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For 207 Years

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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, December 31, 2015

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Cooperstown’s Newspaper

COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND

Volume 207, No. 52

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2015 otsego county yearbook

For 207 Years

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

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

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A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015

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George W. Smith, Jr., 85; Quarterback On Bursey’s Undefeated Football Team COOPERSTOWN – George W. Smith, Jr., 85, quarterback on legendary coach “Red” Bursey’s 1947 undefeated football team, died peacefully Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla., after a brief illness. George was born March 10, 1930, in Delhi, to George W. Smith and Viola Freidenstine Smith. He spent his early years in Delaware County, and began his education in the Rock Valley and Goulds schools where both of his parents were teachers. He moved to Cooperstown in 1945, when his family relocated here to establish cauliflower farms in the Pierstown area. During his last two years of high school George distinguished himself as a three-star athlete in football, basketball and baseball under Bursey’s tutelage. As quarterback, he led the 1947 football team through an undefeated season and often recalled “beating Oneonta in the snow.” In 2010, George – along with his teammates – was inducted into the Cooperstown Central School Athletic Hall of Fame. George attended Springfield College for two years before enlisting in the Air Force, serving four years during the Korean War. In 1956, he moved to Colorado where he completed his education at the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in economics. Upon his graduation he went to work for UNIVAC and began his career as a sales representative on “the cutting edge” of the computer industry. He married Lona Smith Oct. 7, 1967, in Denver, and the couple moved to Los Angeles, where George became sales manager for Systems, Science & Software. In 1973, George returned to Cooperstown to take over the operation of the family dairy farms. In addition,

George and Lona opened and operated Summerwood Bed and Breakfast in Richfield Springs George W. from 1984 to Smith, Jr. 2000. When they sold Summerwood, George and Lona returned to live in the farmhouse on top of the hill on his much loved Tanner Hill Farms. In recent years George and Lona spent the winter months in Florida. George loved to travel and meet new friends. The Cooperstown United Methodist Church was his church family for most of his life. He was a lifetime member of the Sgt. Walter P. Eggleston Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No 7128 in Cooperstown and a member of the Glimmerglass Festival Guild. He is survived by his wife, Lona, of 48 years; sister Kathryn Smith Mollach; nieces Jennifer Mollach Rice (Steven) and August, Patricia Mollach Cassidy, Martha Mollach Stackhouse (Kendal) Julia and Matthew; sisterin-law Sue Parkinson; sisterin-law and brother-in-law Wilda and Jim Metzdorf; niece Amy Metzdorf-Hill (Justin Hill) and Jasmin Hill; his extended Butler family; special friends Cal, Bob, Richard, Herman, Patrick, Wayne, Jason, and Nick; and many long-time friends in Denver and Los Angeles and across the country. George was predeceased by his parents George W. and Viola Freidenstine Smith, and his brother-inlaw, Francis (Les) Mollach and nephew Douglas Lundquist. There will be a memorial service in Cooperstown in the spring. Arrangements are under the care and guidance of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.

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THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-3

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THURSDAY, dECEMBER 31, 2015

Second Front Page

For 207 Years

WANTED: Volunteer Hydrant Shovelers

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

Cooperstown Lion, Rich McCaffery found himself wondering, as he cleaned the section of highway that the club adopted, if the Lions Club might do the same with fire hydrants. “Last winter, I noticed a lot of fire hydrants were not shoveled,” he said. “The village staff has enough to do with clearing roads after a storm, and Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal the fire department does the best they Citizen Rich McCaffery, who proposed the vilcan to clear fire hydrants.” lage’s “Adopt a Hydrant” program, reviews a map McCaffery’s musings bore fruit showing were all the fire plugs are located. Monday, Dec. 28, when the village

announced an “Adopt-a-Fire Hydrant” initiative, inviting residents to volunteer to keep one of the village’s 107 fire hydrants clear of snow this winter. “It’s a minimal effort, but an important one,” said McCaffery. “Every minute that the firemen aren’t shoveling off hydrants is a minute they could be getting the hoses hooked up.” The program was originally proposed to the board last year, and McCaffery spent the summer cataloging and counting the hydrants and storm drains. A map of hydrants and drains, to help pick a fire plug, is at www. cooperstownny.org/volunteers/ During the 2016 winter, volunteers will be asked to keep snow cleared at least 3 feet around the hydrant at all

Mattice: December Warmer, But 2015 May Be ‘Average’ By JIM KEVLIN

he weather so far this winter is “average” – but it’s anything but normal, according to National Weather Service observer David Mattice of Oneonta. December’s mean temperature, as of midday Monday, Dec. 28 – Tuesday’s dip changed that – was 39.5 degrees, 14.3 degree above the normal of 25.2 and a record-setting high for December.

Last February, however, temperatures were 13.3 below normal. “We have of chance of beating that in December – the other way,” he said, predicting, “We’re going to average out: Average is kind of a funny word, though.” A better word to describe 2015 is “roller-coaster,” he added, and December fit that mold. In December, “every day-time high has been above freezing, with the exception of one day,” he said. “Our coolest nighttime low was 21 degrees;

we usually average somewhere in the teens to low 20s.” Christmas Day reached a high of 58, but it was no record, said Mattice. “It was 64 in ’64, I remember.” However, Christmas Eve was 65. “That did break the old record of 58, back in 1949, equaled again in 1990,” he said. “Upper 50s or low 60s is not extraordinary.” This was different: The warm weather in December arrived and stayed, the El Nino effect.

times. “We’ve always relied on volunteers to shovel around the hydrants,” said Village Trustee Cindy Falk. “But Rich’s effort coordinates it better.” After March 20, the first day of spring, volunteers who enjoyed their winter duties may adopt one of 290 storm drains, keeping them clear of leaves and debris. “After a bad storm, sometimes the drains are so clogged that the water is into the middle of the road,” said McCaffery. “If you have a drain in front of your house, you’re going to be the first to notice if it’s clogged,” said Falk. “We don’t expect people to pry off the grates, but they can help clean off the leaves and report to the village if there larger problems.”

MEET NEW COUNTY BOARD DAN WILBER, district 10, burlington, edmeston

an Wilber has a background in law enforcement, but also as a small businessman, operator of two vacuum-cleaner stores in Connecticut before moving north. So he is interested in pursuing economic development as one of seven new members of the County Board. See his and profiles of all the newcomers at WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

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LEGALS Legal

Legal notice FLECHER ENTERPRISES LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 12/21/2015. Office in Otsego Co. SSNY designated Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to George Rice 4918 State Highway 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any Lawful purpose. 6LegalFeb4 Legal notice NOTICE is hereby given that Otsego County has established an annual 30 day period during which landowners can submit proposals to include viable agricultural land within certified agricultural districts outside of the eight year review period. NOTICE is further

Legal

given that said annual 30 day period in Otsego County begins January 1 of each year and closes 30 days thereafter. NOTICE is further given that during this 30 day review period any landowner may submit proposals to viable agricultural land to be included into a certified agricultural district by filing requests with the Clerk of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, said requests to include the agricultural district into which the land is proposed to be included, a description of the land and the tax map identification number(s). NOTICE is further given that the termination of the 30 day period all proposals will be submitted to the Otsego County Agricultural Farmland Protection Board for its review, and

Legal

that thereafter a public hearing will be held on the proposals and recommendations of said board. Dated: December 24, 2015 Carol D. McGovern Clerk of the Board of Representatives Otsego County, New York 1LegalDec31 Legal notice Notice of Formation of Fika House, LLC, Art. of Org. filed with Sec’y of State (SSNY) on 12/10/15. 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 101 Cemetery Rd., Fly Creek, NY 13337. Purpose: any lawful activities. 6LegalJan28 Legal notice

Legal

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF APPLETREE POND HOUSE, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/30/2015. Office Location: Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSSN shall mail process to: 14 Leatherstocking Street, Cooperstown, New York 13326. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 6LegalJan28 Legal notice Jay Frank LLC. Art. of Org. filed SSNY as Domestic LLC 11/10/15. Principal Office: 20 Lewis St, Oneonta NY 13820, Otsego County. SSNY designated as process agent. Process Service address: 20

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Lewis St, Oneonta NY 13820. Purpose: any lawful activity. 6LegalJan28

tion of a NY Limited Liability Company. Name: THE CAMPINATOR LLC. Articles of organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 17 November 2015. 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 192 Main St, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalJan14

Legal notice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company. Name: MUDGEE PROPERTIES LLC. Articles of organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 8 December 2015. 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 192 Main St, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalJan21 Legal notice Notice of Forma-

Legal notice Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company. Name: 1510 WATKINS AVE LLC. Articles of organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 16 November 2015. Office location: Otsego

Legal

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 2209 Cty Hwy 33, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYS laws. 6LegalJan8 Legal notice Notice of Formation of a Limited Liability Company (LLC): Principle Construction Enterprises, LLC, Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 09/16/15. Office location: Chenango County. SSNY designated LLC agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: LLC, Attn: Carolyn O’Reilly, 1103 County Road

Legal

19, Norwich, NY 13815. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Date of dissolution: None. 6LegalJan8 Legal notice NICOLE GERACE LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 10/29/2015. Office in Otsego Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 8-12 Dietz St., Ste. 201, Oneonta, NY 13821. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. 6LegalJan8 Legal notice Notice of Formation of Throwbacks Bar and Grill, LLC. Arts. Of Org. Filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/13/2015. Office Location: Otsego Co. SSNY desig-

Legal

nated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process: Robert A. Gouldin, Esq., 93 Main Street, Oneonta, New York 13820. Purpose: any lawful activities. 6LegalDec31 Legal notice Notice of Formation of HOLLYHOPS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/15. Office location: Otsego County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Richard S. Woods, 189 Main St., Ste. 302, Oneonta, NY 13820. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Perspectives

A-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015

EDITORIAL

Accomplished 2015 Citizens Of Year Carry On Proud Tradition

he Taliban eradicated poppy growing in Afghanistan in 2001. Since the U.S. invaded after 9/11 at a cost now approaching $1 trillion, poppy growing has rebounded, and our Afghani ally today supplies the flowers for 90 percent of the world’s heroin, according to the United Nations. At the same time, pain management gained vogue in U.S. hospitals – that’s why you’re always asked, “How do you feel today on a scale of one to 10?” Insurers began pain control as one of the factors that decides reimbursements. Opioid prescriptions – and addiction – rose sharply. When prescriptions ended, patients turned to cheap, available, illegal heroin. Folks supposed to be taking care of us haven’t. • On the front page of the edition of Dec. 29, 2006, Cherry Valley Town Supervisor Tom Garretson was named the first Freeman’s Journal “Citizen of the Year.” Over the course of the previous year, Garretson had gone from a fan of a 24-turbine wind farm proposed for Reunion Hill to shepherding a windmill ban through a divided town board. He had changed his mind after visiting Fenner, that flat, hard-

scrabble farming town south of Utica, and concluded that lovely, hilly, historic Cherry Valley could do better. The point is, as the facts came into focus, Tom Garretson digested them, changed his mind and acted on his new understanding. And it wasn’t easy: His father-in-law, Bob Loucks, had preceded him as supervisor and was a big windmill fan. That must have been quite a Thanksgiving dinner that year. • The Citizens of the Year – beginning with its founding in 2008, Hometown Oneonta features one annually as well – have struggled with the new, accepting change or, where appropriate, achieving an improved status quo. Fresh thinking, often in the face of opposition, was a plus. So was some risk, as when Tom Cormier reopened the Oneonta Theater in 2010 and won that year’s laurels. Sometimes, Citizens of the Year embarked on a new undertaking, as the Oneonta City Charter Commission (2011) or the Hager hops family (2013). Other times, the designation was recognition of a job well done, as when John Nader (2008) transitioned from successful Oneonta mayor to SUNY Delhi

Holiday Tourney: Cooperstown Beats W-Ville, Camden/See Page 7

Cooperstown’s Newspaper Since 1808

Vol 198, No. 52

Newsstand Price 75¢

Cooperstown, New York, Friday, December 29, 2006

Thomas Garretson

ROBERT H. BOYLE I REMEMBER

2006 CITIzEN OF THE YEAR

Photo courtesy Hall of Fame Baseball promoter Alex Pompez organized the barnstorming tour through Mexico that turned into a hair-raising experience for Sports Illustrated’s Robert H. Boyle, who now lives in East Springfield.

When Aaron Didn’t Show, Fans Furious

Russ Honicker /The Freeman’s Journal Cherry Valley Town Supervisor Tom Garretson, The Freeman’s Journal “Citizen of the Year,” still supports wind power, but a different kind of wind power: small-scale and community-controlled for the community’s benefit.

Cherry Valley Supervisor Guided Town Through Dangers To A New Consensus By JIM KEVLIN CHERRY VALLEY

om Garretson always liked people. But for the first 35 years of his life, he didn’t see many of them. “On the farm you hardly see anyone at all,” said the tall, lanky Cherry Valley town supervisor, “except your family.” In 2006, it was quite the opposite, as he presided at packed meeting after packed meeting and debate raged over Reunion Power’s 24-turbine wind farm proposed for East Hill. Given that he liked people, Garretson began the year – his first

as supervisor, succeeding 38-year veterans Bob Loucks Jr., his father-in-law – wanting to make everybody happy. Over the course of the year he discovered “at the end of the day, you might not make anybody happy.” Having reached that conclusion, he realized there was no alternative to listening, thinking, reflecting, trying to keep an open mind but, in the end, coming to his own conclusion. For safely ferrying his divided rural community from one threatened by runaway industrial wind-turbine development to one that is planning and in control of its future, and by doing so with patience, courtesy and growing wisdom, Tom Garretson was selected as The Freeman’s Journal “Citizen of 2006,” which will now be an annual designation. Two letters to the editor bookend the development of Please See CITIZEN, Page 11

Only Parking Spaces Hold Up Building Owner’s Vision

n a clear day, you can see the Sleeping Lion from the fourth floor of the Key Bank building, at least when the leaves are off the trees. That’s not half of it. To the east is a charming view of Main Street, to the west the Otesaga and, to the south, a birds-eye view of Doubleday Field. It seems like an ideal setting for Shane Newell’s plans. The bank building’s new owner and president of Field View Development, surveys the fourth floor’s interior with satisfaction. It’s all concrete and steel, all open. The

By BREN MIOSEK COOPERSTOWN

only asbestos in the building is in the furnace room in the basement, and its enclosed. He anticipates he can redevelop the 39,000 square feet into five luxury condos for something in the $1 million range. He may try to market them as one-week timeshares, but is not averse to marketing them to, say, a baseball player who might want to scoot up to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on a whim, or have a nice perch during Induction Weekend. Because of the building’s solidity and open space, it’s hard not to let the imagination soar. Maybe the skylights could be uncovered. Please See CONDOS, Page 3

alk to people about green Christmases like this one, and soon they’re talking about white ones. “We had plenty of white Christmases back in the ’60s and ’70s, but I don’t recall too many green ones around here,” said former Cooperstown Postmaster Roger Smith as he wrapped up another busy day at Spurbeck’s Grocery. “I can remember two or three from back then, but that’s about it. We usually had lots of snow.” “I can remember a lot of white Christmases, but I can’t remember the last green one,” said Bill Waller of Cooperstown. “The bad thing about a green Christmas is that it never really seems like Christmas when there isn’t any snow.” “It seems like the winters have been milder during the past few years,” said Village Historian Hugh MacDougall. “But I can remember one Christmas in particular where I had to hire a truck to remove some of the snow in front of my house. Although the lack of snow on Christmas Day 2006 may have disappointed a few children with no need for snow pants, mittens, hats or boots, what a difference four years make. Please See GREEN, Page 3

Local Woman ‘Guiding Light’ In Gulf Coast By CHAD WELCH COOPERSTOWN

here is a destiny that makes us brothers; None goes his way alone; All that we send into the lives of others, comes back into our own.” These words by poet Edwin Markham were the original motto of the television drama “Guiding Light,” created by Irna Phillips for the show’s radio debut in 1937. Please See LIGHT, Page 2

Sheriff Mundy, Champion Of Road Patrols, Retiring

Luxury Condos, Lake Views Envisioned Above Key Bank COOPERSTOWN

Keep Dreamin’, Snow’s On Way

The End Was Near – Almost

he late Alex Pompez, the great scout for the New York and San Francisco Giants who died in 1974 at age 83, was among those inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this past summer. Before Pomp turned to scouting for the Giants, he owned the New York Cubans in the old Negro National League, and before that he ran the biggest numbers game in Harlem, which is how he got the money to own the New York Cubans. I was not around for the Hall ceremonies, but I read later that no relative could be found to attend. That was surprising because, as Pomp once proudly told me, he was the uncle of U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, long retired and alive at 87 in Florida. I first met Pomp under unusual circumstances in the fall of 1959 when I was based in San Francisco as Sports Illustrated’s West Coast correspondent with my territory, so I was told, extending east to the Jersey side of the Hudson River. The editors in New York had given me approval to do an in-depth study of black – Negro was the term then – players in the National and American Leagues. Jackie Robinson had to contend with a lot when he broke the color line with the Brooklyn Dodger in 1947, and now, a dozen years afterwards, I wanted to discover what life was like for his 57 successors. Please See ALAMO, Page 5

Green Holiday Unusual

Ex-Trooper Served 13 Years As Top County Policeman COOPERSTOWN

I Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal Shane Newell, owner of Cooperstown’s Key Bank building and president of Field View Development Inc., Warrensburg, examines the empty fourth floor of 103 Main St., where he plans to develop five luxury condos.

know you usually don’t clean out the trash baskets until the afternoon,” Otsego County Sheriff Donald Mundy, in a voice of command, was telling a deputy in the control room at the county Correctional Facility the other morning. “But would you go ahead and do it now?” Sheriff Mundy, who is retiring Sunday, Dec. 31, after 13 years as Otsego County’s chief lawenforcement officer, was a Navy man, and that spit-and-polish culture is reflected today in the ship-shape nature of his operation. The floors in the jail are pol-

ished to a high sheen. The signs of wear in the 20-year-old facility are few. The deputies, who salute and address their boss as “sheriff” or “sir,” are pressed and starched, hair and mustaches neatly trimmed. As of Monday, Jan. 1, Sheriff Mundy will be a private citizen for the first time since Jan. 10, 1963, when he reported to the Sidney Barracks of state police. (Private citizen, but still working: He will be joining FEMA’s Project Recovery, interviewing flood-aid applicants two days a week. His undersheriff, Bruce Carroll, is also retiring; the two worked together Please See MUNDY, Page 12

For updates between editions, check www.thefreemansjournal.com

Citizens of the Year have chalked up innumerable accomplishments since Cherry Valley Town Supervisor Tom Garretson trailblazed in 2006.

provost (and, locally, not-soelder statesman), or when Cooperstown Mayor Carol B. Waller (2007) and her administration met the challenge of hosting a massive

crowd at Cal Ripken Jr.’s Induction. Smarts, hard work, courage, vision and so much more characterizes them all. •

The four Citizens of 2015 meet all these marks, and more. They forged ahead against a seemingly insurmountable foe, King Heroin, and a tyrant at that, and have begun to make a difference. Cooperstown Police Chief Mike Covert’s passionate pursuit of PAARI, the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative that has been so successful in Gloucester, Mass., is simply an inspiration. Since its launch on Thanksgiving – what a symbolic day! – Chief Covert has placed into treatment five addicts who voluntarily asked for help. Six others have been in contact – 13 people in just a month (a rate of more than 150 a year) who are seeking a better way, a new life. The Good Samaritan, indeed. Our other citizens have been toiling in the same field for years, only now seeing tentative progress: • The Oracle – County Judge Brian D. Burns raised the alarm on Jan. 1, 2011, at his swearing-in to a second term. The professionals knew something was happening, but Burns awoke the general public, giving the community a two-year start before reports of the challenge were appearing widely nationwide. He then

returned to the hard grind of Drug Treatment Court, fighting every day for lives one by one. • The General – LEAF Executive Director Julie Dostal is marshalling forces on many fronts, from promoting life-saving NARCAN kits, to getting the word out on the fatal “DEISEL” brand that struck last January, to full involvement in the Opioid Task Force, and much more. • The Enforcer – District Attorney John M. Muehl is a dogged prosecutor who has successfully prosecuted 119 out of 120 heroin-related felonies. Impressive enough, but Muehl, instead of hardening his heart, has found a new understanding, that jail is not always the solution. “You have to change as you learn,” he said. The heroin epidemic has been a painful learning experience for all of us, painful and scary. Muehl believes the pendulum is swinging in the right direction, but this is going to be a long journey. Our collaborating government let many Americans down. So did the medical community. We are left to our own devices, with people like Judge Burns, Chief Covert, Julie Dostal and Prosecutor Muehl to help us along the rocky way.

CITIZENS OF 2015/FIGHTING THE SCOURGE

In Just A Month, Chief Covert Helps 11 Break Heroin Habit If Drug Addicts Turn In Kits, Help Can Be Just 24 Hours Away trying to get their kids help for heroin addiction.” Over Thanksgiving ►Birthplace: Cooperstown Day, Covert launched top by Cooperstown ►Education: SUNY Oneonta, the Cooperstown PAARI Police Chief Mike Army National Guard (cap– Police Assisted Addiction Covert’s office in the tain) Recovery Initiative – which ►Professional: Cooperstown basement of 22 Main St., assures addicts that if they police chief; Otsego County and chances are he’ll have Sheriff’s deputy, retired after come into the police stato interrupt your conversation, hand over their heroin 21 years tion to take a phone call. kit and ask for help, he will ►COMMUNITY: Member, “We all have skeletons in help them get into rehab Hartwick Volunteer Fire Deour closet,” he tells the worpartment within 24 hours. ried mother on the other end ►Family: Wife, Theresa, Modeled on a similar of the line. “This is the one daughters Colleen, Dana and program in Gloucester, no one wants to talk about.” Lisa, grandchildren Joseph Mass., Covert was inspired He recommended her to and Katheryn. by the immediate success the TruthPharm website, the department had in helpwhich offers resources to she can call him anytime. ing, rather than arresting, help the families of heroin “That’s what I deal with addicts. addicts and works to combat every day,” he said as he “They’ve helped 300 the stigma of addiction. He hung up. “I’m fielding calls people since they started assured her that he would from parents all the time, in June,” said Covert, a stay in touch, and says Hartwick resident. “I figured that if they could do it, I could do it.” On a more personal note, Covert has seen the ravages of heroin addiction, attend ing funerals of overdose James C. Kevlin Mary Joan Kevlin victims close to friends Editor & Publisher Associate Publisher and families. And in late September, Covert himself Tara Barnwell helped bring back a 17-year Advertising Director old overdose victim back Thom Rhodes • Allison Green Kathleen Peters with a NARCAN kit. Advertising Consultants Graphics The overdose prompted Celeste Brown Thomas Libby Cudmore Ian Austin an investigation, and two Copy Editor Reporter Photographer weeks later, village officers arrested Ryan R. West, 22, Judith Bartow Ivan Potocnik Tom Heitz and Timothy L. Pirone, Billing Office Manager/Web Architect Consultant 20, on a multitude of drug OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR charges, including heroin Otsego County • Town of Cherry Valley • Town of Middlefield and marijuana possession. Cooperstown Central School District “We have people right Subscriptions Rates: Otsego County, $48 a year. All other areas, $65 a year. here using heroin, and it’s First Class Subscription, $130 a year. killing them,” Covert said. Published Thursdays by Iron String Press, Inc. “I started looking for a solu21 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown NY 13326 tion, and I came across the Telephone: (607) 547-6103. Fax: (607) 547-6080. E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com Gloucester Initiative.” Contents © Iron String Press, Inc. By LIBBY CUDMORE

THE COVERT FILE

Periodicals postage paid at USPS Cooperstown 40 Main St., Cooperstown NY 13326-9598 USPS Permit Number 018-449 Postmaster Send Address Changes To: Box 890, Cooperstown NY 13326 _____________ Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of William Cooper is in The Fenimore Art Museum

Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal

Police Chief Michael Covert’s compact office in Cooperstown’s Village Hall at 22 Main has become the hub of action for heroin addicts seeking to quit.

The chief knew arrests alone weren’t going to solve the problem. He got in touch with the Opiate Task Force, LEAF Inc., Oneonta Police Lt. Doug Brenner and others to establish a systematize the PAARI system here. Covert also recruited volunteers for the “Angel”

‘

We have people

right here using heroin, and it’s killing them. I started looking for a solution.

POLICE CHIEF MIKE COVERT

program, which gives addicts someone to travel with to and from rehab. He posted information about the program on Facebook; a day later, the post had gone viral, drawing over 8,000 shares, as well as nationwide media coverage. Within 24 hours of open-

ing his doors, Covert had a caller on the line. A woman whose 23-year-old son had overdosed had been driving from hospital to hospital, trying to get him into rehab. Covert made some calls, including to Amethyst in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and soon, the young man was on a plane to start eight weeks of intensive in-patient care. Soon after, Covert got a card from the mother thanking him. And shortly after that, a thank-you note from the young man himself arrived. Since then, Covert has helped five people get into long-term rehab facilities. “I got a call from a guy who had a 20-pack-a-day habit, but he’d been declined from every other rehab facility,” said the chief. “I got him to a center in Florida. “A 22-year-old woman called me, saying that her baby had been taken from her after testing positive for heroin. The rehab center

gave her a scholarship and paid for her flight.” By year’s end, he had guided at least 11 people to help, with five in treatment and six waiting for their flights to leave, including Oneonta and Cooperstown residents, a husband and wife, and a Sidney resident, who was the first person to walk into the police station and hand over her heroin kit. Covert’s in conversation with four others who have indicated that they’re interested in seeking treatment, and he plans on helping two more once they sort through their legal troubles. But he’s not just limiting himself to addicts in the area. He is constantly on Facebook, answering questions and offering help to anyone who asks, no matter where they’re from. “I answer every single message I get,” he said. “I reach out to let them know I’m listening.”

TO ACCOMMODATE OUR 2015 OTSEGO COUNTY YEARBOOK, SEE HISTORY COLUMN, LETTERS AT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, Dec. 31-jan.1, 2015

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5

CITIZENS OF 2015/FIGHTING THE SCOURGE

Judge Burns Raised Alarm, And Continues To Fight Good Fight Drug Treatment Court Collaborates With 10-12 County Agencies By JIM KEVLIN

n Jan. 1, 2011, Otsego County Judge Brian D. Burns changed the way we view our local world. The occasion was his swearing-in for a second 10-year term on Jan. 1, 2011, in sedate, high-ceilinged Courtroom #1 at the county courthouse in Cooperstown. His message to the surprised gathering was: There is a killer among us, heroin, and it had claimed the lives of three of our neighbors in the just-ended year. “There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of heroin here in Otsego County,” the judge continued. “I can’t emphasize enough how much that’s changed. Heroin was simply not a problem. It’s going to be the biggest problem in the next 10 years.” Regrettably, he was right: This year, the county was on track to record 15 heroinrelated deaths. In the past five years, few of the people in the courtroom that day have been personally touched by the deadly drug, through the misfortune of a family member, friend or neighbor.

THE BURNS FILE ►Birthplace: Vestal ►Education: Syracuse University; Suffolk University School of Law ►Professional: Practiced law with Attorney Bill Bookhout. ADA to District Attorney Coccoma. Since 2001, Otsego County judge. ►Family: Wife Elizabeth. Children Tony, third year at Syracuse University Law School; Kevin, Navy officer; Meg, sophomore, University of Rochester.

“It was an opportunity to say whatever I really wanted to say – judges generally aren’t allowed to do that,” the Oneonta resident recalls. “I realized this was one of the most important things I could address.” The reaction? People accused him of being “Chicken Little: the sky is falling,” he said. “I wish that were the case.” In his first five years on the bench, Burns dealt with three heroin cases a year; since, that’s risen almost 10fold to 30 a year. “That’s also when people, mostly young people, began to die of overdoses in numbers that had a visceral impact on us,” he said.

Burns, whom Michael V. Coccoma, now a state Supreme Court judge, assigned to preside at county Drug Treatment Court in 2001, redoubled efforts to break the cycle of “incarceration, relapse,” in the face of the growing challenge. Offenders – non-violent ones only – who submit to Drug Treatment Court may be visited daily, and undergo monthly drug screenings and a treatment regimen. What’s changed over the years is the importance of collaborations, with the county’s Mental Health and Social Services departments, with Catholic Charities, with Opportunities for Otsego’s housing, with police, with the Veterans Administration, with SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College. Burns, an Oneonta resident, is particularly energized by a public symposium that city’s mayor, Gary Herzig, and county Rep. Craig Gelbsman, R-Oneonta, are planning in March. A Leadership Conference is also planned, aimed at crafting a common strategy that top local and county officials can buy into and help implement. As John M. Muehl has

Jim Kevlin//The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Brian D. Burns of Oneonta exchanges a meaningful glance with wife Elizabeth after being sworn in for a second term at Otsego County Court judge by his mentor, state Supreme Court Judge Michael V. Coccoma in Jan. 1, 2011. That day, Judge Burns alerted the county to the scourge of heroin.

concluded in the District Attorney’s Office, Burns said treatment – in nonviolent crimes – trumps jail time. “It’s just a much more humane and compassionate way to deal with someone who has a disorder,” he said. Judge Burns was raised in Vestal; his father, John, was a school administrator; his mother, Barbara, a librarian. After graduating from Syracuse University,

he and wife Elizabeth went off to Boston, where he was a broker for Fidelity Investments. Daily, he passed Suffolk University Law School to and from work, and – after three years, with their first child on the way – he enrolled. “I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life chasing money,” he said. He began practicing law with attorney Bill Bookhout in Oneonta, then Coccoma,

district attorney at the time, brought him under his wing as an ADA. He was appointed to serve out a vacancy on the county court in the late 1990s, then ran in his own right in 2000. “These aren’t junkies in alleyways,” he said of what he hopes will be a decline in heroin addiction. “The reality is these people are our neighbors, they’re our teachers; they’re our family. They’re like you and me.”

Of 120 Heroin-Related Cases, D.A. Obtains 119 Guilty Pleas

In County’s War On Heroin, She’s Engaged On All Fronts

Muehl Believes Fairness, Consistency Helps Settle Cases

Dostal Finds Epidemic’s Victims People Like Everyone Else

By JIM KEVLIN

he good news – District Attorney John M. Muehl never thought he’d say it – is cocaine is coming back. “Maybe heroin is going to phase out,” he continued That’s good news because heroin has come to dominate Otsego County law enforcement. Fully three-quarters of felony charges brought these days, he said, are drug related. Elected district attorney in 2004, the first heroin case didn’t cross the docket until 2007 – the suspect was Jose Rodriguez, a major local supplier who Muehl prosecuted and eventually sent to prison for 40 years. “Wow, that’s strange – heroin,” the D.A. said to himself. “Then we started getting a few more cases, then a few more.” By the time County Judge Brian D. Burns raised the alarm publicly and dramatically on Jan. 1, 2011, at his swearing-in for a second term, it was everywhere. “It is such a catalyst for other crimes. They’ll steal anything,” Muehl said of heroin addicts’ need to feed their habit – burglaries have tripled; auto breakins have doubled. “There are a huge number of home invasions. Heirlooms that have been in the family – you’re never going to get them back.” There’s a pecking order to heroin peddlers. Dealers on the mean streets of Otsego County, “they aren’t selling it for money, they’re selling it to fund their own habit,” the lawyer explained. “When you get into the true heroin dealers” – the big suppliers, primarily from New York City – “they never touch the stuff.” As the county’s chief lawenforcement officer, Muehl, 49 – low to the ground, broad-shouldered, scrappy, a picture of high energy – hasn’t been standing still: He’s brought charges in 120 heroin-related cases, and achieved convictions in 119. He credits “good police work” for much of that suc-

Julie Dostal exits the LEAF headquarters on Oneonta’s Water Street.

By LIBBY CUDMORE

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

District Attorney Muehl has a dedicated office staff, including Shannon Mott, right, who has been there for 11 years, and Lisa Bullis, three years.

Muehl, immigrated from Germany after World War I to homesteading in North ►Birthplace: Worcester Dakota. ►Education: Bachelor’s, He bought a few more University of Buffalo; Law ranches, then sold them and degree, University of Northern moved to Worcester, where Illinois, Dekalb he had relatives, buying that ►Professional: Rothenberg farm that includes that stone & Judd, Sidney; Delaware house – site of a colonial-era County assistant district attorney; Otsego County district massacre. His grandfather, John, and attorney his brother bought the farm ►Family: Mother, Carolyn; sister, Amy, in Worcester. next door. The D.A.’s father, John Jr. (the prosecutor is not III; he has a different cess, particularly effective middle name) was a sucuse of surveillance cameras to record drug buys. (In the cessful logger. His mother, one case he lost, the buy was Carolyn, and sister Amy out of sight of the lens. “The Muehl still live in Worcester. Graduating from Schenjury didn’t believe my C-I,” evus Central, young John said Muehl of his confidenattended the University of tial informant.) Buffalo and, warming up to Most of the cases get the Socratic method used pleaded out, made posin a class on Constitutional sible, the D.A. believes, by law, decided to become a making plea deals fair and lawyer, going on to Northconsistent. It gives defense ern Illinois University Law attorneys a clear idea of School, just west of Chiwhat – and what not – to cago. expect. His goal, Muehl Back home – it was said, isn’t to get a conviction always his intent to return – “the goal is to get justice.” here – he joined the RothenBecause street dealers are berg & Judd law firm, also addicts, a prison term practicing real estate and has limited use; they come general law until he became out with no home, no job, and start again. Particularly assistant D. A. in Delaware if the crimes are non-violent, County prosecutor Dick Northrup’s office. “Once I there are treatment options. got involved, I knew that’s “You have to change as you what I wanted to do.” learn,” Muehl said of his “There’s not so much approach. you can do in law that helps While there are a number of Muehls in the county, the society,” he explained, “that helps make the victim whole district attorney’s branch again, that keeps our society arrived relatively late. His safe.” great-grandfather, Matthew

THE MUEHL FILE

or Julie Dostal, LEAF executive director, one of the hardest parts of the heroin crisis was that it didn’t look like a crisis. “It didn’t look like the one that hit in the 1970s,” she said. “These weren’t the sickly looking people with track marks in their arms. They didn’t start with the needles, they started with prescription pills, and they were soccer moms, teenagers with sports injuries, businessmen. This drug gets a hold of people so quickly that it takes everyone by surprise.” Though LEAF (Leatherstocking Education on Alcoholism/Addictions Foundation) focuses on educating people against addiction, the opiate crisis changed the definition of her job. “By the time we realized this was a crisis, we were losing people,” she said. “My job was to stop behavior before it started, but now my job is not just about addiction prevention – it’s death prevention.” When Fentanyl-laced heroin labeled “Diesel” caused two deaths and more than a dozen overdoses in January, LEAF was on the front lines of getting the word out to addicts to stay safe. “We got a press release from Oneonta police Lieutenant Doug Brenner and immediately posted it on social media,” she said. “We wanted to get the word out there and keep people who were still using safe.” But among the changes she says need to be made are erasing the stigma of addiction. “It prevents people from reaching out,” she said. “It makes me angry. There is no other disease in the world that has the stigma that addiction has. These people are our friends, our family, our neighbors. Addiction is a nasty disease, and if unchecked, it kills people.” She joined the Opiate Task Force and ran NARCAN workshops to teach

Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

people how to use the life-saving kit. She held screenings and discussions of the documentary “The Hungry Heart.” And she is working with Brenner to put together a program similar to the one in Cooperstown, where addicts can bring in their heroin “kit” and get into rehab. “We have a lot of people who will call here, since it’s anonymous,” she said. “We’ve had some amazing discussions with people who want to get into recovery, and we help get them to resources.” But perhaps Dostal understands better than anyone what each and every one of them is going through. Sober for 23 years, she was a full-time graduate student with a 4.0 average when she went into recovery. “I know how hard this fight can be,” she said. “And when a person continues to function, it becomes harder for them to say ‘I need help’.” Her first career was as a music teacher, directing middle school chorus and the high school marching band. And though she still plays music professionally, she went back to school at age 30, in the early days of her recovery, and got her

THE DOSTAL FILE ►Birthplace: Macon, Ga. ►Education: Bachelor’s in Music Education, CarsonNewman College. Master’s & Specialist degrees in Counseling & Human Services, University of West Georgia, PhD, Psychology, Madison University ►Professional: Executive Director, LEAF Inc. ►COMMUNITY: Opiate Task Force, President of the Professional Association of Council Executives, a board member of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) ►Family: Husband, Jeff Dostal.

Masters in Counseling and human services, as well as PhD in psychology. “My life path has always led me toward my passions, and I wanted to help people,” she said. “Preventing addiction and supporting those in recovery became the focus of my life’s work.” She joined LEAF in 1998, and became the executive director in 2005. “I do this job with hope,” she said. “You have to, in order to keep doing it. But I’ve seen so many positive changes, and that spurs me on to keep making those changes.”

A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

tHURSDAY-friday, dec. 31-JAN. 1, 2015

HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO Thursday, Dec. 31

ta’s annual family-friendly New Year’s fete. 6 p.m. parade; 7 p.m. entertainment at downtown venues; 10:30 p.m. fireworks finale, 11 p.m. concert at Oneonta Theatre. Alcohol-free. Buttons $15 adults (ages 12 & under free) at downtown merchants or

FROSTBITE 5K -- 1 p.m. Oneonta’s annual “Frostbite 5k,” starts on Market St., near Foothills, Oneonta. Info, registration www.oneontaymca.org, (607) 432-0010 x205. FIRST NIGHT -- 6 p.m. Oneon-

at event. Full schedule, venues www.firstnightoneonta.com. HOLIDAY BOWL -- 8 p.m.1 a.m. New Year’s Eve party at $30 per person: all you can bowl; shoe rental; buffet. Holiday Lanes, 5198 St. Hwy. 23, Oneonta. Info, (607) 432-2540 or www.holidaylanes.com

Friday, Jan. 1 Happy New Year!

Upholstered sofas and chairs in Mission, traditional and country styles Unfinished and finished furniture for every room in the house (Finishing available)

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FIRST DAY HIKE -- 1 p.m. Annual guided New Year’s Day hike. Free. Wear hiking boots or snowshoes, depending on weather. Meet at Sunset Pavilion in Betty & Wilber Davis State Park, 133 Davis Rd., Westford. Reservations t (607) 638-5421.

Saturday, Jan. 2

OMMEGANG TOSS -- noon-5 p.m. 3rd annual “Out with the Old, In with the Brew” celebration. Toss your tree on the traditional Christmas pyre and get a gift. Hot cocoa, beer, cafe specials, annual airing of grievances. Brewery Ommegang, 656 Co. Hwy. 33, Cooperstown. Info, www.ommegang.com ORPHEUS AUDITIONS – 3 p.m. Orpheus Theatre auditions for “13: The Musical.” St. Mary’s Parish Ctr., Elm and Walnut sts., Oneonta. Info, video auditions via You Tube, orpheus@orpheustheatre.org.

Monday, Jan. 4

LIBRARY — 9 a.m.-8 p.m. “Make It Monday.” Free family fun. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning activities. Huntington Mem Library, 62 Chestnut St., Oneonta. Info, www.hmloneonta. org, (607) 432-1980.

607-643-0257

WindoWs, doors, siding and aWnings

Tuesday, Jan. 5

design to install - We do it all!

madisonvinyl@msn.com • 607-967-4323 Great looks! Visit the

LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST -- 8 a.m. meet & greet, 8:30 a.m. breakfast. Otsego Co. Chamber’s annual “State of the State” Breakfast. The Otesaga, 60 Lake St., Cooperstown. $25 per person ($35 non-members). RSVP, (607) 432-4500 x207, info@otsegocc.com.

• Eye exams

Bassett Eyewear Center

• Fashion frames & contact lenses • Eyewear repairs Clinic Building, Cooperstown Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm (607) 547-3142

AllOTSEGO.classifieds HOMES FOR RENT 3br ½ house – bottom floor (40 Cedar St.) ½ house located near Oneonta’s Wilber park. Remodeled inside and out. 3 bedrooms, 1 ½ baths. DR, LR, private patio, garage space. Wood floors and basement laundry. Perfect for professionals or small family. No smoking, no pets. Available immediately. $1000.per month plus utilities. Please contact Patricia at 607-431-1001. 3ClassJan1

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OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT Oneonta Retail Space For Lease! Over 8,000 square feet of space featuring loading dock with overhead door and warehouse area, plus a light and bright retail space second to none in the downtown lower hub of the city. $2950 per month. Call Benson Agency Real Estate, LLC for details at 607-4324391. TFN

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AllOTSEGO.opportunities OTSEGO COUNTY VACANCIES Otsego County has the following employment opportunities available in the Dept of Social Services with LDTF 1/7/16: CASEWORKER – $32,139 - $37,979 Provides social work services for individuals and/or their families, including children, to assist them with their economic, emotional, social and environmental difficulties. EMPLOYMENT&TRAINING ASSISTANT – $28,188 - $33,213 Assists in the development of jobs and training opportunities for agency clients. Assists in matching job-ready participants with positions available in the public or private sector Provides information to clients regarding job opportunities, training, or other agency programs. Interviews clients and identifies clients skills or job readiness. SOCIAL WELFARE EXAMINER - $26,984 - $31,789 Determines financial eligibility for various programs administered by local social services district and recommends amounts of assistance in accordance with established policies and procedures. For applications and minimum qualifications, visit the Otsego County Personnel Office, 183 Main Street Cooperstown, or our web page at www.otsegocountyemployment.com. EOE

Wanted: Graphic Designer Part-time If you would like to become part of a group that works hard and has fun putting together the best newspapers in the region, send us your resumé! Graphic Designer must have experience working in InDesign and Photoshop. Basic design skills, creativity and the ability to work under deadline a must. E-mail mjk@allotsego.com with resumé and cover letter.

Oneonta Business For Sale! Turn key, established Bar/Restaurant business in

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We Wish Everyone a Peaceful New Year John Mitchell Real Estate

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May 2016 bring you a world of peace and love. We wish you abundance, happiness, and peace in a new year filled with hope. 37 Chestnut street · Cooperstown · 607-547-5622 · 607-547-5653 (fax) parking is never a problem! For Appointment Only Call: M. Margaret Savoie, Real Estate Broker/Owner – 547-5334 Marion King, Real Estate Associate Broker – 547-5332 Eric Hill, Real Estate Associate Broker – 547-5557 Donald DuBois, Real Estate Associate Broker – 547-5105

Timothy Donahue, Real Estate Associate Broker – 293-8874 Madeline Sansevere, Real Estate Salesperson – 435-4311 Catherine Raddatz, Real Estate Salesperson – 547-8958 Michael Welch, Real Estate Salesperson – 547-8502

For reliable, honest answers to any of your real estate questions, call 607.547.5622 or visit our website www.donolinrealty.com

Home of the Week Brand New Town of Oneonta Home! You can be the first owner of this beautiful 4-BR, 2-bath ranch. Energy-efficient and handicap accessible and if you don’t need 4 BRs you can have a den, office or exercise room. Features include a bright, open floor plan, gas fireplace in LR, kitchen island and radiant floor heat. 2-car attached garage with extra storage above the garage and 3 stamped concrete patios. The list goes on and on so come take a look before it’s too late! MLS#100268 $333,500

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-7

tHURSDAY-friday, dec. 31-JAN. 1, 2015

AllOTSEGO.dining & entertainment Slices Pizzeria New Year’s Eve Pizza & Wings Special! 46 Pioneer St., Cooperstown

607-544-1075

Two 18” Cheese Pizzas

2016 New Year’s Parties

The MINI The BIGGIE Skate-n-Dance Skate-n-Dance

December 31, 2 to 5 pm December 31, 8 pm to 1 am Special party for the $10 includes admission, Younger Set, Moms & Dads rental, hats, noisemakers, plus

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$17.99

Laser Tag!

• 65-cent JUMBO Chicken Wings They’re HUGE!

Open New Year’s Eve 11 am - close Open New Year’s Day!!

DELIVERY AVAILABLE!

3 lucky winners will step into the Interskate 88 Money Machine to grab hundreds of dollars of REAL MONEY!

Route 23, Southside Oneonta 607-432-0366 www.interskate88.com Closed Dec 24, 25 and Jan 1

The areas only multilevel, urban-themed laser tag arena is open during all sessions!!!

Come Celebrate the New Year with Us! Open New Year’s Eve ~ 11 am to 1 am Open New Year’s Day Brunch ~ 10 am to 2 pm | Dinner ~ 3 to 10 pm

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Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11 pm

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Sunday thru Thursday 11 am to 10 pm

Live music New Year’s Eve with the Gravelyard Bluegrass Band Good Food! • Good People! Good Drinks!

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For 208 Years

A-8 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

THURSDAY, december 31, 2015

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MLS#99984 $168,900 Lovely Ranch Bonus walk-up finished 2nd floor, versatile 2,200 sq ft commercial shop, 4.5+/- acres, pond. Between Cooperstown and Milford! Call Katherine Fistrowicz @ 607-267-2683 (cell)

MLS#101227 $474,900 5-BR, 3½-bath home on 12+ acres. Spacious kitchen w/cathedral ceiling, granite counter, SS appliances, island. Open floorplan w/DR/LR off the kitchen. 2-car garage. Call Kristi J. Ough @ 607-434-3026 (cell)

MLS#103100 $175,000 Unbelievable Price! Well cared for 3-BR home on 100 acres. One of the best buys on the market! Priced to sell immediately. Call Donna Schulz @ 607-267-6330 (cell)

MLS#101168 $450,000 3,000+/- sq ft, 2003 custom-built home w/3-4 BRs, 3½ baths on 79+/- mostly wooded acres. Hardwood floors, radiant heat, granite kitchen w/island, great rm. Call Katherine L. Fistrowicz @ 607-267-2683 (cell)

MLS#103159 $49,900 Hunt, Build your Dream Home, Recreational Use! Nicely situated 18+ acres of land in Laurens, near Oneonta. Small unfinished cabin w/deck. Call Kristi J. Ough @ 607-434-3026 (cell)

MLS#101598 $365,000 3-BR, 2-bath 1820 Federal farmhouse and barn on 2.82 +/- acres in Fly Creek. Open kitchen/DR/family room layout w/vaulted beam ceiling, skylights, formal LR. Call Katherine L. Fistrowicz @ 607-267-2683 (cell)

MLS #99448 $44,500 4.2 Buildable Acres with outstanding views of Canadarago Lake. This is at the top of the hill, on a dead-end road. Gorgeous views! Call George (ROD) Sluyter @ 315-520-6512 (cell)

MLS#99506 $249,000 4 BRs, 2 baths, built 2004. Open floorplan, kitchen island, SS appliances, 2 propane FPs, wood floors, master w/private bath, finished lower level, 2 decks. Call Katherine L. Fistrowicz @ 607-267-2683 (cell)

MLS#101899 $219,900 Nearly $100K in Improvements 4-BR, 2-bath upscale farmhouse w/beautiful country views, ideally located within walking distance to both universities. Call Leanne McCormack @ 607-287-8965 (cell)

MLS#103108 $159,000 4-BR, 2-bath, 2-car garage, LR w/fireplace/pellet stove, family room w/woodstove, kitchen w/pantry, Laundry, DR w/bay window, BR w/private bath. Call Katherine L. Fistrowicz @ 607-267-2683 (cell)

MLS#100920 $19,500 Owner Must Sell! 6.7 scenic acres, mostly open land, in highly desirable community. Short commute to Cooperstown, NYCM, NYS thruway, metro Utica area. Call Leanne McCormack @ 607-287-8965 (cell)

for complete listings visit us at realtyusa.com THANK YOU FOR A GREAT 2015 AND MAY WE WISH YOU A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! MLS#101710 $199,000 Surprise Her This Holiday! A Nostalgic Gem! Fully restored 1800 Federal home is an historic landmark. 5 FPs, 4 BRs, 2 baths, 4-car garage. Countless extras. Call Pamela V. Andela @ 315-717-1907 (cell)

MLS #99706 $398,000 Circa 1880 modernized 7-BR, 4-bath farmhouse has barn, workshop, garage, apartment, 32 acres, views. Call George (ROD) Sluyter @ 315-520-6512 (cell) Virtual tour: www.rodshousetour2.com

lis NE tiN W g!

MLS# 95413 $67,900 Canadarago Lake 3-season cottage w/deeded lake access, dock. 2 BRs, 1 bath, kitchen, LR, partially furnished, screened porch, covered deck. Call Pamela V. Andela @ 315-717-1907 (cell)

Let george (ROD) Sluyter of RealtyUSA.com FIND A HOME for you or LIST YOUR PROPERTY in 2016. Call george (ROD) SLUYTER @ 315-520-6512 (cell)

MLS#103239 $299,000 115’ Canadarago Lakefront AC, new bay window, rebuilt front stoop. 2,275 sq ft metal storage building, dog kennel. All on 2 level acres of lawn facing the lake. Call George (ROD) Sluyter @ 315-520-6512 (cell)

MLS#103489 $169,000 Original Character, Modern Comfort Village home is being sold for less than what has been invested. Call now to see this opportunity while it still exists. Call Rodney Campbell @ 315-868-0148 (cell)

MLS#96161 $75,000 Hunting and Hiking on your own 22+ pristine acres. Private cabin, lake rights, great view of lake. Call George (ROD) Sluyter @ 315-520-6512 (cell) Virtual tour: www.canadaragohomes6.com

MLS#103216 $159,900 Hunter’s Paradise! Gorgeous mostly wooded 57+ Spacious 4 BR, 2 cabin bath house I-88.room, Large full acres. Fantastic offersis1close largetobunk backyard, workshop/garage, smallcovered shed. Make your kitchen, LR, ½ bath, woodstove, porches. appointment today. to go this(cell) week! Call Kristi J. Ough @Priced 607-434-3026 Virtual Tour: www.RealEstateShows.com/708598

PR NE iC W E!

MLS#103491 $349,900 Exceptional 4-Season Home on Canadarago Lake Few lake homes have this comfort in/out. Enjoy boating, fishing, snowmobiling or relaxing lakeside. Call Rodney Campbell @ 315-868-0148 (cell)

MLS#100337 $102,800 Fly Creek Valley Acreage! Nice lot in Cooperstown School District. Build your dream home on 45+ acres of open and wooded land. Perfect for hunting, hiking. Call Kristi J. Ough @ 607-434-3026 (cell)

Locally owned and operated Single and multi-family homes Commercial property and land

99 Main Street, Oneonta office 607.441.7312 fax 607.432.7580

Charm and Character you don’t find in most homes! Stylish hardwood flooring, natural woodwork, crown molding, high ceilings, pocket doors, French door, spacious DR and family room, 4-5 BRs, 2 full baths, enclosed second floor porch. 2-story garage w/opener, paved driveway. Walking distance to downtown, parks and bus route. The craftmanship is superb, don’t miss the opportunity to own this magnificent home. MLS#102279 $179,000

Great 3-BR, 2 bath ranch on a quiet, dead-end street in a nice Oneonta neighborhood. Large open living spaces, fireplace, new wood floors, fresh paint, great views from eat-in kitchen. Private backyard, patio, enclosed porch for your enjoyment of the outdoors. Owner has had the outside soffit and eves redesigned and replaced with maintance-free materials for better efficiency and great looks. There is a huge clean and dry drive-in garage/basement. Close to colleges, cultural events, downtown and shopping. MLS#101141 $159,000

www.oneontarealty.com Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner Cricket Keto, Licensed Assoc. Broker Peter D. Clark, Consultant

HUBBELL’S REAL ESTATE 607-547-5740•607-547-6000 (fax) 157 Main Street Cooperstown, NY 13326

ASHLEY

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(8118) Remodeled 3-BR, 2-bath cabin w/valley views on 1.10 acres. Custom kitchen, fireplace w/woodstove insert, open floorplan, beamed ceilings, skylight, newer windows, updated electric, Southern pine flooring, laundry/mud room, garages. CV-S Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$189,000

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Private streamside colonial

(7862) Historic 1840s Colonial w/4 BRs, 2+ baths on 80 acres. Gracious LR, gas fireplace, designer decor touches. Formal DR w/access to stone front porch. Custom kitchen w/window seat, butler’s pantry. Custom closets and built-ins, wide pine plank flooring, heated 2-car garage. Professional landscaping, stone walls, brook. Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$740,000

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Hours: M-F 8am-5pm Phone: 607-432-2022 22-26 Watkins Ave, Oneonta, NY 13820

(8113) Custom 4-BR, 3+ bath home w/rolling hills views on 10 acres. Mainlevel guest suite, hot tub, heated sunroom, generous floorplan, gracious LR w/gas fireplace, cherry flooring, fine master suite, custom kitchen w/pantry. 2-car attached garage. Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$479,000

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New Purchases and refinances • Debt Consolidation Free Pre-Qualification • Fast Approvals • Low Rates Registered Mortgage Broker Matt Schuermann NYS Banking Dept. Loans arranged by a 3rd party lender. 31 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown (directly next door to Stagecoach Coffee)

Excellent Buy in an Excellent Location – Conveniently located on Beaver Meadow Road near Cooperstown, this 2005 center-hall Colonial sits on a beautifully landscaped 3.05 acres. With 3,800+/- sq ft of living space, first floor has marble entry, formal LR w/French doors, large DR, family room w/gas fireplace, eat-in kitchen w/ cherry cabinets and new appliances, and a full bath. Upstairs there are 4 BRs including master suite, another full bath, laundry. Finished basement provides possible BR, family room, bath, kitchenette, utility room. Hardwood floors, crown molding, large deck, fenced backyard, attached 2-car garage, cement-board siding, valley views. Cooperstown School District. Offered Exclusively by Ashley-Connor Realty New Price $499,000 Visit us on the Web at www.ashleyconnorrealty.com Contact us at info@ashleyconnorrealty.com

For Appointment: Patricia Bensen-Ashley, Broker/Owner, 607-437-1149 Jack Foster, Sales Agent, 607-547-5304 • Donna Skinner, Associate Broker, 607-287-4113 Robert Schneider, Associate Broker, 607-282-2814 • Chris Patterson, Sales Agent, 518-774-8175

CALL 607-547-6103 TO ADVERTISE IN REGION’S LARGEST REALTY SECTION/MORE ADS, A6

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WEEK 38

WEEK OF SEPT. 1011: A gleeful first lady Connie Herzig holds the Bible as her husband, OFO Chief Operating Officer Gary Herzig, is sworn in as mayor of Oneonta Tuesday, Sept. 15, bringing high hopes that the months of conflict following Mayor Dick Miller’s death in October 2014, including the firing of the second city manager, Martin Murphy, had come to an end.

2015

otsego county yearbook

WEEK 11

EDITIONS OF MARCH 26-27: Lady Hawkeye standout Jen Flynn hugs a teammate and the Lady Hawkeyes erupt in cheers Sunday, March 22, at Hudson Valley Community College, after beating Northern Adirondack, 61-34, to bring home Cooperstown Central’s first girls basketball state title. Some 300 cheering hometown fans gathered at the flagpole at Main and Pioneer as the girls were escorted into the downtown aboard village fire department engines.

WEEK 40

EDITIONS OF OCT. 8-9: The Bresee’s Department Store appeal lives. At a Hesse auction, Sharon Wilsey and her husband Bill O’Donnell were high bidders for Big Bronco, which was on display at their Best Wines & Liquors over the Christmas season. Greg Noonan of Cherry Valley, owner of Bresee’s Rudolph, had the mechanical reindeer at the Thanksgiving Home, where Phil Bresee is now residing.

PHOTOS by IAN AUSTIN & JIM KEVLIN • THURS. - FRI., DEC., 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

WEEK 12

EDITIONS OF MARCH 12-13: In the first local salvo of the anti-Common-Core movement, parent Kim Jastremski tells the Cooperstown Central school board Wednesday, March 4, that standardized tests had created a “climate of fear.” Elsewhere in the county, Danielle Boudet, Morris, led opposition through the Oneonta Area for Public Education organization. Months of agitation followed – not just here, but statewide – against using standardized tests to rate teacher performance, which Governor Cuomo proposed in his State of the State speech in January. At CCS, the movement led to the ouster of Executive Principal Lynn Strang, hired in 2013 to ensure successful Common Core implementation. At CCS, 433 of 755 parents, 60 percent, opted their children out of this year’s tests; in Oneonta, 433 of 755 were opted out, 57 percent. In the fall, Cuomo named a task force to revisit Common Core, and by year’s end it appeared scores would be separated from teacher evaluations.

AllOTSEGO.com

Souvenir Supplement to HOMETOWN ONEONTA, THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & www. LARGEST COMBINED NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION IN OTSEGO COUNTY

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WEEK 4

WEEK 1

EDITIONS OF JAN. 8-9: Arriving at “A Pink Tie Affair,” the Friends of Bassett’s annual New Year’s Eve gala at The Otesaga, are, from left, Cathy Raddatz, Sue and Frank Miosek (foreground), Cathy and Tom Chase (behind them), Don Raddatz, Amanda and John May, and Deb Kaiser. 425 attended and raised $140,000 for Bassett Hospital’s Women’s Imaging Center.

EDITIONS OF JAN. 22-23: On Jan. 9 state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, announced the state Department of Transportation had rethought plans to seize cottages near Otsego Lake’s Five Mile Point, where Route 80 was slipping into the water. Instead, the DOT announced a $1 million project to stabilize the roadway that would leave the camps in the owners’ hands. Constituents in Oneonta and Cooperstown who owned nearby cottages had lobbied the senator to prevent the taking.

WEEK 5 EDITIONS OF JAN. 29-30: A village Republican caucus Tuesday, Jan. 27, nominated John Sansevere, formerly a banker in New York City, to run for the Cooperstown Board of Trustees, setting up the first GOP challenge of the Democrat majority since 2013. The incumbents, Cindy Falk and Jim Dean, were reelected in the March 17 elections.

WEEK 3 EDITIONS OF JAN. 15-16: Lisa Barr, Oneonta, was among more than 100 people, mostly opponents of the Constitution Pipeline, at a public hearing on the project convened by the state Department of Environmental Conservation Tuesday, Jan. 13, at SUNY Oneonta. During the year, protests, led by the Stop the Pipeline organization, had prevented final approval of the Constitution and a second pipeline through Delaware County, proposed by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. The intent is to carry gas fracked in Northeast Pennsylvania to East Coast markets and, perhaps, to be shipped overseas.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The dates on the captions represent the editions of Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman’s Journal in which they were published.

LEAF

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Otsego County Opiate Task Force

Reclaiming Lives • Strengthening Families Building Communities in Otsego County LEAF Council on Alcoholism and Addictions is dedicated to helping create a community where children and adults can live in a healthy environment that is free from the effects of alcoholism and other addictive diseases.

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2015 OTSEGO COUNTY YEARBOOK

WEEK 5

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WEEK 7

EDITIONS OF FEB. 5-6: News surfaced that the cornerstone Key Bank Building at 103 Main St., Cooperstown, had been purchased by BTP Cooperstown from Field View Development for $1 million. The partners, Bob Hurley, Tom Lagan and Perry Ferrara, declined to disclose any plans for the four-story structure. At the time, BTP Cooperstown was proposing a four-story hotel across the street from Key Bank, but that was rejected by the village Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Historic Preservation & Architectural Review Board â€“ and, June 29, by the Village Board.

WEEK 6 EDITIONS OF FEB. 19-20: Girls certainly wanted to have fun Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Oneonta Family Yâ€™s annual Valentineâ€™s Daddy-Daughter Dance at SUNY Oneontaâ€™s Hunt Union Ballroom, a much-anticipated Oneonta tradition.

EDITIONS OF FEB. 12-13: Father John P. Rosson, pastor, St. Maryâ€™s Church, sets palms afire on Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 17. The ashes were used Ash Wednesday at ceremonies marking the beginning of Lent, Christiansâ€™ annual season of atonement.

WEEK 8 EDITIONS OF FEB. 26-27: Oneontaâ€™s Amanda Pelosi is helped from the waters by EMS volunteer Jason Harvey Saturday, Feb. 21, at the 20th annual Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump. Organizers Jamie and Brenda Waters of Milford announced more than 300 people jumped and raised $127,000, both records. Also, it was the coldestever jump day, 16 degrees.

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THURS.-FRI., DEC. 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

WEEK 10

EDITIONS OF MARCH 5-6: 150 family members and friends turned out Thursday, Feb. 26, at Springbrook’s Oneonta campus to honor the “20 Under 40” Class of 2015. Front row, from left, are Bud Lippitt, Chad Angellotti, Megan Scrivener, Hannah Morgan, Zoë van der Meulen, Jonathan Philby, Dan Buttermann and Brent Baysinger. Back row, from left, are Andrew Marietta, Danielle Henrici, Sarah Manchester, Dana Leonard, Heather Mann, Shannon McHugh, Stacie Haynes, Corinne Smith, Chad Welch and Dan Crowell. The recognition program was sponsored and organized by Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman’s Journal, with assistance from the Cooperstown and Otsego County chambers of commerce.

WEEK 11

WEEK 12

EDITIONS OF MARCH 12-13: On Sunday, March 8, state police, responding to a 911 call, discovered the bodies of Holiday Inn/ Southside General Manager George L. Jones, 51, and the hotel’s former marketing director, Tifanne K. Wells, 44, on a property on County Route 23, south of Emmons. Investigators determined Jones had shot Wells, then himself, after an argument. Tifanne’s family described the woman, who was well known in Oneonta civic circles, as “vivacious, outgoing and loving but, above all, “WONDER WOMAN.” She left behind a daughter and two sons.

EDITIONS OF MARCH 19-20: Mike Manno, owner of Cooperstown landmarks and proprietor of Apple Converting, Oneonta, shocked local history buffs by applying to the village Historic Preservation & Architectural Review Board to demolish all or part of 28 Railroad Ave., a former hops barn. Manno renovated the former Agway in 2010, but had been unable to find a buyer and was considering alternatives. H-PARB rejected the application.

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2015 OTSEGO COUNTY YEARBOOK

WEEK 13

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WEEK 15

EDITIONS OF APRIL 2-3: Madeline Sayet, an authentic Indian princess – a member of the Mohegan Tribe of the Norwich, Conn., region, was preparing to spend her summer in Cooperstown, where she was directing the Glimmerglass Opera production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” In an interview, Sayet recounted she had visited the Otsego Lake region the summer before with designers Troy Hourie (sets) and Kaye Voyce (costumes) and determined to place the famous opera in the woods of the northeastern U.S. “Magic Flute” was a centerpiece of the local opera company’s 40th seasion.

WEEK 14 EDITIONS OF APRIL 9-10: On his sudden passing Friday, April 3, after a round of golf in Pinehurst, N.C., with a son and cousin, Jim Konstanty (seen here with sons Jared, James John, and Mike at a grandson’s game) was Photo courtesy Helen Rees, Jim Konstanty’s sister described as “tall, handsome, funny, always tanned, the center of attention at any gathering, a man about town, a man about Otsego County” and seemingly indestructible. Son of the 1950 National League MVP, his youthful sports prowess included playing on Coach Tony Drago’s 1959 undefeated basketball team, the only one in OHS history. As a lawyer, he served 20 often-controversial years as county attorney, and continued to practice until his death at 73, when he was representing merchant Brenda Berstler in her legal fight to block downtown paid-parking in Cooperstown.

Bill Wallter photo

EDITIONS OF APRIL 16-17: It was a spectacular fire that, in the end, could have been much more damaging than it was. At 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, the call came in: Flames were shooting out of the vintage greenhouse behind Mohican Flowers, 207 Main St. Fire Chief Jim Tallman, First Assistant Chief Sam Ayres and Second Assistant Chief Mike Molloy were around the corner at the Chestnut Street fire house, and were on the scene in a minute and a half. Despite three faulty fire hydrants – directly across the street in Bruce Hall’s parking lot, at Nelson and Chestnut, and next to Spurbeck’s Grocery at Railroad and Leatherstocking, Tallman quickly redeployed his force to working hydrants at Chestnut and Grove and on Irish Hill, and the flames were doused in minutes, with almost no damage to the store attached to the greenhouse or surrounding properties. Formerly owned by the late county Rep. Charles Bateman, the shop is owned by former Mayor Carol Waller and her husband, Bill.

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WEEK 17 THURS.-FRI., DEC. 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

EDITIONS OF APRIL 23-24: 1,500 SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick students, and community members, stayed up all night to raise a record-setting $67,293 at the Relay For Life on Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, at the Alumni Field House. Team Mimi, from left, are Ethan Lowe, Otego, Elaine Lowe, Otego, Moira Beach, Oneonta, Diane Loveland, Otego, Laura Emmett, Maryland, Judi McWherter, Oneonta, Rachael Price, Oneonta, Kate Bronk, Oneonta, and Natalia Allen, Oneonta.

WEEK 18

WEEK 19

EDITIONS OF MAY 8-9: Twenty years after publishing “William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic,” which won him his first Pulitzer Prize and established him as the foremost expert on early Otsego County, professor Alan Taylor was back, lecturing on “The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832,” which won him a second Pulitzer last year. In an interview, Taylor called William Cooper, father of James Fenimore Cooper and founder of Cooperstown, a “tragic hero … He had enormous energy. It went to his head. He overplayed his hand” and died broke.

EDITIONS OF APRIL 30-MAY 1: OH-Fest, SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College undergrads’ spring celebration, had been increasingly rowdy in recent years, and Common Council warned that, if things didn’t get better, this would be the last. The daylong revel was sufficiently sedate that even Oneonta tot Noel Palladino was all eyes could watch tranquilly amid the Main Street hubbub.

EDITIONS OF MAY 15-16: Cooperstown Distillery founder Gene Marra, right, and partner Steve Harris, the Oneonta businessman, announced plans for the Cooperstown Beverage Exchange in the former Augur’s Building at Main and Pioneer, perhaps Cooperstown’s most visible retail site, to highlight local microbreweries and specialty distilleries. It opened in June.

Bringing you the local news…

Photo by Randy Forsythe

The Hometown Oneonta, Freeman’s Journal and www.AllOTSEGO.com team includes, front row, from left, Graphic Artist Kathleen Peters, Advertising Consultant Allison Green, Advertising Director Tara Barnwell, Reporter Libby Cudmore and Copy Editor Celeste Brown Thomas. Second row, from left, are Photographer Ian Austin, Editor & Publisher Jim Kevlin, Associate Publisher M.J. Kevlin, Advertising Consultant Thom Rhodes and Office Manager/Web Architect Ivan Potocnik. Not in the picture are Consultant Tom Heitz and Bookkeeper Judith Bartow.

…in 2015 and the years ahead. 607-547-6103 · info@allotsego.com · 21 RailRoad avenue, coopeRstown

THURS.-FRI., DEC. 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

WEEK 20

EDITIONS OF MAY 21-22: Cooperstown Village Trustee Cindy Falk, Streets Committee chair and dogged advocate of the upgrading of Baseball Town’s Main Street, brings along Toby, on one of her final on-site inspections of $700,000 Phase One. Central Paving completed the job May 21, which included brick pavers, renovated streetlights with LED bulbs and rain gardens to strain runoff before it enters the Susquehanna.

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WEEK 21

EDITIONS OF MAY 28-29: Earthmoving began on a $20 million expansion of the Clark Sports Center, due for completion in the fall of 2016, the 125th anniversary of the original Alfred Corning Clark Gymnasium. 6,000 square feet will be added to the fitness center, including an eight-lane competitive pool, Clark Foundation President Jane Forbes Clark announced. Also, Bassett Hospital’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at 21 Railroad Ave. will relocate to the expanded facility.

WEEK 23

WEEK 22

EDITIONS OF JUNE 4-5: People around here are often reluctant to talk about Lyme disease, leaving the impression that it’s something limited to Connecticut or the Hudson Valley. Not so, and Brenda Michaels, who contracted the tick-borne disease in 2013 and spent months trying to get it properly diagnosed, went public with information advising how to avoid the disease and how to recognize the symptoms. Joann Carey, a physician’s assistant who is becoming the in-house expert at Bassett’s Oneonta WalkIn Clinic, reported “an explosion” in 2014. So far, the state Health Department web site has recorded 95,000 cases going back to 1986.

EDITIONS OF JUNE 11-12: “Possibilities Full of Promise” cochairs Jeff Strauss, ’71, and Yvonne Cummings, ’72, were all smiles at the official photo shoot that followed the Saturday, June 6, announcement: $13.5 million had been raised as part of SUNY Oneonta’s 125th anniversary celebration, $1 million over the goal, funding 60 new scholarships. Behind them are SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski, and behind her attorney Paul Perlman, College Foundation at Oneonta president. At left is Paul Adamo, vice president/college advancement, who administered the drive and, as executive director of the College Foundation, has built the campus’ endowment to more than $50 million, a record for SUNY’s comprehensive colleges.

We are a resource and catalyst to develop, promote and support a diverse business community in the Cooperstown Area. Through development, promotions and support, we have the strongest Chamber of Commerce in our region. We believe in strength in numbers...and our membership proves it.

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Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce Matthew Hazzard, Executive Director 31 Chestnut St., Cooperstown, NY • 607-547-9983 www.cooperstownchamber.org

WE At HomEtoWn Auto

Wish You a Happy New Year! Come see us at the Cabin Fever Car Show Feb. 14-27 at the Southside Mall!

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THURS.-FRI., DEC. 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

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THURS.-FRI., DEC. 31, 2015 - JAN. 1, 2016

2015 OTSEGO COUNTY YEARBOOK

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WEEK 25

WEEK 24

EDITIONS OF JUNE 18-19: Scout Executive Tom Wright, left, and Camp Director John Harnihan display the plans for a $2.1 million, 11,000-square-foot training conference center and lodge at the Henderson Scout Reservation on Crumhorn Mountain. “We want this to be open to the community,” said Wright. At about the same time, the Oneonta-based Otschodela Council rejected merging with the Utica-based Revolutionary Trails Council, the result of a national decline in scouting due to changing family lifestyles and other factors. In November, however, the local council changed its vote and merger talks will resume into 2016.

EDITIONS OF JULY 2-3: Patrick Dewey had quite a summer. First, the wheelchairbound senior graduated Sunday, June 28, from Cooperstown Central School, Class of 2015, and the audience spontaneously rose to its feet in applause. Then, he became a cause célèbre when his “mark” on a nominating petition for Democratic candidate Andrew Marietta was challenged by the county Republican Committee, which argued it was not a bonafide signature. This fall, he enrolled at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, pursuing a career in radio.

EDITIONS OF JUNE 25-26: Maj. Gen. Tony German of Oneonta was installed Thursday, June 18, as commander of the New York National Guard during ceremonies at headquarters in Scotia.

WEEK 27

EDITIONS OF JULY 9-10: Cooperstown Police Chief Mike Covert demonstrates a Digital Ally FirstVu HD camera, bought with a $2,915 donation from Steve and Sally Bieritz, owner of Bieritz Insurance. Acquiring the cameras was part of a nationwide acceptance of body cameras for officers following fatal shootings by police in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. In December, Oneonta Police Chief Dennis Nayor announced his department has spent $30,000 on 20 Axon Body Cameras, which will be deployed in the next year.

THANK YOU

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WEEK 30

WEEK 28 EDITIONS OF JULY 1617: President Obama, in left photo, shakes hand with Oneonta’s Julia Rissberger during a Saturday, July 11, luncheon at the White House. Mom Rachel is in the foreground. Julia was among young chefs nationwide who qualified for a lunch with First Lady Michelle Obama by participating in PBS’ “Healthy Eating Challenge,” submitting her recipe for a spinach and apple salad with blueberry vinaigrette, cinnamon almonds and cheese pennies.

WEEK 29

EDITIONS OF JULY 30-31: As acting mayor, Oneonta Common Council member Maureen Hennessy (flanked here by City Attorney David Merzig) presided at a rare Saturday morning meeting, July 25, where a separation agreement with its second city manager, Martin Murphy, was unanimously approved. (The week before, a resolution to seek Murphy’s resignation was passed 5-2, plus one abstention.) Murphy, hired three weeks before Mayor Dick Miller’s untimely death in October 2014, found himself embroiled in a revolt by the following spring, with city employees attending Council meetings en masse and mute, declining to say what the issues were. Oneonta’s first city manager, Mike Long, had been fired in May 2014 after 18 months. After the sole candidate for mayor, Gary Herzig, was appointed to the job in October, he convened an ad hoc committee to recommend changes in the charter, which had been approved by 70 percent of city voters in 2010. However, members of the original City Charter Commission spoke out in December, saying the charter is sound; what was lacking was any program to ensure successful implementation.

WEEK 31

EDITIONS OF JULY 2324: A few days before the July 26 Induction, Howard Chase Talbot, Jr., retired director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and a beloved figure in Cooperstown, passed away Saturday evening, July 18, at Bassett Hospital. He was 89. (The title of director has since become president.) Talbot is shown during the 2014 parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Hall; Talbot, then a Manlius Academy cadet, was one of the few living attendees of the Hall’s inauguration.

International Triathlon Union photo

EDITIONS OF AUG. 6-7: Otsego County’s Olympian, Sarah Groff True of Cooperstown, qualified at tryouts in Rio de Janeiro to become a member of the U.S. Triathlon Team in the 2016 Summer Olympics in that Brazilian city. Raised in Cooperstown, Sarah won on the U.S. Triathlon team in London in 2012. Jerry and Jeannine Groff’s other accomplished daughter, Lauren, published her third novel, “Fates and Furies,” in September, to acclaim. In December, President Obama said it was his favorite novel of the year.

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WEEK 32 EDITIONS OF AUG. 20-21: John Webb, president of the Glimmerglass Condominium Association, and Nelson Mondaca, came back from breakfast with friends on Saturday, Aug. 15, they found their end unit and an adjoining one gutted by flames, a smokey blaze visible from around Otsego Lake. The cause was believed to be electrical in nature.

WEEK 31

EDITIONS OF AUG. 13-14: Oneonta Police Chief Dennis Nayor gives a thumbs-up as phlebotomist Danielle Giardina, Binghamton, prepares to take blood for the first annual “Battle of the Badges” blood drive for the Red Cross. Donors could specify whether they wanted to donate on behalf of Oneonta Police or Fire departments, and although OFD “won,” 31 to 29, it was ultimately patients needing donated blood who claimed the prize. In the background is Police Lt. David Brenner.

WEEK 33

Steve Bieritz photo

WEEK 34

EDITIONS OF AUG. 28-29: It was back to school for SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick students, with an increasing focus on diversity. Here, SUNY Oneonta Chief Diversity Officer Terrence Mitchell, showcases a mural at the re-opened Center for MultiCultural Experiences. At Hartwick College, Prof. Harry Bradshaw Matthews has organized a monthly series of events, each month focusing on Latinos, LGBT, women and others sectors.

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EDITIONS OF SEPT. 3-4: When Joe and Alice Richardson granted an easement on their 82 acres of Morris farmland, the Otsego County Land Trust reached a long-cherished goal: preserving 10,000 acres in Otsego, Delaware, Herkimer and Schoharie counties. The Richardsons examine a vintage Sperry New Holland hay baler found in their woods.

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WEEK 36

EDITIONS OF SEPT. 17-18: Coopers-

town’s Dr. Clifton R. Wharton Jr., former SUNY chancellor, groundbreaking TIAA-CREF CEO, deputy secretary of state in President Clinton’s administration, and one of the county’s foremost citizens, published a celebrated memoir, “Privilege and Prejudice: The life of a Black Pioneer.” His publicity tour included an SRO appearance at The Fenimore Art Museum auditorium.

EDITION OF SEPT. 10-11: Cooperstown’s Noel and Brad Feik, who operate Crossroads, a home for recovering addicts in a former Otego motel, were in the news after a white paper prepared for the Otsego County Board of Representatives found a severe shortage of transitional housing locally.

WEEK 37

EDITIONS OF SEPT. 24-25: Reporter Libby Cudmore and photographer Ian Austin, who were married June 13, spent a day in “The Other Oneonta” – Oneonta, Ala. – during their honeymoon in September. In photo, Oneonta, Ala., Mayor Ross Norris and Public Safety Director Brandon Horton peer from the 70-foot high Horton Mill Covered Bridge on the Little Warrior River. The 6,674 population city (our Oneonta’s is 13,946), a half-hour from Birmingham, is home to two other covered bridges, rarities in the “Heart of Dixie.” Our Oneonta has been struggling to keep a city manager; the other Oneonta’s city manager has been on the job for 12 years.

WEEK 39

EDITION OF OCT. 1-2: Elizabeth Thompson of Holy Cross Parish, Morris, shot this selfie from the second-floor balcony at Madison Square Garden; the Pope’s stage is in the background. She was one of a handful of Otsego County Catholics to win tickets in a lottery to see His Holiness at MSG.

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WEEK 41

EDITIONS OF OCT. 22-23: Julie Ford broke the gender barrier on Cooperstown Central’s varsity football team this fall. It’s hard to tell with a helmet on, but she’s the Hawkeyes’ #80. Girls have played on the modified teams, but Ford is the first girl on varsity. She also played on the school’s state champion Lady Hawkeyes state basketball team. Her siblings include brother Jeremiah, who played on CCS 2011 basketball team that went to the state finals, and is a SUNY Oneonta senior, participating in basketball and track. Sister Lucy holds the 2013 state high jump champion; Abby, an eighth-grade soccer player, wrestled with the CCS JV team this fall.

EDITIONS OF OCT. 15-16: Artist Janet Wentworth Erickson, left, hugs one of her “heroes,” Grace Smith of Oneonta, founder of the city’s clinic for low-income patients. Erickson spent the past two years identifying “Community Heroes in Portraiture,” then painting their portraits, which were displayed at The Fenimore Art Museum in an exhibit that opened Friday, Oct. 9.

WEEK 43 EDITIONS OF OCT. 29-30: As Halloween arrives, Bruce Markusen, who operates Cooperstown Candlelight Ghost Tours, recounts the tale of how, whenever her portrait is taken down, Jenny Cooper’s spirit haunts Greencrest, that (formerly green, now tan) mansion on River Street. He has been recounting Cooperstown’s ghost stories for a decade now.

WEEK 44

EDITIONS OF NOV. 5-6: State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, left, congratulates county Rep. Craig Gelbsman, a rare Republican in Democratic Oneonta, who won a second term in the Nov. 3 local elections. The county elections saw incumbents Janet Hurley Quackenbush, ROneonta, lose to Democrat Andrew Stammell, and Rick Hulse, R-Fly Creek, lose to Democrat Andrew Marietta. Outside these key races, however, Republicans increased their majority on the county board to 10-4. On Oneonta’s eight-person Common Council, there will be six new members this fall, plus new mayor Gary Herzig. Hartwick (Bob O’Brien), Richfield (Paul Palumbo) and Otsego (Meg Kiernan) will be among towns with new supervisors come Jan. 1. In the background at Seward’s Dietz Street campaign headquarters Election Night were county board Chair Kathy Clark, R-Otego, and her husband Bob.

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WEEK 46

EDITIONS OF NOV. 12-13: Bill Streck, the retired president/CEO of Bassett Hospital and its network, acknowledges applause at Nov. 20 Pathfinder Village reception in his honor on the opening of the $1.2 million Dr. William F. Streck Health Center at Pathfinder Village. While head of Bassett, Streck served and continues as board chairman at Pathfinder, a residential community in Edmeston for people with Down syndrome.

WEEK 48 EDITIONS OF NOV. 19-20: Byron Busch Thomas surveys the dozens of hops poles erected on four acres of the former Mackie property near Fly Creek, in anticipation of planting his first crop of the key brewing ingredient next spring. Thomas, who spent boyhood summers in Otsego County, is a charter boat captain in Florida during the winters and a cousin of Louis Hager, who has planted the state’s largest hopyard – 20 acres – in Pierstown to serve the region’s microbreweries.

WEEK 47 EDITIONS OF NOV. 26-27: Jeff Joyner, formerly system vice president for operations at St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, Paterson, N.J., will join Fox Hospital as president/CEO on Jan. 1, succeeding John Remillard, who is retiring after 27 years. Joyner, a former Maine state legislator, bring “extensive experience in managed care, population health and system development, as well as physician and nursing recruitment and support services,” Bassett President/CEO Vance Brown said in a joint announcement with Sarah Patterson, Fox Hospital board chair.

EDITIONS OF DEC. 3-4: Greg Ward, operations manager at Burt Rigid Box, Oneonta, stacks up some of the plant’s high-end boxes that would be found Christmas morning under the tree holding such gifts at Chanel No. 5, Godiva chocolates and Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select, a special whiskey issued to mark Old Blue Eyes’ centennial.

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WEEK 50

EDITIONS OF DEC. 17-18: Anticipation was high Thursday, Dec. 10, as a full house awaited Governor Cuomoâ€™s annual dispersal of economic-development funding. Although Otsego Countyâ€™s economic development region didnâ€™t get the $Â˝ billion hoped for from Cuomoâ€™s Upstate Revitalization Initiative, it did receive a record $3,317,658 of the Mohawk Valley Regionâ€™s record $100.3 million. Key projects funded including $700,000 for the Upper Susquehanna Agricultural Center in downtown Oneonta, $300,000 for further planning for the redevelopment of Oneontaâ€™s D&H yards for commerce, manufacturing and shipping, $130,000 to market the Baseball Hall of Fame to the growing Hispanic fan niche, and much more.

WEEK 49 EDITIONS OF DEC. 10-11: There were stories aplenty as the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra passed, but Oneontaâ€™s Steve Fabrizio had the best: After a confrontation with Old Blue Eyesâ€™ bodyguards while bouncing at New York Cityâ€™s Rainbow Room, Frank himself calmed the waters after learning he had played with Steveâ€™s uncle years before.

WEEK 51

â€˜R

ing out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.â€™

WEEK 52

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EDITIONS OF DEC. 31, 2015-JAN. 1, 2016: At the Oneontaâ€™s Community Christmas Dinner at First United Methodist Church, Kim Collins and Jane Richard, left, are served by Susan Edmonds and Lois Sastic. More than 100 meals were served.

EDITIONS OF DEC. 24-25: Cooperstownâ€™s Don Raddatz (Scrooge), at top, and Oneontaâ€™s Gary Koutnik (Mr. Fezziwig this year), right, take bows at the end of â€œThe Christmas Carolâ€? at The Farmersâ€™ Museum. The two switched roles this year, after Koutnik played Scrooge for two years.

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