Two-Artist mural Exhibition Ends This Friday

By WRILEY NELSON COOPERSTOWN

The Cooperstown Art Association Galleries will display the exhibit, “Community murals: Spanning Generations,” through Friday, march 31. max Jones, a Cooperstown High School senior, is showing his recent work on one side of Gallery A. The other side features murals by Frank m. Van Auken, a veteran and lifelong member of the local community, who passed away at the age of 102 in November of 2022.

Jones, 17, has been developing his style for years. For this exhibit, however, he had only about four weeks to assemble a portfolio. “mrs. muller [Cooperstown High School art teacher] helped me get invited to display in the space, but it was a fast turn-around,” Jones explained.

His work in the exhibit includes several full-sized murals, smaller sketches and photographs. The centerpiece is his personal favorite, a mural titled “Field of Fire /LIFE.” my own life inspires a lot of my art,” Jones said. “For these pieces, I particularly enjoyed creating the speech bubbles and text.”

The written word, printed in a playful and eye-catching mix of capital and lowercase letters, is an integral part of his murals and sketches. Jones is thankful that the exhibit has allowed him to connect with the community and express himself through art.

“I think my favorite part of the whole process was the community opening event, when I was able to talk about everything with friends, family and neighbors.”

A march madness memory for the Ages

By Sunday of this past weekend, the 2023 NCAA basketball championship tournament—the month-long frenzy known as “march madness”—was whittled down to four teams, having started at 68 on march 16. The mighty have fallen. Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Purdue—all number one seeds—are out, as are all of the two and three seeds. Come Saturday, two “Cinderella” teams playing like Hercules, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State, will face off against each other in the first championship semifinal. They will be followed by more likely candidates, Connecticut and miami.

But, in this year’s championship run, time after time, the unlikely has prevailed, just as it did in 1983, when N.C. State, with a 17-10 regular season record, brokered one knuckle-biting victory after another to hold up the national championship trophy in Albuquerque on may 4 of that year.

Each year since, in remembrance of that victory, I go to YouTube and bring up

“CBS NCAA 1983 ‘Pre’ One Shining moment.”

To translate for the uninitiated, “One Shining moment” is the traditional musical montage of tournament highlights played, since 1987, after crowning the new champion. Before 1987, ad hoc musical numbers were chosen. In 1983 it was Christopher Cross’ “All Right.”

Nineteen eighty-three was the year the North Carolina State Wolfpack, dubbed the “Cardiac Pack” for its last-minute wins during tournament time, miraculously beat the muchtouted Houston Cougars. The action in the video is cleverly correlated with the lyrics, as when Cross sings, “It’s all right, think we’re gonna make it,” and a player, whose team appears to be winning, winks and gives the thumbs-up sign. It is hard to capture, in three minutes, 34 basketball games and all the accompanying hullabaloo, but the brevity of the video, packed with buzzer-beaters, acrobatic cheerleaders, exuberant fans, and mascots both real-life and costumed, reflects the frenzy of march madness itself.

In the 1983 musical epilogue, there is much to savor: N.C. State’s Wolf prancing around and sliding on the floor; Georgia’s Bulldog panting heavily; Louisville’s Cardinal strutting past a weary reporter seated on the sidelines; the then-young faces of coaches who have since retired or passed on—Denny Crum (Louisville), Deane Smith (University of North most of all, I love seeing N.C. State Coach Jim Valvano—the guy who majored in English so as not to be labeled a “dumb jock”—at his highest moment, running around the court looking for someone to hug in the chaos of his team’s unlikely coup, cutting the strings to the basket in victory, smiling with unmitigated joy. Those were the halcyon days, before Valvano resigned as athletic director and then as coach due to accusations (ultimately unsubstantiated) of recruiting violations. Before he was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, a type of glandular cancer. Before his iconic speech in 1993 at the first Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award ceremony, where Valvano received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

Van Auken began painting murals after he moved to Woodside Hall in February of 2018. The CAA exhibit features his depictions of the Cooperstown area during different seasons. Van Auken’s murals are bold, colorful interpretations of the region’s four faces as only a lifelong local could see them. They are simple, yet detailed with rural life and activity.

Van Auken used acrylic paints, colored pencils, markers, and collage to depict familiar Cooperstown landscapes, buildings, and birds. The murals originally hung in the Woodside Hall dining room.

The Cooperstown Art Association is located at 22 main Street, Cooperstown. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit cooperstownart.com.

Carolina). I love seeing coaches John Thompson (Georgetown), Guy Lewis (Houston) and Jerry Tarkanian (UNLV) sweat, the players wearing short pants, and all the agony and ecstasy of competition racing before me. And how satisfying to behold David beating Goliath: Lorenzo Charles’ game-winning “jam” against the seemingly invincible “Phi Slama Jama” team.

Former disdainful rival and ultimately best friend, Duke Coach mike Krzyzewski, accompanied Valvano to the event. Valvano was so weak he was throwing up on the plane and in his wheelchair just before delivering his 10-minute speech.

“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up!” Valvano urged that night.

Those words became the motto of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, whose formation Valvano announced at the awards ceremony. To date, the V Foundation has raised $310 million for cancer research.

Valvano’s ESPY appearance was on march 4, 1993. He died less than two months later on April 28, at age 47.

This year’s championship game will be played one day shy of the 40th anniversary of the Wolfpack’s miracle win. “Sports Illustrated” named the 1983 game the “greatest college basketball moment in the 20th century.” Who knows where the 2023 “madness” will take us when play resumes on Saturday, who will win the championship, or what spots will appear in “One Shining moment” after the final buzzer sounds. Time will tell whether this year’s legacy will be as lasting and as inspirational as 1983’s. This year’s tournament has had much to offer, but 1983 is a hard act to follow.

Grange Meets for Lunch,

More GILBERTSVILLE—The Otsego County Pomona Grange will hold a joint meeting at Butternut Valley Grange in Gilbertsville at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 15. Reports of the Pomona officers, subordinate Granges and committees will begin at 11 a.m. Any resolutions sent from local Granges will be acted on at this meeting. Lunch will begin at noon; each family should bring a dish to pass and their own table service. Guest lecturer Ellie Tarrants, a senior at Delaware Academy in Delhi and president of the Delaware County Future Farmers of America District 4, will speak about FFA projects and FFAGrange collaboration at 1 p.m. Entries for the Family Activities Contests are due at 11 a.m. for judging. Contests will include: woodworking projects; quilted wall hangings and baby quilts; needlework of afghans, doilies, plastic canvas, three-piece baby sets, embroidery, and stuffed toys; holiday ornaments; decorated teacup and saucer sets; Photography Contest on the theme “unintentional topiary” (members may submit two photos each); Song from the Screen Contest (members are invited to perform one or two songs from a movie, musical, or TV show): Lecturer’s Contest for paint-and-sip, brochures, and newspaper articles.

Editorial

Back in mid-October, shortly after General Manager and Senior Editor Darla M. Youngs was hired—and just as staff writer Ted Mebust came on board—our offices received a call from a volunteer EMS worker in northern Otsego county. This person spoke at length with Mebust, laying out concerns about lack of coordination and cooperation between Otsego county’s paid EMS service and its volunteer squads, general discontent among the rank and file, and real worries that these issues would result in someone being seriously injured or, worse, dying. Mebust took extensive notes and a decision was made by staff to do nothing for the time being, but to pursue the storyline.

In the weeks that followed, we began to receive more calls and e-mails echoing the first caller’s concerns. EMS volunteers voiced similar thoughts in passing to our contributing writers. People involved in other ways with the fire departments and their EMS crews stopped by the office, again referencing lack of coordination and cooperation. One went so far as to herald the “collapse of the county ambulance service” as imminent.

Mebust had continued to follow these leads since October, eventually reaching out to Otsego county Representative Dan Wilbur, chair of the Public Safety and Legal Affairs committee, and Robert O’Brien, the county’s 9-1-1 center director, both via e-mail and telephone. Neither responded. Youngs then caught the attention of Otsego county Administrator Steve Wilson with the e-mail subject line, “potential collapse of county ambulance service?”, asking Wilson for “help connecting Ted with someone who is responsive to his inquiries.” A meeting with Mebust followed not long after.

Mebust sat down with O’Brien, Wilber and other county officials in February, after