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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, August 11, 2016
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‘WORST FIRE SINCE THANKSGIVING HOME’
MOTEL BURNS
The Freeman’s Journal
State DOT contractors began installing temporary traffic signals on outer Glen Avenue this week, preparing for extensive culvert repairs between Cooperstown and Fly Creek after Labor Day.
Special-Use Permit Nears On CVS Plan COOPERSTOWN
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he Village Board intends to vote at the end of a public hearing set for 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, on whether to issue CVS a “special permit” to build a drive-thru pharmacy on the site of the Cooperstown Motel. Any building over 3,000 square feet requires a special permit in the village; CVS plans a 9,000-square-foot building. WHERE’S BILL? Ommegang’s annual Belgium Comes to Cooperstown celebration on a Bill Murray theme drew thousands of celebrants to the Route 33 brewery over last weekend, but the movie star failed to make a hoped-for appearance. CLIMBING ALL 46: Cherry Valley native Bethany Garretson started at 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 5, on her quest to climb the 46 tallest peaks in the Adirondacks in just eight days, and was halfway through when this edition went to press. FAMILY STRICKEN: Two Gohde brothers passed away within the past week/ SEE B6
Ray Smith photos
The fire broke out in a second-floor room to the right, and a south wind blew it the Cooperstown Motel front.
No Cause Determined Yet, But Accelerant-Smelling K9s, Investigators At Scene By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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s the sun went down Tuesday, Aug. 8, investigators using accelerant-sniffing K9 units were still trying to determine if the fire that engulfed the Cooperstown Motel was deliberately set, an electrical malfunction or an accident. “The size of the incident, the fact that it’s vacant and that there was a large amount of fire upon arrival add concerns,” Investigator William McGovern, of the state Office of Fire Prevention & Flames engulf the former motel owner’s apartment.
Learning Of Possible Neglect, Focus Blew Whistle, CEO Says ‘Chief Nursing Administrator’ Sought To Train, Monitor 2 Staffs By JIM KEVLIN INDEX
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o a degree, the system worked. As staff members are trained to do, a nurse alerted management that 94-year-old woman was left untended for 41 hours over Memorial Day Week-
end, Joseph Zupnik, CEO of Focus Ventures, owner of the former Otsego Manor, said in an interview. Zupnik “We were certainly shocked by the incident,” he said. “The caregivers
DEBATE REVIVED: Was Focus the right choice? SEE A7
involved were immediately suspended, and we reported them to the Department of Health and to the Attorney General’s Office.” State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman then launched the investigation Please See ZUPKIN, A6
Control, told a 1 p.m. press conference at the Chestnut Street fire hall. “We will thoroughly process the scene to determine where and what started the fire.” Cooperstown Fire Chief Jim Tallman had just gone to bed when the call came in at 2:19 a.m. early that day. “A passerby had seen smoke and fire on the top floor of the Cooperstown Motel,” he said. “I was on the scene by 2:22 and Mutual Aid was called.” By the time he arrived, flames had engulfed the abandoned motel’s northsouth wing. Tallman believes the fire started in a room in the top corner Please See MOTEL, A3
Chobani To Hire Newcomers
Oneonta Prepares To Bring Refugees To Otsego County By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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very night, Margaret Parish would see stories of refugees on the news. “Sixty percent of these refugees are women and children,” she said. “We wanted to help.” Working with Rev. Teressa Sivers, pastor, First United Methodist Church,
Organizer Parish
Temple Beth El President Ken Sider and others in the community, Parish helped assemble the Oneonta Please See REFUGEES, B8
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD