The Freeman's Journal 06-11-20

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COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND

Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, June 11, 2020

VICTIM, MANY KINFOLKS RAISED IN HOUSTON

Restaurants Families Like Floyd’s ‘Great Role Models’ To Reopen This Friday

By LIBBY CUDMORE

COOPERSTOWN

C

hip Northrup knows a few things about protesting.

“There was a big billboard outside of Dallas that proclaimed ‘Welcome to the Home of the John Birch Society’,” Floyds were among Northrup family’s he said. “So I got a gang together and

servants in Houston.

The Freeman’s Journal

After years of deterioration, repairs have begun on 47 Beaver St., Cooperstown. Contractor Jim Bridger said he’s rebuilding porches for owner Larry Cross, who is retiring and plans to move back into the village. To initiate the work, crews are reconnecting utility lines to the mains and repairing sills.

CCS Planning 2 Graduations On Ball Fields COOPERSTOWN

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ooperstown High School is putting plans in place to hold the 2020 graduation ceremony on the CCS athletic fields on Sunday June 28.

According to Superintendent William Crankshaw, the ceremony will likely be split into two services, with each student limited to two guests in order to comply with social distancing.

On Sunday, June 7, Governor Cuomo announced that graduations could take place if less than 150 attended.

SEE MULTIPLE REPORTS ON

AllOTSEGO.com ►ONEONTA’S JC PENNEY escapes latest closings. ►UN-PAUSED, churches look to open this Sunday. ►FIVE-STAR SUBARU DONATES $17k to SQSPCA “Shelter Us” campaign ►COUNTY BOARD RETREATS from threatened cuts to promotion agency ►PRIDEFEST 2020 held virtually.

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we paint-bombed the billboard. I was Antifa before Antifa was cool!”

And when he heard about the death of Houston native George Floyd, Northrup recognized the name immediately.

“Hazel Gay Floyd was our maid,” he said. “She basically raised our children growing up, and I spoke at her funeral. When I saw that George was Please See FLOYDS, A7

By LIBBY CUDMORE

I

f you see darkened windows at Mel’s at 22 on Thursday, June 11, don’t worry – they’re just getting ready to welcome everyone back in.

“We’re closing on Thursday to get ready to reopen on Friday,” said owner Brian Wrubleski.

Please See OPENING, A8

Protests Inspire County’s Jurist Talk Of Reform Top To Retire Last year, she met Pope Francis; last Sunday, Paula DiPerna was among 850 people at the “Rally for Justice for George Floyd” in front of the county courthouse in Cooperstown.

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

W

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal

850 Rally In Cooperstown; Next, Action In Unadilla

By JIM KEVLIN

A

fter “Justice for George Floyd” rallies in Oneonta, then Cooperstown, the focus is turning from talk to action.

Local chapter Vice President Michelle Osterhoudt advised MacGuire Mayor Gary Herzig of Organizers Benton and Maria Noto the NAACP’s fourconfront a flag-waver point “We Are Done they feared was an Dying” program, agitator. including a ban on chokeholds, opening police disciplinary records, and citizen review boards.

Attendees at the Sunday, June 7 “Rally for Paula DiPerna, the Cooperstown climate activist, Justice” included the Pondolfinos, formerly of Oneonta: dad Tom, mom Amy and son Thomas. said she has asked Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch Please See RALLIES, A7

henever County Judge John Lambert had a question about the law, he knew he could turn to Judge Michael V. Coccoma, the county’s highest ranking jurist.

“He was my mentor,” Lambert said.

“There were times that Judge Coccoma a question would arise about how to handle something, he was a great person to bounce ethiPlease See COCCOMA, A8

HARTWICK, SUNY-O SUBMIT REOPENING PLANS, AWAIT WORD

I

t’s up to Albany.

Both Otsego County’s colleges have prepared plans to reopen, and Hartwick plans to reopen in the fall, “if they let us,” said Vice President Paula Lee Hobson.

SUNY Oneonta President Barbara Jean Morris sent her campus’ plan – she provided no details – to SUNY headquarters on Monday, June 8, and hopes to get Chancellor Kristin Johnson’s imprimature by July 7.

For full story, visit

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www.

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD

A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

LOCALS

LeRoux Graduates Princeton, Considers Olympics COOPERSTOWN

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ndy LeRoux, grandson of Fran and John LeRoux, recently graduated from Princeton University magna cum laude with a degree in Economics.

Andy spent his early years and many summers in Cooperstown before moving to Florida, where he graduated from Pine View High School in 2016.

Prior to entering high school, Andy took up

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

rowing, which he excelled at and rowed for the U.S. Rowing Team three times in Germany, Brazil and LeRoux finally in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he earned a bronze medal in 2016.

He also continued rowing on the Men’s Varsity Heavyweight Rowing team

5-Star Subaru Donates $16.9K To ‘Shelter Us’ Stacie Haynes, SQSPCA executive director, holds up a $16,963.64 check this week from 5Star Subaru that brought the Shelter Us drive one-third of the way to its latest matching challenge grant of $100,000.

The funds, presented

by Ben Guenther, proprietor, were raised during Subaru of America’s Share The Love® event.

With her is Tasha, an adoptable dog.

during his four years at Princeton, while studying hard and staying involved in campus activities, including working as a research assistant for Professor Stephen Redding on the impact of Chinese manufacturing firms on the US economy.

He was a Financial Planning and Analysis Intern at Fremont Group in his junior year.

While he is exploring the job market, he is also considering trying out for the Olympics.

Outdoor Dining

Visit these local restaurants and enjoy outdoor dining!

OUTDOOR DINING!

FANTASTIC FOOD!

22 Chestnut Street Cooperstown (607) 322-4012 Open every day 11 am - 7 pm for take out and delivery.

On Friday, June 12, 15% of sales will be donated to Black Vision Collective.

Mel’s at 22 now has more space and tables for your outdoor dining enjoyment!

We’re ready to serve you outside!

607-322-4012

See our website for menu options!

607-322-4003

4874 State Hwy 28, Cooperstown Open Daily 11 am to 9 pm

cooperstownsportsbar.com

Blue Mingo Grill The Patio is OPEN!

Good Food • Good People www.melsat22.com

NOW AVAILABLE

within a 10-mile radius and

It’s Summertime and The Lake is Calling!

HOME AND OFFICE DELIVERIES NOW AVAILABLE! FREE DELIVERy SERVICE within a 10-mile radius and $20 minimum order.

11 am - 7 pm

COME AND GET IT!!

Bask in the natural splendor of Otsego Lake in the glow of summer while you enjoy an al fresco lunch or dinner at the water’s edge with what The New York Times has called NOW AVAILABLE “the area’s best dishes.” within a 10-mile radius and

We will be open for carryout from 11am to 8pm and for delivery, 11am to 7pm Tuesday through Sunday.

Place orders via phone at

607-432-1782

at www.brooksbbq.com or the Brooks’ BBQ app on your iPhone or Android.

OPEN DAILY

Open Daily 11am to 10pm Lunch Noon to 4pm Dinner Reservations highly recommended Dinner, reservations highly recommended, 607-547-7496 4pm to last seating at 8pm

607-547-7496 Closed Wednesdays A Compelling Collection of Unique Clothing, Gifts, and Accessories A Compelling Collection of Unique Clothing, Gifts, Open Daily 9am to 10pm and Accessories 607-547-2543 Open Daily 10am 9pm Open Daily 9am to to 10pm 607-547-2543 607-547-2543

ALL AT ONE LAKESIDE LOCATION SAM SMITH’S BOATYARD 2.5 miles north of Cooperstown on West Lake Road (Route 80) 607-547-2543

All

B

OTSEGO.outdoors

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

FOR THE A Common Merganser peeks out of a nesting box in the DelawareOtsego Audubon Society Sanctuary on Franklin Mountain.

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BEST BETS

Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne are OKAN, bringing their Afro-Cuban styles to the West Kortright Center in a virtual concert.

Living Room Show, Birds, Then Bees, And Science Trivia

AllOTSEGO.outdoors

Ian Austin/

...Head Up Franklin Mountain To Audubon Sanctuary

By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA

T

“TeacherTeacher. TeacherTeacher.”

‘hat’s an Ovenbird,”

said Andy Mason, co-president of the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Sanctuary.

“In all the years I’ve been birding, I’ve only ever seen two, and one of those times was because I almost stepped on a nest.”

Named for their dome-shaped nest built on the ground, the Ovenbird is one of more than 100 species of birds who make their home in the 100-acre sanctuary, high on Grange Spur Road overlooking Oneonta.

“We’ve seen a lot of Red-Eyed Vireos lately,” he said. “They’re a small, tropical migrant from the West Indies. Orioles too.”

In the early days of the COVID19 pandemic, when events were cancelled and many people were stuck inside, Mason said they saw a rise in the number of visits to their website, www.

DOAS.us.

“Our bird scavenger hunt was more popular than it’s ever been,” he said. “And we moved a lot of our workshops online.

Sporting a wild hairdo, a Hooded Merganser takes a dip.

The lockdown really prompted an and guidelines relaxed, people have started interest in birding. It’s a chance for people coming out to the sanctuary, which boasts to be outdoors, while maintaining social trails across a variety of habitats, including distancing.” forests, wetlands, open plains and, of But with the weather getting warmer Please See BIRDS, A10

Wanna Bike?

4 Trail Systems Available Within Minutes Of Oneonta

By LIBBY CUDMORE

www.mtbproject.com

ONEONTA

I AllOTSEGO.outdoors

Ian Austin/

Sam Baskin hits the trails in Wilber Park.

►IF YOU GO: For directions to four mountain bike trails within 10 minutes of downtown Oneonta, visit

f it’s been awhile since you rode a bike, now is the perfect time to get your wheels out of storage, Otsego Bicycles’ Sam Baskin will tell you.

“There’s actually a bike shortage,” he said. “Because all the factories are shut down, we haven’t been able to

get many new bikes in, so I’ve been busy fixing a lot of bikes that people have had in the garage for 10 years.

There’s a big demand. I’ve never seen a bike shop that doesn’t have bikes!”

Baskin, a 2016 OHS graduate, has taken over the store from founder Ed Lorenz, who retired at the end of Please See BIKES, A10

D

ance in your living room as you share in the jubilant Afro-Cuban rhythms of OKAN in a virtual concert, presented by the West Kortright Center. Registration required.

8-9 p.m. Saturday, June 13, www.westkc. org/eventbrite-event/virtual-afro-cubanconcert-okan/ for info.

• Learn about the role that tiny fish play in ocean ecosystems online with DelawareOtsego Audubon Society, presented by Audubon Connecticut LIBBY and Mystic Aquarium.

CUDMORE Then stick around for a Town Hall where DOAS answers all your birding questions. Webinar, 4 p.m., Town Hall, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, www.facebook. com/DelawareOtsegoAudubonSociety/.

• Join the Oneonta Federated Garden Club as they screen “The Pollinators,” a documentary film following migratory beekeepers around the country as they pollinate commercial fields, with a live panel discussion and Q&A to follow.

Free, registration required. 7-9 p.m.

Thursday, June 11, https://www.facebook. com/Oneonta-Federated-Garden-Club133855897358767/ • Make a pile of s’mores and gather around a virtual campfire for some themed tales at Harris Memorial Library.

7-8 p.m. Saturday, June 13, www.facebook.com/harrislibrary/.

• Hall of Famer Jim Thome helps the Baseball Hall of Fame celebrate the 81st anniversary of the Hall with a virtual Legends of the Game, discussing his career, his time in Cooperstown and his work for the MLB network. 1 p.m.

Friday, June 12, https://baseballhall. org/events/virtual-legends-of-the-gameJim-Thome?date=0.

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Perspectives

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

A-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL EDITORIAL

Personal Testaments Tell Us: We Can Do Better A t first, the “Defund the Police” initiatives surfacing nationwide seem like a truly awful idea: a blunt instrument to dissect a complex challenge dramatized again by George Floyd’s May 25 death while being taken into custody in Minneapolis.

But drilling down, benefits surface.

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that all organizations in Otsego County – local governments, non-profits, churches, businesses large and small, even newspapers – are rethinking Bryce Wooden: My parents could have operations in light of the been killed. coronavirus disorientation.

Cooperstown: If “Defund the Police” is a • Bryce Wooden of Oneonta, clean-sheet look at police department priorities, why shouldn’t law “a 25-year-old trying to be a good father to my future chilenforcement do what everybody dren,” recounted how in 2000, his else is doing right now? white mother and black father – a • teacher and a correctional officer It was hard to listen to personal – responded to a “bang, bang” on testimonies of speakers at their door at 2 p.m. to find a gun the Sunday, June 7, “Justice pointed in their faces. They were For George Floyd” rally in

Shannon McHugh: “My daughter shouldn’t have to be the wokest child.”

grilled at gunpoint for a half-hour.

• Shannon McHugh, an Oneonta daycare operator who was in the 20 Under 40 class selected five years ago by Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman’s Journal, reported 10 officers searching her car after a routine stop, and finding nothing. She asked all of us to be “second eyes” when we happen on police stops.

HOMETOWN ONEONTA photos

Rev. LaDana Clark recounts being handcuffed for the first time in her life: At age 58 in Laurens.

• The Rev. LaDana Clark, the “outreach hip-hop pastor” who has preached at Cooperstown’s Presbyterian Church, described a harrowing series of events ensuing after she gave a cheerful “hi”

to troopers on leaving Oneonta’s Walmart. “For the first time in my life, an officer put cuffs on me in Laurens, N.Y. I’m 58 years old,” she recounted. “I was disgusted.”

Diandra Sangetti-Daniels, Oneonta, a personal care assistant, related how she cried while writing down her experiences. Wesley Lippitt of Fly Creek, said only “a Guardian Angel” allowed him to speak at the rally: 10 years earlier, he had been chased out of Cooper Park and shot by a classmate.

This doesn’t catch the richness and drama of their convincing narratives. Even “Black Lives Matter” skeptics had to leave the Otsego County Courthouse lawn shaking their heads: Something’s wrong here.

• So what is wrong here?

Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig, Deputy Mayor David Rissberger and Police Chief Doug Brenner by Please See EDITORIAL, A5

LETTERS

JUSTICE FOR ALL

RISSBERGER: Expect Action On City Policing To the Editor: In light of recent national and local events, I feel compelled to speak out regarding the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

As I’d like to believe most civilized people would be, I was horrified and appalled to watch the barbaric treatment of Mr. George Floyd as he was being arrested by the Minneapolis police department.

Police officers take an oath to protect and serve ALL members of their community and to treat citizens

with respect and dignity. The video of the death of George Floyd that went viral clearly Rissberger showed that Mr. Floyd was afforded neither.

In recent days my heart has been filled with hope as I have watched thousands of people across our counPlease See RISSBERGER/A9

NAACP President: Let’s Live Up To Our Ideals

BRENNER: Police Will Listen To Your Concerns

To the Editor: Contemporary law enforcement is as dynamic and challenging as we seen during any of our careers in law enforcement.

While we who have chosen this Brenner profession watch national trends, tragedies and triumphs and shared challenges, we are

uniquely Oneontan.

We have had some low moments in this department that have prompted, over time, a near-complete overhaul of the agency. These changes were a response, in some cases, to public demands and outcry, internal investigations, independent investigations, changes in police training and best practices, court rulings and, as with any law enforcement agency, changes in State and Federal Statues.

Please See BRENNER, A9

Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

At the “Rally for Justice” Sunday, June 7, on the Otsego County Courthouse steps in Cooperstown, NAACP President Lee Fisher drew a lesson from the other speakers: America needs to live up to its founding principles.

Editor’s Note: Lee Fisher, president of the NAACP, Oneonta chapter, delivered this address Sunday, June 7, at the Rally for Justice on the Otsego County Courthouse steps in Cooperstown.

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Cooperstown’s Newspaper

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By LEE FISHER •F

For 212 Years

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James C. Kevlin Editor & Publisher

Tara Barnwell

Advertising Director & General Manager

Libby Cudmore

Managing Editor

Elizabeth Cooper Correspondent Ivan Potocnik Web Architect

Ian Austin Photographer

Kathleen Peters Graphics & Production

Taylor in Louisville, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Trayvon Martin in Florida or Eric Gardner in New York. People are demanding change in America.

We should not just be here only for the senseless murder of George Floyd but the discriminatory practice about everyday issues such as a living wage, affordable housing, the cost of higher education, voter suppression, red lining and the list goes on.

In her book, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou said, if you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking – massive Please See FISHER, A6

VIEW FROM OYARON HILL

Hartwick College United In Seeking Justice

Larissa Ryan Business Manager

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e hold these truths to be self evident, that all humans are created (and treated) equal with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Now more than ever this nation must live up to the obligations imposed upon it by the Emancipation Proclamation.

How far has it gone in assuring to each and every citizen, irrespective of our color, the equality of opportunity and equality before the law guaranteed in the Constitution?

The murder of George Floyd by what is considered a “bad acting” policeman was a horrific, unspeakable tragedy. A routine arrest becomes a de facto execution. The protests we are witnessing all around the country are not just from the killing of Brianna

Tom Heitz Consultant

IN MEMORIAM: Mary Joan Kevlin, Co-Publisher, 2006-17 OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR Otsego County • Village of Milford • Town of Middlefield Cooperstown Central School District MEMBER: National Newspaper Association, NY Press Association Subscriptions Rates: Otsego County, $69 a year. All other areas, $89 a year.

First Class Subscription, $155 a year.

Published Thursdays by Iron String Press, Inc. 21 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown NY 13326 Telephone: (607) 547-6103. Fax: (607) 547-6080.

E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com

Editor’s Note: Hartwick College President Margaret L. Drugovich issued this letter to the college community to address concerns in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

S

imply occupying the office of the college presidency does not give me the right to presume that I know how every member of our community thinks or feels. We do not all agree on politics, culture or even the meaning of words. The very nature of an academic community begs us to question and debate every

thought, every statement, and every idea that takes flight.

But there are some ideas that stand clearly apart from all others.

When it comes to human decency, justice, and fairness, MARGARET there is no room for DRUGOVICH equivocation.

And so I write to every member of our Hartwick Community to say to

►TO VIEW President Drugovich’s May 31 video addresss to the college community, visit

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

all who will listen that we condemn the murder of George Floyd. There is no room for bias-fueled hatred at Hartwick. At Hartwick, we stand with all who seek justice for Mr. Floyd’s death.

It is our responsibility to eliminate the social, health and economic ineqPlease See DRUGOVICH, A6

AllOTSEGO.com • MORE LETTERS, A6

LETTERS TO EDITOR WELCOME • EMAIL THEM TO info@

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-5

BOUND VOLUMES Compiled by Tom Heitz and SHARON STUART, with resources courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library

210 YEARS AGO

The pirates in the Persian Gulph have been wholly defeated by the English; the pirates amounted to 6,000 men; but 1,400 English troops landed at Rasul Kimaz, their principal seat on the Arabian shore, and gained possession of the town in about four hours. The enemy was severely cut up, and gave away in every direction, and the town was given up to plunder.

June 9, 1810

30 YEARS AGO

50 YEARS AGO

The Otsego County District Attorney’s office is handling the case involving vandalism caused by skateboarding in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church Hall. Rev. John Sise said parishioners noticed some vandalism recently. Skateboarding in the hall has caused damage to floors, walls and tables. Last week, Sise said he saw three youths walking between the Catholic Church and the neighboring Baptist Church heading for the Parish Hall. He was able to seize one of the youths but the other two made off over the fence.

June 13, 1990

185 YEARS AGO

Two Negroes were recently burned to death in Mobile, Alabama, for the murder of two children under aggravating circumstances. The laws of the country had never conceived that crimes could be perpetrated with such peculiar circumstances of barbarity, and had therefore provided no adequate punishment. Their lives were justly forfeited to the laws of the country, but the peculiar circumstances demanded that the ordinary punishment should be departed from – they were seized, taken to the place where they had perpetrated the act, and burned to death.

June 8, 1835

160 YEARS AGO

It is already well known that the Newspaper Express on the Hudson River has proved a complete success. We now learn that the New York Central has under consideration and will probably submit to the Government a proposition to carry the great United States mail from New York to Cincinnati and Chicago at a rate of speed heretofore unparalleled in the history of railroading, at least in this country. It is proposed to leave New York at 3 or 4 o’clock a.m. with the mail and New York papers, and reach Cincinnati at 3 o’clock a.m. the following morning, and Chicago at 5 or 6 o’clock a.m. Businessmen would receive their correspondence from New York twenty-four hours in advance of the present mail arrangement.

June 8, 1860

135 YEARS AGO

The origin of Memorial Day at the north is a matter of inquiry. John B. Murray was a lawyer and a native of Vermont; at the opening of the Civil War he resided in this state and entered the service as Captain in the 50th New York Volunteers. He rose gradually in command, and in 1865 was brevetted Brigadier General. He was the originator of the Decoration Day observances in the northern states. In the winter of 1867-1868, when in the south, he noticed the touching rite of the decoration of soldiers’ graves by the ladies, and deeply impressed with the beauty and solemnity of this custom, he instituted a similar one at his home when he returned in 1868. He died on October 8, 1884, and his remains were followed to the grave by a large number of veterans.

June 13, 1885

20 YEARS AGO

Otsego Lake has its secrets, many of which pertain to the lake’s marine biology. Other secrets of “The Glimmerglass” can be traced to human activity. Last Thursday, the lake yielded one of its human secrets. Lee Ferrara, a diver working for the biological field station on a research project was 500 yards north of the Cooperstown Country Club and about 50 yards offshore in relatively shallow water when he came upon a large device lying on its side and partly submerged in loose silt on the lake bottom. Ferrara, with the help of fellow divers Jeff Opar, Dale Webster and Paul Lord eventually recovered and brought to shore a contraption that resembled a cross between a bicycle, a boat, and a sled with June 10, 1970 flotation tanks attached. A chassis similar to a bicycle with a seat and handlebars is mounted on a sled-like base. A gear wheel turned by a crank with wooden bicycle pedals drives a marine propeller assembly to the rear. Flotation cans are Topics of Cooperstown – Lung Fook is the latest addition attached to the front and rear along with a front rudder. “I to the laundry of Ah Choy. He, like the others in Choy’s haven’t seen anything like it before,” Bill Harman, biologilaundry, has been “Americanized” by the loss of his queue. cal field station director, said, noting that finding artifacts in The new parlor in the Hotel Fenimore is a dream. The the lake is a common occurrence. “But finding this artifact side walls are artistically tinted, new pictures adorn them, a fine Brussels rug, newly upholstered chairs and new writing was quite out of the ordinary.”

June 9, 2000 tables have been added. Just peep in there if you want to see something really fine.

June 11, 1910

110 YEARS AGO

10 Years Ago

85 YEARS AGO

Where Nature Smiles – The Meadowbrook Steeplechase Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday was won by Mr. F. Ambrose Clark’s eight-year-old gelding Irish Bullet, favored in a field of six. Irish Bullet, perfectly ridden by F. Bellhouse, won practically as he pleased after setting the pace most of the way and after he had reached Mrs. C.V. Whitney’s Rideaway into the ground.

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Carlton Clark have issued invitations to the marriage of their daughter, Elizabeth Scriven Clark, to Mr. Henry Richardson Labouisse, Saturday, June 29, at 12 o’clock, Eastern Standard Time, at Christ Church, Cooperstown. Immediately following the ceremony a reception will take place at Fernleigh, the home of the bride’s parents here.

June 12, 1935

FROM PHILATHROPY’S FRONT LINES

FROM PROTESTS’ FRONT LINE

Where Is God? In Otsego County

W

here is GOD? right now!

The whole world goes down in Police Officers are quickly and strategia plague and comes up in a peace- cally being held accountable! ful protest! Rev. Dr. Martin Luther “Community policing” is being King Jr. said, “I can’t make a man put back on the table, funds from love me, only GOD can do that.” police budgets are being diverted Where is GOD? to human needs budgets or in GOD is in the heart of every other words, diverted to the least person who is rising up right now, on of these!

Now, I don’t care if someone one accord, all over the country, and all over this world, for justice, love, is a Democrat or a Republican as peace and equality! long as they are for all the people!

Where is GOD? A call for an enormous voter We are all a part of The Tapestry, REV. LaDANA registration and mobilization is in The Fabric, The Essence of GOD! effect! We must vote up and down CLARK We are One America! We are One the ballot, for local and national Global World Community and we candidates! are now operating together to be the change The pulse of the people is focused on we want to see! unity, peaceful protest, reflections on inWhere is GOD? justice and equality for all! Diverse people To our young people, across America and must keep speaking out! Responsible leadthe World! You are strong, bold, and peaceers must continue taking moral action! ful, amazing and triumphant! You are also This is how we get the people’s business our next generation of hope! done, at a standard that works in the best GOD is equally proud of you and all of us Please See CLARK, A6

CCS junior Adrian Lynch woke up six weeks ago to find “two guns pointed at my face.” Two village police officers handcuffed him and dragged him downstairs, where his landlord and roommate were handcuffed as well. When Lynch, who is black, asked what was going on, “nobody could give me an answer,” he told 150 people gathered in CCS’ Sterling Auditorium Tuesday, June 8.

A woman officer advised him there had been talk that he was selling drugs, but there has been no report of any charges being filed. Lynch told his story during “Broadening the Horizon: Reconciliation Across Differences,” the second of two presentations that grew out of a Good Friday shooting at Main and Fair streets.

June 11, 2010

Needs Met, But Much Left To Do

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e first announced the creation of the COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund in this newspaper on April 21. We had not intended to start our public life this way, but the need for such a fund was obvious to us and we felt a deep responsibility to join those already fighting the pandemic.

What we can now report is that the community, the entire community, has risen to the same call and joined us.

Here are a few points: HARRY • You have contributed over LEVINE $200,000 in less than two months.

• Awards have been granted to 12 nonprofits for a total of $60,000.

• Another 12 applications are being reviewed right now.

• More than 250 individuals and families have joined in supporting the fund.

• Another 20 organizations have endorsed the fund, including the county Board of Representatives, our Congressman (Antonio

Delgado), our state Assemblyman (John Salka), our state Senator (Jim Seward), and six local town boards.

We are awarding every $1 received to help alleviate the crisis.

The costs of the Fund are being absorbed entirely by the Community Foundation of Otsego County.

Some funds are being reserved to help small businesses restart. But even these funds will be allocated quickly as the need far exceeds the size of the Fund.

We wish we could award two or three times the amounts we have been able to distribute. We are encouraging applicants to return for more, if we have more. Certainly, the need is there.

This can be done if everyone of us helps out. If you have not yet contributed to the COVID-19 Fund or if you are able to make a second contribution (some donors have actually made three contributions), please do Please See LEVINE, A6

EDITORIAL: Citizens, Let’s Strive To NOT Be Part Of Problem EDITORIAL/From A4 week’s end plan to announce an initiative – perhaps a commission, a task force, an outside audit or a community survey – to ensure the OPD is following best practices.

That fits in with the emerging “Defund the Police” approaches: Today, police officers are being asked to do things they aren’t trained to do – social work, mental-health counseling, arbitrating domestic disputes, drug intervention.

Does it make sense to shift funding from police officers, SWAT teams and deadly weaponry to putting softer skills out in the field?

We should ask that question in Otsego County..

Our county, with 60,000 people, has to be right up there in police per capita,

with the OPD, the sheriff’s department, Cooperstown’s two officers, state police barracks at Oneonta, Sidney and Richfield Springs, town constables, DEC police, even armed security guards at Bassett Hospital.

This is all very expensive.

Is our investment working?

• Since George Floyd’s death, people are asking: Are police unions protecting their members from discipline or removals that might save lives? Officer Chauvin, charged in Floyd’s death, was in the top 8 percent of Minneapolis officers in terms of public complaints.

One study has found that the 5 percent of officers with the most complaints against them are responsible for 80

Monday, the state Assembly passed the STAT Act (for Statistics & Transparency) that would make such data public and “help researchers and the public evaluate the effectiveness of criminal justice policies,” according to Speaker Carl Heastie. The state Senate should adjust it as prudent and pass it.

• Going forward, the presupposition of black guilt, as attested to by the “Rally for Justice” speakers from personal experience, stands The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA and must be addressed.

Let’s hope the City of David Pearlman, center, the retired Cooperstown Oneonta provides a model.

High School principal, and Adrian Kuzminski, left, The county Sheriff’s Deof Sustainable Otsego County, listen to “Rally for partment should move forJustice” speakers. ward similarly, with Sheriff percent of civilian deaths.

Floyd’s.

Richard J. Devlin, Jr., in That suggests a pretty Right now, we don’t concert with what’s proveasy way to eliminate know who those officers ing to be the county board’s 4/5th of cases like George are, but that may change: able leadership, chairman

Dave Bliss, vice chair Meg Kennedy, county Rep. Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and other reps.

Bryce Wooden, Shannon McHugh, Pastor LaDana and the others were convincing: Racism – or at least ignorance and insensitivity – exist here, in the police and, regrettably, ourselves.

In our police, we should require objectivity and evenhandedness.

All of us – we whites in particular, including this editorial’s writer, given we’re 94 percent of Otsego Countians; but all of us, Hispanics, blacks, arrivals from the Pacific Rim and Indian – should conduct personal audits and strive, not to accuse, but to accept and support our fellow humans.

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA LETTERS

Step Up, OCCA, BFS, Watershed Committee To the Editor: Michael Whaling’s recent letter in The Freeman’s Journal and Hometown Oneonta, regarding pesticide use by the Leatherstocking Golf Course, was spot on.

This is just the time when the course begins its annual dousing of the shores of Otsego Lake with chemicals dangerous to humans and wildlife alike.

The last time the public was able to learn the specific materials and quantities used on the course, it was revealed that the golf course used over 3,300 pounds and

100 gallons of pesticides – many carcinogenic, acutely toxic, and developmental or reproductive toxins. The golf course has not released its pesticide usage since – is there any wonder why?

The use of these poisons adjacent to a public water supply and recreation area is unconscionable and goes unchallenged by SUNY’s Biological Field Station, the Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego Lake Watershed Supervisory Committee, and the Village of Cooperstown – all ostensibly concerned

DRUGOVICH/From A4 uities that allow bias-fueled hate to continue. We must with the lake and public stare into the truth that these health. Clearly these entiinequities result in pain for ties are more interested in both individuals and our staying in the good graces society as a whole. There is of the Clark Foundation, no benefit to any one of us owner of the golf course, if others are treated with less than in living up to their respect, care, compassion, responsibilities. or opportunity and more The Leatherstocking course claims to be environ- prejudice, mistrust, anger and cruelty. It is easy to mentally responsible. say the words “Black Lives If that is truly the case, Matter.” Each of us must let them tell the people act in a way that makes it who drink and recreate on clear that Black lives do Otsego Lake’s waters just matter. Each of us must act what they are spraying in a way that makes it clear next to it.

ANDREW MASON that every life matters.

In my video message Oneonta on May 31 I spoke to our students about how impor-

County Planner Sullivan Always Went Extra Mile To the Editor: Karen Sullivan and her predecessor Terry Bliss were amazing leaders and expert planners. Otsego County was lucky to have them.

I had the pleasure of knowing and working with them during my role as flood recovery coordinator from 2006 to 2008 and, as I recall, it was through Karen’s

efforts that flood victims who had lost their homes to the flood were able to benefit from funds from a state grant.

Karen always went the extra mile!

I, for one, will miss her and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.

MAUREEN DILL Morris

LEVINE: Foundation Seeks Businesses’ Help LEVINE/From A5 so now. Go to our website at www.cfotsego.org for a list of awards and donation instructions.

We cannot write this report without noting that our local governments and our hospitals (and all those people who work at these institutions) have done a tremendous job meeting the pandemic head on.

They have prepared well.

They have coordinated actions and publicized consistent messages, allowing all of us to behave with confidence and take personal actions to protect ourselves and our neighbors.

We see face masks in use more often than not.

Spacing between us is generally in line with public health guidelines.

Shoppers at grocery stores are respectful of proper distancing.

As a result, the health aspects of the COVID19 pandemic have been relatively under control. We have had serious illnesses and even deaths. But our health system has not been overwhelmed as it has been in other parts of the country.

And health workers have been there for us when they are needed.

Economically, however, we are likely to suffer worse than many other areas. Our economy is heavily dependent upon tourism and upon the summer season of public

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events. In financial terms, this summer will be a disaster.

We already have seen the signs of closed businesses.

Personal income is down.

Small businesses are going to struggle to reopen. Sales taxes, bed taxes, allocations from State and Federal budgets are going to be cut back, putting budgetary pressure on our local governments. The future is going to be hard.

In this light, the Community Foundation of Otsego County sees an immediate need being addressed by the COVID-19 Fund and a longer-term mission to continue supportive efforts to tackle the challenges of our area.

Today, we are focused on fighting the pandemic, but there will be a tomorrow and we intend to be there to continue working to improve the lives of those who live in our community.

Please join us and donate today. Your money is being well spent and much appreciated. Stay with us tomorrow as we work to improve the quality of life in our area.

Harry Levine, former chairman of the Otsego Land Trust, lives in Springfield.

FISHER/From A4 groups of people want change.

Everyone should be on the side of fairness and equality. The massive protests we see are urgent responses to the systemic racism that has afflicted and torn apart our communities, not just the past few months but, for blacks, 400 years of a type of Apartheid.

People in the privileged class many times don’t understand just how difficult it is to face the injustices that threaten people of color’s personal safety, as we witnessed with George Floyd and many more too numerous to mention – because of institutional systemic racism, not just everyday but for 400 years.

Dr. King’s Dream for America was already delivered 57 years ago – 57 years – and 400 years of carefully planned institutional racism. How much time is needed, America?

America. America, we are being called out by the whole world. America, we

CLARK/From A5 interest of “All GOD’s Children!”

“Amen - Everybody!” Let’s keep moving America and the world community in “The Right Direction” and remain steadfast and unmoveable!

Let us do our best to stay on the right side of history!

Finally, remember social media and cell phone videos are more powerful than weapons of “mass destruction” and we

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while protesters had to get pepper-sprayed.

What’s wrong with that picture? America, we can’t hide anymore in plain sight.

If America stands for its colors – red, white and blue – remember, those colors stand for black, white, brown, yellow, red, straight and gay.

Let’s to the right thing.

This is our opportunity to call for America to stand up tall and begin the task of healing these open wounds inflicted by America’s system of systemic racism.

America we can’t hide anymore in plain sight. We have been walking around racism, discrimination bigotry and hatred – and not dealing with it directly.

Remember every time you pledge allegiance to the flag. We America, must as a nation, as one nation under God, not divided, together with liberty and justice for all, go forward shoulder to shoulder, arm and arm, working together in understanding, peace and love.

should use these tools wisely and continue these exciting, electric days of much needed peace, love, action and unity!

Where is GOD? GOD is in you!

GOD is in me! GOD is in everyone who breathes!

Rev. LaDana Clark, Oneonta, known as Lady Jam, is a self-described hiphop pastor. She spoke at Oneonta and Cooperstown “Rallies for Justice,” and provided this excerpt.

The

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can’t be in hiding in plain sight anymore. It’s great that all of us are here – but you don’t get credit for just showing up. We must put this energy that we are now peacefully in protest marches, speeches, demonstrations – and this must be transformed into real action in November. If you want change, go to the polls and vote.

America, we can’t hide anymore in plain sight because we are being watched from a distance not just here but around the world. Do we really mean what we say when we pledge allegiance.

If you really say America stands for liberty and justice for all with your right hand over your heart – waving an American Flag – ask yourself: Is America true, honest and loyal to what that flag symbolizes as a Christian nation?

Is it okay to stand in front of a church with a Bible upside down and backward and say, come on guys, join me in this photo shoot

CLARK: Time For Love, Action, Unity

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what it is like to be a black man who fears for his life when he leaves his home.

But I do understand the fear that comes with the inability to breath. If you are angry, hurt, frustrated and afraid, please know that you are not alone. We do care about you. And we will defend and protect your right to live without fear.

We will soon organize a forum for our community to discuss what we have learned from this tragedy and how we can turn that learning into meaningful action. I hope that you will participate.

Margaret Drugovich has served as Hartwick College’s president since 2009.

FISHER; Seek Liberty, Justice As One Nation

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tant it is to get an education that will open doors to spaces of influence so that we can make the change that is so overdue. I hope that my message planted the seed of hope that this madness does not need to continue.

Education certainly is not the full answer, nor is it the only answer, but it is one path to a more just future.

I am a white woman who has worked hard to move to a place of relative privilege, but I have also been allowed the opportunity to do so. I cannot claim to fully appreciate the depth of rage and anguish of a woman of color who has been deprived of this same opportunity. I cannot know

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THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-7

Locally, Focus Turning From Rallies To: What’s Next?

RALLIES/From A1 and village trustees to adopt President Obama’s eight-point program to reduce violence against blacks.

“It’s a threshold,” said DiPerna after attending the Sunday, June 7, rally on the front lawn of the Otsego County Courthouse. “We need to dedicate ourselves in our personal lives and our professional lives to actually achieving some change.”

Earlier this week, Herzig and Common Council member David Rissberger had already had a first conversation with OPD Chief Douglas Brenner about ensuring Oneonta policing policies are everything they might be.

“This is a time for all of us to do a little introspection,” Herzig said, “and make sure our operating procedures and our policies are designed to do everything they can to guard against any inequality in how we treat the public.”

That first conversation occurred after the Cooperstown rally, where the OPD and other police agencies came in for criticism from six speakers: • Oneonta’s Bryce Wood told how “my mother” – a school teacher – “heard that knock – bang, bang – at 2 a.m. one morning in 2000, and opened the door to a gun. For 30 minutes, they” – she and her husband, a state juvenile corrections officer – “were questioned at gunpoint. They thought we were drug dealers.”

Showing their official IDs allayed officers’ suspicions, but what if they had no IDs? The parents woke their 7-year-old son, told him what happened,

and emphasized the danger he was in for just being black.

• Shannon McHugh, chairman, Oneonta Community Relations & Human Rights Commission, urged attendees to be “a second pair of eyes,” to stop and observe when police officers have pulled someone over. She recounted being in a car that was pulled over, and 10 officers showed up to search the car, only to find nothing.

Her 10-year-old daughter “wants to know why people who look like her mother are killing people like her dad,” said McHugh, who wants to make sure her daughter, for her own protection, is “the wokest girl in the world.”

• Lee Fisher, president, NAACP, Oneonta chapter, declared, “When George Floyd was on the ground and he asked to breath – air is free – he asked for the freedom to breath. I believe that God said, ‘George, your last breath is going to be for America’.”

What happened to Floyd was more than a single incident – it reflects the inability to earn a living wage, to get affordable housing or a good education, Fisher said. “People have to realize what’s going on is systemic,” he said. “It’s the system.”

• The Rev. LaDana Clark, founder of ChurchNtheHood who has preached at the Cooperstown Presbyterian Church, recounted an episode that began when she said hi to officers on exiting the Oneonta Walmart. After a sequence of events, “for the first time in my life, an officer put cuffs on me in Laurens, N.Y. I’m 58 years

old. I was disgusted.”

Diandra Sangetti-Daniel, a personal care aide in Oneonta, and C.S. Brown, a local activist, also spoke, detailing complaints with Oneonta police and pointing out that all Civil Rights causes should be similarly allied against oppression.

And Wesley Lippitt, Fly Creek, who was chased from Cooper Park and shot by a classmate on Good Friday 2010 thanked his “guardian angel” for allowing him to survive.

The Cooperstown event drew 850 people, up from 500 in Oneonta’s Muller Plaza Sunday, May 31, and 700 at the Delaware County Courthouse, Delhi, on Saturday, June 6. Another rally is planned 1-3 p.m. this Saturday, June 13, at Community Field in Unadilla.

One of the Cooperstown organizers, Maria Noto, CCS ’17, set the tone: “Police brutality is rooted in white supremacy. This needs to change.”

While Rev. LaDana was speaking, a young man, Austin Partridge of Milford, stationed himself next to the courthouse steps and unfurled an American flag.

The organizers approached him and asked him to move away, then – when press began to take photos – they formed a cordon around him to block the Stars & Stripes from the cameras. He was eventually convinced to go away.

“Listening to Rev. LaDana,” Partridge explained later, “it really resonated with me. I had the flag in my back pack.

I wasn’t sure I was going to do anything. I felt what she was

saying represented American values, that we are all created

by God.” Once he unfurled the flag, “a lot of people were very upset about that. I understand where they were coming from, although I disagree with them.

They wanted me to leave.

I was chanting no slogans, I was merely holding the American flag.”

Before he left, he sought out Rev. LaDana: “I told her it was an amazing speech.”

After reflecting on what happened for a few days, Benton said the organizers didn’t know what they were facing when Partridge unfurled the flag, whether he was there with “good intentions” or not.

“We didn’t tell him to get out,” he said. “We asked him to step away from the section where people were speaking.

I just thought it was in poor taste.”

Benton, who is also a village trustee, objected to “the narrative that the co-organizers or Democratic politicians or people who support Black Lives Matter are somehow anti-American. I love America, (although) it doesn’t always live up to its promise.”

On where to go from here, Mayor Tillapaugh pointed out the Village Board has already passed a resolution declaring Cooperstown a “welcoming community” for all people.

Given the size of the police force right now – two officers, and one of them black, Terrell Silvera – the chances for problems raised at the rally are less than they might be, she said.

Still, the trustees are planning to hire a new police chief

Northrup Remembers Floyd Family From Boyhood from Houston, I thought he might be Hazel’s nephew.

Hazel’s daughter married a Tate, and there was a Tate who spoke at his funeral. I never met George, but I knew the kind of man he was.”

He spoke fondly of Hazel.

“She was a great big happy-golucky woman,” he said. “She’d turn on a soap opera like ‘All My Children’ and watch it while

Hazel Floyd helped raise Chip Northrup.

she was ironing, and if I was ever short with her, she would chastise me – and she was right to do so. My kids learned empathy from her. She was more human than I was.”

Her husband, Otis Floyd III, also helped around their home, as well as worked at a local barbecue restaurant. “Otis and their son Michael were always happy to help us if we needed anything,” he said. “But Otis

worked himself to death shoveling wood into that barbeque pit.”

Growing up in Jim Crow-era Texas, Northrup said that many of the people who surrounded him were black. “All our domestics were black,” he said. “Since the time I was a child, I was surrounded by kindly black folks, and they were always great role models for me.”

Among his earliest memories, he said, was playing in the kitchen while his grandmother’s maid, Trudy, worked.

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over the next several months, and that would be a good time to revisit the issue, she said.

At the county board level, Vice Chair Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick, said the reps have been occupied with the financial devastation from the COVID-19 threat, and have not yet focused on the unrest that followed.

Attendees interviewed after the latest rally thought it a worthwhile undertaking.

DiPerna, a Democratic congressional candidate in the 1990s, called it “a very moving and significant outpouring of support by the community of the idea we have to eliminate system racism and ‘white silence is violence.’”

Amy Pondolfino, the Oneonta activist who attended with husband Tom and son

Timothy McGraw

Thomas, said, “I am peripherally aware there is racism in our area, but it doesn’t hurt me directly.” Even so, she was moved by the “very powerful stories.”

Cooperstown’s Mary Ann Whelan, the retired Bassett physician, expressed a similar reaction, but concluded, “It’s not always the system’s fault.

First and foremost, individuals need to be held responsible.”

As for Benton, he said “protesting is super important and is part of the movement, but it isn’t accomplishing everything we need to accomplish – supporting the black economy, standing up against racism, not waiting for someone else to take action.”

As a first step, he’s joined the local chapter of the NAACP.

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THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

A-8 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Eminent Jurist Retires At End Of Month

COCCOMA/From A1 cal questions of off. He was always willing to be there, even at night or on weekends.”

Coccoma, a state Supreme Court judge who is also chief administrative judge for all state courts outside of New York City, announced Tuesday, June 9, that he will retire at the end of the month.

“He has been a pillar and mainstay of this county for over 25 years,” said Lambert. “He has done nothing but bring dignity and respect to the bench.”

Coccoma began his local legal career in private practice in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed assistant district attorney. Over the years, he served as county attorney – a position his wife, Ellen, now holds – and as district attorney.

Elected in 1994 as county judge, he also heard cases in County and Family courts.

After his election as a state Supreme Court judge in 2007, he was appointed administrative judge of the 10 Southern Tier counties of the Sixth Judicial District, in addition to his trial court duties.

He led formation of

the county’s first Drug Treatment Court. For many years he worked with the Drug Court team and presided over the biweekly court proceedings.

“He basically founded the drug court,” Lambert said.

“He was instrumental in bringing that concept to the county, and now we’re in our 20th year.”

In 2013, he was tasked with leading a team of criminal court judges from outside New York City as part of an effort to address a chronic backlog of pending criminal cases in Bronx County.

After the 2018 enactment of the new law raising the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years of age, he and Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Edwina Mendelson prepared the State judiciary for implementation of the law and to serve on the Governor’s Task Force.

Last July, he was selected as one of four regional judges outside New York City to manage the pretrial preparations of the many lawsuits filed under the recently enacted Child Victims Act. As deputy chief administrative judge for courts

outside New York City, he supervised daily trial court operations in 57 counties, including over 600 state judges and 5,000 court employees in addition to town and village courts.

“Even covering this huge geographical area, he was still hearing cases in Otsego County,” said Lambert.

Among those cases were the contentious Oneonta Fire District, including the 2018 dismissal of the Town of Oneonta’s lawsuit and ruling that it had no standing to prevent the town Board of Fire Commissioners from dissolving, which it did.

Currently, he was judge in the case where Oneonta neighbors sued City Hall to block the Lofts on Dietz, a 66-unit complex of artist lofts and apartments.

“When people walked into Judge Coccoma’s court, they knew that regardless of the nature of the case, they were going to be heard and they were going to get a fair trial,” said Lambert. “That’s all you can ask for.”

He and wife Ellen raised a daughter and two sons locally. The judge is also a long-time Cooperstown EMT, and volunteer at Saturday’s Bread in Oneonta.

Restaurateurs Readying For un-PAUSE OPENING/Fron A1 “We’ll be able to do some more intricate plates, start fooling around for the summer!”

With COVID-19 metrics continuing to improve, Otsego County is anticipating Cuomo’s announcement that restaurants can reopen for dine-in service, possibly as early as Friday afternoon.

“The state will review the last two weeks of metrics and give us a date to reopen,” said Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig said Tuesday, June 9. “It could be Friday, or it could be later in the week.”

“Our members expect to be open Friday,” said Melissa Fleischut, state Restaurant Association president & CEO. “They’re excited that they’ve gotten the guidance in advance.”

Guidance for restaurants to reopen was posted on the NY Forward website on Tuesday morning, including requirements that staff wear masks and recommending they be assigned to one zone for their entire shift to minimize overlap.

“At the table, diners don’t have to wear a mask, but when they get up, they have to put one on,” said Rebecca Carrington, who owns Autumn Café with her husband Wayne.

Phase Three would allow restaurants to serve diners inside at 50-percent capacity, not including staff.

“We could have 66 people in here,” said Randy Olmstead, Morey’s Family

Restaurant. “With our spacing, that’s only 15 tables.”

Wrubleski said that Mel’s could hold as many as 40, but with their expanded outdoor dining, add another 22 seats to that.

“We have to be conscientious of turning tables, of not letting people linger,” said Fleischut. “Restaurants will need to look at how they can utilize outdoor dining and take-out components to build back to 100 percent.”

There are other rules in effect as well.

Silverware will not be on the tables when diners arrive, and only plastic utensils will be used. “We can’t have salt and pepper shakers or ketchup bottles on the tables,” said Olmstead. “It all has to be individual packets.”

And gone too, he said, are salad bars and buffet-style eating.

The Otesaga’s Jim Miles says restaurants at the hotel will all be open on Monday the 15th. The Hawkeye Grill’s patio opened last weekend.

At Morey’s, Olmstead said they had been hoping to be ready to open Friday, but a project got in the way.

“We’re installing new carpet on Saturday!” he said. “But if we get the go-ahead, we’ll be gung-ho and open Monday morning!”

But not all restaurants are ready to reopen as soon as the word comes down. “We’ve been telling our customers two weeks,” said Carrington. “We’re still getting the back deck ready, and we don’t know how long that will take.”

sfcu Awards Scholarships To High School Seniors

Sidney Federal Credit Union along with the NY Credit Union Association have awarded $12,250 in college scholarships to 10 high school seniors to help finance their college education.

The students, all members of sfcu, were chosen based on their outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements. “We are very pleased to award these scholarships to our hardworking young members,” said James H. Reynolds, sfcu President/CEO. “It proves that the ‘People Helping People’ philosophy of the credit union movement is alive and well at Sidney Federal Credit Union.”

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Legal

Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC) Name: TPK Consulting LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 06/03/2020.

Office location: Otsego County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: P.O. Box 1043, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose 6LegalJul16

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Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: Peter E. Shea, 1 Sharon Ln, Oneonta, NY 13820.

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6LegalJul.16 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of DONOVAN LAUGHLIN AND LAUGHLIN, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY on

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12/10/19.

Office location: Otsego SSNY desg. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY mail process to 77 Alden Street, PO Box 0217,Cherry Valley, New York, 13320-0217.

Any lawful purpose.

6LegalJul.16 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Name: DP 2, LLC. Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 29 May 2020.

Legal

LEGALS

Office location: Otsego County.

SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 393 Main Street Suite 5, Oneonta, New York, 13820.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

6LegalJuly9 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Barreto Family Medicine, P.L.L.C. Art. of Org. filed with SSNY on 5/8/20.

Location: Otsego County SSNY desg. as agent of PLLC upon whom process

Legal

against it may be served. Mail process to 71 Fair St., Otego, NY 13825.

Any lawful purpose.

6LegalJul.9 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION of NETTZONE LLC A Limited Liability Company.

Articles of Organization were filed with the New York State Secretary of State on December 23, 2019.

The office of the LLC is to be located in Otsego County.

The Secretary of State has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may

Legal

be served. The Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her to: Merwan Irani, 5981 State Highway 7, Oneonta, New York 13820.

The purpose of the LLC is to engage in any lawful act or activity.

6LegalJul.2 Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of Actively Becoming Me LLC, Art. of Org. filed with SSNY on 3/30/20.

Off. loc.: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process may be

Legal

served & shall mail 855 Smokey Ave., Schenevus, NY 12155.

Purp.: any lawful.

6LegalJul.2 Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of DeGlee Land Holdings, LLC, a NY limited liability company (LLC).

Arts. of Org. filed with NY Sec. of State (NYSS) on 05/04/2020.

Office: Otsego County.

NYSS designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. NYSS shall mail process to: 2093 County Highway 18, South

Legal

New Berlin, New York 13843.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalJul.2 Legal nOtice

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CAMP FLORUBY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/04/2020.

Office Location: Otsego County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 33 Haven Esplanada, Staten Island, New York 10301.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Legal

6LegalJun.25 \Legal nOtice

Notice of Formation of Painted Pail Wine Company LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/30/2020.

Office location: Otsego County.

SSNY is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of process to 124 Goose Street, Fly Creek, NY 13337.

Purpose: any lawful purpose.

6LegalJun.25

►Need to publish a Notice of Formation, Public Notice, Supplemental Summons, or Notice to Bidders?

Contact Larissa at 607-547-6103 or ads@allotsego.com and she can get you started.

THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-9

OBITUARIES

RISSBERGER: We Must Never Rest

RISSBERGER/From A4 try taking to the streets in peaceful protest in response to the horrific treatment of Mr. Floyd and other instances of police brutality against people of color.

COOPERSTOWN – Car- where she developed a love Cooperstown Central Saturday, June 13, at the The Justice for George Floyd rie Lynn Kukenberger, 49, of the Smokey Mountains.

School she was able to Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono protest in Muller Plaza rewho was able to see her son Carrie loved her family, watch a simple graduation Funeral Home, 51 Dietz St., cently drew over 500 people graduate before she died, friends and community. ceremony for him mere days Oneonta. Due to current – one of the largest crowds passed away peacefully on She was truly a people before her passing. restrictions, please come for any protest in recent Monday, June 8, 2020 with person, working many Carrie is survived by her prepared to possibly wait years. This speaks volumes husband, Joseph; son, Eric; her loving husband, Joseph retail jobs until she settled to enter the funeral home, of the caliber of people in L. Kukenberger by her side in at the Video To Go and step-daughter, Cali; her maintain social distancing our region who wish to demafter a long and courageous grew close to its many mother, Janie and brothers, and wear a face covering. onstrate their dedication to battle with cancer. customers.

Jason (Kelly) and Patrick In lieu of flowers, improving their community (Erin), of Massachusetts; She was born in She was also a great please make a donation to by helping to ensure that Northampton, Mass. to lover of animals, adopting brother, Bill of California; the Susquehanna SPCA, people of color are treated 4841 NY-28, Cooperstown, equally under the law.

Janie Liimatainen and and rescuing many. But her brother-in-law, Larry NY 13326 or to the local William Chase. She graduthe thing she found most (Pat); cousins, Billy and Following the protest in the ated from Amherst Regional fulfilling was being a Colleen; plus many more American Cancer Society, plaza, many have questioned High School before moving stay-at-home mom to family and friends who will 2 Oak Ave., Sidney, NY on social media, “What next?” to New York in 1991. But her beloved son, Eric miss her dearly.

13838. and “Were we even heard?” she never missed a chance Kukenberger.

A private service will be Arrangements are I would like to offer assurto visit family either in Thanks to the tremenheld for the family. Public with Lewis, Hurley & ances that your Oneonta City Massachusetts or Tennessee, dous and caring staff at visitation will be 2 - 4 p.m.

Pietrobono.

Council members have been listening, but we also know that listening can become meaningless if not followed up by action toward areas of Smith and raised on the fam- the United States and WORCESTER – Patricia identified concern.

Where YOUR personal design S. Hoye, 83, a former nurse ily dairy farm in Worcester.

Canada extensively. She Our mayor and the leaderis OUR specialty at Bassett Medical Center She was a graduate of was a skilled quilt maker ship of the Oneonta Police died Thursday May 28, 2020 Worcester Central School who leaves many fine ex20% IN-STOCK Department have met and MEMORIALS Valley Health Services in class of 1954 and Hartwick amples of her work.

OFF Add’l lettering/carving extra atHerkimer. will continue to meet with our College class of 1958 with a She enjoyed all forms of local chapter of the NAACP 312 Chestnut St., Oneonta BS in Nursing.

Pat was born on Septemembroidery, particularly to continue the dialogue to 557 St. Hwy 80 East, New Berlin ber 2, 1936 in Cooperstown, On Nov. 22, 1958 Pat counted cross-stitch.

607-433-0975 • 607-847-6549 the daughter of Gilbert F. married Bernard F. Hoye, Survived by her children, discuss ways in which to improve relations and interacsicklermemorials.com • sicklerm@outlook.com Smith and Irene (DeLong) Jr. at St. Joseph’s Rectory in Bernard and wife, Ellen of tions with people of color.

Worcester.

Skippack, Pa., Timothy My colleagues and I have As an RN she was emand wife, Carol of Downingployed in various nursing town, Pa, Lisa and husband, positions during her career Gary Mantz of Chittenango; grandchildren, Emily and including Case Manager at BRENNER/From A4 Bassett Medical Center, Timothy Hoye, Connor, Calls for change have Pediatric Nurse at Fox Garret, Sarah and Alec been consistently applied Hospital and school nurse Mantz; brothers, Bruce and and reviewed, and in 2014 at Worcester Central School, Jerry Smith, sisters, Gwen Grandma loved her farm, her family, the City of Oneonta Police retiring in 1999.

Petro and Harriet Cornwell, and playing her old guitar.

Department became a New Pat was a long-time mem- and several nieces, nephews York State Accredited Pober of the Worcester Emerand cousins.

Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home will take the time lice Agency.

Part of State gency Squad, where she was She was predeceased by to find out what made your loved one special.

Accreditation is ongoing a former First Lieutenant. her husband, Bernard F. Whether it’s finding just the right flowers, or finding review of best practices for She was a volunteer at Hoye, Jr. in 2011. a musician to play her favorite tunes on her old guitar, law enforcement and best The Worcester Free Library Funeral and graveside we’ll do what’s necessary to make her service as practices both inside of New and very active with the services will be private with unique as she was.

York and across the nation.

Quarter Inch Quilt Club. interment to be at the Maple We, the City of Oneonta Pat supported many other Grove Cemetery in Worcester.

Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home Police Department assure local civic efforts.

Arrangements are entrust14 Grand Street, Oneonta • 607-432-6821 you, The People, the most She and her husband ed to the Heller & Skinner www.grummonsfuneralhome.com important part of our city, enjoyed RV travel; traveling Funeral Home. that we continue to progress each day toward the goal of being better than the day EDMESTON – Anna C. through her years of employ- before. In 2019, we achieved re-accreditation Mumbulo, 89, who retired ment. from NYCM, passed away In addition to her parents, as we strive to provide the peacefully on June 2, 2020 she was predeceased by her most professional police services possible. in Cooperstown. siblings William, Daniel, While we are deeply Anna was born in EdRobert, Emma, Genevieve, troubled and saddened by meston on March 19, 1931, and Dora. national events, our true the daughter of the late She is survived by sisters concerns lie here at home Claude and Beulah (Penner) Jean Losee, Helen Alcott, with this community.

We Mumbulo. In her early years, Gertrude Reed, and brotherstake great pride in wearing Anna worked at TACO in-law Tom Reed and Howthe uniform of a city Police in New Berlin and as a ard Davisson. She is also Department. housekeeper for many local survived by several nieces, Local Law Enforcement families and businesses. In nephews, great nieces and is a total immersion the late eighties, she obnephews, great-grand nieces undertaking.

We get to tained her GED and attended and nephews. Also surviving know many of our local BOCES for business studies. is her goddaughter Jill and citizens, citizen students, In 1989, she began her caher family. business owners and reer with NYCM Insurance, A graveside celebration workers from out of the where she remained until her of Anna’s life will be held area.

Our effectiveness retirement. She made and at 3 p.m. Friday June 12 at Edmeston Union Cemetery. increases with community kept many lifelong friends support and open dialogue.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ·· Edmeston Emergency Squad in loving memory of Anna.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Delker and Terry Funeral Home.

Carrie L. Kukenberger, 49; Witnessed Son’s Graduation Before Succumbing To Cancer

Patricia S. Hoye, 83; Nurse At Bassett

reached out to our police chief in order to discuss areas which may be improved, such as a review of ongoing education and training in the proper use of force and updating policies and procedures for police officer conduct. This is a good start and I am not naïve to think that this is the totality of the work that we will do in the coming days.

I believe that Oneonta has made progress in race relations in the last 20 years but we must never rest on our laurels. The day that we do is a day that we allow those voices of bigotry and prejudice to slowly overshadow and stain our community once more.

Those of us on the Common Council are dedicated to working with our police force and our local chapter of the NAACP to ensure that ALL citizens of Oneonta are safe, secure, and feel that their voices are equally heard.

We need to continue to hear from the people in our community and hear your stories. Thank you for peacefully protesting and helping to move us forward to a better, more equitable society.

DAVID RISSBERGER Common Council Oneonta

BRENNER: Dialogue = Effectiveness

Anna Mumbulo, 89; NYCM Retiree

We want to hear your concerns and use them as an opportunity for growth and improvement. We will stand with you in every aspect of denouncing practices that hurt, demean and destroy trust in our agency and work to ensure those practices do not occur in the City of Oneonta.

We have had conversations with groups and individuals regarding how to operate as an agency. From our most junior officer to the chief of the department we all welcome constructive dialogue and we encourage anyone to ask us questions should the opportunity arise.

We are proud to work here and love the opportunity to talk about the community, the issues we face and challenges that are inherent in the profession.

Community activism and involvement runs deeply in this community, it is one of the hallmarks of civil society and a sacrosanct right we swore an oath to uphold.

We are incredibly proud of the most recent example of a local demonstration regarding a larger national conversation assembled and completed in an honorable and peaceful manner.

Yours in service, DOUGLAS W. BRENNER Chief of Police City of Oneonta

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THURSDAY, June 11, 2020

A-10 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Birds – Even Ovenbirds – Abound At Audubon Sanctuary BIRDS/From B1 course, plenty of skies to watch.

“Birding is a simple thing to get started with,” he said.

“All you need is binoculars and a field guide.”

And the field guide, he said, just got simpler, as the National Audubon Society has released a free app that includes photos, videos, recordings of birdsongs and more. “Now you don’t have to lug around a book,” said Mason.

The sanctuary itself has Ian Austin/ OTSEGO.outdoors also gone digital. “We have DOAS President Andy Mason scans the skies for new signs that have a QR

All

birds – even the rare Ovenbird.

rising waters from maintains a map their dams – forced of other good the DOAS to spots for bird build an extended watching across boardwalk between the two-county the forest and the area, including wetlands. “The boy Gilbert Lake State scouts came out and Park, a canoe built it for us,” said ride between Mason.

Portlandville But it’s worth and Milford, and In years the trek, muddy Wilber Park, of birding, Mason has as it can be. The where the county’s only seen two first pair of wetlands near the end of the trail are Ovenbirds.

Merlins built their some of the best nest last year. places for amateur birdMason is hoping that watchers to start their spotting. gathering restrictions are “The wetlands are always eased in time for their productive,” Mason said. annual Franklin Mountain “We’ve got mallards and Hawk Watch, noted for wood ducks, and although the late-season flights of herons come to feed here, Red-Tailed Hawks. “We’ve they don’t build their nests.” been counting hawks since Though the birds gener1990,” he said. “Last year ally build their nests in the we counted 5,100.” wild, the Audubon Society Among those, he said, maintains several boxes, were 142 golden eagles. “In including bluebird and duck 2018, we had the highest houses. “It’s always great total of golden eagles in North America,” he said. when you see a bluebird settle into the box,” he said. “It’s always a big thrill to see In addition to the one, and we’re the best place sanctuary, the DOAS also in the state to look for them.”

►IF YOU GO: Take Swart Hollow Road from Southside Drive, Oneonta.

In 1.5 miles, take sharp right on Grange House Road. In .2 miles, turn left into Audubon Sanctuary.

code that you can scan with your phone,” he said. “It shows the birds we have, and the trails.”

Birds aren’t the only thing visitors may spot. “We see deer up here, we’ve got otters and a beaver dam, and we had a bear sighting earlier this spring!”

The beavers – and the

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BIKES/From B1 last year. “I worked for him part-time for four years before I took over the store,” he said. “But he’s still out there maintaining the trails.”

Even before the pandemic hit, Oneonta was a destination for mountain-biking enthusiasts. With 40 miles of marked, maintained trails spread across five networks – New Island, Susquehanna Greenway, Homer Folks, College Camp and Wilber Park – there’s plenty for riders of any experience level.

“From Main Street, you can bike to any of the trails in 10 minutes,” said Baskin.

For the beginner, he recommends the New Island trails. “It’s flat, relatively tame, and there are less rocks and roots. You never have to struggle up and down a steep grade.”

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But for the experienced rider, the Homer Folks and College Camp trails offer all the thrills you could ask for.

“Homer Folks is a fun, flowy single track,” he said.

“There are a lot of ups and downs. And the College Camp, there are a lot more for the technical rider, like drops and jumps. They really challenge you.”

There are also trails in Wilber Park, as well as Glimmerglass State Park.

“A lot of people are discovering the Wilber Park trails,” he said.

But Baskin said you don’t need to be intimidated by the trails if you’re riding an older bike. “You don’t need a $5,000 bike to ride,” he said. “As long as you have knobbier tires and a helmet, you’re good to go.”

In high school, Baskin was a member of the school’s mountain biking team, and raced at Fort Lewis College. “My friend’s dad was really into mountain biking, so he took us,” he said. “I got hooked. I’ve been riding for 10 years” He raced on the team in high school and at Fort Lewis College, where he graduated from last year.

He’s hoping that Oneonta will be able to capitalize on the interest in socially distanced outdoor recreation.

“Kingdom Trails in Vermont is in a town much smaller than Oneonta, but they have 5,000 people come out for a mountain bike festival every year,” he said. “There are a lot of places that advertise themselves as mountain bike friendly cities, and they’ve seen a huge growth in tourism.”

Perhaps most importantly, he said, mountain biking allows riders to have fun while still maintaining social distance.

“It’s just you and a bike,” he said. “You’re out there by yourself.”

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