The Freemans Journal - Cooperstowns Newspaper Since 1808

Friday, December 19, 2008

Editor’s Note: Village Historian Hugh MacDougall delivered this Christmas invocation to the Cooperstown Rotary Club Tuesday, Dec. 23, linking the popularizing of Santa Claus to James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Pioneers.”

The Dutch celebrated Dec. 6 as the day of Saint Nicholas – popularly known as Sinter Klaas – who placed candies and gifts in the shoes of good children.
Though this tradition does not seem to have crossed the Atlantic to colonial New Netherland, it was revived by English-speaking New Yorkers in the early 19th Century.
Washington Irving, in his comical history of Old Dutch New York, published in 1809, describes Saint Nicholas arriving through the air in a wagon, smoking a pipe and descending chimneys to leave gifts in children’s stockings.
In 1823 Clement Moore published “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (better known today as “The Night Before Christmas”) in which the good Saint arrives in a sleigh pulled by eight prancing reindeer.

James Fenimore Cooper’s third novel, The Pioneers, also from 1823, is set in the Cooperstown of the 1790s.
It describes at length a Christmas very different from our own, devoted to carousing by men, and with gifts only for servants.
But this international best-seller did introduce readers around the world to the name of Santa Claus – known until then only by New York City dwellers familiar with Dutch customs.
An African-American slave is admonished to “remember there will be a visit from Santa Claus tonight.”
By mid-century our Christmas of today had been born.
Writing in “Rural Hours,” her famous 1850 journal of Cooperstown life, Susan Fenimore Cooper says:
“Christmas must always be a happy, cheerful day; the bright fires, the fresh and fragrant greens, the friendly gifts, and words of good-will, the ‘Merry Christmas’ smiles on most faces one meets, give a warm glow to the day ... and make up an humble accompaniment for the exalted associations of the festival, as it is celebrated in solemn, public worship, and kept by the hearts of believing Christians.”
In 1870, President Grant had Christmas made into a National Holiday. Since then it has become – like Rotary itself – an almost universal institution, enjoyed by people of many beliefs throughout the world.
And so as we open our last meeting before Christmas Day, may I wish to you and your families, of every faith or of no faith, a very Merry Christmas.

Labels: 12-26-08, Front Page

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Couple Gives 2nd Easement To Land Trust

COOPERSTOWN

When Matt and Sara Albright bought a home and 75 acres on the headwaters of Otego Creek in the Town of New Lisbon, they had to pay off a substantial portion of the mortgage before they could fulfill a dream: to protect the property through a conservation easement with the Otsego Land Trust.
Last year, however, the mortgage had been reduced sufficiently that they were able to do so, and the tax benefits put a check in their hands just about the time another 100 acres was put on the market just down Route 14.
So they spent the money from the first easement to buy the additional property. And Friday, Dec. 19, the couple and the Land Trust closed on a conservation easement for that second property.
Since the Albright properties are next to the Texas Schoolhouse State Forest, that means some 1,000 acres in the neighborhood are protected in perpetuity against development, Peter M. Hujik, Land Trust executive director, said in announcing the latest transaction.
The new agreement comes just days after two landowners -- Paul Sahler was one; the other is anonymous -- acted to protect 145 acres in the Red Creek Valley east of Cooperstown, bringing to 1,000 the number of acres under Land Trust oversight in that neighborhood.
This year, Hujik said, the Cooperstown-based trust has protected 325 additional acres. It now has easements on more than 5,000 acres in Otsego County, and has set a goal of 10,000 acres by 2010.
Because of tax benefits associated with the calendar year, Hujik said, he hopes to see perhaps two more closings by the end of the year.
Matt is a biologist at the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station on Otsego Lake, and Sara is a Bassett human-resources director. The couple met at SUNY Geneseo and came to Otsego County so he could obtain his master’s at SUNY Oneonta.
While this is something the couple has wanted to do for a while, Matt said, they were spurred to move forward by the birth of their son, Stephen, now 5.
“We’ll have fun on the land,” he said of his growing family. “And it will eventually be Stephen’s.”
He said the Otego Creek tributary on his property includes “heritage trout,” as well as notable examples of other flora and fauna.

Labels: 12-26-08, Front Page, Land Trust

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Sumner Leaves Smithy-Pioneer After 17 Years

COOPERSTOWN

Fresh from last summer’s successful launch of a new pottery studio, Tara Sumner has told the Smithy-Pioneer Gallery board of directors she is resigning after 17 years to seek other opportunities.
“Tara has been not only a true steward of the Smithy itself, but an important force for the arts in the larger community,” said Smithy-Pioneer chairman Henry Weil in announcing the executive director’s decision Tuesday, Dec. 23.
“As just one example of her contributions, the opening of the new pottery building is a huge milestone for the Smithy, and could not have been done without Tara,” he said.
“We will miss her, and now have significant shoes to fill.”
Under her leadership, multiple art exhibits have been mounted every summer, providing local artists a venue to show their work, Weil said.
He also credited Sumner and Sunny Leinhart with creating a pottery program that grew so much that it merited its own building.
“For 17 years, working with Tara on the pottery program has been one of the great pleasures of my life,” added Leinhart.
The one-story structure on Doubleday Court – it housed The Freeman’s Journal at one point, but the National Baseball Hall of Fame had used it for storage for more than a decade – opened last summer.
The space between the pottery studio and the Smithy itself, which fronts on Pioneer Street, was turned into a sculpture garden, creating a natural connection between the two buildings.
The first floor of the Smithy, which Judge William Cooper built in 1789 as a store for the first settlers, is the oldest building in the village.
Efforts to reach Sumner before press time were unsuccessful.

Labels: 12-26-08, Front Page, Tara Sumner

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Cooperstown and Around

CO-PAYS RISE: By increasing $20 co-pays to $25 and $40, and $50 emergency-services co-pays to $100, the village trustees have kept CDPHP’s medical-insurance increase to 11 percent in 2009.

WINNER FOUND: The state Lottery says a Dutchess County man was visiting his father in Oneonta when he bought a $4 million LOTTO ticket at Stewart’s on Main Street earlier this month. His name will be announced when he receives the check, probably in January.

NEW SIGN: The Friends of the Village Library will be erecting a new sign at Fair and Main streets that will be visible to prospective patrons approaching from the north and west.

SIGN OF SEASON: Sunday, Dec. 21 – the winter solstice – divers Lee Ferrara and Brian Benjamin broke through the surface ice at Springfield Landing to retrieve the no-wake-zone buoy. They replaced it with an ice-resistant spar buoy. Jim Vogler and divemaster Paul Lord observed from shore.

BRIGHTER DAYS: The winter solstice also means that days will be getting longer and nights shorter from here on out.

ON ICE: In reporting the rink at Albany’s Empire State Plaza has been closed due to the state budget crisis, the New York Times likened it to the cancellation of snow tubing this winter at Glimmerglass State Park.

CRITIQUE: The Otsego County Conservation Association has provided DEC with a 12-page critique of its Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement governing the drilling for natural gas. See www.occainfo.org

Labels: 12-26-08, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page

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Attacking, Zebra Mussels Spur Costly Counterattack

Shells In Filter At Water Plant Require Action

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

The zebra mussel has breached Cooperstown’s municipal defenses, and the counter-attack is going to be expensive, although no one is sure yet how expensive.
Zebra-mussel shells – not live mussels, just the shells – have been found in the strainer at the village’s water-treatment plant on Mill Street, which means the burgeoning bivalve has moved south of Three Mile Point and threatens the municipal system.
The next step, said Trustee Milo V. Stewart Jr., chairman of the village Board of Water Commissioners, is to build a small pump house near the water intake at Fairy Spring Park, and inject small amounts of either chlorine, permanganate or ozone into the water pipe to keep the zebra mussels away.
Negotiations are under way with the Lakewood Cemetery trustees to buy or lease a small parcel of land to build a 10- by 10-foot building to house the pump, he said.
The fast-multiplying zebra mussels can threaten a municipal water supply in a couple of ways.
One, they can cluster inside the intake pipe – 14 inches wide and 30 feet below the surface, it runs a half-mile down the Susquehanna River from Otsego Lake to the water plant near Bassett Hospital – until the pipe is clogged.
If that happens, water would have to be fed directly from the Susquehanna to the water plant with fire hoses.
Two, tiny zebra mussels can get into the plant’s equipment, gumming it up, even ruining it.
Ted Peters, consultant to the water board, said a “pig” will be run through the line to clean it out, a temporary fix.
Since zebra mussels are dormant when the water is less than 50 degrees, he said, the village has a little breathing space to decide what to do.
But, Peters said, the water temperature in Otsego Lake should move above 50 by mid-May, so action needs to be taken by then.
Stewart told the village trustees at their monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 21, that Lamont Engineers, Cobleskill, has been asked to come up with a proposal by the water commissioners’ January meeting. If satisfactory, the trustees could approve the plan at their January meeting.
Mayor Carol B. Waller said this new threat may mean the village cannot afford to move ahead with $1 million infrastructure improvements – water and sewer lines, and sidewalks – along Brooklyn Avenue.
The Brooklyn Avenue project had already been broken off from a $3 million plan to upgrade infrastructure throughout the village’s south side – from Walnut Street in – where sewerage has been collapsing and water pressure is low.
With this zebra-mussel-eradication expense, “we have to decide which one we’re going to do,” said Waller.
Zebra mussels were contained in the bilge of tanker ships that entered the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1980s.
Since, they’ve been hop-scotching across the state, carried from lake to pond to stream in bait buckets. Canadarago Lake became inhabited, then Goodyear Lake.
In addition to clogging water systems, the mussels’ sharp shells have caused beaches, as nearby as Baker’s Beach on Canadarago, to be closed.
A village boat-cleaning program had delayed the zebra mussels’ entry into Glimmerglass for four years, but diver Paul Lord, former Otsego Lake Association president, was on a team that first discovered the mussels locally at the north end of the lake earlier this year.

Labels: 12-26-08, Front Page, Otsego Lake, Zebra Mussels

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Post-Christmas Fun!

Here Are 10 Things To Do With Visiting Family & Friends

By JEANNINE BOHLER

The gifts have been opened. The eggnog has been drunk. The four walls of home-sweet-home are starting to seem a little too small. Don’t let the cookie crumble. Gather up the kids, round up the in-laws and head out for a local family adventure.
With a little planning, there is plenty to keep guests and pent-up kids happy in the lull between Christmas and the new year. Your search for ideas ends here.
(Just keep in mind that most places will close early on Dec. 31 and will be closed on New Year’s Day.)

1 Get some fresh air. Put those new skis and skates and snow shoes to use. Glimmerglass State Park, Gilbert Lake State Park in Laurens, and the Betty and Wilbur Davis State Park in Milford offer trails for cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing. Due to budget cuts, the tubing trails and ice skating pond at Glimmerglass will not be open this year, but the trails are open and usage is free. The City of Oneonta’s parks, including Wilbur and Neahwa, are also open for walking, snow-shoeing and skiing. Unfortunately, weather conditions have not permitted the ice skating rink to be up and ready for the holidays.

2 Exercise! Make room for a few more holiday treats with a visit to the local gym. The Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown offers day passes for children ($5) and adults ($10). The gym features an Olympic-sized pool, rock-climbing wall, bowling alley, racquet-ball courts and more. Or check out Oneonta’s YMCA. The facility offers family passes (good for two adults and two children) for $15.25, adults day-passes for $9.25 and kid day-passes for $4.50.

3 Looking for an afternoon of grown-up fun? Find yourself a designated driver and visit the local producers of various libations. Start your tour at Brewery Ommegang, a 10-minute drive from downtown Cooperstown or 20 minutes from Oneonta on Route 33. Tastings and tours are available from noon to 5 p.m. daily. Continue your afternoon with a visit to Milford’s Cooperstown Brewing Company for a taste of Old Slugger or Nine Man Ale. Tours are offered hourly from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are no tours on Sunday mornings. End the afternoon with a toast at Bear Pond Winery. The winery will be closed from Christmas Day until Monday, Dec. 29, but will reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30.

4 If winter’s chill has reached your bones, head for the tropics by visiting the Joseph L. Popp, Jr. Butterfly Conservatory. Located at 5802 State Highway 7, just east of Oneonta, the historic home houses a live tropical butterfly exhibit and botanical garden. The conservatory is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Shed your heavy coats and stroll among the butterflies. Don’t be surprised to spot a turtle or chameleon on your path or one of twenty species of tropical birds hiding in the trees.

5 Need a quiet afternoon and a good read? The local libraries are the place to be. The Village Library of Cooperstown is now open seven days a week. Relax and read the paper or cuddle up with your littlest family members and read some new books. The Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta is open Monday through Saturday and offers extensive collections for all ages.

6 Art lovers have one last chance to head to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The museum closes for the season on Dec. 31, but there is still time to visit the unique collection of exhibits, including “Of, By and For the People: The Art of Presidential Elections” “Earl Cunningham’s America,” and “Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art.” Check out the sale in the museum gift shop. Most items are 30% off until Christmas, and after the holiday, even the sale price drops. In Oneonta, visit the galleries at Wilbur Mansion. The historic home features three galleries, featuring high quality, original art work. Call 423-2070 for more information.

7 Sports lovers can find plenty to peak their interest. The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum showcases baseball’s fascinating history with a collection of artifacts, movies and exhibits. It is open daily. Soccer fans should head to the National Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum in Oneonta. The museum is usually closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but will open on those days during the holiday school vacation. The museum celebrates the history and honors the heroes of soccer and hopes to inspire today’s youth.

8 If history and architecture are up your alley, the area has much to offer. Stop by the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce. Fifty cents will buy you a map and a self-guided walking tour of the village’s historic homes and landmarks. Take a walking tour of Main Street Oneonta with a list of historic sites. It can be downloaded and printed by visiting www.oneontahistory.org.

9 Looking for an activity for the kids while you run a couple of errands? The Friends of Glimmerglass State Park, in cooperation with Safe Kids of Otsego County, will host a special kids’ morning of fun 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29. The morning will start with a light breakfast snack followed by learning and fun centered around making indoor and outdoor holiday decorations with pinecones and other kid-friendly supplies. Kids 6-12 are invited. The fee is $5 per kid and reservations are required by Dec. 27. Please call 547-8662 or e-mail friendsofglimmerglass@gmail.com .

10 Finally, dig out your sled and head for the local slopes. A series of winter storms promises to make for some great holiday sledding for the entire family.

Labels: 12-26-08, Glimmerglass

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How Sweet They Are!

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

This is a sweet time of year what with plum pudding, and fruit cake, and mince pie, and candy canes, and sparkly multi-colored cookies, and jellied fruit slices, and Stollen, and buche de Noel, and egg nog, all sweet, all expected, and all eagerly anticipated.
Even sweeter was an unexpected pleasure this past Sunday evening at a newly-renovated, highly popular, and successful Italian Kitchen on Church Street in Oneonta. For a Sunday night, it was doing unusually brisk business (always nice to see) and there seemed to be just about nothing but attractive ladies everywhere in sight (also always nice to see).
Your columnist settled unobtrusively into the corner window nook with the novel of the moment and was having a very pleasant time of it over chicken scarpariello, when what to his wondering ear, he heard the sweet, sweet strains of angelic voices.
Peering around the corner, he observed all the ladies on their feet, singing, crooning, harmonizing, swaying, smiling, having a grand old time in high sweet sixteen style. It was Ladies’ Christmas Night Out for the Sweet Adelines of Oneonta.
I have been a pushover for barbershop quartet music for decades (never mind how many). It is a staple of variety shows and talent nights and always pleases, not only with the music itself but also with the showmanship and the evocation of an era when music (and life) seemed to be just that much simpler and home friendly. Along with many other gender-enlightened developments (like voting) came the founding of the Sweet Adeline in Tulsa, Okalahoma on Friday July 13, 1945, a lucky day if ever there was one. As the Sweet Adelines International Website (sweetadelineintl.org) puts it:
“Sweet Adelines International is a highly respected worldwide organization of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performance. “This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world’s largest singing organizations for women.
“Members extend over five continents and belong to more than 600 choruses and 1,200 quartets. Today’s Sweet Adelines choruses and quartets sing
exciting a cappella, four-part harmony music, barbershop style. The music includes special arrangements of today’s ballads and upbeat songs, popular show tunes, and even jazz. Members say that singing the powerfully balanced sounds of barbershop harmony provides a rich, rewarding experience.”
The Oneonta chapter is a responsible membership continually honing its musical skills at workshops, competing regionally, and~ above all~ performing all over our area, whether in nursing homes or adult facilities, at the Pathfinder Village Summer Concert series, or the SPCA Festival of Trees at the Farmers’ Museum, to name a few. They sweeten up locations and events big-time.
Their Website is www.saregion16.com/cityofthehillschorus. Click on and find out more about them and consult their schedule so you can hear them for yourself. Don’t just take my word for it! They are always open to new recruits, but sorry, gentlemen, Ladies Only.
Happy New Year!

Labels: 12-26-08, Art Beat, Glimmerglass, Sam Goodyear

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Santa’s Soft Spot for Cooperstown

JEANNINE BOHLER

UNDER THE FLY CREEK SUN

If I lived here for no other reason, I would live here for Santa.
I am sure most of you are unaware, but Santa, it seems, has a soft spot in his heart for Cooperstown. I know. He told me. And in the event that his words aren’t enough, his actions speak for his love of these little local kids and people.
Santa, you see, is everywhere during the Christmas season. He not only accepts visitors (both human and animal) in his tiny cottage, he graces preschools and Head Start. He sits with the older folks in nursing homes. He sings with the kindergartners at Rotary lunches. He plays with toddlers at the gym. He visits patients at the hospital.
Santa is everywhere anyone needs him to be. His heart is as big as the job demands.
A visit to Santa in Cooperstown is different then anything most of us have experienced in the past. It is warm and cozy. It feels perfect and complete. You stand, hands buried in mittens, heads tucked into hats, feet dancing in the snow outside his tiny cottage and wait.
Always, it is cold, but even so, the wait never seems too long. It is too pretty. The village too quaint, draped in lights and greenery. Finally, the door opens. Out stumble a couple of happy kids, maybe some new parents with a tiny baby, and in you go.
Inside, it is warm. Music plays. Santa is soft spoken and gentle. He remembers the things that Santa would, of course, remember. He has watched Alex grow. He greets him by name. He asks about kindergarten.
He says hello to Cate. He has watched her grow too. He has followed her journey from China to this cozy little place across the planet. He welcomes her gently, anticipating her shyness, her reserve.
Alex goes straight to his lap. After five years of visits, Santa is like an old friend. Santa asks what he would like for Christmas, but the visit doesn’t seem to be about wanting. The visit with Santa seems to be about giving, about being content. There is an aura of giving and peacefulness all around him.
In that tiny cottage, it feels the way Christmas should feel. The way it feels in story books and Christmas songs. Santa takes his time. He doesn’t rush. He chats and asks questions. Sometimes he has even been known to read a story. The kids leave
with a candy cane and that special quiet that falls when one has been in the presence of one so great.
Back outside the cottage, it doesn’t feel quite as cold.
Cate, of course, doesn’t really understand what this Santa business is all about. She applauds when the tree is lit each morning. She goes wild for lights decorating a house.
Santa...how do you explain Santa to a little girl who had nothing to call her own? But after a visit to his house, I think she started to know – not the asking for something, not the wanting of something, but the spirit of the season, the spirit of this man.
We saw him again when he visited the toddler party at the gym. He entered. Cate cheered. She grabbed my hand and ran to him, embracing the same Santa she was afraid to speak to less then a week ago.
They say children are experts at detecting the true spirit of a person, and this is obviously true. When I lost sight of Cate in the crowd of parents and children at the gym, I had only to look for Santa. Cate was there, at his feet. I had to drag her away when it was time to go.
Her summary of the experience: “Santa, mama. I yike him.” I was 20 minutes late for a meeting. But I never would have changed that time for her.
As a bit of a roving reporter, I have had the honor of interviewing Santa on a couple of occasions.
I know he is a busy man. He has a whole world to visit, a whole planet get to on Christmas Eve. I am sure you could find one of his helpers elsewhere. I am sure there are many and that they are fine too.
But if you find yourself doubting, if the world, your world, has shaken your beliefs and gotten you down this season, come to Cooperstown. You can find Santa in his tiny yellow cottage. You’ll leave with a lighter feeling in you heart.
He is a part of my Christmas magic. And I am thrilled by the magic he has so generously given to Alex and Cate.

Jeannine Bohler lives in Fly Creek.

Labels: 12-26-08, Glimmerglass

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A Perfect Blend

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

Nineteen years ago, a group of regional singers gathered to perform Handel’s “Messiah” at Christ Episcopal Church in Cooperstown. Since that Christmas in 1989, the performance has become an annual tradition at Christ Church and been enriched with select soloists and a chamber orchestra. This year, the Saturday, Dec. 20, performance was so packed that several people had to stand in the back of the church, under rear cluster of organ pipes.
Immediately after the performance began, I was taken by the magnificent clarity and warmth of sound in the small church. I had been in Christ Church many times before, but never for a performance like this. While sound often bounces around in a church, the orchestra, voices, and organ were rich and almost crisp. There was no need for amplification, despite the full support of such a fine organ.
The performance began with Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Magnificat,” featuring soloists Susan Vaules Lin (soprano), Mary Abba-Gleason (mezzo-soprano) Paul D’Arcy (tenor) and Steven Marking (bass-baritone). For the third time, Maestro Dan Foster was invited to conduct.
As one of Bach’s major vocal works, the “Magnificat” is the canticle of the Virgin Mary recounted from the Gospel of Luke, and was composed for orchestra and choir. It is one of the two large works composed by Bach in Latin (the other was his “Mass in B Minor”).
The orchestra and chorus were particularly delightful in moments of minimalism during the “Magnificat.” A solo voice, cello, and single note organ accompaniment, for example, sounded so round and uninterrupted.
At these points, and at several others, I was brought back to the Baroque era, when, without electric amplification or modern string technology, strings made from animal gut and less lengthy bows would have created a shorter yet round sound; less metallic and linear in sustain than modern instruments – more earthly in a way.
The chorus was equally charming, capable of both immense volume and delicate attention to musical detail. They created a sound that could meet on equal terms with the organ from the church’s rear pipes, blending among the audience.
Following the “Magnificat,” the chorus performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols.” The Fantasia is founded on the traditional English Carols, “The Truth Sent From Above,” “Come All You Worthy Gentlemen,” “On Christmas Night” and “There is a Fountain.”
The carols were connected seamlessly in Williams’ clever arrangement, at times quoting other well known carols during the musical interludes such as “The First Noel” in the violins. However, it was a simple lower extension bowed on Dave Irvin’s contrabass, almost eerie yet effective, which tied together “The Truth Sent From Above” and “Come All You Worthy Gentlemen.”
The concert concluded with the traditional carols “Torches,” “Coventry Carol,” “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” and “The Shepherds’ Farewell.” I was pleasantly surprised that the program steered clear of the more typical, or should I say, secular carols. Those tunes have their setting, and it was not here.
Gradually, the orchestra turned their attention to the chorus, becoming additional members of the audience. At first I was disappointed with their early and unannounced conclusion; I wanted a triumphant ending. However, as I listened to all the voices, I was left with the peaceful solace so unique to the season. It is music only of the body, sung softly with confidence and conviction.
I regret to admit that as a lifelong resident of Cooperstown, this is the first time I attended the Voices of Cooperstown Christmas performance. However, I found it the perfect blend of professional musicianship and community gathering. With the fresh snowfall, it would have made a fine companion to Candlelight Evening.

Evan Jagels may be contacted at evanjagels@yahoo.com

Labels: 12-26-08, Evan Jagels, Glimmerglass, Night Life

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Obituaries

Charles Frank Fritts, 72; Veteran, CCS Bus Driver

COOPERSTOWN – Charles Frank Fritts, a long-time school bus driver for the Cooperstown school district, died early Sunday morning, Dec. 21, 2008, at Otsego Manor. He was 72.
One of 13 children, Chuck was born Aug. 21, 1936, at home in Butternut Valley, a son of Leon Byard Fritts and Hazel M. (Tilley) Fritts.
After attending school in Fly Creek, he joined the military, enlisting on Sept. 5, 1953. Stationed in Germany, he later served in the reserves and received his honorable discharge on Aug. 31, 1961.
For a time Chuck was employed for Bendix Scintilla and later worked for J. Harry Cook at his garage on Main Street in Cooperstown. It was here that he met his future wife, the former Ruth Burch and the two were married Aug. 21, 1958 in a ceremony at the Cooperstown Methodist Church.
Throughout his life Chuck was involved in several occupations, including the operation of the Mobil Station on Chestnut Street in Cooperstown as well as managing the J.P. Kinney farm on State Highway 80. The job he stayed with the longest was driving school buses for the Cooperstown School District for 26 years.
In his spare time Chuck enjoyed working on clocks. He also had a love for flying airplanes, a pastime he gave up when he got married, but returned to in later years. He was especially proud of finally receiving his pilots’ license for operating twin-engine aircraft.
Chuck is survived by his wife of 50 years, Ruth B. Fritts of Cooperstown; seven children, Mari Mitchell and her husband Richard of Dodgeville, Wis., Wendy Lambert and her husband Daimon of Fort McCoy, Fla., Kristine Montes and her husband Michael of Tampa, Fla., Bonnie Jensen of Elizabeth City, N.C., Bette Butler and her husband John of Hertford, N.C., Jaime Fritts of Cooperstown, and Keith Fritts and his wife Melody of West Laurens; 16 grandchildren; 15 great grandchildren; one sister, Mrs. Joyce Link of Dansville; two brothers, Robert C. Fritts of Otsego Manor and Allen Fritts of Otego; three sisters-in-law, Mrs. Darryl Fritts of Herkimer, Mrs. Marion Fritts of Otsego Manor and Mrs. Sylvia B. Fritts of Toddsville; and many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by one son-in-law, Arthur Jensen; two sisters, Clara Louise Fritts and Clemma Turner; and seven brothers, Leon “Roy” Byard Fritts, Jr., Frederick Earl Fritts, James Edward Fritts, Ralph Donald Fritts, Carl B. Fritts, Irvin Lee Fritts and Gerald Fritts
A funeral service will be offered at 11 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 26, 2008 at the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown, with the Rev. Douglas Deer, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cooperstown, officiating.
The Service of Committal and burial with military honors will be in the spring in the Hartwick Seminary Cemetery.
Chuck’s family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to the funeral.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Always and Forever Memorial Program benefiting the American Diabetes Association, Utica Office, 1508 Genesee St., Utica, NY 13502, or to the American Heart Association, Heart Gifts Processing Center, P.O. Box 3049, Syracuse, NY 13220-3049.
Funeral arrangements are with Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.

Emmy Victoria Zeller, 100; Poet, Pen Pal Honored for Helping Others

COOPERSTOWN – On Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, Emmy Victoria Zeller, a long-time resident of Upper Montclair, N.J. who was proud of her German heritage, passed away at Otsego Manor in Cooperstown, where she had resided since August. She was 100 years old.
Emmy was born March 20, 1908, one of eight children, in Kappelrodeck, Germany. Following her education, Emmy apprenticed at the postal service in her little hometown, learning Morse Code and becoming a telephone and telegraph operator. In 1926 she met her future husband, John (Hans) Zeller, who along with Emmy was a member of the Gymnastic Club. She also sang in her church choir and played mandolin in a musical group. In 1927 Hans decided to immigrate to America.
Three years later Hans asked Emmy to join him in America and she made the decision to immigrate, arriving on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1930. It was still depression-era in America, but they finally married on Dec. 27, 1933. Their daughter, Franziska Roberta was born in 1937. In 1940 they were instrumental in establishing a German Theatre Club, The Bayerische Volksbuehne.
The years during World War II were difficult for German immigrants, but they persevered and became American citizens. At war’s end Emmy started her one-woman care package drive of helping family, friends and strangers in Germany overcome their dire need for food and clothing. As she had not yet learned to drive, she delivered her packages to the post office on her bicycle and became well-known around town as “the bicycle lady”. It is estimated that she sent 950 care packages. She was honored this year in her hometown with a tree planting and a large memorial plaque for her many good deeds.
For much of her life Emmy wrote German poetry, which has been published in newspapers and magazines both in America and Germany. Her work was also included in a book, “German Poems From America of the Past 100 Years”, compiled at Youngstown State University in Ohio.
Last March, Emmy celebrated her 100th birthday in grand style with guests attending from around the world. It was a memorable three day affair where Emmy socialized and even danced her favorite waltz.
Emmy will be missed by her family, including her daughter, Franzi R. Kuhne of Burlington Flats; three grandchildren, Chris Kuhne, Glen Kuhne and his wife, Resa and Kathi Kuhne-Giron and her husband, Luis; two great granddaughters, Emma Olivia Giron and Kira Grace Giron; one sister, Maya Schmelzle of Germany; many nieces and nephews and hundreds of friends.
Emmy was predeceased by her husband, John Zeller; her son-in-law, Heinz Kuhne; and her six siblings, Roesl, Otto, Robert, Tilde, Lisl, and most recently her 99-year-old brother, Karl, who passed away September 12, 2008.
A memorial service to celebrate Emmy’s wonderful life will be organized in the coming months.
Throughout her life, Emmy had over 250 pen pals. In honor of her devotion to letter writing, it is requested that those who wish to memorialize Emmy to do so by writing a letter to a friend.
Arrangements are with the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

“A sunny disposition equals long life!”

Eileen Ludder, 82; Teacher, Editor, Author

COOPERSTOWN – Eileen Anne Thomas Callan Ludder, a long-time resident of Cherry Valley and an accomplished editor, teacher and author, passed away early Wednesday morning, Dec. 17, 2008 at Otsego Manor. She was 82.
A native of Albany, Eileen was born on Jan. 24, 1926, a daughter of the late David and Emma née MacCollom Thomas.
She was first married to Albert Stevens Callan, Sr., a widower and 41 years her senior who was a newspaper publisher and owner of The Chatham Courier on June 14, 1954 in Canada. Mr. Callan died March 12, 1963. Eileen then married Jerome “Hal” Ludder on June 4, 1969 in Rensselaer and they later made their home on Church Street in Cherry Valley. Mr. Ludder died June 3, 1999.
In her younger years, one of Eileen’s favorite pastimes was fox hunting, which she pursued both here and in Ireland. Her times spent fox hunting in Ireland were especially dear to her and she always enjoyed telling others of her time there. She also showed champion Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, winning numerous trophies.
Throughout her life, one constant for Eileen was her devotion to the printed word. She wrote for several newspapers and magazines and also authored a book on Native Americans, which was the result of research into the life of her great grandmother who was a Native American and killed in the Cherry Valley Massacre in 1778.
Of the Episcopal faith, she was an ardent member of the Advocates for Cherry Valley.
Eileen is survived by one niece and several nephews, who are her brother, David Thomas’ children and who now live in the Albany and Rensselaer areas, as well as several stepchildren from both of her marriages.
In addition to her husbands, she was predeceased by her younger twin brothers, George and David Thomas.
With respect to Eileen’s wishes, she will be cremated, and her ashes will be laid to rest with her first husband, Albert S. Callan, Sr., in Chatham Rural Cemetery and with her second husband, Hal Ludder, in Cherry Valley Cemetery.
For those who wish to honor Eileen’s memory, memorial gifts may be made to Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820 or to the Cherry Valley Fish and Game Club, P.O. Box 282, Cherry Valley, NY 13320-0282 or to Otsego Manor, 128 Phoenix Mills Cross Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326 for the care and feeding of the pets. Please write “Pet Care” in the memo of your check.
Arrangements are with the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

Thelma May Campbell Ryan, 84; Veteran Summered in Cooperstown

Thelma May Campbell Ryan, 84, of Wesley Haven Pensacola, Fla., former resident of Cooperstown, Newburgh and Willsboro, died Monday, Dec.15, 2008 at Gulf Breeze Hospital..
She was born on Sept. 19, 1924, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Campbell. Sister to the Rev. Harry G. Campbell (deceased) of Columbus Ga. and a surviving sister, Aline Heller of Cooperstown, N.Y. She was married to John J. Ryan on June 22, 1946 and had two children. Harry James Ryan, deceased husband of Janet Ryan and Nancy (Ryan) Kittel, wife of Jim Kittel. She was blessed to have five grandchildren, Shawn Kittel, husband of Lindsay Dye, Melody McGowin, wife of Skye McGowin of Pensacola, Pam Ryan of Plattsburgh, N.Y., Chris Ryan and Beth Carpenter, wife of Matt Carpenter of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and three great-grand children, Kali McGowin, Caleb Carpenter and Zachary Carpenter. She has nieces Sandy Thorne-Marshall, Marion Terpening to include Great nephew Jeff Thorne and wife Stephanie, Meridith Terpening and their children, adopted grandchildren Phil and Marg White and children. Thelma had many Special friends, to include Jerry and Barb, Jane, Lou and Nancy and Krewe of Junkanoos {Queen Mother}, Brewskis and her Pensacola Elk friends. Thelma’s greatest joy was spending time with her family and returning to the cottage in N.Y. in the summer. She served in the Marine Corps. Military Reserve from May 1944 until Nov. 1945 in San Diego and has been a proud veteran. She will be missed by her family as a mother, grandmother and mentor and be missed by her many friends. As it was said, no one did it right like Miss Thelma and she is in the happy party land.
Memorial Services were held at St. Ann’s Catholic Church located in Gulf Breeze, FL, Saturday, Dec. 20 at 11. A celebration of her life followed.

Labels: 12-26-08, Obituaries

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Bound Volumes

175 YEARS AGO

Our mail papers are filled with accounts of the severity of the late gale. It extended itself from the extreme North and East to the Southern extremity of the Union, and we hear of great losses of property, occasioned by the excessive rise of the waters.

The Carrier of this paper, in conformity to usage will, on Wednesday next, make his bow to the Village Patrons, “wishing them all a happy year, with lightsome heart and merry cheer.”
December 30, 1833

150 YEARS AGO

County Agricultural Society – The following gentlemen were elected officers for the coming year: Alfred Clark, President, Jonah Davis, Vice Pres’t., C.J. Stillman, Secretary, G.P. Keese, Treasurer, Henry Roseboom and John A. Rathbun, Directors for three years.

The annual Donation Visit to the Pastor of the Baptist Church of Cooperstown will be made on Dec. 29. His friends are respectfully invited to attend.
December 24, 1858

125 YEARS AGO

Several efforts have been made at different times to have a road constructed leading out of the village on the west, which would obviate the necessity of driving over the high hill beyond the railroad depot. It is hoped that a final and successful effort will be made to have the road “put through” at an early date. By urgent request we call the attention of our village trustees to the subject at this time.

The Boston English Opera Co. are to appear at Bowne Opera House on Saturday, December 29. They will give Flotow’s beautiful English opera “Martha,” and on Monday, December 31, a charming comic operetta, “Sir Marmaduke.”
December 29, 1883

100 YEARS AGO

New Organ for Christ Church – At a meeting of the Vestry of Christ Church on Tuesday evening a communication was received from Mrs. Henry C. Potter offering the gift of a new organ in memory of The Rt. Rev. Dr. Henry Codman Potter, seventh Bishop of New York. The offer was accepted.

There have developed during the past week several cases of typhoid fever in this village. The cases so far as they have progressed all seem to be of a mild form. The Board of Health and physicians and village authorities are inspecting the dairies that supply milk to Cooperstown and a sample of the water has been sent for analysis. Those ill with the fever are Dr. H.D. Sill, Rev. C.W. Negus, Mrs. Elery Hoke, Dorothy and Donald Doan, a daughter of Mr. Smith, the cobbler, a little daughter of Michael Kraham, the little son of Frank G. Parshall, Miss Pier, and Mrs. Joe Pugliese. Physicians advise boiling all drinking water.
December 24, 1908

75 YEARS AGO

Kenneth W. Root, president of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, received the following letter dated December 21, 1933, from John A, Heydler, president of the National League: Dear Mr. Root – The subject of celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of laying out the first base ball diamond in Cooperstown was presented to me at the recent Major League meeting in Chicago. A committee consisting of Judge Landis, President Harridge of the American League, and myself, was designated to consider ways and means for proper observance of this epochal event. Paramount News Reel will have a short reference to Major Doubleday and Cooperstown by Judge Landis. Hope you hear it. Yours truly, John A. Heydler.
December 27, 1933

50 YEARS AGO

More than 500 persons braved two below zero weather to attend the ninth annual Festival of the Nativity and Carol Service, held at the abandoned stone quarry on Chicken Farm Hill Road late Sunday afternoon under the sponsorship of the Cooperstown Council of Churches. In a beautiful winter setting with light from hundreds of oil torches shimmering in reflection from the ice-encrusted sheer walls of the quarry, William Warfield, noted American baritone, and the 120 voices of the combined Hamilton and Radcliffe college choral groups, provided the musical background for the religious ceremony in which clergymen from the member churches participated.
December 24, 1958

25 YEARS AGO

Advertisement – Back by popular demand! Cooperstown’s Own Column – Begin your New Year reading an old favorite in The Freeman’s Journal. “Where Nature Smiles” will return in the January 4, 1984 edition. It will report on all the Cooperstown events of interest. Your reporters will be Gerry Ellsworth and Catherine Ellsworth.
December 28, 1983

10 YEARS AGO

Last Friday morning, Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York State Historical Association and of the Board of Directors of The Farmers’ Museum, Inc., announced the appointment of Gilbert T. Vincent, Ph.D. as president of both the association and the museum. “The Board of Directors of The Farmers’ Museum and the Board of Trustees of the New York State Historical Association are very excited about this appointment,” Clark said. “We have enormous confidence in Dr. Vincent’s vision and leadership and we are looking forward to many years of working together toward the future success of both museums.”
December 25, 1998

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: 12-26-08, Bound Volumes, Columns

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THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS: FROM COOPERSTOWN’S CLERGY

He Just Keeps On Coming

By THE REV. SAM ABBOTT • Christ Episcopal Church

Here it is again – Christmas! Are the cards sent, the packages wrapped and tagged and mailed, the tree trimmed, the wreaths hung, the cakes and cookies baked, the stockings stuffed, the year-end donations made?
Whew! I tell my flock that it doesn’t all need to be done by Christmas eve, that Christmas is a season of 12 days. What about saving some tasks for later?
For clergy it is especially hard. We have both the parish and the family to attend to. As mere mortals with limitations, we probably don’t do a good job with either.
But Jesus, the reason for the season, is not a toy or a decoration kept in a box for annual display. He is as ready to come into your life on Jan. 13 or April 4 or Sept. 10 or Dec. 25.
He comes when you invite him and not as your guru or moral exemplar or teacher. He is all those things. But what released him for the whole world is his death and resurrection.
He comes as savior (his name means “God saves”) and as lord and he comes when we call on him for that degree of serious help.
So in this busy time, don’t just celebrate Christmas but celebrate Jesus.
Make room for him where he longs to be – in your heart. Then have a truly joyful Christmas!

Simple Wisdom

By THE REV. SUNDAR SAMUEL • Cooperstown United Methodist Church

All of us have sometimes had the opportunity to listen to bright, clever people. They are much in demand; they test well, make high grades and demonstrate technical proficiency. They are the “brains” of society, the ones that the world envies and rewards.
There is another dimension to intelligence and it goes beyond being bright and clever. This other dimension of intelligence we call “wisdom.”
Every Christmas season we talk about the Three Wise Men, who could read astrological signs and make important decisions.
They were bright and clever, but they were also something else. They were able to set aside reliance on their own knowledge and journey on to discover mysteries beyond their mortal intelligence and that is what made them wise men. That’s what led them to the wisdom of all ages, even the Christ child!
It is not through our pursuit we can discover the divine; it has always been through the simplicity of God’s self-revelation, we like the sages before us are able to catch a glimpse of the majesty of the divine workings in our lives and our world.

Second Birth

By FATHER JOHN P. ROSSON • St. Mary’s “Our Lady of The Lake” Roman Catholic Church

‘This Old House” is one of those ever-popular television shows.
An old, deteriorating house is featured. The old House experiences a terrific renovation.
This popular television series gave birth to a number of spinoffs.
Some programs feature neighbors and friends who take over a person’s house and renovate it as they see fit.
Always the interesting part is to see the owners return and find so much newness.
“This Old House” in its original version – artisans bring skill, work, care to bring out the original beauty of the home they’re working on, if not to actually enhance it altogether.
Is not that what the Incarnation, God becoming human in flesh and blood, is all about?
God watched the human being He began – constructed in His image – such Dignity and majesty – then disfigured, distorted, degraded by sin.
God became flesh to repair, restore, renovate.
Perhaps our life has become like one of the homes in “This Old House.”
We have seen decline in so many things in our financial well-being. We have witnessed deterioration in statements and positions. 2008 has not been the best of years.
Christ came to rebuild and restore. As the carol of the day says: He was “born to raise the sons of earth, born to give us second birth.”
This season of Christmas is especially beloved because it binds us together in so many graced ways. There are Christmas carols that tie generations together; carols whose words we all know, more or less.
There is the lighting of homes, windows, trees and posts that remind us of Christ, the real light in any darkness.
There are the themes of our songs and of the season:
Family. Friends. Faith. Forgiveness. Union with God. Peace within.
...Jesus transformed that stable into a place of light, peace and hope.
Jesus can the same in our lives.
He can turn the old house our life may have became into new spiritual structure.
He can transform the disrepair, damage and deterioration of our life into something beautiful and precious.
That is the promise of the manger scene.
This is the promise of the first Christmas, of every Christmas, and of this Christmas.

Christmas Windows

By THE REV DOUGLAS DEER • First Baptist Church

In I Corinthians 13:12 we read, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Some of you, like me, are old enough to remember pushing your nose up against a cold, frosted bedroom window through which you could not see; and breathing warm air against it, until you could melt a peep hole large enough to see through.
That was back in the days before double pane, gas-filled, coated-glass, thermal-insulated, energy-efficient windows. The condensation on the windows would freeze up into patterns like giant snowflakes, frosting the windows so that they were translucent – letting some light through – but not transparent enough to see through.
But we’re not supposed to have to look through windows dimly like that, are we? We’re not supposed to have to “look through a glass darkly.” Windows were designed to see through. Their purpose is to enable vision, to facilitate our visualization of what lies beyond.
And perhaps, in the case of very special windows, to permit us to gaze into the future or even beyond, into another world. So often – too often – we only see through a glass dimly.
Though God has given us plenty of clear windows. Nature was created to be a window. God made nature to reveal his glory and love to us. Psalm 19 begins: “How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How plainly it shows what he has done!” And “Joy to the World” reminds us: “Fields and floods, rocks hills and plains repeat the sounding joy.”
And as if nature were not enough of a window, God sent his prophets. The prophets were windows into the purposes and plans of God. But people could only see through them dimly. It was kind of like a stained glass window, pretty to look at, but you can’t see through them. The prophecies sounded good, they looked pretty, but you couldn’t quite see clearly what was on the other side. And what good is a window if you can’t see through it Nature and the prophets were not quite clear enough, so God sent Jesus. Jesus was the window into the very heart of God. John said, “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)
Jesus is a window into a reality which far exceeds what we normally think of as real. But here is what Christmas offers: an impossible possibility. A reality that transcends the everyday real. A truth deeper than everything else we have been told is true; a claim that there is a reality and truth beyond what our windows normally reveal to us.
In Jesus, we no longer see God through a glass darkly, but face to face. For Jesus made the fantastic claim which got him killed, but for which he was born “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Thank God for our Christmas window!

Never Alone

By PASTOR JIM POLLOCK • Community Bible Chapel

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they shall call him Immanuel – which means ‘God is with us’.”
Matthew 1:23

If you could sum up the whole Christmas experience in one word, what would it be?
Now, I know this is a chore for some who have lived through many yuletide days. You have, no doubt, many cherished memories spent with family and friends.
For some, this may be your first Christmas away from home, or maybe you’re starting a new home with new traditions, or this may be your first Christmas without the warm company of a loved one.
Whether this is baby’s first Christmas or you’re planning on having the old gang back for the holidays – I think one word that could account for Christmas is the word “someone.”
Christmas would seem hollow and strange without someone to share it with.
Christmas, with its hype and cult-like commercialism is still wonderfully wrapped up in the thought that someone still makes Christmas special for me.
Wouldn’t you agree that we all long for someone to be with us to add some cheer and make all things bright this season?
No one knows that more than God does. He created each of us with the capacity to love and be loved by someone.
Some folks would sum up the holidays with words like loneliness, stress, debt, or humbug!
As we look back on that first Christmas night, let us remember that God sent the angel to lonely shepherds and stressed-out, soon-to-be parents with the glorious message, “They will call him Immanuel – God is with us.”
God brought down to us Jesus, His Son.
Why did he come? What does the angel go on to say? “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
Right here, in this verse is the whole essence of Christmas: God sent us a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord!
“For God so loved the world that He gave us His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The ultimate loneliness is the person who is still wrapped in sins and far away from God’s forgiveness and love.
Jesus is that special Someone who was born in the cradle, grew up to teach and preach the Word of God, and ultimately, as the Lamb of God to die on the cross for our sins, He rose up victoriously from the grave to live and grant eternal life to all who believe in Him.
Christmas to the believer is all about Jesus in our heart. We are never alone. He promises “to never leave us or forsake us.” He is our constant “Friend who sticks closer than a brother.” He is Immanuel – God with us! He is “Faithful and True” – the only Christmas gift that lasts forever.
Become a believer this Christmas and sing that simple Children’s Carol, “O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.”
Merry Christmas! May God bless you with His presence all year long.

Labels: 12-26-08, Perspectives

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Editorial

This may be the Era of Economic Uncertainty, but it’s also an Era of Good Feelings.
Since the Nov. 4 presidential election, where he won 52 percent of the vote, Barack Obama’s approval rating has shot up to 72 percent, and another 10 percent are undecided, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
While those numbers are good, the trend is typical. Once the elections are over, Americans are willing to give a new president, whoever it may be and however they cast their ballots, a chance to succeed.
In these particular times, it’s more than that: There’s yearning that the new president will turn around as least some of the dismaying realities of our current national scene.
•
When we reflect on the Christmas message – “peace on earth, good will toward all” – it’s hard not to do so ruefully, considering how short of that goal we’ve fallen.
It wasn’t so long ago when Americans, predisposed to be optimistic as we are, considered progress inevitable.
Yet with the 20th century, and with the horrors that have confronted us in the few years of the 21st century – 9/11, the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan, Darfur, Zimbabwe, Mumbai, mysterious epidemics, “Extreme Weather,” and the aforementioned shakiness – we have to conclude there’s no guarantee things will automatically get better.
While man’s inhumanity to man may seem to predominate, random acts of kindliness, less dramatic but massive in aggregate, surround us as well – love, forgiveness, fortitude, courage, laughter.
Yes, in recent years we citizens of the United States have discovered that things can trend worse. If so, they can trend better as well, and we can hope they are on the edge of trending so.
And while perfection may be beyond mankind, the journey has its own satisfactions.
Even more than the message of peace and good will, the central fact of Christmas is simply birth. With birth, comes hope.
As babies become toddlers, and toddlers become girls and boys, through them we recognize the world anew. Their surprise at the novelties of life remind us of when life was fresh for us as well.
Let us accept 2008 for what it has been – its joys and heartbreaks – and look forward as lightheartedly as we might to expanding the former in the year ahead and minimizing the latter.
Merry Christmas – in all its dimensions.

Labels: 12-26-08, Editorial, Opinion, Perspectives

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Locals

THE CCS MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND PLAYS ON

The Cooperstown Middle School Winter Concert 7th and 8th grade Band perform on Monday,, Dec. 14, at CCS’ Sterling Auditorium.

The performers were:
Flute: Caley Sky-Shrewsberry, Abigail Brown, Anne Leonardo, Katherine Monser, Steffany Wilcox, Kelsey Lent, Brooke Liner
Clarinet: Erik Mebust, Aaron Idelson, Caitlin Briggs
Trombone: Michael Zalatan, Kyle Tallman
Alto Saxopone: Joseph Katz, Liam Henegan
Tenor Saxophone: Alannah Haggerty
Baritone Saxophone: Henry Stewart
Trumpet: Thomas Franck, Joseph Harmon, James Johnson, Jack Siegl, Ellen Vibbard
Baritone: Ryan Barrow, Park Summer
French Horn: Sarah-Jane Morosko
String Bass: Nicolas Knull
Percussion: Spencer Vann, Jonathan Schmer, Zaqwan Huntington
Timpani: David French

MARKET & DELI OPENS

At the grand opening Monday, Dec. 21, Springfield Town Supervisor Tom Armstrong cuts the ribbon on the Carma market that has opened on Route 80, Springfield Center, across from the post office. The owner is Kevin Carter, 10-year manager of the Stewart’s in Cooperstown. From left is customer Donald Beebe, Gail Carter, the owner’s mother; Wendy Mang, formerly of the Cooperstown’s Stewart’s, now Carma manager; friends Janet Spaulding, Meggan Graves, Theresa Mang, Carter, and Town Councilman Rick Morris.

Cooperstown Man Wins Fiction Prize

‘Benediction,” a long fiction piece by Brent DeLanoy, Hartwick College instructor in English, has been published by White Eagle Coffee Store Press.
This spring, the work won the A.E. Coppard Prize for a Long Story.
The Long Story Contest, International (formerly The Long Fiction Contest, International), now in its 15th year, has become the premier competition for writers of stories that don’t fit the conventional limits imposed by the economics of small press publishing. Brent DeLanoy has a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University.
He teaches at Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta, and lives in Cooperstown with his wife, Kira, and son, Aidan.

Michele Siracusa, Victor Jones Wed

Michele Nicole Siracusa and Victor F.C. Jones were married in a double-ring ceremony on Oct. 12, 2008 at The Farmers’ Museum Cornwallville Church by Minister James Atwell.
Michele is the daughter of Joseph and Kathleen Siracusa of Cooperstown. Victor is the son of Jacqueline Conklin of Lawyersville and Lyle “Butch” Jones of Hartwick.
The bride was attended by her sister and maid of honor Alexandra Siracusa, the groom’s cousin and bridesmaid Brooke Wilmoore, and friends Wendy Young, Melissa Dorosky, and Stephanie Hascup. The junior bridesmaid was Erin Hascup.
The groom was attended by his father as the best man, his brothers and groomsmen Brent Jones and Shane Jones, and friends DJ Tobin, and Chuck Hascup.
The flower girl was Abigail Young and the ring bearer was Joshua Briggs.
The bride was given away by her father and grandfather, Joseph Marsala Sr. The readings were given by the mother of the groom and friend, Thomas J. West.
The groom’s aunt, Leanne Summers, and uncle, Don Bogle performed a special vocal and guitar duet during the lighting of the unity candle. A violin and cello duet, “Candlelight Music, was performed, and bagpiper Robby Schafsteck played.
The bride wore a white sleeveless satin gown, slightly embellished, with a short train. She carried a bouquet of autumn flowers of red, yellow and purple, selected by the groom’s grandmother, Susie Conklin. Her attendants wore apple red and truffle brown.
The groom and his attendants wore black tuxedos.
The reception was held at The Otesaga.
The bride is a 1998 graduate of Cooperstown Central School. She is a senior nursing student at St. Elizabeth College of Nursing and will graduate as an R.N. next May. The groom is a 1999 graduate of Laurens Central School and is a dispatcher at Cooperstown Medical Transport.
The couple resides in Hartwick.

Top Christmas Decorations Recognized

The Lake & Valley Garden Club has announced the winners of the 2008 Holiday Decorating Contest:
• Overall Daytime Residential: Robert and Ann Johnson, 25 Nelson Ave., first place; James and Eileen Anania, 94 Pioneer St., second place; Lee and Jean Edmonds, 47 ½ Susquehanna, honorable mention.
• Overall Nighttime Residential: William and Jeanette Weldon, 13 Main St., first place; Bernard and Carol Mezger, 78 Fair St., second place; Frank and Jennifer Panzarella, 16 Pine Blvd., honorable mention.
• Best Wreath: Richard McCaffery, 29 Delaware, first place; John and Fran Leroux, 72 Fair St., second place; Carl and Pamela Good, 21 Lake St., honorable mention.
• Best Doorway: Michael and Carol Manno, 20 Fair Street, first place; Sasha and Elizabeth Matson, 30 River St., second place; Shelby and Ashley Cooper, 14 Lake St., honorable mention.
• Overall Daytime Business: Cooper Country Crafts, 2 Doubleday Ct., first place; Ashley-Connor Realty, 29 Pioneer St., second place; Metro Fashion, 147 Main St., honorable mention.
• Overall Nighttime Business: Cooperstown Bed & Breakfast, 88 Chestnut St., first place; Alex & Ika Restaurant, 149 Main St., second place; Don Olin Realty, 37 Chestnut St., honorable mention.
The LVGC acknowledges The Clark Foundation for its outstanding decorations seen throughout Cooperstown. It also recognizes the Cooperstown Fire Department.

‘TURBULENCE’: Spencer O’Bryan took first place in Milford Central School’s Scripps Spelling Bee Tuesday, Dec. 22. Second place went to Lincoln Messina and third to Elijah Coley. Spencer is the defending bee champion, and will compete in the Regional Spelling Bee on March 7 at SUNY Oneonta. Spencer spelled the word hassock correctly which moved him onto the final round in which he correctly spelled “turbulence” to gain victory in the bee.

REENLISTS: Private 1st Class Thomas Miller, Springfield Center, has reenlisted to continue service with Detachment One, 827th Engineering Company Horiz., New York Army National Guard.

Labels: 12-26-08, Locals

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