Editorial of March 6, 2025

Putting the Community Back Into the Newspaper

Our motto here at “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta” is “putting the community back into the newspaper.” Whether you read our hard-copy newspapers or subscribe to our website, AllOtsego.com, we believe it is important to not only cover the news of Otsego County, but also to provide a forum by which its residents can contribute their own views and expertise. We don’t just want you to read—we encourage you to participate.

To that end—back in the fall of 2022, as the company continued to rebuild and revamp following the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic—we sought to attract new reporters, columnists, and contributing writers. In December 2022, Jamie Zvirzdin—whose in-laws live in Richfield Springs—wrote an article titled “Morning Coffee Miracle: A Return to the Power of Local Community.” A month later, she submitted her first “Citizen Science” column, which went on to earn third place at the 2023 Better Newspaper Contest for Best Column, Division 3. Zvirzdin joined longtime favorites Terry Berkson, author of “Life Sketches,” who took second place for Best Column last year, and Richard deRosa, whose reflections up on Hawthorn Hill have been running in our papers for many years.

Monica Calzolari, Caspar Ewig, Dan Sullivan, and Teresa Winchester joined our “stable” of reporters, covering news in Oneonta, northern Otsego County, Richfield Springs, and the Butternut Valley, respectively. Staff writers have included two Cooperstown Central School graduates, Ted Mebust and Wriley Nelson, as well as Emily Hilbert and Sarah Roberts, both Cooperstown Graduate Program students.

Over time, we were excited as a number of contributing writers began to seek us out: Rachel Frick Cardelle, who covers performing arts at SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College; Larry Malone, our own myth-busting economist; Cassandra Miller, writing about the ongoing Oneonta Downtown Renaissance; and the return of Sam Goodyear, who quietly observes goings-on in Cooperstown, where our offices are based.

In January, Dr. Chris Kjolhede, an emeritus pediatrician at Bassett Healthcare Network, was the impetus behind our new “Invasive Species: Pesky Plants” column, intended to help readers identify and combat terrestrial invasive species. Kjolhede wrote the first two installments—representatives from such Otsego County environmental groups as Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Otsego County Conservation Association and Otsego Land Trust will contribute as well, moving forward.

And, just last week, we welcomed Francesca Zambello to the fold with her first “Travels with ‘Cesca” column. Regular installments of Zambello’s travelogue will be featured on AllOtsego.com. Her debut piece, titled “Greetings from Mississippi and Yucatán,” takes readers on a whirlwind tour of Mississippi—the Natchez Trace, the Emerald Mound and Longwood, one of the state’s most famous antebellum estates, among other stops—and from there it’s on to the ancient Mayan ruins at Uxmal. Plus, there’s a recipe for Mississippi mud pie!

We’re also pleased to feature the work of two Otsego County high-school interns. Cooperstown Central School junior Arya Patel has been writing occasionally for us since December 2023, when she submitted an opinion piece on a “Distracted Driving” presentation at CCS, writing “the words of Karen Torres will stay with me forever, as she touched my heart and my classmates in the span of only 50 minutes, in which she might just have saved numerous lives.” Bill Bellen, a senior at Milford Central School, has submitted his second byline article. His first piece talked about the MCS Capital Project; the school’s new book vending machine and rewards program is his focus this week.

Thanks to a collaboration between the SUNY system’s Institute for Local News and our parent company, Iron String Press, and under the tutelage of Dr. Gayane Torosyan and Cassandra Miller, three SUNY Oneonta students—Eva Pickert, Tony Savio, and Haley Saunders—have also contributed articles this past year. Our weekly “News from the Noteworthy” columns give the leaders of area nonprofits a chance to highlight their organizations’ events, activities and accomplishments.

So, what’s the point? Simple. Our newspapers, and our website, are also yours, and we welcome the diversity of opinions and talents.

We encourage public participation in the form of letters to the editor and “Partial Observer” opinion pieces. We have invited municipal officials to contribute to our “Town Talk” forum, by which they have the means to highlight—in their own words—what’s going on in their town. (Not our fault if no one takes advantage of this and, so far, few officials have.) Coaches of Otsego County’s high school sports teams can submit game results quickly and easily online at https://www.allotsego.com/sports-scores/. The calendar of events featured on the back page of every newspaper edition is just a sampling of local activities—the full calendar can be found on AllOtsego.com.

Bill Waller, Maureen Dill, Florence McDermott, Dog Charmer Tom Shelby, Huda Podolsky, Patty MacLeish, the “ever-afraid” but determined Erna Morgan McReynolds, Elizabeth Cooper, Joel J. Plue…the list of contributors goes on, and we apologize to those we may have missed.

These are your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, and these are your papers, and your website. We’re sticking to our mandate and putting the community back into the news, in all its forms. We challenge you to start participating today!