Hometown Oneonta 02-25-21

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ONEONTA AREA SCULPTOR’S EXHIBIT: ‘TERRIBLE BEAUTY’/A3

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Volume 13, No. 21

Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, February 25, 2021

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HERZIG TO RETIRE Gary and Connie Herzig outside Oneonta City Hall, where he has spent many hours in the past five years.

Despite COVID-19, Much Left To Do, Mayor’s Decision Firm: It’s Time To Go

By JIM KEVLIN ONEONTA

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ith would-be successors able to circulate petitions in the next few days, six-year Mayor Gary Herzig Tuesday, Feb. 23, announced what many

expected and others anticipated with regret: He will retire when his term ends on Dec. 31, 2021.

“During the past six years, by working together, the people of Oneonta have achieved remarkable progress,” he said in a statement, “in developing new housing Please See HERZIG, A10

Ian Austin/H0METOWN ONEONTA

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Lucky, the red-tailed hawk clipped by a vehicle on I-88 last week, is freed by wildlife rehabilitator Charlie Koop, Town of Pittsfield, Monday, Feb. 22, from Robert V. Riddle State Park at Exit 17. Behind him is wife Dori Koop and Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stalter/RELATED STORY, B3

Still, Vaccines, Appointments Seen Lacking

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hey use the word “frustrated.”

Both county board Chairman David Bliss and Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig, who represent Otsego County on the Mohawk Valley Regional “control room,” agree there continues to be too little vaccine dedicated to combating COVID-19 locally.

And people are still finding it too hard to make appointments to receive the vaccine through the county Health Department, Bassett Hospital or local pharmacies.

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►jIM SEWARD, who retired Dec. 31 after 34 years in the state Senate, has joined the board of the Community Foundation of Otsego County. ►THOMAS HICKEY, 91 Oneonta Mayor’s son, businessman, dies. ►Eagle Scout helps build FoxCare public fitness trail. ►City awards $52,600 to 4 local businesses. ►gilbertsville couple succumbs to COVID-19. ►HARTWICK FAMILY ESCAPES burning trailer. ►VILLAGE FIGHTS BACK in ‘Trump 2024’ tiff. ►Noel dries, 82 stalwart in Hyde Hall’s revival, dies.

Dreams Park Seeks OK For 2021 Opening

IN COVID’S GRASP Brett Miller, Alicia Chase and friends embrace after a memorial mass at St. Mary’s Church, Oneonta, for Thomas Parrotti of Hamden, who died six days earlier from COVID at Bassett Hospital.

With Tests, Reduced Capacity, NY State Asked For Go-Ahead COOPERSTOWN

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ooperstown Dreams Park will be submitting plans to the state Department of Health to allow it to field a 2021 youthbaseball season at its Hartwick Seminary campus this summer, it announced today.

The plan asks the DOH to take “into consideration camp testing and reduced capacity,” according to the statement from Attorney Garo Please See SEASON, A6 Mike Forster Rothbart/H0METOWN ONEONTA

Statistics Miss Victim’s Stories – Like Thom Parrotti’s

By MIKE FORSTER ROTHBART COOPERSTOWN

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licia Chase wants you to know about her best friend, a man she calls her “work husband” after the years they spent employed together at Bassett Hospital.

Thomas Parrotti worked as an interpreter and manager at the hospital for nearly 20 years. One month ago, he was enjoying semiretirement, raising goats with his husband Brett Miller on their small farm in Hamden – 38 acres of hilltop woods and pasture.

Parrotti ran his own interpreting business and judged dog competitions until COVID put a hold on both. Lately he’d been employed part-time as a corona-

Thom Parrotti’s mass card

virus contact tracer for the state of New York.

This month he returned to Bassett – as a patient critically ill from COVID-19.

Thom Parrotti spent January as many of us did, working from at home, watching the news, commenting about it on Facebook.

“Stop being Democratic or Republican. Be honest, have morals, show empathy, value, integrity.

Be a GOOD HUMAN,” he posted on Jan. 21.

The next day, Parrotti started to feel sick and lethargic. He couldn’t figure out why he was so tired. Although relatively healthy, he’s a cancer survivor, with one kidney removed in 2016. At first he worried that the cancer had returned, Chase says. By Jan. 28, Thom Parrotti finds he’s having trouble staying awake. “He was very tired for several days, so then he decided to go get a COVID test.”

Parrotti shares his results two Please See PARROTTI, A9

►FOLLOW DEVELOPMENTS regarding Dreams Park and All Star Village’s plans at

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Village, County, City Completing Review Of Police Procedures

By JIM KEVLIN\

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ith April 1 a few weeks away, it’s crunch time.

Following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last spring, Governor Cuomo issued an order requiring all 330 communities in New York State with police departments to form Community Advisory Boards to review “policies and procedures” by that date.

That covers three governments in Otsego County: • The Village of Cooperstown: Monday, Feb. 22, the Village Board approved Please See POLICE, A6

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD

Like a good Neighbor, StAte FArM iS there. ® with…

Melissa Manikas, Agent Cooperstown, NY 13326 607-547-2886

A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

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Lucky Recuperates With Koops, Set Free Pittsfield Couple Wildlife’s Good Samaritans ►In emergencies, contact

By JIM KEVLIN

the Koops at 607-8478567, or email littleeaglefarm@yahoo.com

PITTSFIELD

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a country drive,” said Dori. hen Dori and “We pulled up in front of Charlie Koop this house and I said, that’s grew up in it.” The couple has lived in Rockland County, it was rural. But as years went Lucky’s talons the clapboard house, on a country road a few miles east by and New York City’s can pierce a of New Berlin, since 1990. human hand. suburbs expanded, it They may have no wasn’t anymore.

Jim Kevlin/ OTSEGO.life children, but they’re not alone. Far The Koops began looking for Dori Koop examines a recuperating Lucky at the from it. greener pastures. wild animal rehab center she and husband Charlie Please See KOOPS, A7 One weekend, “we were out for

what’s fun

in Otsego County

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operate in the Town of Pittsfield.

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Musicians of Ma’alwyck pose for a photo in the drawing room at Hyde Hall, where they recorded their new album, “Hyde Hall and the Silver Goddess.”

At Hyde Hall, Album Release, Beethoven, More

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AllOTSEGO.life

Jim Kevlin/

Oneonta Sculptor’s ‘Terrible Beauty’ Opens At Munson-Williams-Proctor

Richard Friedberg, above, discusses “Oil Fire,” inspired by Isis’ 2017 bombing of Iraqi oil wells. At right, he pauses in front of “Fire Storm.”

Both are in “Terrible Beauty,” at the M-W-P.

By JIM KEVLIN UTICA

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s 2010 arrived, Richard Friedberg was feeling “dispirited, unhappy that we did not have a great chance of solving our environmental problems, our climate problems.”

“I needed a change,” said Friedberg, who has a studio in a Harpersfield barn, halfway from

Lit by Isis, Iraqi oil fields burn in 2017, inspiring Friedberg’s “Oil Fire.”

Oneonta to Stamford.

Then, on April 20, change arrived: BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded; 11

workers died, 17 more were injured. After two days of billowing flames, the rig sank into the Please See ART, A7

elebrate the release of the album “Hyde Hall and the Silver Goddess: Operatic Brilliance of Auber, Bellini, Meyerbeer & Rossini from the Drawing Room.”

The music is based on early operatic transcriptions found in the records of Hyde Hall and performed by the Musicians LARISSA of Ma’alwyck, well known from numerous RYAN performances at the hall. 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26. musiciansofmaalwyck.org/ • Second entry in Beethoven Conversation series, “Beethoven in Love – Song and the Only Opera,” features Music Director Maestro Żółtowski and Executive Director/ Opera Singer Thomas Wolf discussing Beethoven’s solitary life style and the mysterious beloved mentioned in one of his letters. Will also discuss the only opera the composer ever wrote “Fidelio.” Presented by The Catskill Symphony Orchestra. 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27. RSVP to cso@oneonta.edu • Explore the universe and learn what’s new in the science of astronomy in a virtual planetarium presentation.

Registration required. Presented by the A.J. Read Science Discovery Center, SUNY Oneonta. 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26. 607-436-2011 or visiteventbrite. com/o/science-discovery-center-andplanetarium-14332374215 • Crafters and artisans are invited to apply for space at the 41st Annual Friendship Festival held June 12 and hosted by the Church of the Christ Uniting, Richfield Springs. Visit rschruchofchristuniting.com for applications.

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HOMETOWN Views

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021

EDITORIALS

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MASTER GARDENERS: Our National Mission xtension Master Gardener programs educate people, engaging them in learning to use unbiased, research-based horticulture and gardening practices through a network of trained volunteers directed and supported by land-grant university faculty and staff.”

In Time Of Pandemic, Hope Blooms

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nderneath the quiet of pandemic strictures and social-distancing, the world hasn’t completely come to a stop. Just as, soon, crocuses (not, croci, we’re told) will begin poking through the snow, so will the Otsego County Master Gardeners’ exciting plan start to become a reality.

“The Grow With Cornell Cooperative Extension” fund drive has reached

HELP MASTER GARDENERS HELP US ►To donate, click on the “Grow

With CCE” link at www.cceschoharie-otsego.org, or email Don Smyers at drs269@cornell.edu for more information.

70 percent of its $200,000 goal, Extension Director Don Smyers announced this week, and thus, with

LETTERS

climate to change, and it’s all related to the “jet stream.”

The science gets complicated, but can be expressed in a simple four-step explanation that summarizes scientific publications of the past decade.

None of this involves seasonal summer/winter changes.

Here’s the explanation: STEP 1 – Atmospheric circulation is generated as the earth rotates during normal daily changes that bring day and night.

STEP 2 – This circulation causes regions of the atmosphere to constantly shift in a meandering pattern (the jet stream), which accounts for daily weather changes.

STEP 3 – During cliPlease See ZEIGLER, A6

Get Jabbed – Or Get Lost To the Editor: Got my second C-19 vax the other day at a public center. Only fainted once this time.

No wait, no line, plenty of technicians and vax. All paid for by the government.

Ain’t socialized medicine grand ?

We are truly blessed to have these vaccines available to us. So where was the crowd? Where were the lines? Why are so many people still refusing to get vaccinated ?

Since vaccinating the majority of the population could effectively wipe out the plague, why not tie

HOMETOWN

getting government paychecks and subsidies to vaccinations? Air travel?

If you refuse to do your civic duty and get vaccinated on religious, political or conspiratorial grounds, that is your prerogative.

But you forfeit your ability to get a government paycheck or get on a plane.

You won’t be able to fly to Mexico. You won’t be able to leave your poodle at home to freeze. But that will be the price you pay for refusing to do your civic duty.

It’s up to you. Get jabbed or get lost.

CHIP NORTHRUP Cooperstown

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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch

James C. Kevlin Editor & Publisher Advertising Director & General Manager

Larissa Ryan Business Manager

Kathleen Peters Graphics & Production

Elizabeth Cooper Correspondent

Ian Austin Photographer

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Tom Heitz/Sharon Stuart Consultant

IN MEMORIAM: Mary Joan Kevlin, Co-Publisher, 2006-17

MEMBER OF National Newspaper Association, New York Press Association The Otsego County Chamber Published weekly by Iron String Press, Inc. 21 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown NY 13326 Telephone: (607) 547-6103. Fax: (607) 547-6080.

E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com

want your voice,” wrote Rubin, “and we encourage your engagement to step in and involve yourselves in any way you might be able to utilize your skill sets and connections within our community.”

For sure. Intrigued chamber members should jump in.

Likewise, all other organizations and businesses should be preparing for the rebound, be it this spring, mid-summer or sometime this fall.

Thanks, Al, for the reminder.

Probe Of Cuomo Administration Must Run Its Course

Editor’s Note: By covering stories other big newspapers have ignored, the New York Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton, is regaining some of its luster. In this latest editorial on the Cuomo Administration’s latest crisis, it questions whether campaign contributions played a role in the March 25 order requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients.

Also, below, is a sampling of editorials on the issue.

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overnor Cuomo is trying to rage his way through the horrific nursing-home scandal, vowing to “take on the lies and the unscrupulous actors” even as he repeats his own lies blaming the feds for his fateful March 25 mandate that homes accept COVID-contagious patients.

Will the feds let him get away with it?

New Yorkers who lost family members in nursing homes were cheered by news of a federal probe into the matter. But the Biden Justice Department might buy his effort to blame the Trump administration, even though it’s transparently false.

the true numbers for fear they might be “used against us” in a federal probe. Prosecutors need to determine, among other things, if withholding that data amounted to obstruction of justice.

The danger, of course, is potential White House interference. Cuomo, after all, has been a staunch supporter of President Biden, and the prez and his Justice Department may look to protect the governor. (Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District, is DeRosa’s mother-in-law.)

Any federal probe must be comprehensive and allowed to run its course independently. “We opened a file” won’t do.

Nor should this end with a narrow, criminal probe.

If Cuomo, for example, The New York Post’s Saturday, Feb. 20, front page, ordered patients be sent to nursing homes to suck reporting on a stormy press conference the day before. up to the hospital industry, which donates heavily to The probe, by the FBI using data the state finally his campaigns, there may and Brooklyn US attorney’s handed over under court be insufficient grounds for a office, is reviewing Team order, suggests the March criminal conviction, but it’s Cuomo’s actions in the 25 order did, in fact, fuel no way to make policy.

COVID deaths of 13,000hundreds of fatalities.

No, getting all the answers plus home residents and the In a rare moment of won’t bring back loved ones. ensuing long coverup of the candor, the gov’s top aide But they need closure. As do true fatality count. A new Melissa DeRosa admitted all New Yorkers.

Empire Center analysis, Cuomo’s folks concealed

Here’s What Other Newspapers Are Saying

WHITHER TRANSPARENCY? Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester

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he issue facing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration isn’t simply having made mistakes — no government leader or agency can claim perfection in a public health crisis that has killed nearly a halfmillion Americans in one year.

The issue, as it so often is, stems from a startling lack of transparency regarding data on nursing home illnesses and deaths. Hiding from the public information that might not be flattering to an administration is a textbook “self-own” by public officials

such as Cuomo, who should know better.

It might seem ludicrous now, but Cuomo ran for his first term in 2010 promoting public transparency.

federal government. It’s also a crime to conceal information and otherwise obstruct government investigations.

New York may have engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and its agencies and possibly obstruct justice, among other crimes.

CRIMINALITY, PERHAPS? The Wall Street Journal

(T

ZUCKER SHOULD RESIGN Syracuse.com

op Cuomo Aide Melissa) DeRosa’s reported admissions indicate the Cuomo Administration’s conduct wasn’t merely negligent, but intentional and perhaps criminal. Numerous federal criminal statutes could apply. It’s a crime to make false statements to the

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ealth Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker should resign.

For months, Zucker claimed the state was still working to compile an accurate count of nursing home Please See OPINION, A5

LIFE SKETCHES

Tara Barnwell

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ith herd immunity headed our way – by mid-summer or earlier – it IS time to look toward what’s next.

So interim Otsego Chamber President Al Rubin’s letter to members, which arrived Monday in e-mail boxes, is ideally timed.

The letter was an appeal to members to volunteer for chamber committees: Marketing/Education, Membership Services/ Events and Finance/Audit.

“We want your input, we

FALL from GLORY

In Winter, Global Warming Pushes Arctic Air To South To the Editor: How can a warming climate lead to a “frozen Texas”?

Media coverage of freezing conditions, power outages and millions of desperate Texans summarizes the life-threatening conditions brought on by freezing temperatures and snow that are foreign to that part of the country.

It may seem contrary to “climate change,” but in fact that’s exactly what is causing this and other extreme weather; but how can that be? A warming atmosphere should bring warmer weather, not polar conditions!

The explanation is actually pretty straightforward from the perspective of meteorologists and those who study conditions responsible for

spring, an innovative redo of the organization’s parking lot at 123 Lake St., Cooperstown, (just before you get to The Farmers’ Museum), will get underway.

The Master Gardeners’ organization – its members instruct would-be gardeners in how-to and best practices, and its Memorial Day plant sale Please see EDITORIAL, A5

Chamber Looks Past COVID, And So Should The Rest Of Us

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Brussels Sprouts & Billy Joel

russels sprouts are did the peppers, but before the just about the last Brussels sprouts found root thing we harvest my wife dropped a shovel on from our garden. the pack crushing some of the I can remember many a plants. deer season when I’d walk “I feel terrible,” she said. out in the snow-covered “That’s okay,” I offered. yard to get some. Alice likes “We have plenty left.” to simmer them in chicken As if to prove I was wrong, broth and later pour some Alice lifted the plant box with honey on them. a gloved hand, only to have it TERRY Several years ago I drove BERKSON slip to the ground upside down. over to our local nursery I turned the box over. Now, to pick up some vegetable every stem was broken. “Is it seedlings. Alice was weeding when I that you don’t like Brussels sprouts?” got home and she offered to help with I asked. planting. The broccoli went in OK, as “The gloves made me do it,” she

Terry Berkson photo

Alice and the Brussels sprouts

said in a tone reminiscent of Flip WilPlease See BERKSON, A6

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LETTERS TO EDITOR WELCOME • EMAIL THEM TO info@

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021

HOMETOWN

HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5

History

Compiled by Tom Heitz/SHARON STUART, with resources courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library

150 Years Ago

Editorial: The Temperance Question – We are ever ready to do all in our power for the advancement of that noble virtue – Temperance. A virtue, without which, man is not certain of a foothold to life. There is no evil that drags such countless thousands to poverty, unhappiness and early graves, as drinking intoxicating liquors. We have good laws – which provide that no liquors can be sold. What we need is MEN. The recent action of certain “Good Templars” in this place, met with our disapproval – and we believe very justly. In the first place, if societies desire to elect strict men, let them hold a caucus in the ordinary manner, and make temperance an issue – it is a commendable one. The instigators of the “third party” did not do this, but instead put out a ticket which had no advantage over the Republican ticket. It was not one whit better, although it was very good.

February, 1871

125 Years Ago

An experienced businessman of New York writes: “The country, like an individual, becomes perfect through suffering. We have had considerable of the latter. The United States has been growing richer and stronger during the years of peace and distrust. Notwithstanding some increase of the national debt, we are less in debt than at any time in our history.

The floating indebtedness of the United States to Europe has been diminished from five to seven

hundred millions since 1890, and is now very small. The actual conditions are much better than they were a year ago. Business is better, railroad earnings are much larger, and the frontier of the silver inflation has been set back.” This is a great country. In round figures its wealth is estimated at 65 billions of dollars, while its public and private debts amount to 20 billions of dollars. The average rate of interest on the United States public debt is only 4.08 percent.”

February 1896

80 Years Ago

100 Years Ago

James A. Merrill, a young man working on a lumber job near Unadilla, was brought to the Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta and underwent an operation that resulted in his right arm being amputated close to the shoulder.

When he entered the hospital the arm was so terribly mangled that it hung from the shoulder by a few shreds of flesh, yet he exhibited unusual pluck, puffing contentedly at a cigarette during the examination. Merrill was at work at a circular saw when he caught his arm in the saw and it was whirled around several times before the machinery could be stopped. He is unmarried, about 26 years old, and well thought of in Unadilla and vicinity. He is a member of the Unadilla American Legion having served his country during the war.

February 1921

60 Years Ago

Mrs. Jane M. Bristol, a 23-yearold coed and mother of two, is free

February 1941 on bail of $2,000 in the death of her newborn baby boy in Oneonta.

Bail was set by Oneonta City Judge Ronald E. Rowley. As he adjourned a preliminary hearing on a charge of second degree manslaughter. Mrs. Bristol is described as “an average senior” at State University College of Education. She is represented by Hector B. Giocobbe of Worcester.

Bail was posted by the woman’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Marn of Dorloo, Schoharie County.

Mrs. Bristol, who has been separated from her husband, Stanton Bristol, since last February, is accused in the death of a seven-pound newborn infant discovered in a washing machine last week. The body was found in a machine at the U-Tote’M Cleaning Center on Chestnut Street about 2:30 p.m. Thursday by three-year-old Janice Cole

of Franklin. Janice was with her mother, Mrs. Irving W. Cole, and her sister Barbara, age eight. They had come to do the family washing. Mrs. Bristol was apprehended about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in her room at 54 East Street by Sergeant Howard Canfield. She was taken to Fox Memorial Hospital where she remained under police guard until her arrest at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Joseph A. Mogavero, Jr., Otsego County District Attorney said Mrs. Bristol did her practice teaching at Schenevus Central School last semester. She attended classes at SUCE the day after the child was born. Otsego County Coroner Fisk Brooks of Oneonta said death was due to strangulation. Mrs. Bristol was released in the custody of Dr. Hans Wilk on Friday and spent Saturday night at Fox Memorial Hospital before reappearing on Saturday for the court hearing.

February 1961

40 Years Ago

Otsego County District Attorney Colin Ingham announced that he and his staff will no longer handle minor cases arising on February 1 or later. It would be up to arresting officers to try violations. Ingham said the burden of serious cases was becoming too heavy for his office to pursue such matters as traffic offenses, harassment and trespassing. Ingham explained the policy to the Intergovernmental Affairs committee of the Otsego County Board of Representatives.

A charter bus for area residents

EDITORIAL: Let’s Support Exciting Initiative EDITORIAL/From A4 is an annual hit – is a lowkey, but beloved entity, as underscored by how $140,000 was raised since October, in time of pandemic.

• “Growth” Co-Chair Pati Grady of Cooperstown – the other co-chair is Jason Stone, who runs a Toddsville topiary business – is predicting the construction, overseen by McManus Construction of Fly Creek, will get underway this spring.

Phase One will be clearing the parking lot and installing the infrastructure – electric, water and a slab for the Greek Revival garden house that will follow in Phase Three. But the Master Gardeners aren’t going to wait to begin the fun part – working with the actual plants, said Grady.

“One thing we’re really focusing on now,” said Grady, “is raised-bed, demonstration food-growing gardens – which will be beautiful. We’re embracing something called ‘edible landscape,’ functioning gardens, mixed with vegetation that will deter deer, but attract bees.”

Those of us who putter, somewhat randomly, in our backyard vegetable gardens,

This is the latest site plan for the Master Gardeners project at 123 Lake St., Cooperstown.

can understand the 123 Lake project is taking the whole concept to the next level.

Another novel aspect is a rain garden – the strip will run across the front of the garden house – designed to naturally drain impurities from water that flows down the hill and across the parking lot, cleaning it up before it runs across Leatherstocking Golf Course into Otsego Lake.

The rain garden will yield pure water that Master Gardeners, as they train gardeners to be, will then use to water the plantings on-site.

The beauty of all this is stated in the Master Gardeners’ mission statement, printed in full at the top of this editorial: “to educate people … through a trained network of volunteers.”

This is not an innerfocused undertaking: The idea, first, is for Master Gardeners to upgrade their growing skills and, second, to show the rest of us in Otsego County how to do the same.

• That must be underscored: The rest of us, ALL of us.

It’s instructive that the fundraising committee

reaches beyond 123 Lake’s host community. It includes Oneonta’s Bill Woodward, a SUNY Oneonta administrator, at the county’s south end, to Betty Swetz of Richfield Springs, herself a Master Gardener, at the north end. (Smyers and Bob Sutherland, Mohican Farms manager, round out the panel.)

Anybody can participate in the programs, whether you’re tending a flourishing community garden plot next to Oneonta’s River Street School, or flourishing flower beds alongside Glimmerglass.

The Master Gardeners make full use of The Freeman’s Journal and Hometown Oneonta’s Happenin’ Otsego calendar, so be sure to look for how you can benefit from what the MGs have to offer as the weather warms.

Meanwhile, while enough’s been raised to get started, another $65,000 is needed to complete this ambitious and intriguing plan.

In time of pandemic, something good is happening. Let’s help it grow. Let’s donate to allow “Growing With Cooperative Extension” to go the distance.

Here’s What Others Say About Nursing Home Deaths OPINION/From A4 deaths, including residents who died in the hospital. He had the numbers all along, releasing them hours after Attorney General Letitia James released her investigation.

The Health Department should not do the political bidding of the governor. It undermines confidence that decisions are being made for public health reasons.

NEXT, Inspector General CNN New York State also has an inspector general’s office that has a mandate to ensure that “State officials and employees meet the highest standards

of integrity, efficiency, and accountability.” To fulfill its mission, the IG’s office conducts investigations of fraud, corruption, abuse and mismanagement in state government, including the executive branch.

Investigating whether the governor, his secretary and/or leadership at the Department of Health engaged in the alleged obfuscation or delay is right in the IG’s wheelhouse, and could lead to proposals for policy changes, or referrals for discipline or prosecution if the facts warrant such a result.

Let Voters Decide The Buffalo News We remain convinced that New

Yorkers have benefited from Cuomo’s leadership during the pandemic. His critics would have you believe that his failure to promptly release those figures obviates every other action the governor has taken as the novel coronavirus threatens illness and death on every street in the state. It doesn’t.

Nor does it mean Cuomo should be impeached, as some of his loopier Republican critics say. This is a matter for voters to evaluate. And it surely doesn’t mean Cuomo’s pandemic authority should be ended.

As it stands, those powers will expire in March, one year after they were granted … Far from ending Cuomo’s authority, the Legislature should extend it, perhaps in shorter increments.

has been scheduled for March to attend the newest Broadway hit, Gilbert and Sullivan’s famous “The Pirates of Penzance.” The bus will leave Oneonta at 6 a.m. and travel express to arrive in mid-town Manhattan at 9:45 a.m.

Stops will be made at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Radio City Music Hall, and Macy’s Department store. The evening performance curtain rises at 8 p.m. The total cost of the trip is $41. The price includes roundtrip transportation, choice of three stops, a day of free time in New York City and a reserved mezzanine seat for the musical.

February 1981

20 Years Ago

The Otsego County Chamber has selected SUNY Oneonta as the business of the year, with more than 110 years of educating. Mr. Edward Stack, retired President and Director of the Clark Estates, Inc., was chosen to receive the Otsego County Chamber Citizen of the Year Award. Stack retired in 2000 after 44 years of financial and business management experience with Clark Estates, Inc. Stack is also a member of the Metropolitan Regional Advisory Board of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in New York City. “Ed Stack is an outstanding man who has worked very hard for Otsego County residents for many years,” commented Jane Forbes Clark whose family and its foundation have contributed both funds and talent over several generations.

February 2001

LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Stay Vigilant! But There’s Actually Some Good News

T

his marks the 50th and social distancing, avoid column I’ve written crowds, etc.) Just that in this series. there’s finally some good It’s hard to believe on news to write about. many levels: How ►In a study of long we have been 600,000 people in restricted or locked Israel, which has down, that I am still vaccinated a higher doing this weekly proportion of its when we figured we population than would need to do any other country, this for at best a few there has been a months, that there 94-percent drop remain new things in symptomatic to write about COVID-19 RICHARD (in fact, every week infections. The vacbrings new informa- STERNBERG cinated group was tion), that my also 92-percent less publisher makes me pay for likely to develop the severe my own subscription. form of the illness I am very grateful to my if present. readers who have given me ►The World Health Organiuseful feedback, my pubzation (WHO) has approved lisher for giving me a forum the AstraZeneca vaccine for to spread this information, emergency use. This markand to my daughter who is a edly increases the number of real scientific editor and has doses available worldwide.

The COVAX initiative, helped me with advice and, at times, review of my work. which will use this vaccine, • aims to vaccinate 20 percent In celebration, I’ve deof the populations of the cided to write a column with world’s poorest countries by good news for a change. the end of this year.

(This is NOT to mean that ►Some data suggests that we don’t still have to be the Pfizer and Moderna vigilant, maintain masks Please See STERNBERG, A6 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Don’t Scare, Bankrupt Voters, Or Undermine U.S. Economy

D

uring the past few days, President Biden has signaled flexibility on the size of a minimum-wage increase, skepticism about $50,000 in student-loan forgiveness and openness to negotiation on his immigration reform plan.

Progressive moans of protest have been muted but audible. Some young activists questioned Biden’s “courage.” Criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (DMass.) was less personal

but still pointed: “Our job is to deliver for the American people. Period.”

It is that “period” that more moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) dispute.

In essence, they are saying: Our job is to deliver for the American people in ways that don’t unduly frighten moderate voters, break the bank, undermine the economy or come back to bite us.

MICHAEL GERSON Washington Post

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A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

BERKSON: For The Love Of Sprouts, And Alice Village, County, City React BERKSON/From A4 son. “I’ll drive to town and get some more.”

“No problem,” I said, not to make her feel bad. “The roots are still in good shape. They’ll just take a little longer to grow.”

“Are you sure?” my wife asked.

“I’m sure,” I said, but I wasn’t.

• So, Alice sheepishly buried the remains of the plants. At the same time I was thinking of how I could erase them from the garden and insert some new seedlings without my wife knowing.

As luck would have it, an hour later a friend called to invite Alice to the Stanley Theater in Utica to see Billy Joel’s show, “Movin’ Out.” When my wife left for Utica there was still time to drive to the nursery to buy more Brussels sprouts.

I returned home and dug out the roots Alice had just planted, placed them back in the ground against a fence to see if they would in fact grow, and put the new seedlings in the original row.

• I guess my switching the plants and the mention of Billy Joel and the show “Movin’ Out” had triggered a memory involving another kind of deception.

I was working on construction in a high rise in lower Manhattan.

My partner, Rodney Bunion, was 10 years younger than me, an ex-football

player and a product of the “tune out and turn on” generation.

Imagine my surprise one morning when he came in to work with a song he’d written on a wrinkled sheet of brown paper. I got to read it during coffee break and it was good! Real good!

Kind of urban folk. It was about this young couple Brenda and Eddie who were still going steady in the summer of ’75.

You got talent!” I tell my young partner.

He knows I’m a writer, respects my opinion and gloats through clouded eyes.

He thinks the 10 years I have on him have put me in the Over the Hill Gang.

Nevertheless, I take out a pencil and begin to do some editing to smooth out the rough way he expresses himself.

He doesn’t say anything.

• A few days later, Rodney comes in with this beat up, ragged, scratchy record album, “The Stranger,” by Billy Joel.

Up until then the only song I could attach to the singer was “The Piano Man.” “Take it home and listen to it,” Rodney told me.

I reluctantly followed his advice and once I got past all the skips and scratches I found myself listening to some excellent music and words that I could really relate to, songs like “Vienna,” “She’s Always A Woman” and “Just The Way You Are.”

Then I got to the song with the line about Brenda and Eddie and I realized Rodney didn’t write it, that he’d been goofing on me – pretty much the same way that I was now deceiving my wife about the Brussels sprouts.

I still hadn’t told her about the switch and when she later went out to the garden she was very pleased that the roots had “grown new leaves in such a short time!” Devil that I am, I said nothing. The plants I put against the fence didn’t do too well. Alice won’t know what I did with the Brussels sprouts unless she reads about it.

• Sometimes when we think we’re in the know, we’re not, and sometimes “You may be wrong but you may be right.” Is it that important to “Get it right the first time?”

I wasn’t mad when I found out Rodney didn’t write the song. I hope that Alice too isn’t angry when she finds out what I did with the sprouts.

And as for Billy Joel, he’s been a great success – even without the benefit of my editing.

Terry Berkson, who has an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College, lives on a farm outside Richfield Springs.

His articles have appeared in New York magazine, the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, Automobile and other publications.

STERNBERG: In Bad News Year, There’s Good News STERNBERG/From A5 vaccines, given as a single dose, supply greater than

If Texas Freezes, How Can Global Warming Exist?

FLEISHER/From A4 mate warming (as has been measured and reported for decades) layers of the atmosphere expand, which pushes meanders further south and slows their movement.

STEP 4 – This in turn brings polar weather into nonpolar regions, like Texas and other southern states where polar conditions linger.

Likewise, exaggerated meandering of the jet stream causes draught conditions and heat waves during summer months when air masses from equatorial regions move northward.

As with all complicated issues, an overly simplified summary does not explain why all changes occur. Hopefully, this letter condenses a complex scientific issue for non-science readers.

P. JAY FLEISHER Glacial geologist Town of Milford

90-percent immunity, at least in the short run. While this is controversial, and the FDA’s emergency use authorization (EUA) was for the two-dose protocol, some scientists are using this data to call for at least delaying the second, or booster, dose several months, saying this would have little long-term change in effectiveness. This would allow those doses currently manufactured or in the pipeline that are being saved for second doses, to be used in more people as a first dose now, thereby decreasing the risk of incurring and possibly transmitting the disease. ►Pfizer has announced that it expects to increase the amount of vaccine produced and to cut its manufacturing time almost in half. This would effectively double their production from the facili-

ties already online, almost doubling the daily production of new doses. The company said it can do this because of efficiencies in the process. ►Both AstraZeneca and Janssen/J&J should be getting FDA EUA soon, releasing those doses already made and currently being manufactured to be released, also increasing the speed of vaccine availability.

• And this: The FDA announced there is no evidence that you can catch SARS-CoV-2 from food or packaging. No more spraying down pizza boxes and slices.

“After more than a year since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was declared a global health emergency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to underscore that there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of viral transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.”

• Again, none of this good news means we can stop being vigilant and careful.

We have a long way to acquiring herd immunity especially if a large segment of the population refuses the vaccine, but at least there is something to cheer about.

Richard Sternberg, retired Bassett Hospital orthopedic surgeon, is providing his professional perspective weekly during the COVID-19 threat. A village trustee, he resides in Cooperstown.

To Police Reform Mandate

POLICE/From A1 its “Police Reform Plan” more than a month ahead of schedule, having completed the review and taking it to public hearing. The findings can now be forwarded to the Governor’s Office.

• The County of Otsego: Wednesday, March 3, a forum is planned at the end of the monthly county board meeting where findings covering the county Sheriff’s Department will be reviewed.

The public can watch proceedings on the county’s Facebook page, and raise issues by mail or e-mail over several subsequent days.

• The City of Oneonta: Its Community Advisory Board cancelled its Tuesday, Feb. 23, meeting, so Biama Charles, Hartwick College’s director of diversity, can begin compiling inputs of four committees prior to a Tuesday, March 16, presentation to Common Council.

• Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch said the critical issue to address was the “use of force” policy, pointing out that “every situation” has the potential

of developing into a “use of force” incident.

Both the new “use of force” policy and the “Police Reform Plan” may be viewed at the village website, cooperstownny.org One outcome: The trustees are planning to include funding for two Tasers and training to use them in the 2021-22 budget, to be approved in the next few weeks.

• At the county level, county Board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield, expressed satisfaction.

“We’re doing very well,” he said. “There’s always room for improvement. You can have all the policies in the world, but you still have to leave room for human error.”

And county Rep. Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, who chairs the Public Safety & Legal Affairs committee, said, “Anytime you have an agency that has authority over the public, it’s a good thing to review procedures to ensure there are adequate checks and balance. We’re happy we’re doing it.”

Dreams Park Season Possible SEASON/From A1 Gozigian, the company’s local lawyer.

Dreams Park said it is awaiting “clarification and direction from DOH and Governor Cuomo.

For the 2021 season, the park would be closed to the general public.

“Our plan will require that all camp participants and

Kevin Kurkowski

registered family members provide proof of negative testing or inoculation in accordance with New York State guidelines,” the statement said.

The statement said “the plan to expand the season at reduced capacity is in the best interest, safety, health and wellbeing of Cooperstown and the surrounding community.”

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ART/From A3 Gulf of Mexico, and oil – 60,000 barrels a day at the peak – began to pour through a ruptured riser.

What resulted was the largest oil spill in history.

The artist had found his muse.

Friedberg had watched “the incredible fire.”

He was “compelled by the awesomeness of the catastrophe.”

In the Atrium of Utica’s Munson-WilliamsProctor Art Institute the other day, where his show, “Terrible Beauty,” will run from Saturday, Feb. 27, through May 30, he searched for the right word to describe the disaster.

“Apocalyptic,” he said.

He began to experiment with a series of models and multiple materials. Then came a technical breakthrough. He began working with an aluminum mesh that allowed “compressions and expansions.” As he described it: the ability to capture change and fluidity in the physical world.

Each resulting piece is “very elusive. It’s evocative. It can mean a lot of different things,” the sculptor said. “It’s a Rorschach Test.”

The first outgrowth was “Macondo” – after the Gulf’s Macondo Prospect, which BP had leased for its oil and gas explorations.

As it turned out, in the decade that followed there was no lack of inspiration for Friedberg’s artistic explorations – Fukushima, the 2011 nuclear-plant explosion; Isis blowing up an Iraqi

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In his Delaware County barn, one sizeable catastrophe-inspired sculpture after another took shape – “Fire Storm,” “Heavy Seas,” “Dark Wave.”

While Friedberg was inspired by environmental catastrophes, he emphasizes: “I’m not a person approaching sculpture from a political or social point of view,” preferring to have his fans come to their own conclusions.

Five years ago, Friedberg and Mary E. Murray, M-W-P curator of Contemporary & Modern Art began discussing what became of the nine-sculpture “Terrible Beauty.”

As its assembly began, another catastrophe hit, COVID-19, which “heightens the relevancy of Mr. Friedberg’s artworks,” M-W-P President/ CEO Anna T. D’Ambrosio wrote in the exhibit’s catalogue.

Murray praised the exhibit’s “strength and coherence.”

Friedberg was living in Soho when demand for housing began pushing artists out of their lofts; he needed more space, anyhow. “I began drawing concentric circles from New York City on a map, until I found a place I could afford.”

He moved to Delaware County.

Since then, he’s exhibited his works at Hartwick College’s Yager Museum, lectured at SUNY Oneonta and generally put himself in the local art scene. He’s impressed by the range of artists locally, but added, “Sculpture is never dominant in the total artistic universe.”

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Wildlife Injured?

Koops Can Help KOOPS/From A3 At the time Dori was interviewed, one of the Koops’ temporary boarders was Lucky, clipped by a car Tuesday, Feb. 16, on Interstate 88 near Oneonta, and brought to the Koops’ by Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stalter, who – like Charlie Koop – is also a falconer.

Dori then ticked off a list all the other four-footed and feathered friends on the premises: “an owl out back,” another red-tail hawk, pigeons in a coop, 10 cats and dogs (all rescues), seven miniature horses, a Harris hawk Charlie uses for hunting, and a bird cage of doves.

“That’s for now,” said Dori, a nurse who had to retire due to on-the-job injuries. (“I’m still giving care,” she said.) You may have run across Charlie at Hannaford’s in Oneonta, where he is a meat cutter.

After six days of recuperation, the Koops drove Lucky to Ridell State Park at I-88’s Exit 17 (Route 28) to set him free.

(Lucky would have eventually returned by himself.)

The Koops’ boarders will increase in a few weeks, when fawns arrive with the spring.

For not only are the Koops animal lovers, 14 years ago they became animal rehabilitators, and they’re in big demand.

You can’t just hang out a shingle. The Koops are among a half-dozen assistants to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, Kelly Bolton Martin of Middleburgh, Schoharie County.

Martin, who is currently president of the state Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, has a license from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to deal with migratory birds, and from the state DEC to deal with small mammals, raptors (owls, mostly) and waterfowl.

In addition to the Koops, other in-county assistants, which state law authorizes to operate under Martin’s license, are Suzanne Johnson in Laurens, Connie Paris in Mount Vision and Nick Tarricone in Oneonta.

While keeping in touch with Martin, they’re available to anyone who comes across an injured animal and is looking for help. The assistants depend on local vets’ expertise as well – the Kopps, on Leatherstocking Veterinary Service in New Berlin – and Cornell Wildlife Health Service in Ithaca.

“They’re awesome, in terms of letting me know what the prognosis is,” Martin said.

She had recently completed her end-of-year log for the DEC. “The total number of animals we handled was close to 300,” Martin said. “For an individual, I couldn’t do that.”

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE is given that the Otsego County Law Enforcement Taskforce will conduct a town hall for the purpose of receiving public input regarding Otsego County Law Enforcement Taskforce review and recommendations for police reform as required

by Executive Order 203, in the Representatives Chambers at the County Office Building in the Village of Cooperstown, New York on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.

Under the current COVID-19 emergency/Executive orders, this town hall will not be physically open to the public at the County Office Building. Written comments can be mailed to the Otsego County Clerk of the Board, atn.

Carol McGovern, 197 Main Street, Cooperstown NY 13326 or comments can be emailed to comments@otsegocounty.com and will be accepted until 3 p.m. on March 10, 2021. The town hall will be streamed via Facebook Live on the official Otsego County Facebook page: https://www. facebook.com/ Otsego-County-NY102347451408765/ Dated: February 25, 2021

Carol D. McGovern Clerk of the Board of Representatives Otsego County, New York 1LegalFeb.25 Legal nOtice

Notice of formation of ARMOR CONSTRUCTION ONEONTA LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the NY Secretary of State on January 27, 2021.

The office of the LLC is to be located in Otsego County.

The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her to: ARMOR CONSTRUCTION ONEONTA LLC, 21 Country Club Rd Oneonta, NY 13820 The purpose of the LLC is to engage in any lawful act or activity.

6LegalApr.1

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Palumbo Property Management, LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 2/17/21.

LLC’s office is in Otsego Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 804 Pegg Rd, Morris, NY 13808.

LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity.

6LegalApr.1 Legal nOtice

NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed bids will be received as set forth in instructions to bidders until 10:30 A.M. on Thursday, March 25, 2021 at the NYSDOT, Office of Contract Management, 50 Wolf Rd, 1st Floor, Suite 1CM, Albany, NY 12232 and will be publicly opened and read. Bids may also be submitted via the internet using www.bidx.com.

A certified cashier’s check payable to the NYSDOT for the sum specified in the proposal or a bid bond, form CONR 391, representing 5% of the bid total, must accompany each bid. NYSDOT reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

Electronic documents and Amendments are posted to www.dot.ny.gov/ doing-business/opportunities/const-notices. The Contractor is responsible for ensuring that all Amendments are incorporated into its bid. To receive notification of Amendments via e-mail you must submit a request to be placed on the Planholders List at www.dot. ny.gov/doing-business/opportunities/ const-planholder.

Amendments may have been issued prior to your placement on the Planholders list.

NYS Finance Law restricts communication with NYSDOT on procurements and contact can only be made with designated persons. Contact with non-designated persons or other involved Agencies will be considered a serious matter and may result in disqualification. Contact Robert Kitchen (518)457-2124.

Contracts with 0% Goals are generally single operation

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contracts, where subcontracting is not expected, and may present direct bidding opportunities for Small Business Firms, including, but not limited to D/W/MBEs. The New York State Department of Transportation, in accordance with the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat.

252, 42 U.S.C. 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, Subtitle A, Office the Secretary, Part 21, Nondiscrimination in Federallyassisted programs of the Department of Transportation and Title 23 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 200, Title IV Program and Related Statutes, as amended, issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all who respond to a written Department solicitation, request for proposal or invitation for bid that it will affirmatively insure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability/handicap and income status in consideration for an award.

BIDDERS SHOULD BE ADVISED THAT AWARD OF THESE CONTRACTS MAY BE CONTINGENT UPON THE PASSAGE OF A BUDGET APPROPRIATION BILL BY THE LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Please call (518)457-2124 if a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the letting.

Region 09: New York State Department of Transportation 44 Hawley Street, Binghamton, NY, 13901 D264469, PIN 980734, FA Proj Z24E-9807343, Chenango, Otsego, Schoharie Cos., Job Order Contract: Bridge Maintenance, Various Locations In Chenango, Otsego & Schoharie Counties, Bid Deposit: 5% of Bid (~ $40,000.00), Goals: DBE: 5.00% 2LegalMar.4

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE is hereby given that there has been duly introduced before the Board of Representatives of the County of Otsego, New York, a Local Law entitled: A Local Law extending Local Law No. 3 of 2018 and increasing the rate of tax to 6%- imposing a tax on the occupancy of certain hotel, motel, and similar rooms in Otsego County.

NOTICE is further given that the Board of Representatives will conduct a public hearing on the proposed Local Law in the Representatives Chambers at the County Office Building in the Village of Cooperstown, New York on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 9:45 a.m.

Under the current COVID-19 emergency/Executive orders, this public hearing will not be physically open to the public at the County Office Building. Written comments can be mailed to the Otsego County Clerk of the Board, atn.

Carol McGovern, 197 Main Street, Cooperstown NY 13326 or comments can be emailed to comments@ otsegocounty.com and will be accepted until 9 a.m. on March 3, 2021 The public hearing will be streamed via Facebook Live on the official Otsego County Facebook page: https://www. facebook.com/ Otsego-County-NY102347451408765/ A copy of this Local Law is available on the Otsego County website.

Dated: February 25, 2021

Carol D. McGovern Clerk of the Board of Representatives Otsego County, New York 1LegalFeb.25 Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of Cherry Valley Market LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/29/2021.

Office: Otsego County.

United States Corporation Agents, Inc. designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to United States Corporation, Inc. at

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7014 13th Ave, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalMar.25

Mortgaged Premises: 17 RIVER STREET RICHFIELD SPRINGS, NY 13439

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District: Section: 13.20 Block: 3 Lot: 46.00

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY Name of LLC: NED’S SPIRITS LLC; Date of filing: November 12, 2020; Office of the LLC: Otsego Co.; The NY Secretary of State has been designated as the agent upon whom process may be served. NYSS may mail a copy of any process to the LLC at Reinhardt Corp., 3919 State Highway 23, West Oneonta, New York 13861; Purpose of LLC: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalMar.25 Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of Some Pup Films LLC. Filed with the SSNY on 11/19/20.

Office: Otsego County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 189 Winney Hill Rd., Oneonta NY 13820.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalMar.11 Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of Jim Jam’s Pizza and More LLC Filed 1/8/2021 Office : Otsego County Secretary State of New York designated as agent to process & shall mail to 95 Main Street East Worcester NY 12064 Purpose: All lawful business activities permitted under NYS 6 Legal.

6LegalMar.11 Legal nOtice

SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF OTSEGO INDEX NO. EF2019-301 Plaintiff designates OTSEGO as the place of trial situs of the real property

NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A MR. COOPER, Plaintiff, vs.

PHYLLIS LUCILE TODD A/K/A LUCILE P. TODD, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF DAVID BENNETT; JOHN A. BENNETT, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF DAVID BENNETT; ROBERT J. GILMORE, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF DAVID BENNETT; CHAD BENNETT, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF DAVID BENNETT AS WELL AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF ROBERT A. BENNETT; REBECCA BENNETT, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF ROBERT A. BENNETT; UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DISTRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF DAVID BENNETT; any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DISTRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF ROBERT A. BENNETT; any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest

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in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE; THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK;

you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

‘’JOHN DOE #1’’ through ‘’JOHN DOE #12,’’ the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint,

NOTICE

Defendants.

To the above named Defendants YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s Attorney within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York) in the event the United States of America is made a party defendant, the time to answer for the said United States of America shall not expire until (60) days after service of the Summons; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above caption action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure the sum of $92,080.00 and interest, recorded on December 5, 2017, at Instrument number 2017-5984, of the Public Records of OTSEGO County, New York, covering premises known as 17 RIVER STREET RICHFIELD SPRINGS, NY 13439.

The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

OTSEGO County is designated as the place of trial because the real property affected by this action is located in said county.

THIS SPACE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home.

Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property.

Sending a payment to the mortgage company will not stop the foreclosure action.

YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. Robertson, Anschutz, Schneid, Crane & Partners, PLLC, Attorney for

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Plaintiff

BY: Corey Robson, Esq. 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 310 Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675 4LegalFeb.25 Legal nOtice

Notice of LLC Formation of Purcell Brickhouse Farm, LLC, a NY limited liability company (LLC).

Arts. of Org. filed with NY Sec. of State (NYSS) on 01/05/2021.

Office: Otsego County.

NYSS designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. NYSS shall mail process to: 139 Brickhouse Road, Richfield Springs, New York 13439.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalMar.11 Legal nOtice

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY The name of the limited liability company is: BQT Consultants, LLC (the “Company”).

The date of filing of the Articles of Organization of the Company with the Secretary of State was January 29, 2021.

The county in which the principal place of business of the Company shall be located is Otsego County.

The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the Company upon whom process against it may be served. The Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against the Company, to Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP, Attn: Christopher L. Roma, 80 Exchange Street, Ste. 700, Binghamton, NY 13901.

The purpose of the business of the Company is any lawful business purpose.

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Notice of Formation of The Holscher Team LLC. Filed 12/21/20.

Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: 155 Peebles Hill Rd, Oneonta, NY 13820.

Purpose: General.

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THURSDAY, february 25, 2021

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-9

IN MEMORIAM

Harry Lampman, 71 May 14, 1949 – Feb. 10, 2021

ONEONTA – Harry Lampman, 71, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Wednesday morning, Feb. 10, 2021.

Harry was born in Albany, the son of the late Harry and Jeanette Lampman Hansen.

He was also predeceased by his stepfather, Wilbur Hansen.

Harry attended Bugbee School in Oneonta, graduated from Oneonta High School in 1967, attended Clarkson University and SUNY Oneonta, and got his masters in Theoretical Mathematics from SUNY Albany.

As a math teacher, Harry taught at South Colonie CSD and Mohonasen School District. He left his teaching position in 1980 to work at New York State United Teachers.

He re-entered the teaching profession at Guilderland CSD and retired in 2013.

He enjoyed spending time with family and friends at his pool and especially his boat rides on Arnold Lake.

Harry is survived by his beloved Harry Lampman wife Amelia Foell Stern, his sons Henry (Krystal) Lampman and Ernie Lampman, former wife and mother of his sons Linda L. Bacon, his brother Jon (Maureen) Hansen, his sisters Paula Lampman Henrich and Bryn

(Chuck) Ryan, his grandchildren Sierra, Henry, Moira and Gideon, and his nieces and nephews. A very sociable man, Harry also leaves behind many close friends.

Celebrations of Harry’s life will take place for family and friends in the summer. Contributions in Harry’s memory can be made to the Mohonasen Foundation for Excellence.

To leave a message or a condolence for Harry’s family please visit www.bondfuneralhome.com

Carla Jean Simonds, 69 Jan. 8, 1952 - Jan. 12, 2021

ONEONTA – Carla Jean everyone. She will be sorely Simonds, 69, passed away missed.

Wednesday morning, Jan. 13, Carla is survived by her 2021, at Bassett Hospital, husband of 49 years, Paul of Cooperstown.

West Oneonta. Also surviving She was born Jan. are her son, Shane 8, 1952, in Oneonta, (Marisa) Simonds of the daughter of Otego, and her daughClifford and Letha ters, Heather (Peter) (Beers) Hulbert.

Powell of Ballston Spa Carla married Paul and Tricia Simonds of Simonds on Oct. 14, West Oneonta; grand1972, at the First children, Anessia United Methodist Simonds, Hailey PowChurch, Oneonta. ell, Jaclyn Simonds, She worked as an Anthony Powell and LPN at the Oneonta Brody Powell; a Carla Simonds Nursing Home for brother, Randolph many years and later for (Susena) Hulbert of Milford; Otsego County Public Health. a sister-in-law, Janice Hulbert She also worked as a Private of Naples, Fla., and numerous Duty Nurse for many families nieces, nephews and cousins. in the area.

She was predeceased Carla was a devoted daughter, by her parents, Clifford and wife, mother, grandmother, Letha Hulbert, her siblings, aunt and friend who loved Patricia McAdams, Harry

Hulbert and Vaughn Hulbert.

Calling hours will be 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22 at the Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, 51 Dietz St., Oneonta, please wear a face covering, maintain social distancing and be prepared to wait to enter the building. The funeral service will be private. Interment will be at the Cook Cemetery in the spring.

Donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, www.stjude.org or Make a Wish Foundation, Gift Processing. 1702 East Highland Ave., Suite 400, Phoenix, AZ 85016, www.wish.org Online condolences may be made at, www.lhpfuneralhome.com

‘He’s Touched More People Than I Ever Will,’ Friend Concludes PARROTTI/From A1 days later. “Well I tested positive for COVID-19. Never been so sick,” he posts on Facebook. Over 200 friends send well wishes in response, but none sound overly concerned. “Omg lots of fluids.

Take care and lots of Vitamin C. Hope you feel better soon.

Lots of rest,” writes a dog breeder friend.

A nurse friend from Missouri asks “Do you have any idea where you picked it up?”

Parrotti has no idea. “I used to joke with him that he probably drinks sanitizer! He was the most careful because he knew he was high risk,” Chase says.

“His husband blames himself, because he’s a truck driver in a shared truck. Brett has not had any symptoms of COVID, so it’s unlikely. Anyone can get it

– it’s everywhere.”

Brett Miller answers his phone from the road. He disagrees with Alicia Chase: he thinks he knows exactly how his husband caught COVID. Miller drives a tractor trailer from Syracuse to Columbus, Ohio. Slip seat: one day out, next day back. “We share the same truck, three guys... I come back Saturday, and then another guy goes out Sunday.

And the guy that we meet on the other end goes from Ohio to Indy and back” overnight, while he sleeps.

Weeks earlier, the Sunday driver called in sick with bronchitis. Miller took his run, but by the time he returned, he also fell sick for four days. “I didn’t have any of the symptoms. I thought it was just like a regular cold,” Miller says. “I

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went back to work not thinking anything of it, and Tuesday…

Thom went to get tested. That Friday we got the results, he was positive.”

A manager later told Miller the other driver had pneumonia. “That guy ended up being out for a month, and when I finally got the answer back from that guy, he told me – I got it out of him, that he and his wife were positive for COVID.” Feb. 1, the news in Parrotti’s next Facebook post is worse: “Admitted to AO Fox hospital with Covid Pneumonia. Never felt so sick,” he writes, posting the words over a background of blue silhouetted mountains.

His friends start to get more concerned. In response to his post, 91 send their prayers. 83 send cheerful emoticons – hearts and smiles and clasped hands.

Lying in an Oneonta hospital bed, getting five liters of oxygen per minute through a nasal tube, Parrotti reads this outpouring of support but only replies twice. “Hope you get the very best of care,” a dog show friend from Indiana

writes. “I am in great hands,” Parrotti writes back.

Nevertheless, he continues to get sicker. “By Tuesday night, his oxygen levels dropped too low and he had to be intubated,” Chase shares.

“They don’t take intubated patients at Fox. Somewhere in the wee hours” an ambulance drives Parrotti through the falling snow – a 5-inch storm – to Cooperstown.

Severe illness in COVID-19 typically occurs approximately one week after the onset of symptoms. The most common symptom is dyspnea – difficulty breathing – often accompanied by hypoxemia, low blood oxygen, reports the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Kai Mebust, a hospitalist at Bassett, explains that atmospheric oxygen contains 21 percent oxygen. “In illness like COVID, the lungs malfunction; inflammatory fluid builds up and this impairs oxygen diffusion. To get enough oxygen to diffuse into the bloodstream, we need to deliver more oxygen to the lungs.”

Alicia Chase starts a

GoFundMe campaign. “Thom has Medicare, which covers only 80 percent of someone’s health insurance. He could potentially have some pretty astronomical bills,” Chase explains. Donations start coming in from across the country—friends from the American Kennel Club circuit, and former co-workers at Bassett. Chase has run fundraisers before; she set an initial goal of $6,000 but doesn’t expect to reach half.

Instead, gifts blow past her first goal in just over 24 hours.

It’s evidence, she says, of “the number of lives and people he has touched over his years.”

Alicia Chase’s birthday is Feb. 8. For three days, Parrotti has been steadily improving.

“Thom is currently down to 70-percent oxygen from 100 percent yesterday. He has no fever! He is on antibiotics and steroids,” Chase writes. Slowly the doctors wean his ventilator down to 50 percent, then 30 percent. “We had a little group chat, with the people closest to him, and everyone was like ‘oh Alicia, you’re going to get

your birthday wish, he’s going to get better on your birthday’ And then the next morning it all went downhill.”

Later, Miller describes the visit over the phone while he drives to Walmart in Oneonta.

“The way they had him intubated, it just felt like he wasn’t there. The tubes and everything, all the lines—it was very hard. I was holding his hand and his hand was ice cold, just a body laying there.

And I was hoping that he could hear me, and I believe he could hear me, just talking to him.”

Every day the bulletins from Alicia Chase get worse. Feb. 9: “He had trouble breathing so they had to increase the oxygen back up to 100 percent and the vent settings are now maxed.” Feb 10: “They had to start bedside dialysis, because his kidney stopped functioning, and he only has one.” Feb. 11: “In the overnight hours they had to jumpstart his heart, because his heart rate went down too low.” As she speaks her voice sounds rough, constricted. “He’s kind of filling with fluids, which will eventually put him in congestive heart failure.”

Brett Miller signs a donot-resuscitate order. “I was completely shocked. I thought he was going to be coming home until that point,” he says.

“He taught me to be a realist.

Even though I was praying and praying that he would walk in that door, coming back home, I knew once he was septic that it probably’s not going to happen.”

“I wrote his obituary today, in the event of his passing,” Chase says the next afternoon.

“Thom was born on May 12, 1948 and raised in Binghamton NY, the only child of Dorothy and Dominic Parrotti,” her first draft starts. The text isn’t fully organized yet. It hopscotches around his life – owning a clothing store, assisting the mayor of Binghamton.

Chickens and goats, gardens and travels to Scotland. Chase is trying to figure out how to capture his kindness and generosity in a few paragraphs.

“Many have shared that Thom was a teacher, a leader and always there to help the underdog,” she writes near the end of her first draft. “He’s touched more people than I ever will. I hope that Thom wakes up and laughs at us for being so prepared,” she adds in a text later that evening.

Saturday night, Alicia Chase is up late. Shortly before midnight, she posts a request on Thom’s Facebook page: “Let’s all comment one thing Thom taught you or your best memory! We all need some positive thoughts!”

Three hours later, Sunday morning, Valentine’s Day. Miller is awake. He doesn’t bother to correct spellings before posting his message: “ I Love You My Husband I Love You Thom !!!! xoxo” At 3:08 a.m., Brett Miller presses send. Thirty-one miles north, on the 5th floor of Bassett hospital, across the courtyard from the office he once shared with Alicia Chase, Thom Parrotti lays in the intensive care ward, still sedated and unconscious on 100-percent oxygen.

Thomas Dominic Parrotti, 72, passed away at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021.

THURSDAY, february 25, 2021

A-10 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Mayor Herzig Announcement Retirement HERZIG/From A1 options, supporting our local businesses, and strengthening our infrastructure while continuously improving upon our high quality of life.

“Even an unprecedented pandemic was not able to slow us down,” he said.

He vowed to spend his final “10 months working harder than ever” on opportunities that “will certainly present themselves in the post-COVID world.”

The political community was prepared for the announcement, with Common Council member Luke Murphy, in charge of the Democratic campaign, saying he expects a candidate, perhaps a woman, will announce by the end of the week.

Republican Council member Len Carson, who has been considered a possibility since leaving the county Board of Representatives three years ago, said he’s “thinking about it.”

Herzig entered the public sphere after Mayor Dick Miller’s suicide in October 2014, “It was a very difficult time,” he recalled. “Oneonta had begun to make some real progress, through Kim Muller

with Muller Plaza and the (Clarion) hotel. John Nader with Bresee’s. Foothills, Dick helped it in the early years.

“When Dick left us, we started to spin our wheels,” he said.

As Opportunities for Otsego COO – he was planning to retire – Herzig had worked with the three previous mayors, including Miller on the Housing Visions developments in the Silver Creek neighborhood.

“I had not previously thought about running for mayor,” he said. But, facing no opposition, Common Council appointed him to the top job on Sept. 15, 2015, and acting Mayor Russ Southard stepped aside.

Gary Herzig, born in 1949, grew up in New York City and attended Queens College, then charging $32 a semester, majoring in chemistry.

Graduating in 1971, he drove a cab for three years, recognizing “my real passion for working directly with people.” He then taught in an inner city junior high school.

But it was “a time when young people’s thoughts were about five acres and indepen-

dence.” A college friend had bought a farm in Delaware County, and “I would routinely travel to this region because it was so beautiful.”

He was introduced to Oneonta, moving here in 1975.

Married, he moved to East Meredith, where his daughter Sasha, now an attorney in Troy, was born. And he started his own business in Delhi, “selling, installing, wholesaling multi-fuel boilers in furnaces” as the Arab Oil Embargo pushed up oil prices.

In the mid-‘90s, he moved back to Oneonta, married nowFirst Lady Connie, now retired Cooperstown Elementary School athletic director, and spent the next 12 years at the Job Corps Center, six as director, before joining OFO as COO. He discovered: “There are a lot of people who were struggling to find decent housing they could afford. Good quality jobs that paid benefits at a good salary were at a premium, and tough to find.”

He also worked directly with government agencies, “regulators and funders,” gaining understanding that

would help him later as Oneonta’s mayor.

A few months into his mayoralty, Otsego Now then-President Sandy Mathes tipped him off to exciting news from Albany: Governor Cuomo’s new Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) planned to award $10 million to one city in each of the state’s 13 regional development commissions.

“We knew the competition was going to be tough,” he said. “At least 10 communities were going to apply.”

Herzig assembled a planning team that included both college presidents, Hartwick’s Margaret L. Drugovich and SUNY’s Nancy Kleniewski, and “we hammered out an application.”

On July 20, 2016, in the packed “black box” theater at Foothills, Empire State Development President Howard Zemsky broke the news to the thrilled crowd: Oneonta had won the Mohawk Valley Region’s $10 million.

“I remember being told this by the governor’s office,” said Herzig: “They made the announcement in every region of the state that year: The most

enthusiastic and energetic response that they saw was in Oneonta.”

That defined the rest of Herzig’s mayoralty.

“The DRI, the money and attention has the city moving forward,” he said, “developing more options for good quality rentals downtown, creating more middle-income housing, artists’ lofts, an exciting partnership with Hartwick’s innovation center, new facades and signs, by this summer a blightreducing building on Market Street, a renovated garage.

What about the rough spots?

“There have been a lot of challenges,” he said. “The hard part is that anytime you want to do something different, it’s difficult. You can say, we’re going to do something new here, and expect everybody’s going to think it’s a good idea. You often have to listen to people who don’t agree it’s a good idea.”

As for the final challenge, the pandemic, Herzig said, “it’s remarkable how people of Oneonta have really come together. People who would generally be arguing about little things, would help each other.”

His “Survive, then Thrive” initiative, he said, brought 50 people together “to help us come up with solutions. It didn’t slow us down at all with all our plans to continue future growth.”

The COVID-related crisis at SUNY Oneonta “has strengthened our partnership with the two colleges, because we’ve learned we’re all in this together: We’re going to succeed together, or we’re going to fail together.”

And now, the end.

As for retirement, “I’ll take some time for myself, and take it from there.”

Will he join the annual Oneonta pilgrimage to Venice, Fla.? “I think the winters are beautiful,” he said. “I’ve been out cross-country skiing 10 times this year. Just two days ago, I was up skiing around Wilber Lake. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun was out.

Fresh, white snow: It was magnificent.”

But not yet!

“I’m not going anywhere.

We have to make sure we are well positioned coming out of COVID. Right now, I’m thinking about all the work that needs to be done.”

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