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TAKING CARE OF BABY
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
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 Babies from Brookwood School’s infant daycare program observe schoolmates at a French breakfast.
 New Web Site Helps ParentsNavigate Daycare Shoals
By JEANNINE BOHLER
Every parent wants the best for the children, especially when it comes to child-care.
The search for quality child-care just got a little easier, thanks to a new Web site launched by Catholic Charities of Otsego and Delaware Counties. Found at www.child-careconnectionny.com, The Child Care Connection Web site can help Otsego County parents navigate the difficult search for registered child-care options.
Registered child-care providers must meet regulations set forth by the state Office of Children and Family Services. Registered providers are trained in topics including health and safety, nutrition, child development, child abuse and maltreatment, first aid and business development. They are also required to complete background checks.
The new Web site advises parents about things to be aware of in their search for quality care and offers assistance for those seeking child-care subsidies.
Child Care Connection monitors each registered child care provider on a regular basis, making sure the facility and the care are in line with state requirements. The staff is also available for ongoing support, giving providers information and techniques for handling anything from the development of their business to addressing behavioral concerns.
The search is not always easy, according to Christy Houck, director of Child Care Connection of Otsego and Delaware Counties. Severe shortages exist in many child-care categories:
Infant care (6 weeks to 2 years) is difficult to find, she said. Many in-home providers opted out of infant care because it allows them to accept more older children.
Care for school-aged children comes up short during after-school hours, during school vacations and on snow days.
Care during nontraditional working hours – early mornings, evenings and weekends – can be nearly impossible to find.
Rural areas tend to have few registered providers.
Cost is a barrier for many families.
Finding solutions isn’t easy. Many families place their children with relatives or unregistered providers, Houck said. Some providers are legally exempt from the requirements, but many are not. When Child Care Connection becomes aware of these non-compliant sites, staff members work to encourage providers to follow the avenues required to register.
“Many people doing child-care illegally don’t realize that there are regulations. They are not trying to be deceitful,” she said. But complying with the state requirements can only help improve the quality of child-care offered.
The State of New York is currently in the process of adopting a quality-rating system – similar to the star hotel-rating system – that will help parents determine the quality of a program, she said.
While this system is not currently in place, the Child Care Connection Web site provides an excellent starting point for parents searching for care. A simple registration including the ages of children needing care, geographic location and the hours care is needed will provide parents with a list of possible child-care options in their area. The listing include address and telephone number, as well as the ages of children accepted.
The site is also a resource for child-care providers, explaining the training required, listing upcoming courses and supplying other pertinent information to registered providers and those wishing to become registered.
Layoff Prompts This Daddy To Pursue Longtime Dream, Operating Daycare
By LAURA COX
 When the unexpected happened and one young Oneonta dad was laid off his job, it was the perfect opportunity to start a home business, a registered daycare – a Daddy Day Care.
For James Stark, 27, the father of Madalyn, 2 1/2, and Nolan, 8 months, the idea for the daycare originated while he was on family medical leave from Amphenol Corp. in Sidney after his son was born.
“I was sick of working split shifts and never getting family time with my wife and kids together,” said Stark. “I have always wanted to be a teacher, so I decided opening a daycare would be a great way to do that and spend time with my kids.”
After being laid off in October, Stark contacted Catholic Charities and attended child-care provider professional-development classes – 15 hours on topics ranging from cleaning and sanitation to child safety, diaper changing and how children see the world. He also had to have his home inspected for health and safety standards in addition to being fingerprinted and having his background checked by the state.
“Through working with them and training them, most of the people I can say I helped to get registered have done well,” said Rose Grant, Catholic Charities childcare specialist who helped James.
As a registered family daycare provider, Stark can provide care for up to two children under the age of 2, three more over the age of 2, and two school age children afterschool, including his own two children.
Ideal hours for the Daddy Day Care will be 6:45 a.m. – 4:45 p.m., but Stark is willing to budge a little to accommodate, with his wife Jennifer, an Oneonta Middle School phys-ed teacher who has filled out the proper paperwork to sub for the day care, filling in when needed in the evenings.
To prepare for the day care the Starks renovated the basement of their raised ranch home located just south of River St. They dry walled, installed new carpet, plumbed in a bathroom and utility sink, built a bench for the kids to sit down and take their shoes off, decorated the wall with their family’s hand prints – to which all the day care kids will get to add theirs– and got a couple big comfy recliner chairs for kids to relax in. They have multiple child-size tables in addition to an art station and lots of toys – both fun and educational.
“I want to do a letter of the day everyday and have some educational video time and then build on both of those during the rest of the day,” said Stark, “We will also have physical activity time, going on walks to the park and playing in the yard once it is nice out again.”
During the summer when Jennifer is on break from school, the Starks would like to open the day care to more school age children for summer camp type programming by becoming registered as a group family day care. They are currently looking into this process which is done directly through the state and not through Catholic Charities.
Stark is one of a 18 registered family day care providers in Oneonta, the only male.
For more information on the Daddy Day Care, contact James Stark at 432-3049 or attend the open house being held from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Stark’s home located at 148 Henry St. in Oneonta.
Labels: 02-20-09, Daycare, The City of the Hills |
posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:18 AM   |
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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS
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BLOOD DRIVE: If you are feeling extra healthy and generous this friday, February, 20 head over to the Elm Park Methodist Church between 1-6 p.m. and participate in a Blood Drive. The church is lcoated at 401 Chestnut St.
OVER THE AIRWAYS: Sit back and laugh while watching the original production, “Over the Airways,” directed by John and Linda Insetta, of Oneonta. The show will open at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, with a repeat performance at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Foothills Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $20/$18 and there will be a Cash Bar for those 21+.
SPAGHETTI: If it is Saturday night and you don’t feel like cooking, drive out to Milford for the American Legion Spaghetti Dinner. Dinner will be served from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, by donation.
DINNER THEATER: Saturday night First United Methodist Church will be the venue for a performance of “Those Who Loved and Followed Him,” an imagined view of Jesus’ life, performed after a chicken and biscuit dinner. Shows at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at at 66 Chestnut St. Tickets: Adults $10, Children $5, under 5 free. Seating limited, call 432-4102.
BENEFIT GALA AND AUCTION: St Mary’s Parish Center will be hopping from 7 p.m.-midnight on Saturday, Feb. 21 as Orpheus Theatre hosts a Mardis Gras Gala followed by a benefit auction. The event includes food, beverages, DJ entertainment, prizes, raffles and more. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door and $10 for students. Call 432-9392 for tickets.
SUMMERTIME IN THE WINTER: At 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22 the Oneonta Community Concert Band will present its 8th annual “Good Ol’ Summertime in Winter” Concert at the Foothills performing Arts Center in Oneonta. Music with a warm weather theme and a touch of Mardi Gras. The show is free and open to the public, donations accepted to support the band. For more information call 432-7977.
Labels: 02-20-09, The City of the Hills, weekend's best bets |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:16 AM |
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Hometown People
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Otsego County Chamber’s Annual Banquet and Celebration of Business
Oneonta physician Diane Georgeson, MD, PC, was appointed by Governor Paterson to the SUNY Oneonta College Council. She replaces Catherine D. Black, who had served on the council since 1999.
Since 2003, Dr. Georgeson has operated a private practice in obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr. Georgeson completed her medical degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and earned her bachelor’s degree from Bates College. She is a graduate of Oneonta High School and the Percy I. Bugbee School.
Thomas Named Realtor Of The Year
Becky Thomas, broker/owner, Benson Agency Real Estate, has been named Realtor of the Year by the Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors.
Thomas was recognized for high principles and ethics as a Realtor as well as for her civic contributions.
She is involved with the local Board of Realtors at several levels including being a two-time past President.
At the state level she is on both the Housing Opportunities and the Local Board Education committees. Thomas worked on two Habitat for Humanity projects with Realtor groups in Louisiana and has held many local volunteer positions in the community.
Thomas has been a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson since 1994 and owner/ Broker of Benson Agency Real Estate since 2001.
4 Soldiers Reenlist In National Guard
Four soldiers from southern Otsego County have reenlisted in the New York Army National Guard:
• Sgt. Ryan Coon, Worcester, will continue service with the Company C, 2-108th Infantry.
• Spec. Charles Gillingham, Oneonta, will continue service with the 204th Engineer Detachment.
• Spec. Salvatore Fiore, Oneonta, will continue service with the Detachment 1 Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-108th Infantry.
• Sgt. Juan Sanchez, Maryland, will continue service with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 427th Brigade Support Battalion Rear.
TOP STUDENT: Jessica Davis of Unadilla, a sophomore religion major in the University of Vermont’s College of Arts & Sciences, is on the Dean’s List for the fall semester.
Virginia Weaver, Elliott Dorsch To Wed In Tampa In May 2009
Walter and Rose Weaver of Oneonta have announced the engagement of their daughter, Virginia Weaver, to Elliott Dorsch, son of Daniel and Cyndie Dorsch of Tampa, Fla.
Virginia graduated from Oneonta Senior High School in 2001. She then moved to Tampa to attend the International Academy of Design and Technology, earning a degree in interior design. After graduation, Virginia stayed in Tampa and now works for UniFirst Corp., where she is among the company’s top five sales representatives.
Elliott graduated from Berkeley Preparatory School in 2001, then attended Princeton University, where he studied French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Upon graduating in 2005 with a degree in history, he returned to Tampa to help run his father’s business, Fun Bike Center Motor Sports, where he is vice president for finance.
A May 2009 wedding is planned in Tampa. Elliott and Virginia plan to stay in the Tampa area where they will eventually start a family of their own.Labels: 02-20-09, Hometown People |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:15 AM |
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Judge Harlem, Otesaga Named Distinguished Citizen, Business
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Honorees Give Back To Others
By LAURA COX
They gave back, and now they will be honored at the Otsego County Chamber’s Annual Banquet and Celebration of Business Friday, April 3.
Judge Robert A. Harlem Sr. will receive the Eugene A. Bettiol, Jr. Distinguished Citizen Award.
The Otesaga, which turns 100 this year, will be recognized at the NBT Bank Distinguished Business.
In announcing the selections this week, chamber President & CEO Rob Robinson recognized not only the Otesaga longevity and central role in Cooperstown-area tourism, but noted the resort hotel “generously supports area charities and non-profit agencies, including Hospice, American Red Cross, Bassett Healthcare, Otsego County Food Bank, the Cooperstown Fire Department and EMS, among others.”
Judge Harlem, in an interview from his winter home in Venice, Fla., echoed the same theme.
“You cannot take apples from a tree and not give something back,” he said, “because the tree will die. It needs to be nourished and protected: You can’t take just what the community has to offer and not give back. And it has a lot to offer.
“…The city has been generous to me and my family, and I’ve always told my children you should join organizations and do what you can to see that what you have inherited is there for others to enjoy.”
Judge Harlem, who is still an active lawyer, has been practicing law locally since being admitted to the bar in 1953. After years as a trial lawyer, he was elected county and surrogate judge in 1972. In 1978, he was elected to state Supreme Court judge, retiring in 1991. He has continued in practice with his son, Richard A. Harlem.
As a lawyer, he incorporated Opportunities for Otsego and the Oneonta Boys & Girls Club, serving on the board of the latter ever since. He also succeeded in obtaining an injunction to prevent demolition of the Goodyear Lake dam, thus saving the lake. He has been active in the affairs of Orpheus Theater, Hartwick College and, for the past decade, the Fox Oneonta Foundation.
A parishioner at St. Mary’s Church for his entire life, Judge Harlem has been a donor for many years and served as attorney for the Holy Name Society and Newman House.
He was a director of the Oneonta Country Club from 1982 to 1989 and was president for two years. He was a trustee for the Oneonta Elks Club, chairman of the Board for the Oneonta Indians Football Team, and Grand Knight for the Knights of Columbus from 1962 to 1970.
The Otesaga, where a $40 million restoration was recently completed, dates back to March 1908, when Edward S. and Stephen C. Clark bought 10 acres with 700 feet of waterfront on Otsego Lake.
Construction began that summer, and when the hotel opened for its first guests on July 12, 1909, is was “conceded to be the finest summer hotel” upstate. It had 179 sleeping rooms, including 26 rooms on the top floor for staff.
Today, The Otesaga – the name is said to mean “meeting place” – has 135 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites, and serves breakfast, dinner and a buffet lunch. It has nine meeting rooms; the largest is the ballroom, which can accommodate 250, and 60 percent of the hotel’s business comes from group meetings and conferences.
Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page, Otsego County Chamber’s Annual Banquet and Celebration of Business |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:37 PM |
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‘Over Airways’ Beams Into Oneonta Theater
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By LAURA COX
 Broadway shows are tested in New Haven – some, in theater parlance, bomb in New Haven.
The Insettas may be starting a local version. They tried out a seminal version of their original “Over The Airways” in Worcester a couple of years ago.
But this was no bomb.
It was so well received, Linda Insetta received thank-you notes in the mail.
“Never before, in all the shows I have done, have I received thank-you notes,” she said during a break in rehearsals the other day.
Oneonta audiences now have a chance to see what took Worcester by storm: “Over The Airways” premieres in the City of the Hills at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21, at the Foothills Performing Arts
Center.
The production has only been shown a handful of times and this is the first time it will show in-full in Oneonta – for the Insettas’ hometown audience– with a cast that includes many local actors.
The show was written in just two weeks after Insetta was asked, last minute, to direct a production of “A 1940’s Radio Hour” for the Catskills Community Players four years ago and discovered the cost of the script was “astronomical.”
“I asked them to push auditions back by a week and I wrote something myself,” said Linda, “the part that took the longest was finding the original radio skits.”
“Over the Airways” takes place in the 1940s and is a throwback to the days of radio skit shows and musical acts.
The original shows were one-acts, but Linda wanted a story line, so her play has two.
The first sets the stage – the radio show host and an actress are having an affair, and their off-air relationship is negatively effecting their on-air performance. The second act works through the story line through performances of skits from “The Bickersons” and “The Bob Hope Show.”
Many of the parts were written with specific actors in mind. Linda Insetta and her husband, John, Dan Chien, Gary Herron and Joe Pondolfino will be reprising their roles. The Insettas’ grandson Andy Payerski will be making his debut. Other cast members include Steve Dillon, George Wells, Kyle Beckley, Oxana Golovina and Les Grummons.
The show came together in under a month’s time, only possible because some of the actors had done the show before, and since the second act was “on script” – read, the way radio shows were – there were relatively few lines to learn.
The actors practiced just twice a week starting in mid January.
The cast is excited about performing at Foothills. “They have been very very helpful,” Linda said of their host. “They helped make recordings for our actors to take home and practice with and they are doing the posters, programs, and publicity.”
Staging at Foothills allowed Linda to tap talent from Orpheus, Catskills Community Players, Leatherstocking Theatre Company and other organizations. She and John, who is also the producer, hope to do more shows at Foothills and collaborate with the other actors.
“There is a lot of talent in Oneonta, “ John said.
The show is topical in another way.
“Much like the original time these skits were shown, the country as a whole needs to laugh,” John said. “They are tired of being made to feel depressed. The show is light and fun and the audience plays a part as they would have then.”
One of the scenes in the show includes letters to many of the local men and women who are serving in the military and lists the names of friends and family of the actors. The Insettas’ son, Maj. John Michael Insetta, did a 2005 tour in Iraq and a 2008 one in Afghanistan. He will see his parents’ show for the first time this weekend.
Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page, Over The Airways |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:31 PM |
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City of the Hills
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 SEWARD AT APPLE: State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, planned to tour manufacturer Apple Converting in Oneonta on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and receive an update on owner Mike Manno’s “Made In The USA” labeling project. The tour happened after deadline, but a report may be found at www.hometownoneonta.biz.
DIVISION I: Oneonta High School Senior Chacha Naito intended to sign her Division I letter of intent to play soccer for the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders on Thursday, Feb. 19. Naito was a four-year varsity starter for the OHS girls soccer team and was offered a half scholarship to play for the NJIT team, located in Newark.
JUMP RECORD: With registration at 363 -- 280 jumped last year -- the Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump is expecting a record turnout Saturday, Feb. 21. The jumping starts at 12:30 p.m. sharp on the lake’s east side. Final registrants, call Jamie or Brenda Waters at 286-7101.
CAFES, OLE! In addition to Common Ground, downtown Oneonta is in for three new eateries: Mama Nina’s is opening Capresso, a coffee shop, at 215 Main; Jim Baldo is opening Fiesta, a Mexican restaurant, in Clinton Plaza; and a country buffet is supposed to be opening at the former Burger King.
NETWORK! Cleinman Performance Partners, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is sponsoring The Otsego County Chamber’s first networking lunch of the year at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Bella Michael’s restaurant on River Street. Reservations, call Pam at 432-4500, extension 201.
MARK CALENDARS: An Oneonta Hunger Concert, to benefit the local food pantries and feeding programs, is planned at 7 p.m. Friday, March 13, at St. Mary’s Church.
Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:26 PM |
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Hartwick Hosts Ex-Poet Laureate, ‘Favorite Poems’ Advocate Pinsky
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Editor’s Note: Former U.S. poet-laureate, who will be reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, during the New American Writing Festival at Hartwick College’s Shineman Chapel. Oneonta’s David Hayes helped arrange this e-mail interview with the poet from his Boston area home.
What have you learned from the Favorite Poem project that surprised you? What’s been the latest revelation? Is the idea to keep it going indefinitely?
There have been surprises involving particular poems – so many people of different ages, regions, ethnicities all choosing Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” for example. And the greatest surprise, of course, was the enormous response, with virtually no budget for publicity – and the requirement that people write actual sentences!
There is now a one-week Favorite Poem Project Institute for K-12 teachers, every July, at Boston University. And the readings continue – one for Falmouth Reads, also here in Massachusetts this month. On an international level, people are talking about an FPP in the Arabic-speaking world.
• Will your reading on Feb. 25 at Hartwick College have a particular theme? What are the themes, issues you are currently addressing in your poetry? Can you give specific examples that you think have worked particularly well?
The first and last poems in “Gulf Music” both try to understand what we get from the ancestors and what we pass on as we leave the stage. The title poem refers to an organization that the great New Orleans musician Professor Longhair and his wife belonged to: organized to protect the community from chaos and destruction in the wake of hurricanes and floods.
The organization had historical understanding, but it wasn’t passed on quite enough, the process of ancestral consultation didn’t quite make it. Dante – sort of translated for the very last poem – had his equivalent of rage I have felt at political figures and events of a given moment. He passed on more than the topical, however.
• Do you suggest that people write poetry? If so, how would someone get started?
Find something you love and say it aloud to yourself. Take pleasure in the sounds and rhythms. That pleasure will guide you in your own writing. My best illustration of the pleasure is in the FPP videos: they are on a DVD that is packaged with the anthology, “An Invitation to Poetry,” and on the web at www.favoritepoem.org.
• Since mentioning Robert Frost, it occurred to me that Maya Angelou has probably achieved a similar super-star status. How does that happen?
I don’t take “super-star status” seriously. Frost is a great poet – “Directive” and “To Earthward” and “The Most Of it” represent the art at its most powerful and inspiring. Compared to those poems, the postage-stamp image, the TV mentions, all of that baloney, is just silly.
In entertainment, in music and comedy, in film, “super-star” can mean something good, or it can mean something as substantial as cotton candy. Is Buster Keaton a “super-star”? Is Preston Sturges?
We can all name uninteresting super-stars.
• And what role is poetry playing in American life today? What role should it be playing? What makes a successful “public poem”? Do you have a favorite?
Poetry is a fundamental human art, like singing and dancing. I don’t think of it as a brand of soap or shoe polish that rises or falls in popularity, dependent on marketing. It is a basic part of us, as can be discovered by reading Dr. Seuss or Edward Lear or Walter de la Mare or Robert Louis Stevenson to a small child.
The art is intimate, in that it depends upon the reader’s actual or imagined voice. And it is communal or “public” for the same reason. The medium is the reader’s voice: (so) all real poems are public, and private.
• Personally, when did you know you were going to be a poet?
It was never a career decision for me and the word “poet” – not part of the social milieu of my childhood and youth – never came into it. As long as I can remember, I have thought almost constantly about the sounds of words. And I have had this proclivity to make things up, with lots of fusing and confusing of fact and invention. I wanted to be a musician, but gradually discovered that there was an art based on the sounds of words, and I was better at it than at playing saxophone or keyboard.
Labels: 02-20-09, Front Page, Robert Pinsky |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:19 PM |
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Letters to the Editor
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Twelve Tribes’ Friendliness Impressed Visitor
To the Editor:
Having had some first-hand contact with The Twelve Tribes, I read the piece in the Feb. 6 edition of Hometown Oneonta with some personal interest.
While I am not a member of this movement, so to speak, and most certainly not an appointed or even self-appointed spokesperson for them, I should like to add my voice to the fray.
The article, I felt, was quite fair in giving weight to both sides of what is turning out to be a controversy. My own views are not based on anything on the Internet nor on other people’s opinions.
I had my first contact with The Tribes some time ago just by coming across a few of the male members at a mall parking lot. Their “different” appearance attracted me to speak with them.
While beards and long hair had become quite common since the ‘60s (I’m bearded and pony-tailed myself), something about their appearance stood out to me. We talked a bit and I learned that they were going to establish themselves in Oneonta, and also that they all had Hebraic (Biblical?) names, which gave me reason to mention my own Hebrew name.
I eventually ran into some other Twelve Tribes people, having a short cursory contact which raised my curiosity to a bit higher level, since I’m always curious about various faith groups and their beliefs and customs.
When I had heard about them holding a Bat-Mitzvah celebration at the Elks Club, across from their own communal living quarters, I decided to attend, inasmuch as that celebration was definitely of a Jewish bent, albeit the displayed confirmation of girls was fairly new to many of the Hebraic faith tradition.
I was obviously an outsider, yet never felt like an outsider despite the curious yet friendly looks I got, mostly from children openly curious. I was offered some tea and certainly friendliness. I even re-met someone I had met during my years as a radio show host at Hartwick College. I felt more welcome there than in probably most Christian churches that I’ve visited.
The encounter there led me to leave a copy of my book at their Chestnut Street abode, with a promise to return for a Shabat (Sabbath) Eve service. Which is what I’ve now done maybe 6-8 times, staying on for the agape meal following.
The celebration consists of guitar music, singing and circle-dancing that includes even the youngest of children; as well, various members speaking up about their spiritual beliefs, and praising Yashu.
Visitors are always welcome to attend the Friday evening service, at 7 p.m., 81 Chestnut St., Oneonta. It’s rather informal, and not at all a “service’ in the usual manner of the various Christian cult sects.
I use the word “cult” here not in any pejorative way, as many people are wont to do when speaking of some group that they deem to be off-center or not mainstream.
A cult, and let us get back to original definitions, is just a group of people who believe in basically the same thing, not necessarily anything to do with a spiritual faith belief.
One can belong to a motorcycle cult, or ... as quite prevalent in today’s western world ... the television cult, being brainwashed for hours daily.
It’s the same as the word “religion,” which originates from the definition of being devoted to something. Some people seek affection religiously, and some seek fame religiously, etc. However, as mostly used, it’s allied with godly or spiritual devotion. Faith-based.
I wouldn’t dare to try to define the theological/spiritual beliefs of The Twelve Tribes. For one, I certainly am not clear about them, and sometimes I seem to be confused about it all, but I can say, since I was told as much, that they do not belong to either the Hebraic (Jewish) faith or the Christian faith, although my own view is that it’s kind of a blend of the two faiths.
I have been to their Common Ground facility and I marvel at the great renovation they’re undertaking. It seems to be proceeding at a snail’s pace, a job that could have been done in half the time by any contractor, but with the loving attention being put into every detail, the quality of the craftsmanship, the devotion to it being right, it takes time.
Will The Common Ground be used as a way of recruiting new members, a way of proselytizing? I don’t doubt it. Isn’t that what Christian coffee-houses are meant to do, to convert or confirm beliefs?
Of the three Abrahamic cults, the only one that doesn’t seek converts is Judaism; the other two, Islam and Christianity, are always seeking new members, most often in the past via the sword. So let us not subvert the use of a liquor-free, good-food atmosphere. Certainly an alternative to the noisy bar scene downtown Oneonta.
In a report on the progress of the construction work, it had also been mentioned that there would be no proselytizing at Common Ground, but I myself could easily accept that there are brochures left around.
I, myself, have no interest in being immersed in any cult; I remain a free spirit.
IRWIN GOOEN
Emmons
Labels: 02-20-09, Hometown Views, Letters to the Editor, Opinion |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:17 PM |
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Mom, Pop Ventures Provide Local Jobs; Leave Them Alone
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While the dip now being experienced is the most severe in a half-century, we talk about economic “cycles” for a reason. If things are good, they’re going to get worse. If they’re bad, they’re going to get better.
We’ve also heard a lot in recent years about how markets are self-regulating. It turns out they are self-regulating – with a vengeance. The role of prudent regulation is to ensure the good times are as long as possible and the dips as benign as possible.
And we’d heard much praise for the “category busters” – Home Depot drove out (most of) the local hardware stores. Toys ’R’ Us the local toy stores. CompUSA the local computer vendors. Wal-Mart everything else.
The idea is that, by buying in bulk, they can offer the cheapest prices. In a dip, however, they can disappear overnight – witness Circuit City in Binghamton – taking needed jobs with them. The biggies don’t care about the little markets.
•
One benefit of a dip is we better appreciate the good times.
Those poor folks in San Francisco who experience a temperate climate year ’round can’t know the delight of recent thaw after sub-zero January. They can’t look forward, like we are now, to that first burger of the season that will soon be searing on the grill.
And as we experience macro-economic buffeting and the contracting of Big Retail, we better appreciate localness and diversity in the business community.
Which makes Governor Paterson’s push to allow supermarkets to sell wine so wrong right now.
What doesn’t he get?
First, wine sales account for 70 percent of independent liquor stores’ business, so the governor would be driving out a whole sector of local economies.
Where it’s unlikely supermarkets will add much employment to handle the new line, the loss of liquor stores would eliminate dozens of jobs in Otsego County alone.
Yes, the state would experience a windfall – the governor claims $105 million; the liquor-store industry estimates half that – as supermarkets spend $1,500 apiece for wine-selling licenses. But that money would be lost as independents close.
The Otsego County Chamber struggled with this issue – President & CEO Rob Robinson said he received 40 missives within a few hours after sending out a blanket e-mail soliciting member response.
The chamber’s Business Action Committee and then the full board debated the convenience issue, but ended up falling squarely on the side of small business, the engine of the nation’s – and local – job creation.
“It’s the wrong time to assault another small business,” said Robinson. “It doesn’t level the playing field. If you want to level the playing field, the legislature needs to allow liquor stores to sell beer and soda. Let them be a beverage center, not just a liquor store.”
It’s bad policy, he continued, to formulate policy simply to generate revenue, adding, “Either they reform the whole system or they don’t.”
“At this point,” he said, “we need to protect every small business we have.”
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Sharon Wilsey, who operates Best Wines & Liquors on Oneonta’s east end – she and her father, Charles Briscoll, ran S&S Liquors at Southside Mall for years – has been an outspoken opponent of the governor’s suggestion.
One point many people miss, she said, is that supermarkets will get wine directly from the Sutters and Mondavis of this world, eliminating the distribution system that supplies the independents and all those related jobs: buyers, supervisors, salesmen, people who work in warehouses, order takers, secretaries, bookkeepers, truck-drivers. These are people who would be spending their local salaries in other local ventures.
As noted here before, everyone goes merrily on his or her way during the good times, like that fabled grasshopper. That’s when reform should happen. Human nature being what it is, no one’s motivated to change things until we’re in a crisis.
This is a case in point. Now’s not the time to cause short term pain. Governor Paterson, put the measure aside. Revisit it – or not – when the good times return.
For now, leave independent liquors stores alone.
Labels: 02-20-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:16 PM |
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The Healing Art
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SAM GOODYEAR
ART BEAT
‘It’s nothing serious,” I told a friend on the second day of five that I recently spent at A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta.
“It’s always serious,” was the rejoinder.
That’s true. And because it’s serious, there is a lot of inevitable, serious thinking that takes place. That’s the “lemons” part of the equation. There was lots of “lemonade” to be had, however, in several surprising ways.
My roommate, for instance, was Roop Verma, an internationally acclaimed sitarist (protégé of Ravi Shankar) who gave me a DVD of “Renaissance Dalai Lama,” a film soon to be released for which he composed the musical score. An arts columnist could do worse in such circumstances.
Medicine is an art, of course, perhaps even more than it is a science, and I found myself surrounded by artists of every description in the form of physicians, nurses, aides, staffers, clergy, and numerous “-ologists.”
I found myself enjoying the position of “work-in-progress” and discovered a lot about the demography of a region I thought I knew reasonably well.
I invariably asked whoever it was that was seeing to one particular need or other where he or she was from. All of a sudden places like Afton, Sydney, Mount Vision, Laurens, Edmeston, Davenport, became places with people rather than just signs on the road. I found myself feeling unusually grounded and connected.
The day before my release, I received the visit of a hospital employee who had seen my name on the roster of patients. I have known her for more than two decades and it was a warm surprise to see her.
In our brief chat, I mentioned the exceptional work of photographer Richard Duncan. Had I seen his most recent book, “Otsego County,” she asked. I had not known of its existence, in fact. She just happened to have a copy downstairs and a few minutes later returned to my room with it to look at.
Old Master Photographs is how I describe Mr. Duncan’s exceptional images. There is a thrilling mixture of balance, harmonious color, light and dark, attention to detail, care and affection in every picture.
They are arranged according to individual town and by the time I came (reluctantly) to the last page, I felt as though I had been taken on an excursion through the entire county.
There were places I had never heard of. There were houses, monuments, buildings I never would have imagined in my own back yard, treasures for the eye and for the historian’s curiosity. Strange to think that the closest thing to being in jail (besides boarding school and the Army) should result in such an exciting sense of discovery.
Now that I have been sprung, and have taken seriously some of that serious thinking, I will make a point of seeing for myself what Richard Duncan so generously shares in his book.
Get a copy of “Otsego County” without delay.
Labels: 02-20-09, Art Beat, Sam Goodyear |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:15 PM |
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Leaving A Stamp
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EVAN JAGELS
NIGHT LIFE
The Stamp Collectors were once paid $100 in cash to play one Lynard Skynard song at a graduation party in West Oneonta. During the song, there was something of a dirt bike demo, adding flavor to what drummer Orion Palmer thinks was “Sweet Home Alabama.”
He told me this as he scraped chips of blue paint (peacock feather blue, to be precise) out of the inside of one of his drums in the kitchen of the Autumn Café before the band’s show Friday, Feb. 6.
As proprietor of both an interior painting and silk screening business and playing plenty of gigs with the Stamp Collectors and the Native Sons Jazz Trio, among other groups, such a sticky mess seemed inevitable.
The show was part of what the band has named the “Beating a Dead Horse Tour.” A rather graphic idiom, but they say it is because the musicians play the same songs in the same town to the same audience.
Singing the song, “I Don’t Want to be in NYC” and announcing that there is no real reason to leave Oneonta, it is apparent that the Stamp Collectors have embraced an image as “Oneonta’s house band.”
This may not be an exaggeration, however, as Darcy Gibson, Ned Brower and Orion Palmer (all of whom play multiple instruments and sing) have been a part of some of Oneonta”s best known bands for well over a decade – Darcy and Orion have played together for the past eight years in the Mystical Steerhead Faction, later just Steerhead.
The other Friday, the Stamp Collectors proved themselves an engaging blend of epic rock and roll, dirty country and all things far and in between. I have never heard a band go from “Psycho Killer” to “Whipping Post” so smoothly – in fact, I’ve never heard it done.
And at the height of all this rocking, they made the tasteful decision to switch to a country shuffle with a conscious overuse of superlatives.
They call themselves the Stamp Collectors because Ned Brower can claim relation to composer Edward McDowell (1860-1908), who was honored by the United States Postal Service on a stamp in 1940. Ned has further immortalized his relative with a tattoo of the stamp on the inside of his bicep.
I greatly anticipate the next opportunity to catch the Stamp Collectors. According to Palmer, “We have the ability to go to Anytown, USA, and have the crowd singing.”
While this is most likely true, it looks like the Stamp Collectors have a future in Oneonta.
Labels: 02-20-09, Evan Jagels, Night Life |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:17 PM |
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Coach Zeh To Enter State Basketball HoF
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CHRIS McSWIGGIN
SPORTS BEAT
Oneonta High School Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Bob Zeh has been invited to join the elite members of the state Basketball Hall of Fame.
On March 28, he will have his name in the same sentence as coaches like Jim Boeheim, Doc Saurers and the legendary Nick Lambros, who he coached under at Hartwick for a few seasons. Zeh, whose first season at The ’Wick was graced with an NCAA Final Four appearance, stayed for two more seasons before moving back to high school ball.
Zeh, who girls’ basketball team has an 18-0 record, has been coaching at OHS for 28 years. After coaching the boys, he took over the girls team nine years ago. Coaching 44 seasons overall, Zeh has the experience and the love of the game to earn such a prestigious honor.
“Bob has been coaching since Moby Dick was a minnow,” said girls’ JV Coach Matt Miller, jokingly. “He’s a great guy and a great coach.”
More than just a great coach, though, Bob Zeh is a great person. He has an uncanny way of connecting with his players on and off the court. Those who he coached in the past, such as former OHS player Frank Microni, speak highly of Zeh.
Athletic Director Joe Hughes, who played for Zeh and was a sophomore at OHS when the coach first came to the program, said he learned everything he needed to know about the game of basketball.
“I was a coach on the JV level for some time, and I was always more of a baseball guy, so Bob taught me everything there is to know about the game of basketball and really helped me along,” said Hughes.
“Basketball is in his blood, it truly is. I was very fortunate to play for him, I was very fortunate to coach under him and now I am very fortunate that I am the athletic director here and he is the one coaching our kids.”
Zeh, referred to by some as the “ambassador of basketball” for the Oneonta region, played for Saurers at SUNY Albany. Zeh had the great opportunity of playing under a legendary coach and now has a chance to sit side by side with him in the history books.
Speaking with Zeh myself about this great honor, “the coach” was humble, “It is a great honor for me to be in the same sentence as so many fantastic coaches, and I have to say I am beyond honored.”
Zeh will walk across the stage of honor, accept his nomination, and continue to coach one of the best teams in central New York.
“You don’t want to play golf with him either,” said John Horne, a long-time play-by-play announcer who currently works at the Baseball Hall of Fame, “He’s a great golfer too.”
Labels: 02-20-09, Bob Zeh, Hometown Sports |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:14 PM |
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Hometown History
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125 Years Ago
The first regular meeting of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was held according to announcement. A goodly number were present. Mrs. Ottman of the Presbyterian Church was added to the list of vice-presidents and Mrs. Watkins was appointed superintendent of the juvenile department for the lower school house.
This department embraces instruction in a temperance catechism, teaching the nature and effects of alcohol on the human system. Six or eight workers are needed in this division of labor. Who will respond? We look to our churches for help.
February 1884
100 Years Ago
The Local News – The Musician’s Union of Oneonta has appropriated $25 from its treasury for music for the Washington’s birthday party to be given at the municipal building Monday evening for the benefit of Fox Memorial Hospital.
A genuine African prince, Nazu Vitulu, gave an interesting stereopticon lecture at the Y.M.C.A. hall last Sunday afternoon. The hall was crowded, every seat being taken and many people being unable to get within hearing distance. Over sixty views were exhibited and were explained by the speaker.
The Clionian fraternity gave a dainty operetta “A Japanese Girl,” at the Normal School building last Friday evening. All parts were exceptionally well taken and the stage decorations were entirely in keeping with the character of the entertainment. The operetta was so successful that it has been decided to reproduce the same Friday evening of this week. The public is invited and tickets are 25 and 35 cents each.
February 1909
80 Years Ago
Beloved by all who knew her was Mrs. Sarah D. Winne, who died at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Riley J. Warren, at 12 Walnut Street, early on Thursday morning. While fond of the old scenes about her birthplace and longtime home at Pleasant Brook, and spending her summers there, she had spent her winters with Mr. and Mrs. Warren since the death of her husband, the late Ozias Winne, occurring Feb. 15, 1925.
For several years she had been in failing health, due to a nervous trouble and for some time past she had suffered from Bright’s disease which became acute about three weeks ago. Sunday morning last, she suffered a paralytic stroke. Born Sarah Diefendorf at South Valley, Oct. 8, 1849, she spent her life there and at Cherry Valley before her marriage to Ozias Winne on Feb. 9, 1870.
February 1929
60 Years Ago
Branch Rickey, President of the Brooklyn Dodgers declares: “Night baseball is all right. The figures show that our pitchers pitch and our hitters hit about as well at night as they do in the afternoon. Furthermore, night baseball is a lot better for the box office.”
But, there’s a fly in that ointment. How can the kids go to ballgames at night when they ought to be home in bed? And, by the same token, what is going to happen to organized baseball if the boys lose their interest? Baseball is a boys’ game fundamentally, no matter what the super-professional interests may do! And, it is a problem for them to study.
February 1949
40 Years Ago
Former Town of Laurens Supervisor Charles Z. Coutant, 55, missing from his home in Laurens for more than six months, has been located alive in Missouri. He was identified by police as the former Otsego County solon, and is in good health. The announcement was made Saturday night by State Police Invesitigator Kurt M. Gunther of the Oneonta substation.
Gunther declined to name the community in which Mr. Coutant was located. Dr. Madeleine F. Coutant, the former supervisor’s wife and director of the Neighborhood Youth Corps of Otsego County, said she had been informed by state police that her husband was alive and well, but said she was unaware of his exact location. “All they told me is he’s just outside St. Louis,” she declared. “I don’t think they are allowed to say where he is. I hope to hear from my husband now that he knows we’ve been looking for him,” Dr. Coutant said.
Investigator Gunther said the information which led to location and positive indentification of Mr. Coutant came from an anonymous telephone call Feb. 10. He said Chief of Police Joseph F. DeSalvatore of Oneonta received the call and relayed the information to Gunther who has been directing the search for Mr. Coutant.
February 1969
20 Years Ago
AIDS has left its mark throughout the country and claimed almost 50,000 victims. In Otsego County, the numbers associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome are far less dramatic. Only three AIDS-related deaths have occurred in Otsego County and 43 in seven neighboring counties as of Sept. 30, 1988 according to Barbara Coyle, director of education at the Southern Tier AIDS Program, Inc. in Binghamton. Although only 46 people in the eight-county region have been diagnosed with HIV, believed to cause AIDS, Coyle said her organization currently counsels 130 clients.
February 1989
10 Years Ago
During the first six weeks of 1999 the City of Oneonta has had 63 percent more burglaries than a year ago. Oneonta police have investigated 26 burglaries compared with 16 break-ins a year ago according to Detective-Sergeant Joseph V. Redmond. The value of properties stolen is more than double last year’s at $33,100.
The costs for burglary victims are increased because many decide to install security lights and new door locks. In some recent cases burglars have entered through unlocked windows or resorted to breaking glass in doors to gain entry. Police are also investigating several “Peeping Tom” incidents.
February 1999
Resources for Hometown History have been provided courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library.
Labels: 02-20-09, Hometown History |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:59 PM |
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