Johnathan Harnett, son of Donna and William Harnett, welcomes wellwishers at a celebration of his father’s life held Saturday, June 21, at the Old School Cafe in Cherry Valley. Johnathan’s wife Evie and Richard Saba performed an original work. Bill Harnett, founder of RBS Inc., the Cherry Valley software company, was “promoted to a better life” on April 12; instead of a funeral, he had asked for a party.



SPRINGFIELD CENTER

An Adirondack chair, built by Dan West of West WoodWorks of Cherry Valley and decorated by MaryLou Ganio, Roseboom, will be raffled off to benefit the Cherry Valley-Springfield Endowment Foundation for Educational Excellence during Springfield’s Fourth of July activities.
It will be on view the Community Center during and after Springfield’s fame Independence Day parade, and the winning ticket will be drawn at the end of the festivities.
The Foundation Endowment Fund provides grants to CV-S Central School for projects not funded by other means.
Tickets for the chair are available from any of the Endowment Foundation Directors. Call 264-3069 for information.
Bruce Hall Corp. of Cooperstown donated the wood.

2 SLAMS MADE: Victor Salvatore and Marie Murray bid and made a bonus slam and a regular slam when the Senior Citizens Bridge Group convened six tables Tuesday, June 24, at the Clark Sports Center. Overall, Salvatore was first with 5,780, Marie Murray second with 5,160 and Ruth Livermore third with 4,280. Kathy Senko won the special prize. The club meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays. All are welcome. Bring a bag lunch. Information, call 547-4423, 547-2471 or 286-7632.

ON CATALINA: George Kenneth Landon, son of Diane and Steve Elliott, Cooperstown, is spending two weeks as a Landmark Volunteer on Catalina Island, 22 miles off the Southern California coast. He is on a team that will work on trail construction, removal of invasive species, reforestation and facilities maintenance. Landmark Volunteers, Sheffield, Mass., offers opportunities for young people to do community service on historical or environmental projects.

HALL-KONCHAR WIN: The team of Bruce Hall and Anthony Konchar took first place Sunday, June 22, at the Kirn’s Body Shop Bass Tournament on Canadarago Lake, hosted by the Susquehanna Bass Association. The team’s five-fish limit weighed 18.58 pounds. Second were Tom Trelease and Dave Frederick, 17.7 pounds; third, Bob Gray and Don Hoag, 15.57 pounds; fourth Jim Dillenbeck and Vic VanSteenburg, 14.18 pounds. Bruce Hall pulled in the tournament lunker, a 5.08-pound largemouth bass, 20 inches long. The biggest smallmouth, 19 inches long and 3.93 pounds, was caught by Bob Gray. The association’s second tournament will be 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at Delta Lake. For information, call 432-5262, 547-5794, or 432-7553.

GREGORY PROMOTED: Seth Gregory, New Lisbon, serving with the Forward Support Company 204th Engineer Battalion, has been promoted to the rank of specialist, Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto of the state Army National Guard announced.

O-D TO HOF: Craig Muder, sports editor of the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, has joined the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in the communications department.

LOW GOLFERS: Carol Steigelman scored the low 32 when the Leatherstocking Women’s Golf Association played for the best net score of holes 5-13 Tuesday, July 24. Liz Darling scored 33.5; Pattie Carrie and Barbara Schanz, 34; Martha Vaules and Dominica 36; and Elaine Bresee and Linda Kehoe 36.5.

PUBLISHED POET: A poem by Maggie Millner of Cherry Valley was selected for publication in the 2008 edition of The Apprentice Writer, a literary magazine published by the Writers’ Institute at Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pa. Seventy works were chosen from 5,000 entries. She is the daughter of Barbara and Robert Millner.



COOPERSTOWN

Paul Kuhn, the recently retired deputy mayor, was installed as the 2008-09 president of the Cooperstown Rotary Club at the annual Pass the Gavel Dinner Tuesday, June 24, at The Otesaga. He replaces Cathy Raddatz, who becomes past president.
Other new officers are Gary Kuch, president elect, and Bill Glockler, vice president. Chuck Newman remains treasurer and Margaret Savoie, secretary.
The following awards were also presented:
• Educator of Year – Christine McBrearty-Hulse, guidance counselor, Cooperstowen Elementary School.
• Christopher J. Warrell Community Service Award – Ellen Tillapaugh, a past president of club and president of the local League of Women Voters for six years. The award was presented by her brother, Martin Tillapaugh; their father, George Tillapaugh, was a one-time Rotary president.
• Paul Harris Fellows – Marianne Bez and Ed Walsh. Irene Fassett, who has played the piano for the club for 17 years, was named a fellow, and also an honorary Rotarian.



SPRINGFIELD CENTER

Lisa Panzeri and Daniel Rosen were married Saturday, June 21, at home in Springfield Center. James Atwell, a Quaker minister, conducted the non-denominational ceremony. Thomas Pullyblank, a close friend of the bride, also participated in the ceremony. The wedding reception followed at The Otesaga.
The bride has enjoyed a 14-year career as an administrator, teacher, and coach at private schools in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine. She just completed her fourth year teaching at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass. Over her career, Mrs. Rosen has taught English, history, geography, served as an admissions director, supervised outdoor education and international exchange programs in western Europe, Scandinavia and Peru, and chaired an instrumental music department.
She has coached fencing, rowing, soccer, Nordic skiing and girl’s lacrosse. As a student at the University of Massachusetts, she was co-founder and co-captain of the women’s ice hockey team.
Mrs. Rosen owned and operated a worldwide, experiential outdoor adventure company, Luna Adventures, until the adoption of her teenage sons three years ago. She is the local liaison for the Sheffield-based Landmark Volunteers.
The groom spent most of his career with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in positions ranging from economist, chief of public information and special assistant. Before that, he was senior economic specialist at Chase Manhattan Bank, and was a consultant to Nelson Rockefeller when the governor was considering a presidential run.
Mr. Rosen also taught at New York University’s undergraduate and graduate schools, and at Pace University’s graduate business school. After the Fed, he served as executive director of the state Council on Economic Education, where he was responsible for overseeing 16 Centers for Economic Education on colleges and universities throughout the state.
After becoming a full-time resident of Springfield, he volunteered at SUNY Oneonta’s Biological Field Station, helping with its communications. He was a co-founder of the Otsego Lake Association.
Prior to his election to Springfield town board, he served on the Planning Board, playing a critical role getting a site plan review law adopted. As councilman, he helped introduce administrative reforms, built a community playground, revitalized the town’s public landing and helped give impetus to the town undertaking a comprehensive plan.
Mr. and Mrs. Rosen will make the Springfield residence their home.


Outgoing Cooperstown Rotary President Cathy Raddatz hands incoming President Paul Kuhn not only the gavel, but the Rotary blazer she wore during her year-long tenure. This was during the Passing The Gavel Dinner Tuesday, June 24, at The Otesaga.

Rotarian (and CCS superintendent) Mary Jo McPhail presents the club’s Educator of the Year Award to Christine McBrearty-Hulse, guidance counselor at Cooperstown Elementary School.











Irene Fassett of East Springfield, who has played the piano at club meetings for 17 years, was named an honorary Rotarian and was named a Paul Harris fellow.

Labels: 062708, Community, Locals

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE: Allan Guiney, a graduating senior at Hamilton College, was among 16 classmates recognized as student-athletes by the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Each honoree is a varsity letter winner with a GPA of at least 3.35. His mother is Kathy Lloyd, Toddsville.

CORTLAND HONOREES: Local students on the SUNY Cortland Dean’s List for the spring semester included: senior James Aborn, sophomore John Aborn, sophomore Jesse Elliott and junior Colin Havener, all of Milford; junior Lindsey Potrikus and senior Shirley Tyler, both of Cooperstown.

REGULATION EXPERT: Jillian Harrington, Binghamton, has joined Bassett Healthcare as director of compliance and regulatory affairs, ensuring Bassett meets all areas of regulatory compliance, and also as HIPAA privacy officer.

HONORING THERING: The Town of Otsego is planning a retirement party for Ferd Thering at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 10, at town hall in Fly Creek. Thering, who is 81, is retiring from the town assessor’s office after 26 years, according to Town Councilperson Meg Kiernan. Ferd, who has served on the Hartwick town Planning Board for decades, mostly as chair and co-chair, is being reappointed there as an alternate.

HONOR, AWARD: Andrianna Lyons, daughter of David and Janette Lyons, Fly Creek, has received a $2,000 scholarship from the American Red Cross for her efforts organizing blood drives at SUNY Cobleskill. Both Andrianna and her brother, Shawn – he attends SUNY Oswego – have been named to the Dean’s List for the spring semester.

BATTLE JOINED, WON: Two CCS teams bested Fort Plain in the first High School Battle of the Books Tuesday, May 20, to bring home the “House Cup” for Cooperstown. The high school team consisted of Virginia Ofer, Emily Snell, Amy Bishop and Erin Henrici; the middle school team, Tom Franck, Maya Bergamasco, Erik Mebust and Jack Siegel. The high school teams read 16 books; the middle school team, 20. Questions during the “battle” were based on the reading matter.

CUM LAUDE: Evan Jagels received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Wagner College in New York City, where he majored in English. A member of Sigma Tau Delta honor society, he was selected for both the English Literature Prize and the Instrumental Music Award. He is the son of Rick and Kathy Jagels, Cooperstown.

Labels: Area Briefs, Community

The CCS spring concert Monday, June 2, also included the annual arts award. Winners included,
from row from left, Marie Di Lorenzo, Otsego County Arts Alliance Award; Julia Nelson, Friends of Music & Art award for two-dimensional art; Cailin Huggins, Ellsworth Award, presented by Eleanor MacDougall in honor of her father, Waldo Ellsworth. Back row, from left, Clark Dickson, FOMA honorable mention; Alison Weber, Ellsworth Award, and Kartin Kronberg, FOMA award for three-dimensional art. Margaret Leslie also received a FOMA honorable mention.

Labels: Community, Glimmerglass

Labels: Community, Front Page

Reports of coyote sightings are on the rise in the Town of Hartwick, and the county Department of
Health has issued a warning: Be careful. People are being cautioned to keep their pets inside, to
keep garbage cans secure, and not to approach any strange animals. To report sightings or ask
questions, call 547-4230.

Labels: Community, Front Page

By JIM KEVLIN

MILFORD



Jersey Girl?
“Buttery, smooth,” said Bob Sweitzer.
Celena?
“Rich and sharp,” he said.
“Tangy,” chimed in Sharon Tomaselli, his business partner in the Cooperstown Cheese Company on Route 28 just north of this village.
In an era where the Spaghetti Factory doesn’t make spaghetti (it’s a restaurant), the Factory at Franklin makes retail sales (it’s a mall in Tennessee) and the Shout! Factory doesn’t make shouts (it’s an online video store), you may be surprised to learn something called the Cooperstown Cheese Company (www.cooperstowncheesecompany.com) actually makes cheese. (Yes, it has a retail store as well.)
The house cheese?
“Creamy and nutty,” Bob continued.
Ransiera? “Smooth, pleasant.”
Krista Magno? “Mouth puckering!”
Don’t you find your mouth is watering already?
Most of these cheeses are of a style that originated in Northern Italy, home of Sharon’s ancestors. The style also happens to be called “toma,” which, you may have noticed, are the first four letters of her surname.
For all these reasons, it just seemed to make sense that the partners would adopt “Toma” as their company’s brand, as in Toma Tenero, Toma Celena and so on, cheeses she and Bob have been manufacturing in the low-slung former dairy for the past year now.
Bob focuses on production; Sharon on marketing, and she has been placing the company’s products in such outlets as Honest Weight and Eats in Albany, Adams in Poughkeepsie, Stinky Brooklyn in that very borough, and Green Star in Ithaca.
She had just returned from a sales trip to Zabar’s, the high-end New York City grocery, when she and Bob were interviewed the other day. Placing Toma cheeses there would be a real coup.
Locally, the cheeses are sometimes available at Danny’s Market, and one variety may be sampled on the Blue Mingo’s cheese plate.
If “Toma” just seemed to make sense as a brand name, the rest of the Cooperstown Cheese Company’s story is much more serendipitous.
Bob and Sharon actually spent their careers in the papermaking industry.
The future business partners met in Milford, N.J., where both worked for Curtis Specialty Papers, she as COO, he as mill manager.
Raised in Providence, R.I., she had gone to McGill in Montreal, later receiving an MBA from RPI. For Boise Cascade, Curtis and Mead, she bounced around from Windsor Locks, Conn., to Portland, Ore., International Falls, Minn., and Rumford, Maine.
Bob was born in Springfield, Mass., although his dad and mom were from Syracuse and Buffalo respectively. He received a bachelor’s in chemistry from Cornell and, once in the paper industry, received a master’s from the Institute of Paper Chemistry, then in Appleton, Wisc. His wife, Janice, had lived in Ithaca all her life; after they married, the couple moved 12 times.
Janice and Katie, an 11th grader at South Jeff, are living in the Watertown area until the daughter graduates. Sharon’s husband, Wayne Ransier, a computer programmer in the Boston area, will be moving here soon with daughters Brittany, 16, and Krista, 13.
Bob and Sharon ran into each other again at a mill in Deferiet; he was manager, she was a consultant. Throughout their acquaintance, they found they worked well together and began talking about going into a business of their own in – logically – papermaking.
One deal came close, but fell through, and they found themselves negotiating for a cheese factory in Upstate New York. That deal also fell through, but they caught the cheese bug – Sharon knew nothing about cheese except that she was “a serious cheese eater”; Bob made cheese as a hobby – and soon found themselves negotiating with Bob Myers, who runs an organic dairy in Morris, for the low-slung, red-roofed building they eventually bought.
“We had to set it up again as a cheese plant,” said Sweitzer, adding, “It’s an ideal floor plan.”
Plunging right in, the partners made five different cheeses in the first batch alone, including the house cheese – “our own invention” – that is “a little like provolone,” but very creamy.
They found an ideal source of raw material on Lester Tyler’s nearby Sunny Acres operation, Brown Swiss.
“Lester’s milk is perfect for cheesemaking,” said Sharon, “just the right blend of fats, proteins and sugars.”
The fledgling cheese company may very well have caught a wave, with concerns about energy causing Upstate New York and other regions to refocus on what might be produced locally, instead of trucked in all the way from California. Nine miles north in Cooperstown, partners Brenda Berstler and Melissa Manikas have launched Savor New York (www.savorny.org), seeking to market Empire State products.
For her part, Sharon was surprised to find how much is being produced upstate.
The Cooperstown Cheese Company’s factory store – artist Kyla Coburn of Milford did the cows-and-mountains mural, itself worth a visit – not only sells the locally made cheeses, but all manner of New York foodstuffs. (One product, It’s A Hit chili sauce, is being produced by a woman in Goodyear Lake.) The only exception: Sharon could only find two upstate cracker makers, so had to cast the net a little farther.
Another indication of that a regional food craze may be burgeoning is the sudden boom in farmers’ markets. In addition to Cooperstown’s, such markets have popped up in Richfield Springs and Oneonta in the last couple of years. Bill Isaacs is launching one in Cherry Valley this summer. And Cooperstown Cheese has started its own, from noon to 6 p.m.Tuesdays.
Asked about the challenges to date, the two point out they are the company’s only two employees; the time investment is significant, perhaps even constant.
The moments of jubilation?
The partners pause. In the rush of starting a business, they haven’t taken the time they should have to celebrate the achievements. The work itself is enough.
“It’s always really neat when we un-mold our cheese,” said Sharon, “and it looks good, and it smells good, and the taste...!”

Know Little About Making Cheese ... You’re Not Alone

The unexamined life ... It’s the rare person among us who isn’t a cheese eater. But how many of
us know how it’s done? Here’s a quick primer from Bob Sweitzer and Sharon Tomaselli, partners in the Cooperstown Cheese Company. “It all came from the same recipe originally,” said Bob, and was spread through Europe by the Romans; thus, similar cheeses are found throughout the continent, although under different names. You start with cheese curd; in effect, curdled milk.
You place it in a vat, and it begins to develop acidity; different kinds of cheese require different levels of acidity. Some cheese is pressed, some isn’t. Pressing determines the weight – the consistency – of the cheese, and the rind. How much salt is added, or what flavors may be added help determine the final outcome further. Feta, for instance, needs to be soaked in a brine. Cooperstown Cheese is using only cow’s milk, but sheep and goats milk can alter flavor to a
minimal degree. Most important in controlling the flavor is what the animals are fed, the partners said. Jersey Girl, for instance, made under contract with a farmer in Worcester, uses only milk from grass-fed seasonal herds, so the raw material is only available from late spring
until late fall.

Labels: Businesses, Community, Features, Glimmerglass

12th Horse Show
Features Thrills
At Iroquois Farm

Head to Iroquois Farm on Route 33 south of the village with your morning coffee, rain or shine, to see the warm-up over the fences from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, June 8, at The Farmers’ Museum 12th Annual Benefit Horse Show.
Hunt-seat riders will test their horsemanship skills in competition beginning at 9 in all levels, ages, and classes while spectators are sure to enjoy the course feturing handcrafted jumps representing Coopertown landmarks.
New this year is a jump honoring The Otesaga, now celebrating its 199th year.

Walk/Run At Clark
Seeks Family Fitness

Wander to the Clark Center later that day and warm up for the 2 p.m. Girls on the Run Family Fitness Event, a non-competitive community walk/run (1-mile or 5-K) open to all held by the Otsego County chapter of GOTR, the national organization for girls ages 8-12
Registration is free for members, $15 for individuals, $30 for an entire family (up to six) or $100 for teams of 10. The first 400 registrants will receive a race bag, T-shirts and commemorative medallion. (Register at the Clark on Sunday beginning at 11:30 a.m. or contact Paula Huntsman at 547-7054 or at paula@otsegocountygotr.org)

Try Museum Hopping

Hey, it’s a great time for year for a drive.
How about heading for the Cherry Valley Museum, where the diorama, now with an audio component, has just been rededicated. It brings the infamous Revolutionary War massacre to life.
The, if you haven’t seen it yet, continue on to Sharon Springs and up to Canajoharie and the new Arkell Museum. The Winslow Homers alone are worth the trip, and many other American masters are represented in the collection.

Labels: Community, Glimmerglass

Editor’s Note: This is the last of 12 reviews by Village Historian Hugh MacDougall of the dozen novels he’s discovered that are at least partly set in Cooperstown. He delivered the reviews at a packed public lecture on Thursday, Feb. 28, at 22 Main, sponsored by The Friends of the Village Library and The Freeman’s Journal. This review deals with “The Monsters of Templeton,” (2008), by Lauren Groff.

With “The Monsters of Templeton,” we come to the end and in some senses return to the beginning. What I have to say was written before the appearances of recent reviews of this novel in The New York Times and elsewhere.
Willie Upton is a graduate student in California. Believing herself to be pregnant she has rushed home to her mother in Templeton, the community founded by Marmaduke Temple almost 200 years before. Willie’s best friend, Clarissa, remains in California, living with her boyfriend and just diagnosed with a probably incurable case of Lupus. On the same day Willie returns home, the corpse of a 50-foot whale-like monster has surfaced in Otsego Lake, and been dragged ashore.
Willie’s mother, Vivienne Upton, lives in comparative poverty at Averell Cottage on Lake Street. She is descended on her father’s side from Marmaduke Temple and his wife Elizabeth; and on her mother’s side – the Averell line – from Marmaduke’s illegitimate daughter by his slave Hetty. A former hippie, Vivienne is a retired nurse, who has recently become a born-again Christian under the spell of a local preacher. These three, Willie, her mother Vivienne, and her friend Clarissa, are the principle living characters in “The Monsters of Templeton.”
Willie has always believed her father to be someone from her mother’s old hippie commune, but now Vivienne tells her that he was really from Templeton, and like herself a descendant of Marmaduke Temple. But she refuses to name him.
Willie decides to track down her father, by searching her family tree at the local historical library. The novel alternates between the story of Willie’s search, and voices of ancestors from the past going back some 200 years. Sometimes these appear as letters or documents which Willie comes upon and reads, but more often they are just separate chapters written as the long deceased ancestors might have expressed themselves.
Eventually, of course, Willie identifies her father. There are slight overtones of the supernatural in the story; Willie sometimes thinks she sees ghosts. An apparently immortal hunch-back named Aristabulus Mudge lives throughout the 200 years of the story, providing herbal and more modern potions to the villagers, though nobody really seems to notice. The deceased lake monster has been a long-time part of village mythology, and many of the voices from the past report hearing of or even seeing traces of it.
As Willie investigates her ancestral history, her understanding of her family tree becomes more and more complex; every 50 pages or so the novel inserts a chart expressing her understanding of her ancestry at that point. The complications grow by leaps and bounds, as new interrelations are discovered.
Willie’s ancestors include a strange cast of generally disreputable characters, some wholly invented, others distorted parodies of the Cooper family.
Thus Marmaduke Temple’s son, a famous novelist called Jacob Franklin Temple, is a sleazy character with a perpetual smirk on his mouth, who has wasted the family fortune and stolen his best-known book from his brother; his wife, Sophia DeLancey Temple, has scattered illegitimate children all over Europe.
Jacob’s only legitimate child, Charlotte Temple, an author and philanthropist, has both a deep dark secret and an illegitimate child. Her Averell friend has poisoned three of her five husbands; her daughter becomes the wife of Asterisk Upton, the National Baseball commissioner, as a bribe to bring the Hall of Fame to Templeton.
Also appearing in the constantly growing family tree are Chingachgook and Uncas (thus giving Willie Upton Indian ancestors, in addition to black and white ones).
The Indian line descends through the Falconer family, the noted brewers of beer. Mentioned only in passing are a local railway magnate, and a wealthy lady who provides the village with flowers.
The Templeton of today is even given a rotund mayor, noted for his collection of decorative canes, who always wears shorts.
Throughout the novel characters are given names apparently taken at random from local histories, such as Phinney, Smalley, Pomeroy, Starkweather, Peck, Clarke (the Hyde Hall variety with an “e”), Shipman, Averell, Stokes, and Graves.
Even Willie’s last name, Upton, seems borrowed from the Clotsworthy Upton who first purchased the land around Unadilla. Like the Temple family, few are described favorably. Indeed, the real “Monsters of Templeton” are not strange animals living in Lake Otsego, but seem to be the inhabitants of the village from the time of Marmaduke Temple to the present.
Lauren Groff grew up here in Cooperstown, but now lives in Florida. She has published numerous short stories, many of them in prestigious magazines, but this is her first novel. Its basic framework of a search for one’s ancestry, and the gradual discovery of who and what they really were, is an intriguing one, and the alternation between Willie Upton’s present-day Templeton and the voices of her many ancestors is an interesting one, though we saw a somewhat similar approach in Elisabeth Sheffield’s novel “Gone.”
I find Lauren Groff’s prose style a bit over-blown, and her efforts to express speaking or writing styles of long ago sometimes seem uncertain. And though she is not entirely alone in this respect, I am personally disturbed by the author’s casual rewriting of Cooperstown history and her seemingly deliberate trashing of the Cooper family. It is, I think, a cheap shot, not to be excused by Miss Groff’s assertion, in a prefatory note, that “people from history have been modified beyond all recognition. I only hope that the town itself, a place I love with all my heart, has not been.”

Labels: Books, Columns, Community

175 YEARS AGO

Advertisement: STRAY HORSE – Turned from the enclosure of Daniel Marvin, situate in the Town of Otsego on the fourth, instant, and from thence strayed away, a good-sized Bay horse, seven years old, with a long switch tail, without shoes on either of his feet, his right hand foot white. Whoever will return said horse to the subscriber or give information to me at my tavern in Burlington Green, where he may be found, shall be liberally rewarded. David Peabody.
June 10, 1833

150 YEARS AGO

Walking. It is really astonishing to see how few people have ever learned to walk properly. The art of pedestrian locomotion is one of the earliest of human acquirements, yet hardly one in ten does it gracefully. In the city, people all walk in too much of a hurry – they seem to have no time to straighten out the knee joint at the end of each step, but go trotting along, with bended legs, leaning forward and presenting altogether a very ridiculous appearance. In the country, the heavy, stiff boots generally worn, and the soft nature of the ground, give the walker the air of having thirty-six pound shot fastened to his ankles. Women very rarely walk well. Even those who dance, sit, stand or recline with the greatest grace cannot walk easily, and it is positively unpleasant to see many ladies perform pedestrian duty.
June 4, 1858

125 YEARS AGO

The friends of law and order and a quiet Sunday, have little or nothing to complain of in the act passed by the last legislature amending the Sunday law. Section 263 of the Penal Code now reads: “All labor on Sunday is prohibited, excepting the work of necessity or charity. In works of necessity or charity is included whatever is needful during the day for the good order, health or comfort of the community.” Section 265 reads: “All shooting, hunting, fishing, playing, horse racing, gaming or other public sports, exercises or shows, upon the first day of the week, and all noise disturbing the peace of the day, are prohibited.” Section 266 reads: “All trades, manufactures, agricultural or mechanical employments are prohibited, except that when the same are works of necessity they may be performed on that day in their usual and orderly manner, so as not to interfere with the repose and religious liberty of the community.”
June 9, 1883

100 YEARS AGO

Professional ball is a thing of the past in Cooperstown. Those, who made up the deficit at the end of the year, grew tired of playing the same old role, season after season. They refused to dig down to the extent of several hundred plunks every year, and Cooperstown, the acknowledged home of the national game, was without baseball for several seasons. Four years ago, the game was revived in a small way when generous friends provided a suitable ball ground under auspices that assured gentlemanly conduct and healthy sport, both morally and physically.
June 4, 1908

75 YEARS AGO

Gray McClintock, known throughout the country for his factual and romantic stories of the Great Northwest as broadcast over the radio, will be the speaker at the union community service at the First Presbyterian Church in this village on Sunday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. Mr. McClintock’s subject will be “The Soul of an Indian,” and judging from the crowds which have been attending his lectures in other places during the present speaking tour it will be advisable for those wishing to hear him to arrive at an early hour. A reception will be held at the close of the service for those who wish to meet him personally. A silver collection will be taken.
June 7, 1933

50 YEARS AGO

The death of Mrs. August A. Busch, Sr., widow, a summer resident of Cooperstown for more than a half century, occurred Tuesday afternoon of last week at the family estate, Grant’s Farm, outside St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Busch, the former Alice Edna Zisemann, died in her sleep of a heart ailment. She was 92-years-old and had enjoyed a game of cards with her son, August A. Busch, Jr., before retiring for a nap. Until about three years ago, she had spent summers at Uncas Lodge at Three-Mile Point on Otsego Lake. A son, two daughters, 13 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren survive.
June 4, 1958

25 YEARS AGO

Parking, or the lack of it during the summer, continues to be a concern in the village’s business community, according to a recent Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce survey. About 25 to 30 members of the Chamber responded, according to Chamber President Richard McCaffery. All but one respondent favored a two-day Hall of Fame Induction weekend over the previous practice of inducting honorees and playing the annual game on the same day. Obtaining a minor league franchise and installing lights at Doubleday Field, but without use of taxpayer dollars, was also overwhelmingly favored by respondents.
June 8, 1983

10 YEARS AGO

Despite warnings and weather alerts issued days in advance, the ferocity that struck the area on Sunday afternoon took most residents by surprise. Otsego County was placed in a state of emergency at 4:40 p.m. Defined as an outbreak of tornado activity, the spectacular series of storms that raged through the late afternoon and evening left a swath of destruction and flattened trees in its path across Otsego County.
June 5, 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: Bound Volumes, Columns, Community

CV-S Lady Patriot Fiona Doherty wins the 3000 meter run in 12:00.9. She also placed third in the 1500 to help the CV-S girls to a second place team finish at the Class D Championships.





EXPERTS ARRIVE: The 20th Annual Symposium on Baseball & American Culture continues through Friday, June 6, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, featuring more than 50 presentations on baseball’s effect on society at large.

RARE BIRDS: A pair of merlins, rare raptors, have been identified in the Cooperstown area by Jessie Ravage and Ellen Baker, the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society reports. The birds began moving into New York State from the north in 1992.

NEW MOTEL: Gerald Miller is planning a 14-unit motel on Route 28/80 in the Town of Otsego north of Oaksville.

ENDORSED: The Working Families Party has endorsed Don Barber for the state Senate 51st District seat; the Independent Party has endorsed Cooperstown’s Richard Hanna for the 24th District Congressional seat.

RAZING: Incidentally, did you hear Richard Hanna has bought the lakeside Cook Mansion from Brookwood Gardens. He plans to raze it and build a new home. Brookwood sees the step as necessary fundraising.
COMPETITION? The USGA Museum, aspiring to be “the Cooperstown of golf,” has reopened in Far Hills, N.J., after a three-year $20 million upgrade and expansion. Among its treasures: Ben Hogan’s 1-iron.

VOLUNTEERS! Help is needed this weekend for two projects: Moving books at the Cooperstown library to allow new carpet to be laid, and strong arms to help the Friends of the Parks install a playground at Badger Park.

Labels: Community, Cooperstown and Around, Front Page