WHO WILL
BE INDUCTED? •F
OUNDED
JU
IA
1808 BY
Cooperstown’s Newspaper
R
IN
O M C O PE
Maddux, Glavine, Frank Thomas, Biggio AND maybe Piazza were among contenders to be announced Wednesday, Jan. 8, at the Waldorf Astoria. For video of announcement, see link at www.allotsego.com
For 206 Years
DG
E WIL
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VISIT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
Newsstand Price $1
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, January 9, 2014
Volume 206, No. 2
RICK HULSE, JR., TAKES SEAT
Cooperstown’s New Rep Leads Efficiency Charge AllOTSEGO.diners
The Freeman’s Journal
Cooperstown mail carrier Evelyn Seward, a bellwether on local weather, had her official-issue shorts on Monday, Jan. 6, as the mercury pushed into the balmy 40s. By that night, however, temperatures dropped to -2 in the village, (and shorts disappeared for the time being).
Back In Town, Renert In Jail On $½M Bond COOPERSTOWN
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arry Renert, 62, suspect in the Dec. 23 armed confrontation at Seventh Inning Stretch, is back in the county and being held on $500,000 bail at the county jail. He was arraigned in front of Village Justice Gary Kuch Sunday evening, Jan. 5. District Attorney John Muehl said he expects to present the case to a grand jury later this month. GOING TO POT? Bassett
Healthcare would have to apply to the state Department of Health to be one of 20 hospitals statewide to dispense medical marijuana if Governor Cuomo goes through with his plan to allow the treatment.
Village Diner, Hayford’s Hedge, Turned Into A Good Investment COOPERSTOWN
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longtime executive with Gelman Sciences Inc., Earle Hayford stumbled on Cooperstown in 1981 when he was assigned to oversee the Upstate New York region. “Cooperstown was just a perfect place to live,” the longtime owner of the Cooperstown Diner said the other day from his retirement home near St. Augustine, Fla. After a while, Founded as Mike’s Hayford was Lunch, the Cooperstown transferred to head Diner is an enduring Gelman’s Puerto village institution. Rico subsidiary, but the top marginal tax rate there was 89 percent – plus, his family was happy here – so he kept Cooperstown as his permanent residence and commuted back and forth. About that time, the Pall Corp. bought Gelman, and every new divisional president he worked for would question the unusual living arrangement. “I almost got fired five times,” Earle said. “I needed a hedge.” The hedge he settled on was the Cooperstown Diner. Please See DINER, A6
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
Regulars Charlie Hudson, left, and Larry Smith exit the venerable Cooperstown Diner after a recent breakfast.
RICHFIELD SPRINGS
W Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
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By RICHARD WHITBY
By LIBBY CUDMORE
Gene Kelly leases Richfield Springs’ Chef Diner.
COOPERSTOWN
Mayor Outlines Business-Friendly Steps By Village
Chef Diner’s Goal: To Be Just Like Mom’s
third annual Grilled Cheese for a Good Cause is coming up Sunday, Jan. 19, at Brewery Ommegang. Reserve tickets at 547-8881 or email director@otsego2000.
By JIM KEVLIN
ick Hulse Jr., Cooperstown’s new rep on the county Board of Representatives, uses terms like “functional process map” and “continuous improvement.” That may sound dissonant to the untutored, but it’s music to the ears of Kathy Clark, R-Otego, who was unanimously reelected county board chair at the reorganization meeting Tuesday, Jan. 2. So harmonious with her larger goals, in fact, that Clark has created a Government Efficiency Committee and named the freshman Hulse, who in his private life is managing director of Xonitek Consulting Group, to chair it. “You’ve got this talent NOW. You’ve got to use it NOW,” said Clark, who also named freshman Craig Gelbsman, RPlease See HULSE, A6
By JIM KEVLIN
COMFORT FOOD: The
Chairman Clark’s New Committee Plays To Strengths
hen Gene Kelly leased the Chef Diner in January 2013, he brought with him two decades of kitchen experience in fine dining, including the Blue Mingo
and Bocca Osteria. “I made a meatloaf with sausage and beef, a little cayenne pepper, my own blend of spices,” he said. Too bad it wasn’t what his new customers wanted. “They told me, ‘don’t ever do that again’!” he said, laughing. “People want simplicity — a little salt, a little pepPlease See CHEF, A6
ONCE HOME TO MULTIPLE DINERS, ONEONTA FACES DROUGHT/B1
ONEONTA
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ooperstown may be less business-unfriendly than one might think, Mayor Jeff Katz told the Otsego County Chamber’s State of the State Breakfast Tuesday, Jan. 7, at FootThe Freeman’s Journal hills Performing Arts Cooperstown Center. Mayor Jeff For the first time Katz joined in recent memory, a Oneonta Mayor Cooperstown mayor Dick Miller on was on the podium dais. at the annual event, seated next to his Oneonta counterpart, Dick Miller, and alongside state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, Assemblymen Bill Please See KATZ, A7
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
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