To Play Mother Ginger,
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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, December 12, 2019
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
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NeW Challenge: hiring manager Bliss Anticipates Kennedy Will Lead Recruitment Too By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
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f – as is anticipated – Dave Bliss is reelected The Freeman’s Journal chairman of the Otsego Foreman Josh Searles, Richfield Springs, drives County Board of Represena wooden post into the tatives at the organizational ground to support the meeting Thursday, Jan. 2,
Union Leader Marvin Miller To Enter HoF
For 211 Years
VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Volume 211, No. 49
wall of the new rickhouse, at Cooperstown Distillery Tuesday, Dec. 10.
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one of his first acts will be to name a committee to recruit the first county administrator. In an interview, he said he sees no reason why Please See NEXT, A7
►HISTORIC DECISION • PAST AND PRESENT collided in the debate over hiring a county administrator. • WATCH VIDEO leading up to the county board’s historic 11-2-1 decision to professionalize government.
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• EDITORIAL: For administrator, look for someone LIKE Judge Lambert/A4 • TEXT of county administrator job description/A4
For Stuligross, Career-Long Dream Coming To Fruition ONEONTA
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ay Stuligross has come a long way, baby. Growing up in Oberlin, Ohio, in the 1940s and ’50s, the daughter of a college professor, her mother
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE...
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By LIBBY CUDMORE
arvin Miller, who as leader of the MLB Players Association established free agency, turning players into tycoons, will enter the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2020. He will be inducted posthumously Sunday, July 26. He was elected yesterday by the Modern Era Committee, along with Ted Simmons, 70, an eight-time All-Star catcher who played 13 seasons with St. Louis. For more details, visit
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heriff Richard J. Devlin, Jr. recognized that criminal justice reform was needed, but with new bail reforms looming, he fears the state may have gone too far. “This is going PART I: NO BAIL to put criminals back on the streets and take police off the streets while they do paperwork,” he said. “It wasn’t well thought through, and law enforcePlease See NO BAIL, B5
Justice for All?
AllOTSEGO.com
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AllOTSEGO.com
DEVLIN WORRIES
End Of Bail Dangerous?
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sometimes wouldn’t vote “because she didn’t want to cancel out my father’s vote.” Raising Stuligross a family in Oneonta in the 1980s, she Please See LEAGUE, A7
By JIM KEVLIN
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
Keeping things going smoothly at the Cooperstown Fire Department’s annual Christmas party for local kids are, from left, Bob “Cratchit” Satriano, Fire Dog, the department’s mascot, Joe Carentz and Alison Phillips/MORE MORE CHRISTMAS PHOTOS, A3
►FIVE BUSINESS OWNERS filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court to block the 65-unit NEW FACES AT 197 MAIN Lofts on Dietz in the City of Oneonta, saying 200 parking places would be lost. City Hall says 80. ►KIMBERLY STEELEY, the Decatur woman accused of smothEditor’s Note: This profile is the first of three on newly ering her twins in 2018, did so elected Otsego County representatives who take office Jan. 1. by falling asleep on them, said District Attorney John Muehl. she said. “I By JAMES CUMMINGS ►FIVE of 12 TRUCKS inspected decided that during a Commercial Vehicle I didn’t want Enforcement safety check ONEONTA to be the were deemed unfit for the person who road and taken out of service, ill Basile saw complained the county Sheriff’s Departher future as her behind the scenes anymore. ment reported.
SantaCon Binge Sends Basile To Seek Pay Hikes, Shelter Aid 2 Students To Hospital
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father, Bruce, lay in a hospital bed. “During that time I watched a lot of news,”
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OPD Chief Brenner Fears Someone May Die By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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antaCon was a lifechanging moment for one young man, a SUNY student, 21, found I wanted to do something.” Her father passed away The Freeman’s Journal unconscious and bleeding on a sidewalk outside a in April 2017, but his inspi- Count Rep. Basile is also Grove Street house on Please See BASILE, A7 on the SQSPCA board.
Saturday, Dec. 7. “He admitted that he drank too much and that he had a problem with alcohol,” said Oneonta Police Chief Doug Brenner. “Waking up with a tube in his throat was a real wake-up moment for him, and he said he is going to seek help. He was very remorseful and very embarrassed.” Please See BINGE, B5
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD