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lengthy coronavirus pandemic. “Now it has become very evident that we need to come up with something to assist the locals in the process,” Klinger told the county’s Board of Representative during a special presentation Wednesday, April 7. The duo made a presentation asking the board to develop a plan for supplemental EMS help, with a county ambulance and/or an advanced life support fly car to assist with response and transportation to people in need of emergency health help. An ALS fly car is a medical vehicle that can respond to an emergency but does not do transportation. “It’s becoming more and more evident we have to do something,” Wilber said. “We’ve got crews begging us for help. Partially because of COVID, they’ve just reached the end of their
rope in their ability to supply and support their communities. “If we haven’t already, we’re going to be losing people because we can’t get an ambulance to them,” Wilber continued. O’Brien said he had been on the line as people died while waiting for responders and it is a heartbreaking feeling. “Without going into particular details, I can tell you there have been a number of times already this year where we have lost people,” he said. While the board met, a call could be heard in the background of the meeting, which was held via Zoom because of the pandemic and broadcast on Facebook. The call had been out for around 20 minutes, O’Brien pointed out, and was on its fifth agency request as the board members discussed the issue. See EMERGENCY, A6
Local media company under new ownership Kevlin has retired; Barnwell named publisher; Klein named editor STAFF REPORT
All
NOW
in 1808
Otsego County seeks to supplement struggling local emergency services
As of Friday, April 16, Iron String Press, Inc, publisher of The Freeman’s Journal, Hometown Oneonta and www.allotsego.com is under new ownership. Tara Barnwell, general manager of Iron String Press, becomes president and publisher and actor-writer Greg Klein becomes editor of the company’s print and digital news and entertainment sources, succeeding Jim Kevlin. Kevlin after 15 years as editor, Follow Breaking News On publisher and president of Iron String Press and its media family, OTSEGO.com has retired. With the new ownership, Iron ►al colone, community leader String Press remains the only and newspaper columnist, dies locally owned and locally focused ►Otsego county brings back news and entertainment operation
more than ever... Support Local Journalism
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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, April 22, 2021
COOPERSTOWN – Emergency medical services are struggling to respond to calls countywide, leading Otsego County officials to consider stepping in with supplemental services. Micro-grant “I’ve been in the service for 47 years. I have applications have never seen it this bad,” said Rep. Dan Wilber, Edmeston, Exeter, Plainfield, who April 30 deadline R-Burlington, is a member of the Edmeston Fire Department and Rescue Squad and the chair of the county’s COOPERSTOWN Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee. – Otsego County has anWilber said he and his fellow PSLA members nounced it will continue its have been listening to Otsego County Emergency micro-grant program for Services Coordinator Art Klingler Jr. and community events in 2021. Otsego County E-911 Director Bob O’Brien. The deadline for groups Both men have been warning them that a to request a share of up to generation of EMS workers are aging out $50,000 in funding is Friday, of service or have been discouraged by the April 30.
micro-grants for community events in 2021; April 30 deadline ►raging fire HAS ONEONTA Lanes future in doubt.
founded
VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
By GREG KLEIN
Sponsors must explain their event in detail and tell the Board of Representative’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee how the event will draw visitors to the area. If it is a new event, the application must describe the market segment the sponsors are trying to attract. All advertising and promotional materials created for the events must state that they are paid for in part by a grant from Otsego County Government. Brochures and information regarding other Otsego County venues and events must be made available at events. If events are canceled for any reason other than weather, the grantee must return the grant money. Go to www.otsegocounty. com and click on Community Events Grants Application 2021 for more information.
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Cooperstown’s offiCial newspaper
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Tourism is dealt a pandemic blow/B1
Larissa Ryan/The Freeman’s Journal
New Iron String Press President and Publisher Tara Barnwell poses with the paper’s publisher/editor of 15 years, Jim Kevlin, who retired Friday, April 16.
in Otsego County. Kevlin and his late wife, Mary Joan (M.J.) Kevlin,purchased The Freeman’s Journal in 2006 from Elinor Vincent and Michael Moffat,
who had owned the paper for nearly a decade. The Freeman’s Journal was founded in 1808 by Judge William Cooper and has served Otsego County for the past 213
years. Kevlin, a graduate of Colgate University, spent 48 years in newspapers, mostly as an editor, in Upstate New York, New England and Pennsylvania. The Kevlins expanded the company to include an Oneonta-based newspaper, Hometown Oneonta, and an online news source covering Otsego County, www.allotsego.com. M.J. Kevlin died in 2017 after a three-year battle with cancer. Kevlin and his current wife, the Rev. Sylvia Kevlin, pastor of Milford Methodist Church, who is also retiring at the end of the month, are planning to move out west to be closer to family. “Looking backward,” Kevlin said, “I’m thankful and honored at how Otsego County supported our expansion into a countywide force, from Cooperstown’s historic Freeman’s Journal, to founding Hometown Oneonta, to launching www. AllOTSEGO.com, the full-service 24-7 news site. ‘Our’ includes my late wife M.J., new publisher Tara Barnwell, and many other dedicated, creative and hardworking staff See SALE, A6
Gorman will return to Cooperstown as interim principal By GREG KLEIN COOPERSTOWN – Cooperstown Central School will have a familiar face take over as interim principal for the middle/high school as former elementary school Principal Teresa Gorman will return for two months at the end of the school year. Gorman, who retired from CCS in 2015, following 15 years as the elementary principal, will take over May 1. Her return was approved by the school’s Board of Education at its meeting
Wednesday, April 14. The secondary school building has been without a principal since Ann Mecarriello left Wednesday March 31 to become superintendent of schools for Campbell-Savona Central School District in the Southern Tier. CCS Business Manager Amy Kukenberger has been the acting building principal since Mecarriello’ s departure, just nine months after she was promoted from the elementary building to the middle/high school. Mecarriello’s departure also came just one month into the tenure of new CCS Superinten-
dent Sarah Spross who told Iron String Press on Monday, April 19, that she was shocked by the move. Hiring a full-time principal by July 1, should not be a problem, Spross said, but searching for an interim as a first task in a new job was daunting. “We’re very lucky we could get someone familiar to help us come back and close out our school year,” Spross said. Not counting Kukenberger, but counting Gorman and other interims, Cooperstown has had six middle/high school principals since 2016, when See SCHOOL, 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