THE FREEMAN'S JOURNAL 2-28-13

A SCANDAL! – UPDATED •F

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For 205 Years

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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, February 28, 2013

Volume 205, No. 9

COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND

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VISIT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

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’96 CCS GRAD BRINGS STORY FORWARD A GENERATION/B1

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CELEBRATION PLANNED FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JULY 5-6

Cooperstown Firefighters

Dousing Flames 200 Years

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN ditor/Publisher Elihu Phinney’s grim vision of Cooperstown without a fire department never You may have run into HMC Josh Ives, came true.

CCS’91, in the village Photos Courtesy In “Anticipation,� 1796 Otsego this week. He’s on NYSHA Research Library Herald editorial, he rebuked the break from AfghaniIn 1862, the Great Fire village’s failure to buy a fire engine stan, where he was destroyed downtown from after a 1795 fire destroyed Joshua named one of the Pioneer to Chestnut.

Starr’s kilnhouse.

Army’s January JourProjecting ahead nalists of the Month/ to Dec. 20, 1800, DETAILS, A2 he foreshadowed a tragedy: “With Vendors Will extreme grief, Demonstrate we announce that Thursday evening Their Devices last Cooperstown COOPERSTOWN Once, every fell prey to a devouring fire. Out household ay & Display parkwas required of 600 buildings, The Freeman’s Journal ing machine vendors to have a only 23 remain...� building was razed on Nov. will be demonstrating fire bucket, It took until 10-11, 1961, where Pioor face a $1 1813, but this their wares locally – one at neer Park is today. fine.

12:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. summer the 28, at 22 Main, the other at a Cooperstown time to be decided Wednes- Volunteer Fire Department will celday, March 6, according to ebrate 200 years since the village’s Mayor Jeff Katz. first company formed.

If one or both are satisThe anecdote above is recounted factory, the village trustees in Douglas Preston’s two-volume can place the order after the history of the department, researched March 6 demo. when he was a CGP student in the late ‘70s. Now living in New HartJoe Carentz photo SHOVEL WALKS: The ford, his history is in the collection In March 2003, the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home on Glen The Pic’n’Pay fire of Sept. trustees also raised the fine of the NYSHA Research Library, Avenue caught fire during renovations and burned all night, the 20, 1967, made way for what to homeowners with unshovPlease See 200TH, A3 worst fire in modern Cooperstown history. today is TJ’s Restaurant. eled or icy sidewalks to a maximum of $250 when they met Monday.

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GAME ON: Hot off a 50-45 win against Little Falls, the Redskins Girls Varsity Basketball will play Weedsport in the Section III Overall Class C Finals at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University.

BUDGET TIME: The CCS board is planning its first 2013-14 budget presentation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, prior to the 7 p.m. regular meeting, a budget work session at 6:30 on the 13th, and a second budget presentation at 6:30 on the 20th.

Staff Flexibility Can Save $3 Million, Keep Otsego Manor Publicly Owned Marchi: Painful, But Privatization Would Be Moreso

By JIM KEVLIN INDEX

B

ack in the Golden Days of the welfare state – the 1970s – counties were reimbursed, dollar for dollar, for running nursing homes like The Meadows, forerunner of Otsego Manor.

During those happy days, The Meadows’ workers negotiated a “step and grade� contract: 3 percent a year, plus 3 percent on their

Ethical Culture Camp Relic, Dower Hall, Is Mourned On Razing

LIBBY CUDMORE

anniversaries. Compounded, every $100 in salary grew to $134.39 over five years, $175.35 over 10.

That “step and grade� continues today. Even though Otsego Manor workers have been without a contract since 2011, they have continued to receive 3 percent a year, plus 3 percent on their anniversaries.

From the entry of “step and grade� through the 1980s, “reimbursements were cost-based,� Ed Marchi, Otsego Manor director, said in a broad-ranging interPlease See MARCH, A7

HYDE BAY

J The Freeman’s Journal

Manor director Ed Marchi looks over the numbers.

ust a short time ago, Peter Rutkoff sat on former county Nick Vovcsko in Rep. Jim Johnson’s 2008 in front of Dower Hall. porch, discussing how he might buy Dower Hall, former site of Society for Ethical Culture’s camp on Hyde Bay where he – and so many others – enjoyed summers.

The experience was so formative that Rutkoff wrote a memoir, “Cooperstown Chronicles: Love and Other Camp Games.�

Please See CAMP, A6

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LOCALS

A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL TRONG AWARDED EAGLE SCOUT HONOR

THURSDAY, February 28, 2013

Chris Gibson at rotary

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY OSTAPECK

Tom Heitz/The Freeman’s Journal

Noah Trong, Burlington Flats, is congratulated by his parents, Chris and Liz Trong, on achieving Eagle Scout Sunday, Feb. 24. Born deaf, he focused his project on creating a disability awareness forum at Bassett Hospital. He is a member of Springfield Troop 47.

Ralph Snell, Cooperstown Rotary president, presents a club banner to U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-19, who addressed the luncheon meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19, at The Otesaga. From left are Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz, incoming club president; Gibson, Snell, club secretary Margaret Savoie and club treasurer Angie Erway. Gibson has opened a Cooperstown office in the store formerly occupied by Village Cobbler off Doubleday Lane.

Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal

Dorothy Hudson, left, and Hilda Wilcox, both of Cooperstown, wish Lady Ostapeck a happy 90th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 23, at Fly Creek United Methodist Church. “She has a vision of the world that will take her through anything,” said Wilcox.

Ives Named Journalist of the Month COOPERSTOWN

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SATURDAY, MARCH 2ND • 6:30PM & 9:30PM That’s right! It’s all just for laughs as three nationally touring female comics rock The Otesaga comedy stage for another hilarious night of laughs!

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hief Petty Officer Joshua Ives was named the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution Journalist of the Month for Jan. 2013.

Ives, who is currently stationed in Afghanistan, has been documenting the operations of Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah.

His photos were downloaded more than 1,000 times and viewed more than 4,600 times during the month. KETKTV, Mother Jones, the Military Times and the Examiner all used his photographs in reports.

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THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-3

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

With Need, Fire Companies Grew 200TH/From A1 and another copy is owned by the fire department.

In 1813, the “Fire Engine Company of Cooperstown” formed following the purchase of a small, handpumped fire engine the year before. That year, the village passed its first firerelated ordinances, creating the position of “captain of the fire company” to command the hand-pulled cart.

The law also required every building – most were wooden, susceptible to being ignited from woodburning stoves – to have one bucket for every two fireplaces. Thus, a “bucket brigade” could be formed to bring water to the pumper.

Failure to buy a bucket brought at $1 fine.

In 1815, a second engine was donated by Judge William Cooper’s heirs, and #2 Engine Company was

formed.

After Dec. 18, 1840, when Freeman’s Journal editor Samuel Shaw’s scathing editorial decried the “miserable engines” that failed to save the burning Otsego County Courthouse, a third engine was purchased and another company formed, The Neptune Engine Company #3, with August Putnam, John B. Williams, Ralph Lunthrop, Charles J. Stillman and James Evans as officers.

The Neptune name began a trend of naming the engine companies with heroic or mythological names.

Shortly after the Civil War, Engine #1 became Protection Engine Company. It 1882, #2 became Good Intent Engine Company.

No recounting of the department’s history can avoid the fire of all fires.

It came on the night of

April 10, 1862, breaking out at Edward Edward’s cabinet shop, where CVS is now. “It was going both ways down Main Street,” recounted Chief Jim Tallman, a fireman for more than three decades. “They thought they had it pretty well out, but it was jumping from building to building behind Main Street.”

At the corner of Main, flames jumped across Pioneer to the Eagle Hotel. Engine #1 had broken down, and Neptune held the flames in check on Main Street while Engine #2 fought the flames on Pioneer.

By 5:30 a.m., when the last flames were doused, the Great Fire had burned down the 12 stores, four hotels, the saloon, two houses and 38 outbuildings, a total of 57 structures in all. “The fire consumed most of Main Street,” said Tallman.

“Almost everything was completely engulfed and destroyed.”

By 1871, when a fourth company, Phinney Hose Company, tensions among the companies were coming to a boil. “They were so loyal to their companies that they kept getting into fistfights at the scene of the fire,” said Tallman. The village had offered a $5 reward to whichever got water on the fire first, but with too many fires burning while captains duked it out, the reward system was soon abandoned.

So the next year, the village amended its charter and gathered the four companies together into one fire department – it’s 100th anniversary was celebrated in 40 years ago – electing Marcus Field as the first fire chief, George Mission as the first assistant and James McKnown as the second assistant. Fire chief elections and the annual parade were also established.

The department routinely fought sizeable blazes over the years, often when a downtown block or this tourist town’s grand hotels ignited. But since the imposition of the state Fire Prevention & Building Code in 1979, such fires are rare.

The exception proving the rule was came in March 2003, when the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home, then being remodeled, was set alight by a contractor’s heater. (Happily, the residents were being lodged at The Otesaga while renovations were underway.)

“The fire just took off,” said veteran firefighter Joe Carentz. “I was the first one on the scene and I snapped a few pictures; the investigators used them to help with their investigation.

“There was a full tank of propane,” Tallman added.

“It looked like a jet engine going up the elevator shaft.

It was unbelievable.”

FLAMES PUNCTUATE VILLAGE HISTORY

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ere are notable dates in the history of firefighting in Cooperstown: • Nov. 20 1795 — The first fire in Cooperstown burns down a large kiln house belonging to Joshua Starr.

• Dec. 22, 1797 — Cooperstown’s second fire at the printing office of The Otsego Herald. Afterwards, the paper was a leading force in trying to organize a fire department.

• May 21, 1813 — The Cooperstown Fire Company is formed and the first ordinances passed pertaining to fire protection, including one requiring “a leather bucket for every two fireplaces on premises” and a $1 fine for refusing to help at the scene of a fire.

• 1815 – Judge Cooper’s heirs purchase a second fire engine for the village and the #2 Engine Company is formed.

• April 24, 1818 — A fire at a hatter’s shop, where the post office stands today, took out all the businesses and buildings from Fair Street to Hoffman Lane.

• Dec. 18, 1840 – Otsego County Courthouse burns. A third fire engine is purchased and the Neptune Engine Company #3 is formed.

• 1853 — Otsego Hall, where James Fenimore Cooper wrote “Leatherstocking Tales” and “Chronicles of Cooperstown” is burned by arsonists. No one is ever arrested.

• April 10, 1862 — 57 buildings, including the Eagle Hotel, the Keys Hotel, Peck’s Hotel and Burgess Hall are destroyed in the “Great Fire.” Afterwards, Willow Brook is diverted from south of the village to run under the downtown, providing a water source for future firefighting.

• April 16, 1863 – Otsego Hotel catches fire. Neptune Engine #3 is the only one able to respond, and Sergeant Pixley rescues a sleeping woman from the burning hotel.

• May 5, 1873 — The individual companies are reorganized into one department, and Marcus Field is elected first chief. Among other ordinances, the sale of liquor during a fire was banned.

• Sept. 20, 1967 – Three structures destroyed in the “Pick ‘n’Pay” fire, including W.G. Smiths’ Photographic Block, a survivor of the Great Fire.

• Nov. 10-11, 1961 – The Freeman’s Journal building is destroyed. The site is later converted into Pioneer Park.

• March 2003 – During renovations at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home, a construction worker leaves a heater on. The building catches fire and is destroyed.

No one was hurt, and the residents were put up for 18 months in the Otesaga while the entire structure was rebuilt. “We’ve lost a lot of businesses and bars,” Carentz said. “But we’ve saved quite a few homes.”

Despite the tough business of fighting blazes, Tallman said, there’s always time for fun, and he recalls a number of episodes.

“Some guys didn’t like the soft top on the old Mack we use in the parade, so they took it off and hid it.

One night before drill, some other guys found it and put it back on in such a way that it couldn’t be taken off!”

Another time, during a drill, firefighters staying

back at the house would pull the hose off the back as the Mack drove away.

“You have to do something to keep up the livelihood every once in awhile,” said Tallman.

Whenever Tallman travels, his first stop is always the local firehouse, and, after Sept. 11, 2001, he invited Engine 317, Ladder 165, Battalion 54, to visit Cooperstown, greeting the heroes with a banner, a golf tournament and baseball at Doubleday Field. “Seeing what these guys had gone through and being able to help them heal in some small way was one of the best things we’ve ever done,” he said.

Two-Day Birthday Party Planned To Celebrate 200th Anniversary

By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN

‘I

n the 1800s, if the fire department wanted to march in a Saturday parade, they’d have to take a train, leave on Thursday and not get back until Monday,” said Chief Jim Tallman.

Things have changed. The celebrants coming to the 200th anniversery celebration in July – all 30 fire companies in Otsego County have been invited – won’t have to take the whole weekend just for travel.

The Cooperstown Volunteer Fire Department will mark its 200th anniversary Friday-Saturday, July 5-6. The department was formed in May 1813, nearly two decades after the first fire broke out in Joshua Starr’s kilnhouse.

The celebration will include live music by local bands, a chicken BBQ, fireworks, carnival rides and games, and a parade featuring fire departments from across Otsego County.

Invitations also went out to 4H clubs and Scout troops. “There could be over 50 groups walking with us,” said Victor Jones.

“All the letters have been sent out and we should be hearing back in a month or so.”

“It’s going to be at the height of Dreams Park, so I think we’ll be really busy,” said Mike Molloy, who chairs the organizing committee.

The department is also putting together an anniversary book detailing the history of firefighting in Cooperstown. “We’re celebrating our history – and throwing a big party,” said Jones.

“We’re going to try to have something for everyone,” said Molloy. “We want everyone to help us celebrate 200 years.”

Perspectives

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

A-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

EDITORIAL

Keep Adding New Money, And We Can Snub Noses At Sequester

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3-percent bump annually and on your anniversary of employment, a little more than 6 percent a year. Affordable medical benefits.

A pension. Doesn’t it make you nostalgic?

Now, of course, all that seems like pie in the sky.

But in the 1970s, when Otsego Manor employees – they were then employees of The Meadows – extracted those concessions, such largesse wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary.

Remember the pundits of a half-century ago reflecting how, in decades ahead (leading up to today), people would be working few hours and enjoying 5-6 weeks of vacation a year?

Of course, just the opposite happened.

According to the Center for American Progress, 85.8 percent of men and 66.5 percent of women work more than 40 hours per week, 40 hours being considered the standard a half-century ago.

In virtually all measures – benefits, vacations, wages – the American worker is worse off now than then.

The only measure that has gone up is productivity – paid-less Americans are producing more.

You can argue why that happened. Here’s one theory. The money didn’t disappear. As the progressive

tax code was dismantled, it allowed more of that money to be captured by the one percent, a theory Occupy Wall Street convincingly presented a year or so ago.

• We can look – and wish, and pray, or whatever – for Congress to solve this, but given the impasse on sequestration, the across-theboard cuts that were due to go into effect Friday, March 1 – gentlemen and ladies of Congress, give us a break!

– let’s not hold our breaths.

(A side note: Reading up on Collis Huntington of Oneonta’s adventures in building the first transcontinental railroad, it emerges that Southern members of Congress through the 1850s kept blocking the Central Pacific’s plans for an Omaha-to-Sacramento route; they wanted a NewOrleans-to-Los-Angeles route. But that would have extended slavery across the Continent, and Northern legislators blocked that.

(Good news: Eventually the northern route was built.

Bad news: It took a Civil War.) The good news today is that, in Otsego County, we are benefiting from decisions made decades ago to pursue a college- and hospital-based economy. Our unemployment rate has run a half-point to a point below the national, and many

letters

‘Redskin’ Always Derogatory To the Editor: “Redskin” is, and always has been, a derogatory epithet.

In the early 1950s, I attended high school in Springfield, Miss., in the southwest corner of the state. At that time, Springfield was strictly segregated.

The signs, “No Colored Allowed,” applied not only to blacks, Mexicans and Asians, but also to those commonly referred to as “redskins” or “red niggers.”

Being of Native American Indian ancestry on my mother’s side, I am especially sensitive the use of such language.

I also want to respond to a headline over a Letter to the Editor in the Feb. 14 issue of The Freeman’s Journal which states, “During Revolution, Iroquois Simply Picked Wrong Side.”

At the beginning of the American Revolution, the

Haudenossaunee, or Iroquois, voted to remain neutral. However, many Mohawks, led by Joseph Brant, decided to honor their treaty with King George III. Later they were joined by the Senecas and eventually, the Onondagas and Cayugas.

The Oneidas, on the other hand, opted to support the rebels and served with distinction as both scouts and regular soldiers in the Colonial Army. No Iroquois ever served as “mercenaries” for the British, as the later writer alleges. In any case, at this point in time, what difference does it make?

Finally, I would like to address a common misconception. Native American people have light brown skin. Unless they are sunburned, they are not red skinned.

WILLIAM G. ISAAC Cherry Valley •

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things have been surfacing that will pay dividends going forward. (Regrettably, our salaries still lag 14 percent behind the nation.)

• The latest good news is Hartwick College’s announcement of a $3.8 million renovation of Stack Lounge and a new 7,000square-foot Campbell Fitness Center. Apply the 2.5 multiplier, and that means some $10 million will be entering the local economy as the money passes from hand to hand and store to store.

A large piece of that is a donation from Bill Campbell, chairman of the board of Intuit, based in the Silicon Valley. That’s new money. Donations from Hartwick Trustee Debra French of North Andover, Mass., and the mainstay Dewar Foundation will inject the rest.

Think of Fox Hospital’s

$10 million “Gold Standard of Patient Care” fund drive.

Add the multiplier, that’s $25 million entering the local economy. The $8.7 million state grant (multiplied, $18.1 million) is new money.

The Cooperstown and Oneonta chambers of commerce – collaborating, yet!

Kudos to Pat Szarpa and Barbara Ann Heegan – will be launching “Local First!”

May 1, promoting local businesses through marketing and advertising, (which businesses should be doing for themselves; the best do.)

“Local First!” is not a flash in the pan, but a two- or three-year campaign that will seek to measure outcomes.

While local participation in the Mohawk Valley Economic Development Council is disappointing generally, the NYSHA/ D’Ambrosio-Glimmerglass/ Zambello-Hyde Hall/Maney

collaboration on “Romanticism & The American Landscape” is exciting.

The $100,000 grant – new money – multiplies into a modest $250,000, but it’s likely worth a lot more to the local economy, given that it’s aimed at the highend tourist. Plus, collaboration with Olana, the National Historic Landmark on the Hudson, is potentially a low-cost, high-benefit initiative. (Incidentally, The Glimmerglass Festival, after a few years of struggling, made its $6 million budget last year for a second year in a row; multiplied, $15 million, much of it new money from opera fans elsewhere.)

In all, the Mohawk Valley EDC program will inject $1.4 million (multiplied to $3.2 million) into the local economy, not a lot, given it’s the state’s premier economic-development effort, and tiny compare to just the Fox initiative, but that relatively paltry new money is better than nothing.

• Then there’s the biggest new-money cache of all.

Even though the Constitution Pipeline’s Alternate M through Otsego County has been ruled out (for now; FERC can decide otherwise), meaning $3-5 million in property-tax revenues will go to Delaware County instead of us, let’s keep our eye on that ball, too.

The Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research has determined the Constitution will invest $188 million directly into the five-county region – locally, Delaware, Chenango and Schoharie – during its 2014-15 construction.

Pressing question: How much of that can we capture here in Otsego County, in jobs, construction materials, trucks and equipment, temporary housing and meals, entertainment, etc., etc.?

Clearly, our governmental and economic-development leaders – County Economic Developer Carolyn Lewis, Oneonta City Manager Mike Long, Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller, County Board Chair Kathy Clark, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, OCDC President Doug Gulotty and the rest – should be focusing laser-like on what will mean a bonanza for the most alert.

To get the conversation going, community leaders should call Chris Staffel, Constitution’s outreach manager, at (570) 205-1654.

She can advise the effort.

Let’s get her phone lines burning with calls from Otsego County.

• Maybe Congress, if it gets around to it, can hit home runs. But, locally, baseball fans, if we can continue to hit singles, doubles and an occasional triple, we can win this game.

Randy & Connie Vélez OTHER VOICES

Save Manor’s ‘Beautiful, Nurturing Environment’

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unning for public office seems simple enough, especially at the local level.

You pledge allegiance to the principles of your party in order to gain financing and initial support. You talk publicly and write about local and national issues, and you highlight your pet causes. You debate your opponent to convince the listeners that you are the better choice. You talk in broad generalities about your political beliefs and what you would to do if you were elected. You seek endorsements of newspapers and others who influence public opinion.

Then, if the gods of small-town politics smile on you, you are elected.

Mission accomplished! Now you can participate in making decisions that will affect the lives of everyone in our community often at the most human level.

It is here that the disconnect between our elected officials and we the people begins. The machinations of local government seem to treat as abstractions serious issues, having real consequences on real people. The controversy over Otsego Manor is a case in point.

The facts are not in dispute. Otsego Manor depends on a substantial and growing subsidy from Otsego County to continue to function. The subsidy grows for a number of reasons. The federal and state rates of reimbursement for services (Medicare and Medicaid) continue to be scaled back.

Operating costs continue to rise and

The Manor’s management has not been able to control them adequately.

As the subsidy continues to grow, other county services are feeling the strain.

Something has to give, and Kathleen Clark, James Powers and others have the simplistic answer, sell The Manor. According to them, all of the County’s financial issues would disappear. The county would pocket the proceeds of the sale and it could redirect some of the money toward other more important county services.

The county would be in great shape if the Manor were sold.

exclusive healthcare facility for those who can afford to pay top dollar, or it would degenerate into a second-rate nursing home meeting only minimal standards.

Lest the average reader and our county representatives think we do not know of what we speak, actually we do. My wife and I have been in ministry to the elderly for 25 years.

We lived in southern Westchester and have visited dozens of nursing homes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Rockland County and Westchester. While some Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA were considered to be quite exclusive, Otsego Manor resident Dorothy most were not. All had one thing in Fisk of Oneonta makes her views common: They were privately owned known during an October protest and for-profit. And very depressing. against plans to privatize the When the time came that we could county’s nursing home in Index. no longer continue to care for my wife’s mother at home, we were Really? The fact that Clark, Powincredibly grateful that she was able ers, et al believe this is a testament to live her final 15 months in such a to how poorly our political process beautiful, nurturing environment. Do functions in producing real leaders.

They believe that the problem is about our elderly and infirmed deserve anything less? balancing the budget.

Despite the sarcastic and insulting Real leadership begins with undercomment made by county Rep. Kay standing the real problem. The reason Stuligross, the constituents of County Otsego Manor exists is that we the Rep. John Kosmer do “read the people of Otsego County took responpapers” and do understand the finansibility for providing excellent resicial difficulties faced by the County. dential healthcare for all of us, includHence, we need to explore his proposing our poor and elderly. Throughout als and look for alternative methods of this debate, no one has repudiated that subsidizing Otsego Manor. decision. It still stands. So the real It is a large enough facility that issue is: How do we continue to meet some seemingly small measures could this obligation going forward? yield significant results. For example, Selling the Manor is not a solution. steps could be taken to conserve The purchaser would be in all likelielectricity now, while we look into hood a “for profit” corporation. If the alternative sources of energy, as the new owner were to continue to run County has already installed at the jail.

The Manor as the county has, it would The technological resources exist right encounter the same financial impedihere in Otsego County and the location ments. So how would it turn a profit of The Manor in such an open area for its stockholders? makes it a prime candidate for either Only three choices come to mind. solar or wind power.

They could cut back on the quality of We need to take a lesson from our care (e.g. staff, activities, food quality, neighbors in Delaware County. We medical care, etc.). They could forgo have a moral imperative to care for the limited government reimbursements weak and vulnerable among us. They and charge much higher rates directly are our parents and grandparents and to the residents. Or they could do the “Greatest Generation.”

And they both. are us.

In the end, Otsego Manor would cease to be what we the people of the Randy Vélez is deacon at St. Joseph county intended. It would become an The Worker Church, Richfield Springs

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-5

BOUND VOLUMES Compiled by Tom Heitz from Freeman’s Journal archives, courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library

200 YEARS AGO

Marine Prizes – At New York, British ship Rio Nouva, from London for St. Kitts and Antigua, with a valuable cargo of dry goods; prize to the Rolla, of Baltimore; taken after an action of 20 minutes, in which no lives were lost.

The prize is a London-built ship, nearly 400 tons, coppered, not 3 years old – mounts 14 guns, and had 25 men. At Portland, British ship Ralph, and British brig Euphema prizes to the America, of Salem. The Ralph was from Quebec bound to London, with a cargo of oak timbers; and the Euphema has a full cargo of coca and coffee, and mounts 10 guns.

March 6, 1813

175 YEARS AGO

Mr. Editor – Will you please inform the public through your paper, that at a meeting of the Whigs of Exeter on the 21st inst. I was nominated a Commissioner of Schools; and that, too, after a resolution to nominate none but “whole hog” Whigs to any office in town. It is due to myself, as well as to the Whigs of Exeter, to say that I do not claim the honor of belonging to the Whole Hog Whig Party. I therefore disclaim all connexion with them, and shall decline the honor they intended me. Sumner E. Turner. Exeter, March 3, 1838.

March 5, 1838

150 YEARS AGO

Excerpts from an editorial in the Richmond, Virginia Enquirer regarding the ongoing Civil War and its effect on the people of the Confederacy: “We have fairly entered upon the third stage indicated by the President in his message, namely – that a war for subjugation and extermination.

The people of this Confederacy, isolated and shut up from all the world have now to encounter the most horrible and demoniac effort for the assassination of a whole race that history has yet recorded, or we believe will ever have to record till history grows grey. For it is not every century, it is not every eon that shows the world a Yankee nation. Yes, the Confederate people have now at last to strip for battle; it is a people that must, this time, very literally conquer or die.”

February 27, 1863

125 YEARS AGO

The Orphanage last week had an application to receive into its fold the six young children of a poor woman who is

10 YEARS AGO

Glimmerglass. It worked well for him, and during the past three years he has been improving it and adding spoons and lures for other species. Although his tackle has been sold to many fishermen in this locality and to others about the country, no general merchandising campaign has been held pending approval of the trademark.

March 2, 1938

50 YEARS AGO

Cooperstown Central School chalked up its 15th straight victory of the boys’ basketball season Thursday night of last week. The Redskins upended New York Mills 68 to 46 despite the fact that two regulars, Bob Winne and Bob Breish, February 28, 2003 were forced to remain on the sidelines because of illness. slowly dying of consumption, and whose husband is a dissi- Kenny Wertheim led the Redskin scorers with 18 points, while three other members of the club hit in double figpated man; but only three of them could be received. There ures. Doug Patterson picked up 14, while Les Grigsby and are a great many cases there which would, if narrated, Doug Dickinson each had an even dozen. The Redskins, excite the sympathy and interest of our readers. In providing a home for such young objects of charity, the institution who clinched the Center State League title the previous week will close out the regular season with games against is accomplishing much good.

March 2, 1888 Waterville at home on Friday night and away at Sherburne Saturday night.

February 27, 1963 Democrats who may incline to the idea of non-partisan nominations in village affairs will do well to carefully scruThe Cooperstown Elementary School Fourth Grade tinize the ticket which will appear on the voting machines this year opposite an Indian head and entitled “The Citizens Honor Roll includes Ben Williams, Laurie Warner, Amy Dalal, Megan Davis, Amy Chase, Rachel Boland, Tavis Party.” It should be borne in mind that this citizens’ ticket Austin, Garrett Ellsworth, Lauren Groff, Tim Hayes, Marwas nominated by Republicans and, apparently with little tha Jungers, Nathan Kern, Lindsay Knodel, Jan Kuzminski, regard for non-partisanship upon the part of the majority Darlene Palmer, Colin Harris, Mark Pernat, Kate Streck, in attendance at the caucus. When the Democratic caucus, Jamie Bordley, Owen Ellsworth, Daniel Hallahan, Melissa whether wisely or unwisely, voted not to amalgamate with Hazzard, Jennifer Leo, Karen Muehl, Meagan O’Brien, the citizens’ movement, it left in the room upstairs a vast Kim Reinholdt, Lisa Senchyshyn, Cormac Symington, majority of Republicans, the Republican caucus having Peter Townsend, Callie Wright, Glenda Morrison, and Carbeen deferred until after the citizens had made their wishes known. The Republicans took part in and by their members rie Crippen. The Fifth Grade Honor Roll includes Madhu Chanamolu, Melissa Coleman, Karen Craig, Abigail Ellscontrolled the citizens’ meeting.

March 5, 1913 worth, James Foster, Sarah Griffith, Kirsten Hill, Andrew Hoskins, Kimberly Johannesen, Michael Muehl, W. Mason Sanford, John Thering, W. Stuart Wright, Kris Connelly, Jonas Bers, Tim DeRosa, Emily Deringer, Sarah Good, Matt Former Sheriff Don W. Rose, one of the most ardent of Grady, Brian Green, Brian Horner, Nick Marcalus, Amber local followers of Izaak Walton, last week was granted a Parmentier, Dan Phillips, David Protus, Peter Reidhead, trademark by the U.S. Patent Office for fishing spoons and Megan Sanford, Justin Smith, Jessica Tedesco, Brian Thomlures under Section 22, “games, toys and sporting goods.”

The products will be marketed under the trademark “Leath- son, Gillian Wright, Bradley Ainslie, Roger Bennett, Daniel Brown, Dakin Campbell, Andrew Cunningham, Angela er Stocking.” Mr. Rose, who has specially good luck with Eldred, Howard Graham, John Griffith, Jr., Kelsey MacMilthe Otsego Lake trout, originally began the making of a special spoon to be used in catching this big denizen of The lan, Orion Palmer and Melissa Raddatz.

March 2, 1988

100 YEARS AGO

25 YEARS AGO

75 YEARS AGO

letters

CCS Alumni Association Seeks Middle Way To Resolve Dispute Over ‘Redskins’ To the Editor: In last week’s Freeman’s Journal, you erroneously stated that the CCS Alumni Association supports keeping the “Redskins” nickname. We expect that you will diligently correct this misrepresentation of facts publicly and make no further assumptions or inferences about our opinion or position without first consulting us directly.

For the record, the CCS Alumni Association has repeatedly stated that we are not taking an official position, a truth our alumni have gratefully appreciated. We have actively solicited opinions from our alumni and posted every letter made available to us on all sides of the issue, from alumni and non-alumni alike, on our Facebook page.

There are many alumni who support keeping the “Redskins” name and mascot, and many who wish to see the name changed to something else. There continue to be suggestions offered in our ongoing conversations, and we have valued every opinion that has been shared with us on this issue equally.

We truly have a proud and passionate alumni and we are privileged to represent them.

The Alumni Association has received many compliments and thanks for our diligence in fostering fairness and accuracy in the discussion and the liberties you took in making false claims on our behalf threaten those efforts. This is not appreciated.

The Alumni Association attended the last CCS board meeting and requested to be involved in all ongoing discussions, to which they obliged. We since have

CHECK

met with the school board’s Public Relations Committee on two occasions, sharing letters and feedback we have received with them without making any endorsements or oppositions to any of the information we have obtained.

I am confident the members of the PR committee would attest to that fact.

You have not spoken with CCS Alumni Association President, Ryan Miosek, or myself, regarding our opinions on the issue of the proposed mascot change. I did contact you to request you share your letters to the editor and you politely obliged. Thank you, our

alumni have enjoyed reading them. Most of those letters favored changing the name, it should be noted.

The CCS Alumni Association appreciates being invited to join the Cooperstown Central Board

of Education to address the possibility of changing our school mascot’s name. It is a topic that has garnered a lot of attention, both locally and abroad, and many people have been interested enough to join in the con-

Door Prizes!

versation.

Our school is a wonderful community, with an alumni, student body, and administrators who all wish the best for the future of our beloved alma mater. It is our hopes that together we can reach

a decision that represents Cooperstown Central school proudly today, and forever.

CHAD G. WELCH Vice President CCS Alumni Association

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

Campers Regret Loss Of Dower Hall Effort To Keep Oneonta Mayor CAMP/From A1 “I was 10-years-old, a chubby kid trying to play softball,” he reminisced “One of the counselors came up to me and said, ‘You’re pretty good with that glove.’ He made me believe that, and that’s what that camp was about.”

A few days ago, he got a shocking call: A piece of Cooperstown history – his personal history – has been razed.

“It was in such disrepair,” said Dave LaDuke, a neighbor. “Kids got into it in the winter, broke the windows.

The fixtures were gone, the plumbing was gone. You’d need to have deep pockets to fix the place up.”

Vacant since 1971, Dower Hall, given as a wedding present to Anna Maria Gregory when she married a George Clarke of the Hyde Hall Clarkes, was torn down over the Feb. 2223 weekend.

“The vandalism stopped pretty recently; probably wasn’t anything left to steal,” said Richard Vovcsko, the third generation familiar with the camp. His grandfather and his father were maintenance workers; his grandmother head dietician. His mother worked in the infirmary for a few years. “But for it’s age and for 40 years of neglect, it was still in remarkable shape.”

On Aug. 6, 1891, The Freeman’s Journal reported

Off Democratic Line Fall Short

Cherry Valley, picked up that theme, saying he was “baffled” by the rush to act.

Abbate, however, said his intent – not just COOPERSTOWN with Miller, but across the board – was to clear the way for candidates willing to run, ustainable Otsego’s drive to delay so they could plan their November campermission for Oneonta Mayor Dick paigns with confidence.

Miller to run for reelection on the Oneonta was well represented in the Democratic line in November fizzled Tuesroom, with former mayor John Nader saying day evening, Feb. 26.

Miller has served the city “ably and At the end of an hour-long admirably,” and that his administracommittee meeting in the county tion has been “truly superlative.”

Board of Representatives’ chamNader’s predecessor, Kim Muller, bers, county Chairman Richard vice chair of the state Democratic Abbate called for a voice vote committee, praised Miller’s success that resoundingly gave approval “on a broad spectrum of critical isfor Miller to circulate petitions to sues.” run on the Democratic ballot line County Rep. Gary Koutnik, in November’s election.

Oneonta, said while he disagrees with Before a rare attendance of 40 The Freeman’s Journal Miller on the pipeline, “I am very Miller adpeople, Abbate then asked for a wary of litmus tests.” show of hands, a sea of ayes shot dresses That theme was picked up by counDemocratic up. He asked for nays, and less ty Rep. Beth Rosenthal, Roseboom, committee. than a handful could be seen. and Otsego Town Board member Julie Allowing Miller to run as a Huntsman, who have been active in Democrat, as he had when first elected in Sustainable Otsego. Rosenthal said she em2009, was challenged when the party’s braced the “big tent” approach: That’s what executive committee met in January in makes me proud to be a Democrat,” adding, West Oneonta. Miller opposed fracking in “I support Dick because he has this way of Otsego County as an environmental threat, making things work.” but supported the Constitution Pipeline as a While fracking and the pipeline are issues non-threat and an economic boon, and the that brought her into public life, Huntsman Sustainable Otsego element objected to the said, elected officials need to make decipipeline support. sions on a wide range of matters.

Committee members said Adrian Teresa Winchester – it was announced Kuzminski, Fly Creek, had lobbied the she is again running against county Rep. Democratic to withhold support for Miller’s Jim Powers, R-Butternuts – said “ditto” to bid, but he was not present at Tuesday’s Rosenthal’s remarks. session.

In his remarks, Miller pointed out that, In January, county Rep. John Kosmer, under his administration, the city banned Fly Creek, argued that because fracking fracking, filed an amicus brief in support is such a “volatile” issue, the Democrats of the Town of Middlefield’s fracking ban, should keep their options open until the taken numerous steps to improve energy efelection nears; committee vice chair, he did ficiency in line with the Oneonta 2030 plan, not speak Tuesday night. But Keith Schue, and planted 200 trees in the downtown.

By JIM KEVLIN

S Signs of decay and neglect were evident everywhere in recent years at Dower Hall, centerpiece of the former Ethical Culture Camp on Hyde Bay.

“Work has been commenced on Mrs. George Clarke’s summer home near the head of the lake, facing Hyde Bay.” She summered at Dower Hall for 25 years until her death in 1914.

In the 1920s, the property was sold to the Society of Ethical Culture, “a religion based on ethics, not theology” that dates back to 1920, as its web site has it.

A typical summer camp, it offered horseback riding, crafts, swimming, boating, singing and dancing for kids from New York City.

“I remember doing a lot of Gilbert & Sullivan,” said Vovcsko.

The Dower Home, as it was known, was a kitchen, a dining hall, staff offices and housing. “I was fascinated with the Nature Room,” said Vovcsko. “They had classes there to teach kids about the flora and fauna, and they had jars of the

jaws and preserved sea life – as a kid from Cherry Valley, it just looked like something out of ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’.”

The camp shut down in 1971, but Rotkoff had been trying to raise money to buy the property back and restore it. “Ten years ago I started inviting people to Ethical Culture Camp reunions,” he said. “We’d walk around the camp like an archeological ruin.”

He wrote a proposal to the Clark Foundation, hoping to turn the former camp into a writing center, but funding wasn’t forthcoming.

He just finished drafting a letter to 200 former campers asking for pledges to buy the 9.8 acres and Dower’s remains when the news arrived. “It’s sad for the community,” he said. “It’s a part of history, and now it’s a piece of garbage.”

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THURSDAY-FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1, 2013

A-7

Marchi: By Accepting Compromise, Manor Staff May Save Some Benefits MARCHI/From A1 view the other day. “We were paid whatever we spent the year before.”

Dollar paid for dollar spent, as you might imagine, evolved into wide disparities in what different nursing homes in different counties were being paid for the same services, divergences that by the 1990s could be easily identified with the rise of computerization.

So the cost-based reimbursement was replaced with a PPS – prospective payment system. It based reimbursement on average expenses, computed regionally – we are in the Binghamton region – and more expensive institutions saw the reimbursement gap widen. “That’s really when the problem started,” said Marchi.

The combination of “step and grade,” marching ever upward, and PPS, forcing reimbursements down to declining average, created the financial crunch Otsego Manor is in today, a crunch that caused the Otsego County Board of Representatives to vote, 13-1, last Sept. 6, to sell The Manor to a private company. (That vote was found to violate the state’s Open Meetings Law, and must be retaken at the board’s March meeting on the 6th.)

In the many months leading up to that vote, Marchi had done a number of analyses. One, “How New York State Regional Pricing Works,” shows that Otsego Manor salaries are well above the regional range in most categories. (The analyses may be viewed at www.otsegocounty.com) A separate breakout shows four categories – certified nursing assistants, occupational therapy assistants, physical therapy aides and home health assistants – being paid 14 percent more than the top of

the regional range. Of 30 job categories, only six are within the regional ranges.

Since Otsego Manor opened in 2004, the county has contributed about $2.5 million a year to the now $22 million budget. That started rising over $3 million in 2010. And a spread sheet put together by county Treasurer Dan Crowell (also on the web site) predicted it would continue to rise to $5 million by 2016.

The experience has been worse than that, said Marchi. An anticipated $3.2 million deficit in 2012 turned into $4 million. This year, a $5 million deficit will probably get worse, he said, particularly given Governor Cuomo’s announcement Thursday, Feb. 21, that an unexpected change in the federal Medicaid reimbursement rate has created a $500 million gap in his proposed budget and must be recaptured.

While this was coming into focus, The Manor learned that – given the stock market was essentially flat during the first decade of this century – its annual contribution to the state pension fund would rise from $900,000 to $1.2 million.

And, separately, that its health insurance premiums would rise 14 percent.

“The convergence of all of that was a perfect storm,” said Marchi, who concluded, “The Manor is in danger. We were looking at a $5 million hole. We were pushing the panic button.”

In the fall of 2011, Marchi put together a PowerPoint, “Share The Pain,” to alert employees to the impending crisis. But he soon heard from the CSEA – the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents Manor employees – that he was being alarmist and, if he didn’t stop, a grievance would be filed.

The subsequent back and

forth culminated in a Dec. 8, 2011 letter from Marchi to John Imperato, CSEA Local 1000 president, asking for an MOU (memorandum of understanding) to “narrow the margin” by $235,881, to “demonstrate to the board and community that we are interested in developing win-win strategies for the future financial health of Otsego Manor.”

The Marchi letter asked for givebacks: Staff who worked on one of 12 paid holidays receive time and a half, plus an extra day; he asked for a surrender of that extra day. He asked that five personal days be reduced to two, and that employees give up requiring the county to buy back unused personal days.

To consider these steps, the CSEA asked for a guarantee that The Manor would remain in county hands.

Said Marchi, “You can never guarantee anything.”

And the conversation ended.

For a few months in the first half of 2012, Marchi and the county board were pursuing what at first seemed like a promising option: a partnership with another local institution to enable a Medicaid assistedliving facility in one of The Manor’s wings. There, residents who do not need skilled nursing care – about 38 of the 144 – could be cared for less intensely, and thus, considerably less expensively.

That idea fell apart when it was discovered that The Manor’s food services, which would be required under the status quo, are too expensive for that model to work.

So on Wednesday, Sept.

6, the county board voted, 13-1, on what it perceived to be the only option. In addition to the revote, the board at its March 6 meeting will vote on naming a consultant, the Rochester-based Center

for Government Research, to guide the selection of a “high-quality” – the RFP (request for proposals) had been amended to require quality – private entity to take over The Manor; that would probably take a year to accomplish.

Even now, however, Marchi believes a path exists to shrink The Manor’s deficit by $3 million a year to the historic $2.5 million range.

It would require the CSEA: • To agree to “realign” salaries with the upper end of his “Regional Pricing Reimbursement Methodology” analysis. The category most affected would be CNAs, certified nursing assistants, where the regional range is $10.89-$13.06 compared to The Manor’s range of $14.390-$16.88. CNAs make up 70 of The Manor’s 270 employees.

• To contract out foodservice, housekeeping and laundry functions, which would mean the loss of 70 county jobs.

• To accept 12-hour shifts.

y a p We SH! CA t s e h g i H rices p aid p

During the day, 18 CNAs are required to staff the 7 a.m.-3 p.m. shift, and then the 3-11 p.m. shift. Secondshift workers regularly take personal days, requiring the busy 3-9 p.m. period to be covered at time and a half.

7-7 shifts would reduce that expensive overtime requirement.

• To accept the adjustments outlined in Marchi’s December 2010 letter to Imperato.

(Right now, The Manor pays the county $600,000 a year for groundskeeping and janitorial services. If it were allowed to contract out, The Manor would save another $300,000, Marchi estimates, reducing the gap further.)

This would require The Manor employees to negotiate a separate contract; right now, they are covered under the CSEA’s overall contract with the county, (which lapsed in 2011 and has not been successfully renegotiated.)

However, by avoiding privatization, Manor em-

ployees would remain in the state retirement system, a significant benefit. And while, to use the CNA example, new hires’ pay would drop to $10.89 an hour, that’s significantly higher than the $8 that a private company would likely pay.

In recent weeks, an option proposed by county Rep. John Kosmer, D-Fly Creek, has been in the news, (and was closely rejected, 8-6, at the county board’s February meeting.) It calls for a .25 percentile increase in the county’s 8.25 percent sales tax to help cover The Manor’s budget gap.

However, it would require the CSEA to reopen the contract, which the union has declined to do before the .25 percentile increase is approved by the state Legislature. (State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, has declined to introduce the necessary bill.)

If the CSEA won’t act on Kosmer’s less-demanding measure, Marchi has little hope it will do so on his.

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Sub-dividable with driveway and well on County Rte 33.

NOW ONLY $229,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633

MLS#87096 - Move-in ready 4 BR, 2 bath Cape on over 8 acres. Open floorplan w/kitchen, full bath and 2 BRs on 1st floor. Kitchen w/slate floors, family room, office, laundry room,deck, pool and jacuzzi. Cooperstown School District. $249,900 Call Kristi Ough @ 607-434-3026

MLS#87457 – 3 BR, 2 bath home on 4.25 acres w/2½-car garage, partially finished basement, large deck, perennial gardens, and beautiful pond. A great deal! $224,000 Call Lynn Lesperence @ 607-434-1061

MLS#84136 - 3 BR, 2 bath ranch features hardwood floors, spacious kitchen, and sun/family room. Newer windows, appliances, furnace and water heater. Dry basement, 2-car garage. Master BR suite is being used as an efficiency apt. $129,900 Call Tom Platt @ 607-435-2068

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New Listing MLS#87635 - Great location, close to Chobani and NYCM, this 3 BR ranch is also close to great trout fishing and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. $149,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633

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MLS#81749 - Cape chalet set on almost 70 acres of prime hunting property w/creek and ATV trails.

Cathedral ceilings, loft BR and family room.

Woodstove heat with Co-op Electric baseboard as backup. $219,900 Call Tom @ 607-435-2068

MLS#86175 - New 4 BR, 2 bath home w/3 bay garage and workshop on oversized lot. Wood fireplace in LR. Lots of new: kitchen w/stainless steel appliances, ceramic tile floors and island, all flooring, sheetrocked walls and ceilings, electric, plumbing and much more. $149,900 Call Tom Platt @ 607-435-2068

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E IC ED PRDUC RE MLS#87821 - Richfield Springs Car Wash. Manual wash w/2 bays, heated floors, 2 vacuums, well maintained.

Also available: 4WD tractor w/plow and snow blower.

Adjacent home can be purchased w/or separate from the car wash: see listing MLS #87819 (below). $52,900 Call Rod and Barb @ 315-520-6512

MLS#85130 - 5 BR Greek Revival on 2.25 acres w/many original features. Eat-in kitchen, formal DR and spacious LR w/fireplace. Unique barn. Includes parcel 116-1-6.37. $79,000 Call Michelle Curran @ 518-469-5603

MLS#84430 - Includes 4 other parcels to be sold together.

Close to Oneonta and Cooperstown. Enough road frontage for 10 building lots. Includes 276.00.-1-39.00, 276.00-237.00 and 276.00-2-36.00. All offers considered. $214,999 Call Linda @ 607-434-2125

MLS#86367 - Charming late 1800s farmhouse with original details. 3 barns, 2 ponds, pastures, fields, and horse stalls on 79 acres with amazing views of the Otsdawa Valley! $289,000 Call Lynn Lesperence @ 607-434-1061

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MLS#86474 - Charming 4 BR, 2½ bath Cooperstown village home offers updated kitchen with granite countertops, newer appliances. Large private yard and garage. $220,000 Call Kristi Ough @ 607-434-3026

MLS#87807 - Everything is new: roof/interior/refrigerator/ dishwasher/stove/all flooring/doors/bathtub/shower and more. Roomy LR w/lrg windows, 2 BRs, large kitchen w/dining area. 5.52 acres w/stream. Cherry Valley schools. $83,000 Call Rod and Barb @ 315-520-6512

MLS#87819 - Great starter home, empty nester or income home. Quiet street in Richfield Springs. Close to school, church, shopping. Large yard. Property can be purchased separately or w/Richfield Car Wash MLS #87821 (above). $64,900 Call Rod and Barb @ 315-520-6512

MLS#84612 – Location, seclusion, views on 10.8 acres!

Close to Oneonta and Delhi, this secluded location is convenient to schools, hospitals and shopping. $199,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633

MLS#87103 – 3 BR, 1 ½ baths, 2-story home.

7 miles to Cooperstown. Cooperstown Schools. $69,000 Call Frank @ 607-435-1389

for complete listings visit us at realtyusa . com

Lovely Ranch Home!

Great income producer!

Main Street, Cooperstown $789,900 MLS#86596

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

FEATURED PROPERTY Beautiful well maintained home with 3 bedrooms and two full baths. Master bedroom has a large master bath with jet tub.

Open floorplan with kitchen island, new skylights and a large living room. This home also features a solar-heated pool with decking all around. Large yard with stream. Roof and skylights NEW in 2011. $129,900 MLS #88007

99 Main Street, Oneonta office 607.441.7312 fax 607.432.7580 www.oneontarealty.com

This 3 BR, 2 bath Oneonta ranch is in a neighborhood close to colleges, schools, parks and downtown. Living room, dining room and hall have hardwood floors. Open and bright rooms with private deck off the living room. Two-car garage under home for easy access to the first floor. $159,900—MLS#81617

Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner Cricket Keto, Lic. Assoc. Broker

John Mitchell Real Estate

John Mitchell, Lic. Assoc. Broker Stephen Baker, Lic. Assoc. Broker Peter D. Clark, Consultant

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

E-Mail Address: info@hubbellsrealestate.com Visit Our Web Site at www.hubbellsrealestate.com

sensatiOnaL ViLLage hOme

CanadaragO Lake On 8.6 aCres

(7655) Beautiful 5 BR/2 bath 1880 Greek Revival w/lake access. Custom kitchen opens to sunroom eating area which leads to deck.

LR w/gas fireplace, den/studio, newer windows and roof, 2-car attached garage, plus fully remodeled 4 BR/2 bath private cottage w/history of summer rentals. Shared 250' lake frontage. Richfield Schools.

Hubbell’s Exclusive—$539,000

truLy endearing FarmhOuse

(7675) Superbly kept 4 BR/2+ bath Cooperstown residence has desirable amenities including natural woodwork, den, modern kitchen, cozy LR w/ fireplace and stained glass window, hardwood floors, formal DR w/bay window, 2-car garage, new front porch.

Cooperstown Schools. It’s a jewel!

Hubbell’s Exclusive—$299,000

(7589) Superbly kept 3 BR home w/many extras: formal DR, hardwood floors, modern kitchen,garage, rocking-chair front porch.

Near shops, lake, and golf course. Will capture your fancy! Cooperstown Schools.

Hubbell’s Exclusive—$285,000

(6447) Business block on Main Street. Four 2 BR apts, 2 commercial spaces w/total of 2,500 sq ft. New windows and hot water furnace. Storage space in cellar.

Well-kept stone and brick building. Income producer.

Hubbell’s Exclusive—$495,900

OtsegO Lake LOt in COOperstOwn

(7407) Choice building site with excellent lake views.

Lake access and beach are directly in front of property.

Level lot, easy to build on.

Hubbell’s Exclusive $249,000

216 Main Street, Cooperstown • 607-547-8551 • 607-547-1029 (fax) www.johnmitchellrealestate.com • info@johnmitchellrealestate.com Dave LaDuke, broker 607-435-2405 Mike Winslow, broker 607-435-0183 Mike Swatling 607-547-8551

Joe Valette 607-437-5745 Laura Coleman 607-437-4881 John LaDuke 607-267-8617

Location, location, location!

Exclusively offered at $339,000 Situated a corner lot overlooking the golf course, house updates include stainless steel appliances, soapstonecounters,newlypainted kitchen cupboards, gas kitchen range and mechanicals. Mudroom entry from attached garage. Good natural light, wood-burning fireplaces in LR and DR. Two baths have been totally redone.

Private backyard with patio. Convenient one floor living with a big house feel!

Right place, right house, and right price!

(7644) This 3 BR/2+ bath 1850s remodeled home features large LR, eat-in kitchen, den, newer windows, master suite with sitting room, formal DR, laundry room, garage, workshop, newer roof, large porch. Minutes North of Cooperstown. Richfield Schools.

Hubbell’s Exclusive—$164,500

main street COOperstOwn

COOperstOwn ViLLage COmFOrt

This outstanding property is in the center of Cooperstown’s Business District within a few feet of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

It brings 6 guaranteed parking spaces and ground floor retail space of 1600 sq. ft. Known as the Iron Clad Building, it is a landmarked building, built in 1862 by James Bogardus, who took out a patent for cast-iron architecture in 1850.

OtsegO LakeFrOnt year-rOund (7546) 3 BR/2 bath with 50' of lakefront and enchanting features including hand-hewn beamed ceilings, custom kitchen with oak cabinets, large deck w/hot tub, lake shed, 2 boat lifts, dock for 9 boats. Welcoming 1 BR Gothic guest house. Cooperstown Schools.

Hubbell’s Exclusive $625,000

AllOTSEGO.homes ADVERTISE IN

THE REGION’S LARGEST REAL-ESTATE SECTION! CALL 607-547-6103

Exclusively offered at $139,000 Recently renovated, this 3 BR home is ready for immediate occupancy. On a quiet country road, 2½ miles from the village, w/new front deck for sitting and enjoying the sounds of summer!

Newly redone full bath; ½ bath on first floor.

LR, DR, and den on first floor. New appliances.

Move-in ready home.

Affordable, spacious family home in a nice country setting Exclusively offered at $199,500 Great location close to Cooperstown.

This 3 BR, 2 bath home is move-in ready. Quiet neighborhood, 1-floor living,low-maintenance home. Back and side yards are perfect for children and pets. Full basement could be finished. Large garage. Kitchen/dining area has sliders to a private rear deck overlooking the backyard. Direct TV/Internet w/Clarity Connect.

For reliable, honest answers to any of your real estate questions, Don Olin Realty at 607.547.5622 or visit our website www.donlinrealty.com For Appointment Only Call: M. Margaret Savoie – Broker/Owner – 547-5334 Marion King – Associate Broker – 547-5332 Don Olin – Associate Broker – 547-8782 Eric Hill – Associate Broker – 547-5557 Don DuBois – Associate Broker – 547-5105 Tim Donahue – Associate Broker – 293-8874 Cathy Raddatz – Sales Associate – 547-8958 Jacqueline Savoie -Sales Associate -547-4141 Carol Hall - Sales Associate -544-4144

Don Olin REALTY

Make yourself at home on our website, www.donolinrealty.com, for listings and information on unique and interesting properties.We'll bring you home!

37 Chestnut st., Cooperstown • phone: 607-547-5622 • Fax: 607-547-5653

www.donolinrealty.com

PARKING IS NEVER A PROBLEM

Make yourself at Home on our website http://www.donolinrealty.com for listings and information on unique and interesting properties. We'll bring you Home!

B-8

AllOTSEGO.life

OBITUARIES

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1, 2013

Bruce R. MacDonald, M.D., 70; Bassett Physician Was Navy Chief Medical Officer

PIERSTOWN – Bruce Raymond MacDonald, MD, 70, a former attending physician at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, died Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, in Schenectady, following a battle with cancer.

Born Aug. 12, 1942, at Salem Hospital in Salem, Mass., Bruce was the son of Raymond and Barbara (Tumulty) MacDonald.

A graduate of Washington and Lee University, he later graduated from the Medical

College of Virginia.

He served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and was Chief Medical Officer for Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic.

Upon moving to Cooperstown, Dr. MacDon-

ald served as a urologist at the Bassett Hospital until retiring in 1994.

He is survived by his daughter, Alexis Upton MacDonald, a medical student at St. George’s University. He also leaves behind

County Native Raymond M. Rogers, 79; Architect COOPERSTOWN – Raymond Miles Rogers, 79, a former resident who spent summers at his family camp in Cooperstown, died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, at his home in Clifton Park following a long illness.

He was the son of Raymond H. and Harriet R. Rogers and grew up in Whig Corners near Cooperstown.

He attended Cooperstown

Central School where he excelled in three sports and was honored with the John Terry McGovern Sportsmanship Award.

He received a B.S. degree from SUNY College of Forestry at Syracuse University in 1956 and continued with post-graduate studies in landscape architecture.

Ray was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and

rowed on the varsity crew.

After college, he joined his father in Raymond Rogers & Associates, foresters and landscape architects, in Cooperstown.

Ray served in the Army 11th Ordnance Co. and was honorably discharged in 1965.

On July 21, 1958, he married college sweetheart, Joan Collins of Forest Hills

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and they made their home in Cooperstown. Ray was active in the Cooperstown Junior Chamber of Commerce and was a former member of Otsego Lodge No. 138, F&AM. Ray accepted a position in the State Architect’s Office, NYS Office of General Services and the family moved to Clifton Park in 1968. He retired in 1995.

In Clifton Park he was a member of the Shenendehowa United Methodist Church, serving as a trustee, a member of Clifton Park Elks No. 2466, and volunteered with the Latham Regional Food Bank. He coordinated annual reunions of the SigEp fraternity in Syracuse. His special joy was family gatherings at the Rogers family camp near Cooperstown.

Ray is survived by his son, Brian (Lydia) Rogers of Houston, Texas; daughter, Bonnie Rogers Hoffman of Boca Raton, Fla.; sister, Merrilyn O’Connell of Cooperstown; brother, Don (Rosemary) Rogers of Suffield, Conn.; companion, Ginny Tracey of Clifton Park; cousins, a brotherin-law, nieces; nephews; grandchildren; greatgrandchildren; and many loving friends. He was predeceased by his wife, Joan in 2006.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Shenendehowa United Methodist Church, 917 Rte. 146, Clifton Park, with the Rev. Alan Delamater officiating. A reception will follow.

his companion, Leanne Sweet of Schenectady; as well as many good friends and colleagues.

Burial was private in the Fitch Hill Cemetery, Pierstown.

Donations may be made to the Susquehanna SPCA, 4841 State Highway 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

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

CeLebrAtiNg 27 yeArs of

streNgtH, resiLieNCe, resuLts tHe otsego CouNty CHAmber!

Join us in honoring

At Home CAre

LAurie NeANder, Ceo

The NBT Bank Distinguished Business Award

HugH HeNdersoN

The Eugene A. Bettiol, Jr. Distinguished Citizen

ANNuAL diNNer & CeLebrAtioN of busiNess SponSored by

Friday, March 22, 2013 5:45 pm Hunt Union Ballroom SUNY Oneonta $80/person • $750 table of ten Please RSVP by Friday, March 15, 4 pm e-mail: shelly@otsegocountychamber.com or call: 607-432-4500 ext. 207