EDITORIAL How Often Can We Help Something 1st-Rate Happen? Solicitations, by phone, mail, email or in person, are a pesky part of 21st century life. The advantages the Susquehanna SPCA’s “Shelter Us” campaign for $3 million to build a new animal shelter are: one, the people who are running it are our neighors – we know them. And, two, everything about it is first rate. Anita Vitullo of Clinton, Staffworks’ president and philanthropist to the pet world, underscored the many ways…
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Editorial - Page 29
Doesn’t That Sound Better Than A Mantra Of Hate? All this talk about hate. Maybe it’s different in a rural enclave like Otsego County, but how often in the course of a week or month or year do any of us come face to face with something we can define as “hate.” Yet Governor Cuomo, last Thursday, Aug. 21, in announcing our state will be the first in the nation to enact a “Hate Crimes Domestic Terrorism Act” (see excerpt…
EDITORIAL Otsego Countian In Congress? Nice! General German Reporting For Duty If Adjutant Gen. (ret.) Anthony P. German is elected congressman from New York State’s 19th District, you can bet we will be the only district represented by someone who has an iceberg named after him. (As commander of the state’s Air National Guard, his pilots collaborated with the National Science Foundation’s Antarctica Program.) Also, he would be the first Otsego Countian to represent us in over a century, since…
EDITORIAL ‘There are no Caucasians present, though it would be difficult to distinguish them from many of those mingling in the mix of multi-hued wedding guests. Without exception, the guests are dressed fashionably, with stylish attire and stunning jewelry. The men are doctors, lawyers and undertakers; the women are school teachers and social workers … (The) waitstaff make their way through the crowd, bearing silver trays laden with chicken and crab croquettes, creamed sweetbreads on toast points, and slices of…
EDITORIAL Take Control! Consider Otsego Lake Association Annual Meeting at 9 a.m. This Saturday With so many areas of American life seemingly spinning out of control, there’s a contrary example in the Otsego Lake Association (OLA). Its “100-percent volunteers,” according to Jim Howarth, co-president with David Sanford, are focused on a common mission: “Protecting the health, beauty and wellbeing” of the lake. Listening to them, it’s clear: Local volunteers, working together, can get a lot done. There are larger non-profit,…
EDITORIAL Marijuana Law Prudent Step. Maybe, Just Maybe, Enough This year’s wild and crazy one-party bloc in Albany may have, by failing to reach it’s ultimate goal, achieved a sensible outcome in one area. Governor Cuomo Monday, July 29, signed legislation that reduces the penalty for unlawful possession of marijuana under 2 ounces from felony to violation. The penalty: a $50 fine for less than an ounce to a maximum of $200 for one to 2 ounces. (Above that, dealing’s…
EDITORIAL What Is It About Flags, Anyhow? The First Amendment is pretty clear: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Operative phrase: “No law.” The devil, of course, is in the details, beginning with “shouting fire in a crowded theater,” the metaphor…
The Lofts May Fulfill Dream Of A Renewed Downtown Speaking of development, The Lofts On Dietz, artist studios and middle-income apartments proposed for downtown Oneonta, is simply thrilling. The developer – a father-son combination, Ken and Sean Kearney, principals in Parkview Development Inc. – have completed two similar projects, in Beacon and Poughkeepsie, The father outlined the project to Common Council July 16, and to the city’s Planning Commission the following evening, and came across as seasoned, knowledgeable and level-headed.…
EDITORIAL No Land For Apartment Complex? Harrumph! “The Grove” developer Josh Edmonds did the right thing Wednesday, July 17, in withdrawing his application for a 12-unit apartment building between Pine Boulevard, one of the Village of Cooperstown’s finest streets, and lower Chestnut. It promised to be a long fight, with no certain end. As reported here before, Edmonds has figured out the home of the future – energy efficient, bright, supremely comfortable – and has built a half-dozen of them…
EDITORIAL Fans, Cooperstown Spent $10-15 Million Preparing For You Welcome, Induction attendees! Will there really be more than a record-breaking 84,000 of us? Excitement. If you’re been here before, look around: You will see many changes and improvements to Cooperstown’s downtown that have occurred since the last record-setter, when Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn set the record for attendance in 2008. If you came then, you might be astonished by what you see now. Then, all the sidewalks were…