The Freeman's Journal 12-17-20

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VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE

32 607-4

Volume 212, No. 50

Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, December 17, 2020

Newsstand Price $1

►WITH 10TH DEATH, COUNTY ‘OVERWHELMED,’ BOND SAYS/B2

COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND

Now, It’s ‘OneBassett’ In an interview, Ibrahim said the reorganization of the eight-county system COOPERSTOWN that began when he arrived in June from Integris neBassett” is Health Systems in Oklahere, Network homa is largely complete.

President/ Still, “we’re in the first Ibrahim CEO Tommy Ibrahim stages of transformation,” announced Friday, Dec. 11, he said. “Now the real and it will lead Bassett Healthwork begins.” care Network to profitability As an example of where the after four years in the red.

Please See OneBassett, A3

By JIM KEVLIN

‘O The Freeman’s Journal

Patricia Fiorent Slater rehearses at Christ Episcopal Church to perform “Santa Lucia,” a tradition in Sweden and Italy at this time of year to emphasize winter’s darkness will pass and brighter days are coming. Her husband, Eric, produced the recording, which may be accessed at the church website, or via

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

Due To COVID, No Classes At CCS Until 1/19 COOPERSTOWN

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ith one positive case and a rising number of “potential close contacts,” Cooperstown schools have gone entirely remote until Jan. 19, according to interim Superintendent Romona Wenck.

Because the infected staff member interacted with a number of staff and students, too many teachers and staff members must be quarantined to allow school to continue..

Quarantined teachers will continue to teach from home.

Follow Breaking New On

AllOTSEGO.com

YOUNG DEMOCRAT TAKES ON VETERAN

Marietta

C

Benton

ooperstown Trustee MacGuire Benton confirmed he plans to challenge veteran County Rep. Andrew Marietta, D-Cooperstown/Fly Creek, in the June Democratic primary. Details at

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

Hospital Awaits 1st Vaccine

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

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ith the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine just days away from a likely approval, Bassett Hospital is prepping to give the first vaccination to one of its healthcare

workers as the New Year starts.

“It will be a celebration by our organization,” said Dr. Kelly Rudd, Clinical Pharmacy technician. “It’s a way to celebrate the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”

Though 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were shipped across New York State this week, Bassett has Please See VACCINE, A3

At Year’s End, Transitions When Barbara Ann Heegan left her first job, counseling families of 9/11 victims, one of her clients anonymously left a “Flag of Honor” with the names of all 2,996 victims on it for her at the front desk.

She’s hung it on her office wall at every job since.

Sanctuary Drive Hits Roadblock Chamber President Heegan Takes People Skills To Carolina

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal

By JIM KEVLIN

D.A. Dismisses Idea; Reps Put Off Action

By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN

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ONEONTA

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o job could be as tough at Barbara Ann Heegan’s first.

Right out of SUNY Oneonta with a B.Sc. in Child & Family Studies,

he 2A Sanctuary Movement’s effort to banish all gun laws ►Salka Bill would let you from Otsego County appears refuse vaccines. at a standstill, at least for now. ►Cooperstown Distillery “The county board has no

By JIM KEVLIN opens Saratoga store. real authority or jurisdiction,” ►broadcaster al michaels county Rep. Dan Wilber, last wins Ford Frick Award. week, told the county board’s COOPERSTOWN ►flag flies at full staff at Public Safety & Legal Affairs Main, Pioneer.

Committee, which he chairs. t was 2013. The issue was ►Oneonta’s festival of lights “Enforcement is left to the fracking. And four promistarts this Friday in Neahwa district attorney and the nent local Republicans Park. sheriff’s office.” knocked on Vince Casale’s door.

Wilber said he’s conferring “It was conveyed to me that Please See SANCTUARY, B5 the party was in some trouble,”

she joined 9/11 Family Support Services in Elmont, L.I., where the Queens native had been raised, seeking to help 122 family members mourn the death of loved ones in the attack on the Twin Towers.

About the same time, her mother, Florence, died.

“While I was helping them, they

were helping me get back on a positive track,” said the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce president, who on Dec. 7 told the Chamber board she has agreed to join the Greenwood (S.C.) Chamber of Commerce as president/ CEO on Jan. 4.

“You can be empowered by grief,” Please See HEEGAN, B5

Scrappy, Innovative GOP Chair Resigns, Focuses On Consultng

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said Casale, who last week advised the Republican County Committee he is resigning as chairman.

“My work is done,” he said.

“It’s time for a change.”

He recommended Lori Lehenbauer of Worcester, Republican county elections commissioner, Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal as his successor.

Vince Casale and wife (and fellow consulPlease See CASALE, B5 tant) Lynn Krogh with a wall of memorabilia.

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

THURSDAY, December 17, 2020

LOCALS ‘Rockefeller’ Inspires Children’s Book

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

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hough Rockefeller has flown free near Saugerties, she lives on in the hearts of Otsego County residents.

“I was so moved by this tiny little owl,” said Susan Miosek, a retired Cooperstown Elementary School teacher. “I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book, so I sat down and wrote it.”

“Rockefeller” follows the Oneonta Saw-whet owl as she journeys from “Daddy Al” Dick’s West Oneonta home down to New York City inside his 75-foot Norway Spruce, to Rockefeller Center and then to Saugerties, where she was “treated like a king” and released to continue her journey.

“In the beginning, she wakes up and she feels that everybody is sad,” Miosek

Author Miosek and “Rockefeller”

said. “She wishes there was a way she could help. And by the end, she looks around and she thinks, ‘I’ve made these people happy.’”

Her 12-year-old grandson, Griffin Beckman, did the illustrations over Thanksgiving weekend in order to get the book into print for Christmas.

The book, printed at the Copy Shop, is available at The Cooperstown Art Association and the Family Tree Gallery.

EMS FOOD DRIVE GETS 2K LBS. OF FOOD, $1,178 DONATIONS Tom and Chris Hogan take a quick pizza break from volunteering at Cooperstown’s Price Chopper, where the annual Cooperstown EMS Fund Drive collected $1,178.00 in monetary donations, 2,513 lbs of food, 10 boxes of personal care items, and 17 packs of toilet paper for the food pantry on Saturday, Dec. 12.

Donna Hribar, left, and Mike Simons Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal also volunteered.

Att: BUSINESSES

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607-434-9846

Connected to health, wherever you are.

TeleHealth is not a new concept at Bassett Healthcare Network, but now more than ever, we are focused on providing access and delivering great care to all of our communities.

Stay connected to your primary care providers and health care specialists by video chat, phone call, or text message. No matter where you are, expect the care you can count on.

Bringing Care to Where You Are. Bassett.org/TeleHealth 1-800-BASSETT

Look for the TeleHealth icon on your provider listings.

THURSDAY, December 17, 2020

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-3

Bassett Expects Return To Profitability 1st Vaccine May Be Administered Soon

ONEBASSETT/From A1 5,200-job organization is going, he cited Human Resources, which has unified all network hiring at www. bassett.org/careers, under the direction of Melanie Craig, Human Resources, Employment & Employee Relations.

Click through, and you can quickly find out about all jobs available in the system.

Until now, he said, there have been “five hospitals with five different levels of quality, service, efficiency and costs.”

As with the Human Resources piece, fully implementing the new concept is going to require broadband to be fully implemented, and Ibrahim said he’s received “encouraging news” through Congressman Antonio Delgado’s office that greater funding for that will be forthcoming.

Friday’s announcement included details of a reorganization into a North Region (Bassett and Little Falls hospitals) and a South Region (Cobleskill, Fox in Oneonta and O’Connor in Delhi).

A “System Executive Leadership Team” will

administer each: North led

by Bassett Hospital President Bill LeCates; South by Cobleskill Regional Hospital President Eric Stein.

Each team has three vice presidents – for operations, medical affairs and nursing – that report to LeCates or Stein, and implement a horizontal management structure aimed at achieving consistent levels of expertise across the region.

This is in addition to a Leadership Team announced over the past few months, led

by Ibrahim and including CFO Paul Swinko, COO Jeff Joyner, LeCates and others.

The announcement also included eliminating 41 positions by March, in addition to 15 leadership positions that have already been eliminated in the restructuring.

A network-wide program called SCORE (Securing Career Opportunities for Redeployed Employees) will seek to find places for those employees in the new structure.

The network executives will be taking 5-10 percent “voluntary reductions” in pay, with Ibrahim himself

taking a 20-percent pay cut.

This, of course, has caused consternation among employees, but Ibrahim is striving to move forward with “compassion, dignity and respect” toward employees who, through the reorganization, are being shifted out of their jobs.

As part of this effort, a seven-page, single-spaced FAQ was emailed to employees Monday, Dec. 15, seeking to allay concerns and detailing available options.

With the reorganization and streamlining, Ibrahim said, the hospital network is aiming to “break even” in 2021, and a return to profitability after that. He said the network has operated in the red for the past four years.

Asked if the restructuring of the network from hospital-centric “silos” to a cross-network system based on areas of medical expertise was one of his successes as chief physician at Integris, he said yes.

But similar approaches are being implemented in all successful hospital systems across the country, he added.

VACCINES/From A1 opted for the Moderna vaccine, which has similar efficiency against COVID19, but requires less refrigeration.

“Because it doesn’t need the ultra-cold storage like the Pfizer vaccine, it’s easier to store and transport throughout our region so we can reach more patients in our service area,” said Rudd.

According to news reports, 346,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be distributed by the state Department of Health, the first going to “high risk” hospitals and nursing home patients.

“We submitted our total number of employees to the state,” Rudd said. “We’re not anticipating that the whole supply will come in one shipment, so we’re

working on stratification, determining who is in the closest proximity to COVID patients, age, who is at the highest risk with underlying conditions, so we can vaccinate them first.”

The Moderna Rudd vaccine, like Pfizer’s, is given in two doses, 28 days apart. “One of the things we have to look at is how to structure those vaccinations,” said Rudd. “If one of our healthcare workers begins showing symptoms, we want to be able to monitor to see if it is because they are sick or if it’s side effects, so we don’t want to vaccinate everyone at once.”

Though not made up of the live COVID virus, the vaccine can cause similar

side effects, including fevers, chills and joint pain for a few days after the shot is administered.

After all “high-risk” people are vaccinated, the second tier is “essential” workers, such as county Public Health Director Heidi Bond.

However, it could be several months before the vaccine is ready for the public, Rudd said.

“People need to know that they’re not going to get it for Christmas,” said Dr. Charles Hyman, attending physician, Infectious Diseases.

But when the vaccine is available to the public – Hyman suggests end of April – plans are beginning to form about how to get it out to the public.

“I think it will be a slow roll-out,” said Bond.

First United Methodist Church 607-432-4102 • firstumc-oneonta.org

Join us for Virtual Christmas Events Virtual Blue Christmas Service Monday, Dec. 21 • 7 pm via Zoom “For unto us a child is born...”

Join us for

Christmas Eve Service 7 pm Please be safe. Because of the pandemic, we will only have one service this year. Please join us!

Virtual Christmas Eve Service Thursday, Dec. 24 • 9 pm via Zoom Call the church for instructions • 607-432-4102 A Reconciling Congregation ·

Rev. Marti Swords-Horrell, Pastor

Elm Park United Methodist Church 401 Chestnut Street Oneonta

elmparkumconeonta.org Call 607-432-6552 for reservation

The “Red Door” Church (First United Presbyterian) Welcomes You

Join us for Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Seasons Greetings

Check us out at Milford.church for Christmas Services!

7 pm - Thursday, December 24 In person (Please RSVP by email or phone 607-432-7520) Main Street & Walling Ave., Oneonta Join us online: meet.google.com/viu-hpxa-mjg Phone: 301-857-2390 • PIN 931 769 968# reddoorchurch@stny.rr.com

MILFORD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH God’s Family...Faith in Action

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Walton-Leavitt

113 Main Street | Milford

In a religion that was born in a barn, an open door goes without saying.

Our church invites you to join us in the worship and fellowship of Jesus Christ. The door is always open.

Our Schedule for Christmas is:

Christmas Eve December 24, 2020

Family Eucharist - 5 pm Service of Carols - 10:30 pm Festival Choral Eucharist - 11 pm

Christmas Day December 25, 2020

Holy Eucharist - 10 am

Join us here at St. James’ Church as we celebrate the Coming of the Christ Child

St. James Episcopal Church

305 Main Street, Oneonta • 607-432-1458 www.stjamesoneonta.org • Like us on facebook

St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake”

Roman Catholic Church Please join us in our celebrations!

ChRiStMaS MaSSeS thursday, December 24 • 4:30 pm Friday, December 25 • 9:00 am & Noon

MaSSeS FOR MaRY MOThER OF GOD thursday, December 31 • 4:30 pm Friday, January 1 • Noon the Very Rev. Michael G. Cambi 31 elm Street, Cooperstown 607-547-2213 · www.stmaryscoop.org

Perspectives

THURSDAY, December 17, 2020

A-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL EDITORIAL

THESE 2 EXEMPLIFY TALENT WE HAVE AT OUR DISPOSAL

Heegan, Casale Energy, Brains, A Credit To County

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o begin, no one can rival state Sen. Jim Seward, RMilford, in contributions to our Otsego County. He’s a giant. THE giant, who is retiring at year’s end after 34 years representing us in the state Legislature.

He’s primus inter pares – or simply primus. The gold standard.

(More accolades coming.)

But he’s at the top of a pretty tall pyramid of people with energy and brainpower in Otsego County public life, evident this week in two front-page articles.

The first retraces Barbara Ann Heegan’s local career, culminating in eight years as Otsego County Chamber of Commerce president.

The second reports on Republican County Chairman Vince Casale’s advances in the political field since he was chosen to lead the local GOP seven years ago.

Both stories overflow with

initiative, For a initiative, while, until COVID kept initiative.

• us at home, Heegan, it seemed mother like she was of three everywhere. at-home Some of children her initiawhen she tives were took on her flashy – the daunting Workforce new duHOMETOWN ONEONTA Development ties after Departing Barbara Ann Heegan, Summit at a time of Vince Casale exemplify dedica- The Otesaga trial within tion to duty around here. in October the Otsego 2018, for Chamber, hit the ground running. instance, where Oneonta busiWithin a year, by “going out and nessman Al Cleinman convinced talking to people in person” – as us “knowledge workers” are our mentor Gordon B. Roberts, the future– but the accomplishments Oneonta insurance man, advised were steady. Leadership Otsego her – Heegan doubled the memintroduced rising county leaders to bership, with new money making each other, to the county’s major all things that followed possible. institutions, and to the players they

LETTERS

will succeed. The Energy Summit in 2019 fed vitality into the county’s Energy Task Force, (its outcomes delayed by the pandemic.)

Her latest boss, board chairman Al Rubin, spoke of her sensitivity to small-business needs: When a potentially costly regulation from Albany lands in local entrepreneurs’ laps, she would bring in an expert to guide the way – for $35 apiece, forestalling costly individual consultation with lawyers.

Picking up on an idea behind the first “Seward Summit” on economic development just before her hiring in 2012, Barbara Ann rarely missed an opportunity to introduce businesspeople from around the county to each other.

Former Cooperstown mayor Jeff Katz remembers the buzz in Foothills’ “Black Box” theater when, on Jan. 2, 2013, there he

was sitting on the dais beside his Oneonta counterpart, Dick Miller, at the chamber’s traditional “State of the State” breakfast. Unheard of. (“My thought at the time,” Katz remembers, “was: ‘This might be the only time I’m invited.

I better let it rip!’”)

Barbara Ann’s favorite activity was the twice-yearly gala, the Celebration of Business in the spring in Oneonta – it includes the Bettiol Citizen of the Year Award – and the Small Business of the Year banquet at The Otesaga in the fall. The record attendance came in March 2014, when attorney John Scarzafava won Bettiol honors and more than 300 people cheered him, (at $100 a head!)

• Vince Casale’s efforts were more focused, but no less impactful. Approached by two commitPlease See EDITORIAL, A5

LIFE SKETCHES

When Did People Stop Caring For Each Other To the Editor: Yesterday I had a conversation with a lady I’ll call Ginny. Her three grocery carts were stacked high on top and in the bottoms.

Asked about “stocking up so much,” Ginny replied, “I do this once a year for our food bank.”

My mother, who worked three jobs seven days a week with two hernias to meet the basic needs of the seven of us had been ordered by our doctor not to work. She also walked 5.5 miles a day to work and back to save having to pay a taxi.

At that point in time, our government bought good foods then poisoned them

The Micklavzina family of Panther Mountain poses for a former photo.

From left are Honey Joe, Joe Jr., Antonia and Frank.

or dumped them into oceans to keep farm prices higher.

Back then, 85 percent of registered voters were farmers and Republicans.

Democrats pleaded for those foods to be given to the poor, and to schools for lunch programs. Decades later Democrats succeeded.

Many Republicans make fun of the recipients by calling them all kinds of names instead of paying them a living wage with benefits.

It’s the new form of slavery.

One quits or dies and another is hired.

It was found that grocery stores were best equipped to handle foods, especially perishables, so Food Stamps Please See PIERCE, A6

Photo courtesy Terry Berkson

Ignore Gun Laws? See You In Court

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Cooperstown’s Newspaper

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To County Representatives: As elected officials, you of all people do not have the luxury of deciding which laws you will uphold and which you will ignore, much less willfully and publicly flaunt as a partisan political stunt.

If you adopt this scofflaw “gun sanctuary” ordinance, you will be sued for failure to uphold New York State laws – laws that you are free to challenge in court, but laws that you cannot selectively ignore or flaunt to the detriment of the rule of law, to the loss the trust that has been placed in you, or to the breach of your oath of office.

CHIP NORTHRUP Cooperstown

For 212 Years

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James C. Kevlin Editor & Publisher

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‘Bootlegging Hermit’s’ Life Rich As Renaissance Man’s

ne cold and leafless Obviously, for a deer, it November morning was a great place to hide out. about 40 years ago, I • was deer hunting on Panther At one point we came Mountain outside of Richfield upon an old shack that had Springs with my friend Paul collapsed under the weight of O’Connor. age and heavy snow.

After a long climb, we “This was Honey Joe’s There’s more to Honey Joe than came into an area that was shack,” Paul told me. “He met the eye. covered with hardwood trees used to make hooch out of TERRY that stood in gentle depreshoney during prohibition.” making a forbidden brew and I asked a “Booze out of honey?” sions and on top of small BERKSON lot of questions for which Paul had no hummocks. The rolling terI asked. answers. rain repeated itself over and “Yeah, Paul said. “I think Over the years, on deer hunts, over in a nondescript fashion so that they called it metheglin.”

Honey Joe’s name would come up but it was easy to get lost and difficult to I was fascinated by the thought of Please See HONEY JOE, A6 determine exactly where we were. a man hiding away deep in the forest

Tara Barnwell

Advertising Director & General Manager

PRESS RELEASE OF THE WEEK

Libby Cudmore

USS Cooperstown Passes Its Final Exam

Managing Editor

Larissa Ryan Business Manager

Kathleen Peters Graphics & Production

Elizabeth Cooper Correspondent

Ian Austin Photographer

Ivan Potocnik Web Architect

Tom Heitz/Sharon Stuart Consultant

IN MEMORIAM: Mary Joan Kevlin, Co-Publisher, 2006-17 OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR Otsego County • Village of Cooperstown • Village of Milford 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 Contents © Iron String Press, Inc.

Editor’s Note: This press release arrived Monday, Dec. 14, from Lockheed Martin Corp. spokesman Kate Scruggs.

MARINETTE, Wisc.

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ittoral Combat Ship (LCS) 23, the future USS Cooperstown, completed acceptance trials in Lake Michigan. Trials included a full-power run, maneuverability testing, and surface and air detect-to-en-

gage demonstrations of the ship’s combat system. Major systems and features were demonstrated, including aviation support, small boat launch handling and recovery and machinery control and automation.

Now that trials are complete, the ship will undergo final outfitting and fine-tuning before delivery to the U.S. Navy next year. LCS Lockheed Martin photo 23 is the 12th Freedom-variThe newest Navy ship, named for Cooperstown, ant LCS designed and built completed the last major milestone – acceptance Please See SHIP, A6 trials – before delivery to the Navy fleet.

AllOTSEGO.com

LETTERS TO EDITOR WELCOME • EMAIL THEM TO info@

THURSDAY, December 17, 2020

BOUND VOLUMES

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-5

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

200 YEARS AGO

Congressional Investigation of the Slave Trade: “Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to lay before this House (of Representatives) any correspondence that he does not deem it inexpedient to disclose, which may have existed between the Executive of the United States and the governments of any of the maritime powers of Europe, in relation to the African slave trade.”

Military Academy: That the Secretary of War be directed to lay before the House, as soon as is practicable, a statement shewing the aggregate amount that has been expended on the Military Academy at West Point, in the State of New York, from the establishment of the same to the present time, in the erection of buildings, barracks, repairs and materials for the same; also the aggregate amount that has been expended in pay, substance and clothing, of the teachers, officers and cadets, that are or have been at the Academy, up to the present time.

December 18, 1820

175 YEARS AGO

To The Freeman’s Journal: In looking over the religious periodicals of the day, I cannot but observe the manifest tendency of all the articles towards a spirit of controversy.

This is at once inimical to true religious feeling and injurious to the church as an organized and efficient body of Christians, upon which depends the evangelization of the world – the success of Christ’s Kingdom upon Earth. Sects are dividing and subdividing until the original is scarcely to be recognized in the incongruous mixture of sentiment and opinion. Instead of unity in worship and faith, we find contention as to the manner of that worship. Instead of the practical truths of Christianity, we are generally presented with a variety of non-essential dogmas, in no respect necessary to the vital interests of religion and not infrequently involving obscurity and doubt.

December 20, 1845

150 YEARS AGO

How to get The Freeman’s Journal in 1871 for Nothing – it is easily done – has been done by a few – can be done by many more. This is the way: Obtain six new subscribers to the Journal at $2 each, and on receipt of the money we will forward an extra copy one year to the getter of the club.

There is not a school teacher in the county who cannot do this. Any smart lad who wants the Journal for himself can do it. Try. Wild Game – Robert G. Davis, who is conducting the butchering business in the old basement stand east of the Cooperstown Bank, has brought to this market a quantity of venison, prairie chickens and quail – and designs keeping

75 YEARS AGO

50 YEARS AGO

The thoroughbred racing stables of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Clark, Jr. have just completed their most successful season since the Cooperstown couple entered racing – Mr. Clark about four decades ago and Mrs. Clark, about three decades. Their horses accounted for a combined total of 23 victories during 1970, most of them on the eastern tracks of the United States. Seven of Mrs. Clark’s horses hit the wire first in 13 races, while three of Mr. Clark’s horses accounted for 10 wins amongst them. Highlight of the season for Mrs. Clark was the sudden rush to fame of her two-year-old colt “Hoist the Flag” which wound up as the top two-yearold in the nation. For Mr. Clark, it was “Shadow Brook,” a six-year-old gelding, which started the season racing on December 19, 1945 the flat and wound up as a jumper. He finished second in the 150,000 International Steeplechase at Camden, South wild game constantly on hand, if he can make it pay.

December 22, 1870 Carolina in November, only a length and a half behind “Top Bid,” which was declared the nation’s top jumper of 1970.

December 16, 1970

125 YEARS AGO

Local: Dr. D.E. Siver, one of our oldest and most experienced resident dentists will take into partnership with him Dr. E.L. Pitcher, who has been his associate the past two years and has an excellent reputation as an operating and scientific dentist.

Frank Cooper, who has a fishing shanty on the lake, last Saturday rescued Duncan Rathbun from a perilous position and the danger of being drowned, he having broken through some thin ice near the “sunken island.”

Amusements – Kent’s Minstrels who will appear at Bowne Opera House, Christmas night is an organization principally of home talent, under the management of Actor Frank Kent. In addition to an up-to-date stage performance they announce as a special feature of the musical program an exhibition of living statuary as the closing event. Seats may be secured at Winegar’s drugstore.

December 19, 1895

100 YEARS AGO

The holiday program of moving pictures at the Village

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It’s Still Unclear What Biden, Harris Can Do

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ll new Presidents inherit messes from their predecessors, but Biden is the first to have to think about literally

in American history.”

Much of what Biden hopes to do, from Cabinet appointments to legislation, will have to pass a more divided Senate than the one he left a dozen years ago.

If Republicans win at least one of Georgia’s two Senate seats in Jan. 5 runoffs, the fate of his agenda will be in the hands of Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell, who, like most GOP members of Congress, has refused even to acknowledge his victory.

Biden’s relaPresident Biden and Vice Presitionships and dent Harris are featured on the peace offerings cover of this week’s Time magamay not be zine as “Person of the Year.” worth much in this climate, decontaminating the White says his friend William Cohen, a former GOP SenaHouse.

Combatting the pandemic tor. Republicans “will be is only the start of the chalwatching not him but Donald lenge, at home and abroad.

Trump, and acting just as There are alliances to remuch out of fear of (Trump) build, a stimulus package to in the future as they have in pass, a government to staff. the past.”

Biden’s advisers are preparAs in the campaign, the ing a slew of Executive GOP is likely to amplify Orders: restoring the controversy surrounding Deferred Action for ChildBiden’s son Hunter, who on hood Arrivals immigration Dec. 9 released a statement program, rejoining the acknowledging his tax Paris Agreement, reversing affairs are under investigathe so-called Muslim ban tion by the U.S. Attorney’s and more. office in Delaware.

Biden’s “Build Back Better” CHARLOTTE ALTER, plan aims to revitalize the with reporting by Alana virus-wracked economy Abramson, Brian Bennett, – which some analysts say Vera Bergengruen, is unlikely to fully recover Madeleine Carlisle, Leslie until 2023 – by investing in Dickstein, Alejandro de la infrastructure, education and Garza, Simmone Shah, childcare. “I think if my plan Lissandra Villa, Olivia B. is able to be implemented,” Waxman and Julia Zorthian Biden says, “it’s gonna go 2020 PERSON OF YEAR TIME MAGAZINE down as one of the most progressive Administrations Dec. 21, 2020

Theatre is one of wholesome entertainment. On Thursday and Friday, December 23 and 24, Bryant Washburn in “Why Smith Left Home” and Harold Lloyd in a two reel comedy, “Haunted Spooks” will be shown. On Christmas Day “Old Lady 31” starring Emma Dunn will be shown.

Olive Thomas appears in “The Flapper” on December 27; Tom Moore in “Stop Thief” on December 29 and 31 along with “Her Kingdom of Dreams” with Anita Stewart in the leading role; on New Year’s Day Pauline Frederick appears in “Madame X.” A matinee is held each day at 3:30 p.m.

December 22, 1920

25 YEARS AGO

The Blencoe Hop House on the “Onesimus” Farm on the Middlefield Center Road, Route 33, has succumbed to structural decay and been destroyed. This icon of the New York hop culture was a fixture for nearly 150 years. It was a typical hop house with a massive screw beam. In the 1880s, with prosperity from good hop prices, the pyramidal kiln was added and the older part remodeled for storage.

December 17, 1995

10 YEARS AGO

The Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce is testing its vocal chords in anticipation of joining a rising chorus of local opposition to hydrofracking for natural gas in Otsego County. “Industrial-scale hydrofracking in the upstate region will irreparably damage the essential qualities that make the Cooperstown area an excellent place to live, raise families, farm and work,” the chamber’s directors declared in a draft approved on December 9.

December 16, 2010

LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

M

Vaccines, Part I: Pfizer Into The Fray

any people have asked me ►SUBUNIT: a portion of the protein to explain vaccines to them, of the infectant that cannot cause the and specifically the ones for disease by itself, e.g., hepatitis B and COVID-19. They are most concerned HPV (human papillomavirus, causes with how they work, when they will be genital warts and cervical cancer). available, and if they will be safe. ►CONJUGATE: Weak version of the Hopefully, this column will help. infectant, coupled with a strong antiThe terms vaccine and vaccination gen for something benign to increase derive from the Latin name Variola the immune response to the weakened vaccinae, which means small version, e.g., Hemophylus pox of the cow. Vacca is Latin influenza. for cow. ►RECOMBINANT DNA, where The term vaccine was first a stand of genetic material for devised by Sir Edward Jenner part of the infectant is inocuin 1778 based on the fact that lated into the host’s cells and he used an inoculation with teaches the cells to make an cowpox to elicit a protective antigen for part of the infectant. reaction to smallpox. ►RNA: This is the approach In 1881, Louis Pasteur that right now is the most proposed that the term vaccine promising in treating SARSRICHARD be used to cover all new CoV-2. A portion of messenSTERNBERG protective inoculations that ger RNA is inoculated into were developed in order to the host cells and tells the honor Jenner. host to make a portion of the infecting • virus. This technique has not been used There are multiple types of vaccines for human diseases clinically before. and at least one of each type has been • tried or is being developed for SARSTypically, it takes 15-20 years to CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). bring a new vaccine to market, and The following are the different types less than 5 percent of candidates of vaccines that are administered to a will succeed. The speed in which the subject to induce a protective immune SARS-CoV-2 vaccine has come to be response along with examples of each. distributed really is warp speed. ►INACTIVATED: a dead copy of the The first regular immunizations infectant, e.g., polio begin a week ago Monday in Great ►ATTENUATED: A weakened version Britain. This is less than a year from of the infectant, e.g., yellow fever, recognition that there was a new dismeasles, mumps ease and 10 months from identifying ►TOXOID: an inactivated form of the the genetic code of the virus causing it. poison made by the infected cell, Currently there is only one vaccine e.g. tetanus and diphtheria approved for use, the one made by

Pfizer and BioNTech. This is awaiting approval along with that of Moderna in the United States. Pfizer’s was approved, distributed Sunday, and injection began Monday. Approval for Moderna may come later this week.

Both of these are of the RNA type.

• There are several reasons that things have moved with lightning speed.

One, the unprecedented cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and academic and government research labs.

Two, the approval of governments to allow fast-tracking such that steps of the development are done in parallel. In my mind, there is no doubt the government’s Warp Speed initiative helped move the process along.

Three, scientists have been working for 10 years on what they call pandemic preparedness. In this case they had developed a template that would allow the development of vaccines for newly emerging diseases quickly. Essentially as one scientist called it, plug and play.

• In my next column I will discuss plans for the roll out and how it has gone up to that point.

Normally, the time from submission of data to approval by a government agency takes two years. In the case of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines it is one week.

After approval, time to distribution takes more than a year while the pharmaceutical companies develop and implement manufacturing plans.

Amazing what we can do when everyone is desperately pulling in the same direction.

EDITORIAL: Lots Of Fellow Citizens Working For Us

EDITORIAL/From A4 tee members and two county board members to take over the helm in 2013, he arrived to find the party in post-fracking shambles.

Polling in local races for the first time, he found the GOP’s candidates far behind in county board races, and the party in danger of losing its majority. The fracking battles had peaked by then. Stop talking about it, he told candidates. Talk about keeping taxes low, about keeping under Governor Cuomo’s recently imposed 2 percent property-tax “cap.”

To give just one example: He saw Republican challenger Rick Hulse in the Cooperstown/Town of Otesgo

district rise from 20 points behind to 10 points behind to winning by seven points on Election Day 2013.

In Democratic Oneonta, Republicans Janet Hurley Quakenbush and Craig Gelbsman carried the day.

Unheard of.

There’s much more. Check page one article on Vince.

• Barbara Ann is leaving Jan. 4 to lead the chamber in Greenwood, S.C. Vince is refocusing his attention on his political consulting firm, The Casale Group, with has represented such lights as Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive who challenged Cuomo in 2018.

Let’s wish them well as they leave our local scene. But here’s a parlor game for this Christmas season – via Zoom, of course: Let’s identify all the similarly energetic, selfless, smart and creative people who continue to work on our behalf.

To prime the pump: County Treasurer Allen Ruffles, glassrecycling entrepreneur Cynthia Andela in Richfield Springs, Cooperstown and Oneonta’s mayors, Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch and Gary Herzig respectively, the county board leadership team, David Bliss and Meg Kennedy, it goes on and on.

You’ll end the COVID year in a pretty good frame of mind.

THURSDAY, December 17, 2020

A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

PIERCE: Care For Each Other

PIERCE/From A4 came into being. Because of name-calling in grocerystore lines, the method was changed to SNAP, using plastic “credit cards.” Note: SNAP is a “farm program,” not a program to help the poor.

A 36-percent excise tax on USA dairy products recently put many New York State farmers out of business.

Canada now buys its dairy products elsewhere, even though the tax has been lifted. Guess that makes America great!

I worked on farms until age 19. It is hard work and in my opinion farmers should be well respected, not destroyed.

Cows must be milked two or three times a day. Milk is perishable. To give some help to Upstate farmers, Governor Cuomo set up a program to buy the milk and give it away at places like schools. Cars were lined up from the Gilbertsville-Mount Upton School all the way

back to Gilbertsville Village … the result of making America great.

My dictionary has nine definitions of great … but none seem to apply.

Big grain farmers had the same experience but were given $12 billion then $16 BILLION. The tax was dropped and the grains were sold to China, meaning farmers who donate heavily to your President got paid twice. He doles out our tax dollars as if they were his.

I like Ginny’s thinking better. To me people are much more important than greedy enrichment of and by the wealthy. Let’s show the world how good America is and that people, not money, are more important. If you have never been poor and hungry you won’t understand this as much. If you say you are a Christian, perhaps you can wonder what would Jesus say and do. Ginny gets it.

CHARLIE PIERCE Otego

BERKSON: Bootlegger’s Life Richer, More Complex

HONEY JOE/From A4 no one seemed to know very much about him. Rumor had it that he lived in the Fly Creek Valley near Panther Mountain and that he was a hermit.

• Eventually, I got in touch with John Stucin, a farmer, whose family lived The shed where Honey not far from where the Joe produce metheglin, Micklavzinas lived. That was Honey Joe’s last name, a type of mead.

Micklavzina. acre farm in the Fly Creek Stucin’s memories of the Valley, “Bees weren’t his old bootlegger were very only business.” She said he clear. and his wife Antonia used to “He was a big man, sell strawberries, plums and almost as broad as he was apples and that he butchered tall. He must have weighed farm animals as well as deer. close to 300 pounds. He Mary said that he was was friendly and liked to an intelligent man and that talk a lot, and he always he read a lot. Originally a came around in his old farmer from Slovenia, near pickup when it was time to Austria, he was well versed do chores and the men, he in home remedies for people and my father, would get as well as for animals. so deep into politics that us In spite of his weight, kids would wind up having he was a lively man with to do the work!” a big round face and pale Stucin remembered that green/blue eyes. He loved to state troopers came around dance, especially the polka, many times looking for and according to Mary, Honey Joe’s still, but they “for a man his size he was never found it. That is all offer 40-percent reconfiguvery light on his feet.” the farmer remembered, but rable hull space to evolve to • he told me that his mother, future U.S. Navy missions.

I learned that his making Mary, had known Honey Joe “During acceptance trials, metheglin out of honey and very well and might give me LCS 23 proved its maneugrain was a lot more casual more information. verability, automation and than the label, bootlegger, • core combat capability.”

Mary Stucin turned out to would suggest.

Unique among combat “He didn’t charge much be a very clear-minded 92ships, the focused-mission for the stuff,” she said. year-old woman with vivid LCS is designed to support “Maybe a dollar a gallon. memories. mine countermeasures, But all kinds of highShe recalled that, in the anti-submarine and surface ranking people, doctors, mid-’20s, when Honey warfare missions and is lawyers etc. would come easily adapted to serve future Joe first came to his 140and evolving missions.

USS Cooperstown Ready To Sail SHIP/From A4 by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team.

“LCS 23, like other Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships, delivers unique flexibility and capability to the U.S. Navy,” said Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager, Small Combatants and Ship Systems.

“Freedom-variant LCS are inherently capable, and they

to buy it because he made good stuff and because of Prohibition.”

Mary said that even the locally famous state trooper, Sergeant Cunningham, who had an office in Cooperstown, used to come to Honey Joe for metheglin.

The rough and tumble Cunningham, who used to put on demonstrations of great horsemanship, couldn’t drive a car and would have one of his men ferry him to the farm to get some home brew.

Honey Joe wasn’t only big, he was strong. At fairs in Cooperstown, Richfield Springs, Oneonta and elsewhere, he’d enter deadweight-lifting competitions, where he’d frequently walk away with the prize.

Once he and his son, Frank, were bogged down in mud in an old pickup truck.

He got out and easily lifted the rear wheel so that Frank could slide a plank under it.

Whether he was cutting timber or shearing sheep, he always kept up with his colony of bees and the harvesting of their produce.

•

Years later, when his wife Antonia left the farm and headed for Cleveland to open a restaurant, Honey Joe could not bring himself to leave his beloved land.

They parted amicably but the split left the work weary farmer to enter his senior years alone and eventually in poor health.

“We used to worry about him,” Mary Stucin said.

Every couple of days I’d send someone over to check.” One day our hired hand found that the old man had passed on in his sleep.

Time tends to bury and distort. While hunting deer, we came upon the ruins of a “bootlegging hermit” and found a husband, a father, a political thinker, a strong competitor, a maker of mead and a light-footed dancer.

Not a bad go at life.

Terry Berkson, who has an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College, lives on a farm outside Richfield Springs.

His articles have appeared in New York magazine, the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, Automobile and other publications.

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OTSEGO.Christmas

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2020

PAGE B-1

SHE’S PROFESSOR, ENTREPRENEUR

By Day, She Toils At SUNY;

By Night, She’s Ice Royalty

By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA

B

y day, Bethany Marx teaches costume design at SUNY Oneonta’s Theater Department.

But with a sprinkle of fairy

6

►IF YOU GO: 4:30-8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20, Animal Adventure Park, Harpursville, 38 minutes south of Oneonta on I-88.

dust – and a lot of glitter and sequins – she becomes the Hill Ian Austin/ OTSEGO.Christmas City Ice Queen, Otsego County’s Snow Sisters Stephanie Ward, left, and Bethany very own princess.

Marx greet visitors at the Animal Adventure Please See ICE, B3 Park in Harpursville.

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Jim Kevlin/

Brook Moser, 10, and her brother Caleb, 5, joined the gang from Oneonta’s Keller Williams Realty to decorate for the Festival of Lights in Neahwa Park.

Christmas Lights, Yummy Pancakes And Holiday Music

By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA

W

P

hile making gifts for family and friends, Sara O’Brien TO HELP: Sara O’Brien’s Rocky ornaments realized that she could not only bring a smile to someone at Christmas, but to her fellow cancer survivors.

“Tracy Abrams hasn’t been able to do fundraisers for her Wigs for Wishes charity because of •TO HELP: pandWigs for Wishes ($5) the emic,” she said. “I took a few of the ornaments over to her, and she called me back that night and said they’d all sold.”

The were in such high demand that TO WEAR: Roxanne Marcello shows off she brought in Abrams, Gail Baden and granddaughter Susan Morell to help cut, Artisan’s Guild scarves glue and finish each handmade wooden ornament. “We’re making 160 of them,” she said.

The ornaments, which sell for a suggested donation of $5 each at Abrams Head to Toe salon, will help raise money to give free, custom wigs to women undergoing cancer treatments.

“Some people have donated more than $5,” said Abrams. “But we wanted to make them available to everyone.”

O’Brien’s handmade Rocky ornaments are just one of many local gifts you can pick up this Christmas, with many stores offering curbside pickup, online shopping or shipping to keep shoppers safe during the pandemic.

TO PLAY: “Half Truth” is a best seller at Nate Robert’s Serenity Hobbies TO READ: Tour Otsego County through the photos in Richard Duncan’s “Otsego County: Its Towns and Treasures.”

Order at fenimoreart. org

• TO DO: “Half Truths” ($34.99)

B

illed as this year’s big afterdinner party game by Nate Roberts, owner of Serenity Hobbies, “Half-Truths,” created

by Richard Garfield (“Magic: The Gathering”) and “Jeopardy” champion Ken Jennings, asks players to place bets on which three of the six answers are truths, and which ones are lies.

Please See GIFTS, B3 TO EAT: Everyone loves treats from

TO DRINK: Mike Shaughnessy sets up local teas and coffees at The Green Earth

AllOTSEGO.Christmas photos by IAN AUSTIN

Bill Michael’s Fly Creek Cider Mill

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL • HOMETOWN ONEONTA

ut some hot cocoa in a Thermos and drive through a beautiful display of community Christmas decorations at the Festival of Lights. Open until Jan. 3.

Sundown, Friday, Dec. 18. Neahwa Park, Oneonta. www.facebook. com/OneontaFestivalOfLights • Cooperstown students and staff will all lend their candles to a virtual “Light Up Cooperstown” display to spread holiday cheer throughout the LIBBY CUDMORE district. Thursday, Dec. 17, www. facebook. com/cooperstowncsd/ • A Christmas tradition, Calvary Hill will once again be showcasing a variety of nativity scenes from local collections, including a half-life sized nativity that was once displayed at Bresee’s. Free, Friday - Sunday, Dec. 18 - 20, Calvary Hill Retreat Center, 290 Chestnut St., Oneonta.

607-432-4926.

• Have a cozy family breakfast and help support the Cooperstown PTA by picking up a pancake kit – complete with real maple syrup and a child-sized whisk to get everyone involved in the kitchen! 5 - 7 p.m, Friday, Dec. 18, 9 – 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, Cooperstown Elementary School.

• DiSavino and AJ Bodnar present a virtual Christmas concert.

Suggested donation $20. Presented

by First United Methodist Church of Oneonta. 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20, 607-432-4102, call to connect.

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SUBSCRIBE TO COUNTY’S ONLINE DAILY AT www.

B-2

AllOTSEGO.life

THURSDAY, december 17, 2020

County Staffing Increased As Deaths, COVID Infections Keep Growing

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

H

elp is on the way after county Public Health Director Heidi Bond lamented that her department is “overwhelmed.”

“We’re barely keeping up with the cases coming in,” she said. “With contact tracing, that means you might not get a call if you’ve been identified as a close personal contact in a timely manner.”

On Monday, Dec. 14, the county Board of

Representatives voted unanimously on a resolution from the floor presented by county Rep. Michele Farwell, D-Morris, to approve three LPNs or three health workers, or a combination of the two, to ensure Bond has the resources she needs to continue combating COVID. With Bond and five nurses working nights and weekends, she hopes to expand the staff to eight to assist in interviewing positive cases and providing additional

contact tracing.

“It’s definitely a relief,” she said. “All of us have been working six days a week.”

As of Tuesday, Dec. 15, there were 153 cases reported over last seven days, with 16 hospitalizations and two deaths, 10 deaths total.

Both of the deceased were women over 55, including one elderly woman who caught the virus from an employee at her assisted living facility after the

employee was exposed at a private Thanksgiving gathering.

But with the lack of contact tracers, Bond said it could be days before her staff can reach those who may have been exposed to let them know they need to quarantine.

Bond defined “close contacts” as a person, including household residents, co-workers or friends, that the positive case spent more than 15 minutes with,

either masked or unmasked.

“Normally we want to contact those people within 24 hours to let them know they should quarantine,” she said. “Now we’re asking people if they know they’re positive, that they take personal responsibility and notify their contacts, as well as tell us those names.”

And that personal responsibility extends to those notified, she said, who need

to quarantine at home for 14 days. “That means no going out to the store, no going into work, no seeing friends,” she said. “You just stay home and wait.”

Bond said that if not contacted by the Health Department within five days of quarantine, to reach out in order to get the paperwork needed to approve time off work through the CARES Act.

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THURSDAY, december 24, 2020

B-3

No Shortage Of Ideas For Otsego County Christmas Presents GIFTS/From B1 “It follows the logic that everyone can play,” said Roberts. “Even grandma and the little kids, who might not have that trivia knowledge, because it’s multiple choice, so they can still guess.”

The game, which got started on Kickstarter, includes more than 500 questions, plenty to keep the party going. “It’s a party game that makes you feel smart,” he said. “And it’s a laugh riot.”

• TO WEAR Poncho and scarves, Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery,

The Artisan’s Guild, (Price Varies) It’s rare that you get to see exactly where your garment came from, but with each hand-spun and hand-woven scarf and poncho, you get a photo of the Icelandic sheep who gave the wool.

“This poncho came from Fosco,” said Roxanne Marcellino. “All of these are made from the wool of sheep raised on the farm.”

In addition to the Holy Myrrhbearers garments, the Artisan’s Guild also offers handmade capes and children’s clothing, handknit scarves and hats, dyed silk scarves and other locally made crafts.

• TO READ Richard Duncan, “Otsego County: Its Towns and Treasures” ($39.99) Photographer Duncan wants you to see his “Otsego County: Its Towns and Treasures” book as a window to the world.

“I hope it stimulates memories,” he said. “Since there isn’t a whole lot we can do right now, we can look at pictures of places we used to go.”

The coffee-table book, his third, uses his own photos of the county, taken over two years, as well as photos from days past.

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“I went to every historical society in the county and asked them to send me photos,” he said. “There’s a romantic bent to it, we have all of this precious land to take care of.”

The Utica-printed book is available at The Farmers’ and Fenimore museums, and through their website, and at the Green Toad Bookstore in Oneonta.

The photos range from a parade of elephants down Oneonta’s Main Street, to an early 1900s Decoration Day in Unadilla Flats.

“If you have the COVID blues,” he said. “Go for a drive with my book and try to find where I stood to take each picture.”

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and did a craft project with the kids, and when I left, the dad told me, ‘You should be charging more,’” she said.

“I called my friend and said, ‘We could do this.’”

She did parties around Fairbanks for nearly a year before moving to Oneonta, where she founded Hill City Ice Queen Princess Parties, which includes “Princess Beauty,” “Arabian Princess,” “The Snow Sisters,” The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Cinderella and other fairy tale characters.

Word got around quickly, and now she’s a frequent fixture at First Night, Winter Carnival and other local events, as well as plenty of parties.

“I did one as Princess Beauty, where I hung out with this little girl, and she sat in my lap and showed me all her toys and we sang together,” she said. “Her dad was home, and at one point, he went upstairs and didn’t come back down.”

She finished her visit, and when she got home, she had an email from the mom, explaining that there had been a sudden death in the family the night before.

“She told me she shared all the pictures of us with her family, and that they made everybody smile on a day when no one felt like smiling.”

Marx makes all the costumes, including masks that match their characters outfits, and, when the occasion calls for it, clever layering.

“Last year at the Christmas Tree Lighting, it was 17 degrees,” she said.

“I’ve got the leggings that I wear for Elsa, but there’s usually one or two pairs of

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a catalog, a map of the Cooperstown Beverage Trail and an Otsego County Guide – for when the pandemic is over and they can come visit the mill for themselves.

• TO DRINK Tay’s Tea (from $4) and Roman Roaster Coffee (from $10) Green Earth Market “Nini Ordoubadi is very particular about her tea,” said Mike Shaughnessy, manager, The Green Earth.

“And she does it very well.”

Also from Delhi – and new to the Green Earth – is Roman Roaster Coffee, an artisanal, small-batch roaster owned by Andrea Ghersi, a former chef who moved to Delhi to open his business.

Both use sustainably sourced and fair trade ingredients in their blends.

“Buying local helps all of us stay in business,” said Shaughnessy.

From Academe Into An Icy World ICE/From B1 “When I moved here in August 2015, someone put me in touch with Carol Mandigo, and I wore my Elsa costume to Balloon Fest,” she said. “Now I’ve got seven employees, and we do 14 different characters.”

Marx first got started on a whim, after she helped a friend make an Anna costume for Halloween in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she was living.

“I got a random phone call from this trick-or-treat event that had advertised as having ‘Frozen’ characters – except their Olaf costume wouldn’t arrive in time.

They asked if I could be Elsa so their advertising would still be right.”

After meeting more than 200 kids in an hour, she got a phone call from parents who asked if she could repeat the performance at a birthday party.

“I learned some songs

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approach at the Fly Creek Cider Mill, where he’s spent the last two weeks in his own version of Santa’s Workshop. “We do 60 percent of our online business during the holidays,” he said. “You can go online, fill your cart and we pack it up for you.”

Pick out some of the mill’s famous cheese, sauces and jellies, apple goodies and maybe some fudge, and Michaels will box it, tie it with a bow and mail it to the recipient of your choice.

“This year, our corn salsa has been really popular,” he said.

But if you’re in a hurry, there are pre-made gift baskets ready to order, including a “Stay At Home Survival Kit” – with pancake mix, fudge, maple candy, apple crisp mix and more – or a “Celebrate Your Heroes” snack basket, with cheese, sausage and, most curiously, gummy frogs.

And he even throws in a few extras, including

Contact Michael 908-770-4599 Michael.mandel@oorah.org

leggings underneath that!”

At a Princess Party, the princesses will sing, sign autographs and pose for pictures, and do a craft with the guests.

“I want my princesses to have a performance background, especially improv,” she said. “You get asked a lot of questions, so you have to really know the character, the lines they say in the movie, the foods they like.”

And some babysitting doesn’t hurt either. “Half the job is controlling a party of small kids,” she said. “If you can’t do that, it doesn’t matter how pretty your singing voice is.”

But the princesses do more than meet-and-greets.

Some, like the Scottish princess, do sword-fighting shows, and for the past two years, her girls have offered “Princess Caroling” in the Albany area, where many of the girls live.

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B-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

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SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalJan.14

check payable to the NYSDOT for the sum specified in the proposal or a bid bond, form CONR 391, representing 5% of the bid total, must accompany each bid. NYSDOT reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

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Electronic documents and Amendments are posted to www.dot.ny.gov/ doing-business/opportunities/const-notices. The Contractor is responsible for ensuring that all Amendments are incorporated into its bid. To receive notification of Amendments via e-mail you must submit a request to be placed on the Planholders List at www.dot. ny.gov/doing-business/opportunities/ const-planholder.

Amendments may have been issued prior to your placement on the Planholders list.

Legal

Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Detox With the Docs, LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/03/2020.

Office: Otsego County.

SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Jackson LLP @ 11 Broadway, #615, New York, NY 10004.

Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Trip L Farm LLC Filed 6/30/20 Office: Otsego Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: c/o Miosek Law, 29 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Gretchen Raddatz Wellness LLC Filed 8/27/20 Office: Otsego Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: 6559 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: all lawful 6LegalJan.21 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of Platt Hollow Homes, LLC. Filed 10/23/20.

Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: Chad Whitbeck, 360 County Hwy 42, Maryland, NY 12116.

Purpose: General.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of BYAM’S RENTAL PROPERTIES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/17/20.

Office location: Otsego County.

Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of HFB PROPERTIES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20.

Office location: Otsego County.

Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820.

LEGALS

Notice of Formation of PEACEFUL FLATS PROPERTIES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20.

Office location: Otsego County.

Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: MMS-DS PROPERTIES LLC. Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 2 December 2020.

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 144 Johnny Cake Rd, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of JGG PROPERTIES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/20.

Office location: Otsego County.

Princ. office of LLC: 35 Country Ln., Oneonta, NY 13820.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed bids will be received as set forth in instructions to bidders until 10:30 A.M. on Thursday, January 07, 2021 at the NYSDOT, Contract Management Bureau, 50 Wolf Rd, 1st Floor, Suite 1CM, Albany, NY 12232 and will be publicly opened and read. Bids may also be submitted via the internet using www.bidx.com.

A certified cashier’s

NYS Finance Law restricts communication with NYSDOT on procurements and contact can only be made with designated persons. Contact with non-designated persons or other involved Agencies will be considered a serious matter and may result in disqualification. Contact Robert Kitchen (518)457-2124.

Contracts with 0% Goals are generally single operation contracts, where subcontracting is not expected, and may present direct bidding opportunities for Small Business Firms, including, but not limited to D/W/MBEs. The New York State Department of Transportation, in accordance with the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat.

252, 42 U.S.C. 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, Subtitle A, Office the Secretary, Part 21, Nondiscrimination in Federallyassisted programs of the Department of Transportation and Title 23 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 200, Title IV Program and Related Statutes, as amended, issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all who respond to a written Department solicitation, request for proposal or invitation for bid that it will affirmatively insure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability/handicap and income status in consideration for an award.

BIDDERS SHOULD BE ADVISED THAT AWARD OF THESE CONTRACTS MAY BE CONTINGENT UPON THE PASSAGE OF A BUDGET APPROPRIATION BILL BY THE LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR

Please call (518)457-2124 if a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the letting.

Region 09: New York State Department of Transportation 44 Hawley Street, Binghamton, NY, 13901 D264385, PIN 9TGD20, FA Proj Z2329TGD-203, Otsego Co., Guide Railing & Drainage Requirements Contract, Otsego County, Bid Deposit: 5% of Bid (~ $125,000.00), Goals: DBE: 2.00% 2LegalDec.17 Legal nOtice Notice is hereby given that a license, (number to be assigned), for beer has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer cider at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 4604 State Highway 28, Milford, NY 13807, Town of Hartwick, County of Otsego for on premises consumption.

Barnyard Swing LLC Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC) OTICA, LLC, Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on November 2, 2020.

Office location: Otsego County.

SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: Incorporating Services Ltd: 3500 South Dupont Highway, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful acts or activities.

Latest date upon which LLC is to dissolve: No specific date.

6LegalJan.14 Legal nOtice SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF OTSEGO NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A CHAMPION MORTGAGE COMPANY, Plaintiff, against Jack E. Sanders, Jr., as Heir to the Estate of Joy Miller Sanders; Unknown Heirs to the Estate of Joy Miller Sanders, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife,

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widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; Gutchess Lumber Company, Inc.; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; United States of America Department of Treasury; New York State Department of Taxation and FinanceTax Compliance Division-C.O.-ATC, and JOHN DOE AND JANE DOE #1 through #7, the last seven (7) names being fictitious and unknown to the Plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or parties, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the mortgaged premises described in the Complaint, Defendants

go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property.

Sending a payment to the mortgage company will not stop the foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND

BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

ises known as 235 Sohne Road, Mount Vision, NY located at Section 174 Block 1 and Lot 26

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Dated: November 9, 2020 Filed: November 10, 2020 Pincus Law Group, PLLC., Attorney for Plaintiff, By: George J. Weissinger, Esq., 425 RXR Plaza, Uniondale, NY 11556 (516) 6998902.

4LegalDec.24

ONIE PROPERTIES, LLC

HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE; New York State law requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully.

Notice of Qualification of

Index No. EF2020-155.

Plaintiff Designates Otsego County as the Place of Trial.

The Basis of Venue is that the subject action is situated in Otsego County. To the above named Defendants YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff’s Attorney(s) within 20 days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); the United States of America may appear or answer within 60 days of service hereof; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. That this Supplemental Summons is being filed pursuant to an order of the court dated October 23, 2020.

NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or

SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this Foreclosure Action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney of your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office, there are government agencies and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services’ at 1-800-269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at http://www.dfs. ny.gov.

FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed.

State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services.

We are attempting to collect a debt.

Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Honorable Brian D. Burns dated October 23, 2020.

The object of this action is to foreclose a mortgage and covering the prem-

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J&J ENTERPRISES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/27/20.

Office location: Otsego County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/25/20.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Lemery Greisler LLC, 60 Railroad Place, Suite 502, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. DE addr. of LLC: c/o United Corporate Services, Inc., 874 Walker Road, Suite C, Dover, DE 19904.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation for Harvest 336 LLC Name of LLC: Harvest 336 LLC Date of Filing of Articles of Organization with the NY Department of State: November 6, 2020 Office of the LLC: Otsego County The New York Secretary of State has been designated as the agent upon whom process may be served. The Secretary of State may mail a copy of any process to the LLC at: Sharon Boustani, 336 Coye Brook Road, South New Berlin, New York 13843 Purpose of the LLC: Any Lawful Purpose 6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company, (LLC) Name: Denison & Festa LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/09/2020.

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: 143 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalDec.31

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Notice of Formation of

Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/30/2020.

Office in Otsego Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 8-12 Dietz St., Ste. 202, Oneonta, NY 13820, which is also the principal business location.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company, (LLC) Name: 143-147 Main Street LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/06/2020.

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: 143 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 9 O’Neill Drive, LLC. Filed 10/21/20.

Office: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent for process & shall mail to: c/o Paul J scorzafava Jr, 9 O Neill Dr, Oneonta, NY 13820.

Purpose: General.

6LegalDec.31 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: AGRINOMIC INSIGHTS LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 16 November 2020.

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 272 Bissell Rd, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws 6LegalDec.24

Legal

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 289 Greenough Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws.

6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company Name: INNOVATION AG LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 30 October 2020.

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 7937 US Hwy 20, Sharon Springs, NY 13459.

Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws.

6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LONGTAIL CONTRACTING, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/27/20.

Office Location: Otsego County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it my be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 109 Sunset Drive, Apt. 2, Oneonta, New York 13820.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF COOPERSTOWN AREA REAL ESTATE, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/28/20.

Office Location: Otsego County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 224 Lakeside Drive, Burlington Flats, New York 13315.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

6LegalDec.24 Legal nOtice Notice of Formation of

Legal nOtice

J. Talbot Property Maintenance LLC,

Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company

Art. of Org. filed with SSNY on 9/24/20.

Off. loc.: Otsego Co. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom proc. may be served & shall mail POB 440, Otego, NY 13825.

Purp.: any lawful.

6LegalDec.17

Name: CARR - ADAMS FARM LLC Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 30 October 2020.

►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.

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL B-5

THURSDAY, december 17, 2020

Casale: After 7 Years, ‘My Job Is Done’

Angela Orlowski, 89; Local Family Survives

COOPERSTOWN – Angela “Lil” Orlowski, a recent resident of Cooperstown, passed away peacefully on Nov. 27, 2020, at a daughter’s home in Mesa, Ariz.

Lil was born Angela

Luiso in Pelham Bay, The Bronx, on Feb. 18, 1931.

Her parents, Phillip and Angela, had arrived from Italy only three months earlier after learning of Mussolini’s plans to invade Ethiopia.

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Sanctuary Idea Slowing Down

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R

•F

OUNDED

1808 BY

SANCTUARY/From A1 with District Attorney John Muehl and county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. about what comes next.

Meanwhile, he delayed further discussion until the February PSLA meeting, and – picking up on the suggestion of county Rep. Andrew Marietta, D-Cooperstown/Fly Creek – said he will consider a public forum on the matter for 2021.

For his part, Muehl said later, “I think the county should stay out of it. The courts have found it unconstitutional. I can’t enforce a law that’s been found unconstitutional.”

Devlin said the PSLA Committee is “trying to put this off on John and myself. They don’t know what to do.”

Some PSLA members were expecting a legal opinion from County Attorney Ellen Coccoma on a draft resolution when it met Thursday, Dec. 10, but received a verbal report instead.

“The way I read it now,” she said, the proposed resolution “poses to make a declaration of unconstitutionality about particular laws. That is not an authority that the county board has. Under separation of powers, that decision is given to the courts.”

Muehl and Devlin take an oath “to uphold all the laws of the state,” she added, “which does not allow them to spend money that infringes on their oath of office.”

he was handing out pencils at county fairs on behalf of his father, Assemblyman Tony Casale of Herkimer.

During school breaks, young Vince would ask to accompany his dad to Albany.

A music major, he taught for a few years before joining Herkimer Arc, then the community college, as development director.

He started the Casale Group in 2007. His first campaign: Cooperstown’s Mike Coccoma, for state Supreme Court. The next year, John Lambert for county judge. “The company just kind of grew,” he said.

“I had a decision to make: Continue as is, or make the jump.” And jump he did.

This year, he managed the elevation of county Judge Brian Burns of Oneonta to replace the retiring Coccoma, and the campaign of county Rep. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, to succeed Seward, keeping both influential positions in Otsego County.

Now, he and Lynn are busy, but looking forward to 2022, the next gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.

IN

Ladies, and the Lunch Bunch. When COVID put a halt to her activities, she enjoyed walks with her daughter, Phyllis.

Survivors include her daughter, Phyllis Orlowski of Cooperstown, and her sons.

Lil is survived by her sister, Marcella Luiso Flanagan; brother, Nicholas Andrew Luiso (and Margaret); her four daughters, Caroline Orlowski, Eugenia “Gigi” Orlowski (and Bruce Grouse), Phyllis Orlowski of Cooperstown (and Tom Smullens) and Andria Orlowski, NMD; five grandchildren,; as well as nieces, Amy Stalder (and Joe), Amanda Luiso (and Matt Britton) and Melissa Brownfield. Barbara Gierke, and Jimmy Kozma of Chicago, and Dr. Dominick Masiello (and Yasmine Hussein), and Michelle Masiello; and 39 cousins.

A Memorial Mass/ Celebration of Life will be at St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, Conn., at 11 a.m. June 26, 2021, and also at St. Mary’s “Our Lady of the Lake” Church in Cooperstown at 11 a.m. June 30, 2021, followed by interment in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Cooperstown.

To honor her love of opera, donations may be made to Glimmerglass Opera, Development Department, P.O. Box 191, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

going to be a drubbing like we’d never seen.”

Fracking had damaged the Republicans, but by then it had been discovered there was too little natural gas here to frack.

The issue “was just at or past the peak,” Casale said.

“I told the candidates: Don’t mention it. It wasn’t that we wanted it or didn’t want it. It was political survival,” The new message: Republicans will protect your tax dollars.

“Rick Hulse was down by over 20 points when we first did that poll,” said Casale.

“I remember him cutting it to 14 points. I had him down to 7 points. ‘If we only had one more week,’ I told myself.

“I went into Election Day thinking we would lose the Town of Otsego,” including most of Cooperstown, he said.

“We ended up winning by 10 points.”

Republicans Janet Quackenbush and Craig Gelbsman also won in Democratic Oneonta, and Len Carson, the retired fire captain.

Casale, then 40, was no stranger to politics. At age 5,

O M C O PE

CASALE/From A1 His seven years spanned the tenures of four of his Democratic counterparts.

Lilly In 2013, the first Democrat married elected to countywide office Eugene S. in memory, Dan Crowell, was Orlowski running for reelection unop“Gene” on posed, Casale recalled.

Oct. 15, There was a shortage of 1955. candidates and, “when people were asked to run, they were In 1968, just left to themselves.”

Lil and Angela The committee had been Gene raised Orlowski using raffles to raise money their four – that was illegal, it turned out, daughters in Newtown, leading to a sizeable fine.

Conn. A master quilter, “At the time, I was Lil taught quilting in consulting,” Vince recounted Newtown and Southbury, the other day – he still operates Conn., for 34 years. She was the Cooperstown-based Casale also employed by Chintz Group with his wife, Lynn & Prints in Newtown for Krogh, most recently helping guide state Sen.-elect Peter 33 years.

Oberacker’s campaign. “I was On June 30, 2017, after 61 years of marriage, Gene very happy.”

But the GOP contingent told unexpectedly passed away. him, “We need to win races.

Eager for a fresh start, Lil You know how to win races.” dove into life in Cooperstown.

Remembers Casale, “With She joined a nascent the blessing of Senator Seward, Cooperstown Senior Center I was good to go. I took over that sparked a talent for in September,” two months painting. She also joined the before the fall elections.

“The first thing we do is run Leatherstocking Quilters polling,” a first in local races. It Guild, became a volunteer discovered not only newcomers, usher at the Glimmerglass but longtime incumbents were Opera, and made new in tight races, he said. “It’s friends with the Red Hat

IA

Cooperstown and loved to hunt, fish and snowmobile.

Jim attended the Cooperstown Assembly of God, and his long-time friend, Rev. William Kirk, founding pastor of the church, will officiate at his private funeral service.

He leaves his two sons, David of Clinton and James of Richfield Springs; three grandchildren, Shannon Pernat (Bryan) of Elbridge, Aaron (Joy) of Palm Bay, Fla., and Scott (Debbie) of Minneapolis; and seven great-grandchildren, Jackson of Elbridge, Anna, Nora and Seth of Palm Bay, Fla., Hanna of Prague, Czech Republic, and Taylor and Emily of Minneapolis.

A wake was held Wednesday, Dec. 16, at the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.

The funeral services and entombment will be private.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Fly Creek Emergency Squad, PO Box 218, Fly Creek, NY 13337.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Connell, Dow and Deysenroth Funeral Home..

Always the height of fashion, Heegan said she particularly enjoyed the Chamber’s twice-annual galas, the NBT Distinguished Citizen Dinner & Celebration of Business at the Hunt Union or Foothills in the spring, and the Small Business Awards at The Otesaga in the fall.

They were also good fundraisers, with attendance hitting a 300-plus record when Oneonta attorney John Scarzafava received the Bettiol Award in 2014.

The Greenwood Chamber’s signature event is the six-week South Carolina Festival of Flowers, and Heegan expressed enthusiasm about digging into that. Smith said her arrival also comes as the Chamber board wants a review of the event, to ensure Greenwood is getting maximum benefit.

The community, home to two colleges, 1,000-job FujiFilm, and Greenword Lake, reminds her of Oneonta.

Heegan’s younger son, Scott, 15, is moving with her.

Daughter Christina, 21, at Siena College, and Sean, 19, at SUNY Adirondack, will remain Upstate, along with Barbara Ann’s significant other, Bob Pondolfino, who plans to move to South Carolina in the next year.

But the couple will maintain their Arnold’s Lake home, so Barbara Ann Heegan will not be gone completely.

L

Jim loved animals.

He loved many dogs and cats over the years.

He raised peacocks, James ornamental Ainslie pheasants, chickens, red deer, horses, and his emu Elmer. Many friends and neighbors enjoyed visiting his mini game farm.

He loved to attend fairs and chicken shows around the state.

A lifelong member of the Grange, he served for decades as Master of the Fly Creek Valley Grange. He also belonged to the New York State Bluebird Society, the American Pheasant and Waterfowl Society, the Otsego Electric League and the Experimental Aircraft Association, Chapters 1070 Cooperstown and 294 Utica. He loved airplanes and flying and attended the annual fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisc. many times with his sons. He was also a member of the Native Sons of

Oneonta insurance man, had a similar dream, and as the Plains at Parish Homestead became a reality, Heegan joined the effort as director of sales.

All the patio homes in that West Oneonta retirement community were sold within two years, and half the apartments were filled within a couple of months, Heegan reports.

“You need to go out there and talk to people in person,” the outgoing Roberts advised her, and she was soon talking to Rotary and Lions clubs and community groups around the county, a practice she continued after assuming the Chamber leadership on May 18, 2012, two months after state Sen. Jim Seward’s first “Seward Summit” on economic development at The Otesaga.

The Summit had introduced community leaders from Oneonta and Cooperstown to each other for the first time, and Heegan pushed that forward. Attendees were pleasantly shocked when, in January 2013, Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz joined Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller on the dais of the chamber’s annual State of the State breakfast.

Heegan’s first dramatic accomplishment, though, may have been putting the Chamber on a sound financial footing by following Gordie Roberts’ Dictum and doubling membership from 300 to 600 in a single year.

E WIL

RICHFIELD SPRINGS – James S. Ainslie, 93, of Ainslie Road, Town of Otsego, a farmer and longtime rural mail carrier, passed away Wednesday morning, Dec. 9, 2020, while being transported to the hospital.

His family regrets they could not be with him due to COVID-19 restrictions; he will be greatly missed.

A kind, giving man, loving husband, grandfather and dedicated father, he would do anything to help family, neighbors and friends.

He was born on July 4, 1927, to Edna and William Ainslie. In addition to her parents, he was predeceased by his loving wife of over 60 years, Effie (Locke), as well as brothers Harold Ainslie and Leo McLean.

Jim worked the family farm most of his life.

He also worked with his brother, Harold, and privately as an electrician.

He was also a substitute rural mail carrier for his father, William. He retired from the postal service in Richfield Springs, where he was a rural mail carrier for many years.

HEEGAN/From A1 said Heegan in an interview, after an eight-year tenure that, above all else, has been marked by a cheerful outlook and positive thinking – not to mention doubling the membership, energizing young professionals through Leadership Otsego, and hosting countywide “summits” on issues ranging from workforce development to energy.

Raised on Long Island, a mile from the Belmont Park race track – her father, James, was an OTB inspector: “I would get to see the horses, but not bet on them,” she said – she was introduced early to Central New York.

Her parents, Barbara Ann and older brother Douglas would spent vacations horseback riding and hiking at the Round Up Ranch Resort in Downsville, Delaware County.

A family of Yankee fans – and Douglas a ballplayer – led to numerous trips to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame in those early days.

That, in turn, led to SUNY Oneonta and, as the demand for grief counseling tailed off in her hometown, her first job Upstate as Bassett Hospital’s director of volunteers – 200 of them.

At the time, she would talk about her parents’ experience with assisted living communities downstate, and how such facilities were needed here. Gordon B. Roberts, the

DG

James S. Ainslie, 93; Farmer, Rural Carrier For Post Office

Heegan Departs For South Carolina

JU

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