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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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SSPCA Duo BRINGS 13 DOGS HOME TO FOSTER PARENTS/B1
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VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Volume 211, No. 10
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, March 7, 2019
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
Newsstand Price $1
SUNDAY. BINGHAMTON. BE THERE!
CCS Boys, Girls Going To States Cooperstown’s Jillian Lifgren, Colby Diamond, Josie Furnari and Lucy Hayes cheer in elation at the Hawkeyes’ Sunday, March 3, victory against Utica Academy of Science in the Carrier Dome.
By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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ith their victory over Utica Academy of Science Atoms on Sunday, The Freeman’s Journal March 3, Hawkeyes’ basketball Abraham Lincoln team Captain Jack Lambert has his dad beat. (Savannah Ackley) “My team won strokes his (her) beard sectional championand thinks great thoughts ship in 1985 and at CCS’ “Night of the Notables,” Tuesday, ’86,” the elder LamMarch 5, where eighth bert said. “But now graders annually depict Jack has one more on great historical figures. me!” More photos at The boys will play Section IV chamwww. OTSEGO.com pions Unadilla Valley in the state Class C quarterfinals on Sunday, March 10, at the Broome County Memorial Arena. “We beat them in December 48-45,” he said. “It was a low-scoring, close game, so we think this will be another tough contest.” In Sunday’s nail-biter, the Hawkeyes beat the Atoms 61-57, taking the lead in the COOPERSTOWN fourth quarter after dogging at the Atoms’ Baseball star Bryce Harper, heels. “Those first two baskets threw us off,” now 26, who played at Please See VICTORY, A3 Cooperstown Dreams Park in 2003-05, has just signed a 13-year, $330-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. It is the largest contract in MLB and pro-sports history. Details at
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Dreams Park Grad Signed For $330M
AllOTSEGO.com
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Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
Caught In Insurance Bind, Chief Struggles To Survive
GoFundMe Raises $14,720 After He’s Cut From County Plan
WELCOME, DST: The long dark season ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 10, By LIBBY CUDMORE when we’re advised to turn our clocks forward one hour: COOPERSTOWN Daylight Savings Time is here! hen Mike Covert was in Bassett ON OTSEGO.com Hospital recovering from a heart attack in January, he had an unex►OTSEGO COUNTY’S NEW “Energy Task Force” held its pected visitor. first meeting Wednesday, Feb. A young woman from 28 at the Oneonta Town Hall. the “Angel” program, Read exclusive report. which Covert started in ►FIVE HOMES were evacuated 2015 as the Cooperstown north of Cobleskill Saturday, police chief to help heroin March 3, after a rig carryaddicts seek recovery, ing compressed natural gas came to his bedside. “She flipped off I-88. The truck didn’t have a car and she did not belong to XNG, which had been routing rigs through still came to see me,” he Otsego County. said. “She thanked me for saving her.” Now Covert, a 25-year veteran of Otsego County
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law enforcement departments, is the recipient of a GoFundMe campaign, started by his former partner Mike Ten Eyck. Ten Eyck started the fundraising – it surpassed the $10,000 goal by $4,720 as of Tuesday afternoon, March 5 – after unexpectedly losing his health insurance: A county audit found he was no longer eligible through the county, and couldn’t obtain it through the village. Covert first knew something was physically wrong when he Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal went to Bassett Hospital Cooperstown Police Chief last March for a swollen Mike Covert hold the mediankle. “They admitted cations and devices he Please See CHIEF, A7 uses daily to stay alive.
Criticism Sours $2M Grants For Downtown Railyard Naysayers Sink Mayor’s Bullish State Of City Speech By PATRICK WAGER & JIM KEVLIN ONEONTA
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n his 2019 State of the State speech, Mayor Gary Herzig Tuesday, March 5, said everyone wants to get to “net zero,” but – “please” – don’t oppose a plan for the D&H railyards “to create much-needed Herzig jobs.” Particularly, “while we go about enjoying our indoor tennis courts, gyms, swimming pools and theaters – all heated with gas. These are not the values of the people of the City of Oneonta,” he said. The plea fell on 112 sets of deaf ears. This was supposed to be Please See CITY, A3
TARGET: FORMER COUNTY BOARD CHAIR
Laurens’ Ric Brockway Challenges Kathy Clark By JIM KEVLIN LAURENS
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ic Brockway is used to climbing mountains. At 60, he put on a backpack and hiked the 120-mile Northville-Placid Trail through the Adirondacks. Two years ago, at 70, he climbed the 35 tallest Catskills, winning membership in the 3500 Club. This year, he’s taking on another challenge: Running against former county board chair Kathy Clark, R-OtegoLaurens, in the June 25 Republican primary. With his wife, Laurens Town Justice Patricia Brockway, retiring this year,
Ric Brockway is identified on his Facebook page as “an outdoor columnist and adventurer.”
“now’s my time,” said the candidate, who describes himself as an “outdoor columnist and adventurer” on his Facebook page. “I’ve always been under the impression,” he said in Please See BROCKWAY, A6
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD