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For 205 Years
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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, March 21, 2013
Volume 205, No. 12
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
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VISIT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
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AFTER FIRE, RETIRED PROFS BACK IN FRANKLIN MOUNTAIN LOG HOME/B1
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No Contest, Low Turnout 3 Newcomers Join Village Board
By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
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n 2010, it was a historic outpouring in the village elections, with Republican mayoral candidate Joe
Booan besting his Democratic rival, Jeff Katz, 431329. In all, 760 ballots were cast that year in a village of 900 homes.
The next year, some 600 votes were cast, as Ellen Tillapaugh led the ticket with 434 votes and Democrats trounced a full GOP slate.
Last year, with no contested seats on the Village Board, fewer than 200 people voted. The unopposed Democrats swept the
CRAYON FEST FUN!
Village Honors Pro Baseball’s Black Pioneer
The Freeman’s Journal
Chef Joe Carentz of the Knights of Columbus slices corned beef at the annual St. Patty’s Day feast Sunday, March 17, at St. Mary’s Parish Hall, Cooperstown. Tom Gallagher advises from the background/OTHER
‘Bud Fowler Day’ To Include Street Renaming, Symposium By JIM KEVLIN
PHOTO, A2
RR Crossing, Street Repair Due To Start
COOPERSTOWN
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COOPERSTOWN
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ired of getting your fillings shaken driving over the railroad tracks at Walnut and Chestnut? Help is on the way. Monday, March 25, a sixmonth project begins between Walnut and Delaware that will replace water and sewer lines, then rebuild and repave the street. During construction, traffic between Chestnut and Linden will be open to local traffic only, as well as school buses and school staff. Drivers are being asked to seek alternate routes. GIRLS HOST GUYS: The Girls on the Run of Central New York is hosting a Guys Night Out 6-9:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, at Brewery Ommegang, to raise awareness about GOTR. Only 70 tickets, $100 apiece. Tickets via PayPal at www.girlsontheruncny.org, or call Sherrie Kingsley at 264-3377.
field, with mayoral hopeful Katz netting 176, and trustee hopefuls Jim Dean and Cindy Falk at 171 and 177 respectively. This year, the trend continued: 100 ballots were cast. Please See VOTE, A3
Brave mom Jenn Howarth brought all four of the kids: Ally, 6; Charlie, 4; Hannah, 2, and Sam, 6 months.
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
Joseph Longhi, 7, goes airborne on the inflatable basketball court at the Crayon Carnival Saturday, March 16, a highpoint of the CCS spring. In the background, volunteers Kari Gagnon and Jacob Lansing keep watch.
Angelica Palmer instructs Ariah Maziemder, 3, (with mom Jubaida) on all things Polish at the Stroll of Nation’s adjunct to the carnival.
LEARNING LAW: The Fracking Bans Due county Planning Department In Appelate Court is planning a training session for local officials on the FoI and Open Meetings Law ppeals against the towns of 5:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Middlefield and Dryden’s April 3, in SUNY Oneonta’s fracking bans are schedHunt Union Ballroom. Reg- uled to be argued before a panel of ister by April 1 at 547-4225. judges at the Appellate Division, Third Department, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 21, in Albany.
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See www.allotsego.com later that day
n a year where no living Major Leaguer will enter the Hall of Plaques, African-American pro-baseball pioneer Bud Fowler may offer a boost his hometown’s recession-battered Main Street really Bud Fowler grew needs. up here long beAlready, two nafore it was Basetional networks have ball Town U.S.A. expressed interest in covering a two-day celebration the Village of Cooperstown is planning the weekend of April 20-21, and attention may grow from there, Mayor Jeff Katz hopes. “It’s just a great story,” said Katz, in detailing two days of celebratory activities. “It’s a great human story about a black man in 19th century America, in Cooperstown, who fought the good fight to protect his right to do what he wanted.” At 4 p.m. Saturday, April 20, the mayor and trustees will unveiled a street sign, Fowler Way, that leads from Chestnut Street to Doubleday Field. VIPs, including U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-19, and the MLB’s official historian, John “Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Mayor League Baseball” Thorn, will then proceed to Doubleday, where a plaque will be unveiled in Fowler’s honor on Please See FOWLER, A7
Chief Found $400,000+ In Uncollected Parking Fines By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
(R
eader Advisory: Read on, there’s a happy ending to this story.) After his appointment last June, Village Police Chief Mike
Covert began getting familiar with his department from A to Z. At P, for parking tickets, the seasoned officer received a bit of a shock. “There were a lot of people ignoring the tickets that were issued,” the chief said in an interview. Please See TICKETS, A3
Chief Covert examines an image of the hand-held tickettaking computer. Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD O v e r
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