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Volume 12, No. 42
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COVID-19 Reawakens 15 New Cases This Month, 4 Hospitalized, 3 On Ventilators By LIBBY CUDMORE & JIM KEVLIN
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fter a quiet May and June, 15 cases since the beginning of July, nine in the past week, may mean we’re heading right back where we started from. “This increase is similar to what we were seeing in the beginning,” county Public Health Director Heidi Bond said Tuesday, July 21. “If we continue to see a rise in cases, it could set us back.” Four of the new cases have been hospitalized, The Freeman’s Journal A sign of summer, intwo at Bassett Hospital, one at Fox and one at deed. For the third year Albany Med, she said. Three of the four are on in a row, Donna Gage of ventilators. Great Reflections Hair Salon, across Route 28 from Springbrook, heated up her hotdog cart Saturday, July 18, purveying Oscar Meyer franks to commuters between Oneonta and Cooperstown.
Bond Herzig Bliss Four are in the City of Oneonta, and one in the Village of Cooperstown. “It’s very concerning,” said Mayor Gary Herzig. “We hope it’s just a blip and not a trend.”
DRAMA ENDS ARSON TRAGEDY
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illage Attorney Martin Tillapaugh is preparing a law requiring everyone to wear a mask in Cooperstown’s business district. He expects to have a draft ready for the Village Board by its Monday, July 27, meeting, and the law in place by mid-August. Tillapaugh was moving
ONEONTA
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t presstime, Oneonta Police were seeking the suspects in more than 20 incidents of tires punctured overnight in Oneonta’s East End. “We started getting calls at 10 a.m. this morning,” Police Chief Doug Brenner said Monday, July 20. “And we’ve been collecting statements all day.” The tires were punctured with a knife or a screwdriver. For developments, check
forward at the request of Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh, who left a special Monday, July 20, meeting of Tillapaugh the village trustees after all concluded the downtown sidewalks, particularly with Please See MASKS, A8
Quarantine Scofflaws May Escape Oversight BY LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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SEE MULTIPLE REPORTS ON
►derek jeter, class of ‘20 featured on Baseball Hall of Fame website on Induction Werekend that might have been. ►another 10 states added to New York’s Quarantine List, bringing total to 41 ►SUNY-o JOINS HARTWICK in cancelling fall sports season. ►union demands troopers removed from New York City duties. ►public to be included in mandated review of sheriff’s, DA investigators’ policies, procedures. ►TWO WOMEN. 21, die in onecar Pittsfield crash; charges pending against driver.”
Cooperstown Plans Mask Crackdown By JIM KEVLIN
Tires Slashed On 20 Cars In Oneonta Spree
AllOTSEGO.com
“There’s no explanation for this,” she said, “My only thought is that it’s two weeks past July 4, people were out and about, they were gathering more than usual.” “To some extent, it’s not a big surprise,” said Herzig. “People are becoming more relaxed, visitors from outside the area are coming in.” The good news, she said, is that there’s no trend or common source, and only one of the cases was linked to travel to one of the 22 “hot spots” in the country. Herzig, one of two county representatives on the Mohawk Valley Regional Control Room, said, as of Tuesday’s meeting, the spike is not bePlease See AWAKENS, A8
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
John Heller’s sister-in-law, Erika Heller, seated here, berated Truitt in her victim’s statement. “Go to h---,” he told her as she left the stand.
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f you’re planning a vacation to what Governor Cuomo has increased from 22 to 41 “hot spot” states, cancel it, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond suggests.
“I had a vacation planned to North Carolina,” she said. “But it’s best not to travel right now, and I cancelled it.” With 15 new cases of COVID surfacing since July 1 – four in Oneonta; one in Cooperstown – officials are ramping up messaging about quarantining after travel. Please See SCOFFLAWS, A8
Arson-Murder Case Wins Truitt Most Jail Time In D.A.’s Tenure ‘Oneonta Forward,’ But By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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ife without parole: That was a first for District Attorney John Muehl, who’s been county prosecutor for 12 years. That’s what Gabriel Truitt received Friday, July 17, in Otsego County Court, a lifetime of punishment for
►FOR THE TEXT of the victim statements at Gabriel Truitt’s sentencing for arson and murder, SEE A4
setting the Dec. 29, 2018, fire on 5 Walling Ave., Oneonta, that took the life of former fireman John Heller. “I’ve only ever been able to charge someone with first-degree murder twice since I’ve been here,” Muehl said. “But because the murder weapon was arson, it fit
the requirements.” The first, he said, was Kevin Perry, who was charged in the murder of his parents, Timothy A. Perry, 59, and Solveig E. Perry, 52, in December 2017. However, the young Perry pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, reducing the sentence to 25-to-life. County Judge Brian Burns levied the sentence. Please See TRUITT, A9
Coop Starts More Slowly By LIBBY CUDMORE
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ooperstown’s “Main on Main,” accompanied by free parking in the Doubleday Field lot, was off to a slow start Friday, July 17. But the next day in downHOMETOWN ONEONTA town Oneonta, for the first Jennifer Renwick and time since the start of the Gary Brundage enjoy supPlease See DINING, A9 per at “Oneonta Forward.”
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD