Outlaws Capture The City

2-19-10

Baseball Team Moves To City From Saratoga

By LAURA COX : & JIM KEVLIN

Joy has returned to O-ville.
Amid rounds of applause from 70 enthusiastic baseball boosters, Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr., made it official Tuesday, Feb. 16:  A new team with the unlikely name of the Outlaws – as in train robbers; the new owners plan to build on Oneonta’s railroad heritage – will be coming to town less than a month after the Oneonta Tigers gang rode off into the sunset.
The team owners are Keith Rogers and Dan Scaring, and the team is the former Saratoga Phillies, a New York Collegiate Baseball League franchise. 
 As it turns out, the two dozen local potential investors won’t be needed:  The quality of Damaschke Field was sufficient to convince Rogers and Scaring that their team can be successful here.
Rogers joined Miller, NYCBL President Stan Lehman and state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, in the announcement/celebration at Stella Luna.
BASEBALL/From A-1
To pour oil on troubled waters – or scuffed infields –Miller has unveiled Seward Cup, aimed at promoting a friendly intra-county baseball rivalry.
The cup, named for the senator, would go to the Cooperstown Hawkeyes, the Oneonta Outlaws or Little Falls’ Mohawk Valley Diamond Dogs, whichever team has the best record in New York Collegiate Baseball League play next summer.  (Seward’s district includes Little Falls.)
The reception culminated two weeks of rapid-fire and sometimes rancorous negotiations, as Oneonta’s new mayor sought to attract a NYCBL replacement for the New York-Penn League Oneonta Tigers, which had been lured away to Norwich, Conn., Jan. 28.
Another flashpoint came Saturday, Feb. 13, when NYCLB owners, by a split vote in a conference-call meeting, granted Oneonta the franchise over the objections of Tom Hickey, Fly Creek, owner of the fledgling Hawkeyes, which is due to play its first season at Doubleday Field this summer.
In a widely distributed e-mail, Brian Spagnola, owner of the Amsterdam Mohawks, gave an indication of the content of that conference call, accusing his fellow team owners of a “lack of professionalism,” and changing his vote on the Saratoga-Oneonta move from “abstain” to “no.”
The debate centered on a rule, adopted by NYCBL owners last May, granting teams exclusivity within a 25-mile radius.  Damaschke’s home plate is 24.2 miles from Doubleday’s.
Reports had mentioned the possibility of a legal challenge, but Hickey said he has not yet decided whether to pursue that course or seek a settlement.
Miller’s first strategy, Hickey said, was to try to lure the Hawkeyes to Damaschke Field.  “I refused to do that,” the owner said.  “We have a commitment to Cooperstown.”
With the Tigers Single A franchise parting ways with Oneonta, it was their General Manager Andy Weber who first made contact with Rogers and Scaring through a common friend in Troy, Rogers said.
While the team owners decided to name the team themselves, without the help of the list of 85 names developed by Oneonta Elementary School students, Rogers said he would like to open up a competition for the elementary school students to name the new Outlaws’ mascot and develop a design for the mascot, with the winning school being awarded by the team.
The team members – 30 are already on the roster from colleges such as Pepperdine, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt – will become members of the community while in Oneonta for the summer, Rogers said.
Each will complete eight hours of community service to both familiarize themselves with the community and give back to it. They will be housed with local community members who will be given family season tickets and a $400 stipend for participating in the housing program. They plan to have the players host baseball camps for local Little Leaguers and in past the players have been known to stay for up to 30 minutes after the games to sign autographs for fans.
 Scaring and Rogers were collegiate baseball players themselves which is where they met when they were playing ball in Schenectady. Rogers described the action of owning as team as his life coming full circle.
Meanwhile in Cooperstown, Hickey this week announced the Hawkeyes’ management team, including David Pearlman of Cooperstown, a well-known youth-sports coach, who will be assistant general manager.
The team will be coached by Jake Denstedt, who follows the franchise from its former home in Brockport, where he coached the Brockport Riverbats.
Jesse Coughlan, former SUNY Oneonta catcher, is director of public relations, and Schuyler Pindar of Edmeston will handle marketing and sales.
Hickey also released the team logo, the result of a national contest circulated online: An antique “C” adorned with two feathers.
“It is simple and it fits the historical reference in our name,” said Hickey. “It was just perfect.”

City, Town Merger Might Eliminate Property Taxes

2-19-10

A Word – ‘Preemption’ – May Be Worth Fortune

By JIM KEVLIN

Imagine a world with no property taxes.
That world could be the “new city” that would arise if the existing town and city of Oneonta could achieve consolidation, according to Barry P. Warren, the former director of SUNY Oneonta’s Center for Community & Economic Development.
Zero property taxes is a “rough estimate,” Warren acknowledged, but a perfectly realistic one. 
Seated beside him in a conference room at the Morris Conference Center was Tim Hayes, Warren’s successor at the center; he nodded his head in agreement.
Warren was author of the 1996 “Final Report on Intergovernmental Relations Between the City and Town of Oneonta,” the first effort to explore how the two municipalities could cooperate.
The “M word” – merger – was avoided, he said.
At the time, Warren said, it was estimated that a merged Greater Oneonta could capture at least $2 million a year that was going from the Southside commercial strip to state and county coffers.
The $2 million was likewise a “rough estimate” back then, because Otsego County was unwilling to say how much sales tax was actually being generated in the Town of Oneonta.
Today, 15 years later, the combined property-tax levies for the town and city are in the $4.5 million range.
Conceivably, with the addition of Lowe’s, Home Depot, Hannaford’s, Wal-Mart, Office Max and similar outlets in the Southside, there’s enough sales tax being generated to erase the property-tax levies, Warren said.
In New York State, towns like Oneonta can only obtain sales tax revenues through their counties.  Cities, however, can exercise the option of “preemption,” which allows local sales tax to go directly into city coffers.
Told of Warren’s conclusion, Oneonta Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr., said he is not deterred by the Oneonta town board’s failure to support updating the 1996 study and intends to press ahead.
Miller had received the unanimous support of Common Council to pursue the update, which can be done without the town’s collaboration, although such collaboration would be helpful.
“Unless this is a win-win situation for city or town, why would anybody go forward with it?” the mayor asked.  “I am disappointed by what the town did, but I’m not surprised.”
He called it “an obstacle to be overcome.”
For his part, Warren pointed out that, since the sales-tax money would come out of Otsego County’s share, pre-emption would be a political hot potato.
The 1990s push was begun by the League of Women Voters, with Peg Harrington leading the way.  She and Gordon B. Roberts, the insurance executive and community leader, co-chaired the 27-member task force.
The task force included many people still active in the community today, from Huemac Garcia, now Catskill Hospice & Palliative Care director of development, to attorney Michael Getman, former president of the Fox Hospital board who ran for city judge in the last election.
Paul Adamo, Joe Bernier, Bob Harlem Jr., Hugh Henderson, Kay Stuligross and Bob Wood were among the other members.
At the time, the mayor was SUNY dean David W. Brenner, now retired, and Duncan Davie, now state Sen. Jim Seward’s chief of staff was town supervisor.  Both were supportive, Warren said.
But when the study was complete, he said, it was presented to each municipality and “didn’t go anywhere.”
“A lot of times,” said Warren, “you don’t have any real change until you have a crisis.”

CITY OF THE HILLS: Door Closes At Hall, Might Another Open?

2-19-10

With exhortations to look ahead, 30 years of striving to create a successful National Soccer Hall of Fame here came to an end on Friday, Feb. 12.

The Hall turned its 62-acre campus over to the Otsego County Development Corp., which as yet has no plans for it. 


ICY JUMP:  The annual Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, on the lake’s east shore.

OH FEST 5: SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College students are OH Fest 5, on Saturday, April 24. Headlining the day’s end concert will be piano-rock band Jack's Mannequin.

KICK OFF: The kick off for the 8th annual Oneonta Relay For Life will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, at FoxCare, Route 7.  All are welcome.  Questions? Call Lisa Lamb at 432-0482

ENERGY: At 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22, Hartwick College will host documentary filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn for a presentation on her most recent project, “Sun Come Up.”

FOX ADDITION:

2-19-10

  Nurse Practitioner Evelyn Flannery has joined Fox Hospital’s Oneonta Family Practice in the FoxCare Center.  She holds a master's as a family nurse practitioner from SUNY-IT Utica, and had previously worked at Fox OB/GYN.  She is accepting new patients.

HONORS:

2-19-10

 Hartwick College announced the following students were named to the fall term dean’s list.  Cathryn Cobstill, of Oneonta, daughter of Rachel and Robert Cobstill; Christopher DiDonna, of Schenevus, son of Deborah Crockett and Francis DiDonna; Theresa Pietsch, of Oneonta, daughter of Michael and Ulrike Pietsch; Elyse Russo, of Oneonta, daughter of Josephine and Robert Russo; Catherine Scorzafava, of Oneonta, daughter of Charles Scorzafava and Nancy Scorzafava; Brittany Morrissey, of Otego, daughter of Robert and Susan Morrissey.

Let The Facts Decide

2-19-10

It’s a shame the Oneonta town board didn’t want to enter the conversation at this point about consolidating with the city.
There is great potential benefit to both entities – and, more important, to their citizens – of the Oneontas becoming administratively what they are in fact: one big family.
There may also be costs, and updating the in-depth 1996 study that recommended consolidation is the best first step, as Common Council has voted to do.
There’s been talk that FoI requests would be submitted to obtain data from the town, but there’s no reason for that.  It’s public information, and no doubt Town Supervisor Bob Wood or Town Clerk Cheryl Shackleton would provide the data needed to make an accurate study complete without raising any unnecessary obstacles.

•

The town board was rattled when 40 people showed up at the Tuesday, Feb. 9, meeting to object, no way, no how, to even any talk of merger.
Democracy works, the crowd erroneously concluded:  40 people are not 13,791, or even a majority.
There’s no need to make a decision now.  But when the time comes and the study is complete, town and city officials should be guided by the facts.
Let’s wait and see what they are.

EDITORIAL: Soccer Hall’s Demise Is Yes, Indeed, A Call To Look Ahead

2-19-10

Doug Willies had it exactly right in lamenting the end of a 30-year effort to achieve a flourishing National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta.
“Hindsight is similar to foresight, except it has no future,” the chairman of the board told press and members of the public gathered in the futuristic building in West Oneonta Thursday, Feb. 11, to hear the bad news.
So we’ll leave it alone.  No couldas, wouldas, shouldas.

•

What was discouraging isn’t what’s lost, but what isn’t ahead – at least right now.
Perhaps the four world-class soccer fields can be preserved and the state high-school soccer tournament – it filled every hotel room from Oneonta to Cooperstown two weekends in October – maintained.
As for the rest of the 62-acre campus, it sounded like the Otsego County Development Corp. accepted the gift – valued at $3.5-4 million, if anyone can be found to buy it – with the idea that something is better than nothing.
The public was asked to “be patient” for a year and a half as planning moves forward, although it was suggested the property might be used for some sort of so-far unspecified non-profit entity.  Fine.

•

As long as the result is a “big idea” – to borrow from SUNY Oneonta’s Alex Thomas, student of our Upstate atrophy – the kind that made us the Empire State.
It’s lacking now, and the entities we might depend on to provide these “big ideas” – the chambers of commerce, the universities, the major institutions, the banks, our Albany leadership – seem lacking in this regard as well.
Let’s stop talking about our so-called high taxes.  Those same taxes are being paid in New York City, one of the world’s foremost engines of wealth.
Let’s stop talking about cold weather.  The winters in Vermont, if anything, are colder, and that state has taken what we see as a negative and successfully marketed itself as a winter wonderland.
Let’s have our leaders stop talking about how hard they work.  People work as hard in Decatur, where the per-capita income is $16,541.
You can’t build a future on your liabilities.

•

Sure, let’s be patient.
But at the end of that year and a half, let’s have identified our assets: our world-class tourist attractions, our proximity to urban centers, our good roads, educated population, good schools and delightful seasons – and, if the drilling rigs haven’t arrived by then – our environment.
SUNY Oneonta graduates 1,500 a year, Hartwick College another 400, who we now let slip through our fingers.
Are there a half-dozen students – in the music industry, in fashion, in business – who would welcome the opportunity to start their own businesses?  Are we identifying them and giving them an opportunity to do so here?
There it is – the answer.

•

Yes, IBM went somewhere else.
But the 800-employee Covidien plant in Hobart is successor to D.M. Graham Laboratories, which Doc Graham founded in his garage in 1960, and employs 800 people.
Ioxus, the growing ultracapacitor maker on Winney Hill Road, is an outgrowth of Custom Electronics, itself the creation of Peter Dokuchitz, a single individual.
The Lifgrens and Astrocom.  The Smiths and Medical Coaches.
Eventually, some of these will end up in South Korea or Taiwan, but Otsego County, in its universities, has an unending supply of brains, ambition and youthful enthusiasm in its institutions of higher learning to replace yesterday’s startups – and today’s mainstays – with tomorrow’s startups.

•

At the 10th annual SUNY Oneonta Faculty Research Show the other day, professor Jaqueline Bennett was talking about her research in identifying cheaper, quicker and less-toxic ways to manufacture imines, used in cholesterol-reducing Zetia® and cancer-fighting Taxol®.
She applied for her first patent a month ago.
This is what we’re talking about.
OK, let the Soccer Hall of Fame go. And let’s be patient.  But by the end of 18 months, let’s have a plan, built from the bottom up, full of “big ideas” that captures our assets and, foremost, our latent brainpower.
Defeatism and whining are intolerable.

Glass On Streets Too Chunky

2-19-10

To the Editor:
For over a month, the City of Oneonta has been spreading broken glass throughout our streets in every neighborhood.  This glass is mixed with sand and is being used to reduce cost of the sand and salt that is normally used.
I have picked up samples of this glass being used and it is normal broken glass, not rounded edges or smooth as being advertised.  I have cut myself with this glass to prove a point. 
It does not take a rocket scientist to understand broken glass on our streets is not environmentally friendly.  Anyone claiming so is truly misinformed.
What happens after a car accident?  All the broken glass is swept up from the street.  When your children fall in the streets, not only will they have skinned knees, they will have broken glass embedded in their skin. 
The snow plows are spraying this glass into our yards.  When summer comes and we mow our lawns; we will be sending glass shards like missiles everywhere. 
When our cats and dogs walk through this, it is picked up on their paws and when they clean themselves it is ingested into their stomachs which will kill them. 
I urge everyone to walk your streets and pick up samples and judge for your self that this is not environmentally friendly, then contact your city officials and tell them to cease and desist this action, no matter what the savings, because they are being sold a false bill of goods.
JOHN E. BROWN
Oneonta
(Editor’s Note: City Hall has suspended the use of the recycled glass as the supplier adjusted the processing to meet these concerns.)

LETTER: Be Careful What You Sign

2-19-10

To the Editor:
School-based health clinics are popping up everywhere, but parents should know that their right to decide what’s best for their children is being sacrificed for this convenience.
As stated in the clinic waiver parents are required to sign, state law does not require parental consent or notification for treatment or advice about drug abuse, alcoholism, sexually transmitted disease, reproductive health or mental health issues.  Reproductive health includes contraception and abortion.
Furthermore, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, parental consent is not required for minors who can give informed consent and are mature enough to make their own health-care decisions. The determination of maturity is up to the health-care provider.
The Guttmacher Institute, the educational arm of Planned Parenthood, says that, in most cases, state laws apply to all minors age 12 and older. That means a sixth grader can be treated for depression or drug abuse or given contraception and taken out of school for an abortion without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Yet they cannot get an aspirin without parental consent.
The World Health Organization has labeled the birth-control pill a carcinogen. A recent study by the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shows a strong connection between the use of oral contraceptives and the deadly “triple negative breast cancer.”
The study found that the connection was highest among women who began using oral contraceptives while they were teenagers. Those who start using oral contraceptives before the age of 18 multiply their risk by 3.7 times.
Considering how serious the consequences may be from such treatments, parents have a right to know what medical care their children are receiving. We need to tell our legislators that we don’t want school clinics unless the laws are changed to guarantee parents’ rights to have input in their children’s health care.
PAUL J. WENNER
Stamford
      

30-Foot Totem Pole Comes To County

2-19-10

By LAURA COX : COOPERSTOWN

A 30-foot-tall Haida totem pole arrived at The Fenimore Art Museum in recent days, to be set up as a permanent exhibit on the museum’s lawn during Memorial Day Weekend festivities.
“It is a made-to-order commission of contemporary Native American art,” commissioned by museum benefactor Eugene Thaw, said Eva Fognell, curator of the Fenimore’s Eugene and Claire Thaw Collection of American Art.
The carver, Reg Davidson, is from Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia.   Like Cooperstown, the village has about 2,000 residents, mostly of the Haida tribe.
“There are other Northwest Coast items in the collection,” said Fognell. “This is a piece of contemporary art that shows the continued vitalities of Native American art. It is also a very good example of contemporary artists working in a traditional style.”
Davidson has been carving since 1972, when he was 17, under the guidance of his father Claude, then from his brother Robert.  (Davidson’s grandfather, named Edenshaw, has a piece in the permanent Thaw Collection, as does another relative, a contemporary weaver.)
In an interview, Davidson said he went into the woods on obtaining the commission and found a 500-year-old red cedar, which was logged and transported to his studio.  He worked with two apprentices to complete the job.
“At the bottom there is a Beaver, and on the tail is a human face,” he explained, “then a raven who is stealing the beaver lodge – I made the beaver lodge to look like the front of a long house.  On the tail of the raven is a bear, then there is an eagle; on the tale of the eagle is a frog, and at the top is a black-finned whale.”
It depicts the legend of the raven stealing the beaver lodge; at Thaw’s request, the artist told a story in the carving. 
The animals are all associated with the Davidson family crest.
“Everything I do is pretty much traditional,” he said, although he said the red, black and white colors are store-bought paint.  “We’re very adaptable people,” he said with a chuckle.
Davidson has showed his work across the world.  There’s one in Tokyo.  His longest – 40 feet – is in London.
Totem poles are his culture’s flagpoles, he said, showing the crests of the people it represents. “Missionaries thought we worshiped them, and many of them were destroyed. We don’t do that,” he said.
There is usually a big celebration when a Haida totem is raised – last summer, for instance, 1,500 people and a dozen dance groups descended on the village for one such dedication.
Davidson and five other members of the Rainbow Creek Dancers will perform in Cooperstown when this one rises.
“I hope that being out there on front lawn, it will also be an attention-grabber for people to be drawn into the museum to see the rest of the treasurer we have,” Fognell said.

HOT DOGS:

2-19-10

“Fat Mike” Joubert, of Oneonta, opened his Fat Mike’s Dirty Dogs at 182 Main St. in Oneonta on Jan. 1. The restaurant serves hot dogs with a variety of different toppings and sides. The best seller in the ketchup, mustard and relish colored establishment has been the chili cheese dog.

FOUR TIMES:

2-19-10

Madie Harlem, OHS '09, was named women's basketball rookie of the week for the fourth time by the Liberty League on Feb. 15. Harlem is a freshman at Hamilton College.

LOCAL USC GRADS:

2-19-10

 Four students were fall graduates from USC/The Business College's Oneonta campus. Two received certificates in the medical office assistant program: Kerstin Jones and Dawn Spinola.  Kendra Light received an associate's degree in administrative specialist/medical, and Melissa Rathbun in business administration/general.

Trudy Claudy Named Director At The Plains At Parish Homestead

2-19-10

The Plains at Parish Homestead Leadership Team is pleased to announce the appointment of Trudy Claudy as Executive Director of “The Heritage at The Plains.”
Trudy Claudy has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from State University of New York at Cortland and a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Sage College in Albany. She is a New York State licensed Nursing Home Administrator and has over 15 years of administrative experience managing day to day operations in both skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.
Ellen Harris, Vice President of Operations said “Ms. Claudy brings a great wealth of experience and expertise in the daily operations and regulations of Assisted Living and we are excited to have her skilled leadership as part of the team and our growing community.”
This new active adult community in Oneonta offers Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care Apartments.

A STITCH IN TIME

2-19-10
 
By LAURA COX : COOPERSTOWN
The love of sewing and quilting is everywhere.
This year’s Fenimore Quilt Club Show is proof positive:  Open through Sunday, Feb. 21, it boasts a record 125 quilts from a record 32 communities – Cooperstown, Fly Creek, Oneonta, Maryland, Norwich, and Richfield Springs, to name a few.
 “Because the show is two weeks and not just a weekend, it has a regional draw,” Jean Lyon, Quilt Club president, said the other day,  “…with some people coming back three or four times over the course of the show. Many groups come from a distance to view it and spend the day in town.”
A quick walk around the room – the second-floor ballroom at 22 Main Street, which houses the Cooperstown Art Association and the village library – shows a large variety of styles and quilting techniques.
Some are hand pieced and quilted.  Others were done by machine.  Some are antiques made long ago.  Others were finished during the final days leading up to the show.  Some are sized for a king; others are made for a doll.
Whether old or new or large or small, each represents hours of sewing, quilting and embellishment.
Many of the two dozen Quilt club Members learned to sew when children or teens from mothers, grandmothers or teachers in school.  But the urge doesn’t seem to really take hold until later in life.
 “There are not many ‘youngies’ in the group,” said Lyon. “Most are post 40 years old.
“It’s a lifestyle thing. Many younger women are taking care of their kids or working and don’t have time or a space to quilt.  You need a corner in the house to set up with your ironing board and sewing machine that you can go back to whenever.
“It destroys the creative process to have to clean it all up every time.”
Lyon and fellow club member Robin Lettis both describing delved into a life filled with sewing after their children had grown up and moved out of the house.
“When my older daughter graduated, the only request she had was, ‘Don’t turn my room into a sewing room,’” said Lettis.
But eventually that was what happened:  She needed somewhere to keep her growing supplies of materials – Robin is interested in all forms of needle craft.
As a young woman, Lyon sewed her own clothes, debutante gowns and bridesmaid dresses, but didn’t really get into sewing quilts or wall hangings until her kids were grown up. She had gone through divorce and she finally had the chance to decide for herself what she wanted to do with her time.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the luster of fabric and the way its changes its look when the grain goes in different directions and the way light hits it,” said Lyon.
She started out with wall hangings and still enjoys what this scale of a project allows her to do. She describes her process as “organic.” She doesn’t start with a pattern, but instead lets the project develop as she works along. 
At some point she started to do portraits of people’s houses on quilts she showed the one she did of Cooperstown’s Barnwell Inn on Susquehanna Avenue during the quilt show a few years ago. Lyon had a solo show of her work at the Cooperstown Art Association last April, including many of her wall hangings and quilts.
Participating in the Fenimore Quilt Club gives members the opportunity to learn from the knowledge of other members and to pick up skills in piecing and quilting that they may otherwise not know. One member may be proficient in Celtic appliqué while another has great tips for how to make stars or broderie perse – a type of embroidery appliqué. 
For examples of the types of projects the quilt club completes stop by the northeast corner of the quilt show and look at the various row projects the club completes together. As part of the project each club member did one row of a certain technique and then the block was passed on to another member to do the next block. The final product features the work of at least four club members.
As part of the quilt show the club always creates a quilt done together by the club members to raffle off at the show. This year’s quilt features a basket pattern where each of the members completed a block featuring a basket of items on it. The personality and styles of each of the members can be seen by examining the various blocks.
The club also participates in many philanthropic projects such as selling their leftover or no longer wanted fabric to raise money for the food bank and sewing lap quilts for residents at Otsego Manor.

Deputy Dawg, Sheriff’s Deputy Cade Have Grown Into Crime-Fighting Team

2-12-10

By LAURA COX : COOPERSTOWN





Deputy Cade “ is not compensated for the extra training or for having a dog 24/7, which is like having a child.” Richard J. Devlin Jr., Otesgo County Sheriff

Dogs are a man’s best friend.  And they make pretty great co-workers too, even if their badges do have to hang from their collars.
For going on eight years, the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department has been assisted by Marty, a German shepherd named after former Sheriff Martin Ralph, who passed away in 1994.
The dog has been an invaluable member of the department having helped make an uncountable number of drug arrests county-wide.  Marty was in the spotlight last October for his role in the heroin arrest on Walnut Street, next to Cooperstown Elementary School.
Marty came to the Sheriff’s Department as an 11th month old puppy assigned to Deputy Stan Cade by the veterinarian technician at the State Police K-9 Training Facility. 
Cade remembers standing in line with multiple state troopers waiting to be assigned his dog. As he waited for his turn he watched as one of the dogs came charging to the front of the kennel and grabbed at the fencing with his teeth.
“I thought to myself, somebody is going to have their hands full,” Deputy Cade recalled, and that somebody was him.
The dog was signed over to have his hands full. After bringing his dog home to his family in Cherry Valley, Deputy Cade learned that his new dog and partner had no manners. When his daughter Cassandra came down to meet Marty, he chased her right back up the stairs and into her room.
But it didn’t take long for Marty to settle in, learn commands, finish his drug detecting training and get to work at the Sheriff’s Office.
“Marty is an asset to the department,” said Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr., “And Deputy Cade goes above and beyond. He is not compensated for the extra training or for having a dog 24/7, which is like having a child.”
The sheriff mentioned that Marty has not only helped make drug busts, but he was also a crucial component in other cases like a couple years ago when two children went missing in Milford.  Marty found the children using his tracking abilities.
“It was something we would have spent hours to do with a land search, but Marty took us right to them. It could have been a different outcome if they had been overnight in the woods,” said Sheriff Devlin, then Milford fire chief. 
Marty is all business when he is at work, he knows exactly what his job is and he takes it very seriously. Deputy Cade has trained Marty so he is given certain clues for what his particular task is. When he is in his tracking harness he knows he is tracking a scent; a certain collar means he’s looking for drugs.
Deputy Cade and Marty are together all the time whether at home on the farm where Marty plays second fiddle to the family pug  – who, while much smaller, rules the roost – or at the office where Marty likes to curl up under Deputy Cade’s desk, the two are inseparable.
Deputy Cade has enjoyed working with Marty and called him a real treat to train because the dog is so intelligent. He has also been satisfied by the work they do together to put criminals behind bars and get drugs off the streets.

GOP Chief Quits

2-12-10

Republican Slate Moves To Fill Gap

By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

The village Republican Committee is heading into local elections Tuesday, March 16, without a chairman, but the impact is being minimized.
“We’re OK for now,” said Glenn Hubbell, the committee’s treasurer, who agreed to assume the helm temporarily after long-time chair Bill Waller peremptorily resigned Thursday, Feb. 4, at a meeting with candidates.
As treasurer, Hubbell said, he can continue to write checks as needed to support GOP candidates in the four weeks remaining in the campaign.
Joe Booan, Jr., said Hubbell was hosting another gathering this Thursday, Feb. 11, for the slate to talk through approaches to the campaign.
He said it has been suggested that another caucus be convened and new Republican officers elected, but that can be done once things settle down after the election.
Tuesday evening, Feb. 9, Waller released a letter announcing his decision, saying it was prompted the need to take care of his wife, Mayor Carol B. Waller, who is suffering from arthritis.
“In addition, I feel it is the proper time to step down and let others continue the traditions that were started over 30 years ago when Tom Malone and I quenched the Union Ticket and brought competitive elections to Cooperstown,” he said. “Prior to that, candidates were “selected” by a few and voted in by as little as 15 in the village’s general elections.
“The culmination of this effort was dramatically seen at our last Republican caucus, where a record number of people turned out and selected their candidates for village office.”
According to those present at Hubbell’s last week, the candidates – Booan, Doug Walker and Chip Dunn for trustee, and Mike Molly for justice – had been invited to what they believed was a strategy session at Hubbell’s home.
Instead, Waller read a statement saying he was resigning, and left.
Carol Waller had declared a year ago that she would support her Democratic deputy mayor, Jeff Katz, as her successor.
When Booan announced he would also run, his supporters were rallied to attend the Republican caucus Jan. 21 to ensure the Wallers didn’t throw the GOP nomination to the Democrat.

A Miracle, And Tony Was There

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

‘Ten...nine...eight,” Tony Gambino remembered.
“When the buzzer went off, it was like nothing you would ever experience again.”
It was the night of Feb. 22, 1980, in Lake Placid.
Tony Gambino didn’t see the final seconds. 
A 30-something cameraman for ABC covering his first Olympics, his lens was focused on the American bench for those final seconds.
When the young men straining with anticipation leaped to their feet in cheers, he knew history was made, a miracle had happened.
The young, fast, eager U.S. team had beaten the USSR, the seasoned grizzly, at its own game, and went on to claim Olympic gold a few days later in an anticlimactic defeat of Finland.
With the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Feb. 12, that night 30 years ago is much on Gambino’s mind.
So is Sarajevo, 1984, when Jean Claude Killy wiped out right in front of his camera.  And 1988 in Calgary.  And 2002 in Salt Lake City, when speed-skater Apollo Ono’s dreams were shattered before his eyes.
Tony Gambino – he and wife Louise moved to Cooperstown in 2005 – graduated from Mineola High School in 1971, tried college but didn’t like it, then attended the RCA Institute in New York City, studying TV.
That led to a job editing film for WPIX, but it was a stint with WSNL, a start-up on Long Island, where he got to do some of everything, that grounded him in the business that was to be his career.
He rode his motorcycle cross country, and studied further at Sherwood Oaks Film School in California.  Back in New York in 1976, he was picked up by ABC’s “20-20.”
At the time, ABC was merging its film and video efforts; the “young guys” were teaching the “old guys” video, but the “old guys” were teaching the young ones how to shoot, the angles, the lighting.  Tony soaked it up.
Gambino spent the summer of ‘79 at Lake Placid, on a crew laying “miles and miles” of cable then necessary for the networks to transmit their images.
That night, THE night, Tony remembers “the calmness beforehand.  As people began to come into the arena, with their American flags, cowboy hats, American shirts – it just started to feel, this was THE GAME.  This was the Olympics right here.”
He continued, “When that game started, and the kids were playing, the place was erupting. When they pulled the goalie” – he paused – “These kids were skating their hearts out.  These weren’t men.  These were 19 year olds.”
Tony stuck to his post, next to the U.S. bench with a “hand held.”
He remembers 1984 in Sarajevo, sure, sharing Baby Ruths with his Yugoslavian guard, Goring.  Tony gave him an ABC pin; in return, Goring gave him the Red Star off his cap.
That was quite an Olympics for the U.S., too, with Bill Johnson becoming the first American male competitor to win a Gold medal in an Alpine event.
But that night in Placid.
“Heart,” said Tony.  “It was all heart.”

COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND: 7 Immortals Will Play At HoF Classic

2-12-10
 
COOPERSTOWN

Seven Hall of Famers will participate in the second annual Hall of Fame Classic, planned at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 20, Father’s Day Weekend, at Doubleday Field.
They are Gary Carter, Bob Feller, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Harmon Killebrew, Phil Niekro and Mike Schmidt.
Tickets – $12.50 for first- and third-base seating, $11 for outfield – will go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 20, at the Hall.

PLAN DRAFTED:  The first draft of the Town of Hartwick’s comprehensive plan is complete, and may be viewed at the municipal building, the Kinney Memorial Library, or at www.townofhartwick.org.

VOLUNTEER!  The Town of Otsego is looking for zoning and assessment review board members, as well as a health officer.  If interest in volunteering, call Town Clerk Pam Deane (547-5631) or stop by town hall in Fly Creek.

MORE ICE:  If the Cooperstown Winter Carnival kept you from the Hanford Mills ice harvest, there’s another coming up at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, at the Millers Mill Grange.  Details at www.millersmillsny.com

STALEY CITED:

2-12-10

Spencer E. Staley, son of David and Cynthia Staley, Springfield Center, is on the Dean's List at Colgate University for the fall semester.  A freshman physics major, he was salutatorian of Cherry Valley-Springfield's Class of 2009.

DEAN’S LIST:

2-12-10

Lindsey Potrinkus CCS ‘06, daughter of Kris and Mike Potrinkus of Cooperstown, was named to the Dean’s List at SUNY Cortland for the fall of 2009. She is studying education there.

ARC EMPLOYEE OF QUARTER:

2-12-10

Cesily Secoolish, Community Job Coach, has been named The Arc Otsego Employee of the first quarter for 2010.  Secoolish has worked for The Arc Otsego for several years, first as a day habilitation site coordinator, now as a community job coach in the Community Employment Services Division. As community job coach, Cesily works with clients and employers to find jobs for people with disabilities and support them in their positions.

LETTER: Union Ticket Worked For Half-Century

2-12-10

To the Editor:
Your editorial of Jan. 22, in which you dismiss the old Union Ticket as “bossism” and “a pliant substitute for democracy,” is wide of the mark but it does provide food for thought and remembrance.
The union ticket was created in 1919 by the Republican and Democratic Parties because of the belief that both parties had the interests of the village at heart and that confrontational elections were not in the best interest of the village. 
Annual elections continued, but the Republican caucus endorsed Democrat candidates and the Democrat caucus endorsed Republican candidates.  In short, the two parties “took turns” in filling the positions of mayor and trustees.
Those who believed otherwise (the Democrats) were crushed in an open, village-wide election the following year.  For over 50 years thereafter the Union Ticket, which provided equal representation for both parties, effectively dealt with village business. 
Effectively?  Yes.  The ticket could be labeled “undemocratic” (inaccurately in my opinion), but no one accused it of sloppiness or inefficiency.  During its years in effect,  the Union Ticket mayors and trustees made major changes and major acquisitions in the water, sewer, parks and streets systems.  The village still benefits from their work.  As your editorial admitted, “It’s not that there are Democratic potholes or Republican streetlights.”
The editorial added, however, that competing parties “recruit talent” but “bossism does not.” The term “bossism,” as noted, is not appropriate; it applies to tight and continual control by a single party.  A system whereby different parties and individuals with varying points of view alternate in office is just the opposite. 
The Union Ticket officials worked openly, in full view of the public, if the public wanted to view them.  Write-in candidates were always possible, and in at least one election a write-in candidate did win.
And the Union Ticket very definitely recruited talent.  It was not exclusionary.  Mayors and trustees who served the village in the ticket’s half-century include Howard Talbot, Fred McGown, Bill Clark, Stu Taugher, Harold Hollis, Emery Herman, Rowan Spraker, Frank Carpenter, Alton Dunn, Bill Zoeller, Joe Clancy, Lester Clark, Alva Welsh, Ernie Whitaker.  These – a very few, but representative of the many who served the union ticket – were men of talent and initiative who were eminently successful in other fields as well. 
Maybe this is what your editorial meant when it stated that a streamlined village government is needed “so that busy doctors, lawyers, retailers and entrepreneurs can again participate in their community’s key decisionmaking body.”
Emery Herman’s experience offers a glimpse of the ticket at work.  An eminent physician at Bassett Hospital, Dr. Herman was not interest in politics, but he had a question about taxes and went to Newton E. Gilmore, who was village clerk and village treasurer, and asked to see the village budget. 
Gilmore was so impressed that someone actually wanted to look at the budget that he convinced Dr. Herman that he was needed in village government and should attend the appropriate caucus.  Dr. Herman did.  He served several years as trustee and as mayor.
The main concern of the editorial, however, was not the old union ticket.  It was a criticism of Mayor Waller’s endorsement of Jeff Katz, which you label “the Waller/Katz Cabal.”  This too is wide of the mark. I do not speak negatively of Joe Booan when I observe that Carol Waller has been an industrious and effective mayor and that Jeff Katz has been an industrious and effective trustee. 
Mayor Waller’s selection of Jeff Katz, a Democrat, as deputy mayor is not unprecedented.  Regardless of the Republican caucus, her endorsement, and Republican Chairman Bill Waller’s endorsement, of Jeff Katz as mayor is not unprecedented. 
The reputation of Carol and Bill Waller, based on their devotion and service to the interests of  the Village of Cooperstown, is well established.  It does the village no good to suggest that their endorsement of Jeff Katz represents anything but their continued devotion to the interests of our village.
WENDELL TRIPP
Cooperstown

OTHER VIEWS: For Now, A Concept

2-12-10

A recent editorial in The Freeman’s Journal discussed the possibility of merging the Cooperstown Chamber with the County Chamber, or at least combining services/administration to reduce overhead.
During our Retail/Dining member meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26, a facilitated discussion generated a number of ideas (over 30) for the chamber to pursue.  One of these ideas offered was the suggestion for the chamber to merge or develop a dual membership program with another organization, such as the Otsego County Chamber.
The idea of combining services and memberships for both organizations is one that has been brought forth throughout our history.  This idea has not, in either past or present, ever evolved beyond a concept. 
Should such a concept be pursued beyond this level, the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce assures both our members and our community, that they would be informed of any such decision through a message directly from our Board of Directors with ample opportunity for discussion to assure that it would be a step supported by our members.
Certainly, we are working hard towards collaborative efforts with many other organizations at all times to make our organization more efficient and to allow for the most effective use of our membership dollars.

 Any additional inquiries can be directed to Andrew Marietta, president, at 436-3124 or myself at 547-9571. 
Susan O’Handley
Executive Director
Cooperstown Chamber
of Commerce

Ms. O’Handley drafted this letter for chamber members after last week’s editorial on issues associates with mergers of chambers of commerce.

EDITORIAL: A Low-Risk, High-Yield Opportunity To Try Out County Manager

2-12-10

Here’s an idea that’s been circulating among folks in – and interested in – efficient Otsego County government.
How about the county Board of Representatives naming Terry Bliss, county director of planning, to what would be a newly created position of county administrator?
As a practical matter, Bliss, who has long tenure in various county positions, is already the default county manager to a degree.
When the county reps need something done, how often does the cry go up (not in so many words, perhaps, but nonetheless):  Let Terry do it!
Certainly, the staffing that’s being done locally on guiding the county past MOSA – the three-county solid-waste authority – is being done by Bliss and his able associates out at The Meadows.
That’s certainly appropriate, but such high-level interactions between independent government entities are usually something that a county manager would handle.

•

Part of the resistance to naming a county manager has been uneasiness about whether whoever filled the job would be sensitive to the representatives’ wishes, and Bliss is certainly that.
He’s also had amicable interactions with other department heads over the years, so there would be few surprises there. 
And he’s a friendly face to county employees, evident in the annual Ground Hog Day barbecue he’s organized for a dozen years now.
Plus, he plans to retire in 2-3 years, so his role would clearly be interim, with the goal of working out the kinks necessary in any new position, and helping the county board identify his successor and affect a smooth transition.
Laura Childs, veteran clerk of the board, is retiring at the end of this year, so Bliss would have several months to benefit from the vast working knowledge of county government she has absorbed over the years.

•

It’s been four years now since the county board contracted with David W. Brenner, the revered former board chair, to study how much administration Otsego County needs.
Brenner discovered professional management is the only way to go.  At the time, however, the board was riven with anger and distrust, the result of the Democrats unholy alliance with Republican Don Lindberg of Worcester to extract control from the majority Republicans.
Until tempers could be cooled and amity restored, it wouldn’t be fair to bring a newcomer into such a morass, Brenner concluded.
That’s changed.  Republicans have a clear majority.  The new chair, Sam Dubben, is an avowed peacemaker, even in the face of Democratic showmanship.  (Instead of making Dubben’s elevation unanimous, the handful of Democrats nominated county Rep. Richard Murphy of Oneonta, who had no chance of being selected, simply to rankle the majority.)
Naming Terry Bliss county manager would be a low-risk, high-yield step toward professional government.  The county board ought to take it.

LETTER: Carnival Was Great! Thanks

2-12-10

To the Editor:
First of all, we’d like to thank the Cooperstown community for your support for the 44th annual Cooperstown Winter Carnival. 
Many, many individuals put forward time, effort, monetary donations and opened their businesses over the weekend to make this year’s Wild Wild Winter Carnival a success! We had a great time, enjoyed good food, fun contests and music and most of all, great company.  Thank you for attending events, entering your talents into contests and braving the cold.
Congratulations to all the award winners over the weekend. A small number of 50/50 raffle tickets were not received in time to make it into the raffle drawing that took place during the event. We sincerely apologize for the error and will be contacting any community member who was affected by this immediately to refund their raffle money. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Winter Carnival Committee via email at cooperstownwintercarnival@gmail.com.
We are already looking forward to a wonderful event in 2011.
WHITNEY SELOVER
& TINA MACALUSO
Co-Chairs
Scott Barton, Geoff Bell, Sam Carr, Mike DeSimone, Patti Gulotta, George Macaluso, Kris Potrikus, Sarah Purdy, Bill Weldon and Kim White
The Cooperstown Winter
 Carnival Committee

Leaving GOP Helm, Waller Fondly Recalls End To Union Ticket

2-12-10

To the Editor:
I am announcing that I have resigned as chairman of the Village of Cooperstown Republican Committee. 
I do this primarily to devote more time to caring for my wife who is dealing with some health issues and who also is in process of winding up her very successful history of service to the village.
In addition, I feel it is the proper time to step down and let others continue the traditions that were started over 30 years ago when Tom Malone and I quenched the Union Ticket and brought competitive elections to Cooperstown.  Prior to that, candidates were “selected” by a few and voted in by as little as 15 in the village’s general elections. 
The culmination of this effort was dramatically seen at our last Republican caucus, where a record number of people turned out and selected their candidates for Village office. 
Truly these candidates were chosen not by a few in a back room, but rather by the acclamation of the many.
These candidates, good people from both parties, will now go out and speak with residents, learn issues, propose solutions and show why they deserve the people’s vote for this office. 
And because of this free and open process, most of our registered voters will turn out and cast their ballots, voting their free choice for their leaders.
This is the hallmark of our democracy; this free election and simple peaceful transfer of leadership without violence and civil unrest, which our founding fathers foresaw when they created our country and led us by way of a Constitution that we all still follow.
While some may say that this system is chaotic and voters do not always choose the “right” candidate, our system is far better than a hierarchal decree of power and far superior to the outright forceful seizures so prevalent in other countries. 
So far superior, that all of us should embrace this process and contribute to it in any way we can. 
Support those that you favor and work to bring their attributes to the forefront so that we may all learn who that candidate is and make an informed choice; for that precious gift that we have been given by our Founders, that gift preserved through the sacrifice of many and that gift fought for by a brave few; that gift of our vote is a special privilege we must cherish forever.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you, the voters of our village.
WILLIAM WALLER
Cooperstown

LETTER: Justice Candidate Friedman Brings ‘Sense Of Justice, Fairness And Commitment’

2-12-10

To the Editor:
I want to introduce myself to the voters of the Village of Cooperstown:  My name is Leslie Friedman, and I am running as a candidate for village justice of Cooperstown in the March 16 election.   
Mayor Waller appointed me as acting village justice last July, and I have served in that capacity with Enid Hinkes, the current elected village justice. 
Since my appointment, I have become well adept at dealing with the Cooperstown justice system and its players, including the various police departments, the assistant district attorneys, the public defenders and the local attorneys who appear before us. 
In addition, I have the integrity and educational background to make the sound and fair decisions and judgments that are required to properly function as a village justice. 
I graduated from Bryn Mawr College and New York University School of Law.  I have been practicing law in various capacities for over 25 years including private practice here in Cooperstown. 
I am entirely committed to the Village of Cooperstown.  I have lived in the area for almost eight years.  I have children in the schools, where I have been very active in the classroom.  My husband is a physician at Bassett.  My entire family enjoys active participation in community life and activities. 
I bring a sense of justice, fairness and commitment to the position as village justice, and I hope that you will bestow upon me the honor to continue to so serve you.
LESLIE B. FRIEDMAN
Cooperstown

LETTER: Mayoral Candidate Booan Offers Experience As Professional Administrator

2-12-10

To the Editor:
My name is Joe Booan and this is to introduce myself as a candidate for mayor of Cooperstown in the upcoming election.  As your trustee for the past year, I clearly see the challenges that we face as a community. I offer my experience as a proven professional administrator to help address the many challenges that we face.
I understand what it means to raise a family, work two jobs to pay the bills, and I see the struggles that people are having in stressed economic times.  I have always worked hard for what I have earned, and have been careful on how I spent those earnings. 
As I grew up in Cooperstown, I learned valuable lessons from my parents, grandparents, teachers, and coaches.  These included:
• Focus on a goal
• Play fair, live with honor, and respect others.
• Know the value of money.
• Be accountable for your actions.
• Lead by example.
• It’s OK to fall down, as long as you get back up and try again.
• Be part of something bigger than yourself.
• Understand that what is popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular.
• Serve.
As your mayor, I will dedicate myself to the work that it will take to preserve our traditions, while ensuring financial stability.  We need strong leadership in our community.  As your mayor, let us:
• Create a vision for Cooperstown.
• Ensure efficiency and access in our government.
• Develop focused short and long term goals.
• Listen to all stakeholders.
• Seek positive relationships with our community partners.
I have a proven record of success as a leader and hope to earn your support on Election Day. Thank you,
JOE BOOAN, JR.
Cooperstown
JBooan@gmail.com

... And The Winter Carnival Contest Winners Are ...

2-12-10

COOPERSTOWN

Here are the winners in contests held throughout the 44th annual Cooperstown Winter Carnival:

Coloring Contest

Ages 0-3 – Ava Lasko, first; Olivia Enck, second
Ages 4-7 – Ireland Gable, first; Mackenzie Knapp, second; Reilly Mooney, third
Ages 8-12 – Lucy Meehan, first; Sophie Lasko, second; Will Weldon, third.

Drink Contest

Judges Choice – Alex & Ika’s
Audience Choice – Cooley’s Stone House Tavern

Carnival Court

King – Luke Folts
Queen – Elizabeth Szwejbka
Court - Carly Busse, Lauren Harris, Natalie Wrubleski, Edmund Donley, Jeremiah Ford, and Scott Millea

Bowling Tournament

First – Scott and Matt Curtis, 1203
Second – Nick Stearns and Barry Gray, 1184
Third – Dennis II and Dennis Dibble, 1166
Youth High Game w/hdcp – Spencer Vann, 239
Adult High Game w/hdcp – David Clinton, 247
Youth High Series w/hdcp – Spencer Vann, 633
Adult High Game w/hdcp – Chet Gould, 638

Snow Sculpting

First – Cooperstown Graduate Program, Class of 2011
Second – Andrew and Erin Rock

Parade

First – Cooperstown Girl Scouts and Cubs
Second – The Smithy
Third – SSPCA

X-Country Ski Race

First (female) – Emily Stein, 22:03
Second (female) – Susie Knight, 22:05
Third (female) – Deb Dolan, 25:16
First (male) – Gary Toombs, 13:55
Second (male) – Mark Gobel, 14:50
Third (male) – Thomas Cassidy, 15:51
(complete results atclarksportscenter.com)

Dessert Lovers

Best Business – Heckman’s Harmony House
Best Youth – The Falk Family
Best Individual – Whitney Selover
Audience Choice: Heckman’s Harmony House

Basketball

High School Boys – Jeff Flynn, Jimmy Donley, Isaac Huntsman
High School Girls – Emma Ryan Miller, Lexi Bloomfield
Middle School Boys – Park Summers, Jason Cadwalder
Middle School Girls – Mallory Arthurs, Addy Lawson
Elementary Boys – Jack Lambert, Reilly Hall, Tim Fuery
Elementary Girls – Annie Hage
Three-Point Shooting – Dave Kent, Scott Whiteman, Tim Fuery
Foul Shots – Dick Start, Dave Hunt

Sled Stampede

Overall – Johnny Hage
Adult – Ben Savoie
14 and under – Johnny Hage
11 and under – Joey Peterson, Annie Hage
8 and under – Josie Hovis
6 and under – Mary Hage
5 and under – Keenan Murphy

Bob Smullens Road Race

First 10K (female) – Lisa Brassaw, 45:08
First 10K (male) – Mike Rutledge, 35:20
First 5K (female) – Andrea Aldridge, 24:24
First 5K (male) Chuck Hollister

Chicken Wing

Cooley’s Stone House Tavern

Cheesecake Contest

First – Linda Smirk, Cooperstown B&B
Second – Elizabeth Dunn
Third – Bassett Healthcare, Nicoletta’s Italian Cafe, Cooperstown Diner

Pitch Tournament

First – Adam Sittler and Jeremy Holmes
Second, Skip and Chuck Coleman
Third – Brendan Hill and Reid Nagelschmidt

Last Stand Chili Contest

Best Business – Heckman’s Harmony House
Best Individual – Lynda Selover

Golden Horseshoe Hunt

The Toulson Family

50/50 Raffle

Stephen Pond, $271

Door Prize

Mike Kenney, tickets to Glimmerglass Opera

Ommegang’s New President: Quality Will Continue To Fuel Growth

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

‘The philosophy across Duvel” – Brewery Ommegang’s parent company – “is you get the right thing.  You pay the price for it, but you get the right thing.”
Simon Thorpe, Ommegang’s new president, was enthusing over a beer-and-wire topping machine, top of the line, imported from Italy, that was being installed in the Medieval-style Town of Middlefield plant the other day.
“This is a big day for us,” said Thorpe.  “Investing in little things makes the difference between great quality and really good quality.”
Ommegang’s goal:  “The top of the pyramid for super-premium quality.”
“The right thing,” “top quality,” “the best.”  These are the types of phrases you hear if you spend much time with the 47-year-old Brit who arrived in Cooperstown via a 25-year career that ranges from Brussels to Battle Creek, Mich.
Listening to Thorpe, you can imagine how the scene behind the brewery’s neat facade you see from Route 33 must pick at him:  Kegs are stacked here, pallets there, crates over there.
But not for long.  Accompanied by brewmaster Phil Leinhardt, Thorpe strides toward the frame of an 8,000-square-foot warehouse that is rising to the north of the main building.
By March, the building should be finished and a storage “pinch” that has been slowing Ommegang’s production should be eased.  In addition to providing a home for all that material out back, the warehouse will contain an expanded “warm cellar” – the Belgian-style brews are further bottle-aged after the regular brewing is complete – that doubles the current space.
This is part of the effort to expand the 36-hectoliter capacity – a hectoliter is 100 liters or 26 gallons – to 45-50 hectoliters.
The need to expand is an outgrowth of success:  In the past year, the Dow went up 2.2 percent; Ommegang’s volume rose 11 percent, and its revenues, 20 percent.
Thorpe sees the brewery’s success as a byproduct of the Europeanization of Americans’ approach to food and drink – a heightened interest in flavor and quality.
“We are in the perfect place at the perfect time to grow with that trend,” he said, perhaps to even 100 hectoliters in five years.
Grow where?  “We have 148 acres here,” he said, with a nod out back.  He anticipates the brewery, which employs 30-some
people now – several of the new people are in sales and marketing, spreading the Ommegang word to all but four of the 50 states – could double in size in a decade.
Thorpe was raised in Southhampton, England, on the Channel, won a scholarship to a good secondary school and studied engineering at the University of Birmingham.
During a five-year stint with Unilever in the manufacture of margarine in London’s east end, he discovered his real interest was marketing and strategy.
He spent nine years with Tambrands in Belgium and Germany, then joined Kellogg’s in fabled Battle Creek, just as the company was discovering a market in convenience foods like Pop Tarts, Neutrogena Bars and Rice Krispie Treats.
He joined Hallmark just as people were shifting to e-mails, and found himself responsible for strategically retrenching Crayolas in the Binney & Smith division.
The link in all this:  “I’ve always wanted to run companies that have beautiful brands, real high quality brands with growth potential.” 
Thorpe joined InterBrew; the Belgian beer company had established “flagship local brands” in Korea, China, the U.K. and elsewhere.
His first challenge was to merge InterBrew with AmBev – its South American equivalent – and create InBev.  After a stint in Belgium, he returned to the States as InBev’s U.S. CEO, responsible for such brands as Labatt, Rolling Rock and Beck’s.
Foremost, he oversaw the rise of Stella Artois.
Innovation One: Every available billboard in the top 30 U.S. cities was obtained for Stella. 
Innovation Two: The company provided “millions” of chalice-like glasses with the Stella logo on the side to bars that served the beer.  So when you got a Stella, it was in a Stella glass, something that’s become a staple for quality beers.
Itchy to run his own company, Thorpe put together a private equity fund with some friends, but when the market collapsed in 2008, he reconnect with Michel Moortgat, president of Ommegang’s parent, Duvel Moortgat.
You can see how this would have been an ideal match.
In addition to ramping up production and sales, one of Thorpe’s novelties – he said he’s leaned heavily on brewmaster Leinhardt and Larry Bennett, director of marketing – has been the four specialty brews announced last month.  Only six weeks’ supply of each will be produced, and a different beer will be released quarterly.
Ommegang has caused a splash in beer circles nationally, but, Thorpe said, everything gets old; this is an idea to keep the brand fresh.
Plus, “there’s competition down there,” said Thorpe, his head inclining toward the French doors at the end of the second-floor offices that look out to where the brewers concoct their potions.  “It’s created a buzz in the brewery.”
Meanwhile, Thorpe is settling into Cooperstown, which he’s found he likes quite a bit.  He’s met a lot of people.  There’s a vibrant social life.
His wife Julie and son Robert, 17, who have followed him back and forth across the Atlantic several times, remain in Brussels for now until the son graduates from high school.

Investors Recruited For Team

NYCBL Decision Expected Shortly


By JIM KEVLIN

PLAY BALL? The decision is due by Friday. Check www.hometownoneonta.biz

The Bald Eagles?  The Riverbeds? The Engines?  The Trees?  (After all, there are a lot of trees around here.)
Those were some of the names for Oneonta’s prospective New York Collegiate Baseball League team that were being tossed around by Brad Zee’s fifth graders at Riverside Elementary the other morning.
Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr., who had asked local schools to come up with team names, had a list of 80 by Monday morning, Feb. 8, many on railroad themes, he said.
But before a name can be chosen, a team must be gotten, and loose ends were still being tied up at mid-week.  The mayor was still optimistic that a deal could be put together by Friday, Feb. 12, the league’s deadline.
Clearly, there’s no lack of interest in a team to replace the Oneonta Tigers, who were swooped away by larger-market Norwich, Conn., two weeks ago.
Fifty people, some prospective investors, attended a meeting at Stella Luna Thursday, Feb. 4, called by Miller to discussed the future of baseball at Damaschke Field.
Bob Hanft, former chairman of the Hartwick College trustees who recently moved to Otsego County, agreed to try to pull together a team of investors from within and outside the group.
Miller expressed the hope that two or three dozen investors – “it’s more of a charitable contribution than an investment,” he cautioned – would come up with $5,000 apiece to put the team in place.
He estimated it would cost $100,000 – give or take $20,000 – to field a team this summer, but said the Tigers had grossed substantially more than that last summer and the effort would be solvent.
Cooperstown will also be fielding a NYCBL team this summer – the Hawkeyes – and the mayor expressed optimism that a cross-county rivalry (the teams would meet six times) would generate interest.

A Decade Of Helping ‘Sister City’

By LAURA COX
Ten years of small steps are bringing results that seemed unattainable.
Over New Year’s, when Dr. Ashok Malhotra visited the school he founded a decade ago in Dundlod, India, he discovered 10 2009 graduates now are attending college.
That was among the achievements marked in the 10th anniversary celebration of the Indo-International School when Malhotra and his partner, Linda Drake, visited Oneonta’s Sister City in India’s Rajasthan state Dec. 31 to Jan. 4.
Malhotra, a SUNY Oneonta distinguished teaching professor, is founder and president of the Ninash Foundation, and in December 2000 convinced then-Mayor Kim Muller and Common Council  creating the Sister City tie with Dundlod.
The proclamation established “diplomatic ties” to extend “the hand of friendship.”
In January 2001, then-SUNY Oneonta President Alan Donovan traveled with Malhotra to Dundlod and read the Common Council’s proclamation to the chairman of the village council there.
The Ninash Foundation now supports five schools and provides free education to approximately 1,050 impoverished children in remote villages in India, including two schools – an elementary and high school – in Dundlod hosting 550 students.
Since this declaration was made, Malhotra and Drake, Ninash Foundation treasurer and director of the SUNY Oneonta Center for Social Responsibility and Community, have been lucky enough to have the financial support of many local community members, elementary schools, and the two local colleges and their students.
It spurred the initiation of local fundraisers to help fund the Dundlod schools and promote literacy throughout the village as well as the addition of lessons on Indian culture to the third grade curriculum at local elementary schools, Malhotra said.
Over the past 10 years Riverside Elementary held repeated penny drives.  Greater Plains Elementary’s “kiss the goat” fundraiser has bought 18 goats for the poorest of poor families in Dundlod and collected recyclables to buy school supplies.  Center Street School children raised more than $700 for a teacher’s salary. 
SUNY Oneonta sororities and fraternities have raised funds for a playground and books.  Local Indian musicians have organized benefit concerts.  Most recently, the Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority planned a Walk for Literacy.

$3 Million? No Thanks, Says Town

2-12-10

Town Of Oneonta Fails To Back Even Looking At Consolidation

By BENJAMIN DEER : WEST ONEONTA

$3 million a year in new revenues?
The Oneonta Town Board doesn’t even want to explore that possibility.
Faced with 41 residents voicing objections Tuesday, Feb. 9, to the possibility of the town and city of Oneonta merging, no town board member would even second Supervisor Bob Wood’s motion to at least study the matter.
 “The city just wants our money,” said resident Mark Greene, West Oneonta.  “They should mind their own business is what I say.  “We say ‘no.’  Period.”
Even Wood said: “There is not a single board member, including myself, who wants this merger to take place. This resolution calls for strictly a study.”
On the city side, Common Council Tuesday, Feb. 2, unanimously passed a resolution authorizing a study to update a 1996 report that recommended consolidation.
Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr., estimated that efficiencies could save the municipalities $250,000 a year, but the real benefit is the state’s policy of preemption.
Under preemption, only counties and cities receive direct payments of state-collected sales tax; towns do not.  If the Oneontas became one larger city, it would gain access to an estimated $3 milllion in additional tax revenues a year from the Southside mega-retailers.
The city plans to continue the study, Wood said; the town would simply be a watchdog for the process.  Ultimately, town residents would get the final vote.
Town board members were unswayed.
“I’ve never seen any government grow and save money,” said Councilman Scott Gravelin.  “That’s why I will vote no.  It’s just not realistic”, he said.
Councilman William Mirabito agreed: “I was originally open-minded to having the study conducted.  But it’s a representative government and with the turnout tonight and what other residents have said, they clearly don’t want this to happen.”

CITY OF THE HILLS

BARNES ABOARD:  MB Communications, operated by Maggie Barnes, former Fox Hospital spokesperson, has received the contract held by Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr.’s 55 Maple Consultants to help promote the redevelopment of the downtown.  When he was elected, the mayor was required to step back from the contract.

SAVE ENERGY: Opportunities for Otsego is offering energy-conservation classes, “Save Big, Win Big,” beginning at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, at OFO’s main office, and on subsquent second and third Thursdays of the month.  Details, call 433-8000.

EMERGENCY FOOD:The federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program has given a $35,000 grant to Otsego County through the United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties. To apply, call 432-8006 for an application.  Deadline, March 1.

SWEET VALENTINES: Don’t be surprised if the  Sweet Adelines serenade your co-workers and friends around town. They’re singing Valentines for Friday-Sunday, Feb. 12-14.

RESEARCH: SUNY Oneonta’s 10th Faculty Research Show is 2-5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, in Morris Conference Center.  Admission free; public welcome.

Retired Chief Robert Barnes Lauded By Legislature With Special Resolution

2-12-10

The New York State legislature adopted a legislative resolution honoring Robert Barnes on his retirement as City of Oneonta Fire Chief. 
Senate resolution 3487 was sponsored by Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) and adopted on January 20, 2010.  Assemblyman William Magee sponsored the same resolution, assembly resolution 831, which was adopted on January 12, 2010.
“Bob Barnes has raised the bar for emergency service personnel,” said Senator Seward.  “His dedication and hard work has saved countless lives, prevented numerous tragedies and created a safer community.”
 Barnes retired on December 25, 2009 following a career in public safety spanning 36 years, including 18 as City of Oneonta Fire Chief.   
“I am proud to have worked with Bob on a number of occasions and  have always marveled at his professionalism no matter the situation.  He is well deserving of this special honor,” Seward concluded.

CHRIS ROSSI OTHER VOICES: Marital Discord: It’s Been Around

2-12-10

COOPERSTOWN



Many older pieces of folk art are created on material that might not normally be called “archivally approved.” Some of these same materials are used to back works of art as well.
So it shouldn’t have been surprising to find that our lovely needlework picture created by Sally S. Washburn in January 1808 was backed and sewn to an 1807 edition of the Otsego Herald.
What did come as a revelation were two little advertisements listed in that paper.
I have this crazy idea that bad public behavior is a phenomenon of the modern age. I stand corrected.
What we have in the 1807 Otsego Herald, from Oxford New York is the public airing of a private spat.
Move over Tiger and Elin, Jenny and Mark Sanford, the Sills are hard at it in the press.
The Oct. 30 advertisement, posted by Mr. Andrew Sills warns neighbors against harboring or trusting his wife, as he “shall pay no debts of her contracting.”
Mrs. Parnell Sills takes it one step further in her advertisement.  There she warns the public, more particularly all females “...against trusting him in any respect, for fear he will deceive and abase them, as he has the subscriber.”
This after a preamble where in she gives hints at the numerous imprudences of her husband, including some that seem rather risqué for print in a public paper of the period.
What happened with the Sills?! The advertisements leave one speculating on what went so terribly wrong that it would lead to dueling personal ads in an 1807 local newspaper.
Then in contrast we have the needlework picture – a lovely depiction of domestic bliss with lovers courting against the backdrop of a charmingly rendered house and gardens.
Who would ever imagine the intrigue and scandal that lurks hidden on the flip side of that innocent image.

Chris Rossi, The Fenimore Art Museum’s associate curator, posted this on the museum’s blog, http://fenimoreartmuseum.blogspot.com

2 Entrepreneurs + The Oneonta = Very Promising Combination

2-12-10

Government help is great, as are non-profits.  They can make good things happen that wouldn’t otherwise.
But it’s a sign that a local economy is on the make when private enterprise starts to invest.
That’s why what Tom Cormier and Jon Weiss are trying to do with The Oneonta – former vaudeville house and cinema – is so exciting.
They have identified a need – for rock ’n’ roll – and are determined to fill it, even in the iffy economic climate.

•

Both men bring valuable resources to the table, or the stage, if you will.
Cormier has a growing business installing satellite dishes in most of New York State and all of Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia.  His crews topped 1,000 installations in one week for the first time recently.  And he knows buildings, or The Oneonta would be a daunting one.
Weiss is a partner in the Warsaw @ The Polish National in Brooklyn, which New York magazine called “one of the city’s premier nightlife destinations – in any borough.”  He’s an originator of Cavestomp, an annual celebration of garage bands and “one-hit wonders.”
Both men are old enough to have experience, but youngish enough to have the energy to make things happen.
The link to the New York City scene, in particular, promises great things.

•

Oneonta is a city with multiple arts venues. 
The Foothills Performing Arts Center is going to be a great catalyst for downtown revival.  Have you seen the little theater in the former Eagles’ Aerie – Muscles in Motion is there now; very neat.  SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater was refurbished in 2004-05.  There are numerous very fine church halls.
There’s plenty of space for everyone to do whatever everyone wants.
The Friends of the Oneonta Theater had hoped to use the cinema for movies, and perhaps it still can in collaboration with Cormier and Weiss.
If it can’t, there are other places – the small theater in Foothills’ production facility is very adaptable.  Regardless, The Friends deserve the community’s thanks for achieving its goal by spreading the word of The Oneonta’s availability.

•

With entrepreneurial flexibility, who knows what Cormer and Weiss can accomplish.
Perhaps they will tap the talent of SUNY Oneonta’s 600-major music industry department.  Perhaps they will help catapult one of the many fledgling local bands to fame.
Perhaps ... The point is, this is all very good.

A Low-Risk, High-Yield Opportunity To Try Out County Manager

2-12-10

Here’s an idea that’s been circulating among folks in – and interested in – efficient Otsego County government.
How about the county Board of Representatives naming Terry Bliss, county director of planning, to what would be a newly created position of county administrator?
As a practical matter, Bliss, who has long tenure in various county positions, is already the default county manager.
When the county reps need something done, how often does the cry go up (not in so many words, perhaps, but nonetheless):  Let Terry do it!
Certainly, the staffing that’s being done locally on guiding the county past MOSA – the three-county solid-waste authority – is being done by Bliss and his able associates out at The Meadows.
That’s certainly appropriate, but the high-level interactions between independent government entities are usually something that a county manager would handle.

•

Part of the resistance to naming a county manager has been uneasiness about whether whoever filled the job would be sensitive to the representatives’ wishes, and Bliss is certainly that.
He’s also had amicable interactions with other department heads over the years, so there would be few surprises there. 
And he’s a friendly face to county employees, evident in the annual Ground Hog Day barbecue he’s organized for a dozen years now.
Plus, he plans to retire in 2-3 years, so his role would clearly be interim, with the goal of working out the kinks necessary in any new position, and helping the county board identify his successor and affect a smooth transition.
Laura Childs, veteran clerk of the board, is retiring at the end of this year, so Bliss would have several months to benefit from the vast working knowledge of county government she has absorbed over the years.

•

It’s been four years now since the county board contracted with David W. Brenner, the revered former board chair, to study how much administration Otsego County needs.
Brenner discovered professional management is the only way to go.  At the time, however, the board was riven with anger and distrust, the result of the Democrats unholy alliance with Republican Don Lindberg of Worcester to extract control from the majority Republicans.
Until tempers could be cooled and amity restored, it wouldn’t be fair to bring a newcomer into such a morass, Brenner concluded.
That’s changed.  Republicans have a clear majority.  The new chairman, Sam Dubben, is an avowed peacemaker, even in the face of Democratic showmanship. 
(Instead of making Dubben’s elevation unanimous, the handful of Democrats nominated county Rep. Dick Murphy of Oneonta, who had no chance of being selected, simply to be a burr in the Republican saddle.)
Naming Terry Bliss county manager would be a low-risk, high-yield step toward professional government.  The county board ought to take it.

Money Rules, Moving Tigers Away Proves

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

A curious fan base, gleaming stadium, relationship with a major university and owner who created the capital to purchase the Texas Rangers shields State College from the nightmare Oneonta, N.Y., is experiencing.
After 44 years, the New York-Penn League has officially left Oneonta.
The reason for the move to Norwich, Conn., is $imple. The timing is wretched.
The Oneonta Tigers became the Connecticut Tigers less than five months before Opening Day. At least the State College Spikes had time to prepare for their first New York-Penn League season.
The league planned its move from New Jersey to State College less than a month after the 2005 season, giving management most of the fall and an entire winter and spring to prepare for 2006.
...Leaving Oneonta is one more sign the New York-Penn League will abandon its roots for the right price. Only three cities – Jamestown, Batavia and Auburn – remain from the league’s 14-franchise lineup in 1990.
... The players competed in Damaschke Field, which opened in 1906. The ballpark never had a videoboard, party deck or luxury suite. But baseball trudged along in Oneonta, giving its former owners and the NY-PL 44 solid years.
State College can only hope it develops a comparable minor-league history.

Cipriano covers the Spikes for the Center Daily Times.

War Over, Washington Visited Clinton’s Dam Site At Susquehanna Source

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

Some historians say nay, but they would have to argue with Jeptha R. Simms.
In response to 1931-32 reports that George Washington, on his farewell tour as commander of the Continental Army in 1783, had completely avoided the Mohawk Valley.
In seeking to disprove this canard, Simms, a “well-known historian of the Mohawk Valley,” dug up considerable detail about Washington’s visit to the mouth of the Susquehanna River, which Gen. James Clinton had dammed in 1779 and, blowing it up, floated his troops past Oneonta to modern-day Afton, where they destroyed the Iroquois headquarters village of Oquaga.
Simms findings, which relied on diaries and letters of settlers in Herkimer County during the Revolution, as well as family stories handed down for a generation or two, were reported in The Freeman’s Journal of Wednesday, July 31, 1935, and discovered recently by Town of Otsego Historian Tom Heitz in the archives of the New York State Historical Association.
The report lays detail upon detail of Washington’s visit to Fort Plain and Palatine.
On July 31, 1783, for instance, Washington dined with a Colonel Clyde, “a true Whig and brave officer” whom he later appointed Montgomery County sheriff.
After dinner, Washington’s party proceeded to Cherry Valley, where the spent the night at Colonel Campbell’s, who had returned not long before (from the war) and erected a log house,” where they were agreeably entertained.”
The next morning, Washington, seeing the Campbell boys at play, said to their mother, “they would make fine soldiers in time.”
Mrs. Campbell – she and her sons had been kidnapped in the Cherry Valley massacre and kept hostage throughout the war – replied “she hoped their services would never be thus needed.”
And Washington said, “I hope so too, madam, for I have seen enough of war,” Simms related.
“After breakfast,” Simms continued, “the party were early in the saddle to visit the outlet of Otsego lake, and see where Gen. Jaems Clinton dammed the lake, just above its outlet.”
The party returned to Fort Plain “that same evening ...via the portage road opened by Clinton to Springfield from Canajoharie.”  Today, that would be the Continental Road, East Springfield.

Governor Roosevelt Visits Oneonta On Road To Glory

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : ONEONTA

He was two years away from his rendezvous with destiny – 12 years battling the Depression, first, then the Nazis – but Franklin D. Roosevelt’s problem-solving bent was evident when he was greeted by an “enthusiast throng” in front of the Oneonta Hotel at 10 a.m. Aug. 28, 1930.
His visit to Otsego County was part of a statewide tour, the governor (and future president) said, to determine whether state institutions were up to snuff.
“We find much of the equipment out of date and the buildings inadequate,” he said.  “We find our prisons, some of them built back in 1830, only allowed a space of 6 1/2 by 6 1/2 by 3 1/2 feet for a prisoner.
“...Now we have come to realize that these same prisoners, or at least 94 percent of them, are coming back into our communities to live, and it is far more creditable to treat them as human beings and endeavor to save them to society,” the Oneonta Herald reported FDR saying that day.
Before the session on the Oneonta Hotel steps, he paid a visit to the state Normal School – the future SUNY Oneonta – and “conferred with President Bugbee relative to a new building.”
The night before, the governor had spent the night at The Otesaga.
Roosevelt was serving his first term, and Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed, starting what would become the Great Depression.
Two years hence, he would be elected president and declare “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

It Turns Out Lots Of Presidents Have Otsego County Ties

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN


George Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Those names came immediately to mind when Bob Brzozowski, Greater Oneonta Historical Association president, and Tom Heitz, Town of Otsego historian were questioned.
But when they thought about it further, it was surprising the number of presidents and presidents-to-be who have surveyed Oneonta’s hills and Glimmerglass’ limpid waters.

For instance:
• Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841, attended a party at Woodside Hall, Cooperstown, in 1839, hosted by Judge Eben Morehouse, and got lost in the dark garden on his way back to town.  He finally found his way back to the house and was escorted to town.
•  James Garfield, 1881, had roots in Worcester, where you can still see the Route 7 farm operated by his grandfather Solomon and father Thomas.
• Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885, who attended the Central New York State Fair at Belmont Circle, Oneonta, in 1889.
• Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897, who, while running for president for the first time in 1884, took a train from Elmira to Albany and stopped in Oneonta for 15 minutes.  He didn’t deliver a speech, but shook hands all around, according to Brzozowski.
(Town of Richfield historian Marjorie Walters reports Cleveland was nominated for governor in Richfield Springs, and returned there for his victory celebration.)
• Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909.  In the waning days of his presidency, he dedicated the public library in Jordanville, just north of Richfield Springs, which had been endowed by his sister Corrine Roosevelt Robinson.
• William Howard Taft, 1909-1913, and Theodore Roosevelt visited Congressman George Fairchild in Oneonta, spending the night at the Fairchild mansion, now the Masonic Temple at Main and Grand streets.  

One Friday evening, probably in the spring of 1988, Tom Heitz received a call from his boss at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where he was then librarian.
Young George Bush, the then-vice president’s son, was visiting the next morning.  Tom was assigned to show him around.
Heitz remembers the future president as being very uncommunicative and uninterested, although he spent 40 minutes in the gift shop, where he bought a Texas Rangers cap.
That August, he bought the team.

‘Morgan & Morgan’ Explores New Frontier: TV

2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : ONEONTA

‘Morgan & Morgan” is back in business.
Tom Morgan and Erna Morgan McReynolds, for years partners in an Oneonta stockbroking and investment firm (she continues to operate Morgan Stanley Smith Barney on outer Chestnut) ... collaborators in such community ventures as putting the Catskill Symphony on a firm financial footing ... not to mention, husband and wife ... have a new joint venture: “Money Talk,” being piloted on Time Warner’s News 10 Now, Syracuse; but that may be just the beginning.
The first five “Money Talk” segments – the title is the same as Tom Morgan’s nationally syndicated radio program – may be viewed at the News 10 Now Web site (go to news10now.com, and type “money talk” in the search line.)
Time Warner’s idea is to run the two-minute clips on its Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton all-news stations, then expand from there.
The first five segments were recorded in Buffalo – by a friend, Emmy-winning producer Peter Restivo of Toronto – but the Morgans anticipate moving the taping to the library of their home on Franklin Mountain.
“There’s always been a need and there continues to be a need – and a more pressing need right now – for basic, solid financial information,” Tom Morgan said of “Money Talk”’s intent.
“How various investments work.  How the economy works.  How companies function.  How bonds and stocks and mutual funds – how people can use them to improve their retirement.  There are an awful lot of baby boomers retiring.”
Tom Morgan’s background is in advertising, working with Fortune 500 companies.  His syndicated radio show – on the air now for 31 years – is the longest-running short-form program since Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” went off the air.
Before entering the investment business, Erna Morgan McReynolds was a news producer for NBC in New York, working with Tom Brokaw, Connie Chung and other headliners.
The new show, Tom Morgan said, is also “unique in a subtle way.  Virtually all the investment books, articles and programs people come across are created by people who are not investment advisers, people who do not sit down and deal one-on-one and deal with clients, with clients’ money, with clients’ anxieties.
“In our case, we’ve had thousands of clients, with all different levels of understanding.”

for cooperstown sixth-graders... TREP$ Means Business

2-12-10
 
By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

WHAT IS TREP$?

TREP$, a trendy term for young entrepreneurs, is the award-winning, entrepreneurship education program teaching kids in grades 4-8 the basics of business ownership.
For details on the program, visit: www.trepsed.com

Among other things, TREP$ is a bridge for children – in this case, sixth graders, 12 years old, almost young adults – to talk to adults as adults.
Usually, that’s not an easy conversation, said TREP$ co-founder Pam deWaal of West Milford, N.J., calm amid a storm of buying and selling that whirled around the CCS Middle/High School cafeteria for two hours Saturday, Feb. 6.
Baggums’ creator Jacob Russell – he was one of 48 entrepreneurs who developed products, packaging and marketing plans, and were now peddling the result – proved deWaal’s point.
“My mom” – his parents are David and Nancy – “used to make these kinds of bags,” said Jacob, as he walked an interviewer through his business’ development with aplomb.
He held up a squarish sack that tightens with a drawstring. You can fill it with books, or whatever, then sling it over your shoulder.
Jacob’s experience – market research, if you will – with the sacks made them a natural, but he didn’t stop there.  The sacks retail for $5, but he developed a beach bag for $8 and a pocketbook for $10.
(At shortly before noon, he was planning a sale, a $2 reduction on each item .)
Jacob had scavenged the Russells’ Chestnut Street home for cast-off clothes – one of the sacks, for instance, was made from super-hero pyjamas – so he kept his costs low.
Still, production was time-consuming.  “I’ve learned business is a lot harder than most people think,” said the entrepreneur, who netted $175, which he donated to the Susquehanna SPCA.
Pam deWaal and her partner, Hayley Romano, were trained as teachers – Pam also runs a business, Mountain Soul Jewelry, which provided the entrepreneurial piece.
Self-described “PTA moms,” the pair created the program in 2006 for their children’s school, “having no idea the way it would spread,” said Pam.
But spread it did.
First, it was a hit in West Milford.  Then, it won the 2006 New Jersey PTA’s Champion for Children Award.  Calls started to come in, so the partners decided to develop a teacher’s manual, lesson plans and a workbook.
A start-up kit is $599 and workbooks $10 each.  Grades 4-8 can participate.
Today, 40 schools – in New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, Georgia, Canada, even Saudi Arabia – are using the TREP$ curriculum.  (The Saudi customer insisted two separate tapes be created:  one for boys, one for girls.)
In addition to learning how to communicate with the adult world, everyone learns life lessons from walking the entrepreneurial walk, whether the pupils end up runnning their own businesses or not.
“Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a corporate employee,” said deWaal, “you will be more successful if you have an entrepreneurial mindset.”
Cooperstown’s Carina Franck is a friend of Pam deWaal’s, and followed TREP$ development with some interest.  Now co-president of the local PTA, it seemed a like a good time for Franck and co-president Erika Idelson to try it out.
Franck chaired the committee.  Idelson, Kathleen Gozigian, Rebecca Stone, Annmarie Leinhart Bascio and Martha Heneghan rounded out the organizers.
“I am blown away by the community support she’s gotten here,” said deWaal, surveying the scene.
Right in front of her was Noah Briggs, who was selling giant Boston-creme filled Big Top Cupcakes, selling for $5 each.
“I had this whole table filled,” he said.  Only a half-dozen were left, and Noah was taking orders.
As with Jacob, Noah discovered running a business is a lot of work, and it can be expensive:  He spent $64 on ingredients and three days in the production.
“Last night,” he said, “we were up ’til one, baking and wrapping them.”

ENTREPRENEURS ABOUND
Here are the companies and entrepreneurs who participated in the TREP$ Marketplace Saturday, Feb. 6, in the CCS Middle/High School cafeteria:
•  All You Need Is Love: Katie Franck and Jen Snyder, soaps, necklaces and Cards
• Baggum: Jacob Russell, cloth bags
• Beadiful Smiles: Margie Knight and Sylvia Johnson, earrings
• Best Friend Babysitters: Emily Greenberg and Maddy Sandler, babysitting service
• Birdhouses by Matt: Matt Burch, wooden birdhouses
• C&A’s Cocoa and Spice Cookies: Alex Greenberg and Colin Wilcox, hot chocolate and spice cookies
• Coco Loco: Connor Fay, chocolate
• COOP-GUM: Anna Greene, bubble gum
• Dylan’s Delights: Dylan Snyder, cookie mixes and candy
• Elijah & Augustus Fine Chocolates: Eli Sandler and August Stegman, homemade chocolates and candy
• For The Birds: Lauryn Makofske, bird houses
• K&C Crafts: Carson Haney and Kate Preston, bookmarks and picture frames
• K&W Crafts: Ken and Wade Stahl, key chains, necklaces and bracelets
• Harmony Healing Herbal Salves & Oils: Alexandra Williams, herbal salves and oils
• Harry’s Healthy Treats: Emily Murphy, dog treats
• Hunter’s Sweet Treats: Hunter Ducey, cookies and brownies
• Kah Manrah Chocolates & Candies: Robert Iversen, Andrew Burnham and Michelle Zeh, candies, chocolate and hot chocolate
• Like Grandma Made It: Scott Curtis, homemade ice cream
• Magic Cupcake: Noah Briggs, cupcakes
• The Mallory Gallery: Mallory Arthurs, shopping lists, babysitting service, coloring books
• Pin La Chocolate: Nolan Rock, chocolates
• Otsego Scenery: Joseph Peterson, photographs
• SH&B: Becca O’Dell, Sarah Heneghan and Helen Powers, soaps, felt products and animal treats
• Save The Birds: Timmy Griffin and Quentin Powers, wooden bluebird and owl houses
• Taped: Aaron Idelson and Catherine Borgstrom, duct tape products
• Wool to the Max: Max Ofer, jewelry, ornaments, felted animals and bags of wool