Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Letters to the Editor

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Fissures, Flaming And Fracking

To the Editor:
Re: Editorial on Natural-Gas Drilling.
I noticed a few minor errors, which do not effect the general thrust of your piece. Many of these are from what was presented. Unfortunately, I was away and could not make one of those meetings.
• “’octopus’ of horizontal pipes.” While multiple horizontal runs can radiate from one vertical well, early drilling will probably be confined to a single run.
• “explosions that create cracks.” Rock is cracked by rapidly increasing water pressure, but there is no explosion.
• “requires 3.8 million gallons.” More accurate to say 2-4 milllion. Fracking is done in stages, with each stage fracturing a few hundred feet of run and requiring about half a million gallons. (Pumps do not have the capacity to do more.) How long the horizontal run is determines how many stages and how much water is required. Last I heard, the record was nine stages.
• “16 wells can be sited per square mile.” Vertical wells can be sited on 40 acres or 1/16 square mile. Horizontal wells with a single horizontal run require more land, maybe 60 acres depending on how long the run is. If one well had more horizontal runs, it would require even more land and therefore fewer wells per square mile. (DEC is encouraging multiple runs.) There is the complication that this is for a single shale layer, for example the Marcellus. There could be a separate series of wells for another layer such as the Utica of Herkimer. In Chenengo Co. this is happening, resulting in overlapping drilling units.
• “may be ‘flamed’”. They have to flare (flame) every well to test the flow rate.
• “connected to the Millenium pipeline.” While the aim is to sell gas downstate through the Millenium, there are two other pipelines, Dominium and Tennessee. Nornew wells in Chenango are shipping their gas north to Dominium.
• “create fissures a half-mile long.” Companies run computer simulations before fracking to design fracking that will give them the length of fractures that they want. Companies don’t want to fracture beyond the shale layer.
BRIAN BROCK
Franklin

If It’s So Bad, Then Ban It

To the Editor:
I have sent the following letter to Rep. Michael Arcuri and Senators Gillibrand and Schumer:
The National Resource Defense Council’s April Newsletter contained a reference to the Interior Department’s banning of Oil Shale exploration on federal lands under its jurisdiction in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. 
The article, in part, states:
“Under the ruling, thousands of acres of western lands will be spared the devastating effects of oil shale development – a process for turning sedimentary rock into liquid petroleum – until further consideration by the Obama administration.
“Oil shale development would deplete water resources, destroy wildlife habitat, dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and generate large amounts of toxic waste.”
Unless I am mistaken, the Interior Department’s concern is based on the hydrofracking technology developed by Halliburton which is being deployed to exploit the Marcellus Shale Plate and which promises dire consequences to our potable water supplies and our pristine landscapes in New York’s Southern Tier.
I ask that you to urge the EPA to issue a blanket ruling related to the hydrofracking process that addresses the inevitably dire consequences of this proposed exploitation.
TOM PRITCHARD
Hartwick

Again, Bill Magee Shows Himself As Friend To Farmers

To the Editor:
Farmers in Central New York should be grateful for the leadership of Assemblyman Bill Magee during the recently completed state budget process.
Assemblyman Magee was instrumental in restoring many items to the agriculture portion of the budget that were originally slated to be cut.
Programs to promote maple syrup production, maintain animal health and grow the dairy industry were all saved thanks to the hard work of Assemblyman Magee. He also saved prize money awarded to young exhibitors at county fairs.
This was a very difficult year for the budget process and tough choices had to be made. Assemblyman Magee recognized the value of agriculture for the Upstate economy and fought hard for our farm families.
DEAN NORTON
President
New York Farm Bureau
Batavia

Labels: 04-10-09, Hometown Views, Letters to the Editor, Opinion

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:24 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

EXTRA! Read All About It: Good Economic News!

Be still, beating hearts.
You may have seen the lead headline in the New York Times on Tuesday, April 7: “Poll Finds Brightening Outlook on U.S. Economy.”
The proportion of our fellow citizens who feel the country is on the right track has more than doubled from 15 percent in mid-January to 39 percent today, the best rate in four years.
Today, 20 percent think the economy is getting better, compared to 7 percent in January. (Conversely, only 34 percent think the economy is getting worse, compared to 54 in January.)
If, as Emily Dickinson had it, “a deed knocks first at thought,” things are trending in the right direction.
•
U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, spent that same day in Otsego County, and he observed that positive signs are popping up like crocuses around his district. Remington Arms in Ilion is hiring, as are construction companies in the Utica area. The stimulus package has prevented teacher layoffs.
And this is even before the stimulus is more than a trickle.
(Incidentally, if you own land in flood plains, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is seeking to buy development rights at up to $970 an acre, one of the first manifestations of the American Recovery & Investment Act. But you have to register your interest by the end of the day Friday, April 10, so if you read this in time, call 547-8337.)
The reality is that, even in bad times, there is much forward motion.
Custom Electronics of Oneonta makes proving the point easy.
Over the past year, when all the signs were headed in the other direction, Custom has rolled out REDI – Renewable Energy Development Inc. – and is working toward its goal of 190 employees at the Winney Hill Road operation on the city’s West Side over the next three years, according to Carolyn Lewis, Otsego County economic developer.
•
REDI is as American as innovation. Custom Electronics worked with the Sandia National Laboratories in developing “supercapacitors” – energy-storage cells that will be needed for hybrid cars and other innovative uses, military and industrial.
This is an exceptional example, but not an exception in itself.
Great Brook Enterprises in New Berlin has been ramping up its solar-panel production in recent months. Oneonta’s Cleinman Performance Partners, consultants to optometry practices, has been hiring, and plans to expand its offices at Main and Pine – at the end of Lettis Highway – into an adjoining building.
Someone was talking the other day about Aunt Suzi’s Sewing, Susan Whitmore’s tailoring enterprise outside of Milford that has expanded to include a half-dozen seamstresses. Sidney Federal Credit Union – its home office adjacent to Amphenol buzzes with activity – is planning an addition this summer to accommodate back office operations for its growing branches.
Carolyn Lewis also mentioned Enviro Energy in Wells Bridge, which is developing the only grass-pellet manufacturing operation in the state.
Yes, there have been layoffs at the major institutions that do provide a fairly stable economic base – yes, Amphenol and its Sidney neighbor, Mead Westvaco, plus SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College.
Layoffs at large entities are dramatic, sure, but less dramatically, incrementally, the engine of human ambition, enterprise and imagination continues to whir smoothly along.
•
More good news occurred in recent days with the General Assembly’s passage of a $131.8 billion spending plan. Sure, it’s $10 billion more than this year, but that’s covered by prospective federal stimulus spending.
As noted here before, it would have been counter-productive to ramp up the federal spending just to chop state spending. What would have been the point of that?
The budget positions the Empire State – incidentally, it was approved by the April 1 deadline, another plus – for as speedy a rebound as possible. Let’s hope it’s so.
Let’s not be Pollyannas about it, but we can proceed with confidence that the economic picture a year from now will be brighter than it may be today.

Labels: 04-10-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:37 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Hometown History

125 Years Ago
It is not too much to say that the concert by the Mendelssohn Quintet club, last Saturday evening, was one of the finest ever given in Oneonta, if not the finest. The honors seem to be about equally divided between this club and the New York Philharmonics. No one who attended will soon forget the marvelous unity of action which characterized the movements of the players.
Says a well known critic: “It seemed as if one artistic soul had taken possession of five minds, working through the fingers and minds of each at once.”
The charming presence and brilliant execution of Mme. Cora Glese, soprano, capped the excellence of the concert, and made it a fitting finale to the series of splendid entertainments which Oneonta people have been privileged to enjoy.
April 1884

100 Years Ago
Company G of Oneonta has an opportunity to secure for itself the unique museum of fire arms owned by the estate of the late James A. Whitney of Maryland. Mr. Whitney, who was a New York patent lawyer, inventor and author, was preparing prior to his death to write a history of firearms and had got together for his purpose a collection of 124 rifles from 40 to 200 years old and of Arabian, Chinese, German, French, English and American make; also a quantity of pistols and bayonets.
His heirs must settle the estate but are anxious to have the collection remain intact and in this county. For about $700 the collection can be secured.
April 1909

80 Years Ago
All branches of the Salvation Army throughout the world, including the Oneonta branch at 113 Main Street, celebrated yesterday the 100th anniversary of the birth of William Booth, its founder. At the Oneonta army rooms Adjutant Allan S. Whorton preached on the life of William Booth, comparing him to Moses and the patriarchs of old. The service was particularly well attended and enthusiastic and a new conversion was made at the close of the meeting.
Born in Nottingham, England, April 10, 1829, Booth was destined “to make religion grow where none grew before.” In his life-work, he was greatly aided by Catherine Booth, his talented and charming wife, who caught the attention of the intellectuals of her day. General Booth began his labors in the slums of Whitechapel, little dreaming that his slum parish was marked to become a worldwide movement.
April 1929

60 Years Ago
Volunteer firemen en route to or from a fire now may display a blue light on their automobiles. A bill permitting use of the light on the front of the car has been signed by Governor Dewey. It was introduced by Assemblyman Charles A. Cusick, Weedsport Republican. Previously, volunteer firemen were permitted to display only shields on their own automobiles.
In past years the volunteers had sought permission to use red lights on their cars, but it was turned down because of possible confusion with police cars, ambulances and other emergency vehicles. Private automobiles are permitted to have only white headlights and yellow fog lights in front, and red tail lights.
April 1949

40 Years Ago
Otsego County will avail itself of a program to help families of low income to obtain assistance in securing more adequate diets. The Otsego County Board of Supervisors last week adopted a resolution to take advantage of the Food Stamp Act by authorizing Kenneth G. Engell, Commissioner of Social Services, to request the designation of the county for participation in the program. The resolution was passed with one dissenting vote, a supervisor who preferred an alternate program known as the Commodities Distribution Plan. Both programs are administered under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Federal Food Stamp program provides that eligible families may purchase stamps at a bargain and use them for the purchase of such groceries, etc. as they may need. The Commodities Program calls for the actual distribution of food items provided by the government. Engell estimates that 1,500 low-income persons in the county can benefit from the new program when it goes into effect. Currently, Otsego County is one of only six counties in the state that are not participating in one of the programs.
April 1969

20 Years Ago
Otsego County voters were denied the opportunity to vote on Off-Track-Betting (OTB) when the county board of representatives, defeated the OTB referendum 10 to 4 at last week’s meeting.
Rep. Joseph Kenyon, a long-time proponent of OTB said that he and Rep. Alexander Shields investigated Off-Track-Betting in other counties. Their findings indicated that OTB did not increase the welfare rolls, crime, probation violations, or attract prostitution, as had been charged at an earlier public hearing. Rep. Deane Winsor was one of the four who voted in favor of OTB. “I fail to understand why we are so reluctant to let the public make the decision. Fourteen people (the board) can’t act like God. We have a moral obligation to let the public decide.”
April 1989

10 Years Ago
Anne Cairns Federlein, provost at the State University College at Oneonta, is leaving the area to become President of Ohio State University’s Newark Campus according to a campus memorandum issued by SUCO President Alan B. Donovan.
Federlein came to SUCO in 1993 as dean of behavioral and applied science and became provost in 1995. During her SUCO tenure Federlein was noted for her work in creating the Center for Social Responsibility and for supporting accreditation processes for SUCO’s education department and its business department. Federlein said she leaves Oneonta and SUCO with “mixed feelings.”
April 1999

Resources for Hometown History have been provided courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library.

Labels: 04-10-09, Columns, Hometown History

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:23 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

‘Oneonta Sports Legacy’ Series Begins In Next Edition

By CHRIS McSWIGGIN

The OHS Lady Yellowjackets running to within points of a state title is just the latest chapter in the city’s storied athletic history.
Over the entire history of OHS, eight other teams have made it to state finals:

• 1952 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Tennis Doubles Champions John Whitaker & Warren Gray
• 1953 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Tennis Doubles Champions John Whitaker & William Campbell
• 1955 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Tennis Doubles Champions William Whitaker & Pete Putnam
• 1956 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Tennis Doubles Champion William Whitaker & Pete Putnam
• 1982 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Golf Medalist Kevin Burnsworth
• 1993 NYSPHSAA Ski Championship Giant Slalom Champion Brooke (Baker) Bass
• 1993 NYSPHSAA Ski Championship Slalom Champion Kara (Hattem) Balliet
• 2001 NYSPHSAA Federation Indoor High Jump Gold Medalist Toni-Lee McDaniels

Hometown Oneonta will revisit these athletes and several others in the “Oneonta Sports Legacy” series, providing information first hand from Joe Campbell, researcher and the historian of OHS athletics.
As star athletes move off the field, others take their place.
Akiva Garfield won a state medal in swimming, and he is only 8 years old. Not an OHS swimmer yet, but the future is bright. The girls basketball team will be down Madie Harlem and Meredith Ridgway, but should still be strong. The men’s baseball team has high expectations and girls soccer continues to churn out college athletes.
But “Oneonta Sports Legacy” is a tribute to those who have been there before and how past OHS state champions may have set the tone and the expectations for the athletes we know and love to watch today.
Next week we will explore and look in depth into the life and times of the first athletes on the list, John Whitaker and Warren Gray, 1952 NYSPHSAA Intersectional Tennis Doubles Champions. We will go behind the scenes and look at life after OHS and what the sport of tennis really meant to these players, as well as acknowledging their on-field accomplishments.
What are they doing today?
Warren Gray lives in Newark Valley, has been married 52 years and has six children and seven grandchildren (one grandchild is playing lacrosse for Syracuse University, which won the 2008 NCAA title).
John Whitaker lives in Terre Haute, Ind., with his wife Royce (formerly Royce Bagg, OHS ’54). They have three children: John, Lynne and Bill. John is a professor at Indiana State University, a world authority on bats (see http://www.indstate.edu/ecology/faculty/whitaker.htm), and the director of the Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation at Indiana State University.
Do you want to know more about them? Open up next week’s sports section of Hometown Oneonta as we bring to you the greatest that Oneonta has to offer in a series that will open the doors to much of the City of the Hills’ historic yet uncovered athletic past.

Labels: 04-10-09, Blasts From the Past, Chris McSwiggin, Hometown Sports, OHS Girl's Basketball

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:17 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Gardening With History

JANO NIGHTINGALE

AS YOUR GARDEN GROWS

On a recent visit to The Farmers’ Museum on a cold and blustery Saturday in April, I had the pleasure of talking with Gwen Miner, supervisor of domestic arts and Pat Young, interpreter at Lippitt Farmstead.
These two experts in early 19th century farm life were able to take me back to the experiences that farm women would have had in the kitchen and garden during early April in Upstate New York.
Unlike those of us who have access to grocery stores, if your family was “living lean” during the month of April in Upstate New York you would be gathering vegetables produced in the fall season and preserved over the winter months. As the farm wife your job would be to hunt through the almost frozen kitchen garden to find ingredients to produce a large pot of soup for the family. A few months before, in October, you would have covered your carrots, radishes and other root crops with a bed of straw, which protected these crops from the freezing and thawing cycle.
Pat had gone out to the kitchen garden behind the Lippitt farmhouse on the museum grounds to harvest fresh carrots as the first ingredient for her soup. She led us through the root cellar where she found turnips, onions and beets which were perfectly preserved months after the harvest in October. She would combine all of these ingredients in her black kettle to make a hearty soup for the family.
Now if we, as modern cooks, went out to our yard and root cellar what would we find?
I don’t know about you, but my cold frame holds nothing at this time of year except weeds and I do not have a root cellar. To gather the ingredients for my favorite white bean soup, I look in the freezer to find some chicken stock I made two months ago. I will combine this with a fresh chicken and Swiss chard purchased from the grocery store and canned white beans from my pantry.
All of this made me think about the process of planning a vegetable garden that can be utilized for more than just a few months in the summer. Do we simply plan our gardens to produce fresh tomatoes, peppers and lettuce that will be gone after August? Or do we plan ahead to plant crops that can be easily preserved to last us through the winter and into spring?
During my visit, Gwen and I also had a conversation about the seeds used at the Lippitt Farmstead which are suitable for local gardeners in Otsego County and available at the museum’s Todd’s Store. Heirloom seeds, such as those of the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin and Connecticut Field Pumpkin are two that produce a hearty crop and can be saved throughout the winter. These pumpkins can be used for soups, stews, breads and muffins and held in the root cellar for months alongside the turnips, beets and onions.
According to Barbara Kingsolver, author of the recent best seller, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – A Year of Food Life” (Harper Collins, 2007), “a pumpkin is the largest vegetable we consume. Hard-shelled, firm-fleshed, with fully ripened seeds, it’s the caboose of the garden train. Cooking pumpkin from scratch may not be for the fainthearted, but it is generally not that hard.” Ms. Kingsolver and her family set out to deliberately eat food produced in the same place where they worked and lived over the course of one year. Her book traces the trials and tribulations of eating locally, much like those of the families in the 19th century Lippett Farmstead.
My trip to The Farmers’ Museum and Ms. Kingsolver’s book made me think about planning a vegetable garden for its long term sustainable possibilities, not just the short term.
To learn more about 19th century vegetable gardening techniques that can be applied to your garden, Gwen Miner and the staff of The Farmer’s Museum will be hosting Heritage Vegetable Gardens, on April 11, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Participants will spend the day learning about historic and current practices for planting and maintaining heritage vegetable gardens. The fee for the day-long workshop is $40. For further information call The Farmers’ Museum at (607) 547-1450.
Good luck planning your vegetable garden! For questions about your garden contact us at info@hometownoneonta.biz.

Jano Nightingale is a community gardener and garden consultant. She has helped to build numerous community gardens in Otsego, Schoharie and Putnam Counties, and conducts local gardening workshops for children and adults.

Labels: 04-10-09, AS YOUR GARDEN GROWS, Columns, JANO NIGHTINGALE

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:16 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

For Granddad

91 Years Later, Oneonta Woman
Wins Medals For Gassed Soldier

By LAURA COX

UTICA

The unrecognized act of heroism happened 91 years ago.
But Oneonta’s Joanne Lentner, granddaughter of Private First Class Floyd E. Jackson, just wouldn’t let it go.
And Monday, April 6, in U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri’s office in the Alexander Pirnie Federal Office Building on Broad Street, Utica, the congressman presented the resolute woman with her grandfather’s Purple Heart.
That marked the end of a long journey that began in May 1918, when a 22-year-old from Herkimer was drafted into the Army.
Sent to fight in France with the 51st Pioneer Infantry, he was out on patrol, scouting for his unit, when the German army release chlorine-gas in his direction.
Before he put on his own mask, this young man took a deep breath so he could shout to his unit: Put on your gas masks. His action no doubt saved many men’s lives, but he fell victim to the gas himself, was hospitalized, then discharged in May 1919.
When Private First Class Jackson, passed away in 1980, just nine days short of his 85th birthday, the U.S. government had not recognized him for the long-ago lung injury incurred in the line of duty.
His family wanted to correct that injustice.
While he was still alive, Jackson’s daughters, Ruth Abele of Herkimer and Marilyn Card of Schuyler, took on the challenge of getting their father a posthumous Purple Heart, the medal awarded to U.S. soldiers all the way back to its creation by George Washington.
But they were unable to marshal sufficient proof.
In the days before computers, the paperwork alone was daunting enough.
A year and a half ago, Joanne Lentner began her push, using the Internet to find proof of her grandfather’s service, proof of his birth and death, proof of his injury and proof of her family’s relation to him.
Some of these she had on hand – such as her grandfather’s original paystub booklet and discharge certificate – others had to be tracked down at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Mo., and the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Buffalo.
“I had everything I needed, but the papers seemed to keep getting lost in the shuffle, so I finally contacted the congressman’s office and here we are,” said Lenter the other day at the ceremony.
The Purple Heart and WWI Victory Medal with Meuse-Argonne Battle Clasp were presented in her grandfather’s honor.
“Dad would be so proud to know he received the Purple Heart, as we are,” said Abele.
“I think he’s watching,” added Card, Joanne’s mom.
For Joanne, it was a proud moment.
“It’s something that I was aware of my entire life,” she said. “My mother didn’t complain, but she was sort of wistful and wished it had been acknowledged.”
On this happy day, Jackson’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren donned artifacts of his past.
Marilyn wore his VFW commander’s ring; Joanne, his baby ring; Joanne’s son Andrew, 6, his great-grandfather’s bow tie.
Other memorabilia brought along included a folded flag, a portrait of Jackson and an old green hat that was part of his uniform.
“It all seems complete, seeing it all together,” said Abele. “You know what I mean?”
And everyone did.

Labels: 04-10-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 5:17 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

IN THE CITY OF THE HILLS

First place runner Nick Madison of Oneonta crosses the finish line at the SADD Strides for Safety 5K Walk/Run Sunday, April 5.

Anita Briggs/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

DOWNTOWN TRIO: Otsego County economic developer Carolyn Lewis, former Hartwick College President Richard Miller and Main Street Oneonta’s Nancy Scanlon have asked the Common Council to designate them “downtown developer,” to begin the work put on hold by the departure of Jeff House a year ago.

NEW OLD CLOCK: The Lions Club will be placing Oneonta’s town clock back in public, in the walkway between Main Street and the parking garage.

GRAND OPENING: Dairy Queen will offer balloons and free samples of their new Orange Julius product noon-9 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at its 413 Chestnut St. location.

YOUNG GO-GETTERS: Assembly Pete Lopez, R-Schoharie, will address the Tri-County Young Professionals at its annual membership luncheon at noon Thursday, April 16, at Stella Luna. Comic Nick Marra will offer the entertainment. To register, call Kerri Insigna at 267-8541.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Two OHS Yellowjackets, Dalton Smith and Philip Wright, have committed to play football for St. John Fisher College this fall.

LEAGUE OF HIS OWN: Ted Spencer, National Baseball Hall of Fame curator credited with the exhibit that inspired “A League of Their Own,” the hit movie, has retired after 27 years in Cooperstown.

Labels: 04-10-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 5:02 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

From ‘Heart To Hand,’ Defeating Life’s Hard Times One Stitch At A Time

By LAURA COX

“We want to start a virus of our own, a virus of doing something good for someone else,” said Barb Utter, the proprietor of Country Fabrics and Quilts in Oneonta, to a room of twenty women sitting at their sewing machines the morning of Saturday, April 4. The topic of discussion, how negative the news has been recently and how these quilters were going to help defeat the negativity.
For $25 a person, Country Fabrics and Quilts, Junkyard Bakehaus and Creative Threads – a fabric and quilt shop located in both Greene and Binghamton – offered a workshop where each participant was given breakfast, lunch and snacks, and all the fabric to make a finished quilt, with the stipulation that the quilt be given away to someone else.
The idea came about when Utter and Bakehaus owner, Theresa Paulson were sitting together one day about a month ago talking about how sick they were of all the negative news they had been hearing of late.
“We put our heads together and came up with the idea for a class where we would supply all the fabric and food, with the condition that everyone had to give their quilt away and they had to come here happy,” said Utter.
The women who signed up were from all over the area, from Richfield Springs down to Otego and East Meredith. Everyone wanted to make a quilt and each thought long and hard about to whom they would give theirs.
For Patricia Lent of Oneonta, it would go to her husband’s boss at Wal-mart Transportation, who has been more than supportive to her family during her husband’s two tours in Iraq with the Air National Guard.

For Karen Jansma of East Meredith, her quilt will be sent to her sister from Fairbanks, Alaska who, first, broke a shoulder bone when her sled dogs took off unexpectedly, dragging her behind and, then, while in Seattle for surgery to fix her shoulder, broke her ankle when tripping on a sidewalk.
“She needs something to cheer her up,” said Jasma who will send the quilt to the rehabilitation center in Seattle where her sister is mending.
And Andria Finch, of Otego will give her green, blue and purple quilt to her grandmother Georgia who has cared devotedly for her nieces, nephews and grandchildren, endured a battle with breast cancer, and lost her husband and son in the same week.
“She needs a fresh start, and this quilt will match the colors she is painting her house,” Finch said.
Twenty stories were relayed by the women from behind their sewing machines. Each showed the heart put into the quilts made that day and the participant’s gratefulness for the opportunity to do something for someone they care about, especially in these days of job loss, economic trouble and other bad news.

Labels: 04-10-09, Country Fabrics and Quilts, Hometown People

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 1:33 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

110 Barbies Help Mark Family Agency’s 100th

By LAURA COX

Oneonta’s Family Services Association is turning 100.
Barbie is turning 50.
Dr. Eric Dohner, proprietor of Oneonta Laser Derm & Day Spa, saw a certain symmetry in that.
He offered a gift certificate for services to any patient or client who donated a Barbie, and Friday, April 3, the day before the Family Services Association began celebrating its centennial, he donated 110 of the leggy dolls – plus one Ken – to the effort.
The dolls, over time, will be given to the association’s younger clients.
The next day, 25 supporters of the association gathered for a panel discussion, “1909-2009, A Century of Caring,” at the History Center, 183 Main St.
The Family Service Association started in 1909 with a meeting of Oneonta area residents representing local churches who were concerned with dispensing charity amongst the needy.
“They saw people who needed help and they found a way to do things,” Mary O’Connor, the associaton’s executive director for the past 22 years, said of the founders.
The association’s president, Debbie Chicorelli, was delighted to listen to the panel discussion, deepening her understanding of an organization she has been with for only two of its 100 years.
Located at 277 Chestnut St. – for years it was run out of a small room on the second floor of the Wilber Mansion – the FSA provides its patrons with a clothing closet, emergency services aid, and family and parenting workshops.
When O’Connor became executive director, the organization was much smaller: “We didn’t have a budget, our income would equal our expenses. It was a very small quiet agency.”
On moving out of the mansion in 1994,the association was unsure what the future held. It had always been downtown.It had never owned a building. It never had more than one full-time and one part-time employee.
Now the agency has a $170,000 annual budget and employs three full-time and one part-time, as well as utilizing the help of four SUNY Oneonta interns and many volunteers.
“It’s never quiet now,” said O’Connor.
In 1989 the agency served 300 families; in 2008, it served 1,400.
A private organization, FSA continues to depend on the charity of others: local foundations, donations from individuals and churches, money raised at the annual golf tournament and funding from United Way.
Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta have also been generous, especially during the school-supply drives when pupils come back from summer break.
“The doors are more open now and people are more aware, people ask me if there is more need, and I am not sure there is more need, but there is always need, and we encourage people to come back because we give people a resource to get what they need,” said O’Connor.
On FSA’s 100th, O’Connor said she is most excited about the staying power of the agency and how this celebration is really “a statement of people’s commitment and how it says something about people caring about people.”
Other centennial events include an open house 1:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22; a spaghetti dinner 5-7 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the American Legion, and a golf tournament at Ouleout Creek Golf Course at 8 a.m. on Sunday, June 21.

Labels: 04-10-09, Family Services Association, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:07 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Mayor Charts Future

Nader Proposes Charter Revision In State Of City

By JIM KEVLIN

He painted a picture of a city that is fiscally sound and forward looking, a model for similar New York State communities.
He called for charter reform to streamline, strengthen and professionalize City Hall, a challenging agenda for his last eight months in office.
But Mayor John S. Nader, in his fourth and final State of the City speech, raised concerns about the divisive tone of recent public debate, and called for a coming together.
“Discord and distrust are not the same as debate and dialogue,” he said in his Tuesday, April 7, address to Common Council. “If we distrust the people with whom we differ, we share geography, but not community.”
He referred to the recent debate over how rental housing – much of it student housing – is changing neighborhoods and causing concern to year-around residents.
And urged the Zoning Task Force charged with implementing the 2007 revised Comprehensive Master Plan – including sorting out the various uses in various zones – to move forward “with all
deliberate speed.”
“Quality of life is our greatest asset, socially and economically,” he said. “It must be nurtured with the full understanding that those very institutions that make Oneonta so vital bring new people to our community each and every day.
“Striking the appropriate balance between our desireability as a destination and our desire to remain a community of contiguous, coherent neighborhoods remains a real challenge.”
He called for an “ongoing community dialogue,” but also an “institutional foundation,” in the form of charter reform and the hiring of a key administrator in City Hall, to allow “sustained community improvement” to happen.
In the latter area, he called for an individual – previously, he has suggested perhaps a city engineer – to oversee code enforcement, public works, water and waste water, and engineering.
He called rewriting the city charter “long past due,” and said he intends to create a charter commission.
“Simply put,” he said, the charter “is dated in too many ways, unclear or contradictory in others; its lines of accountability are unrealistic, the duties of some elected officials are obscure at best, it established a chief executive position without sufficiently empowering the offices, and is certainly not adequate to the needs of a modern, progressive city.”
His remarks were greeted with applause.
The mayor, who is completing his first term, announced last month that he has accepted the position of provost at SUNY Delhi, where he has been a dean, effective the first of the year.
The challenges there, he said, precludes him from seeking another term.

Labels: 04-10-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:45 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Hometown People

Jessica Olive, Justin Stanley To Wed

Jessica Olive and Justin Stanley of Mount Vision are engaged to marry.
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Pamela Wilber and Michael Olive of Oneonta.
Her fiance is the son of Joan and Jack Stanley of Murfreesboro, Tenn., formerly of Oneonta.
The wedding ceremony and reception is planned Sept. 25 at the Foothills Performing arts Center.

Volpe Credited With 60 Closings In Year, To Be Honored In Texas

Ginger Volpe of Century 21 Chesser Realty won awards for Top Producer, Top Salesperson and Top Listing Agent for Otesgo, Delaware, Chenango and Madison counties at the Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors annual awards banquet.
She will also receive the Centurion Producer Award at Century 21’s international convention in San Antonio for closing more than 60 sales in a calendar year.
Volpe has 15 years experience in real-estate sales, including the past five with Chesser, which has offices in Oneonta and Delhi.

Crouse-Powers To Head Learning Association

Amy Crouse-Powers, SUNY Oneonta professional writing tutor at Center for Academic Development and Enrichment, has been installed as president-elect of the New York College Learning Skills Association board.
Sheila Simon, assistant to the director at the center, was elected board secretary.
Crouse-Powers and Rita Richards, also at the center, presented academic papers at the association’s 2009 symposium.

NEW SCULPTURE: “Sunspots At Sea,” a sculpture of 88 12-inch fused glass discs, has been installed in the cruise ship “Sovereign,” commissioned by the Spanish line Pullmantur. Slade is co-chair of Hartwick’s Department of Art and Art History.

EDITS BOOK: Jeremy Wisnewski, assistant professor of philosophy at Hartwick College, has co-edited a new book, “X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse.” Dominique Thomas, ’10, provided a photograph; Nick Forst, ’09, provided an illustration.

OFF TO GHANA: Hartwick College senior Vicki Luppino, an RN at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown, has been awarded an Emerson Scholarship to study HIV in Ghana, for her senior independent practicum.

WINS DESIGNATION: Alden Banks, Prudential Fox Properties associate broker, has been awarded the Accredited Buyer Representation (ABR) designation by the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council of the National Association of Realtors, one of 16 realtors in Otsego County. With $6 million in sales over the past few years, Banks has been recognized as a Top Producer by the Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors andis in the Prudential Real Estate’s Honor Society.

Labels: 04-10-09, Hometown People

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:39 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Together Again, The Barack And Michelle Of Their Day

Adams Family Highlights Fenimore Show

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

As Paul D’Ambrosio tells it, it was a eureka moment.
Being a curator, he confessed self-deprecatingly, the New York State Historical Association vice president never thought beyond displaying Browere’s life casts of early American patriots together.
Until ... Until planning “American Treasures From The Permanent Collection,” an exhibition of artworks that have been stored away in The Fenimore Art Museum’s dusty storage rooms in recent years. You haven’t seen these in a while.
Why not show Browere’s life cast of President John Adams alongside an oil portrait of his Abigail, his famed first lady?
Why not indeed?
“This is the first time we’ve had them together,” said D’Ambrosio, as he led a tour during a day-long open house at The Fenimore, Saturday, April 4.
Why not group disparate paintings that are linked only by Cooperstown?
And he did, including James McDougal Hart’s 1852 “Morning: Scene on Otsego Lake” (that’s Mount Wellington in the background) and “Friend or Foe?” by James William Glass Jr., inspired by Cooper’s “The Prairie.”
Why not group examples of stylized figures in dreamlike landscapes – one is from Jane Forbes Clark’s personal collection – or Ralph Fassanella’s “In Memory of The Triangle Shirt Workers” with other urban scenes?
Why not indeed?
As D’Ambrosio tells it, the exhibit exemplifies not only museum founder Stephen C. Clark Sr.’s taste – the museum’s two examples of “Peaceable Kingdom” are among the very best of Edward Hicks’ many versions – but his affection for Upstate rural life, the foundation of The Fenimore that we find today.
That’s why the curator chose “Cider Making In The Country” (1863) by George Henry Durrie, as reflecting the founder’s artistic preference. It’s right there as you enter the exhibit.
Some other highlights:
• Samuel F.B. Morse’s portraits of Samuel Nelson, the future U.S. Supreme Court justice who practiced in Cooperstown, and Nelson’s wife Catherine. Look at the faces: They are strikingly contemporary. (Same visit, Nelson’s Law Office can be seen in The Farmers’ Museum, across Route 80.)
• The detailed “Ship in Dry Dock,” capturing the activities of a New York City shipyard in the 1830s, “not easily documented in any other source,” D’Ambrosio said.
• “Haying,” (1882) by Theodore Robinson, has the farm husband holding up a water cup to his wife, who is driving the team of horses, exemplifying to the curator the affectionate teamwork necessary to make a 19th century family farm succeed.
Then there’s Joseph Heller Hidley’s “Poestenkill NY.”
The original plan was to build The Farmer’s Museum around a green, New England like, but paintings like this one convinced the planners the form should be a “crossroads village,” which is how Upstate villages tended to develop, D’Ambrosio said.
He recalled showing the 1862 painting to a friend, and noted the dramatic dark clouds.
Said the friend, “What you are looking at is Troy burning.” That Hudson River town, six miles to Poestenkill’s east, was largely destroyed by the worst fire in its history that very same year.
There isn’t a single piece in the show that doesn’t offer a surprising perspective to the local viewer.
D’Ambrosio called it “an art collection that belongs here.”
“American Treasures” is only on display until May 6, so see it now, or risk missing it.

Labels: 04-10-09, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:32 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Horsing Around At The Symphony

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

ONEONTA

Dr. Tony Cicoria, chief of orthopedics at Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich, has been run over, left on the side of the road and struck by lightning – an event which, in 1994, triggered an insatiable desire to hear and play classical music. 
Yet – in his words – these things “pale in comparison” to the nervous tension he felt before picking up the conducting baton and leading the Catskill Symphony Orchestra in John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”.
Dr. Cicoria was joined by WDOS-AM and WSRK radio personality “Big” Chuck D’Imperio and Hartwick College President Margaret L. Drugovich as guest conductors at the Catskill Symphony Orchestra’s annual Cabaret Night Saturday, April 4.
Held in SUNY Oneonta’s Dewar Arena in the Alumni Fieldhouse with round tables for eight, two cash bars, coffee and dessert, the cabaret is the Symphony’s main fundraiser.  It raised $22,019.
The guest conductor competition provides a major draw and is a crowd favorite. 
The three honorary contestants each had a go at the first few sections of “Stars and Stripes” and each, it might be said, made up for any lack of skill with enthusiasm.
Dr. Cicoria’s Harley Davidson leathers contrasted nicely with the orchestra’s attire.
“Big Chuck” stopped the orchestra mid-song when William Goertemoeller trotted up on a hobby horse to give Chuck – who in another life is an inductee in the state Country Music Hall of Fame – a cowboy hat.
The winner of the competition, however, was Dr. Drugovich, who, in honor of Hartwick’s new three-year program, conducted “Stars and Stripes” in three quarters of the time – a feat which, after a rough beginning, fell into a somewhat coherent waltz.
At $1 per vote with no limit on the number of votes one could cast, the event was, as the emcee, state Sen. Jim Seward, remarked, “…under the Chicago style of voting.” 
Constituents were encouraged to “vote early and often.”   
Special recognition must go to Jason Curley, a Hartwick visiting assistant professor of music, who at moment’s notice flawlessly filled in for the CSO’s music director, Charles Schneider, who was unable to attend due to illness.
In addition to the raucous competition, the program’s first half featured medleys from Richard Rogers’ “Oklahoma” and “The King and I” as well as Calvin Custer’s arrangement of songs in “Tribute to the Big Apple”, featuring selections from “New York, New York”, “42nd Street”, and “Lullaby of Broadway”. 
It was the second half, though, in which the night’s atmosphere was truly that of a cabaret. 
Guest Vocalist Margaret Carlson presented an orchestrated program of songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter and others from the Great American Songbook. 
Carlson performed the Broadway material elegantly and had a natural presence in front of the symphony orchestra.  It was apparent that she has spent a lifetime very near and dear to these standard and timeless tunes.
A Minnesota native, Carlson spent the early part of her career in Florida, working with Gene Hunt, a New York pianist. In 1985, she was awarded the “Outstanding Musicianship” award from the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival and her second CD, “This Christmas … my favorite things” received a Grammy nomination in the “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” category. 
Saturday, May 2, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra will feature its very own concertmaster, Michael Emery, who will perform Karl Goldmark’s (1839-1915) Concerto in A minor. 
The 2009 season finale will also feature the music of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), including “Overture of Luisa Miller,” and the remarkable “Four Sacred Songs.” 
The performance begins at 8 p.m. in SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom.

Labels: 04-10-09, Evan Jagels, Night Life, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:27 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Art With A Twist

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

COOPERSTOWN

22 Main St., Cooperstown’s be-pillared village hall, houses a variety of important institutions, the least joy-inducing of which may be the office you go to in order to cough up the dough for your parking tickets.
If you want to explore the endless world of books and literature, the Village Library of Cooperstown is cordially at your service.
If your soul needs aesthetic sustenance, then walk in the front door and proceed to the rear of the building, where the Cooperstown Art Association will provide solace and stimulation.
Take the spirited opening of several exhibitions Friday, April 3, at the Cooperstown Art Association.
In Gallery A, you’re in for visual thrills, not dissimilar to the positive effects of a roller coaster.
Cooperstonian Jeremy Holmes, a personable young sculptor and master carpenter, has festooned the space with huge swooping and curling bands of wood quite unlike anything we have ever seen before, except at a Luna Park or Coney Island.
Beautiful. Enthralling. Liberating.
There are a number of smaller pieces along the same intertwining, swirling lines. When asked if his middle name was Mobius, Mr. Holmes replied in the negative.
“I construct abstract wood sculptures,” he said recently, “which emphasize materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work. Seen as three-dimensional line drawings in space, the installations collaborate with unique found architecture to construct a new and unexpected space made by joining long thin lengths of wood together.”
Talk about art with a twist!
A certain twist is also to be seen in the art of Jean Lyon, a Cooperstonian by way of New Zealand. We are all familiar with the art of the quilt, and if you have ever seen the ones from Gee’s Bend, Ala., you will have experienced it an extraordinarily high level.
Ms. Lyon’s creations, though smaller than traditional quilts, offer arresting surprises in concept and execution.
Rich materials, beadwork, and clever use of smaller elements to create actual pictures provide rewarding examples of fibre art. Elegance and sensuality. You will find them in Gallery B.
Both exhibitions are on display through Wednesday, April 29. While you’re at it, don’t miss the second annual EcoArt/Trendy Trash exhibition upstairs in Gallery C, as well as the traveling exhibition of award winners from the WSKG Art Auction Competition on display in the foyer and hallway leading to the galleries.
Many thanks to CAA director Janet Erway for the excellence of these offerings.
Post Script: Now that you have already noted the BIG READ double feature kick-off event on Saturday, April 18, at the Oneonta Teen Center (“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Mark Twain”), mark Wednesday, April 22, on your calendar for an “open mike” evening of Mark Twain readings at 7 p.m. at the Green Toad Book Store, 198 Main St., Oneonta. Bring a favorite short selection and share it around!

Labels: 04-10-09, Art Beat, Columns, Sam Goodyear, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:24 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Week's Best Bets

BOOK SIGNING: Visit the Green Toad Bookstore on Main Street at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11 for a book signing by Bill Rosencrans. He will discuss his book “Dakota: A Work in Progress,” a collection of humorous short stories about a golden retriever named Dakota.

GIVE ART A TRY: April 14 is the first “Try It Tuesdays” at the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts, where participants can experiment with different mediums and modes. It begins at 6 p.m. at the Wilber Mansion, 11 Ford Ave. It’s $45 per class, materials included. Call 432-2070 or visit www.uccca.com for information and to register.

ART FOR KIDS: On Wednesday, April 15, your child can begin a three-day art school beginning at 9 a.m. Children ages 7-11 will enjoy activities including gentle yoga, creating polymer clay jewelry, writing and singing their own work songs, basket weaving and Chinese lantern painting. Held at the Wilber Mansion, 11 Ford Ave. by the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts for a $95 fee, pre-registration required. Call 432-2070 or email education@uccca.com.

PASTA LUNCH: For lunch on Wednesday, April 15, feast on the final pasta lunch in this series at the 6th Ward Athletic Club, 22 West Broadway. The lunch begins at 11 a.m and includes spaghetti and meatballs, tossed salad bar and Foti’s Italian Bread for $6. A tossed salad with bread is also available for $5. Eat in or take out, call 436-9136 to place your order.

WILDLIFE PROGRAM: A Wednesday, April 15 evening highlight will be a bird presentation at the general meeting of the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society. The meeting is at 7:30 at the Elm Park Methodist Church, 401 Chestnut Street. “Birds and Nature of New York State” will be presented by photographer Warren Green. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome. For more information call 278-5896 or email eleanor@dmcom.net.

LOOKING AHEAD: Syracuse Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to play in Oneonta at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 19, as the 5th concert of the Oneonta Concert Association series at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom. Guest conductor Samuel Wong will give a pre-concert talk at 3 p.m. in the Hunt Ballroom. Information, 432-0147.

Labels: 04-10-09, The City of the Hills, Week's Best Bets

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:23 AM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

A New Season...A New Hope

Thursday, April 2, 2009

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

SPORTS BEAT

So all of the hoopla is over. The lights have come on and the confetti has since been swept up. Now Oneonta have a chance to exhale and catch their breath for a minute. Baseball is beginning, an American pastime and a sport known and loved by the community for ages, and head coach Joe Hughes is more than ready for the shebang to begin.
“There are high expectations for this year’s squad,” said Hughes, Tuesday, “they are listening and learning every day, working really hard in practice, and should have a good season.”
OHS, which is already 1-0 after a 4-0 win at Cobleskill, was scheduled to start its home season Wednesday, April 8, against Windsor (pending the weather cooperating) and then go on the road for three straight contests vs. S.C.C, Maine-Endwell and Union-Endicott. OHS has a lot of play makers and a great balance between pitchers, hitters and fielders. No one position is more lopsided than the other.
“We are a good hitting team,” said Hughes, “but we have some really good fielders.”
OHS brings to the table a possible reason for Yellowjacket fever to re-infect the greater Oneonta community.
Matt Marcewicz, a catcher for the Yellow Jackets and running back on the football team, suffered a knee and lower leg injury early on in the fall.

According to Hughes, Marcewicz is back to 100 percent and working hard. He is yet to make a decision about where he is going to be playing after OHS, but one thing is certain: Matt is a gamer.
Hughes, who played baseball at OHS, FIU and a stint in the pros, has his team geared and ready to go as they take on a brutal schedule yet again.
The Yellowjackets baseball team is one of the best at the school, and if they can live up to their mammoth expectations this season, it could breathe new life into an Oneonta community who’s athletic excitement suddenly needing life support.

Labels: 04-10-09, Hometown Sports, OHS Baseball

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:29 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with: