By JIM KEVLIN

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COOPERSTOWN

Both Republicans and Democrats are courting Tim Hayes, director of SUNY Oneonta’s Center for Community and Economic Development, to run for village trustee in next March’s elections.
At least one vacancy will need to be filled: Grace Kull, who is 86, has decided not to seek another term. “I’d be 90 by the time it was over,” she said.
Milo V. Stewart Jr., the other trustee whose term expires, said he hasn’t made up his mind whether to run again.
Hayes, 30, a Hartwick native and former Freeman’s Journal managing editor, confirmed Wednesday, Nov. 5, that he’s been approached.
“I’ve checked it over with my family” and received the go-ahead there, he said. Hayes and wife Lindsay, who live on Beech Street in the village’s Irish Hill section, have two young daughters.
Since he is a state employee, he said, he is checking to see what rules may restrict his activities in the political sphere.
While he is based in Oneonta, his role involves SUNY’s Cooperstown-based programs: the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies and the Biological Field Station.
“I’m just pleased to have been approached by both the Democrats and the Republicans,” he said, but added, “I don’t think it” – village government – “is necessarily a partisan thing.”
A trustee, he said, should focus on “the long-term best interest for the Village of Cooperstown.”
He’s registered as an independent, but “I would take either endorsement. But I don’t think it’s necessary, especially in our local elections.”
In decades past, a “unity ticket” was routinely put together by village leaders, but Bill Waller, when he became village Republican chairman, favored the idea of contested elections.
They raise interest in local issues, he has said, plus, many people felt disenfranchised by not being given a choice.
As it stands, both Kull and Stewart are Democrats, as are Trustees Jeff Katz and Lynne Mebust. The Republicans are Neil Weiller and the mayor, Carol B. Waller.
The seventh board member, Eric Hage, received the Republican endorsement but ran as an independent.
A CCS grad and cum laude graduate of Bowdoin College, Hayes is a candidate for an M.A. in business & policy studies from Empire State College.
Returning from college in 2000, he served as this newspaper’s managing editor for two years, then another two years as a youth development specialist with the LEAF Council on Alcoholism/Addictions.
He joined the SUNY center in 2005 as associate director, and was elevated to director last year.
He has served on the boards of the United Way, the Cooperstown Winter Carnival and the Cooperstown Lions Club.

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Front Page, Tim Hayes

By LAURA COX

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ONEONTA

It took a great man to found five of Otsego County’s most prominent cultural organizations.
That was the consensus among speakers who came to praise Peter Macris, recently retired to Connecticut, at a surprise testimonial dinner Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Foothills Performing Arts Center, one of those five organizations.
“Peter does not just imagine, he lifts up one foot and changes the world around him,” said Ashok Malhotra, SUNY Oneonta philosophy professor. The longtime friend of the honoree recalled, “We did not compete; we inspired each other.”
As for Macris’ youthfulness: Malhotra always asked his friend where the fountain he drank from was located.
Other speakers included two Foothills executive committee members, Doug Reeser, president, and Gene Bettiol, first vice president, as well as Foothills colleague Sam Goodyear and Mayor John S. Nader.
Filling in for her campaigning husband, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, Cindy Seward said, “Jim was delighted to partner with Peter and so many others to make it happen, but we certainly have to credit Peter for his drive and experience and perseverance.”
And what a difference Macris made, his friends said, bringing people together to found the Catskill Choral Society, Glimmerglass Opera, Orpheus Theatre, the Oneonta Boys Choir and, finally, Foothills.
Macris retired last summer, and in August moved with his wife Ursula to Connecticut, closer to their daughter and grandchildren in Connecticut.
He had been told this was a fundraising dinner; instead, he found his three children – from Colorado and Indiana in addition to Connecticut – and seven grandchildren there to cheer him on.
Macris was born and grew up in Buffalo. He attended University of Buffalo for his undergraduate studies, Middlebury for his master’s and New York University for his Ph.D., where he specialized in German playwright Bertolt Brecht.
Drafted into the Army, served as a singer and clarinetist in the 84th Army Band in Europe, as well as leading many trips for students to Germany and Austria.
He then accepted a job at SUNY Oneonta as a professor of foreign language, teaching German Literature, and spent his career at that ever-growing institution.
Macris started programs in German theater and music at SUNY Oneonta. He was influential in a self-instruction program for students seeking to learn rarely taught languages.
“Sometimes people wonder how a German literature professor ended up in theater,” he said. “But what is theater but words?”
From the start, he had a dream of founding an opera, and one of the things that attracted him to Oneonta was its proximity to Cooperstown, which he perceived as an ideal place to make his dream a reality.
“It reminded me of an opera festival I visited in Bregenz, Austria,” he said, which featured an open-air theater. “Surrounded by the hills and mountains, on Lake Constance, the festival was the model for Glimmerglass.”
Before the opera, Macris launched the Catskill Choral Society.
“I was personally invested in the choral society. I started it knowing I wanted choral singers ready for an opera company I wanted to start, and there have been singers from the society in the opera every year since it began.”
“The opera took off like wildfire, and at the same time, as an oddity of fate I became the head of the Language Department at SUCO.”
The opera’s first season, in CCS’ Sterling Auditorium, was cast mostly with people Macris knew from in Buffalo, New York and Europe. An audition in New York for two of the parts drew 50-60 people.
“The opera took off like wildfire,” he said.
The second season, the producers had to stop auditions at 200 people, and could have auditioned many more.
By the third season, Glimmerglass Opera performances had been reviewed in New York Times and Boston Globe, even a newspaper in England. It was launched.
This was a busy time for Macris who, as it happened, was named Language Department chair at SUNY Oneonta just as the opera got under way.
“I had a double life,” he said, “and that became very heavy; my summers off were spent leading the opera.”
After five years and four opera seasons, Macris turned to something he thought would be less demanding: Orpheus Theatre, which he envisioned as a professional organization.
“Even though we are in the country and not in the city, I thought there was enough talent to do that, as long as we bring a couple of professionals from outside this area to play key roles,” he said.
That turned into a 17-year gig, and Macris often thought of a building to house the undertaking. With support from many prominent community members, The Foothills Performing Arts Center took form.
“Gene Bettiol, a businessman, Jim Seward and so many others were important in making this happen, saw it would be good for the area,” said Macris. “We have been a railroad town and then a college town; we thought something like an art center would fit well.”

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Front Page, Glimmerglass Opera, Peter Macris

By JIM KEVLIN

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Since the Bush-Gore standoff, Election Night doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over.
Yes, Tuesday, Nov. 4, was a historic day nationally as well in Otsego County: Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate since LBJ’s 1964 landslide to win Otsego County.
And, yes, the voters crossed back across the line en masse to support state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, who was facing his first Democratic challenger since 1996.
Republicans also gave enough support to John Lambert to make him county judge over Jill Ghaleb, who had the support of Democrats and Conservatives.
Dan Shea, retired SUNY Oneonta political science professor, was comfortable enough to say, “It says something about Otsego County changing. It’s still Republican, but probably less so.”
And, yes, Republican Sandy Treadwell conceded in the 20th Congressional District to Democrat Kristen Gillibrand.
But it isn’t over yet in the 24th, where incumbent Democrat Mike Arcuri, the former Oneida County D.A., is only 6,000 votes ahead of Republican challenger Richard Hanna of Cooperstown, and there are at least 9,000 absentee ballots still to be counted.
Hanna spokesperson Renee Gamella said it will be “about a week; at least a week” before the situation becomes clear.
In addition to the absentee ballots – the figure 9,000 has been widely reported, but Gamella said she believes it could be considerably more than that – the machines have to go through a routine recanvassing.
Also, there are affidavit votes – if a voter, for instance, isn’t on the lists in a particular precinct, he or she can fill out an affidavit and vote regardless. How many of those votes may have been cast in the 24th is still unknown, Gamella said, and they have to be identified and counted.
Only when all that’s done, she said, can the decision be made whether to ask for a recount or not.
“The campaign wants to make sure every vote it counted,” she said.
As it happens, Arcuri won every county – Otsego included – except Herkimer and his native Oneida.
As in the nation, Nov. 4 was a day of anticipation from Southside Oneonta to Richfield Springs.
While lines were nowhere as long as they were reported to be elsewhere in the nation, voting was steady throughout the county throughout the day, and the final turnout beat all recent records.
It was “tremendous,” said Charlotte Koniuto, former Republican elections commissioner, who was filling in at the county Board of Elections in the county’s Meadows Complex in the Town of Middlefield. “I’ve been to Exeter, Richfield, Roseboom. It’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen such a turnout in my life.”
Minor voting-machine malfunctions surfaced around the county, but only in the Town of Hartwick did a machine completely break down. Koniuto had to drive 150 paper ballots out to the polling place to ensure everyone could vote.
In Oneonta, Senator Seward, celebrating in Republican headquarters on Deitz Street, said he was “very pleased” when it appeared his tallies doubled his challenger Don Barber’s in every county in the 51st Senatorial District except one, his opponent’s home county of Tompkins. The Town of Caroline supervisor won there by 500 votes.
“The voters, particularly in this environment, looked at my record and my vision for the future, and supported me,” said the senator, first elected in 1986. “I’m just pleased and thankful to the voters of the district. We’ve had a good partnership. We’re facing tough times because of the fiscal crisis. But we’ve been through tough times together before.”
In Cooperstown, Lambert, who had lost the Conservative primary to Ghaleb in September, was visibly relieved by the outcome.
“I’m so thankful for what everybody has done for me,” he said.
His campaign consultant, Vince Casale of the Casale Group, expressed satisfaction with the Otsego County results, but predicted “a Republican bloodbath” statewide, with the GOP losing control of the state Senate despite Seward’s victory.
Of the voters splitting their ballots, Casale said, “I think this is indicative of what we’re seeing in politics and in our elections now. People are electing candidates they think are best for them ... People look at a race like county judge race, and they base it on candidate traits. Party label is secondary.”
As for consultants like himself, Casale – he’s the son of Vince and Theresa Casale of Cooperstown and a dean at Herkimer County Community College – said, “It certainly changes the dynamic. You’re going to run races based on the person and not on party labels ... You’re going to need some new ideas and some new thinking in this new dynamic.”
Meanwhile, his thoughts were elsewhere: His wife Amy was due to deliver their child Wednesday morning.

Labels: 11-07-08, 2008 Elections, Cooperstown, Front Page, Jill Ghaleb, Jim Seward, John Lambert, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mike Arcuri, Politics, Richard Hanna, Sandy Treadwell

TOM MORGAN

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ANOTHER VIEW

Veterans Day stirs up three memories: A boy tugs open a dresser drawer to talk to his dad. A man named Bucky beckons from a photo on a wall half a world away. A strange man thumps up our stairs at midnight to grab me.
The first memory belongs to a friend. His parents married in January 1942. He was born in November. Soon after, his dad went off to war.
His mother rode a train to Missouri to share a few tender hours with her husband near his Army camp. And that was all there was.
Her husband, his dad, died in Belgium in 1945.
“My mother probably never looked at, never thought of, another man,” my friend tells me. “She was like a swan who lost her life’s mate. She knew there would be no other.”
So he grew up without a dad, without even a memory of one, without knowing fully what a dad was supposed to be.
“When I wanted to talk with my dad,” he says, “I ran up to my mother’s bedroom and pulled open the dresser drawer and talked to his uniform and his medals and the flag that had draped his coffin.
“When I think of my dad, that’s what I think of. I think of all those times I talked to him in the dresser drawer,” he says.
•
The second memory is mine.
When I was in my mid-20’s, living in New Zealand, I joined a fraternal organization because it had given us our home mortgage.
The monthly meetings were mostly an excuse for a card game for other members. After a while I realized the only reason I went was to spend a moment before a photo on the wall of the club room.
It was one among a collection of photos of club members who had gone to war and not come back. This photo was of a young man named Bucky. His grin, his golden curls, his lively eyes captured me, beckon me to this day.
I knew and know nothing more about him. Nothing, except that in his photo he looks so eager to romp through life. Nothing, except that his was a pretty short romp. Nothing, except that if I could paint I would, after all these years, create his likeness as accurately as if he sat before my canvas today.
And if any message emanated from the image it would be that life is a banquet and lucky are we who make it to the main course.
•
Before I reach the third memory I must confess to falling into a schmaltzy habit. When I talk to a veteran of one of our wars, if we talk about his work in the war, I often blurt: “Thank you. Thank you for going.”
There. Confession over.
Now to the thumping stranger on our stairway. I am 3 years old and up at midnight. Why this is, I am not sure.
Clutching herself, my mother bolts from one room to another and back and I know from the way she behaves that this night differs from others.
She hears a car, rushes to the window, bursts into tears. I hear thumping on the stairs. The door flies open. I remember wrapping my arms around legs, my mother’s and some in brown trousers. I remember voices loud, then muffled.
Suddenly, I am swept into the air, higher than I have ever gone, and clutched into brown fabric, kissed by a swarthy man I do not know.
This is my introduction to my father. He has come home from the war. He will be more than the contents of a dresser drawer, more than a photo fading on a wall. He will be a dad. I am one of the lucky sons.

This is Tom Morgan’s favorite column. The host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Money Talk, lives in Franklin and is a frequent visitor to Cooperstown

Labels: 11-07-08, Columns, Cooperstown, Opinion, Perspectives, Tom Morgan

Here’s an idea: Let’s name Nov. 19 “Beat Up On Village Trustees Day.”
Every year, the village trustees can pick some hot-button issue and invite constituents in to yell at them for a couple of hours. This might develop into an evening that everyone looks forward to, maybe with tailgating outside and a pep band.
Bad idea, of course.
But that’s what the trustees are heading toward with the format of the public meeting on parking scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, at the county courthouse.
Last Nov. 19 was the Day of the Donnybrook, where a 300-celebrant crowd pretty close to out of control in CCS’ Sterling Auditorium hollered at the trustees for two hours about plans to put paid parking into effect.
It failed to satisfy anyone. Quite the opposite; it was counterproductive all around.
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In the old days, the experts in these things used to think that the way to ease anger is to let it out.
More recent research, however, has discovered the opposite turns out to be true. Anger begets anger.
If you’re angry, a better alternative to shouting at someone is to go for a walk along lovely Otsego Lake, or talk the issue through calmly with a loved one, or take a vacation.
So the outpouring of anger didn’t stem the anger; it built it up.
And it’s still going on. It’s the rare village person who can’t build up a head of steam these days by simply talking about paid parking for a few minutes.
The trustees, who sat there mum and took it last Nov. 19, emerged bruised, shaken and, when they started thinking about it, the experience locked them into their positions and made them contemptuous of those who disagree with them.
In recent weeks, Trustee Lynne Mebust, who chairs the Police (i.e. parking) Committee, and Deputy Mayor Jeff Katz have argued no more public input is warranted.
Under a republican form of government, they say, they are empowered to make decisions on the part of the electorate. If a majority of the electorate disagrees, vote them out in the next election – for Katz, two and a half years hence; for Mebust, one and a half.
Meanwhile, tough.
Mebust and Katz are accurate, but they’re not right.
•
For her part, Mayor Carol B. Waller has championed public input into the fiasco that was paid parking last summer, and input is good.
But the prospective Nov. 13 format is exactly the same as last year’s, which brings to mind the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
A better solution was suggested by Trustee Eric Hage a couple of weeks ago: Bring in a neutral facilitator who can guide the discussion. Sit the trustees with the crowd, not in static opposition. The facilitator fields questions and comment, and bounces them to the appropriate trustee, police chief, village clerk or other individual with some expertise.
In other words, a confrontation becomes more of a conversation.
•
Since Nov. 13 is just a few days away, it’s a little late to cast the net too far for the proper person, but Dave Brenner of Oneonta – Ph.D., retired SUNY administrator, former Oneonta mayor and past chairman of the county Board of Representatives – does this kind of thing very effectively.
Please, it’s not too late to make the evening a helpful discussion instead of a standoff.
Let’s not repeat an exercise that, shortterm, made everybody feel bad and, longterm, prevented resolution of a so-far inconclusive and meanwhile very unhelpful local debate.

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Editorial, Opinion, Perspectives

JIM KEVLIN

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FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

Telling Tales

Here’s a hot flash: When candidates win an election, they traditionally hold a victory party.
And – another revelation – champagne is poured, and even sipped. Also beer, and some revellers even partake of harder stuff.
This is common knowledge everywhere in the free world except, it seems, in Otsego County, N.Y., once – paradoxically – the hops capital of nation.
This story begins on March 20, 2007, the night Eric Hage was elected to the village board and asked an editor of a local paper to stop by the victory celebration.
Naive as this editor was – it turns out he cut his journalistic teeth in Pennsylvania’s hard-coal country, where Yuengling beer is the universal lubricant of local politics – he took a camera and snapped some pictures, never thinking there would be an issue.
The best photo of the batch – none was an Eisenstaedt – showed Trustee Milo V. Stewart Jr. toasting his newly elected colleague.
The next day, Eric stopped by the paper, saw the photo, innocently placed on the front page, and matters deteriorated.
Soon, attorney Mike Trossett was on the phone, demanding the offending photo not be published, saying the party occurred in a private home and therefore the photo was an intrusion.
Village Democratic chair Rich Campbell came by the newspaper offices in the old firehouse on Pioneer Street to reinforce the point in his particularly emphatic way.
So this editor I was telling you about, not looking for a fight, took the photo off the page, replacing it with a non-descript one of poll workers checking off lists.
Later, he confessed to me recently, he couldn’t resist the temptation to go with the better photo.
The result: Better art; hurt feelings.
•
Fast forward to last March’s village election, where Trustee Jeff Katz squeeked through to a second term.
Photos were taken at the fire house – the polling place – but Rich Campbell made a point of letting that editor know he wasn’t welcome to take photos at the victory party the Katzes hosted after the fact.
In fact, the message was more like: Go pound salt.
It being a free country, fine.
The other night, John Lambert was upstairs from the newspaper’s new quarters at 21 Railroad Ave. watching the returns come in at Eric Hage’s Mohican Financial.
Unfortunately, the beknighted editor I’ve been writing about ran into John in the parking lot as he headed to his law partner Mike Trossett’s for the victory party.
Congratulations! And, in a moment of weakness: May we send a photographer to the victory party? (Some people are slow learners.)
It turns out the paper’s photographer, Anita Briggs, was en route from Jim Seward’s headquarters in Oneonta, but wasn’t going to be in town for a while.
So this editor, slow-learner indeed, swung by Trossett’s with a camera to snap the elation of a historic moment.
No sooner was he back at the office then the phone rang.
It was Vince Casale, John’s campaign manager, lobbying to ensure no photo appeared that in any way suggested a link between the judge-elect and the fruit of the vine.
•
So, what are the lessons here:
One, newspaper editors don’t get it.
But, two, what are the sensitivities?
Do the voters of Otsego County really believe that victory parties are dry? If they discovered otherwise, would they be shocked and disillusioned?
Or do most people think that anyone 21 or over can responsibly partake of any legal substance to the legally permitted degree in a legally appropriate manner?
As for that editor, he’s mum on all of this; whatever shocking scenes he witnessed at 43 Nelson Ave. is for him to know and the rest of us to find out. So there.
When the episode was over, however, he did reminisce – over an amber libation, a glass of Yuengling, perhaps – about those high-spirited victory celebrations in the anthracite country, where towns of well-wishers would turn out to cheer on the victor.
Appropriately, newspaper people didn’t partake. Ahem. After recording the happenings, they were expected back at the office to put out the edition.
But celebrating democracy wasn’t just for the candidates and their closed circles.
•
Enough kidding around.
Congratulations to those who won the Tuesday, Nov. 4, contests – Judge Lambert, state Sen. Jim Seward as well as Congressmen Arcuri (likely) and Gillibrand.
And also to those who entered the political fray – Judge Ghaleb, Don Barber, our neighbor Richard Hanna and friend Sandy Treadwell – who just as likely as not will be successful the next time around.

Let’s Rethink Paid Parking From Customer Perspective

To the Editor:
As I will not be able to attend your (Nov. 13) meeting, I would like to put my suggestions forward to help resolve the dilemmas of paid parking in Doubleday Field.
Number one is to instruct our parking-meter attendants to be more sensitive to the customers who are parking in the parking lot. We must remember that the people who are visiting Cooperstown and paying for parking are customers. Customers need to be happy for what they are paying for.
Second, we need to have adequate signage, not after you enter the parking facility but before you enter it. It needs to be big enough, say what drivers will be paying for, where they will be parking and how long their duration of stay will be.
Three, the parking attendant must be sure the meters are working. Test them at the beginning and at the end of the day. Coin machines should be provided at each ticket machine, with adequate coins for the day’s business. Machines should be emptied of money and be in working order to accept money for the days business.
Over this past summer we should have made ourselves aware of the fallacies that caused the machines two break down. For instance, if machines weren’t level they wouldn’t work; and rainy weather caused the dollar-bill receptors to clog.
Parking-meter attendants are there to write tickets as their second or third responsibility. Their first responsibility should be tending the meters and being sure that the customer has the availability and the knowledge of what they are paying for.
Issuing parking tickets at $35 a pop because our parking customers don’t know where the parking-ticket machines are, or because the machines don’t work because they haven’t been emptied is very poor business.
If all of the mistakes are made in the second year, our village once again will be looked at as not only as uncaring of our business district, but for ripping of our parking customers.
I don’t feel that this was our agenda in this past year. However, this aspect of doing business in our community was poorly done.
If requested, I would be more than happy to sit on the committee to develop a business model to develop parking revenue.
TED HARGROVE
Cooperstown

Today, Proud To Be An American

To the Editor:
Political seasons bring out patriotic rhetoric in full force and this one is no exception. One statement that always comes to the fore is a phrase that really gets my goat: “I’m proud to be an American.”
I’m thankful I’m an American. I feel blessed. I feel privileged. But please, not proud.
The Founders could be proud to be an American but few of us can. Pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor was not bombast. The revolution was a risky venture and had it failed they would have faced the gallows.
Pride rightly comes from action or merit, and most of us are here by sheer good luck. We didn’t deserve it. America was handed to us, we did nothing to earn it. To borrow a hometown aphorism: We Americans today were born on the third base, and think we hit a triple.
We are privileged beyond the dreams of most people in the world, and with privilege comes obligation and responsibility, but not pride. It seems we should be humbled and grateful for our great good fortune, not boastful.
Fifty years ago, as a young boy on a trip to Florida, I had to ask my parents what the “colored” signs meant on the restroom door and over a drinking fountain.
Then, grown black men were called boy and sometimes treated as sub-human.
But Election Day the most amazing thing happened. I never expected to see anything like it in my lifetime.
And whether or not you care for Barack Obama’s politics, our country took a remarkable step toward fulfilling the promise of our founding documents. Racism and prejudice have not gone away, but for today, I am proud to be an American.
WILLIAM RALSTON
Cooperstown

Cooperstown Chamber Flying Blind In Supporting MSGE Music Festival

To the Editor:
It was with disappointment and incredulity that I read the banner headlines in last week’s Freeman’s Journal about the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce’s “endorsement” of MSG Entertainment’s music festival planned for Springfield.
For one thing, what power or standing does this body have in deciding what goes on in Springfield? For another, the basis for this endorsement – the “research” that was done – is so riddled with problems as to be almost worthless.
The sole “homework” the Chamber did on this issue – as reported in The Freeman’s Journal – was fact-gathering about the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The “data” compiled by the chamber, according to its president Marc Kingsley, consisted of statements by people in Manchester – the mayor, sheriff, chamber of commerce executive, local newspaper staff – about the economic boost the festival had given the community and overwhelming local support for it.
The reliability of these sources is unclear, since others in Manchester, including staff in the sheriff’s office, who were called in recent months by several Springfield citizens, characterized the festival as “a nightmare” that had been foisted on the town by certain local officials without due political process.
But even if the evidence from Manchester were rock solid, a graver problem in using it to assess the impact the MSG festival may have on Springfield lies in whether Manchester is in anyway a comparable community.
A quick web search reveals substantial differences between the two towns. Manchester’s population was 8,294 in the 2000 census. Springfield’s was 1,350. Manchester is a county seat and is part of what is called a “micropolitan” statistical area, a term used for metropolitan (urban) areas of certain characteristics; the population density of the statistical area where Manchester is located is about 809 people per square mile, over half as many people as the total population of the overwhelmingly rural Springfield.
This is significant because of the lack of highway and other infrastructure in Springfield needed to handle up to 75,000 festival goers. Manchester, because of its much higher population density, must be better equipped with roads, highways, and other services.
Over and above these shortcomings, Kingsley and his chamber are handicapped in making a judgment about MSGE in Springfield – as are we all – because the only people who have all the facts about the festival are MSGE officials themselves. In spite of the fact that they are going through the motions of working with the town planning board to assess the festival’s impact on Springfield, they are holding their cards close to their vests, as I noted in a recent letter. They have withheld and continue to withhold important information about their plans, instead of being up front at the outset, dribbling bits and pieces – like the plan for a helicopter landing port – at odd moments during public meetings.
The Cooperstown Chamber’s blithe welcome to the MSGE festival has rankled a number of Springfield citizens, who have been struggling for months to get a handle on what it will mean for the town. In a letter (October 10) to Planning Board Chairman Mary Clarke written by Advocates for Springfield President Harry Levine (who has a good deal of real-estate experience), he laid out many other shortfalls in information provided by MSGE and concluded that at present “it is virtually impossible” for the public or planning board to be able to properly and thoroughly evaluate the project.
Flying blind seems to be no problem, though, for Marc Kingsley and the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce. Maybe if they were talking about something that was going to happen directly to Cooperstown they would sing a different tune.
On the other hand, given the fact that Otsego Lake is Cooperstown’s drinking water supply and that the MSGE festival would be located along Shadow Brook, one of the lake’s main tributaries, should Kingsley et al accept at face value the assurances of a factually challenged operator like MSGE?
CATHY MASON
Springfield Center

Voice Concern About Marring of Mountainside

To the Editor:
I continue to be very deeply concerned about the proposed subdivision and development in the middle of Browdy Mountain, just south of Five Mile Point above Otsego Lake. It’s the only tall mountain face on the west side of the lake. The application for this development, proposed by Ned Walker, is proceeding with the Town of Otsego Planning Board, and is close to being submitted for final decision.
Opposition to this subdivision, which will chop a huge chunk out of the pristine mountain face and plop houses in the middle of it, is growing as more people find out about it. Now is the time for everyone – the residents of Cooperstown and the Town of Otsego, and any others who love the lake, its surrounding mountains and their natural woods, and appreciates the meaning of the lake area’s historic designation – to take action. The time is getting short.
There are several serious environmental and aesthetic issues remaining with his proposal. But there is an equally serious ethical situation regarding the Planning Board which first must be addressed: Several of us have appealed to the Planning Board in the past two months, but no action has been taken, so we must bring this issue to the public:
Two Planning Board members have had business dealings with the applicant, but neither will recuse himself.
The citizens of the Town of Otsego and of the Village of Cooperstown deserve a totally impartial vote on this proposal that will powerfully impact the quality of our Otsego Lake, the appearance of the mountain in the lake’s viewshed, and value of historic designation. We call upon everyone to voice their objection to this egregious display of conflict of interest to the Planning Board and to the Town Board. The Planning Board meets on Nov. 11 and the Town Board on Nov. 12.
\Concerned citizens should write immediately to the Town of Otsego Planning Board. If by mail, by Saturday, Nov. 8. If by e-mail, by Monday, Nov. 10. Letters will be read at the next Planning Board Meeting on Nov. 11.
Write to: Town of Otsego Planning Board - (Walker proposal), Town Hall, Route 26, Fly Creek, NY 13337
Or e-mail your letter to the Planning Board clerk at dizdeane@peoplepc.com
Come to the meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 to learn the status of the application for development. For more information, or questions, please contact me at: savethemountainside@gmail.com
Please join our efforts to protest this development proposal that will have such a huge impact on our lake and its surroundings. The mountain face will never be the same again, and the atmosphere of the lake’s viewshed will be changed forever.
CAROL B. AKIN
Cooperstown

Thanks To All Who Helped Jesse Torruella

To the Editor:
Thank you to everyone who helped make the “One of Our Own” 5K Run/2 Mile Walk a huge success! With your help, we crushed our expectations.
Not only did you help us to help One of Our Own, you embraced Jesse Torruella as if he was one of your own. From his family and friends, to school mates, people who knew him only in passing, and even individuals who knew nothing of him except that he needed help; you all came together and we appreciate that more than words can say.
There were many area businesses and individuals who assisted us with donations and sponsorships. This helped keep all funds collected available for Jesse and was greatly appreciated.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you. We would also like to thank every single person that contributed in any way.
Things got wild at the end, and we did our best to keep track of all contributions. If you are not on the list, I apologize.
Together, we raised more than $25,000 and the amount is growing everyday. I would also like to thank the many volunteers who assisted with the meals and race. It could not have been so smooth without your help.



And the many that donated at the Pasta Dinner and Brooks BBQ lunch. We thank you.
Otesgo County Sheriff’s Sgt. MIKE RECKEWEG
Oneonta

POEM TO THE EDITOR

OBAMERICA

There’s a new wind blowing across the land,
Hope ripples in the air ~
Hearts and
Minds and
Souls
Are filled with gladness
Everywhere.

Off the mountains
Across the plains
Along city streets and
country lanes
The message is borne and kept aloft
By faith in
You and Me
Where we work
And where we play
And where we live
And where we pray
And where we toil
And where we rest
One Common Union We.

There’s a new wind blowing across America,
Fragrant
Sweet
And
Pure.
Breathe it in with humble thanks
Our Nation Shall Endure.

SAM GOODYEAR
Cooperstown

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Perspectives

Jacquelin C. Ferns, 77; Endured Multiple Sclerosis For 37 Years

COOPERSTOWN – Jacquelin C. Ferns began her life in the month the flowers of spring open in all their glory and are strengthened by the light.
She died early Monday morning, Oct. 13, 2008, in the month the leaves begin to change, under the light of a beautiful harvest moon at Otsego Manor. She was 77.
Jacquie was born on June 14, 1931, in Alabin. The daughter and a jewel of Edward and Alberta (Shultis) Colwell, she was the youngest of their four children.
Raised in Slingerlands, Jacquie graduated from Bethlehem Central High School. She then attended Oneonta State Teachers’ College, graduating with a degree in elementary education.
From 1953 until 1958, she taught first grade at the Richfield Springs Central School, then devoted her life to caring for her family and their home.
It was in Richfield Springs that Jacquie and Ronald Edward Ferns met, courted and became engaged. On June 29, 1957, they were married in Delmar.
Jacquie is an indelible spirit. Her appreciation for life was expressed in her love of her family, nature, children, art, the elderly, sewing, cooking, volunteering, her pets and her church.
A member of the First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, she served the congregation both as an elder and as a deacon. She also assisted with Head Start and taught Sunday school.
She was also a former member of the Cooperstown Women’s Club.
Jacquie had enviable courage as she faced the degradation of her health over the 37 years she was afflicted with multiple sclerosis.
She was a testament to faith, believing that God would not give any of us anything that we couldn’t handle. She uplifted and enriched every life she touched.
Jacquie will be deeply missed by her daughter and son-in-law, Amy and Timothy Cannon of Telluride, Colo.; her son, Jeff Ferns of Cooperstown; and her three grandchildren, Brandon Ferns of Lake Placid, and Morgan and Erin Pihl of Telluride, Colo.
She was predeceased by her husband, Ronald, who died Oct. 29, 2003.
A funeral service and celebration of her life was offered Monday, Oct. 20, at the First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, with the Rev. Robert Herst, pastor emeritus, and the Rev. Betsy Jay, chaplain of Bassett Healthcare, co-officiating.
A service of committal and burial followed in Lakewood Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 25 Church St., Cooperstown, NY 13326, or to a charity of one’s choice.
Funeral arrangements were under the care and direction of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

Anthony J. Licci, 82; On USS Ticonderoga When Kamikazes Hit

FLY CREEK – Anthony Joseph Licci, 82, of Fly Creek, who survived kamikaze attacks aboard the USS Ticonderoga during World War II, died Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 28, 2008 at Otsego Manor.
Born Oct. 29, 1925, in Manhattan, He was the son of Carlo and Antonina (Coffaro) Licci.
On March 25, 1945, Anthony married Genevieve M. Kelly according to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the Church of St. Gabriel in Corona.
During World War II, he served his country in the Navy in the Pacific Theatre of Operations aboard the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga CV 14.
On Jan. 21, 1945, the Ticonderoga lost more than 140 crewmen when it was attacked by two kamikaze suicide planes. Anthony and his shipmates were trapped in the engine room during the raid. The carrier was extensively damaged and returned to the U.S. for repairs.
Having attained the rank of machinist’s mate, third class, he received his honorable discharge in March 1946.
For 29 years, Anthony was employed as a psychiatric aide at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital on Long Island.
In 1983, he Genevieve moved to Leesburg, Fla., where Anthony volunteered with the Leesburg Fire Department. The couple moved to Fly Creek in 2000, to live on a farm near their daughter.
Throughout his life, Anthony enjoyed gardening, fishing and racing pigeons.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Genevieve; one daughter, Mrs. Ann Carr and her husband Richard, of Fly Creek; one son, Carl (Chuck) Licci and his wife Luisa, of Leesburg, Fla.; his grandchildren, April Sirvinsky, Richard Carr, Sandra and Eric Licci, and Frank, Richard, Valerie and Nicholas Scilabro; and several nieces and nephews.
Services were Monday, Nov. 3, at the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home, with Quaker minister James Atwell officiating. He was buried with military honors.
Memorial donations may be made to Otsego Manor Activities Fund for Rolling Hills, 128 Phoenix Mills Cross Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326, or to Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Arrangements were with the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

Helen K. Ford, 97; Raised On Future College Campus

CHERRY VALLEY – Helen K. (Lockwood) Ford, 97, who was raised on an estate in Connecticut that later became the campus of Fairfield University, passed away Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008, at Otsego Manor.
She was born Jan. 13, 1911, in Fairfield, Conn., the daughter of Henry B. and Katherine (Sullivan) Lockwood. She married Arthur W. Ford on May 29, 1931, in Brewster, Putnam County. He predeceased her in 1991.
As a child, Helen grew up on the estate of O.G. Jennings, an industrialist who was on the board of directors of Bethlehem Steel. Her father was Jennings’ chauffeur.
She worked as a telephone operator in Brooklyn, (1929-30), at Jenkins Valve shipping office (1941-44), Beechnut Packing Co. (1944-45) and was a farm wife (1945-85). She resided at 433 Salt Springville Road for 64 years.
She was a member of St. Thomas the Apostle Church’s Social Card Club.
Survivors include a son, Philip Ford and his wife Daisy; a daughter Patricia Keegan and her husband Joseph; four grandchildren, James and his wife Karen, of Cherry Valley, John and his wife Amy, of Hartwick, Joseph and his wife Rebecca, of Rio Nido, Calif., and Michael Keegan of Washington D.C.; great grandchildren Tyson Jeremiah, Lucienne, Julietta, and Abbigail Ford, and several nieces and nephews.
Her husband of 60 years, and a brother, Harry Lockwood, predeceased her.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 7, in St. Thomas Church, Cherry Valley, with Father John Roos officiating. Burial will follow in the Cherry Valley Cemetery.
Calling hours are 7-9 p.m. the evening before at Ottman Funeral Home, Cherry Valley, with Rosary at 8:30 p.m.
Contributions in Mrs. Ford’s memory may be made in the form of Mass cards, flowers or donations to St. Thomas Church.
Arrangements were with the Ottman Funeral Home, Cherry Valley.

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Obituaries

COOPERSTOWN

At noon on Saturday, Nov. 1, the crowds began to gather at St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake” Church for Stone Soup.
In works like this: Organizers simply boil water with a stone in it, and depend on contributions from the public – a carrot here, a potato there – to actually turn it edible.
This year, instead of the church’s annual Oktoberfest, Diane Koffer planned the soup exercise as a fund raiser for the Cooperstown Food Bank. Ladies from the church prepared multiple types of soup to serve those who participated in fellowship with other community members, while children spent the morning dropping off contributions for their own Stone Soup.
“I’d say we had 35-40 children stop by and drop vegetables into the soup this morning, and they were not just church members, but children from all around,” said Koffer. By day’s end, more than 150 people showed up and more than $3,000 was raised for the cause.
As community members came into the fellowship hall, many dropped cash donations into a plastic cauldron, some wrote checks, and others yet brought bags full of food, all to benefit the Cooperstown Food Bank.
“We are aware of the growing need for food, and we wanted to help out the food bank,” said Steve Heneghan; he and his wife Martha contributed purple potatoes.
The generosity of the community really stood out at this event. Koffer reports that many individuals dropped off unsolicited baked goods.

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Cooperstown Food Bank, Glimmerglass, Stone Soup

By JEANNINE BOHLER

A loaf of white bread cost $1.08 in September 2006. That same bread cost $1.38 in September 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.
A dozen eggs went for $1.25 in September 2006. The same dozen sold for $1.98 in September 2008.
Prices at the check-out are expected to increase and consumers are feeling more than a pinch. Many find themselves no longer able to make ends meet.
Grocery prices continue to rise. Fuel prices, although dropping in recent weeks, remain at a premium.
It is going to be a hard winter.
The demand for food always rises in the winter as families struggle with heating bills, but this year the need is expected to be unusually high, said Dan Maskin, Chief Operating Officer of Opportunities for Otsego in Oneonta.
The agency provides energy assistance and emergency housing to qualified individuals.
The increase in food prices, fuel prices and healthcare costs, combined with stagnant wages and an uncertain economy are making finances even tighter, not only for the families who often need assistance, but for those families who have usually been able to support themselves.
Many of these families are referred to as the working poor, meaning that although they work, many full time, they are unable to meet their living costs.
Often, their income is too great to allow them to be eligible for services such as fuel assistance or the supplemental nutrition assistance program, but not great enough to allow them to meet their families basic needs. Food pantries offer a source of support and relief.
“The demand at food pantries is increasing,” Maskin said.
So far, local pantries are meeting the need most of the time, but this may change as winter sets in.
The tight economy hits nearly everyone and people who typically donate money and food items to the pantries may find themselves needing to give less. Regional suppliers, like the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Latham, which supplies food to many of the area pantries, may also struggle to keep up as their suppliers cut back.
There is no easy solution. The Board of Directors of Opportunities for Otsego decided to discontinue it annual Holiday Adopt-A-Family initiative this holiday season, asking instead that groups and organizations make contributions to their emergency fuel fund and Holiday Basket Food Drive. It is hoped the additional donations will meet the increased demands in the month
ahead.
The need for donations is crucial, Maskin said, as it is difficult to get emergency funding for food because there are no federal grants for it and no federal food source.
The Cooperstown Food Bank saw a 60% increase in demand for its services over the past year. As a result, it has had to cut its service area to residents of Northern Otsego County only. Those who live south of Milford are asked to seek help in Oneonta or other area food banks.
During the summer, the bank, which is hosted by the Presbyterian Church and run by volunteers, saw 160 – 170 families each month. In the month of October, the first month the new policy went into effect, 130 families visited the food bank.
“We have seen a drop, but it isn’t huge,” said Audrey Murray, who co-directs the pantry with Ellen St. John. “At this point we are still able to handle it, but we worry what will happen if we ever reach 200 families.”
Families who need assistance may visit the pantry once per month and they receive a four day food supply of three meals per day. In all, the pantry helps nearly 500 people each month. No referral is needed and people are not turned away, Murray said.
She cites an end to seasonal jobs, taxes, heating bills and the tough state of the economy for the increase in the number of new families seeking help. An $8,000 grant the pantry received over the summer is already gone.
“We rely on the generosity of the community,” she said. So far, the level of donations has remained consistent. Food drives by local Sunday school classes, the Leos and monetary donations give much needed support.
The Salvation Army in Oneonta served 232 families in September, 40 of which visited for the first time.
“We are seeing a number of hard working families who have always made it before,” said Sharon Haines, officer manager at the Salvation Army. “Wages just aren’t going up and this is a hard, hard time for them.”
In addition to the need for food, the Salvation Army anticipates a greater demand for holiday help. Last year, nearly 400 families benefited from gifts and food baskets. This year, Haines anticipates applications from almost 600 families.
“We were short on toys because of the increase last year,” Haines said. “We got together and prayed.” A call a few hours later from a church in Binghamton answered the prayers. They had enough toys for last year and a few to save for this year. “God comes through,” she said. “Through people, God comes through.”
So far, donation levels are staying the same as in the past, according to Major James Smith, Commanding Officer of the Oneonta Salvation Army. Support from churches and civic groups as well as fiscal donations help keep things going. A grant from the regional food bank normally helps throughout much of the season – last year it lasted through December or January, Smith said. This year, it was gone by October.
The United Way formed a Hunger Task Force hoping community collaboration will help address the issues and challenges that lie ahead.
St. Mary’s Food Pantry in Oneonta is struggling like the rest.
“I see it getting worse,” said Janice Hinkley, outreach coordinator. “People can only stretch their money so far.”
In October, 160 families visited the pantry, 40 of them for the first time. In the past, the pantry has served about 100 families each month, with an average of ten new families.
“A few bags of groceries can cost $60. Things have really gone up, fuel prices, gas prices, grocery prices,” she said. “Salaries are not going up much. What are people supposed to do?”

Labels: 11-07-08, Cooperstown, Cooperstown Food Bank, Glimmerglass

Labels: 10-03-08, Columns, Cooperstown, Images, John Kosmer, Just a Thought, Pumpkin Regatta, Pumpkinfest

The fan from Saratoga Springs, outside the crowd-control fence at the 2006 National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction, said he tries to make it to Cooperstown on that weekend every year.
In fact, he always means to come for 3-4 days. But he forgets, happens to hear something on the radio, and finds himself dashing west on Route 20 the day of.
Those of us here in town are always very aware of Induction Weekend. It looms large, as do fireworks on the National Mall on the Fourth of July for people living in Washington, D.C. As the Masters does in Augusta, Ga. As the return of the swallows does Capistrano. As the groundhog does Punxatawney.
Locals know what’s happening locally. But it makes sense to remind everybody else.
•
That’s brought to mind by what the business community, in any event, is calling a dismal turnout at this year’s very nice induction of a great baseball star, Rich “Goose” Gossage, into the Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 28.
The HoF is estimating it brought 14,500 fans to town, but everyone else considers that optimistic.
Certainly, nothing could stack up to last year’s record 85,000 crowd for the induction of Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn, an exceptional experience for fan, businessperson, and anyone who lived through it.
Still, Ted Hargrove, proprietor of TJ’s Place and the Home Plate Restaurant for the past 31 years, said, business-wise, it was the worst weekend in memory.
•
During that same weekend, the Hall of Fame board of directors elected three new members, a Hall of Famer, a baseball owner and – a jaw-dropping choice – MLB President Bob Dupuy. In a year where MLB was much decried in these parts, the HoF board elects another top MLB executive – in addition to Commissioner Bud Selig – into its ranks.
On the one hand, it may mean – bestill, beating hearts – that Selig is considering retiring – finally! – and Dupuy is learning the ropes in anticipation of a transition.
It might also suggest the Hall of Fame has a tin ear about local opinion or just doesn’t care about local needs outside the walls of 25 Main. Local folks on the board of directors are limited to former or current Hall of Fame or Clark Estates’ associates.
In a perfect world, you would hope that perhaps local representatives – the mayor, as mayor, or chairman of the county Board of Representatives, in his role as chairman – would be brought on as directors to champion local interests within an institution so central to our community life.
As it is, the Hall of Fame is being pulled in various directions by its various constituencies – the MLB, the players, the owners, corporate sponsors, the fans. The Village of Cooperstown and County of Otsego are just two voices of many.
•
Which returns us to that fan from Saratoga Springs.
If Hall of Fame Induction Weekend is important to the business community, the business community should promote it. The Cooperstown and Otsego County chambers should form a joint committee and start thinking about how to get fans here at the end of July 2009.
If sales- and bed-tax revenues are important to the county, it should be ensuring its tourism-promotion efforts are sufficiently muscular to ensure the flow is unstemmed.
Community commerce related to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is too important to be left to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. Let’s control our own destiny to the degree we can.

Labels: Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, Editorial, Hall of Fame Induction, Opinion

While Jeff Idelson Can Now Relax, Steve Baumann Gears Up

By JIM KEVLIN

---

COOPERSTOWN

Playing against Babe Ruth, or Magic Johnson, or Donovan McNabb, or Pele – that can get a sport under your skin.
As a Miami Toro, Steve Baumann did get to play Pele, a Cosmo, in 1976.
But equally captivating was that famous college game in 1971. Steve was in the Penn squad, ranked third, on the field against Harvard, ranked second. There were 17,000 fans at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, a crowd that wouldn’t be surpassed for decades.
And Penn beat Harvard, 5-2.
“It was one of those moments where you get to feel what it’s like,” said Baumann, who is completing his first year as president of the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta.
When he and wife Karen moved to Otsego County – son Keith, 29, is a lawyer in New York City, and daughter Amy, 26, is a fair-housing advocate in Philadelphia – they bought a house on Nelson Avenue. Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, lives on Pioneer Street.
So Baumann’s arrival made Cooperstown unique in yet another way: As the only community in the nation – prove otherwise! – that is home to the top executives of two major sports halls of fame.
Idelson can relax just a bit right now. His 2008 Induction Weekend ended Sunday, July 27, when Rich “Goose” Gossage entered the baseball hall. (The other night, when he stopped by to pose for a photo with his soccer counterpart, he was on his way to an evening boat ride on Otsego Lake – and perhaps a sip of wine or two.)
Steve Baumann wasn’t quite there yet. His peak weekend of the year is Friday through Sunday, Aug. 1-3, when Anson Dorrance, pioneering head coach of the University of North Carolina’s women’s soccer program, and Hugo Perez, the Salvador-born mid fielder who was 1991 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, are entered into the Oneonta hall.
When you chat with Baumann and look at his vita, the top job at the Soccer Hall of Fame seems like a perfect fit.
He was raised in Westport, Conn., at a time when Staples High was one of the few schools in the country that took soccer seriously. He played basketball and baseball, but it was soccer that got him in the end.
“The game itself” is what did it. The “free floating” nature of it. “Players are in control of the game, not coaches,” he continued. The coaching happens in advance; once the whistle blows, it’s teamwork and individual determination that make the difference.
Baumann’s stats at Penn reflected both those qualities. He chalked up 30 career goals, but also 39 assists, records that still stand, and records that got him into professional soccer.
He had received a B.A. in elementary education at Penn, and during his half-dozen years in pro soccer obtained a M.S. in science education at the University of Virginia. He taught in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and also at the college level, at George Mason in Fairfax and Rosemont in Philadelphia.
He then shifted to museum work, with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, before joining the Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena, Calif., as executive director. It was from there that he came to Otsego County, the choice of a national search effort chaired by SUNY Oneonta’s then-president Alan Donovan.
The interview naturally came around to the similar and different challenges faced by the two Halls of Fame.
Baumann is adulatory about Cooperstown’s hall: “The finest sports and sports history museum on the planet,” he calls 25 Main.
But he’s also bullish about soccer – the only youth-participation sport that’s actually growing, “year after year, more than baseball, football and basketball.”
It’s further fueled by the nation’s demographic changes. Not just Hispanics, but eastern Europeans – virtually every immigrant, for that matter – come from countries where soccer rules. “Now, more than ever, there are soccer fans in this country,” he said.
Whereas the Baseball Hall of Fame seems to be looking ever more beyond Otsego County – the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium was a Hall-of-Famer celebration; three vacancies on the HoF board were filled the other day by MLB President Bob Dupuy and two former players, no locals – Baumann is asking this question:
“What do we need to do to have a bigger impact in the local and regional community?” He adds, “How do we create value so people in the region” – from Albany, Binghamton, Utica, Syracuse – “come to visit us on a regular basis?”
Second, where the Cooperstown hall excells, the Oneonta hall has to as well: “How do we create larger image in the soccer world?”
If anything, Steve Baumann said, the proximity of the two halls can and should be a plus.
“What I hope we can do,” he said, “is aspire to an equal but different destination. I think that would make both of us stronger.”

Labels: Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, Front Page, Hall of Fame, Oneonta, Soccer Hall of Fame

Phil Pohl recalled his first day of school, 13 years ago, when he went to the school
bus for the first time, armed with a Spiderman lunch box. “I was ready to face the world, for I was a kindergartener.”
Sean Killian, another of Cooperstown Central School Class of 2008’s top four students, reflected on his classmates’ “back-pack phase... Full it was homework and stress; empty it was relief, fun or vacation. Our backpacks will no longer support
us; our lives are getting fuller now.”
Erin Sullivan noted they are entering “the suitcase phase of life... We’re all packing a bag of some sort. We have to decide what to take along with us. The suitcase is transition, apprehension and freedom.”
Kaitlyn Breiten rounded out the group, posing the question, “What bag will you carry in life?” A briefcase, a satchel, a diaper bag? “Some can see things as they are, as say why? We can see things and say” – enthusiasm rising – “WHY NOT? So pack your bags and head into the future.”
In her introductory remarks, Superintendent of Schools Mary Jo McPhail reported 93 percent of the Class of 2008 is going to college (with the help of $228,000 in Clark
Foundation scholarships); 5 percent into “the world of work,” and 2 percent
into the military. She spoke of their community service: working on Habitat for Humanity, donating school supplies to a mining community, helping to stock
the Cooperstown Food Bank.
Laura Resnick, class president, said she’s heard Cooperstown referred to as “sheltered. The hard task, for most of us, will be leaving.”
She noted 49 students, about half the class, spent all 13 grades locally.
While the class has been successful, “failure awaits us all as a stepping
stone to greater success,” and she gave some examples.
Henry Ford went bankrupt five times. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney for “lack of talent.” She quoted Wayne Gretsky, “We miss 100 percent of the shots we never
take.”

COOPERSTOWN – Here is the Cooperstown Central School Class of 2008:

Dante A. Alessi
Alison T. Angerer
Robert Alan Bauer
Brock Michael Bell
Jonathan S. Birch
Aaron Michael Bogart
Kaitlyn Hilary Breiten
Donna M. Bronson
Kyle Bronson
Kristen Irving Busse
Robert Albert Busse
Sean William Clinton
Tyler W. Combs
Kaitlin S. Cring
Michael J. Croft
Emily Anne Dauchy
Michael W. Davis
Catherine Rose Donley
Brittany R. Doroski
David J. Douglas
Karl J. Dykstra
Peter J. Edmonds
Justin P. Ellis
Jamie Lee Feik
James Douglas Fort
Samantha Lynn Fox
Veronica A. Garbera
Benjamin E. Garcia
Gregory M. Giovine
Roseanne C. Grigoli
Christopher M. Gulotta
Arum T. Habercorn
April Michelle Higgins
Ryan M. Huggins
Andrew P. Hughes
Abigail E. Hull
Ryan J. Jacobson
Erika A. Johannesen
Kenneth B. Kane
Madison Taylor Kenyon
Sarah Elizabeth Key
Anna Marguerite Kieler
Sean Michael Killian
Silvia L. King
Douglas H. Kline
Katrin Klit Kronborg
John D. LaDuke
William Allen Landon
Drew Cameron Lierheimer
Kyle Spencer Mackie
Gianna Lyn Marsala
Robert A. Mayton
Benjamin F. Miller
Caitlin Marie Murphy
William H. Nichols
Joshua Potter Pearlman
Claire Boutain Petroskey
Mary Ellen Phillips
Rachel Marie Pier
Philip Michael Pohl
Sharleen M. Pollock
Marissa A. Pomarico-
Maxson
Jennifer R. Potrikus
Daniel Murphy Poulette
John Walker Rathbun
Laura Suzanne Resnick
Michael A. Rodriguez
Andrea J. Rosen
Sara A. Ruggiero
Carolyn I. Schiavo
Kelly L. Segit
Terrell A. Silvera
Rebecca Anne Smith
Teanna Lee Smith
Anna Grace Snell
Quinn Edward Snyder
Marcos Andre Soares
Gregory S. Sorin
Griffi n D. Soule
Angela Marie St. John
Katie M. Stilson
Erin Elizabeth Sullivan
Marissa Lynn Szwejbka
Ian E. Taylor
Thanatnicha Thanaboonrungroch
Lillien Gendall Tillapaugh
Luke John Tirrell
Karolina Fanni Toth
Lindsay Marie Valentine
Jessica Lee Walrath
Jonathan M. Weber
Jennifer Ann Wehner
Eli W. Weir
Danielle White
Jaclyn C. Wilson
Lauren E. Zoltick

Labels: Area Briefs, Cooperstown, Graduation

Karen Cadwalader’s mother Arloie McCoy, in her 90s, spent her final years in the former adult home housed in historic Woodside Hall.
Then-director Peggy Banks was “very warm toward the residents. She created a sense of community with this group of people. It was a good experience for me as a daughter.”
So after the adult home closed early in 2007, and after several months of a zoning furor, Karen’s son Stephen, an art dealer in New York City who has a home at Main and Pine Boulevard, suggested the family buy it.
“We felt is would be a good thing for the community,” said Karen, a retired psychiatric social worker from New York City who maintains a private practice in Fly Creek. (Her brother, Jason McCoy, another art dealer, owns The Crooked House on Lake Street.)
Cadwalader, who will be director of the revived facility, called the other day to say she has received word from the state Department of Health that the project has received “part one” approval from state regulators.
The “part two” piece involves following through on recommendations contained in part one, so Cadwalader anticipates the final permit will be hand by September.
Just as the long view along Main Street from the west ends at the mansion, so standing on the porch – now being replanked by contractor Paul Allison – you get a long view to the east, past the garden fountain below, past the distinctive Egyptian revival gatehouse, past the bridge over the Susquehanna to the downtown, a quarter mile away.
A tour of the rambling building – it was expanded twice during the former ownership to about 7,000 square feet total – reveals rural views on all sides. For now, Otsego Lake is blocked by surrounding trees, but is visible from the stone mansion during the other seasons.
Each of the 33 rooms is being stripped down and prepared for new occupancy, although the final coat of paint will not be applied until will-be residents select the color to match their furniture.
Per “part one” instructions, new lights have been placed throughout the buildings, brightening up the 1829 stone mansion at the foot of Mount Vision.
A famous episode occurred during the tenure of the first owner, Judge Eben B. Morehouse: He hosted Martin Van Buren at a party in 1839, and the former president got lost in the extensive gardens trying to find the way back to the village.
Joseph L. White, a New York City lawyer, bought the property in 1856. Active in the Nicaragua canal project – it was the Panama Canal that was eventually dug – he was assassinated during a visit to Central America.
The Scott family then owned it, selling it in 1895 to Walter C. Stokes, reputedly the first person in the village to own a car. The distinctive gatehouse was erected during this period.
When Stokes’ son, Walter W., a prominent state senator, died in 1960, the house was bequeathed to the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, effective on the death of his widow. Instead, his son Walter Jr. sold it in 1965 to Ida Cox of Cherry Valley, who operated it as an adult home until 1980.
At that time, Woodside Hall had 60 residents. There were 20 left when the owner, Cavali