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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, July 16, 2020 NO MASK? YOU MIGHT BE IN FOR $1,000 FINE
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overnor Cuomo may have authorized localities to assess $1,000 fines against anyone who fails to follow social distancing or wear a face mask where required to help combat coronavirus, and Mayor Gary Herzig said the OPD will levy them if necesssary to control 7,000 students returning to Oneonta’s colleges this fall. ►SEE EDITORIAL, A4
Kaitlin Curtis, 18, hit a hole in one on hole six at Meadowlinks Golf Course, where she was golfing with her dad, Matthew, on July 4.
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Energetic CEO Takes Bassett Helm At 39, Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, who has held top hospital administration jobs in three states, arrived Monday, July 13, as Bassett CEO.
Dr. Ibrahim Brings Planning Process From Oklahoma By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
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sked when he would begin visiting ALL Bassett Healthcare Network facilities, as he’d promised, the new president/CEO, Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, replied on his second day Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal of on the job, “I already have.”
HALF ON, HALF OFF CCS Briefs Parents On Plan For Fall
UNION PICKETS ANIMAL SHELTER SITE
Sentencing Due Friday In Arson, Murder In 2018 COOPERSTOWN
By LIBBY CUDMORE
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abriel Truitt, found guilty of the arson and murder of former Oneonta firefighter John Heller in December 2018, will be sentenced on Friday, July 17 as in-person court appearances resume at the Otsego County Courthouse. “He’s facing life without parole and that’s what I’m going to ask for,” said District Attorney John Muehl. “He should be in jail from now on.” On Friday, check
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►DELGADO REOPENS Oneonta office. ►DRIVE-IN HOSTS second concert, this time, Blake Shelton. ►SQSPCA NEEDS VOLUNTEERS to help socialize feral kittens. ►COVID-19 INFECTIONS stable at three. ►city, otsego chamber distribute PPE. ►COLLISION WITH CRUISER ends high-speed chase in New Lisbon ►truck driver falls asleep, spills milk on I-88. ►ONEONTA HISTORY CENTER reopens. ►Hill City Rollers “Skate Against Hate.”
A month before occupying his office in the complex at Elk and Fair streets, Ibrahim – “call me Tommy,” he may tell you – slipped into town and spent a few days touring Bassett’s footprint – the four hospitals, the nursing homes, the dozens of clinics – in the eight-county service area. So when he arrived at a welcoming dinner Monday, July 13, Please See IBRAHIM, A10
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
Ian Williams, Horseheads, right, representing the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, explains he, Mark Hopper, Wells Bridge and Bob Wilmott, Oswego, were picketing the Susquehanna Animal Shelter construction site Tuesday, July 14, to warn against a contractor who might not be paying the prevailing wage/DETAILS AT www.AllOTSEGO.com
‘Hard Worker, Good Soul’ Was Dedicated To Otsego By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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llen Tillapaugh still remembers the first time she met Anne Geddes-Atwell. “I was at Rotary Club, and this woman appeared and sat down near me,” she
said. “She introduced herself, and she was up from Maryland, visiting Jim Atwell. She just had this zeal about her.” Geddes-Atwell, 77, former Otsego town supervisor and, previously, a town board member, passed away Sunday morning at Cooperstown Center after a Please See OTSEGO, A8
hen Cooperstown Central schools start back up this fall, 50 percent of the If coronastudent body will virus lingers, start the year put- CCS won’t be ting the “home” back to norin “homeroom.” mal this fall. For the first few days, that is, they’ll be at home. “A hybrid opening,” Superinten dent Bill Crankshaw calls it. “Half of students will attend classes in-person on Mondays and Tuesday, and the other half will attend classes in-person on Thursdays and Fridays.” But those days aren’t free for sleeping in and goofing off – stuPlease See CCS, A6
CUSTOM ELECTRONICS A HIT
Broadway Hails Oneonta Sanitizer By JIM KEVLIN ONEONTA
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piece of equipment doesn’t usually make PageSix, the New York Post’s daily gossip column. But Custom Electronics broke the barrier: The Oneonta company’s latest product – The Luminator, which uses ultraviolet lights to make PageSix Touted ‘The Luminator’ Please See LUMINATOR, A8
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD