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public information session on next year’s $1.7 million downtown Transportation Enhancement Program will be 6-7 p.m Thursday, Nov. 30. Crosswalks and pedestrian signals, street furniture, including benches, interpretative signage and wayfinding, bike racks, new street trees, and more energy efficient and attractive lighting will all be presented as part of the plan, which will be available for viewing during the meeting. The funding, provided by DOT, was received as part of an application in 2013. JONES ON BALLOT: Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, slugger Jim Thome, and shortstop Omar Vizquel, are all on the Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot, announced Monday, Nov. 20. FORTHCOMING: Lauren Groff’s latest short story collection, “Florida,” will be released on June 5, 2018. “The Monsters of Templeton” author was raised in Cooperstown.
‘County Manager or County Executive?’ Expert Invited To Address Issue Locally
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efore you act, ask the expert. When it comes to the structure of local government in New York State, no one is more expert than Dr. Gerald Benjamin, SUNY New Paltz associate vice president/regional engagement, and director of the
college’s Benjamin Center. An academic who’s also walked the walk, he served on the Ulster County Legislature, 1981-93, and as chair in his final two years. With the Otsego County Board of Representatives prepared to further discuss the issue
in the new year, Benjamin will speak on the topic, “County Manager or County Executive” at 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at Springbrook’s new Family Engagement Center, Route 28, Milford Center. A Q&A will follow. Please See EXPERT, A7 Gerald Benjamin
BRIDGE DONE, DETOUR ENDS
...On High Note, With 7-7 County Board Split By JIM KEVLIN
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COOPERSTOWN
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ABBATE ERA ENDS
Drivers Breathe Sighs Of Relief: Rte. 28 Reopens By LIBBY CUDMORE
COOPERSTOWN
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Pioneer Done, Village Turning To 2018 Plans
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CROWELL’S FINAL BUDGET UPS RATE 1/70TH OF CENT
For 209 Years
AllOTSEGO.com
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, November 23, 2017
etiring county Treasurer Dan Crowell’s final tentative county budget includes a tax increase of .07 percent increase, or 1/70th of a cent per $1,000 valuation. A budget hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m., Dec. 4, at the county courthouse in Cooperstown, with the county board due to vote at its monthly meeting Dec. 6. For story and document, type “county budget” in search line at
Hartwick’s John Niedzialkowski, who lives on Route 205, asked why XNG trucks can’t be routed on four-lane highways instead of local roads at a contentious informational forum on Thursday, Nov. 16. Details at
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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INVENTIVE DAD FINDS NEW WAYS TO MAKE CIDER/B1
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ge 12, Richard Abbate fell in love with his future wife – and politics. Now Rosemarie Abbate, her mom Marie Mauro, a captain on the local Democratic Committee in their native Staten Island, recruited the two With Rosemarie, youngsters to stuff mailboxes his original inspira- with political flyers. As a tion, at high school reward, she would buy the kids prom. ice cream. Still a teenager, he pursued both loves, taking Rosemarie to her high school prom and signing on as Staten Island organizer for Ed Koch’s successful mayoral campaign. Almost a half-century later, Abbate’s two loves from long ago have endured, through moving to Otsego County in 2003 – he was recuperating from ailments that Abbate coached son developed during six Dominick’s soccer team months at the scene with John Lambert of the Twin Towers (behind them), then cleanup – and 10 years helped the Republican Please See CHIEF, A3 run for county judge.
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The boy from Staten Island led Otsego County Democrats to unprecented successes. Here, he addresses the annual Henry Nicols Jr. Democratic Dinner in September at Foothills.
ver the river and through the woods for many Thanksgiving travelers just got easier: A new $1.7 million bridge on Otsego County’s busiest two-lane reopened Monday, Nov. 20. “I took the detour Tuesday morning, and when I got up to Route 28, I realized all the traffic cones were gone,” said Bill Stamp, vice president/corporate communications at Bassett The Freeman’s Journal Hospital in Traffic began Cooperstown, crossing the who lives in Route 28 bridge Oneonta. “It I-88’s Exit 17 was a pleasant at Monday, Nov. 20. surprise, and I took the new bridge coming home.” The bridge, closed since the day after Labor Day Weekend, carries commuters from Oneonta to Bassett, Please See DETOUR, A7 The Chinese white swan geese that appeared out of nowhere in Neahwa Park’s Hodges Pond over the summer.
AS SNOW FALLS, NEW HOME BECKONS
Neahwa Geese Moved To Fly Creek By PARKER FISH FLY CREEK
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he mysterious Chinese white swan geese that nested in Neahwa Park over the summer will no longer be
seen swimming in Hodges Pond, having found a winter home at the Fly Creek Cider Mill. “The folks at the Fly Creek Cider Mill offered to adopt the geese and take care of them,” said Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig. “They’ll live out the rest of Please See GEESE, A6
Parker Fish/The Freeman’s Journal
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD