News from the Noteworthy Vaping is very dangerous As most know, vaping is a nationwide epidemic. In New York State, vaping or e-cigarette use among high school students spiked in just four years, from 10.5% in 2014 to 27.4% in 2018. This past spring, some schools in Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie Counties observed 80-90% of their high school students vaping. More worrisome is how often youth vape. The 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 2.55 million youth used e-cigarettes,…
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Opinion - Page 97
Column by Lang Keith Move over, Messrs. Plessy and Scott! For well over a century two cases have been universally considered to be the worst decisions in the Supreme Court’s history: Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson. On June 24th the case of Dobbs v. Jackson eliminated a woman’s constitutional right to choose set forth in Roe v. Wade. This egregious decision will doubtless join Dred Scott and Plessy, and thus create a Supreme Court-terribly-decided-case trifecta. History buffs will recall…
Column by Terry Berkson BEAR! There was an orientation video playing while Alice and I were signing in for a cabin in California’s Sequoia National Park. It gave a lot of information about bears. The narrator warned not to leave any food in your car. Then they showed a bear ripping off a station wagon’s door to get at the goodies some careless visitors had left behind. It was impressive how agile this lumbering animal was. I noticed that Alice…
Hawthorn Hill Of Birds And Patterns Two years ago, I lamented the absence of bluebirds up here on the hill. As well, the equally disappointing absence of the several pairs of tree swallows that habitually took up residence in the two nest boxes adjacent to our larger vegetable garden. Both species have chosen to summer elsewhere again. However, my faith in what nature writer Hal Borland has characterized as nature’s enduring patterns has not waned. Frankly, I have more confidence…
News from the Noteworthy Celebrating Each And Every Life I just returned from a trip to visit family. While away, I had the opportunity to celebrate a milestone — my grandson’s graduation from fifth grade. At his ceremony, he shared that his goal throughout school was to “make his parents proud.” His sincerity has me thinking about Springbrook at this time of year — summer at Springbrook feels charmed. In June, we celebrated the accomplishments of ten exceptional graduates of…
Letter from Hilda Wilcox It makes no sense How much sense does it make that our supposedly civilized country allows the sale of AR-15-style assault weapons that can — and do — kill 20 or more people in minutes? Is that a freedom necessary to a democracy? Should anyone who can find the money to buy such a mass-killer weapon feel free to unleash such mortal terror?A few facts: Such a gun used in Highland Park, Illinois; Uvalde, Texas; and…
Column by Rachel Frick Cardelle Oneonta Through the Eyes of a Newcomer “And suddenly you know. It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”Meister Eckhart Throughout our lives, we can choose or have thrust upon us new beginnings. The past several years of a global pandemic, causing the shutting down and then slow reopening of our institutions and communities, has led to many of us ‘suddenly knowing’ it was time to start something new. I have…
Letter from Paul H. Lord Hit and run at5 Mile Point I received a report on Monday morning that someone had observed “a pontoon boat run over the 5 Mile Point no wake buoy” which subsequently “sunk!” On Friday morning, we assembled a team of two faculty members and three students and investigated the 5-mile Point buoy location (which is 105′ deep; a challenging dive). I found the buoy on the bottom, attached a lift bag and brought it up…
Editorial A Chorus For Us Last Friday evening, a new production of The Sound of Music, the beloved musical written in 1959 by Rodgers and Hammerstein, came to life at The Glimmerglass Festival, signaling the start of the 2022 season, its 47th — an astonishing accomplishment. The Glimmerglass Festival, changing its name over the years, began with three performances of La Bohème, courageously staged after three years of planning in the sparsely designed, non-air-conditioned, orchestra-pit-less 400-seat auditorium of the Cooperstown…
This week’s Letters to the Editor Liberty wept Based on Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, any personal right that was not enumerated in 1866 when the 14th Amendment was written is not protected. Alito implied his reasoning applied only to abortion. But in his concurrence, Justice Thomas pointed out that the Dobbs precedent would apply to other practices, including same-sex marriage and contraception, birth control pills. In Dobbs, reactionary Catholics on the Supreme Court applied Catholic theology to American law,…
