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SPECIAL PHOTO EDITION
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
O M C O PE
MEMORIAL DAY 2012
For 204 Years
RICHFIELD SPRINGS • CHERRY VALLEY • HARTWICK • FLY CREEK • MILFORD • SPRINGFIELD • MIDDLEFIELD Volume 204, No. 22
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, May 31, 2012
Newsstand Price $1
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
AllOTSEGO.life
When he isn’t teaching Near East history and theology at Hartwick College, Bryan Babcock and wife Betsy, this month’s “Farmers of the Future,” are applying experience in international business to organic farming/SEE B1
Season Debuts, Hawkeyes Play Outlaws Team
The Wounded Warriors, right, and Otsego police and firefighters’ team, left, stand at attention for the national anthem at the start of the Sunday, May 27, game in Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field. In the foreground are, from left, vets Alan Christman, Gulf War; George Tucker Jr., Korea; Bill Bose, WWII, and Bill Haase, Vietnam. Col. Paul Russo, a Bassett physician, sings the anthem/
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SEE A7
EMORABLE TIMES Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
COOPERSTOWN
L
ook ahead a week, as the Cooperstown Hawkeyes will host the Oneonta Outlaws at 5 p.m. Friday, June 8, in the first game of a budding crosscounty rivalry. Both teams are in the Perfect Game League this year, and will play each other 13 times. Mayors Katz and Miller have offered a Mayor’s Cup to the team with the best record. BARN TALK: Cynthia G. Falk, CGP assistant professor and a new village trustee, was scheduled to give a lecture on her new book, “Barns of New York: Rural Architecture of the Empire State,” from Cornell University Press, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, at The Farmers’ Museum. PRIMARY DAY: There will be a Republican primary for U.S. senator and Democratic primary for the 19th Congressional District representative noon-9 p.m. Tuesday, June 26. SEASON HERE: Teams are arriving this weekend at Cooperstown Dreams Park.
From the steps to Cooperstown’s Council Rock Park, the winningest participant in the 50-year history of the General Clinton Regatta, Serge Corbin, right, and fellow canoeist, Steve Corlew, watch one of the Memorial Day races cut through Otsego Lake toward the mouth of the Susquehanna. In the background are the Sleeping Lion, a view made internationally famous by James Fenimore Cooper’s novels, and Kingfisher Tower/SEE A7
Grad Liz Kelly hugs her mom, Hartwick College President Margaret Drugovich, after receiving her degree Saturday, May 26, at the college’s 81st Commencement/SEE A3
Trustees Ban Pesticides On Village Land Grass Strips, Donated Plants Exempted
By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
B
efore a packed house, the Village Board Tuesday, May 29, unanimously approved a policy – not a law – banning pesticide use on village-owned land, a decision that will mostly affect Doubleday Field. “It’s definitely the right decision,” said Nicole Dillingham,
Otsego 2000 president. “Additional work needs to be done, but it’s a huge step in the right direction and we’re grateful to the board of trustees.” The resolution was brought forth by Trustee James Dean and the trustees’ Environmental Conservation Committee on May 1. On May 16, Sam Wilcox, director of the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society,
addressed a letter to the board in support of the resolution. “I feel very, very happy,” Wilcox said with a smile. “It’s a big step, recognizing the problem of rampant pesticide use.” “Village property” is defined as property owned and maintained by the village. Grass strips between the roads and the sidewalks in front of private property are excluded,
as are flowers, shrubs or bushes donated to the village. Though only Doubleday Field is the only village property that uses pesticides to control weeds under the grandstand, not on the diamond itself. Trustee Frank Capozza said the village has received a $7,000 grant from Cornell Cooperative Extension to study how to best maintain the field without pesticides. Currently, groundskeeper Joe Please See PESTICIDES, 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 O v e r
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