This Presidents’ Day, Honor Otsego County’s
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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FOR TRIBUTES, SEE PAGES A2, 3 and 7
For 212 Years
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VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Volume 212, No. 7
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, February 13, 2020
Newsstand Price $1
‘Tortured’ Dogs Fostered Jenilee Metch, Oneonta, hugs Sweetie, left, and Snickers, two of the dogs seized last week who she agreed to foster.
Probe Continues; Susquehanna Shelter Houses 6 By LIBBY CUDMORE HARTWICK SEMINARY
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executive director. “We’ve named them all after candy, because they’re all so sweet.” On Wednesday, Feb. 5,
Solar Farm May Bring A Bonanza
Haynes, alongside Karen Matson, Broome County Humane Society executive director, were called to the Delaware Valley Humane Society shelter in Sidney, where Director Erin Insinga, Delaware Valley Humane Society director had taken Please See DOGS, A3
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Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
CHERRY VALLEY INNKEEPER ASKS:
ID VAN BUREN SIT HERE? By LIBBY CUDMORE
At Minimum, Project Pays $875K In Taxes
PHOTOS, B1
GOP Candidate To Be On ‘Have Heart’ Line, Too
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hat a difference a few days makes. “All six dogs are doing great,” said Stacie Haynes, Susquehanna SPCA
Karen Hayes, grocery manager at Cooperstown’s Price Chopper, belts out a karaoke number at the 2020 Winter Carnival Closer Sunday, Feb. 9, at Upstate Bar & Grill/MORE
►DELAWARE DEPUTIES are conferring with D.A. For updates, check:
CHERRY VALLEY
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By JIM KEVLIN LAURENS
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oung Ryan Storke came COOPERSTOWN across as a level-headed, knowlary Margaret Robedgeable, straightforbins Sohns, the ward chap. rare Republican Asked by farmer candidate for Village Board, Gary Lull who would has also filed petitions for clean up after the an independent line on the 3,000-acre solar farm Storke March 18 ballot. he is proposing in She explained, “I believe West Laurens eventuyou should vote for the per- ally wears out, he matter-of-factly said son, not just the party.” the state Public Service Commission A heart-transplant recipi- (PSC) requires a line of credit be mainent, she will appear on the tained sufficient for the job. “Have A Heart” line. “All the tourists who come here to To see if other independents Please See STORKE, B4 filed by the deadline, check
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►a job corps student’s body was found frozen in a stream off West Street,Oneonta, in early January, but word didn’t become public for a month. ►this winter’s worst storm hit Friday, Feb. 7, closed schools and offices, and caused Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. to issue a travel advisory. ►2020 WINTER CARNIVAL is featured in multiple postings, from the Soup ‘n’ Chili starter to karaoke and the Carnival Closer Sunday afternoon at Upstate Bar & Grill.
Richfield Board Ponders Future Of Disputed Plan RICHFIELD SPRINGS
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neonta attorney David Merzig has determined the Town of Richfield’s new – and disputed – zoning code might not survive a court challenge. And the town board plans to meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, with new Town Attorney Peter Hobaica to determine whether and how to set it aside and perhaps start anew, said newly elected Town Supervisor Nick Palevsky. The plan, which envisioned the town as mainly agricultural and residential, led to the election of Palevsky and two allies, Fred Eckler and Ed Bello Jr., last Nov. 5.
Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
Barbara Hall shows off two-seater where President Martin Van Buren may have sat in 1839.
uring home renovations, Barbara Hall and her husband, Gary Lozier, found where President Martin Van Buren likely sat when he visited the village in 1839. Not a chair. A toilet seat. “The whole back room was garbage,” she said of Barbara Hall’s historic the former Cherry Valley tavern. Story Tavern, now her refurbished home at 171 Main St. “As we were cleaning it out, we realized the outhouses were there.” Following his election as president in 1837, Van Buren came through the village in September 1839 to meet with his constituents, following a similar reception in Cooperstown the day before. “The Village had a reception at the Story Tavern and he certainly had some nice fare and something to drink,” she said. “Certainly, he used the outhouse.” The original Story Tavern was built in 1783; an addition was built on the front in 1790. William Story, a miller Please See 2-SEATER, B3
Centers Pioneers Inhouse Childcare Center By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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ooperstown Center wants to care for the young, to assist in helping the not-so-young. “We’ve had a lot of staffing issues because people call and they say they couldn’t get a babysit-
ter,” said Heather Welsh, office manager. “So we’re opening a pre-school.” Dubbed Centers Childcare of Cooperstown, the preschool is a pilot across the Centers Healthcare Network as a way to provide low-cost, fully licensed childcare, so employees can be more dependably available. “Childcare is expensive,” said Lacey Rinker, direcPlease See PRE-SCHOOL, A3
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD