LETTER from RICHARD STERNBERG Vaccines, Part II: They Arrive I wish I had the time, stamina, and column inches to write an article daily. That’s how fast the news is coming. Since last week, Pfizer has begun distribution and vaccinations around the nation, the Moderna vaccine has been approved and it will start distribution by the time you read this, with inoculations going into arms probably by Thursday the 24th. The 350 Tier One healthcare workers from Bassett Healthcare will…
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LETTER from TERRY BERKSON New Home For The Holidays A Christmas Story One Brooklyn morning many Decembers past, I heard a scratching behind the wall of my work place in the attic. I glanced out the window and spotted a squirrel emerging from a hole between the rain gutter and the shingles on the roof. He looked at me with a smug expression as if to say, “I moved in and I’m stayin’.” The intruder jumped to the leafless maple…
LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 I’m With Tom Cruise By RICHARD STERNBERG • AllOTSEGO.com Columnist I admit that I was just not a fan of Tom Cruise. I don’t dislike his acting, he’s just an actor that doesn’t get me excited or make me particularly want to see his movies. My antipathy may include a reaction to some of his off-screen actions in the past. But he just received some negative publicity for an act that I deem priceless…
HOMETOWN HISTORY December 17, 2020 150 Years Ago Home and Vicinity – A singular worm was found in an apple by Sable Hudson which we have seen and examined. It measures 7 inches in length, is nearly white and when taken from the apple its body was about the size of a small knitting needle. How did it get there? The worm will be sent to the State Entomologist at Albany for an examination. J.W. Carpenter is now pleasantly situated…
LETTER from RICHARD STERNBERG Vaccines, Part I: Pfizer Into The Fray Many people have asked me to explain vaccines to them, and specifically the ones for COVID-19. They are most concerned with how they work, when they will be available, and if they will be safe. Hopefully, this column will help. The terms vaccine and vaccination derive from the Latin name Variola vaccinae, which means small pox of the cow. Vacca is Latin for cow. The term vaccine was first…
LETTER from TERRY BERKSON ‘Bootlegging Hermits’ Life Rich As Renaissance Man’s One cold and leafless November morning about 40 years ago, I was deer hunting on Panther Mountain outside of Richfield Springs with my friend Paul O’Connor. After a long climb, we came into an area that was covered with hardwood trees that stood in gentle depressions and on top of small hummocks. The rolling terrain repeated itself over and over in a nondescript fashion so that it was easy…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Adams Lost After One Term, But Eventually Got Over It (After retiring, one-term President John) Adams led a quiet life, tending to his farm, while Jefferson’s presidency came and went. Twelve years after he left Washington, Adams finally snapped out of his funk and sent a letter to his old rival… Jefferson wrote back immediately, remembering the long years in which “we were fellow laborers in the same cause.” For the next 14 years, a fountain of…
LETTER from MICHAEL JEROME Polio Fight Informs COVID Fight Editor’s Note: Michael Jerome of Cooperstown chairs the Polio Plus Committee of the Rotary E-Club of Global Trekkers, a role he played for years at the Cooperstown club. Sixty years ago, every parent in the western world feared their child would be afflicted with the crippling disease of polio. Vaccines developed by Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin enabled the U.S., Canada and several European countries to become polio free by…
LETTER from MARIA NOTO Individualism Won’t Stop COVID Individualism in the United States through the lens of SARS-CoV-2 defines freedom as “freedom to not wear a mask,” as opposed to “freedom from getting sick.” Since I was a young girl whenever I felt remotely ill I was told to “suck it up,” get out of bed, go to school, socialize and learn. This attitude is rooted in the American belief that “sickness is a weakness;” sickness is an attitude. To…
LETTER from JIM ATWELL ‘Sometimes A Firm Rap… Remember me? For scores of years, I was a guy who visited with you through columns in local newspapers, most recently The Freeman’s Journal & Hometown Oneonta. I loved doing it – until last summer, when the sky fell on me. Or more precisely, until I fell off our back deck, down four steps, and onto an unforgiving asphalt drive. I was knocked senseless when my forehead hit the driveway. (Later, lots…
