O M C O PE
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, April 29, 2021
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Shared garage back on Otsego’s agenda By GREG KLEIN
going to be on better footing.” The county’s facilities are near Cooperstown Central School on Linden Avenue in an area where no expansion or renovation is possible. “It’s old. It’s Dave Bliss not big enough. It is functionally obsolete. It is structurally unsound. It is a terrible location. It is right in the middle of the school and the village traffic on Linden Avenue.” Bliss said. “We might be able to leave some things there, such as the salt facility and the gas facility. The village of
COOPERSTOWN — In response to the rising number of hate crimes directed at Asian Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, local teens are planing a Solidarity Rally for Sunday, May 2, according to a media release. Otsego Solidarity Rally for Asian Americans will be held at 2 p.m. in front of the Otsego County Courthouse at 197 Main Street. May is Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage month, according to the release. Students involved in organizing the rally have created a window display at 149 Main Street, Cooperstown, to highlight the history and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The exhibit will be on view throughout the month of May. Cate Bohler, one of the 15-year-olds, said in the release, “I want to organize this rally to see how people come together to fight against racial injustice. My biggest goal is to help people become aware, educate them about things they might not know about. The rally is a starting point for action.” Speakers will include Otsego County Board of Supervisors Danny Lapin and Meg Kiernan and Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh.
Cooperstown uses those, so it would be more expensive if they had to have their own facilities. Bliss said there have been ongoing discussions with county schools and other municipalities about joining BOCES and the county. He said he thinks more groups will be interested once the plans are concrete, a cost is known and the shared services begin to lead toward budget savings. “I would think any school would be interested,” Bliss said. “They are in and out of BOCES all the time. This way they could drop off the kids at BOCES and if their bus needed servicing, they could just drop it off at the garage at the same time. It is getting harder to find mechanics, too, so it might be better for the schools if they did not have to hire their own
mechanics, but could use one of the mechanics at the garage.” Although the Cooperstown location is only about 10 miles north of the BOCES location, Bliss said the Milford spot is “ideal.” “I identified that spot three or four years ago when I started (on the board),” he said. “It is not exactly, but pretty much the center of the county. There is not much around it. You can expand as needed.” Bliss said the partners are waiting for an architectural estimate from C&S of Syracuse and then they will begin to assess how to pay for the project. A mix of grants, municipal budgets and education money will likely be part of the financial package. “It is really back on schedule,” Bliss said.
‘He was a skater boy’
Rally Sunday to protest crimes against Asians
Korey Rowe/The Freeman’s Journal
Oneonta skater Matthew Maloney, 23, rides his Blackout skateboard at the Oneonta Skate Park on Sunday, April 25. Maloney said he has been skating in the park since he was 16 years old.
Trustees agree to remove sign that angered residents
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►A GEORGIA DAWG: CCS grad Jacob Russell pursues football coaching dream at UGA. Page A3. ►TITLE PURSUIT: Cooperstown baseball team seeks Section Three title. Page A3. ►al colone TRIBUTE: Columnist, Oneonta businessman is honored by his brother. Page A4. Colone’s full obituary is featured. Page B5. ►Mill for SALE: Tourist destination the Fly Creek Cider Mill is for sale. Page B1. ►WHither the Editorial Page?: New editor discusses his mixed feelings about opinion pages in newspapers. Page A4.
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The village of Cooperstown’s Board of Trustees has tentatively approved a permit for the Coopertown Veterans of Foreign Wars to hold its annual Memorial Day Parade. The trustees conditionally approved the permit for Monday, May 31, providing state laws regarding the coronavirus pandemic are obeyed.
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Otsego County’s plan for a shared transportation garage has been revived. Inspired by the roadside County officials met with repdedication in honor of John resentatives from Otsego Northern Kempe Winslow on state Catskills BOCES in the past month Route 205, the village of to gage interest in another push to Cooperstown will work with build a centralized, shared services the Cooperstown Veterans facility on county Route 35 in the Club to find an appropriate town of Milford, on land adjacent to place to honor Robert “Bobby” the ONC BOCES campus. W. Atwell, who was killed “I would not say it is full speed March 21, 1968, in Vietnam. ahead, but maybe it is half speed A private first class in the ahead,” Otsego County Board of Army, Atwell, 20, was the Representatives President Dave Bliss only village resident who said on Tuesday, April 27. died in Vietnam. He was “It is still very much needed,” posthumously awarded the Bliss said. “BOCES is still interest. Bronze Star Medal, The It is back on now that the funding is Purple Heart and the Good coming back up and we’re hopefully Conduct Medal. In October, the state dedicated a section of 205 in the hamlet of Hartwick in honor of Winslow, a Marine Sgt. who was killed in Vietnam in 1969.
Parade time?
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By GREG KLEIN COOPERSTOWN – The village of Cooperstown will remove a controversial solar-powered speed limit sign from Pioneer Street. The village’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday, April 26, to remove the sign, which was in front of 100 Pioneer Street and told Greg Klein/The Freeman’s Journal motorists heading south on Pioneer A solar-powered speed limit sign on Pioneer Street that village if they were exceeding the village’s residents disliked will be moved to State Route 28.
30-mile-per-hour speed limit. The meeting was held in person in the village ballroom at 22 Main St. As part of the motion, the trustees agreed to relocate the sign to the southern entryway to the village on State Route 28. The sign has drawn complaints from dozens of current and former village residents, complaining about the aesthetics of the sign See SIGN, Page A2
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD