News Briefs, Part 1: October 5, 2023

Rotary Fall Fling is Set for This Saturday

COOPERSTOWN—Rotary Club of Cooperstown’s third annual Fall Fling will be held on the Clark Sports Center grounds from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. The festival will feature more than 50 vendors and a silent auction of about 40 gift baskets. Organizations like the Cooperstown Food Pantry and Cooperstown Winter Carnival will run children’s activities including pumpkin painting and spin art. Otsego County Conservation Association will collect sensitive documents for shredding and textiles for recycling. There will be live music and a pumpkin sale. Food vendors include Phatbacks, Norbu, the Busy Bee Mobile Café and Vail Bros. All proceeds will support the Rotary Club of Cooperstown’s community allocations grants to local nonprofits.

DOAS To Hold Franklin Mountain Open House

ONEONTA—Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society will hold an open house at the DOAS Sanctuary and Franklin Mountain Hawkwatch, 52 Grange Hall Road Spur in Oneonta, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. A hawk counter will conduct a workshop on identification of flying hawks and raptors at 10 a.m., followed by a guided trail walk at 11:30. Deborah Saltis of Falcon Heart Rescue in Herkimer will run a live birds of prey program at 12:30 p.m. There will be a variety of complimentary snacks and drinks throughout the day and raffle items for the upcoming Hawkwatch Charter Dinner will be on display. The event is free and open to the public.

Best-selling Author To Speak at Hartwick

ONEONTA—Journalist and New York Times number one bestselling author Lee Woodruff will deliver the fall A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Chair Lecture at Hartwick College’s Anderson Theater at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 6. Woodruff will discuss “Keeping Humanity in Healthcare,” revealing the things she learned as an advocate and caregiver for her husband, Bob Woodruff, after he was severely injured covering the Iraq War as an ABC news anchor. Her relationships with nurses fostered an understanding of their critical role in the health-care system, providing links to patients and families. Woodruff will cover the human experience and touch nurses bring to healing. Woodruff has spent her entire career in media and marketing. She has contributed to “CBS This Morning” and reported for “Good Morning America,” and hosted several radio shows. She garnered critical acclaim for her best-selling books, “In an Instant” and “Perfectly Imperfect.” As co-founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, she has also helped to raise more than $90 million to help military veterans, caregivers, and families reintegrate into their communities and receive long-term care. The O’Connor Chair Lecture is free and open to the public. It will be livestreamed. Sophomore, junior and senior nursing students must attend.

Laurens Board Approves Cannabis Art Fest

LAURENS—The Town of Laurens Planning Board unanimously approved a special use permit for the NY Cannabis Arts and Music Festival on Wednesday, September 20. The event will be held from 3 p.m. on Friday, October 13 through 10 p.m. on Sunday, October 15 at the Knarich Family Farm, 2013 County Highway 10 in Laurens. There will be more than 25 bands, DJs, fire spinners and other performing artists, an artists’ village and vendor row, guest speakers, live demonstrations, and night visuals. The festival will also feature New York’s first legal cannabis competition, the NY Cannabis Growers’ Cup. Tickets are available on Eventbrite. The town planning board’s permit includes several conditions to ensure safety, prevent noise or smell nuisances to neighbors and prevent illegal activity; permission will be revoked if the conditions are not met.

SUNY Oneonta Ranks High Among Schools

ONEONTA—“U.S. News and World Report” featured SUNY Oneonta on its list of the top 15 public schools in the Northeast, released on Monday, September 18. It moved up 45 spots from its ranking last year. The U.S. News ranking is the second in recent weeks recognizing SUNY Oneonta’s academic quality and value. In August, Forbes named SUNY Oneonta to its 2023 “America’s Top Colleges” list, which “showcases 500 of the finest U.S. colleges, ranked using data on student success, return on investment and alumni influence.” To calculate the rankings, both organizations used outcomes data ranging from first-to-second year retention and six-year graduation rates to average salaries, job placement rates and loan debt after graduation.

“We are pleased to be recognized as one of the nation’s top institutions by both U.S. News and Forbes,” said SUNY Oneonta President Alberto J. F. Cardelle. “This external recognition affirms that SUNY Oneonta continues to provide students with an excellent educational experience and the support they need to succeed. Our faculty work hard to provide student-centered learning experiences, both in and out of the classroom.”

Springfield To Host Harvest Celebration

SPRINGFIELD—The Town of Springfield announced that the public is welcome to celebrate the harvest season and recent improvements to the Springfield Community Center with a Community Harvest Celebration from 2-6 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. The free event will take place at the Community Center, 129 County Road 29A in Springfield Center, and will offer live music, food, and activities for all ages. Improvements to the Community Center include a new multi-use park pavilion and tables, new playground equipment, repaved walking path, community garden, expanded parking, new basketball hoop, kitchen improvements, and more. The work was made possible with the help of community volunteers and funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The use of ARPA funds directed by Springfield’s Town board has been focused on projects that encourage healthy community gatherings and recreation, assisted in large part by community volunteer efforts. Additional ARPA expenditures by the Town of Springfield include three AEDs (defibrillators), materials for an ice-skating rink, a snow blower, outdoor lighting and fire pit, paint for dugouts and sheds, a park bench, outdoor bulletin board, storage shed roof replacement, and two new kitchen ranges at the Springfield Community Center, while the Springfield Landing Park received new aluminum swimming docks and lifeguard chair, and window replacements.

Dems Announce Breakfast with Mayor

ONEONTA—The Oneonta Democratic Club will hold a breakfast with Mayor Mark Drnek at Get Fresh on the Main café at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 14. Topics of discussion will include parking, homelessness, climate change and more. Participants are asked to bring questions, ideas and comments to spark a lively discussion. RSVP to garymaffei@gmail.com or via the Oneonta Democratic Club Facebook page.

Ride to Mississippi Sought for Tree

OTEGO—Jean Seroka, of Otego, has asked the public to notify her via AllOtsego of any upcoming drives to Mississippi. She received a pomegranate tree as a token of gratitude from some Hurricane Katrina survivors she helped in 2005. Although the tree has done well in her greenhouse and outdoors during the summer months, she wishes to return it to Mississippi and plant it in the ground, where it belongs.

Loudon To Present Trolley Documentary

HARTWICK—Rail historian and author Jim Loudon will present “The Leatherstocking Route: Otsego Trolley Line—A Documentary” at Kinney Memorial Library at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 12. Loudon wrote and narrated the film, which was produced by Yvonne Boyea Eckert. The event is sponsored by the Otsego County Historical Association.

OTC Plans Pickleball Tourney

ONEONTA—OTC Sports Center will host a pickleball tournament on Saturday, October 14. Open men’s and women’s doubles will begin at 8 a.m., followed by 50+ men’s and women’s doubles at 10 a.m. and open and 50+ mixed doubles at 11 a.m. The entry deadline is Friday, October 13 at 8 a.m. Each event must have a minimum of four and a maximum of 12 teams. To register, email contact@otcsportscenter.com.

Soccer Team To Hold Raffle

COOPERSTOWN—The Cooperstown girls soccer teams will hold basket raffles to support breast cancer awareness efforts. The raffles will be held at the junior varsity game at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 6 and at the varsity game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 7. Both games are against strong rival Sauquoit Valley. Tickets are $1.00 or 6 for $5.00.