MONEY TALK Our Vast, Throwaway Nation By TOM MORGAN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Many visiting Europeans are stunned by the huge number of derelict and otherwise empty buildings we have. They ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Most of our cities show signs of manufacturing blight. Especially northern and rust-belt cities. In this state, a city does not qualify as a city unless it can show several shuttered factories, an empty mall, vacant storefronts, office buildings half-empty. Maybe an armory. Many of…
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Columns - Page 128
LIFE IN TIME OF COVID-19 Social Distancing Works – Do It! By RICHARD STERNBERG • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com One and one-half weeks ago Otsego County, as part of the Mohawk Valley Region, was allowed to begin reopening following almost two months of lockdown to try and prevent the spread and decrease the incidence of COVID-19. Reopening is something desired by pretty much everyone. As long as all reasonable measures would be taken to prevent further spread and it is reasonable,…
FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE Off To Civitan Convention, Lad Sailed On Packet Line By JIM ATWELL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Fifteen years old. Never away from home overnight without my parents. And yet, wonderful! Sprung loose for two days on my own – with the night in between to be spent on a 250-mile trip on a steam packet, traveling down Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, Md., to Norfolk, Va. I owe that dazzling adventure to the Annapolis Civitan Club, which had…
Life In The Time of COVID-19 Suffer The Poor Children There remains a lot about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that we don’t know. What was “common knowledge” yesterday could be proved wrong tomorrow. The risk of morbidity and mortality in children was one of the things we thought we knew but now appears that we didn’t. SARS-CoV-2, the currently accepted scientific name for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, appears to be the precipitating cause of a newly recognized syndrome that causes…
COLUMN Worst Place To Live? Oneonta Family Enjoys It! The following May we moved to Red Lake Falls. Our family – me; Briana; Jack; Charles; Tiber, our 70-pound beagle-basset mix; and Ivy, our 12-year-old cat – arrived on a Sunday. The closing on the house was scheduled for the following day, but the previous owners, the Kleins, told us they’d leave the door open and…
Life In The Time Of COVID-19 Your Arm, My Nose In 1882, John B. Finch, then chairman of the Prohibition National Committee, wrote “… your right to swing your arm leaves off where my right not to have my nose struck begins.” This seems like a very appropriate commentary on the current argument between those who are concerned about easing COVID-19 restrictions now and those who want to open the economy immediately. Sadly this, like almost all things in this…
Guest Column All Had ‘Adverse Childhood Experiences’ Research on the impact of what are known as “Adverse Childhood Experiences,” described in more than 70 studies over more than two decades, shows the potential long-term health and mental health consequences of unusually stressful childhood experiences. These contribute to the risk of developing diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease, heart disease, obesity, liver disease, sexual victimization, depression, substance abuse, and a host of other issues. The impact of corrosive childhood stress can be…
The View From Albany Don’t Forget Lyme Disease The Coronavirus threat continues to dominate our lives in so many ways. As the weather starts to improve and people spend more time outdoors, while practicing social distancing and following other safety guidelines, there is another issue to keep in mind – Lyme disease. May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and with the number of reported cases in New York rising each year, it is important to arm yourself and your family…
FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE No Need For A Brick By JIM ATWELL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Nope, I’m not addressing you from the front porch – it’s icy out there. Rather, I’m sitting just inside a front window, woolgathering. Though, in fact, it’s not woolgathering that I’m doing, literal or figurative. Just now I’ve been spending our prescribed aloneness running through gratefully the crowd of adults who shaped my once young man’s values. And one of those was my Great Aunt…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Better Living Through Plastics By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Governor Cuomo is about to extend the temporary ban on fracking in New York and make it permanent via his budget Bill. Some will cheer that action, but those who understand its unintended consequences won’t be among them. Indeed, they will live in fear of another pandemic where we don’t, as a result of his ban, have access to the materials needed to combat any…
