Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

All-Out Effort Needed To Save Hall Of Fame For Oneonta

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Is there a single town in the United States of America that would let the National Hall of Fame of a major sport depart without a whimper?
Quite the opposite. Every stone would be turned to block such plans and reconstitute the Hall in question in a stronger, better-positioned, better-financed state.
So it should be – and, with a little luck and gumption, will be – with the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta.
•
In any significant institution, certainly any major Hall of Fame, there are various communities of interest. The Soccer Hall is no different.
By the late 1990s, it had become clear that the Soccer Hall, to flourish and grow, needed to reach beyond its local constituency to the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the U.S. Soccer Federation, Major League Soccer and so on.
But since then, these national interests have come to dominate the Soccer Hall’s board of directors – only a half-dozen of the 19 directors can be considered local.
They have no vested interest in Oneonta and Otsego County, no first-hand understanding of the local strivings and local investment that made the Soccer Hall possible in the first place.
That’s natural enough, but it means the local community can’t look to the Soccer Hall or its administration to protect the very real local interests.
•
There’s no reason for the National Soccer Hall of Fame to close or move – it is within five hours, less than day’s drive, from 55 percent of the nation’s population.
It is debt free, thanks to donations from the U.S. foundation and federation, and Brian Wright, Hartwick ‘55, a long-time angel of the local effort, who paid off the $1.35 million mortgage a couple of years ago.
The foundation and federation have seen their endowments drop, but who hasn’t seen their portfolios drop 30-40 percent? The good news is that the stock market is up 50 percent since March. A long-term decision shouldn’t be based on short-term economic factors.
The Soccer Hall’s tournaments draw 150 teams a year; 300 are needed. Fine, get them. If 150 teams are interested, 300 would be as well.
The gift shop, a second source of revenue, is profitable.
Only 15,000 people – the third source of revenue – are visiting the Soccer Hall annually; that 300,000 visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown underscores that Oneonta, closer to I-88, is an even better location.
These three sources are generating enough to cover half the operating costs, which is actually good: Best-case scenario, the Foothills Performing Arts Center can only expect to generate 40 percent of its budget at the gate.
The rest, for the Soccer Hall and Foothills, has to be raised from sponsors, grants and donations. It’s reality, wherever they are located.
•
That a majority of the Soccer Hall directors are satisfied to let the local operation close is simply not satisfactory for Oneonta and Otsego County. It should not be satisfactory to those of us living here, and it should not be satisfactory to our political and civic leadership.
What’s needed is a man or woman on a white horse to bring together sufficient clout, brainpower, and energy to save the Soccer Hall in Oneonta, and for Oneonta ... and for the nation and world.
This person could be state Sen. Jim Seward, the Oneonta native and champion of so many local endeavors. It could be capable Mayor John S. Nader’s last hurrah. It could be a coalition of the three mayoral candidates – Jason Corrigan, Erik Miller and Richard Miller. (One of them will have to deal with it anyhow.)
It could be Jane Forbes Clark – think of the strategic synergies between the two Halls. Also, her Scriven Foundation, with a $175 million endowment, was established for the specific benefit of in-county ventures.
Is there potential for the Soccer Hall to serve as a centerpiece of a sports-management program for SUNY Oneonta or Hartwick? Could the turnaround be entrusted to SUNY’s Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies?
And if the Otsego County Chamber continues to make not a murmur – every family of four tempted here overnight spends an extra $205 locally – that would signify serious rot in those timbers.
No doubt Brian Wright and the other angels who have come to the table before could be enticed to participate in a serious effort to take an under-achieving asset and insist that it achieve its full potential.
•
If possession is 9/10th of the law, existence is 10/10th.
We’ve got something that exists. The alternative is something that doesn’t.
Let’s act on that advantage and turn it into a flourishing new reality.

Labels: 08-21-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 11:08 PM 3 comments

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Wedding In Atrium Starts New Tradition

By LAURA COX

Everyone has been watching it rise to completion for months.
It’s arrived.
Music filled the atrium at the Foothills Performing Arts Center for the first time ever Saturday, Aug. 15, as the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Brian Haynes – she is the former Sara Nygren – arrived for their wedding reception.
It was the first celebratory event in a building that is sure to become the site of many weddings, celebrations, plays, musicals and other happy occasions in the decades ahead.
“It went off absolutely wonderfully and she was pleased with everything,” said Sara’s mom, Jacque Myers of Albany. “It was more than what we expected.”
As the clock ticked toward the wedding day, Sara – she had no contingency plan – worried not at all.
“She was just sure they would come through for her,” said Myers, “and between Foothills and Sunrise [Catering], we couldn’t have asked for better.”
Sara, a teacher at Stamford Central School, and Brian, who works on his family farm in Bloomville, chose the Foothills Atrium after scouring the area for facility able to accommodate 250 guests.
There were plenty such places in the Capital District, Myers said, but the bride wanted a place closer to all her guests.
They visited the smaller Foothills annex, heard about the new addition, were assured it would be complete in time, so they booked it.
“All winter long Sara would say, ‘Look, they have walls. Look, they have windows.’ She was excited to see it all come together,” her mom said.
Jennifer McDowall, Foothills executive director, was “extremely confident” – with Doug Reeser, Foothills board chairman, acting as clerk of the works – that the project would be complete on time.
“They” – Reeser and Eastman, the general contractor – “have done a flawless job,” she said.
At a performing arts center, McDowall said, things are never really complete, and constant improvements are anticipated.
For instance, Foothills rented tables and chairs and the like, and hopes to buy its own in the future.
So the bride and groom were happy, the bride’s mother was happy, McDowall was happy, and so was Janet Hurley Quackenbush, proprietor of Sunrise Specialties, the caterer.
“The building is a phenomenal space; nothing compares to the beautiful glass atrium,” said Quackenbush, “The day was really a humid day and we put the new HVAC system to test and the temp was lovely. I was thanking my lucking stars.”
Quackenbush, who has catered events in the annex, also volunteers at Foothills and has been stage manager, said the kitchen wasn’t quite ready.
“We were able to pull off running water in the three-basin sink, both hot and cold, and we rented some equipment until things are more complete,” she said.
Only one thing that Quackenbush noticed was awry was the dimmer switch – lights either had to be off or on.
“We got trees with white lights and the bride rented battery operated candles, since we were nervous about open flame in new building. It was really just what we needed.”

Labels: 08-21-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:29 AM 0 comments

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Outlook Bleak, Nothing Final, Chairman Says

By JIM KEVLIN

He obtained $4 million in state funds for the National Soccer Hall of Fame building that opened in 1999.
Except for this year, when Republicans lost control in Albany, he obtained $100,000 annually in operating revenues.
Now, state Sen. Jim Rhoades, R-Milford, planned to meet Thursday, Aug. 20, with Hall of Fame President Jonathan Ullman and Doug Willies, chairman of the Board of Directors, to begin charting a course to make the Soccer Hall prosperous and keep it in Oneonta.
“I’m very concerned about even the possibility of the closure,” Seward said. “The Hall of Fame has made a significant contribution to our area’s economy – and stature. But particularly to our economy.”
While the Soccer Hall announced it is not accepting tournament reservations for 2010, Willies, retired president of At-A-Glance Corp., the Oneonta-based national calendar maker, said a range of options is under consideration.
“Closing is the most dramatic and final,” he said.
In a series of interviews since the news of the tournament hiatus surfaced, a number of revelations surfaced:
• A grassroots local effort for the first 20 years, the Hall of Fame in the late ‘90s began reaching out to the national soccer community. Today, only a half-dozen of the 19 directors have Oneonta ties.
• The U.S. Soccer Foundation and U.S. Soccer Federation each contributed $1 million for operating costs two years ago, and Brian Wright, former Wilber Bank chairman, paid off the $1.3 million mortgage. (Wright had been paying the interest.)
• A study conducted at that time – Hartwick College ex-president Richard Miller, then a Soccer Hall director, now mayoral candidate, co-chaired it – concluded the Soccer Hall could continue if it scaled back the museum to a five-month season, racheted up Web-delivered programs, and organized events nationwide from its Oneonta headquarters.
• With a $2 million nest egg in place and its debt eliminated, the directors brought in Steve Baumann, a museum executive with a pro-soccer background, to move the Hall to the next level. “He walked on water” was an expression several interviewees used.
• At a May 6 board meeting in New York City, however, with the nest egg gone, Baumann resigned to take a position in Philadelphia, and the directors again faced an uncertain future. Vice President & Director of Development Jonathan Ullman succeeded Baumann.
• At a meeting during this year’s induction weekend, Aug. 1-2, Ullman presented a new strategic-planning initiative, but the $7 million price tag left the directors nonplussed. No consensus could be achieved on what to do next.
• Since then, Willies and Ullman have been briefing community leaders that the Soccer Hall is at a crossroads. In addition to the tournament moratorium, the Hall returned $50,000 in planning money to the county Board of Representatives.
“They had presented a need to conduct a market feasibility and reinvigoration study, to get professional guidance on how to build and restructure,” said county Rep. Jim Johnson, R-Fly Creek, who was chairman of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee when the grant was made.
Of the total, $35,000 was for planning and $15,000 to place the county’s southern visitors’ center in the Soccer Hall to help build visitor traffic.
The Soccer Hall gave the money back because, given the uncertain future, “they didn’t think it was right” to use it for the agreed-upon purpose, Johnson said.
The range of interviews, however, indicated that a final decision on the Soccer Hall’s fate has yet to be made, with many key players still in the dark.
“They played it so close to the vest,” said a former director, “there was no opportunity for anyone to jump in and say, what if, what if, what if?”
Burton K. Haimes, a director, lawyer with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in New York City and former president of the American Youth Soccer Organization, is described as one of the strong personalities on the board who could be a game-changer.
Reached at his firm’s Paris office Monday, Aug. 17, he was surprised to learn that the idea of closure was being publicly debated.
“I think it’s a wonderful place,” he said of the Oneonta hall, where he was enshrined as an AYSO inductee during induction weekend.
“It’s important for soccer,” he said. “It’s important for the country. It’s important for Oneonta.”
He declared flatly he sees “no reason to move it away from Oneonta.”
Other than Seward’s intent to intervene, local officials interviewed this week, including Johnson, were unsure what might be done to preserve the Hall locally.
Mayor John S. Nader pointed out the Hall is actually in the Town of Oneonta, and said, “The next step rests with their board. And if the board wants the local community to assist and further promote the Hall, I think there would be some receptivity.”
Rob Robinson, Otsego County Chamber president, said his organization had no intention of getting involved.

Labels: 08-21-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:25 AM 0 comments

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‘We’re Normal,’ Police Chief Replies To Queries About Heroin

By LAURA COX

‘We’re normal.”
That’s how Oneonta Police Chief Joseph Redmond, despite a few recent alarms, describes the state of heroin use in the City of the Hills.
That said, Redmond said heroin use is on the rise most everywhere in the U.S., and it’s on the rise here.
Mostly, it’s because of price: Heroin is cheap, he said.
The chief gave that assessment to Common Council Tuesday, Aug. 18, at a briefing he’d been invited to give.
He made a few remarks publicly before Alderman Veronica Diver made a motion for Common Council to go into executive session to be briefed on “ongoing investigation,” as provided for in the state’s Open Meetings Law.
Prior to that, however, Alderman Erik Miller, the mayoral candidate, asked the chief in public is there is cause for concern and what signs citizens should watch for.
“If they” – citizens – “think they see something, they can call us,” said Redmond, cautioning: “Don’t take any action on your own.”
There have been petty crimes and break-ins associated with crack and cocaine, and indications of heroin use have not been accompanied by any more of an increase in frequency of those crimes, he said.
There is no special training necessary for the officers to respond to this particular drug crime and that it was no different than responding to other drugs, the chief said.
Miller wondered aloud if a public service announcement is warranted, alerting residents, before students return to SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College over the next couple of weeks, to call the police if they see any suspicious activity.
Redmond said that whether or not something was issued before or after students returned didn’t particularly matter, as it is not an issue limited to students, but that he would connect with CNY Radio to see what might be done.
In response to another question about the effect of this issue on high school student, the chief said there is a juvenile officer at Oneonta High School, but “anything is possible.”
Prior to Diver’s motion, Redmond said that, if Common Council voted to take him into executive session, he would not discuss specific ongoing investigations – if, indeed, any are under way – or procedures.

Labels: 08-21-09, Front Page

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

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Hometown People

Doug Rose Hits Hole-In-One Shot At Colonial Ridge

Using a “Knockdown” 4-iron to keep below the wind, Oneonta’s Doug Rose hit a hole-in-one at Colonial Ridge Golf Course Tuesday, Aug.18.
The ball took one hop and rolled straight into the cup on the Par 3 10th Hole, Doug’s first hole-in-one since the 1970s.
It was witnessed by Con Collison of Garrattsville, Tom Creveling of Gilbertsville and Dan Wickham of Otego.

Hartwick’s Von Stengel in International Art Show

Hartwick College Assistant Professor of Art Joseph Von Stengel has been accepted as a finalist in the Artkudos International Juried Art Competition & Exhibition 2009. The winners have not yet been chosen.
The exhibition opened online on Saturday, Aug. 15.

Zielinski Hired As Chamberlain

John Zielinski of Utica started work Aug. 10 as Oneonta city chamberlain.
Previously, he was with Mohawk Valley EDGE, which does economic development projects in Herkimer and Oneida counties.

SETTLEMENT ISSUES: Ho Hon Leung of SUNY Oneonta’s Sociology Department discussed settlement issues on Asian American’s in small towns in the U.S. with faculty at the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business & Economics June 18 in Beijing, China.

REMEMBERING: SUNY Oneonta’s Milne Library is buying bird books for its collection in memory of Lucille A. Weisenberger, Delhi, a longtime lilbrarian there who passed away July 16. If you wish to contribute, call Anne McFarland the library.

WHALING TALK: Damayanthie Eluwawalage of SUNY Oneonta’s Human Ecology Department presented her paper “American Whalers and Their Impact in Early Colonial Australia” at the Australian Historical Association Conference June 30-July 3 at University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Labels: 08-21-09, Hometown People

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:16 AM 0 comments

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Top Guitarist Proposes Hall Of Fame To Celebrate Instrument

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

Google Arlen Roth.
You’ll be glad you did.
Even better, check him out on YouTube.
It’s all you need to know.
It makes perfect sense that one of “The Top 100 Influential Guitarists of the Century,” per Vintage Guitar magazine, would want to start a Guitar Hall of Fame.
And what better place than The Hall of Fame Center of The Universe, Cooperstown, N.Y.?
And what better visibility than the Lemisters’ red brick block “at the light,” Main and Chestnut?
Plus Wayne Alexander’s building right behind it on Main Street, also for sale, to open up what might be a bit of a cramp space into roomy, yet intimate, display rooms.
The artist’s rendering shows a modish arch replacing part of the ’50s redo of the building’s facade. Inside, a Hall of Rock, Hall of Blues, Hall of Country, will introduce visitors to all aspects of an instruments that can be traced back 4,000 years to Central Asia.
The idea is to make the museum interactive, with youngsters, and not-so-youngsters, actually getting a chance to play on famous performers’ famous instruments.
There will be an annual induction. And concerts. And regular appearances on Main Street of Paul McCartney and the like. And perhaps summer guitar camp for kids.
Roth was in Cooperstown – he was prepared to make a presentation to village trustees on Monday, Aug. 17 – within days of the death of Les Paul, who he called “The Babe Ruth of Guitars.”
Asked about other Babe Ruths, he listed B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson and Andrés Segovia.
A native New Yorker, Roth, 57, performed with Bob Dylan, John Entwistle, Paul Simon (also Simon and Garfunkel), and Phoebe Snow, among others. He taught Simon, too.
His first solo album won Montreaux Critics’ Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1978. And was Ralph Macchio’s guitar instructor for the 1986 movie, “Crossroads.”
A summer resident of Martha’s Vineyard – he considers South Salem in Columbia County home – he played for President Clinton there. (And daughter Lexie in recent days had been landscaping the home where the Obamas are vacationing.)
He is known as “Master of the Telecaster” for a concept he and wife Deborah developed in 1979, using audio recordings – and later, videos – as a teaching tool.
A single $15,000 ad in Guitar Player brought the couple $18,000 in coupons, and a new career was launched.
Even back then, he and Deborah – she and their other daughter, Gillian, died in a car crash in 1998 – were talking about the possibility of a Guitar Hall of Fame.
They began considering it in earnest 15 years ago. “This really seems like the next logical step in terms of doing something permanent for the guitar,” he said over coffee at Schneider’s the other morning.
A Mets fan – and, more recently, a Red Sox one – he first visited Cooperstown a dozen years ago: “It was Cooperstown that did it.”
The Lemisters’ building has been for sale for several years, and every time Roth drove through town it seemed more like an ideal site. Among other things, the wall on the south side would be an ideal billboard, alerting visitors as they arrive.
Just as Cooperstown came to reflect “the true spirit of baseball,” Roth “wanted to do the same thing for the guitar – like a home.”
The trustees referred Roth’s plan to the village Planning Board, which next meets at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 22 Main.

Labels: 08-21-09, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:15 AM 0 comments

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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

C&W Stars To Highlight DelCo Fair

WALTON

‘Little Big Town,” the C&W band coming off its first big hit, “Boondocks,” will end the Delaware County Fair on a high note. The band performs at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, at the Walton fairgrounds.
But you don’t have to wait until then to enjoy the animal shows, prize-winning exhibits, midway rides or demolition derby. Full schedule, www.delawarecountyfair.org.

WILD WHEELS: A weekend of tractor-pulling is planned in Mount Upton from 11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 22-23. Registration starts at 8 a.m. Sunday features antique tractors. Take Route 51 from Gilbertsville.

HISTORY BUFFS: Sunday, try the Middlefield Historical Society’s 50th anniversary, with antique cars, ice cream, exhibits 1-4 p.m. at the Old Middlefield Schoolhouse. Or in Oneonta, felting wool is the topic of the Swart-Wilcox House’s Sunday lectures, 1 p.m..

FRESH VEGGIES: Enjoy farmers’ markets while you can, Saturday in Oneonta, Cooperstown, and Richfield Springs, Sunday in Franklin. (This week is the zucchini festival at Cooperstown’s)

FUN TIMES: At 7:30 p.m., is the annual Pierstown Variety Show, featuring local live music and “sundry side-show talent.” Free; bring a dessert if you can.

WILD AND CRAZY: Ken Butler performs “Voices of Anxious Objects” at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Foothills Performing Arts Center. Enjoy “hybridized world rhythms on hyperactive hardware.”

Labels: 08-21-09, The City of the Hills, weekend's best bets

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:14 AM 0 comments

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Last Chance For The Glimmerglass Experience, ’09

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

Even the parking is glorious.
Do I exaggerate? Not really.
Like the bread in a restaurant (e.g. the truly glorious bread at Alex & Ika’s in Cooperstown), the parking at an arts venue is crucial, as it is the first thing one experiences, and if it’s good, or glorious, chances are the rest will be equally so.
So, the parking at Glimmerglass is a nice foretaste of the pleasures to come: plentiful, well organized, cordially directed by younger members of the county, convenient and, for something so unromantic, nicely nestled in a pastoral setting.
Crossing Route 80 (with more cordiality from younger “patrols”), one can contemplate Hugh Hardy’s sturdy and elegantly rustic temple to Orpheus, the god of music.
One immediate sensation is, gee, I don’t have to dress up in uncomfortable evening clothes and choke, itch and scratch through the performance?
I can be comfortable? I can be myself? I can feel at home? This is for me, not someone else’s notion of who I should be?
And look at who’s here: everyone from everywhere.
Patrons from Springfield, Cooperstown, Oneonta, Gilbertsville, Syracuse, Albany, Buffalo, New York, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, California, Holland, England, France, Canada, Denmark, South Africa, India...
And if you’re in the market for some names to drop (among singers, directors, composers, librettists, members of the public), consider this random mix: Jonathan Miller, Mark Delavan, Jane Glover, Peter Stormare, Paul Newman, Stewart Robertson, David Angus, Francesca Zambello, Dwayne Croft, Joyce Guyer, Mark Baker, Frederica von Stade, Henry Cooper and Katherine Cooper Cary, Simon Callow, A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally, Nimet Habachy, Michael Torke, William Schuman, Michael McLeod – all of them eminently Googlable. One’s head spins!
Before the performance, you might have chosen to take in one of the pre-opera talks, like the one given by the extraordinarily informative, down-to-earth, erudite, and amusing David Moody on Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.”
Geared to the sensibilities of old hands and newcomers alike. Brilliant.
And then the performance itself.
Glimmerglass manages to mount commanding, original, ground-breaking productions with amazing consistency.
The musicianship is superb, the direction lively. And if not always to everyone’s taste, certainly never boring.
Perhaps one of the greatest wonders is that we don’t have to travel across the state (or the country, or the ocean) to experience the glories of Verdi, Gluck, Mozart, Handel, Copland, Puccini, Bellini, Beethoven, Britten, Monteverdi.
They take life and breath here in our very own hills.
Who gets up on a Sunday morning to trek through pelting rain for a late-morning infusion of notes put down on paper nearly 320 years ago (as in this year’s Purcell offering)?
Those who know the exaltation to be had in the Glimmerglass experience.
Don’t let the pleasures there pass you by in the coming days. Tempus fugit.

Sam Goodyear’s column on the arts in Otsego and Delaware counties appears weekly.

Labels: 08-21-09, Art Beat, Sam Goodyear, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:12 AM 0 comments

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5 Tigers Head To All-Stars

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

THE TIGERS’ DEN

The Oneonta Tigers, for the first time all season, have their backs against the wall.
With Lowell catching up with them and taking a one game lead in the division, the O-Tigers come into the the most important stretch of the season.
As the year wraps up, they have home series’ against Brooklyn, Hudson Valley and Williamsport coming up, along with division rival Lowell.
Losing a home series to Staten Island and two road series to State College and Brooklyn, Oneonta has been in a rut as of late. Scoring runs has not been a problem for the Tigers all season, but they have not been able to muster up too much offense.
Despite their recent hard times, they still had multiple players in this week’s All Star Game. Those players are Tigers catcher John Murrian, first baseman Rawley Bishop, utility infielder Carmelo Jaime, closing pitcher Kenny Faulk and outfielder Michael Rockett.
Their American League All-Star team beat the National League All-Stars 4-2 in the Tuesday, August 18th game at State College’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The players returned home August 19th to take on the Williamsport Crosscutters at Damaschke Field for an important series that could decide their playoff fate.
Oneonta, who has lost 8 of their last 11 games, needs a big few games in order to get back on track. Lowell, who won the NYPL Stedler Division last season, will be taking on the Auburn Doubledays for a 3 game set before hosting Oneonta for two.
The O-Tigers need to win and then pray for a Doubleday’s upset in order to catch the Spinners.
They are coming off a two game losing skid to at Mahoning Valley, who swept the Tigers earlier in the year, and are hoping to stop their losing ways this week.
Pitching has been a staple for most of the season in O-Town, and representing that in the All Star Game was Tigers closer Kenny Faulk. The big lefty from Kennesaw State has been lights out late in the game. Faulk has a 3.13 ERA in 20 appearances. He has also recorded 8 saves on the season. In 23 innings pitched Faulk has allowed only 17 hits, 8 earned runs, 2 home runs and has only walked 15 while striking out 24. His Tigers record is 2-1.
For Oneonta, their fate is in their hands. They need to win, simply put. If they get some help from other teams in the league, that will be a welcomed addition, but for them right now the key is winning. T
hey need to get out of this rut and there is no better way than to do it in front of a home crowd and against a second place team.
Williamsport, who sits at 33-24 currently and 3 games behind Mahoning Valley in the NYPL Pinckey Division, is coming off a loss to Tri-City, 3-0. They did win the series however, including an 11-0 drubbing in the second game.
Oneonta, who has had some pitching problems and trouble keeping run counts down lately, may be in some trouble. However, they have worked themselves out of jams before, and they need to reach deep down and do it again this week.
The 29-25 Tigers have one of the most promising lineups and deepest bullpens in the NYPL. That is why they have been in first place from opening day until a few games ago. That is why they have more All Stars than any other team. That is why are recognized on a national level.
It is up to them to change their ways, and until then the City of the Hills has to keep on the edge of their seats...waiting...hoping...and somehow believing.

Labels: 08-21-09, Hometown Sports, oneonta tigers

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:08 AM 0 comments

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In Memoriam

Pat Terry, 58, Of Franklin; Walton Native

FRANKLIN – James F. “Pat” Terry, 58, of Franklin, passed away on Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
Pat was born on Aug. 24, 1950, in Walton, the son of James D. and Frances (Davis) Terry.
Pat was a lifelong area resident and a member of the Franklin Fire Department.
Pat is survived by his mother, Frances Terry of Franklin; his son, Rodney Renwick; his brothers, Lynn Terry of Vestal, Gerald, David, Matt and Herman Terry, all of Franklin, and his fiancé, Missy Johnson and step-daughter, Michaela.
Calling hours for friends and family are 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Kenneth L. Bennett Funeral Home, 425 Main St., Franklin.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, in the Ouleout Valley Cemetery in Franklin, with Rev. David Rockwell officiating.
Condolences to the family may be made online by visiting our website: www.bennettfh.com.
Arrangements are with the Kenneth L. Bennett Funeral Home, Franklin.

Labels: 08-21-09, In Memoriam

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:03 AM 0 comments

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Letters to the Editor

Patriotism Honorable; Peace Is Patriotic, Too

To the Editor:
Never having been one to fear sticking my neck out, and maybe taking the less popular side of an issue that is stirring up emotions of the populace, I won’t take any side in the debate over the Memorial Walkway, for a few reasons.
One of them is I’m not a citizen of the City of Oneonta; another is that there are more important issues confronting us, from the local level to the national; nay, even to the international, since we are considering a memorial to war veterans who have served all over the world.
Right off I must say that even though I’m considered a “peacenik,” I have no issue with a memorial to war veterans. I happen to be a veteran myself ... of the Korean War. (Yet I claim no special rights to freedom of speech or protest.)
However, I do take very strong issue with the letter by Skip Beijen, who employed such bloviated rhetoric as “without the sacrifices of those veterans who these memorials honor, there would be no park to bicker over.” What? Kinda a bit over the top, don’t you think, Skip?
I don’t believe that any of our foreign wars, or even those fought on this land of ours against the British, or our own Civil War, if NOT fought, would have reduced our chances of having a Neahwa Park.
I won’t get into the details of all the wars this nation has fought, and the real reasons for our involvement, but I will say that I don’t see how our current wars in the Middle East are preserving the “American way of life,” whatever on earth that means.
Nor that they’re perserving our right to free speech and protest. Get off the stump, Skip; be straight and honest and quit waving the flag around in an attempt to blind others.
I agree that there should be a memorial to those who fought, and there should as well be a memoirlal to those who stood up and protested the wars, and worked for peace. Peace is also patriotic. Flag-waving is empty patriotism.
IRWIN GOOEN
Emmons

Chip Off The Ol’ Neck

To the Editor:
Rush Limbaugh recently said that President Obama has a chip on his shoulder regarding race.
The non-”DittoHeads” can see rather that Limbaugh is the one with a chip on his shoulder – a potato chip where a head should be.
It can be seen also that Limbaugh is a chip off Mr. Potato-Head. The resemblance is very apparent.
WILLIAM F. ROBERTS
Otego

Probe Wind-Developers’ Tactics

To the Editor;
On July 29, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a subpoena to Reunion Power “as part of an ongoing investigation of the wind industry.” Allegations of widespread corruption and conflict of interest by town officials in regards to wind power projects all across the state prompted this crackdown.
Shortly after being served, company executives at Reunion decided to sign on to the Attorney General’s Wind Industry Ethics Code, something that they previously elected not to do. I guess they figured better late than never.
The very fact that this course of action is necessary is in itself an indictment of industrial wind and the people who promote it and brings to mind the old adage “buyer beware.”
Although this is a good start, it does not go far enough because it does nothing to mitigate the damages these out-of-control companies have inflicted on many people in Western New York, where folks are being driven out of their homes by excessive noise and low-frequency sounds.
Wind companies, to maximize profits, jam as many turbines into a given area and hope for the best.
One solution would be to require every wind developer in this state to issue a “buy out agreement” to all homeowners within a two-mile radius of any project, this would insure honesty an accountability and force this industry to put their money where their mouth is. Another suggestion would be to have a “Bill Of Rights” for all non-participating property owners, who could object to that?
JACK PALMINTERI
Cherry Valley

Labels: 08-21-09, Hometown Views, Letters to the Editor

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago
The work of sinking the shaft at the Oneonta silver mine is being steadily pushed. A depth of thirty feet has now been reached, the shaft being nine feet wide at the top and about five at the bottom. The most of the distance traversed has been through solid rock. The owners of the mine are confident that the long sought for fissure vein is almost within reach, and that it will be necessary, at the outside, to go but a few feet deeper. Their confidence in the ultimate success of the mine is as strong as ever, if not stronger.
August 1884

100 Years Ago
William Murray, a man of about 40 years and said to be a resident of Big Indian, was arrested Saturday afternoon after a long chase by several officers and was lodged in the city lock-up. The charge was attempted rape upon Maedia Hansen, a child of only five years who is visiting at the home of her grandfather, Herman W. Hill, in this city. Murray enticed the little one to the fair grounds, but his dastardly crime was foiled by the quick wit of Louisa Williams, a girl of 12 years whom he had previously accosted, and who notified the grandmother that Murray had taken the child to the fair grounds. Mrs. Hill. Accompanied by two boys, ran to the grounds, and Murray, upon seeing her ran away. The little one was unharmed, though the brute had torn most of her clothing from her body. Murray was closely pursued as he ran down to the U. & D. tracks. He made a vicious lunge at Alderman Clark before dashing off into the swamp. Patrolman Brown entered the swamp and soon returned with the fugitive.
August 1909

80 Years Ago
Modern religion is leading America to anarchy according to the Rev. Dr. Walter A. Maler, Lutheran leader, professor at the Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis. Assailing modernism in the pulpit for supplanting “revelation with speculation” and supporting birth control, Dr. Maler cited many conflicts in scientific theory and then charged that many scientists deliberately distorted facts. Science is not only “contradictory, but also crooked.” “Modernism,” Maler charged, “leads us to internationalism; internationalism leads to communism; communism leads to anarchism, and anarchism leads to destruction. The highly polished modernists in our country are working for the same goal for which their uncouth, atheistic companions in Russia are striving. College education as a cure for crime was countered by Maler’s comment that “an uneducated thief will hold up a grocery store, but an educated one will steal the whole chain.”
August 1929

60 Years Ago
Approximately 30 thoroughbred dog owners in Otsego, Delaware and Chenango counties have banded together to form the De-Otse-Nango Kennel Club to promote the breeding of thoroughbred dogs in this area which will be exhibited at shows to be sponsored by the club. Mrs. Leslie Rose of New Berlin has been named president of the new group, with Mrs. Herbert Lee of Laurens and Mrs. Harold Keen of Oneonta, vice-presidents. Harold Keen of Oneonta will be secretary and G. Murdock Hall of Cooperstown, bench chairman. Mr. Lee, Mrs. George Budd of Oneonta, and Mrs. Marian Windsor of Guilford are directors. The club is working toward membership in the American Kennel Club. It has planned a sanction show at Oneonta on September 25 which will be open to thoroughbred dogs in the three-county area.
August 1949

40 Years Ago
Oneonta Yankee manager George Case was named New York-Penn League Manager of the Year and his ball club celebrated the occasion by breaking out of its hitting slump with 15 hits in a 9 to 4 bashing of the Auburn Twins. Paul Baretta, Leroy Gardner and Chuck Lelas had three hits each in the victory which came at a clutch time for the Oneonta club. Oneonta Yankee officials were notified last night via Western Union of Case’s honor as Manager of the Year. The wire, from league president Vincent McNamara, informed Mayor Albert S. Nader of the unanimous selection. “A unanimous vote in this type of ballot is rare,” said Mayor Nader, who doubles as President of the Oneonta Athletic Corporation, “and we are extremely pleased over George’s selection.”
August 1969

20 Years Ago
Turnout for the Moving Wall, the traveling half-sized replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. has been lower than originally expected. “From what I understand, the opening day crowd was very good,” said Mayor David Brenner, adding that attendance at the wall has mostly been a dignified modestly-sized crowd of 30 to 40 at a time.” The Moving Wall is the highlight of week-long activities and exhibits put together by members of the Mayor’s Commission on Vietnam Awareness Week and the members of Local 85 of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
August 1989

10 Years Ago
The U.S. Senate dealt a blow to the Northeast Dairy Compact on August 4th by failing to vote to keep it in operation beyond its September 30 deadline. The proposed legislation would also have allowed interstate dairy compacts to spread from six New England states to as many as 19 more states in the South and Mid-Atlantic regions. Although they did muster a majority of support, senators backing the regional-pricing programs fell seven votes shy of the 60 necessary to break a filibuster that prevented a vote on the compact extension. The filibuster also blocked legislation that would have kept the Agriculture Department from going forward with an overhaul of its milk-pricing policy.
August 1999

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

Labels: 08-21-09, Columns, Hometown History

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