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AllOTSEGO.life IA
For 207 Years
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WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, December 31, 2015
Newsstand Price $1
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Fighting The Scourge DG
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
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Volume 207, No. 52
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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2015 otsego county yearbook
For 207 Years
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2015 citizens of the year
THEY OPENED
Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
four FRONTS against HEROIN TIDE
After a hectic season that began the day after Thanksgiving, Santa and Mrs. Claus left Pioneer Park Thursday, Dec. 24, after locking up their cottage for the winter.
County Board To Welcome 7 New Members COOPERSTOWN
T
he Otsego County Board of Representatives will welcome seven new members, including Andrew Marietta, the Democrat representing the Town of Otsego, at its first 2016 meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6. At the organizational meeting, the representatives will vote on whether to continue County Rep. Kathy Clark, R-Otego, as chair, and on other officers and committees. SPECIAL SPEAKER: Jane Forbes Clark will speak on “Cooperstown and the Clark Family Legacy” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, in the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand Theater, part of Cooperstown Village Library’s Sunday Program Series. Free; all welcome. National Baseball Hall of Fame, 25 Main St., Cooperstown. Info, (607) 434-3418. STANDOUT QB: George W. Smith, Jr., 85, quarterback on legendary coach “Red” Bursey’s 1947 undefeated football team, died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015/DETAILS, A2
THE ORACLE: The Hon. BRIAN D. BURNS
THE SAMARITAN: Police Chief MICHAEL COVERT
THE GENERAL: LEAF Executive Director JULIE DOSTAL
THE ENFORCER: District Attorney JOHN MUEHL
On The Front Lines, They See Inch-By-Inch Progress BY LIBBY CUDMORE & JIM KEVLIN
‘I
t’s going to be the biggest problem in the next 10 years,” Otsego County Judge Brian D. Burns declared after being sworn in for a second 10-year term on Jan. 1, 2011, in solemn Courtroom #1 of the venerable County Courthouse in Cooperstown. He was talking about heroin. And he was right. But he – and our three other Citizens of 2015 – stayed the course, fighting a grueling day-to-day battle
against a foe that has invaded not only our county, but rural America, each in very specific ways: • As judge of the Drug Treatment Court in Otsego and Delaware counties, Burns, in collaboration with a dozen county agencies, is getting non-violent drug offenders – under tight supervision – to face their problem and try to reform. • After saving a young addict from near death, Cooperstown Police Chief Michael Covert embraced a rehabilitation program pioneered by Gloucester, Mass., police, and is directing drug abusers into
rehab at a rate of more than 150 a year. • When there’s heroin-related trouble, LEAF Executive Director Julie Dostal is there to fix it, be it the fatal “DEISEL” brand that showed up in January, or arranging NARCAN training to stop overdoses short. • District Attorney John M. Muehl has been vigorously enforcing the law, obtaining guilty verdicts and pleas in 119 of 120 cases. Along the way, he’s learned tough enforcement can’t solve everything. READ THEIR STORIES, PAGES A4-5
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
2 0 o 1 t 5 s e c u e D Ring in the New Year with Bocca!! Filet of Lobster Tail
only $34.99 per person!
call now for reservations 5438 State Highway 28 • Cooperstown, NY• 607.282.4031• www.boccaosteria.com