Editorial of June 11, 2026

Cooperstown Missed the Boat…and the Bandwagon

Our general manager/senior editor’s recently departed mother was fond of asking, “If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you follow?” Useful as a means of encouraging independent thinking, but when it comes to the Hometown Heroes banners peppered across the region, we wish the Village of Cooperstown would have taken the leap.

The Hometown Heroes Banner Program is described as a “local, community-driven tribute that honors military veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders by displaying custom light-pole banners in public spaces. Sponsored by families or local businesses, they usually feature the honoree’s photo, name, branch of service, and rank.”

Following numerous meetings and a public hearing, the Cooperstown Board of Trustees voted 6-1 on the evening of Monday, October 28 against a proposed amendment to the village’s existing sign law, which prohibited the hanging of such banners on public property. Had the amendment been approved, the law would have been changed to allow banners to be placed on New York State Electric and Gas utility poles on portions of four streets in the Village of Cooperstown—Lake Street, Pine Boulevard, Chestnut Street and Glen Avenue.

The impetus for the proposed change—Local Law 11 of 2024, Sign Law Amendment—was a request from Toddsville resident and Cooperstown Central School graduate Joanie Parrillo to hang Hometown Heroes banners, honoring local veterans, in the village. The banners can be seen in communities throughout Otsego County and New York State, and have become a popular way of honoring the service of individual veterans.

Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh was the lone vote in favor of amending the law. She was the first village representative to speak when discussion of the sign law amendment officially opened, following a public comment period during which no members of the dozen or so audience members took the floor.

Though attendance was sparse at that particular meeting (trustees met four times on this issue), interest was not. It was announced that Helmut Michelitsch, owner of Metro Cleaners, had hand-delivered more than 60 letters in support of the sign law amendment and the Hometown Heroes Banners Program prior to the meeting, in conjunction with Cooperstown VFW Post 7128. Three other letters and one e-mail—evenly split between support for and opposition to the law change—were submitted to the record for consideration by village trustees.

Recurring themes in opposition to the banners were that they would be too distracting, would cause accidents, are not in keeping with the current sign law, may be unsightly and would benefit a third party. Those in favor of amending the law in such a way that the banners might be allowed entreated village officials to reconsider the current regulations in the hopes that veterans could be honored in the Village of Cooperstown as they are in many other cities, villages and hamlets across the state.

Mayor Tillapaugh and Trustee Joseph Membrino made opposing statements for and against the proposed law change, respectively, at the October 28 meeting.

Traveling through the many villages, hamlets and cities proudly displaying their Hometown Heroes banners, we find we do not have to look closely at the photos of the people they depict to share in that same sense of pride. We do not need to know the names of those who fought to protect the freedoms we enjoy today in order to honor them. We need not struggle to read the information as we pass. Simply driving by those banners reminds us of the sacrifices our veterans made—and continue to make—to keep our nation and its people safe. We are, after all, the home of the free because of the brave.

Yes, the Hometown Heroes Banner Program is run by a third party. And yes, that entity does profit from the banner sales. And we agree, some of the signs do look better than others. All this aside, as we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary a little patriotism would not go amiss.

Joanie Parrillo did not let the village’s failure to pass the sign law amendment stop her from honoring Cooperstown area veterans. Instead, she published “Cooperstown, NY Home of the Unsung Heroes,” 299 pages of both military and human history. She is currently working on a second book.

On July 4, our nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As we celebrate, we can’t help but wish that the Village of Cooperstown had jumped on the Hometown Heroes bandwagon. A little red, white and blue goes a long way.