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‘Night Before Christmas’ – Oneonta Style
‘T
was the dark night of COVID, and all through the county “Not a traveler was budging, not one little amounty; “The masks were hung by the front door with care, “In hopes that the vaccine soon would be there; With apologies to Clement Moore, Oneonta photographer and writer Michael Foster Rothbart has taken a pass at recasting the classic “Night Before Christmas” in 2020 Oneonta. For the full poem, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
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Follow Breaking New On
AllOTSEGO.com ►”A christmas carol” makes audiobook debut. ►DIVERS REMOVE lake buoys; winter is here. ►flooding possible on Christmas Eve. ►Boy, deputies contribute $550 in COVID aid to MCS. ►suspected heroin user breaks into Mount Vision homes. ►Jim buelow, 72, Worcester White House Owner, dies.
COMPLIMENTARY
ONLINE DAILY NEWSPAPER
VACCINES HERE By CHRYSTAL SAVAGE
With online classes cancelled, Colin Millea, Oneonta, took the morning to go sledding on Thursday, Dec. 17. Though only 10 inches of snow were predicted for the storm, the county was buried, with 29 inches reported in the City of Oneonta. The snowfall was the greatest since 31 inches that fell in March 2017.
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r. Anush Patel, Bassett Hospital’s chief of medical oncology and radiology, expressed relief on receiving the first of his two Pfizer vaccinations. “This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. Patel was one of 350 Tier One Bassett employees who received the Pfizer
IDEALISM, INJUSTICE BALANCED
Dr. Anush Patel, Cooperstown, Bassett Hospital chief of medical oncology, receives his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at FaxtonSt. Luke’s in Utica. “This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
vaccine last Saturday through Monday at Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, and Faxton-St. Luke’s Campus, Utica. “People were overwhelmingly excited to receive the vaccine,” said Karen HuxtableHooker, Bassett Healthcare Network spokesman. “It’s energizing health care workers; for them it means the beginning of the end.” Tier One healthcare employees are staff members in clinical and noncliniPlease See COVID, A2
Bassett Hospital photo
50-Car Parade Salutes Cooperstown Mainstay
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Hall of Fame spokesman Jon Shestakovsky discusses adjustments to exhibits at 25 Main.
HoF Takes Fresh Look By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
T
he Baseball Hall of Fame is striving to balance the sport’s sometimes troubled racial history with athletic prowess on the diamond. “The conversation began this summer,” said Jon Shestakofsky, the Hall’s vice president/communications Please See HALL, B2
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Former Cooperstown mayor Carol B. Waller and Claire Satriano wave to well-wishers.
By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
I
Rubin: Revisit Plan; Then Hire President At County Chamber By CHRYSTAL SAVAGE ONEONTA
A
Former Cooperstown Chamber leader Polly Renckens hands gift to Elaine Bresee.
n the midst of the 50car drive-by celebrating Carol B. Waller’s retirement as Mohican Flowers’ proprietor, a customer stopped by looking for greens to decorate his home for Christmas. Carol and her 42-year
assistant, Claire Satriano, who was also honored at the event, ducked into the store and got him what he needed. “They work until it’s done,” said Elaine Bresee, who spent three weeks organizing the parade with Carol’s husband Bill, and witnessed that small act of supreme customer service on Saturday, Dec. 19. Please See PARADE, B5
In 2022, Ommegang Eyes $1M Expansion
s interim president of the Otsego County By LIBBY CUDMORE Chamber of Commerce, Al Rubin has committed up to a year of his COOPERSTOWN Al Rubin time to recruit a successor to departing Barbara Ann Heegan. rewery The president of A&D Transport Ommegang isn’t Please See RUBIN, B3 going to let a pan-
B
This Spring, Brewery To Double Canning demic get in the way of customers enjoying Neon Rainbows – and other popular brews. “We installed a canning
line two years ago,” said Rick DeBar, director of operations at the brewery. “But we’re aiming to double our capacity on the
line starting next March.” The current line can fill five cans at a time; with the addition of a second “filler,” the line will be able to fill 10 cans with the same amount of Please See CANS, B 4
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER
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THURSDAY, December 24, 2020
HOMETOWN People
Tier One Bassett Employees Vaccinated
VACCINES/From A1 cal patient-care areas considered to be of high exposure, according to the state, including emergency room and Intensive Care Unit employees. Some 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were shipped across New York State this week and received by Bassett’s Tier One employees. Going forward, however, Bassett has opted for the Moderna vaccine, which has a similar efficacy against COVID-19, but doesn’t require the extreme refrigeration the Pfizer one does. “Because it doesn’t need the ultra-cold storage like the Pfizer vaccine, (Moderna) is easier to store and transport throughout our region, so we can reach more patients in our service area,” said Kelly Rudd, PharmD, the Bassett Network’s pharmacy director. Although Arnot Ogden and Faxton-St. Luke’s are not in the Bassett Network, they are medical campuses designated by New York State as regional hubs for initial
vaccine administration. “We have been able to help them and they were able to help us; this really takes everybody working together,” Huxtable-Hooker said. “We are proud to be part of the state’s efforts to vaccinate front-line healthcare workers as we move through the vaccination distribution phases outlined by the CDC,” said Jonathan Lawrence, Arnot president/ CEO. “We look forward to working with hospitals in our region to achieve the goal of vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, in our efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.” According to HuxtableHooker, all five Bassett Network hospitals have received their first allotment of the Moderna vaccine and vaccinations of Tier One staff will begin this week. “Schedules for inoculating staff are in development,” she added. Those that have already received the Pfizer vaccine
at one of the two locations in Utica or Elmira will be returning to those sites to SALVATION ARMY ‘ANGELS’ BUY GIFTS FOR 500 KIDS receive the booster for the vaccine after three weeks. Those that will receive the Moderna vaccine will return for their booster after 28 days. And with 350 staff members on their way to completing the vaccination process against COVID-19, Heidi Bond, Otsego County public health director, says she hopes this will speed up the timeline for getting the vaccine to the public. “Hopefully the vaccine will begin to come at a fast pace,” she said. “We can vaccinate our front-line healthcare workers, then increase out to the next tier and vaccinate other essential workers.” Bassett’s attending physician of infectious diseases, Dr. Charles Hyman, suggested last week that the public will likely not have access to the vaccine until the end of April, but adds Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA that planning as to how Salvation Army volunteers Joan Hill and Judy Barnum, sorting piles of best distribute it is already Christmas presents on Wednesday, Dec. 17, enough to make a Merry underway. Christmas for 500 children across 261 families. With the pandemic presenting more need for donations, Capt. Selah Bender said they saw a similar rise in Angels donating.
December Deadliest Month, Bond Says By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
W
ith three deaths in two weeks, four people in the ICU and 16 hospitalized, Otsego County Public Health Director Heidi Bond has declared December to be the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. “Three deaths in a month is the most we’ve had,” she said. “Before that, it was two in April.” The victim, a woman over 55, had not been in the ICU, but had been hospitalized for less than week before she died on Friday, Dec. 18. Last week, two other women died,
including one who had been infected with the virus by an employee at the assisted living facility where she lived. The employee, Bond reported at the time, had spent Thanksgiving with a group of people outside their home, and was infected there. This week’s seven-day total saw 141 cases, a slight decrease from last week’s total of 153. But Friday, Dec. 18, saw a second day of 35 cases, the current record for number of cases in a single day. And with Christmas looming, Bond worries that the cases will climb even higher as people continue to gather against CDC recommendations. “We’re starting with a higher number of cases than we did at Thanksgiving,” she said.
Happy Holidays!
Hartwick Professor’s Work In Delhi Gallery ONEONTA
H
artwick College Visiting Assistant Professor of Arts, concentrated in sculpture, Leah Frankel’s collaborative “Intertexture Weave and Word,” is now open at Bushel Collective’s Response Space on Main Street in Delhi. Frankel collaborated with poet Iris Cushing to “create a
Happy Holidays
Here’s wishing you have all the happiness your holiday can hold!
space where shapes come unmoored from their expected associations,” according to the Bushel Leah Frankel Collective. Frankel’s is the first work mounted in the nonprofit collective’s new street-view gallery.
STANLEY TOPS: Samantha Stanley, Oneonta has been named to the dean’s list for the fall 2020 semester at the University of Vermont. HARNETT PUBLISHED: Justin Hartnett, lecturer at SUNY Oneonta in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, had a paper accepted for publication in the International Journal of Climatology.
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THURSDAY, December 24, 2020
EDITORIAL
THIS CHRISTMAS, HOPE SHOULD BE FOREMOST
As We Count Our Blessings, Let’s Stay The Course All L ast Sunday, www.. OTSEGO was able to trumpet the news: “VACCINE HERE! 350 Bassett Tier 1 Workers Getting Shots Over Weekend.” Within hours, thousands had clicked through to read the good news. It – the COVID-19 pandemic – is not over, but it’s on the way to being over. • This happy news comes at a time when, as the Gospel of Luke had it, humanity wishes for “peace on Earth, good will toward men.” It’s the time of year when we pause and reflect on how close we’ve come to the ideal. The reality, this year as always,
or less darkly. To what? To a modicum of happiness, prosperity, good will, not just for ourselves, but to our fellow humans. Not just here, in our relatively safe and secure Otsego County, but throughout our state, country and even world. Perfection, whether you’re religious or not, is not of this Photo courtesy Governor’s Office world – but the journey is life’s meaning. Dec. 14, Sandra Lindsay, an ICU • nurse in Queens, received the Statistically, we can reflect first vaccine in the nation. with some satisfaction on is that we missed it, given we live meeting the COVID-19 challenge, in an imperfect world, populated (although it’s not over yet, and by imperfect people looking to continued vigilance is essential.) find the way through a glass more
A
nd she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, The Freeman’s Journal I bring you good The Nativity window tidings of great joy, at St. Mary’s Catholic which shall be to all Church, Cooperstown. people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2 King James Version
HOMETOWN
There IS A Santa Claus, Editor Wrote 8-Year-Old Editor’s Note: The New York Sun’s Francis Pharcellus Church penned this famous response to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon in 1897.
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e take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal there a Santa Claus? Santa and Mrs. Claus have been reading Christmas stories that are available Virginia O’Hanlon to all Otsego County youngsters. Google “Cooperstown Community Christ115 West Ninety Fifth St. mas Committee facebook” to listen. Virginia, your little Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. light with which childhood fills the friends are wrong. They have been He exists as certainly as love and world would be extinguished. affected by the skepticism of a skeptigenerosity and devotion exist, and Not believe in Santa Claus! You might cal age. They do not believe except you know that they abound and give as well not believe in fairies. You might they see. They think that nothing can to your life its highest beauty and joy. get your papa to hire men to watch in all be which is not comprehensible by Alas! how dreary would be the world the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch their little minds. All minds, Virginia, if there were no Santa Claus! It would Santa Claus, but even if you did not see whether they be men’s or children’s, Santa Claus coming down, what would are little. In this great universe of ours, be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his faith then, no poetry, no romance to but that is no sign that there is no Santa intellect as compared with the boundmake tolerable this existence. Claus. The most real things in the world less world about him, as measured by We should have no enjoyment, are those that neither children nor men the intelligence capable of grasping the except in sense and sight. The external Please See VIRGINIA, A6 whole of truth and knowledge.
A CHRISTMAS STORY
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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
That’s less than one percent of our county’s population of 59,493 people. • To focus on the numbers shouldn’t harden us to the grief suffered by those 10 families, or to the lost wages, damaged and closed businesses, stunted educations, or the other very real negative impacts of the disease. But Otsego County achieved something special and we can be proud: We can take comfort in how our neighbors, professionals and political leaders reacted to what could have been a devastating onslaught. Please See EDITORIAL, A5
Yes, Virginia...
ONEONTA
James C. Kevlin Editor & Publisher
The crudest measurement – mere numbers – affirms this. As of this writing, 11 local people have succumbed to COVID. According to the state Health Department, 700 people die in our county annually, so this worldwide health challenge, the worst in a century, raised the local death rate by 1.4 percentile points. Even with the post-Thanksgiving spike, only 1,300 people were infected. Take out the 750 on SUNY Oneonta’s campus – only one person in the community was determined to have been infected by that outbreak – only 550 people in the county at large have been stricken with the virus.
O
New Home For The Holidays?
ne Brooklyn morning many Decembers past, I heard a scratching behind the wall of my work place in the attic. I glanced out the window and spotted a squirrel emerging from a hole between the rain gutter and the shingles TERRY on the roof. He looked at me with a BERKSON smug expression as if to say, “I moved in and I’m stayin’.” The intruder jumped to the leafless maple in back of the house and was gone. • I’d heard stories about squirrels destroying houses as they chewed through walls and lead plumbing and electric lines. The thought of a critter storing his acorns under my rafters was too distracting. I shut the computer
and descended to the kitchen for coffee. On the phone an exterminator quoted a painful price to set a Havahart trap that would catch the animal for transport to Prospect Park. “It’s time consuming,” the man explained. “We’re not allowed to kill them.” When I didn’t jump at his services he offered to sell me a trap for $75, but I thought a bird cage we had in the cellar would serve just as well. Walter Haskel, my editor, had called Squirrel raises Christmas question: Why can’t we all get along? the day before to remind me about a deadline on a story. I felt I used a chopstick with twine I’d do a better job if I didn’t have attached to it to hold the cage door that squirrel to think about. Peanut open and a Ford accelerator spring to butter for bait worked well for mice, so slam it shut. I placed the cage near the why not for this guy? In my yard he base of the maple and ran the twine to was a squirrel but in my house he was the door of our back pantry. a big rat. Please See BERKSON, A6
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THURSDAY, December 24, 2020
HOMETOWN
History
HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5
Compiled by Tom Heitz/SHARON STUART, with resources courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library
150 Years Ago
Home and Vicinity – The walks in some parts of our village have been made very slippery by boys sliding and skating on them. A bad practice! Now is a good time to provide yourself a nice scarf or warm overcoat. Anything of this kind can be bought cheaper in Oneonta than any other place short of Albany. All ye who are troubled with mice should call at the store of Moody and Vosburgh, and purchase a “Novelty MouseTrap.” The construction of this trap is such that it would be fun to sit up nights and watch the little pantry robbers as they slide in under the gate. Miss Mary Burton lost a valuable gold watch from her chain last Thursday evening. The loss was first discovered while in attendance at Washburne’s show. Search was made that night in the street from Mr. Burton’s residence to the Hall with lanterns, but without success. December 1870
125 Years Ago
The Nagging Woman – Isolation and meagre intercourse with the world at large often brings to an intellectual, ambitious woman a morbid nervousness which results in a condition peculiarly favorable to nagging. Of course, the members of the family about her are the sufferers. Sometimes it is ill health or multifarious household duties, or physical inability to carry all the load placed upon her, or it may be the conventionalities that hedge about a woman’s life, a life that allows no expansion, no bursting of bonds that are merely chains. There are women, and there are women. And, a nagging woman has no mercy. The worst sufferers are the children, because a nagging woman has no comprehension of child-nature – nothing of the ideal mother about her. Weak women, vain women, affected women are tiresome enough. But, unsatisfactory as they are, they are all better than the nagging woman. December 1895
100 Years Ago
Oneonta newspaper readers the past two months have no doubt noticed clever short stories of the holiday season which have been written by Mary Graham Bonner. The talented young author, now of New York City, is a descendant of an old Otsego family, the Worthingtons of Cooperstown. She formerly resided in Cooperstown and was for several
I
40 Years Ago
80 Years Ago
Non-teaching public school employees will be covered by the New York State minimum wage law for the first time on January 1, 1981 when the general wage floor rises to $3.35 per hour. A measure signed into law by Governor Hugh L. Carey on June 30, requires school districts to pay the State minimum wage to workers previously excluded along with all government employees. The law will benefit public school employees in such occupations as cafeteria worker, bus driver, custodian and office worker, who are not already receiving the minimum wage. The law does not apply to teachers, professional employees, administrators, school executives, volunteers, apprentices and subsidized students. The minimum wage law has risen incrementally December 1940 through standing legislation as follows: $2.65 in 1978; summers the society editor of The Glimmerglass. Of late she $2.90 in 1979; and $3.10 in 1980. When the minimum wage increases allowances for tips, meals, lodging and has given much time to literary work of a more ambitious uniforms also rise proportionately. sort, her stories for children being particularly attractive. December 1980 Miss Bonner regularly visits many of the city hospitals for children, where she reads stories to the crippled little folk. Her coming is always hailed with delight. Telemarketing Regulations – Under the Telemarketing December 1920 and Consumer Fraud and Prevention Act: 1. It is illegal to intimidate, harass or use profanity during a telemarketing call or to call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. 2. Calls are prohibited A $1,865,500 expansion, replacement and improveto anyone who previously stated that he does not wish to rement program was completed by the New York Telephone ceive solicitation call from that seller. 3. Each local telephone Company during 1960 in the Oneonta district. In Oneonta company must inform its customers of their rights with alone, according to D.F. Parce, manager, the total number respect to telemarketers and automatic-dialing-announcing of telephones increased from 27,175 to 27,440 during the devices. 4. The Secretary of State is directed to develop rules year. Local and long distance calls on the average busiand regulations for the two-year Telemarketer registrations. ness day reached 45,600, he said. Direct distance dialing 5. Upon any violation, the Secretary of State is authorized to was installed for all Oneonta subscribers; also for those in assess civil penalties of not less than $2,000 for each violaMilford, Otego, Schenevus and Worcester. During the year tion. 5. Anyone is prohibited from acting as a telemarketer Miss Mary Chadick was appointed Chief Operator and John without first receiving a certificate of registration. Rhymestine became installation foreman at Oneonta. Miss December 2000 Chadick was transferred from Oneida and Mr. Rhymestine from Herkimer. The new compact Princess phone is now in the homes of 150,000 New York State residents of TJ Maxx, the national name brand department store is which 210 are in Oneonta. Mr. Parce reports that the coming to Southside, perhaps as soon as next summer. telephone company paid nearly one million dollars in Renovations are about to begin in the former Kmart at the wages and salaries to its employees in 1960 in Oneonta mall’s west end, mall general manager Jessica Dombrowski and the surrounding area. The company also paid $55,895 said in confirming the news. The mall intends to redo the in local taxes to the city and town of Oneonta in 1960. December 1960 façade to meet TJ Maxx standards, repair all sidewalks and parking spaces and widen the lanes of the main driveway. December 2010
20 Years Ago
60 Years Ago
10 Years Ago
LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
GUEST COLUMN
Vaccines, Part II: They Arrive!
Now’s Time To Invest In County
wish I had the time, stamina, and and nursing home residents and staff. Tier One-B is essential workers. column inches to write an article daily. Tier One-C is high risk individuals which That’s how fast the news is coming. Since last week, Pfizer has begun distriincludes those over 60 or 65 depending on bution and vaccinations around the nation, their state of residence and those with other the Moderna vaccine has been risk factors. After that I am not sure but it approved and it will start distribution by the time you read this, with seems to be everyone else lumped inoculations going into arms probtogether. It is not clear when and ably by Thursday the 24th. if minors will get the vaccinations, The 350 Tier One healthcare since they haven’t been tested in workers from Bassett Healthcare those under 16. will have been inoculated, though • they all had to travel to either Utica There has been some controversy or Elmira to receive the network’s over the 1-B group, not so much if allotted doses, according to a essential workers should get it next, RICHARD Bassett spokesman. They will get but who is an essential worker. STERNBERG Overall, there are probably more the Pfizer vaccine. According to the Governor, we than 20-30 million people in this category in the United States: police, fire, can expect more doses in the weeks ahead. EMS, teachers, other healthcare workAll I want for Christmas is my two vaccines. ers who interact with the general public, • grocery store workers, food processing plant There have been some surprises with the workers, certain other government employroll out. It seems some five dose vials of ees, and many others. As someone with eight risk factors and the Pfizer vaccine actually contain six doses. On the other hand, the logistics have not counting, I am willing to wait my turn for gone quite as well as we were told to expect. most of these, but unfortunately there will I guess that’s not a surprise. be some who get moved up the list but probIn the United States, the priority for ably don’t deserve it. the order of who gets the vaccine has been For example, an attorney friend of mine announced. in New Jersey says they are classified as esTier One-A is front-line healthcare workers Please See STERNBERG, A6
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e have only one week left in 2020, a remarkable year that hit us with surprises and painful disease. We lost jobs, got sick, and even died due to COVID-19. But the year had its bright spots too. One of them was the extraordinary efforts by all the front-line medical professionals and other essential workers who risked their own health to serve us. Another is the HARRY amazing generosity that poured out LEVINE from members of our community to help those in need. A third was the extraordinary efforts of our nonprofit sector that rose to meet many challenges with fewer resources. As the year draws to a close, there are a few days remaining when you might consider gifts to those very
EDITORIAL: Brighter Times Coming, But Not Quite Yet EDITORIAL/From A4 First, we can thank ourselves. The widespread – in some cases, almost universal – wearing of masks, is an expression of caring for our fellow citizens. Masks, it’s been widely reported, may protect the wearer – but, mostly, they protect us from infecting people with whom we come into contact. In that sense, wearing a mask is an act of love, the central Christmas sentiment. We should be proud of ourselves and others. • Second, we can thank our professionals. Our Bassett Healthcare Network was up to the challenge. Brinton Muller, the local hospital’s emergency preparedness manager, formed a committee to prepare for a possible coronavirus infestation as early as January, well ahead of our state and national leaders. In March, when the worst began to happen, then-President/CEO Bill Streck was able to roll out a “hotline” and testing tents almost immediately.
He was assisted in those early days by Drs. Bill LeCates, Steve Heneghan (since departed) and Charles Hyman. Fingers crossed, but an expanded ICU has yet to reach its capacity, a fear in those early days. (Astonishingly, Bassett accomplished all this during a transition to the new president/CEO, Tommy Ibrahim, who devised and began implementing a futuristic, system-wide reorganization parallel to the COVID fight. That reflects a first-rate operation – and brings the famous Scott Fitzgerald quote to mind.) Outside Bassett, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond became the face of the COVID-19 fight. • Third, of our political leaders. Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig reported the other day that, in limiting the campus outbreak’s impact, the City of Oneonta’s infection rate is among the lowest in the state. Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh achieved similar results, with Governor Cuomo singling out “America’s Most Perfect Village” last month for
its particular success. This, despite hosting baseball fans from around the country over the summer – fewer, for sure, but enough to pose a threat. At the county level, the Big Three – Treasurer Allen Ruffles, with the support and encouragement of the county board’s top leadership, Chairman Dave Bliss and Vice Chair Meg Kennedy – put together a package of borrowings and revenue streams designed to get county government through a historic challenge with minimal impact. • Of course, as we wish for “peace on Earth, good will toward men” at Christmastime, let’s not forget pride is considered a sin. We’ve done well, but we’re not out of this yet. It could take weeks, maybe months – let’s hope otherwise – before the anti-COVID vaccines are available locally. Let’s stay the course, wearing masks, social distancing, washing our hands and avoiding crowds – as we have. We’ve proven we can do it. As we count our blessings this Christmas, let’s stay the course.
nonprofits which performed so well for us all. Our tax policy rewards those who make charitable donations by allowing donors to reduce their taxable income and save on taxes. But there is a hard deadline of Dec. 31 for taking advantage of some good ideas for 2020. Here are a few of those ideas: • Taxpayers who do not itemize deductions are entitled to reduce their taxable income by up to $300 by simply making gifts before the end of the year to qualified charities. • If you do itemize your deductions and want to donate at least $10,000 but are not yet ready to decide which organizations you want to support, you can establish a donor-advised
fund and benefit from the tax deduction this year, while deciding later how to allocate your gift. • Those with IRAs who are at least 70½ can make gifts to charities (up to $100,000) directly from an IRA and the distribution comes out tax-free instead of taxable. Be careful, however, as 2020 is a year in which there is no required minimum distribution and the age for starting RMDs has been extended to 72. • For 2020 only (thanks to the CARES Act), donors are permitted to deduct charitable gifts equal to 100 percent of their adjusted gross income (compared to the usual 60 percent for cash gifts and 30 percent for gifts of appreciated stock). • Speaking of appreciated stock, this week may be a good time to donate highly appreciated stock (owned for at least one year) and Please See LEVINE, A6
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In Time Of Hardship, Faith More Relevant Than Ever
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he people of Jesus’ day were fatigued as we are, waiting for whispered promises of hope and renewal. Christians believe this fragile and tender newborn, hailing from an impoverished family, is God’s first sign of hope. The Gospel writer John makes an astonishing claim about Jesus. In this Son of David “was life, and that life was the light of men.” A “light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.” Yes, the answer to the world’s deep problems lay in a makeshift nursery, surrounded by farm animals. Here we are, 2,000 years later ... Why are we still waiting and longing and hoping? Advent teaches us to both find a reason for joy – joy in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus – and
yet ache with longing for the consummation of that promise, a kingdom of peace and justice this Son of David promises to bring when he returns again. In that first century, it was outlandish, almost foolish to believe that the baby in the manger was the son of God and today it is just as bizarre to believe that he will return to make all things new. Yet this is where followers of Jesus find their joy. Not an ebullient euphoria that papers over pain, but a deep seated and fixed anchor for the soul. Christmas – the real version – comes to us not as an alternative to our sorrow but in the midst of it and gives permission to spend this season in authentic and desperate longing for the better world to come. DANIEL DARLING USA Today, Dec. 20, 2020
THURSDAY, December 24, 2020
A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA
BERKSON: Squirrel Finds Home, And Everybody Has Happy Christmas BERKSON/From A4 The advantage of using the exterminator’s trap was that it would catch the squirrel automatically. But it was expensive and I was sure my bird cage would get this rodent without losing too much time. When my irascibly pregnant wife Alice came home from work and saw my set-up she asked, “Get much writing done today?” I explained the gravity of the invasion. “Should’ve hired the exterminator,” Alice said. • Late the next day the squirrel made his way down the tree and jumped to the ground. He approached the cage and when near pressed against the bars to smell the peanut butter. Then he stuck his head through the door and I was about to pull the string, but a stray cat appeared and frightened him off. The next day Alice arrived home and was getting out of the car with her arms full of Christmas packages when she spotted me idling at the window. “Told you to get the exterminator!” she called. I obliterated her from
view by fogging the glass with my breath. • In the morning, I spotted the squirrel slowly creeping down the maple. I ran down and out to the pantry and took hold of the line as he once again poked his head into the cage – but not his whole body. I wasn’t wearing a jacket and soon began to shiver. Inside the house the phone on the wall rang. It continued to ring as I shook from the cold. Through the glass in the back door the caller I.D. showed that it was my editor Haskel. I was supposed to be working. The squirrel entered the cage cautiously, his hind legs holding on to the outside of the bars. I waited as he scooped paws full of peanut butter out of a birdseed cup. The more he ate the more his body advanced. I looked in at the phone which was still ringing. “Remove all distractions,” Haskel had said on another pressing assignment. When I turned back, the squirrel was completely inside so I yanked on the twine and the door snapped shut. I had him! He was circling his cell in a frenzy. To calm him I covered the
cage with an old blanket that Alice had draped over an antique chair in the cellar. Soon fat snowflakes began to fall. • After drinking a celebratory eggnog, I went upstairs and flipped on the computer. My heart sank when the screen came up blank. I checked a backup file but it too was empty. The deadline! How could I face Haskel – or Alice? My wife showed up just before dark and followed me out to the cage in the backyard. When I removed the snow and lifted the blanket to show her my prisoner, she said, “So, now you’re going to let him loose in the park without his acorns – that he’s been gathering all year. How would you like it if somebody separated you from your work?” The squirrel sat there looking pathetic. “Yeah,” my wife continued. “He’ll be panhandling, getting chased off by other squirrels.” “After all this work,” I protested. “You want me to turn him loose?” “It is Christmas Eve,” she said matter-of-factly. •
Later that evening as Alice prodded me on, I walked out to my prisoner with some walnuts and water. Then I replaced the cover. I had a restless night thinking of editor Haskel’s advice, my computer problem, and the squirrel panhandling in the park. On Christmas morning, I awoke to a cranked up rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Alice was curious to see how the squirrel had fared, so before opening presents I dressed and waded through a snowdrift to the cage. When I lifted the blanket it was empty. The door was shut tight and there were no breaks in the bars. Two faint snow blown tracks were nearby. “Well?” my wife called from the window. “Did you let him loose?” I asked. “Absolutely not,” she said shaking her head. • That evening, after pushing aside plum pudding, I grabbed my coat and gloves and went outside to shovel the sidewalk. Later, I crawled up to the attic and once again heard rustling behind the wall. That squirrel was back. To add insult, the task of
STERNBERG: Help On Way As Vaccines STERNBERG/From A5 sential workers. Shakespeare would definitely not agree. Neither do I. Some yes, but all of them? Corporate attorneys who haven’t been in a courtroom in decades and only represent clients who can pay them more than $500/hour? • There are other vaccines coming out soon. Janssen/ Johnson & Johnson, AstroZenica/Oxford, and Novavax are among those in stage three testing in the USA that may be able to get FDA approval. China and Russia have both approved their own vaccines and are inoculating people at home and overseas. The entire United Arab Emirates’ Tour
de France winning cycling team has been inoculated with the Chinese Sinopharma vaccine. Hopefully the vaccines from outside North America and Europe will also generate honest, reproducible data. We need every dose that can be produced that works. There are seven billion people in the world and frankly most of them would benefit by being vaccinated. • In the meantime, we can decrease deaths and slow down progression of the disease with the same simple methods that I have been advocating for nine months. (Yes, it’s that long.) Wear a mask, socially distance, don’t get lackadaisical just because you know some else well. My god-daughter and her husband
both contracted it from their 11-monthold. All are well. We just lost an Otsego citizen who caught COVID from a group home worker who contracted it at a Thanksgiving dinner. Small group, known people. But someone died because of it. We are so close, people: Stay the course (and any other cliché you can think of). Merry Christmas and I wish everyone a New Year that at least begins to approach sanity. 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.
Yes, Virginia, Santa Lives On VIRGINIA/From A4 can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and
resurrecting my lost work looked impossible. When I turned on the computer, the mouse seemed curiously warm in my hand. Then the screen lit up and there to my joy and amazement appeared my story! I could hear Alice laboring up the stairs. • “How’s the work going?” she asked as she reached the top step. “Fine,” I answered suspiciously. There was some chatter behind the wall. “Well,” Alice said looking towards the noise. “He’s home for Christmas.” “A good ending,” I imagined editor Haskel saying. “At least he won’t be panhandling in the park,” Alice murmured while putting her arms around me.” “I met her embrace and realized, “And neither will I!” 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.
LEVINE: Donate – Here’s How LEVINE/From A5 save having to pay capital gains tax. But you will need to get any transfer in motion quickly as the year is running to its end. • A charitable gift annuity is another way to generate a tax deduction in 2020 while securing a fixed annual income. At death, the funds in the annuity go to your designated charity. The charitable deduction is relatively high right now as interest rates used to calculate the amount of the deduction are very low. • Please consult your own tax advisers for specifics on these ideas.
Regardless of whether tax considerations are important to you, this is a great time to show your appreciation for those nonprofits in our community that work tirelessly to help us and our neighbors. Donating today and supporting those organizations would be a very nice way to say thanks for being there for us. The Community Foundation of Otsego County is here to help you invest in your community. For additional information, contact us a contact@ cfotsego.org. Harry Levine is president of the Community Foundation of Otsego County.
HOLLYWOOD CUTS
glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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Wishing Everyone a Very Happy Holiday Season!
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LET THERE BE LIGHTS!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020
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Mouse King Evan Clark and The Nutcracker lock in a duel of swords beneath the Christmas tree in The Fokine Ballet’s 2019 performance of “The Nutcracker,” which will be performed virtually this year.
Virtual Ballet, Santa Claus is flanked by Oneonta First Lady Connie Herzig, left, and Festival of Lights organizer Carol Mandigo. Christmas Meal Against All Odds, Festival Takes Flight Or Deck The Halls AllOTSEGO.life
Ian Austin/
By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
A Organizer Mandigo scrutinizes those pesky tripping circuits.
s dusk settled over Neahwa Park, Carol Mandigo wasn’t sure what to expect when she flipped the switches to turn on the Festival of Lights. What she saw were cars lined up as far as Main and
►IF YOU GO: You can see the Festival of Lights from dusk to 10 p.m. every night through Sunday, Jan. 3.
River streets, waiting their turns to be driven around the 37 displays of holiday lights and decorations set up around the park. “I couldn’t believe it,” Mandigo said. “I had no idea it was going to be as popular as it was.”
The event – it began last Friday, Dec. 18, and continues every night from dusk until 10 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 3 – was a spinoff from the traditional First Night celebration, which, along with the Hometown Fourth of July, was cancelled due to COVID-19. “Everyone on the board was really sad that we had to cancel,” she said. “We Please See LIGHTS, B2
Owl-Fresco Crowns Alfresco’s Holiday Explosion At Oneonta Restaurant,Christmas Rules By CHRYSTAL SAVAGE ONEONTA
O
wl-Fresco, the Christmas Pickle and a creche tucked in a corner are only a few of the hidden gems amid Alfresco’s Italian Bistro holiday decorations this season. “We want to get people in the spirit,” said owner Elisabeth Webster. “Alfresco’s is not just a place to eat – we want it to be a true evening out. Even if you’re not eating here, you can come in and look at the Ian Austin/ OTSEGO.life decorations.” For 33 years now, Alfresco’s proprietors Elisabeth and If you look closely, you’ll Preparation at the restaurant, Gerald Webster have been building their annual Christmas see Owl-Fresco amid the Please See OWL-FRESCO, B2 display – it’s not to be missed. branches.
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THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL • HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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he Fokine Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” is an Oneonta tradition, and this year, the performance will be streamed virtually. $15, available through Dec. 31. www.deckerschool ofballet.com. • LIBBY Pick up last minute CUDMORE gifts and enjoy plein air works by Ursula Carr Bower at the Art Garage. Call or text to reserve viewing slot. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24, The Art Garage, 689 Beaver Meadow Rd., Cooperstown. (607) 547-5327. • Enjoy a traditional Christmas meal prepared by the Friends of Christmas Holiday Dinner at St Mary’s Church, Oneonta. Free, delivery and take-out only. Friday, Dec. 25, call (607) 4359198 for delivery, (607) 287-5089 for take-out. • Even after the holidays, there’s still time to take a virtual walk through ‘Decking The Halls’ with live Q&A with Manager of Arts Education, Kevin Gray. 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown. www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/ • Celebrate first day of 2021 with self-guided hike along the Overlook Trail. Glimmerglass State Park, 1527 Co. Rd. 31, Cooperstown. 10 – 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1, www.facebook. com/GlimmerglassStatePark/
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THURSDAY, December 24, 2020
Exhibit On Negro Leagues Rechristened ‘Ideals And Injustices’ HALL/From A1 “We wanted to shine a light on these conflicted stories. And when we met this summer, the board unanimously decided to make these important changes.” So now, the “Pride and Passion” exhibit has been renamed “Ideals and Injustices: A Chronology of Black Baseball.” It focuses not just on the formation of the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, but addressing the history of racism within the game, even by those honored in the Hall of Plaques downstairs. “Cap Anson, for example, was an early superstar of baseball, but his actions helped lead the league towards segregation,” said Shestakofsky. A first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Anson was reported to have said he “would never step on a field that also had a Black man on it.” He was inducted into the Hall with the first class, in 1939. Though Anson and others,
Hall of Fame for a reason, they did a lot to sustain the game, but there’s more to be said about their lasting impacts.” Nonetheless, the Hall does not plan to alter the plaques in the gallery. “I don’t feel in any context that one should expunge history, that one should erase history,” The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA said Jane Forbes Clark, Hall of Fame chairman, A new sign at the entrance to the Hall of Plaques said those therein are only in an interview with recognized “for their accomplishments the New York Times in the game.” that appeared over the weekend. including Boston Red Sox owner “Part of our mission is not only Thomas Yawley and Commissioner to honor excellence and connect Kenesaw Mountain Landis, had previously been mentioned in “Pride generations, but it’s to preserve the history of the game, and that’s what and Passion,” Shestakofsky said we’re doing,” she said. “We’re the updated panels “clarifies” their opposition to integrating the league. reacting to the evolution of society and society wanting a deeper “These upgraded panels delve understanding of underlying racism more deeply into the complicated — its causes, its history, and how it history,” he said. “They’re in the
Owl-Fresco Adds Novelty To Alfresco Panoply OWL-FRESCO/From B1 which Elisabeth and husband Gerald have run for 33 years in the former Oneonta Dairy, started Thanksgiving Day when the “Main Tree” – this year, a 17-footer from Filor Farms in Cooperstown – was brought into the dining room and decorated by the Websters and the Alfresco’s staff over the weekend. “It takes about 50 hours to put everything up,” she said. “And 75 to take it all down.” There are five trees across four dining rooms, including a black tree covered in Italian masks, a tree themed to the French countryside and a fiber-optic sci-fi tree decorated with “Star Wars” and superheroes in homage, in part, to their son James Cory, who works as a comics illustrator.
This year, they added a new twist on an old Webster family favorite. “We’ve always had owls on our tree, but we brought this one down for the main tree,” she said. “We tell people he’s Rocky’s cousin who decided to stay in the country for Christmas.” “We call him Owl-Fresco,” said Gerald. Owl-Fresco, along with the traditional glass German gherkin, is hidden on the tree for diners to try and find among the pizza and Santa ornaments. “Stanislaus, who does our sauce, sends us a beautiful tomato ornament every year,” Elisabeth said. Friends donated decorations over the years, and Elisabeth often gives away decorations to staff or customers. “We recycle,” she said.
Every corner is filled – an army of nutcrackers overlooks diners from a shelf near the ceiling, and a Lenox china crèche is tucked off the main dining room. Even the outdoors is decorated by Gerald with wreaths and poinsettias from Mount Vision Garden Center. “We really enjoy going all out at Christmas,” Elisabeth said. “Not everyone has the space to host or decorate but we hope that our efforts help to bring an element of that to those that can’t.” Diners on Christmas eve will even get a party favor of their own; a traditional “Christmas cracker” with a prize inside. “We always give these away,” she said. “And kids can get a candy cane too.” The decorations will remain up until mid-January, when the tree will serve a second purpose – protecting the restaurant’s rose bushes, a tradition Elisabeth has carried on from her childhood growing up in Potsdam. “We used to get made fun of in high school for collecting the trees that others had thrown out,” Elisabeth said. “But my dad – an economist and passionate about his rose bushes – highly suggested we do it; it’s a tradition we continue.”
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continues to affect the game.” Instead, a sign has been placed at the entrance to the Hall of Plaques, which reads: “Enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame reflects the perspective of voters at the time of election. The plaques on these walls recognize Members for their accomplishments in the game.” It also directs visitors to continue their own exploration of the history in the museum exhibits, library archives, and educational resources. “When people request educational materials, Jackie Robinson and Civil Rights are requested the most often,” said Shestakofsky. “Education is one of the pillars of our work as an institution.” But the changes have also allowed the Hall to tell more stories to their visitors. “Someone like Effa Manley, the only woman enshrined in the Hall, deserves a more full look,” he said. “As an owner, she did a lot to enhance the status of black baseball.”
“She was exceptional,” Clark told the Times. “I just find it a wonderful balance, because it’s not just that we’re looking at racists and Anson and Landis, we’re also looking at somebody who did something so positive.” Manley was among 17 figures — all deceased — from the Negro leagues elected to the Hall in 2006, following a study by the Major League Baseball. However, that same vote excluded Buck O’Neil, former players and the MLB’s first black coach. In 2006, O’Neil spoke at the induction ceremony, and a lifetime achievement award at the Hall was named in his honor. But he was never voted into the museum. Shestakofsky said the exhibit and new signage have received “a very positive response,” so far, and that the curators will continue to look at ways to improve exhibits throughout the museum. “We are a history museum,” he said. “Our job is to preserve the game’s history.”
Lights Shine Bright At Neahwa Park
LIGHTS/From B1 got together to decide if we should do something for New Year’s or just bag the whole year. No one would blame us if we didn’t put on an event.” But Mandigo had seen the Lights on the Lake event in Liverpool, the Syracuse suburb, and although it cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to have it professionally put together, she pitched the board an idea: “What if we asked the community to put up displays?” The board agreed, but she still wasn’t sure if the community at large would embrace the idea. “Then it would be lame, and that would be terrible for us,” she said. She reached out to Ben Guenther at Five Star Subaru first to see if he would sponsor a display. “He was all about it,” she said. “And once I knew he was backing us, I knew we had something special.” The Otsego County Chamber of Commerce sent out a call for displays in its newsletter,
and soon, the emails started pouring in. “I was shocked,” she said. “I really thought we were going to have to do it all by ourselves.” Several of the displays were dedicated to John Hayen, who in 2017 hung 23,500 lights in his home and yard on Tilly Avenue, surpassing the record set by Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” He passed away in November. Bassett Healthcare employees’ display paid tribute to front-line workers, while the Brooks’ BBQ display featured Santa surrounded by chickens. There were logistical challenges to overcome, including how to power each display without tripping circuits. “I’ve been living out in the cold from morning until night,” said Mandigo. “We had to figure out how to power everybody, how to run all these cords and how to protect the displays.”
And then came the snow. Overnight snow on Thursday, Dec. 17, dumped 29 inches of powder on the city, burying all but the tallest displays. “People were worried that it wouldn’t work,” she said. “But no one ever said to postpone it.” Instead, the groups came out to shovel out their displays. “It was a miracle,” she said. “We were still tripping circuits, but by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, we were ready to go.” The event opened at dusk with entertainment, including Cosmic Karma Fire, Mike the Juggler and Santa Claus. “Santa went to each car and asked the kids’ names and what they wanted for Christmas,” she said. “And the kids were so excited to see him.” Even Mandigo donned a set of light-up wings to welcome visitors over the weekend. “I had so much fun seeing the kids faces light up,” she said. “That’s what First Night is all about.”
Thank You!
Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello, especially in this weather!
dining&entertainment
IT’S HERE!!!!!
THE GREAT OTSEGO HOLIDAY LIGHT TRAIL NOW to December 31, 2020
Thank you to the Cooperstown Fire Department and Emergency Squad! With all that you do, thank you for taking the time to say hello! Thank you to the Honorable Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh! Thank you to the Honorable Senator Jim Seward and Cindy, our long-time good friends!
The map of local, spectacular light displays is up and running! Gather the family! Call some friends! Load up the car! Go to Facbook, then to The Great Otsego Light Trail. Like us then Begin The Journey! Follow the lights on the map and enjoy the best lights in the region! ALSO AllOtsego.com and Destination Oneonta facebook pages will have the interactive map as well! Don’t forget to add your favorite light displays and photos to the page too!
LEAF
Share the joy.... Share the light this season!
A very special thank you to Maitresse d’ Elaine Bresee! Thank you from the Waller and Satriano families for your support all these years! 207 Main Street, Cooperstown 607-547-8822 • 800-378-1143 Mohicanflowers.org
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THURSDAY, december 24, 2020
Rubin Charts Interim Role RUBIN/From A1 Services, a 16-county medical transport business and local taxicab company, Rubin said he has no interest in the job. However, he wants to ensure the Chamber is in a position to fulfill its mission: “We should be a driving force in helping build the economic landscape of Otsego County,” he said. Before the search begins, Rubin intends to ask the Chamber’s executive committee to review and ensure the strategic plan is sufficient to that task. The executive committee
includes Realtor Joan Fox, the new chair; Family Planning’s Deb Marcus, CDO Workforce’s Alan Sessions and Springbrook’s Chris Hurlburt. He plans to ask at least two outside executives with related experience to participate, but had not yet invited them, and said he will announce their names after they’ve agreed to serve. When a structured search begins, “we will encourage people within the county and beyond to throw their hats into the ring,” he said. Rubin came to SUNY
Oneonta from Levittown, majoring in political science, intending to become a lawyer. But he discovered his calling as an entrepreneur. While an undergrad, he developed World Is Yours Delivery, 20 years before Uber Eats, delivering food and other necessities to SUNY and Hartwick students. He graduated in 1993, and founded A&D Transport Services in 1996 with partner David Freed – the two still co-own and operate
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married Michelle IanelliRubin, and the couple has three sons: Allan Michael, 14, Matthew, 13, and Luca, 11. He tells them, “You get out what you put in.” As it happens, his wife is a member of the family that ran Ianelli’s Restaurant at 99 Chestnut St., torn down to make way for Walgreen’s. While a SUNY student, he asked his roommate to pick him up a fettucine Alfredo from Ianelli’s. That inspired him to found World Is Yours Delivery.
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Food Service Supervisor Assistant Teacher
and grow.” In the early years, he discovered after the fact that Common Council had expanded the city’s taxi code from three pages to 27, and he realized a Chamber’s importance to the business people. “This is the thing – small businesses are working to survive – the chamber can advise its members of what they should know before they end up in a tough spot,” he said. Along the way, Rubin
The
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the business today. In 1998, A&D won approval to transport Medicare patients and vital goods as a subcontractor. After 17 years, state law changed to allow A&D to provide those services directly, allowing the expansion of medical transport services to the 16 counties, and expand its workforce to 150. “It’s like a tree,” he said in an interview, “you start at one point and there are so many ways to branch off
B-3
Please visit www.oncboces.org/jobs for complete list of openings, job descriptions and application information. EOE
Carpenters...Plumbers... General Laborers... Mechanics
Your skills are needed right away!! Large, State of the art facility in Gilboa, NY is seeking full-time employees immediately. Being multi-skilled is a big PLUS! Excellent place to work with rewarding pay. Contact Michael 908-770-4599 Michael.mandel@oorah.org
ONEONTA JOB CORPS ACADEMY CAREERS BEGIN HERE!
Do you enjoy working with young adults and wish to inspire people for success? Are you looking for a fulfilling career opportunity with benefits and retirement?
About Us Job Corps is the nation’s largest career technical training and educational program for young people ages 16-24. Established in 1964, Job Corps serves approximately 60,000 young people each year. Our Mission To teach eligible young people the skills they need to become employable and independent and place them in meaningful jobs or further education.
Open Positions Cafeteria Cook
Full Time; $14/hour; Tues - Sat 7am to 4pm Prepares quantities of food in accordance with local, state and national food safety regulations, assist in cleaning and maintenance of service equipment.
Cafeteria Cook Assistant
Full Time; $13/hour; Tues - Sat 7am to 4pm Assist in prep and serving of food, cleans and maintains dining facilities and service equipment.
Independent Living Advisor
Full Time; $14/hour; Overnight & weekend shifts Monitor student activity in the dorms and provide guidance and counseling to ensure appropriate student hebavior.
FULL TIME BENEFITS: Medical, Vision and Dental; 401K Retirement; Employer Paid Life Insurance; Paid Sick and Vacation time; Paid Holidays Contact Us
Email resumes to Oneonta.HR@etrky.com Or Fax 607-431-1519 or Call Human Resources @ 607-431-1402 Our address is 21 Homer Folks Ave, Oneonta NY 13820 https://www.etrky.com/ • https://oneonta.jobcorps.gov/ ETR is an Equal Opportunity Employer and herein reiterates its policy of equal opportunity for all qualified individuals without distinction or discrimination because of race, color, religion, marital status, political affiliation or belief, sex, age, national origin or veteran status
eOe
Offices in Cooperstown and Oneonta are looking for new and established agents! Please contact Melissa Klein at melissaklein@howardhanna.com, or 518-705-9849.
THURSDAY, december 24, 2020
B-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Ommegang To Double Canning, Plans $1M Production Line In 2022
CANS/From A1 staffing as the brewery currently has. It’s part of a larger plan for the brewery to dramatically increase their packaged beer for sale. “The industry began trending towards cans a couple years ago,” he said. “They’re ideal for when you’re at an event where you can’t take glass, and aluminum is much more recyclable than glass.” Cans are also easier to ship, he said, and more can be shipped on one truck. The canned line, which includes Neon Rainbows, Solera, Rosetta and others, had helped keep the brand afloat during the COVID pandemic.
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Legal nOtice 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 establishing the salaries of Public Defender (PT), County Auditor/ Clerk of the Board, County Treasurer, Director Real Property Tax Service II, County Clerk, County Attorney, Personnel Officer, Commissioner of Elections (Dem), Sheriff, Director of Public Health, County Superintendent of Highways, Commissioner of Social Services Group I, for the year 2021. 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, January 6, 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 January 6, 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: December 24, 2020 Carol D. McGovern Clerk of the Board of Representatives Otsego County, New York 1LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice
“We worked hard to transition into packaged beer,” said DeBar. “We were told by several of our distributors that we were one of the few suppliers that could keep up with the demand.” Prior to the pandemic, kegs for bars and restaurants were “50 percent” of their business. “Every brewery in the world was affected by COVID,” said Matt Szymanski, CFO, Duvel Moortgat USA in Kansas City, Mo. “We were no exception. And our biggest market is New York City, and they were hit so badly. We really got the worst of both worlds.” According to Jody Zakrevsky, Otsego Now president, the brewery
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11 Broadway, #615, New York, NY 10004. Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Trip L Farm LLC Filed 6/30/20 Office: Otsego Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: c/o Miosek Law, 29 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Gretchen Raddatz Wellness LLC Filed 8/27/20 Office: Otsego Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: 6559 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Platt Hollow Homes, LLC. Filed 10/23/20. Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: Chad Whitbeck, 360 County Hwy 42, Maryland, NY 12116. Purpose: General. 6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of BYAM’S RENTAL PROPERTIES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/17/20. Office location: Otsego County. Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of
Notice of Formation of
HFB PROPERTIES, LLC
Detox With the Docs, LLC.
Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20. Office location: Otsego County. Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall
Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/03/2020. Office: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Jackson LLP @
dropped from selling 60,000 barrels a year to 18,000 a year. “Their biggest issue is with COVID-19,” he said. “They’re not selling enough, because bars and restaurants aren’t ordering beer because they’ve closed.” On Oct. 18, Zakrevsky got an email from Chance Nicols, CFO at Duvel in Kansas City. The email said the Duvel family, in Belgium, had decided to delay a decision on canning line until 2022. The larger canning operation would cost an estimated $1 million. “We were in contact with their Kansas City office, which is their home base (in the U.S.), about three months ago,” he said. “We had a
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mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalJan.14
with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on November 2, 2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: Incorporating Services Ltd: 3500 South Dupont Highway, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful acts or activities. Latest date upon which LLC is to dissolve: No specific date. 6LegalJan.14
Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of PEACEFUL FLATS PROPERTIES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20. Office location: Otsego County. Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: MMS-DS PROPERTIES LLC. Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 2 December 2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 144 Johnny Cake Rd, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of JGG PROPERTIES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20. Office location: Otsego County. Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC) OTICA, LLC, Articles of Organization were filed
Legal nOtice SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF OTSEGO NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A CHAMPION MORTGAGE COMPANY, Plaintiff, against Jack E. Sanders, Jr., as Heir to the Estate of Joy Miller Sanders; Unknown Heirs to the Estate of Joy Miller Sanders, 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; Gutchess Lumber Company, Inc.; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; United States of America Department of Treasury; New York State Department of Taxation and FinanceTax Compliance Division-C.O.-ATC, and JOHN DOE AND JANE DOE #1 through #7, the last seven (7) names being fictitious and unknown to the Plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons
dialogue between them and Empire State Development. My understanding is that the Moortgat family has decided to table the Ommegang canning capital project for 2021 and revisit for 2022. He continued, “There are too many unknowns at this time with the market so they will manage with the current operational configuration for 2021.” DeBar said doubling production will work as an “interim,” with the larger expansion down the line. “We are seeking a grant,” he said. In the meantime, Szymanski said the company has other priorities to keep them viable. “Our focus right now is Neon
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or parties, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the mortgaged premises described in the Complaint, Defendants
You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this Foreclosure Action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney of your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself.
Index No. EF2020-155. Plaintiff Designates Otsego County as the Place of Trial. The Basis of Venue is that the subject action is situated in Otsego County. 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(s) 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); the United States of America may appear or answer within 60 days of service hereof; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. That this Supplemental Summons is being filed pursuant to an order of the court dated October 23, 2020. NOTICE 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. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE; New York State law requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT
SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office, there are government agencies and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services’ at 1-800-269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at http://www.dfs. ny.gov. FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services. We are attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Honorable Brian D. Burns dated October 23, 2020. The object of this action is to foreclose a mortgage and covering the premises known as 235 Sohne Road, Mount Vision, NY located at Section 174 Block 1 and Lot 26 Dated: November 9, 2020 Filed: November 10, 2020 Pincus Law Group, PLLC., Attorney for Plaintiff, By: George J. Weissinger, Esq., 425 RXR Plaza, Uniondale, NY 11556 (516) 6998902. 4LegalDec.24
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Legal nOtice Notice of Qualification of J&J ENTERPRISES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/27/20. Office location: Otsego County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/25/20. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Lemery Greisler LLC, 60 Railroad Place, Suite 502, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. DE addr. of LLC: c/o United Corporate Services, Inc., 874 Walker Road, Suite C, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation for Harvest 336 LLC Name of LLC: Harvest 336 LLC Date of Filing of Articles of Organization with the NY Department of State: November 6, 2020 Office of the LLC: Otsego County The New York Secretary of State has been designated as the agent upon whom process may be served. The Secretary of State may mail a copy of any process to the LLC at: Sharon Boustani, 336 Coye Brook Road, South New Berlin, New York 13843 Purpose of the LLC: Any Lawful Purpose 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company, (LLC) Name: Denison & Festa LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/09/2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: 143 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose. 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of
Rainbows,” he said. “We’ve made it for the last two or three years, but it’s always been seasonal – this year, we’re launching it nationwide.” Neon Lights, a New England session IPA, as well as Neon Neon, a New England Double IPA, are also part of the promoted line, but will remain seasonal. “Right now, our focus is firmly behind Neon Rainbows.” Additionally, he said the creative team, including Rebecca Shafer, who relocated from the Cooperstown office to Kansas City, will “freshen” the brand of “legacy” beers, including Three Philosophers and Hennepin.
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ONIE PROPERTIES, LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/30/2020. Office in Otsego Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 8-12 Dietz St., Ste. 202, Oneonta, NY 13820, which is also the principal business location. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company, (LLC) Name: 143-147 Main Street LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/06/2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: 143 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose. 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 9 O’Neill Drive, LLC. Filed 10/21/20. Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: c/o Paul J scorzafava Jr, 9 O Neill Dr, Oneonta, NY 13820. Purpose: General. 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: AGRINOMIC INSIGHTS LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 16 November 2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 272 Bissell Rd, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws 6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company
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Name: CARR - ADAMS FARM LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 30 October 2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 289 Greenough Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: INNOVATION AG LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 30 October 2020. Office location: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 7937 US Hwy 20, Sharon Springs, NY 13459. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LONGTAIL CONTRACTING, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/27/20. Office Location: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it my be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 109 Sunset Drive, Apt. 2, Oneonta, New York 13820. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF COOPERSTOWN AREA REAL ESTATE, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/28/20. Office Location: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 224 Lakeside Drive, Burlington Flats, New York 13315. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
HOMETOWN ONEONTA B-5
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020
IN MEMORIAM
Zachary Pondolfino, 26; A Soul So Pure, Innocent December 30, 1994 – December 17, 2020
ONEONTA – Zachary (Jim), Aunt Kelly Pondolfino Pondolfino gifted us with Burch (Kenny), Aunt Darlene his gentle strength for nearly Pondolfino, and Uncle Robert 26 precious years. In that Pondolfino Jr., and numerous time, he never spoke a word cousins. He is pre-deceased or took a single step, but his by his grandfather Robert ethereal spirit was a light that Pondolfino Sr. and paternal penetrated deep in the hearts grandmother Kathleen Oliver of all who knew him. Pondolfino. He held no grudges, loved Zach was a resident at without condition, and accepted Springbrook since 2009 everyone who came into his where he lived a full, happy world as yet another person and lavishly pampered life to embrace in his sacred life with the dedicated caregivjourney. Zach knew only love, ers who so lovingly attended tenderness and trust. to his most basic needs. We We often said that being are forever indebted to these with Zach was like fine people for their going to church…for care, tenderness, rarely do you sit with and for giving so selfa soul so pure and lessly for the people innocent – one who they serve. Special never demanded or thanks for their epic complained…who, effort to bring Zach even during his most home from the hoschallenging moments pital for his last days – emanated peace. of life and for creatZachary Zach loved music, ing space so that his Pondolfino being read to, lotion family could be with massages and anything Harry him 24 hours a day. Potter. He will be missed Sabrina Hogan, Carol more deeply than can be Krueger, and Kathy Ramiza expressed, but we feel joyful moved mountains so that Zach knowing that he will be free could make his transition from the confines of his dissurrounded by an abundance abilities and that he will be of love. To name only a few reunited with his baby brother unfairly negates the contribuScottie Pondolfino who pretion of the whole, but a few deceased him in 2010. additional credits must be Zachary is survived by his noted. Lori Spicer – thank immediate family – his mom you for the overnight hospital Michele Barry, his dad, reprieves and for always selfDr. Gerald Pondolfino (Katie lessly giving 100%, Nurse Segrue and her son Logan), Kelly – we were deeply touched his sister Jackie Pondolfino, by your care and compassion his grandmother, Valerie for Zach in his final days. Barry, Aunt Jolee Barry, Aunt Lisa Young, Nicole Stilson, & Kristen Pondolfino Wasilewski, Megan Love…you ladies have
played instrumental roles in Zach’s life and have an enormous place in our hearts. Nathan, Carol W, Heidi, Adrienne, N’estra, Wally, Matt L., Sam J., you are in our hearts forever. Dr. Gretchen Hodgdon (Bassett) thank you for your compassion and rationality. For all who attended Zach’s farewell Zoom meeting…the sentiment you shared with him brought tears of joy. To the beautiful ladies who came to Zach’s window to tell him you loved him and to play Johnny Cash for him…thank you for the sweet memory. To our family, friends and trusted helpers throughout Zach’s life…we thank you for your contributions, guidance, love and support. Your presence undoubtedly enabled a smoother path for us to navigate, and we could not be more grateful to have you in our lives. To name you all here is an impossible task, but we trust that you know who you are. There will be no calling hours or services at this time however, an intimate spring burial will be announced at a later date. Donations in Zach’s name to further benefit the very important work Springbrook provides throughout ours, and so many surrounding communities, would be greatly appreciated. www.springbrookny.org Arrangements are with Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, 51 Dietz St., Oneonta. Expressions of sympathy may be made at, www.lhpfuneralhome.com.
IN MEMORIAM Charles M. Carman Jr., 77, Familiar Holiday Bell Ringer
ONEONTA – Charles “Charlie” M. Carman Jr., 77,
who for years could always be found ringing the bell at
Grandma loved her farm, her family, and playing her old guitar. Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home will take the time to find out what made your loved one special. Whether it’s finding just the right flowers, or finding a musician to play her favorite tunes on her old guitar, we’ll do what’s necessary to make her service as unique as she was.
Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home 14 Grand Street, Oneonta • 607-432-6821 www.grummonsfuneralhome.com
a Salvation Army kettle during the holiday season, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 16, Charles 2020, at Carman Bassett Hospital. A lifelong Oneonta resident, he was born Sept. 18, 1943, the son of the late Charles and Frances Sturiale. For a period of time he worked for SUNY Oneonta in the custodial department. Charlie was an active member of St. Mary’s Church for his entire life. He also spent many hours volunteering for the Salvation Army as a bell ringer during the holiday season as well as many other functions. Charlie was honored by the Salvation Army many times for his faithful volunteerism. He is survived by his daughter, Valerie Scanlan and her husband, Brett of Charlotte, North Carolina; daughter-in-law, Tricia Carman of Binghamton; adoring grandchildren, Emerson, Bryce, Alaina and Liana; and many cousins. Charlie was predeceased by his son, Jonathan Carman. A private funeral service will be held then a Committal and burial will take place in the spring in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Emmons. Arrangements are entrusted to the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.
50 Cars Beep For Retiring Mainstay PARADE/From A1 On the coldest day of the season so far, friends and admirers began lining up their cars at 2:30 p.m. on Railroad Avenue, just around the corner from 207 Main St., where the Bateman-Waller family has operated Mohican Flowers, founded in 1901, for 50 years. Leading off was a Cooperstown Fire Department pumper, sirens and horn blaring, bearing Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch and Fire Chief Jim Tallman, with Deputy Chief Glenn Falk driving. Santa and Mrs. Claus followed, then a Cooperstown EMT vehicle, lights flashing, carrying Squad Chief Eric Pierce with wife Alisia and daughter Abigail. Many longtime friends followed, including White House Innkeepers Marge and Ed Landers, and Hank Phillips, retired Withey’s pharmacist and wife Dottie. Jo Ann Lamonica was up from Oneonta for the celebration. Carol said husband Bill told her to sit by the window with her coat on. When Elaine showed up to hatch the surprise, she asked Carol, “What are you doing there?” When the parade began, Bill set Carol up in a chair by the sidewalk, with Claire by her side and Satriano husband Bill and son Chris behind them. Bill, an avid photographer, worked the scene. Many folks pulled over to present gifts. State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, himself retiring at year’s end, and wife Cindy presented a clock that marks the days of the week, not hours and minutes. “That was quite an outpouring. She was in tears – and that infectious laugh!” the senator observed. “Since,” said husband Bill, “a number of people have called to say, ‘If I’d known, I would have been there.’” Carol and Bill were raised, met and married on Huntington, L.I., and moved to Cooperstown in 1970, when her dad, Charles Bateman, who had retired as president of Hi-Temp, which supplied wire to NASA, bought Mohican Flowers in 1970. He trained as an unpaid intern at a downstate
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Sometimes tearful, often laughing, former mayor Carol Waller, seated, watches the 50-car parade pass by in her honor. Others, from left, are Elaine Bresee, co-honoree Claire Satriano and, in the background, Claire’s husband Bob and son Chris. florist six months, then moved to Cooperstown. Carol worked for her dad. By the mid-‘80s, the medicalequipment company Bill was working for transferred the family to Boulder, Colo. Returning in 1990, Carol’s dad, by then also a veteran county representative, asked her at dinner, “What are you going to get involved in now? Why don’t you do something meaningful?” Soon, she was elected to the Village Board, serving four years as trustee, four years as deputy mayor and, beginning in 2002, eight years as mayor. High points included obtaining and completing the village’s first sizeable federal grant: for the renovation of Linden Avenue and creation of the “Blue Lot.” During this period, as her current successor as mayor, Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch, noted in a proclamation she presented Waller last Saturday, Carol got involved in the 4Cs – the Cooperstown Community Christmas Committee. Along the way, the Wallers raised three children, all successful. Bill, now semiretired in Washington State at 51, is an attorney by way of Colgate and Harvard Law. Scott, 47, teaches math at D.C.’s Gonzaga Prep, where he’s coached two soccer teams to national championships. Kirsten, 38, is up for a big promotion to senior director
of the cancer center at a San Diego hospital. The Wallers have seven grandchildren. The couple plan to close the shop Dec. 31, and retire as of New Year’s Day. There have been inquiries from prospective buyers, so this may not be the end for Mohican Flowers. The Wallers plan to stay in the village, although, as COVID declines, they hope to borrow an RV from a friend and drive across the country to visit their children and grandchildren. An era is ending. Elaine Bresee “had gone for a drive-by for a lady in Oneonta. I saw how wonderful it was,” perfect for recognizing Carol and Claire’s dedication. She and Carol were members of the Lake & Valley Garden Club, and Elaine also provided flowers at Christ Episcopal Church once a month, so she experienced Mohican Flowers at full throttle. She recalled the whirl of activity just before one Valentine’s Day, when two funeral directors called with funerals scheduled for the same time. “Carol and Claire looked at each other, then went right back to work.” “There’s never any time off,” Bresee said. “They both worked so hard, I wanted to show my appreciation for everyone at the shop.” “I can’t imagine Cooperstown without a florist,” she said.
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month
2020 Ford Ecosport SE
Msrp $26,440.00 · stk# f3090 42 months/35,000 ALLY lease Taxes included. Only the first payment and DMV fees due at signing.
COOPER COUNTRY
Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 3144 US Hwy 20, Richfield Springs | www.coopergroup.com
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cOOper cOUNtrY
ford, chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, ram 3144 US Hwy 20, Richfield Springs | www.coopergroup.com
2020 sentra sv
Happy Holidays from us to you!
169
$
$2,020 due at signing, not including first payment 36 months/10,000 mile/yr Must be in a current non-GM lease
2021 rogue s 2021 Chevrolet Equinox AWD LT stock #6843 $257/mo*
249
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lease for per month $3,799 due at signing | MsrP $28,710 | sale price $27,834 36 months/12,000 miles per year Vin #JN8aT3aB9MW203618
2020 Frontier sv 55 Oneida Street, Oneonta 607-432-2800 800-388-3632 SaleS Mon-Thu 8 am to 7 pm Fri 8 am to 6 pm Sat 8 am to 5 pm or by appointment Service Mon-Fri 8 am to 5 pm Sat 8 am to 1 pm
2021 GMC Acadia AWD SLE stock #6931 $325/mo*
lease for per month $1,146 due at signing | MsrP $21,785 | sale price $20,753 36 months/12,000 miles per year Vin #3N1aB8CV7lY280775
279
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per month $2,999 due at signing | MsrP $35,245 | sale price $34,377 36 months/12,000 miles per year Vin #1N6eDoeB1lN722523
$2,020 due at signing, not including first payment 39 months/10,000 mile/yr Must be in a current lease
2021Chevrolet Trax AWD LT stock #6763 $179/mo*
$2,020 due at signing, not including first payment 39 months/10,000 mile/yr Must be in a current lease
Country Club Motors 607-432-6190 70 Oneida street, OneOnta www.COuntryClubMOtOrs.COM
*Excludes Taxes, Title, License, and Fees. Subject to residency restrictions. Prices subject to change. Inventory based on availability and subject to change. For qualified leasees.