C
•F
IA E WIL
L
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
DG
Volume 206, No. 27
NEW
1808 BY
VISIT THE
OUNDED
JU
R
IN
Cooperstown’s Newspaper
O M C O PE
100TH SPRINGFIELD ONGRATULATIONS, PARADE HIGHLIGHTS 2014 GRADUATES!/B1-4 FOURTH OF JULY/B5
For 206 Years
WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM Newsstand Price $1
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, July 3, 2014
LESSON: DAVIDS CAN BEAT GOLIATHS
Fracking Foes Rejoice As Court Upholds Ban Local Lawyer’s Idea Credited For Victory By JIM KEVLIN
The Freeman’s Journal
Beekman 1802 COO Megan Holken arranges products at the boutique’s Cooperstown pop-up store that opened Monday, June 30, in Olli’s Restaurant, which is also now open at Main and Chestnut.
DOT Warned Of Dangers In Hartwick HARTWICK
COOPERSTOWN
Zagata at OHS, receiving an award with Tenneco’s Phil Oxley, fishing with Pataki.
OUTDOORSMAN, NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CONSERVATIONIST, FORMER STATE DEC COMMISSIONER, WHY IS MIKE ZAGATA OF WEST DAVENPORT...
A LIGHTNING ROD
...FOR THE ANTI-FRACKING, ANTI-PIPELINE MOVEMENT?
W
orries about traffic dangers at Routes 205 and 11 in Hartwick hamlet are moving to the next level. The planning board Tuesday, July 1, passed a resolution asking the town board to advise the state DOT the town will accept no liability for any crashes at the intersection. Planning Board chair Alex Thomas said the DOT has declined several request to install signs, claiming “sign clutter.” That’s unacceptable, he said: “We believe it is a hazardous situation.” ANOTHER STAR: CMA award winner Hunter Hayes has joined the Hall of Fame 75th anniversary concert line-up, and the promoter planned to announce Wednesday, July 2, that an Oscar winner will also perform. See WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM STIRRING WORDS: For the 29th year, Tom Heitz, at 2 p.m., will be reading the Declaration of Independence at The Farmers’ Museum’s Fourth of July celebration.
T
he lesson many are drawing from the state Court of Appeals’ decision, issued Monday, July 1, to uphold the towns of Middlefield and Dryden’s The Freeman’s Journal fracking bans, is an Michelle Kenancient one: Davids nedy outlines her strategy in can beat Goliaths. “It’s a huge dem- 2011. onstration that local communities, when they get together, can actually influence things,” said Lou Allstadt, the former Mobil executive vice president who has joined the antifracking cause since retiring to Please See FRACKING, A8
Bassett Explores Expanding Role Of Fox Hospital Brown Seeks Input On Study By JIM KEVLIN
A AllOTSEGO.life
Jim Kevlin/
Mike Zagata explores 440 acres of South Mountain behind his West Davenport home.
By JIM KEVLIN WEST DAVENPORT
O
n the 40-acre hillside behind Mike Zagata’s home, six pathways have been cut between shoulder-high bushes. His retrievers, staid Briar, 10, and Scout, a frisky 5, love to run there. But the thick bushes are also ideal habitat for songbirds.
A hundred yards further up South Mountain, Zagata brakes his Kawasaki ATV by a logged hillside. Only a half-dozen tall trees still stand; sun shines through and thick ground cover flourishes. “Listen to what you’re hearing here,” Zagata said amid of chorus of chirps. “It’s a cacophony of sound.” This somewhat scruffy scene, the tops of bushes nibbled away by grazing deer, is what wildlife needs, not Longfellow’s forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks. Please See ZAGATA, A6
n e-mail is circulating from Bassett Healthcare’s new president/ CEO that outlines “a series of recommendations” that would significantly enhance Fox Hospital’s role in the eight-county network. The e-mail is dated Dr. Brown Friday, June 27, four days before Dr. Vance Brown officially assumed his new responsibilities, and it references a healthcare consulting firm’s study that made the following suggestions: • Evaluate consolidating obstetric and pediatric-inpatient programs into one program at Fox Hospital. Please See BASSETT, A9
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD