HOMETOWN A-4 HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Views
THURSDAY, May 12, 2022
editorial
Ted potrikus
‘Yes’ on budget votes
No, Mom, I won’t give away any shortcuts
New York State annually reserves the third Tuesday of May for voters to cast their ballots on local school district budgets and board of education seats. It’s an important opportunity for the community to participate in shaping local education policy, and we urge all eligible voters to take a few minutes and do so on May 17. We urge readers to visit the website of their local school district — each has a good description and analysis of the budgets up for the May 17 vote along with the details of when and where the vote will take place. In addition, we urge voters to support school budgets as proposed in each of the county’s local school districts. These aren’t spendthrift plans — in each case, district leaders navigate the rough seas of local demands and state mandates with an eye toward minimizing the school taxes property owners must pay. The programs these budgets support are essential to every student’s education — academic, athletic, artistic, vocational — each is a vital part of the comprehensive tool boxes that today’s world demands. The teachers and staff whom these budgets support are essential, too, of course — called out correctly as among the heroes of the pandemic and beyond, and deserving of our unified support. Districts in the county also have candidates standing for election to their respective boards of education. We remind voters that these are volunteer positions — people who, in many cases, are parents themselves who want for all the students in the district what they want for their own children: a quality education, a supportive and supporting learning atmosphere, and opportunity to grow. We’ve thought often that board of education service is a thankless task, with volunteer members opening themselves to all manner of harsh criticism from an increasingly polarized community. We salute those board members and candidates who offer their expertise, opinion, and guidance to the professionals who carry out the complex and complicated task of running school districts large and small. School budget votes present a bit of a Catch-22, though: important as it is for us to have the opportunity to have a say in how our tax dollars are spent, the May 17 vote presents the sole opportunity given to the electorate to participate directly in a public budget vote. The federal budget, of course — that’s up to Congress, and who knows what is in that thing or if it even exists at all. The state budget — that one is left to the state Legislature and the Governor and, as we find year after year, even most state lawmakers don’t know what they’re voting on until they’re force-fed something at the last minute. In New York’s trickle-down theory of government, local governments are left to pick up the pieces and cobble together county, city, town, and village budgets based in large part on calculations that come from the aforementioned federal and state spending plans. Yes, we have the chance to opine on these spending plans, albeit indirectly, by electing representatives who presumably vote in our best interests. This isn’t always the case, and, as we’ve seen in the past, voters can occasionally vent their collective frustration with federal, state, and local budget shenanigans by voting ‘no’ on the one budget in which they have a direct say: the local school districts. It’s not necessarily a fair system, and it’s important that we recognize school budgets in Otsego County for what they are — careful spending plans attuned to the needs of the students, the teachers, and the taxpayers. We urge you to vote ‘yes’ on May 17.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Hometown Oneonta welcomes letters to the editor that reflect the writer’s thoughts on an article or other item appearing in the paper. They must include the writer’s name, address, email and telephone/ mobile number; the opinions expressed must be the writer’s own. Hostile, offensive, factually incorrect or excessively inflammatory content will not be published. The length must be no more than 250 words. The editors reserve the right to accept, reject or edit letters for clarity and space. Please send letters to: info@allotsego.com.
Home
HOMETOWN
14
nta eo
wn on to
th anniversary
20
08 - 2022
ONEONTA
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Tara Barnwell Publisher Ted Potrikus Editor Larissa Ryan Business Manager
Kathleen Peters Graphics & Production
Ivan Potocnik Web Architect
Tom Heitz/Sharon Stuart Historian
Editorial Board Elinor Vincent, Michael Moffat, Tara Barnwell, Ted Potrikus MEMBER OF National Newspaper Association, New York Press Association The Otsego County Chamber Published weekly by Iron String Press, Inc. 21 Railroad Avenue, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Telephone: 607-547-6103. Fax: 607-547-6080. E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com
A belated but no less cheery ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ to all you moms out there; I found myself thinking of my mother, of course, on Sunday — not only was it Mother’s Day, but it also would have been my parents’ 74th wedding anniversary. Some reading this may remember my mother, Jane Potrikus. She was awesome and I remember her daily with great love and admiration. I wonder what she’d think about us moving back to Cooperstown at roughly the same age she was when she moved away from Cooperstown to her beloved Cape Cod. She had raised her 11 kiddos, stood strongly behind, with, and then in place of our dad, John, at the Cooperstown Dry Cleaners. There was something more out there for her, and she went for it for her 30-plus years on the Cape. Were she here today, though, I know this: she’d remind me that one of the things that really got her goat out there was that one local newspaper in a mid-Cape town, ‘round about mid-May, would start running a regular feature on its front page each week with helpful hints for visitors to the Cape and Islands. “Side roads to avoid the traffic,” they’d offer. “Best places to eat before the lines get too long.” “How to get to the beach and beat the crowds.”
That drove her nuts. She’d shake her head at the paper and say, “Why do they do this? They’re giving away all of our secrets and now those side roads Here’s my mother, are going to be Jane Potrikus, happily celebrating just as clogged her 75th birthday as (routes) 6 and at The Otesaga in 6-A!” She ana2002, and not lyzed, correctly, worrying about that none of the traffic whatsoever. visitors would subscribe to the paper. “They’ll end up losing more local readers with nonsense like this,” she promised. I’d bet she was right. She kept her kitchen radio on pretty much all day when she was home and sometimes would call me. “Oh,” she’d say. “It’s a good thing you’re not out here. The traffic out of Boston is backed up four miles to the bridge.” Never mind that she was safely mid-Cape, not in her car. I would wonder why she stressed herself out by listening to traffic situations dozens of miles away, but I understood those reports from the Bourne and Sagamore bridges were her early-alert systems around which
she could strategize her trips to the grocery store, the beach, or to Mass. In Mom’s honor, then, I’m not going to write a single article about shortcuts that give easier access to the things we need to do. We’re going to keep the side roads to ourselves as we all try to avoid the pre-and-post-game jams on Route 28. We won’t say a thing about how best to line up for dinner at our favorite restaurants in and around Cooperstown, Oneonta, and places in between. That’s not to say we won’t happily shine a bright light on hidden gems that deserve more publicity. We have so many outstanding restaurants, shops, and attractions in Otsego County that there’s plenty to share without divulging the best strategies for getting there. The way I see it is this: our visitors are coming from places where morning and afternoon commutes can be a halfhour, 45 minutes, or more. Sitting in a comparatively rural 10-minute stop-and-go is nothing. Mom was a patient woman, but she put the kibosh on a drive to Oneonta if the traffic were going to be a hassle. She picked her battles. Traffic was not one of them. Giving away traffic secrets would be complete anathema to her memory. In her honor, then, my pledge: Mum’s the word.
Richard Sternberg, M.D.
COVID: Here we go again
There are 3006 counties, 14 boroughs, 11 census areas, 64 parishes, and multiple independent cities in the United States. The good news is that The Center for Disease Control reports that only 79 of these have a high incidence of COVID transmission. The bad news is that of the 79, 36 or almost half are in or surround Central New York. Risk in Otsego County is only moderate, but it is contiguous to high-risk areas. On Friday of last week, Otsego County reported 47 new COVID cases. This represents approximately a four-to-five-fold increase from one month ago. Testing positivity is up to 8.8%. What are we doing wrong? On the relatively good side, there have been only 16 deaths year-todate in Otsego County attributed to COVID. Case rate is increasing, but it does not appear that the death rate is increasing, at least not significantly. In the past week alone, the person whom I went to visit on Saturday wouldn’t let me in his house because his wife tested positive that morning. The visit devolved into a shouting conversation from about 60 feet apart. A person who was supposed to go with me to an event this week had been sick from COVID and had to cancel in order to catch up at work. I’ve been
told of other people locally who also came down with it. All these people had been vaccinated and thankfully all had relatively mild cases. One possible cause for the increase is the emergence of a new strain of Omicron. We had previously talked about COVID BA.1 and then discussed a variant, BA.2. Now we have to deal with BA.2.12. Another possible cause is the removal of almost all restrictions with the only ones left in place being a requirement in New York State to wear a mask on public transportation. Sadly, what would slow down the spread is unlikely to be practiced locally. We need to go back to masks for all activities indoors and all close interactions outdoors. Employees in restaurants need to continue to wear masks. We need to continue social distancing indoors. And of course, everybody needs to be vaccinated — though I will acknowledge that a recent COVID infection does give some immunity. Nonetheless, one of the people I mentioned above is having their second case in nine months. People have brought up concerns about vaccinations. Indeed Johnson & Johnson vaccination is essentially being withheld in most cases because it has a higher risk of complications
and side effects than Pfizer or Moderna. Not to say that it would have been better to not be vaccinated, but there are safer alternatives. The question of getting a second booster has been brought up, and many people who have been fully vaccinated and boosted once are delaying getting boosted the second time. If you’ve already tolerated three vaccinations, especially of only one specific type, you are very, very unlikely to have a complication with a second booster. Second boosters are now recommended five months after the first for everyone over 50, people with immune compromise, or highrisk issues. I myself have already had the second booster and frankly, if it is available I will get a third, and a fourth, and continue ad infinitum every five months, until it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no benefit for additional boosters. So, we are now at risk of developing a high transmission rate. This can be tamped down as we’ve done in the past by social measures and vaccination. Now is not the time to stop taking this disease seriously. Dr. Richard Sternberg, retired Bassett Hospital orthopedic surgeon, provides his perspective during the COVID-19 threat.
over 50 years ago! Apparently the saying about history repeating itself once again is verified. So sad… Dr. Roger MacMillan
who wrote these documents to have their practice catch up with what they believed (as with slavery and women’s rights) but catch up they did. Today, minorities and women have more freedom in this nation than almost anywhere else. Is there still more to be done? Absolutely! But back to the issue of abortion. The problem is this has become a political issue when it is, in fact, a moral one. Life begins at the moment of conception. Science now bears this out. And a baby in the womb needs the same protections as a bald eagle in the egg. We don’t need more abortions, we need more support for women who find themselves in a difficult situations. Let’s spend the millions of dollars on that and become a nation that holds life in high regard. Tim Wormuth Pastor, HillCity Church Oneonta
LETTERS
Repeating history
One reads with dismay and horror about the destruction and atrocities being committed by the Russian forces in the present war in the Ukraine. Apparently such activity has a precedent by such forces in the past. In the memoirs written by George Kennan, the noted American diplomat and historian, he wrote of the Soviet westward advance in World War II between Berlin and Moscow as they “liberated” this region. “The disaster that befell this area with the entry of the Soviet forces has no parallel in modern European experience. There were … sections where … scarcely a man, woman, or child was left alive after the initial passage of the Soviet forces. The Russians … swept the native population clean in a manner that had no parallel since the days of the Asiatic hordes.” This was written
Roe v. Wade
A letter was recently submitted stating that abortion is a constitutional right. Nowhere in the Constitution, nor any other founding document for that matter, is there given a right to murder. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Life is what the founders of our nation considered a constitutional right. And this right applies to an unborn baby in the womb. I know that it took a while for those
