EDITORIAL With Brainy, Creative Execs, Otsego County’s Future Secure A couple of months ago, Gerry Benjamin, director of SUNY New Paltz’s Benjamin Center and an expert on Upstate New York, saw the region’s economic future in nurturing and growing what we have. Craft brewing and yogurt production, in particular, are developing nicely, he said, although neither is generating sufficient jobs at sufficient salaries to begin replacing the manufacturing behemoth that was the Mohawk Valley. The advantage to incremental growth, of…
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Opinion - Page 208
COLUMN A Guaranteed National Income? By ADRIAN KUZMINSKI • The View From Fly Creek You might have heard of Andrew Yang. He’s running for president as a Democrat. A long shot, for sure, but he’s already generated considerable interest and support. Last month, he announced that he had received contributions from over 65,000 donors in over 20 states, enough to qualify him for the first round of debates by the Democratic candidates. Yang, from a Taiwanese immigrant family, was born…
from LARRY BENNETT Don’t Denigrate Environmental Efforts To the Editor, An as Otsego 2000 board member, I find you putting words in Henry Cooper’s mouth similar to Dan Quayle’s attempts to channel JFK. Regarding your idea that Otsego 2000 is a job killer and, by extension, a take-the-food-out-of-the-mouths-of-children villain: New York State’s dumping of state-required but unfunded entitlements on towns and counties push our local property taxes ever upward. This has proven to be a much more effective way to…
from ELLEN WHITE WEIR Swaying Corn, Buzzing Bees, Meandering Cows, And Now Deadly Poisons Everywhere To the Editor: My dad grew up on a farm out west of here. I remember my grandfather calling the cows as they followed him uphill to the barn. The fields waved corn in the wind, and it seemed all was right with the world. It felt balanced; the cows ate the corn, the bees loved the weeds, and we would eat the meat and…
from ADRIAN KUZMINSKI Don’t ‘Abolish’ Otsego Now, But Consider Broader Council To the Editor: I am privileged to be a columnist for this newspaper. Readers ought to be aware, however, that editors, not authors, choose the titles for op-eds, letters, and columns. My last column was misleadingly titled “Abolish Otsego Now.” That suggests shutting down Otsego Now, and everything it does. I advocated instead that its functions be included in a much broader Economic Development Council. The Editor also paired…
EDITORIAL Boys, Welcome To Baseball Mecca – Have A Joint The other day in downtown Cooperstown, a kitchen worker stepped out onto Main Street’s sidewalk in the middle of the day, lit a joint, took a few tokes and went back to work. You might think, get used to it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Legalization of marijuana, which the ascendant Democratic majorities in the state Legislature and Governor Cuomo expected to become law in January, has foundered…
from TONY KROKER Face It: New Jobs Will Require Energy To the Editor: My wife and I recently moved to the area (my wife was born in Cooperstown) and I have been reading with interest the conflict about economic development that is being shaped in large part by Otsego Now! and Otsego 2000. I was also born in Upstate New York near Syracuse and have witnessed firsthand how cities and towns across Upstate were left gutted when industry moved out or…
COLUMN Help On Way For Small-Forest Owners By MIKE ZAGATA • Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman’s Journal New York’s 19 million acres of forests provide wood-fiber for the state’s $16 billion wood products industry – it’s larger than Maine’s, but we don’t often think of New York as being a leader in wood products. Our forests also provide habitats for wildlife, clean air, clean water, Carbon sequestration and aesthetic enjoyment. In fact, interest in wildlife is the number one reason…
from HILDA WILCOX Democracy Requires Honest Views Vigorously Expressed To the Editor: Having just finished reading this week’s Freeman’s Journal, my husband and I are elated by the free exchange of well-informed opinions and rigorous arguments we found on those pages. The health of our democracy is dependent on such unafraid, intelligent exchanges. We say “hip, hip, hurrah!” to our editor Jim Kevlin for his editorial and to Topher Hammond and Mike Stein for their vigorously free and honest letters…
from STACEY SMITH Despite Setback, Focused Food Pantry In Strong Financial Shape To the Editor: The Cooperstown Food Pantry serves more than 200 families a month, averaging 800 people. With over 100 volunteers and one full time Director, we are committed to serving those who face food insecurity and are in need. Recently, during routine cost evaluations, we discovered that fraudulent financial activities had been engaged in by a staff volunteer. Thankfully our financial checks caught the issue. This led to an investigation by the District Attorney’s office.…
