 10, on Otsego County’s first natural-gas well.
The site is about one mile south of the Boy Scout Camp on Crumhorn Mountain in the Town of Maryland, near the Milford town line.
The license was issued June 1 to Covalent Energy Corp.
This would be a vertical shaft, as state regulations are still being developed for hydro-fracking, or horizontal drilling.

FAMOUS HONUS: The National Baseball Hall of Fame celebrated the 100th anniversary of Honus Wagner T206, the rarest of collectible baseball cards, Thursday, Aug. 6. In addition to lectures, anyone named “Honus” or “Wagner” got in free.

DRAWS CROWDS: H.H. Phakchok Rinpoche, the Buddhist monk who is developing a community on Glimmerglen Road, has been speaking on the topic, “Working With Emotions,” locally in recent days. He drew crowds of more than 50 people at the Smithy Pioneer Gallery and Sage Center.

FOR THE CURIOUS: If you’ve been curious about the Arrowhead Pointe condos on Route 80, you can now rent one for $4,000-$6,200 a week. Check out www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p208632

Labels: 08-07-09, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

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Village’s Youngest Pastor In Pulpit Of Village’s Second Oldest Church

By LAURA COX

COOPERSTOWN

The second oldest church in town is being presided over by the youngest clergyman in town.
Rev. Mark Michael, 31, with wife Allison, 25, and 6-month-old son Philip, arrived this week to assume the pulpit of Christ Church, James Fenimore Cooper’s parish. (The oldest church is Cooperstown Presbyterian, built in 1808; Christ Church was completed in 1810.)
The moving trucks arrived Saturday, Aug. 1, and the family has been unpacking boxes at the rectory – a few steps from the author’s gravesite – buying the necessities and getting acquainted with the area, including a visit to the Village Library to sign up for cards.
Their fridge has filled with meals and sweets dropped off by parishioners, and many have given offers to baby-sit.
The Michaels say they will feel at home in no time.
The couple – he an Episcopal priest, she studying to become a Lutheran pastor – moved here from Sharpsburg, Md., where Father Mark was rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
and chaplain at a boarding school, St. James. The couple spent two years living in the ninth-grade boys’ dorm, where they were supervisors, then moved to a small log cabin where baby Philip had no room of his own.
Father Mark attended seminary at Oxford, having spent a year in the United Kingdom while an undergraduate at Duke.
The choice serendipitous: There, he met his future wife, who – a few years behind him – was in England on a tour with the Duke choir.
Allison recently finished her studies at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., and will be looking for a call at a Lutheran Church within commuting distance of Cooperstown.
While most people moving to the area have concerns about the limitations of living in a small community, this couple is excited to live in a “big” village.
Father Mark chuckled politely when the Christ Church search committee asked if he thought he could live in a small village like Cooperstown.
“Where we came from was less than half the size of Cooperstown,” he said, “and the place I lived before that was even smaller.”
He added, “This is a very vibrant congregation with a strong mission to this community. We are excited to be here and think this is a great place to raise a family.”
A history buff and musician, Father Mark is also excited to be at a church with such a rich history and great musical program.
His first Sunday at Christ Church will be Aug. 16, and he will be instituted as the 22nd Rector of Christ Church at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30.
Father Mark’s predecessors include the Rev. Daniel Nash, the church’s first rector, a big strapping man in a rough pioneer community. (He was depicted in Cooper’s “The Pioneers.”)
Another young rector was Ralph Birdsall, installed in 1903 when he was just a year older than Father Mark. His “History of Cooperstown” is considered a staple.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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Train Fest Devised To Promote Assets Of Railway Avenue

COOPERSTOWN

Toot, toot!
The railroad may be coming to town, all the way to town, at 1:15 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16, for Coopertown’s first – first annual, organizers hope – Historic Railroad Avenue Festival.
The festival, organized by Katie Bouton of The Sage Center and Michael Manno, owner of Railroad Avenue properties, aims to raise the visibility of what has often been projected to become “Cooperstown’s Second Main Street.”
“Downtown can be for the tourists,” said Bouton. “And this can be for the locals. It’s a community gathering; come and have fun.”
A Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley train will depart the Milford depot at noon, and the intent is for it to travel all the way to Glen Avenue, at the top of Railroad Avenue. (A similar effort attempted last month got as far as West Beaver Street, when weeds on the tracks caused the locomotive’s iron wheels to spin.)
The festival, 1-5 p.m., will feature Phil Zenir & The Cherry Pickers, the Cherry Valley blue grass band, as well as artisans and food vendors. Brewery Ommegang will sell beer.
Additionally, Manno and others will lead tours of the former Agway complex – the big building was a feed store; the smaller one, a hops barn.
The organizers have invited vendors from that morning’s Farmers’ Market in Pioneer Alley to move their wares uptown in the afternoon, and they will set up in the former Agway storage building at Railroad and Leatherstocking.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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‘Angel’ Directs $62,000 To Schuyler Lake FD

By JIM KEVLIN

SCHUYLER LAKE

Atlanta insurance man John Carr wasn’t there, but he was on everybody’s mind the other night at the Schuyler Lake Fire Department.
Fire Chief Bill Peters called him, with affection and respect, “our sugar daddy.”
The gathering Tuesday, Aug. 5, had been organized by the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. to present the local fire company with a $15,000 check for a pulse oximeter for its First Responder Squad.
The instrument will allow First Responder Capt. Gale Kimsey, Assistant Captain Heather Stickles the rest of the squad to, non-invasively, measure a patient’s blood oxygen, using wavelengths of light.
Chief Peters reported this is actually the third check provided through John Carr’s intercession.
The first, for $25,000, bought a portable generator – “we use it all the time,” said Peters – and portable pump.
The second, $22,000, was used for radio equipment and to provide pagers to all the volunteers.
In an interview from Atlanta the next morning, Carr said he was en route to Schuyler Lake when an emergency called him back to the office.
The president of CSI Insurance Agency said he happened upon land in the Town of Exeter while he was working in Manhattan and got a yen for “the quiet, very picturesque Upstate area.”
A neighbor of his here, Sam Brooker, keeps an eye on the property while Carr is away – he and his wife visit twice a year – and found Brooker to be “incredibly kind.”
Sam is a volunteer firefighter, so Carr became the department’s benefactor as a way to pay him back.
Carr’s CSI – he is a Philadelphian who got to Atlanta by way of St. Joe’s, Hartford and New York City – is a specialty company.
It offers two lines: One, it insures inflatable play structures; two, college students’ personal property – laptops, clothes, etc.
He works with Fireman’s Fund, earning what the company calls “heritage points,” which he can then channel into charitable contributions.
And so the Schuyler Lake Fire Department became, through Carr, the program’s beneficiary.
Carr, who with his wife visits his Otsego County property a couple of times a year, said Fireman’s Fund is one of the few companies he’s aware of that contributes a portion – 10 percent – of its profits to charity.
This year, that amounted to $220,000 nationwide.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:19 AM 0 comments

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ZBA Votes To Regulate ‘Play Unit’

Move It, Family Told, After Neighbor Gripes

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

A play house proposed at the back of a Pine Boulevard yard has fallen under the purview of the village Zoning Board of Appeals.
After two hours of debate the other night, the ZBA decided the play house is a “structure,” violates setback regulations, and ordered it moved to some other location on the property that is more than 20 feet from the property line.
“Historically, it’s not been anything that’s been regulated,” said ZBA chair Susan Snell. “But because there was a complaint, in reviewing the law, it actually seemed to be consistent with the term ‘structure’ ... and subject to setback requirements.”
She continued: “Since this is the first time it’s come up. We don’t know what will happen in the future.” Zoning Enforcement Officer Tavis Austin could seek out play apparati and issue violation notices, “but I don’t think it’s going to be his highest priority,” she said.
For his part, Austin went to pains to emphasize this wasn’t his idea to pursue this matter, but grew out of a neighbor’s complaint: “The village wasn’t out there pursuing this.”
“There was a good bit of conversation regarding this” when the matter came up again at the ZBA meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4, he continued, with members asking, “Is this something we want to regulate? Do we want to go into people’s yards looking at playground structures?”
The matter of the play unit at 16 Pine Boulevard first became disputed at the ZBA’s July 7 meeting, when a letter was read from Joe Lozano and Dr. Joanne Mele, who live behind the property at 41 Nelson Ave., concerned that it was too close to the carriage house, where a senior citizen is living.
For his part, Frank Panzarella, who lives at 16 Pine with his wife, Jennifer, and their two children, told the hearing there were three “play structures” within 75 feet of his house that would be non-comforming if they fell under the village zoning code.
At its August meeting, the ZBA – after much debate – first determined that the play unit was a “structure.” Then, it rejected the variance the Panzarellas would require to put the play unit at the back of the yard.
A site visit to 16 Pine showed a 2x4 skeleton of what was planned, attached to two trees at the rear of the property, which is lined by a high fence and the back wall of the carriage house, with contains one window.
The idea was to put the structure there because it’s next to the garage where the children keep their toys. If the structure were moved, it would either be under a power line on the yard’s north side, or near the propane tanks on the south side.
For his part, Austin said the proposed unit was “not a swing set; it was much more.”
It was 6 foot by 8 foot, with a roof that peaked at 10 feet: “It looked more like a structure than a swing set,” he said.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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ZBA Votes To Regulate ‘Play Unit’

Move It, Family Told, After Neighbor Gripes

By JIM KEVLIN

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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Locals

Kristina Lee and Bradley Hill To Wed

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Arnold of Wolfeboro, N.H., and Mr. Robert K. Lee of Cooperstown are delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristina Hope Lee, to Bradley Joseph Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hill of Cooperstown.
Kristina is a 2000 graduate of Cooperstown Central School and attended SUNY Cortland. She is office manager for Spencer Hughes Prudential Real Estate in Wolfeboro.
Bradley is a 2002 graduate of Cooperstown Central School, and attended SUNY Alfred and St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. He is employed by Dubee Construction of Wolfeboro.
A September wedding is planned.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sterling Tarr, grandson of Sally Tarr of Cooperstown and the late Jack Tarr was recently named ”Player of the Week” by the Holly Springs N.C. High School JV Lacrosse Head Coach Richard Weber. Sterling is a freshman and resides with his parents Jonathan (Jack ) Tarr and Jennifer Tarr in Holly Springs, N.C.

DR. PEPPER: On Tuesday, Aug. 4, the members of the Leatherstocking Women’s Golf Association participated in a game called “Dr Pepper.” Each player threw out holes 2,4, and 10 before subtracting her total handicap from her score.  The winners and their resulting “net” scores were: first, Denise Nagy (50); second, Judy Ryan (51); third, Carol Taylor (54); fourth, L.J. Alexander (55), and fifth, Jane Adsit, Martha Harausz, Andrea Johson and Donna Thompson (56)

LECTURE AND A MEAL: Bassett Healthcare Chef Brian Wrubleski and assistant Melissa Rathbun whipped up a great tasting heart -healthy meal recently for people who attended the August Cardiac Lecture sponsored by the Bassett Heart Care Institute. Angela McClelland, from the Bassett dietary department, also discussed how diet can play a role in controlling high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.The next installment of the Cardiac Lecture Series is Sept. 17 and will discuss paying for your medical care and prescriptions.

TOP TEACHERS: Four Brookwood School lead teachers have earned a Child Development Associate credential: Elizabeth Daley, Sylvia Landers, Barbara Belknap and Maria Reisen.

NEW SURGEON: Craig Henson, M.D., has joined Bassett Healthcare’s Department of Surgery and will see patients in Surgical Clinic in Cooperstown and O’Connor Hospital in Delhi. He had been chief surgical resident at Bassett Hospital in 2007-2008.

BACK AT BASSETT: Jesse Cone, M.D., former chief resident of internal medicine at Bassett Hospital, has returned to join the Bassett Heart Care Institute as an attending physician in cardiology. Dr. Cone completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Buffalo, and earned his medical degree at University of Buffalo Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Bassett, where he was chief resident in 2005-2006. Dr. Cone recently finished a fellowship in cardiology at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.

TRI-ATHLETE: Janna Bellantoni Baldwin completed the Tinman Triathlon July 26, in Honolulu. She finished the 800-meter swim, 24.9-mile bike ride and 6.2-mile run with a time of 3 hours and 6 minutes. Janna, a 1984 graduate of Cooperstown Central School, lives in Hawaii with her husband Walt, a Marine who is now deployed in Iraq. They have two children: Dustin, 13, and Berkley, 11. Janna is daughter of John and Jean Finch of Toddsville.

AT ITHACA: Kendra Burst, daughter of Springfield Center resident James Burst, was named to the Dean’s List at Ithaca College’s School of Health Sciences and Human Performance for the spring 2009 term with a GPA of 3.5.

AT CANTON: Evan Johnson of Cooperstown made the Dean’s List at SUNY Canton for the spring semester. Johnson is a Undeclared major who is a 2003 graduate of Cooperstown Central School.

Labels: 08-07-09, Locals

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Whatever We Regulate Our Way To, It Likely Won’t Be Perfection

Who wouldn’t agree that we’d all be better off if we didn’t let things bother us so much?
Take Richfield Town Supervisor Wayne King and his wife Elaine, who live in that new log home across Route 28 from Baker’s Beach on Canadarago Lake.
As supervisor, King’s pushed – successfully, against some surprising resistance – to reopen the once-public beach to swimming once again.
The other day, he remarked how delightful it is to look out his front window and see all those people, young and old, enjoying access to that beautiful body of water.
•
Ten miles down the road, in the Village of Cooperstown, another scenario was playing out.
A young couple with two young children were installing a play unit at the rear of their property, which backs up to a tall fence and a carriage house.
A neighbor complained to the Zoning Board of Appeals, not so much about the unit, but about the noise the children might make playing on it.
After five hours of debate at two meetings, the ZBA decided the other night that the unit was a “structure” subject to zoning law, and ordered that it comply with the 20-foot setback required in the regulations.
And there you have it: One couple enjoys hundreds of people swimming across the way; another recoils at the thought of a couple of kids playing.
•
This is a Cooperstown thing, as we pursue “most perfect” status.
That was a particularly delicious item about the village trustees allowing Mr. Ding-A-Ling to sell ice cream from a truck over the summer, but proscribed the ringing of the Good Humor bell.
While that story was being recounted the other evening, the fire whistle went off. Then thunder rolled. And, finally, the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley train sounded its whistle and rang its bell in the distance.
The gathering burst out laughing. It was just too, yes, delicious.
•
OK, that’s the way Cooperstown is, for whatever reason.
We make a mistake, though, if we think that slathering on even more rules and regulations will somehow resolve every little issue between every one of us.
It’s a false expectation. Humanity’s impetus is too varied. Something’s going to sneak by.
Meanwhile, village governance – the instinct for control – is grinding ever slower: There are 25 committees that, in addition to the village board, have slices of the overall responsibility.
Nevertheless, life’s serendipity keeps bubbling through, evident the other day when newcomers to Susquehanna Avenue clearcut their backyard, felling a half-dozen towering Norway spruces that dated back to the 1920s.
Surrounding property owners, who had enjoyed the convenience of village life amid the sensation of living in the country, were truly devastated, as anyone can understand.
•
Living in close quarters as we do – William Cooper consciously laid out small lots to encourage community and conviviality (mutually exclusive ideas, maybe) – would we be any further behind if neighbors simply decided to give neighbors a bit of a break?
If the play unit had gone in, those neighbors to the Pine Boulevard property may have found it is delightful to have laughing youngsters nearby.
And what more endearing image of summer than to hear the Good Humor bell and watch the neighborhood kids dashing after the sound?
What if the newcomers who felled the trees had put themselves in their neighbors skins, just for a minute?
Next time, before we rush to the regulations, let’s consider the option of just letting it – whatever “it” is – ride.
It may be Wayne and Elaine King’s attitude is “most perfect” after all.

Labels: 08-07-09, Editorial, Opinion, Perspectives

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Letters to the Editor

Big Picture, Yes. But Devil In (Some) Details

To the Editor:
In the July 31 Freeman’s Journal, Nicole Dillingham authored a front-page commentary on the distress of the dairy industry which offered a number of suggestions for improving the situation.
I share her deep concern for the economic plight of dairy farmers in Otsego County. However, I feel compelled to question her recommendation of a ban on milk protein concentrate (MPCs) imports.
From 2000 to 2004, I was in charge of enforcing U.S. dairy import quota regulations that protect U.S. dairy farmers from foreign competition. The fact that MPC imports are not subject to such quotas has long been the target of criticism by U.S. dairy farmer representatives.
However, what is new and troubling about Ms. Dillingham’s commentary is that she raises a food safety issue, apparently to scare the public into supporting an import ban.
She states that the “government has allowed unregulated imports of so-called milk protein concentrates from China, Russia and elsewhere to displace domestically produced milk and milk proteins.” This information immediately grabbed my attention.
Personally, I would not eat anything imported from China or Russia. In light of past news reports, my perspective is probably shared by many Americans.
It is exactly this public concern that Ms. Dillingham’s statement tries to manipulate. After I read it, however, I began to wonder. Based upon my working experience, it just did not sound right, so I looked up the data, and this is what I discovered.
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the leading suppliers of MPC in 2008 were New Zealand (82 percent), Australia (13 percent), and the European Union (4 percent).
Imports from China were just 0.1 percent of all U.S. imports, and no imports from Russia were recorded whatsoever. From January through May 2009, neither China nor Russia has supplied any imports.
The suppliers of almost all the MPC imports are thus countries generally known for safe and wholesome foods, a key fact left obscured in Ms Dillingham’s commentary, and one which is hugely detrimental to her case for banning unsafe food imports.
Ms. Dillingham also declares that while U.S. dairy products meet stringent U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection standards, imported MPSs are not subject to this inspection regime. This, too, is a misdirected assertion.
The USDA inspection program is intended to establish milk grades and quality standards. It is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which is responsible for ensuring the sanitation and safety of processed foods and food ingredients, such as MPCs. FDA oversees inspection programs for both domestic and imported products.
Her statement that “we cannot guarantee the safety of our food supply if we permit unregulated food additives from foreign sources to be used in our production processes” is absolutely on target. That can best be addressed by asking Congress to fully fund the budget of FDA so that it can do this work effectively.
And what about the growing volume of imports that has helped to drive down milk prices during the last year?
Well, again the Commerce Department’s data shows that imports have been flat since 2006, and were actually down 6 percent during January-May of this year compared to the same period in 2008.
While MPC imports are primarily used in processed cheese products, blaming them for the recent precipitous drop in dairy prices is subject to serious debate.
Finally, restricting imports of MPCs would violate our international treaty obligations. The World Trade Organization could authorize New Zealand and Australia to retaliate against us by allowing them to restrict in equal measure our agricultural exports to them.
Do we really want to pay this economic penalty for achieving something that may well have only a negligible impact on the producer milk price?
Instead, to do something that could really help our local dairy farmers, I suggest that everyone stop buying processed American cheese slices made with MPCs and start buying naturally aged cheeses made right here in New York State.
RICHARD BLABEY
Cooperstown

‘G.W. Walters’ Painting Other Local Scenes, Too

To the Editor:
Your front-page article in the July 10 edition of The Freeman’s Journal (i.e., “Art Dealer’s Detective Work Traces Painting’s Inspiration to Brookwood”) was excellent.
You may be interested to know that my wife and I are aware of two other “G.W. Waters” paintings, which are in a private collection. Both paintings unmistakably depict scenes of Otsego Lake.
One of them is a summer scene of the source of the Susquehanna River. The other is a fall scene looking north from the Susquehanna River with the Sleeping Lion in the distance. Both paintings include Council Rock.
Like the Brookwood painting, the scenes in these paintings “look nearly identical today”!
Both of these paintings are dated ‘88-’89. According to your article, Mr. Waters was commissioned in 1888 to paint the Brookwood scene. Apparently, he was very busy in the Cooperstown area in the 1888-98 time period.
Thanks again for the article about George W. Waters and the Brookwood painting.
JOHN S. BOWERS, PE
Albuquerque, N.M.

Thanks, Book Sale Helpers

To the Editor:
A heartfelt thank you to all of our Friends of the Village Library volunteers! Your hard work and effort made the sale a HUGE success. A special thanks to those who braved the torrential downpour during book transfer day. You turned a thunderstorm into a party!
Our student helpers turned out in record numbers this year. Many thanks for all of your help: Abby, Emily and Lindsay Brown, Henry LeCates, Shya and Jacob Miller, Molly Pearlman, Anne and Michael Leonardo, Stephanie Wilcox, Veronica Tang, Mia Bergamasco, Oliver Alex, Laura Weber, Liam Dolen, Geogia Hren-Saphier, Aidan Macaluso, Samantha Borgstrom, Andrew Greene, Robbie Katz, Greg Broderson, Brandon Lave, Evan King, Joe Kevlin, Wylie Phillips, Katie Booan, Tom Franck, Aaron Idelson, Erik Mebust, Emily Greenberg, Sarah Seigel, Michael Boyle, Grace, Sarah, Liam and Brian Heneghan, Torie Anania, Maddy and Eli Sandler, Matt Frevele, Nico Knull, Matthew Sullivan, Eamonn Maguire, Anna Sams, Sarah and Zach Fanion.
To our adult volunteers: We could not have had this sale without your efforts! Giles Russell, Hugh MacDougall, Dottie Hudson, Doug Gable, Frank Farmer, Stephanie Bauer, Lynda Selover, Keith and Kay Additon, Mo Miocek, Lisa Booan, Martha Heneghan, Erika Idelson, Kate Leonardo, Lynne Mebust, Finn Jensen, Julia Greenberg, Bennett Sandler, Dorothy Tang and Susan Maguire.
Thanks to our cashiers: Carla MacMillan, Sharon Hujik, Lynda and Whitney Selover, Jean Finch, Lynne Mebust, Lori Miller, Kay Additon, Mary Marx, Mary Leary, Alice Stiles, Kate Leonardo and Cathy Howarth.
Finally, thanks to our community for supporting the Cooperstown Village library.
Until next summer,
Ann Brown
Debbie LeCates
Friends of the Village
Library of Cooperstown
Annual Book Sale Co-Chairs

Cluttered Vehicles Abound

To the Editor:
It seems that the parking lot at the Cooperstown Motel is becoming increasingly cluttered with personal vehicles and campers that are not in compliance with village standards.
The maximum amount of unregistered vehicles permitted at a home or business is one.
Despite this standard, there are three junk pickup trucks, three old campers, three Corvettes and one Pontiac Grand Prix for all to view.
In a village such as Cooperstown that prides itself for being beautiful, it is a shame for the taxpaying residents and thousands of visitors to have to see a junkyard. The scrapyard in Oneonta would be glad to recycle the campers and trucks.
It would surely improve the aesthetics of this business, put a few dollars in the owner’s pocket, and be matters within the village laws.
BRENT KNAUSS
Cooperstown

Labels: 08-07-09, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

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Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO
I wish, Mr. Editor, to mention in your paper, that I have recently examined the Steam Engine now in operation at the Distillery of Messrs. Foot & Sabin, situate at the outlet of Otsego Lake, and was much gratified with its simple construction and rapid execution. It is on the rotary principle, and was invented by Mr. Abel Greenleaf of Saquoit, Oneida, Co., who, I learnt, has obtained a patent for his invention. This Engine has attached to it a run of 4 feet mill stones for grinding grain, which are propelled at the rate of 160 revolutions the minute. When I saw its operations, it was worked at 60 pounds of steam to the inch, and the motion was remarkably fine, evidencing great execution apparently a sufficient degree of strength to guarantee durability. I hope the ingenious mechanist who invented the Engine referred to, may meet with a reward commensurate with its usefulness. FULTON (Ed. Note: The author of this letter was likely Robert Barlow Fulton (1809-1841), a son of Robert Fulton (1765-1815), the British-born inventor and developer of steam engine technology who migrated to the United States)
August 11, 1834

150 YEARS AGO
The Firemen’s Celebration came off on Saturday last. At 9 o’clock a.m. Companies 2 and 3 paraded the principal streets of the village in full force, drawing their beautifully decorated machines. Mounted on No. 3 was a person dressed in the full costume of an Indian Chief. Doubleday’s Cornet Band and Crumwell’s Band furnished the music. A brief and well-written letter – addressed to the firemen by the Ladies who had assisted in decorating the machines – was read by one of the committee of arrangements. The torchlight procession, fire-works &c. in the evening, surpassed anything of the kind for good taste and fine effect ever witnessed on any similar occasion in the village. As a new feature, colored lanterns were strung across Main Street by Company 1 at six different points, producing a novel and pleasing effect.
August 5, 1859

125 YEARS AGO
Personal – It pays to take good care of your horses. H.K. Marsh of Hartwick is doing his raking and milk-hauling this season with a horse he raised from a colt foaled 30 years ago. He has owned four horses whose combined ages were 119 years. The mate to the one he now drives died a few years since at the age of 33 years.
August 9, 1884

100 YEARS AGO
Sunday was an ideal day for motoring, and the grounds of the O-te-sa-ga presented a gay appearance with automobiles fringing the driveway and scattered about the lawn. The recent rains followed by the glow of sunshine had made the roads perfect for driving and everyone who could take advantage of the delightful weather conditions did so, many turning their direction toward Cooperstown. More than a score of parties stopped at the O-te-sa-ga either for lunch, or overnight, and the additional guests at lunch numbered more than a hundred. There were several trolley parties during the afternoon having tea or light refreshments on the piazza, which added to the general gayety of the day.
August 7, 1909

75 YEARS AGO
All Otsego County cooperated with Cooperstown Friday of last week in the dedication of Doubleday Field as a national shrine to base ball, the great American pastime and its inventor Major General Abner Doubleday. None could have failed to be charmed with the beauty of the scene as he gazed over the broad expanse of green, or be thrilled with the significance of the fact that it was on this very spot – then a cow pasture – where young Abner Doubleday marked out with a stick the first baseball diamond and taught his schoolmates how to play the new game that his fertile brain had created. Cooperstown declared a holiday and turned out en masse. Following dedication ceremonies The Cooperstown Leatherstockings defeated the Oneonta Merchants of the New York State League, 5 to 4.
August 8, 1934

50 YEARS AGO
Temperatures went from a record-breaking high of 94-degrees last Wednesday to a near-record low of 39 Monday morning as the weather pattern made a complete turn-about over the weekend. The reading last week broke the old record of 91 for a July 29 set in 1933, and Monday’s low reading of 39 was within one degree of the record for an August 3 set in 1924. The average daily high temperature here in July was 83 degrees.
August 5, 1959

25 YEARS AGO
Wilber National Bank has received final approval from the Comptroller of the Currency to open a branch office in Cooperstown. The locally owned bank expects to open the village office in September. Joan Butler, who recently joined the bank staff as assistant vice-president will head Wilber’s new office. The branch will be located at 62 Main Street, which formerly housed the Peevers Insurance and Real Estate firm. The building will be renovated to reflect the character of the office when it was occupied by the Second National Bank of Cooperstown.
August 8, 1984

10 YEARS AGO
The village flag flew at half-mast this week to mark the passing of Harold Hollis, 85, former village mayor and trustee, former editor of The Freeman’s Journal and the area’s long-time National Weather Service observer. Hollis died Thursday, July 29, at his Walnut Street home. Hollis was born July 11, 1914 at The Thanksgiving Hospital in Cooperstown and graduated from the high school in 1932.
August 6, 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: 08-07-09, Bound Volumes, Columns

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Obituaries

O.B. Curpier, 81; Represented National Magazines

COOPERSTOWN – Orison B. (O.B.) Curpier, whose Cooperstown-based company represented magazines from around the U.S. and world, and spawned several similar entities locally, passed away Friday, July 31, 2009. He was 81.
A former publisher of Car & Driver magazine and advertising director of Flying magazine, he founded the The Orison B. Curpier Co. in Cooperstown in 1972.
The company, with offices at Main and Pioneer, is a publisher’s representative, fielding a sales force under contract with magazines, regional, national and even international.
The magazines are generally trade or niche specific – for instance, AOPA Pilot and Automotive Executive – but are well known in their particular fields.
The company has spun off salespeople and executives who have gone on to success in their own right, often locally.
For instance, Angus Mackie of Mackie Marketing Associates, Cooperstown, and Greg Noonan of Cherry Valley, proprietor of Constellation Enterprises, which publishes speciality magazines, both worked for Curpier.
County Rep. Jim Johnson, who represents Cooperstown and Fly Creek, credits the contacts made while with Curpier with his success in putting together the Banjo Radio Group, which today is Central New York Radio Group.
“I probably owe more to him when it comes to my training as a salesman and businessman than anybody else,” Johnson said of his former boss. “He was a wonderful man; a consummate professional; a great mentor; a community-minded businessman.”
O.B. Curpier was raised in New York City, graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, Class of 1946.
He was an Army captain and aviator, then attended and graduated from New York University.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Joy, of Cooperstown; a son, Matthew, of Cooperstown; daughter, Erin Whipple, of Yarmouth, Maine; eight grandchildren; a brother, Brian, who is active in the business, and three sisters.
He was predeceased by his son, Christopher Brook Curpier.
A private service is planned. There are no calling hours.

Steven D. Weill, 58

ONEONTA – Steven Dennis Weill, 58, of Oneonta, who worked in the kitchen at The Otesago, passed away on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at the Fox Nursing Home in Oneonta.

Labels: 08-07-09, Obituaries

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Great Behind The Plate – And At It

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

IN THE TIGERS’ DEN

When you watch the Oneonta Tigers this season, there is no doubt you are awe-struck by the presence (and performance) of #18.
Catcher John Murrian, the Detroit Tigers 9th round draft pick out of Winthrop University, has provided some fireworks this season. Probably the most memorable two games came July 27-28 vs. the Vermont Lake Monsters.
In the first, Murrian was a hitting machine – going just a triple short of hitting for the cycle. At this level, that kind of production is rarely seen. He went four for four that night.
Coming into that game, Murrian had already established himself as the team’s starting catcher. Batting cleanup, Murrian is hitting .352 with 37 hits on 105 at bats. He has nine doubles, a triple, four home runs and 26 RBI’s – with stats like this, his one-hit-shy night is no surprise.
He has hit home runs three times against Vermont, two at home and one in Burlington, and one at Tri-City.
So, at four for four and a triple shy of the cycle, the sparks wouldn’t stop there. The next night Oneonta would find themselves down 5-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.
John Murrian was hitless on the night and had already struck out once. The Tigers rallied, bringing the game to 5-4 going into the 9th. Jaime Johnson tied the game with a triple that scored Luis Palacios. After walking Rockett and Bishop to get to Murrian, the Summerville, South Carolina native made them pay.
On a 0-2 curveball, Murrian squared up and turned on the ball. With the bases loaded, Murrian cranked a one out grand slam over the left-center field fence, his first grand slam of the season. He was met by his teammates at home plate and mobbed as the Tigers won in walk off fashion 9-5.
He wasn’t done, however. He would homer the next night in Burlington, keeping his amazing hitting streak alive.
John Murrian is also a great defensive catcher as well, a stat that earned him the right as the team’s predominate player at that position. Catchers, stereotypically, are slow, flat footed, and not expected to do much on the base paths without a hit and run situation. However, Murrian has been able to leg out two stolen bases so far. His on base percentage is .420 and his slugging percentage is .571.
John Murrian is an all around danger both at the plate and behind it, and has more than earned his place in the Tigers organization. Murrian had a huge July, hitting 4 homers, registering 30 hits (8 of the doubles and 1 triple), pushed across 23 runs, drew six walks and stole two bases.
In upstate New York, August is usually the hottest month. For Murrian, if August is any hotter than July then expect to see him in West Michigan very soon.

Labels: 08-07-09, Oneonta Tigers, Sports

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Bravi! To Young ‘Dido’ Cast

ROBERT MOYNIHAN

OPERA REVIEW

Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera, “Dido and Aeneas,” came to wider notice in 1951 with an HMV recording starring Kirsten Flagstad.
The little term “starring” distorts the work – for it is above all an ensemble piece and is best heard with voices of relatively equal ability.
Flagstad couldn’t easily make the top notes which were dubbed by Elizabeth
Schwartzkopf, who sings indifferently in three roles – the ultimate negative proof of collaborative recording.
As a kind of potentially successful ensemble, nonetheless, Dido and Aeneas runs against the grain of 19th-century opera. It’s common for standard operatic fare to feature virtuoso singing of three or four leading roles, with the soloists in a not-so-repressed competition for high notes and accompanying exaggeration. At the death scene, usually only one or two claim the vocal prize.
This phenomenon, while much loved, could be viewed as a corruption of musical expression. Performance takes on the baggage of virtuosity and overstatement – both necessary to reach the highest balconies of increasingly gravid auditoriums.
Flagstad, who, with Melchior, kept the Metropolitan afloat during the 1930s, was very much the star of opera – and her version of Purcell did bring the work to wider note.
Yet the recording is very much a dated curio of its era, with “serious” slow tempos and unequal singing from every soloist. The great Flagstad, however, donated her talents to this English production, requiring two pints of stout a day as her only payment.
What is different about Purcell’s Dido? Well, about everything – and the ear and mind in this early score find a repose from extreme virtuosic distortion.
Purcell is not a performance commonplace, though some of his songs have been beautifully recorded. Mack Harrell did an “Evening Hymn” and de los Angeles a 1960s recital beginning with Purcell. Thurston Dart also recorded
Purcell’s rarely heard clavier pieces. All of these rarities are worth locating.
What is so different? Simplicity was defined as “fewness of parts” over 700 years ago, and it takes the ear some time to adjust to this high form of simplicity – musical purity, rather. There is nothing quite like it in the standard caravan of classical music.
The production at Glimmerglass was wanting in a few moments of ensemble, but the young cast, clad generally in blue jeans, will work out the few rough spots.
The reduced orchestra played with the adjusted minority of strings and a brilliantly realized continuo – both on harpsichord and virtuoso Michael Leopold’s plucked strings of the therabo, a bovine-size “baroque guitar.”
One, of course, has favorite moments in any well-realized performance – and the Jonathan Miller production seized instances of insider parody – exaggerating the hey-nonny-nonny trivia of English madrigal singing to satiric effect, even realizing a bouncing antiphonal echo in one chorus – a repeated mannerism of Renaissance song deserving a witty parody.
This production was not merely in street dress but in a now standard uniform of jeans, sneakers and pullovers. The use of simple costuming is long overdue on Route 80. If Richard Burton played Hamlet in street clothes, why not their more common use in opera? If the demonic can be indicated with a couple of red hoodies in this performance, why pay somebody to hand sew horns and tails and body sheaths of red satin?
To repeat the not so obvious, Dido and Aeneas is an ensemble opera demanding equal ability from every soloist. Even though there are personal favorites, the following singers are, alas, praised together.
High credit is due conductor Michael Beattie for “early-music” ensemble and perfectly judged tempos.
“Bravi” to Joelle Harvey, Tamara Mumford, David Adam Moore; young artists Hannah Dixon, Anthony Costanzo (!), Kathryn Guthrie, Liza Forrester, Brittany Wheeler, Rebecca Jo Loeb.
Just for the record, everyone in the cast brings this opera to pulsing life – much, much better than the first standard on 1951’s LHMV number 1007.

Labels: 08-07-09, Glimmerglass

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:54 AM 0 comments

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Dad Loved Demo-Derby Racing; Family Keeps His Memory Alive

By LAURA COX

HARTWICK

Two weeks ago, mom was still driving the 1994 Chrysler Concord.
Today, it’s a tie-dye Sponge Bob themed car with nothing inside but the driver’s seat. No windows. No floor. Just metal and hoses.
Yes, the Number 105 car is ready to be demolished at 6 p.m. Sunday , Aug. 9, at the Otsego County Fair, Morris. The county fair’s demo derby has been an annual affair for the Hopkins family of Hartwick forever.
It was always dad Randy who would get an old car, strip it down, paint it up and speed around the dirt ring, crashing into similar vehicles every chance he got.
Wife Patricia and children Raymond and Tina would cheer him, learning the tricks of the sport from watching dad at play.
Then came that fateful day in September 1997, when a tire exploded on a front-end loader in the Hartwick town garage. Randy, then 36, was fatally injured.
Winter passed, then spring and, as summer neared its end and county fair season arrived, it just seemed right to continue what dad had made a family tradition.
So Patty entered two cars in the Otsego fair’s 1998 demo derbies. Ray followed suit in 2004 when he was 22. Tina entered her first car in 2006.
This year will be no different, the Hopkins kids, now 27 (Ray) and 25 (Tina), will again experience the same thrills their father did in pursuit of a sport they’ve come to love as their father did.
Because of a heart medication she’s taking, Patricia will have to sit this one out.
“You’re always nervous for the first hit, but after that one you get an adrenaline rush and you really enjoy it and have fun,” said Tina, who lets her son Donald Boecke, 5, pick her car’s theme and number: this year, SpongeBob and 105.
When Tina found out her mom was ditching the Concord, she was so excited she started painting it before Patty even stopped driving it – SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick – and hopes to win Best Paint Job for her car’s décor.
Ray will be driving a 1984 Ford Escort. It’s painted orange and all his friends have signed it. On top it reads, as it does every year: “In loving memory of Randy Hopkins and Ruth Hopkins” (his grandmother), and list the dates of their deaths.
Written on both Tina and Ray’s cars is, “Hang On, The Family Is Coming.”
The Hopkinses have met with success to date. Randy won three first place trophies during his time, Patty has three first places – one in the powder-puff category and two in the regular six-cylinder heat – Ray has taken second place a couple times and Tina has taken fourth and fifth.
They have no intentions of quitting anytime soon.
“Once a year I get to smash into another car and not get a ticket for it,” said Ray. “ You can take out all your road rage for the year.”
He plans to continue ‘til he’s old and grey: “I will pull my wheel chair in with me if I have to.”

Labels: 08-07-09, Glimmerglass

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