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VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Volume 211, No. 18
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, May 2, 2019
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
Newsstand Price $1
DEVELOPER’S RECORD ROCKY, THEY SAY
L.A. ANGELS VP TO LEAD HALL OF FAME
Neighbors Complain To Seward By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
T
he Sixth Ward Neighbors United is hoping to enlist the assistance of state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, in the fight against the 64-unit low-income housing
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
County Energy Task Force Due For Pow-Wow WEST ONEONTA
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amed at the end of January, the Otsego County Energy Task Force’s 21 members have been meeting in their four separate committees. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, the Task Force was scheduled to convene as one for the first time in the Oneonta Town Hall here, and share their separate discussions to date. The four committees are Building & Efficiency, Environment, Energy Supply and Economic Development. Also included are 14 technical advisers. For a report on the meeting, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
ON
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FULL DETAILS AT www.
Double Your Donation
The Freeman’s Journal
Incoming Cooperstown High School Principal Kristin Butler confers with Interim Principal Jim Brophy, who she’ll succeed July 1. For a profile of Butler, her career and her outlook, see profile on
project proposed by Rehabilitation Support Services. We “are seeking a full investigation of the financial dealings of (RSS), who have submitted funding applications to several state agencies,” the letter read. “We feel that because of the super-inflated costs of this project, historical evidence points to a project filled with Please See RSS, A7
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im Mead, 61, who has spent his 40-year MLB career with the Los Angeles Angels, will be the next Baseball Hall of Fame president, chairman Jane Forbes Clark announced Tuesday, April 30. For the past 22 years, he has been the team’s vice president/ communications. He will succeed Jeff Idelson, who plans to retire after this year’s Induction on July 21.
SSPCA Benefactress Will Match Gifts Up To $250,000 By LIBBY CUDMORE HARTWICK SEMINARY
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hen it comes to taking care of animals, Stacie Haynes never gives up. “Stacie approached me multiple times about fundraising,” said Anita Vitullo, Staffworks president and Susquehanna ►DOUBLE Your SPCA benefactress. dollar’s value! To contribute to “She was “Shelter Us” fund tenacious! But drive, follow the I was happy link from to help.” On TuesOTSEGO.com day, April 30, Vitullo and Haynes announced a $250,000 gift to the $2 million “Shelter Us” campaign to build a new expanded shelter building on the lot across from Smith Ford on Route 28, south of Cooperstown. But there’s a catch. “This gift is a challenge grant,” said Haynes. “Through Please See MATCH, A7
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Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
Representing the rest of the Susquehanna SPCA residents, Baby can’t restrain her excitement as Staffworks President Anita Vitullo, left, announces she will match donations to the $2 million “Shelter Us” fund drive dollar for dollar up to $250,000. Board member Merilyn Gould, there with fellow board member (and husband) Peter, couldn’t quite get Baby to settle down.
FIRST UM MARKS 30 ANNIVERSARY
► THE COOPERSTOWN YOUTH Baseball season began Monday, April 29, with a parade down Main Street. ► HAZMAT TEAMS were at Mirabito’s at Chestnut and West Beaver Saturday, April 27, only to discovered trained staff had By JENNIFER HILL mopped up a gasoline spill. ► 450 STUDENTS from around the state competed ONEONTA at New York History Day at The Farmers’ Museum.
Oneonta ‘Reconciling’ Congregation Ramping Up Opposition To Gay Ban
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t will be a bittersweet celebration. On Sunday, May 5, Oneonta’s First United Methodist Church will celebrate its 30th anniversary as a “Reconciling Con-
‘Philo Vance’ Born There, Now House May Be Razed By LIBBY CUDMORE
gregation,” sanctioning same-sex weddings ONEONTA and gay clergy. But the milestone comes right as the idden behind a row United Methodist Church’s Judicial Council, of overgrown trees the church’s legal arm, has agreed April 26 on River Street is a to mostly uphold a “Traditional Plan” apliterary legacy. proved by the church’s General Conference As S.S. Van Dine, Willard Feb. 26 in St. Louis, which banned sameHuntington Wright (1888Please See GAY BAN, B6
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1939), wrote 12 novels starring dandy detective Philo Vance – and Bob Brzozowski, Greater Oneonta Historical Society executive director, believes that they were written here. “We know his novel ‘The Man of Promise’ (1916) was partially written in the Please See HOUSE, B6
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD