EDITORIAL Both Parties Should Find Candidates Who Will Ensure Local Successor To Seward This story’s been related in this space before: Congressman Tim Holden, a Democrat from Pennsylvania’s anthracite county, used to tell campaign crowds: “I’m the only one of 435 Congressmen who gets up every morning and says to himself, ‘What can I do for Schuylkill County today?’” It’s also said that if you don’t appreciate what you have, you lose it.” • The vignette and the aphorism are…
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Editorial - Page 34
EDITORIAL Senator Seward, Let’s Say Hasta Luego, Not Goodbye He has been Otsego County’s state senator since 1986. Many of us – most of us, perhaps – have never known another one. He is everyone’s friend. If you’ve ever observed him walk down the street. Or cross a crowded restaurant on his way to a table. Or appear at a parade or fair or other public gathering. The congenial legislator can’t make it more than a few steps without someone…
With Expertise, Even Temperament, City Manager Korthauer Cracks Code Thanks, George. Oneonta City Manager George Korthauer – Oneonta’s first successful city manager – announced Monday, Jan. 13, that he’s heading off into a well-earned retirement. He should go with all our thanks and best wishes. He proved that even the City of Oneonta – feisty, argumentative, proud of its heritage, sure of its opinions – can eventually come to terms with a professional from out of town, and benefiting from…
2ND EDITORIAL The New Decade Will Bring Pretty Much What We Expect County Rep. Meg Kennedy, in her interview on being named this newspaper’s Citizen of the Year for 2019, shared this story, which captures just the right note as we begin the new decade. A customer pulls up to a local gas station. As the owner is filling the tank, the driver asks, “I’m moving to this town. How are the people here?” “How are they where you come…
EDITORIAL 2019 Full Of Oddities, But Things Can Change GREEN LIGHT LAW, BAIL REFORM ASTOUND Many sages over the centuries have concluded: The future has not yet been written, (if it ever is). Whatever we’re going through, this too shall pass. • You may have seen the Associated Press dispatch the other day: The Government Justice Center in Albany is suing to prevent Governor Cuomo from getting a pay raise, saying Section 7, Article XIII of the state Constitution prohibits…
EDITORIAL As Did Garretson, So Does Kennedy Kindred Spirits In Problem-Solving In a way, our Citizen of the Year designation – it will continue, of course – has come full circle. Interviewing Meg Kennedy, this year’s designee, brought to mind Tom Garretson, the first designee, in 2006. Throughout that stormy year, when the Cherry Valley area was torn between those who feared 24 industrial-sized windmills would degrade the town’s environment and ambience, and those who saw a boon in new…
EDITORIAL Nostalgia? Why Not Live By Enduring Values Today? As Christmas nears, it was comforting news: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – for years, youngsters from around Otsego County rode the mechanical Christmas legend at Bresee’s Department Store in Oneonta – is in good hands. The venerable four-story emporium at 155 Main St. – now Klugo’s Parkview Apartments – closed in 1994. And when the building changed hands almost a decade later, the Lettis Auction House auctioned off the remaining contents…
EDITORIAL Not John Lambert, Somebody LIKE Him Why does John Lambert, son of Cooperstown and now a county judge, keep coming to mind in the past few weeks? Raised in that village, he was a good student and guard on a top CCS Redskins’ basketball team that won two regional titles in the late 1980s. He graduated from Hartwick College in 1992, and earned a J.D. from New England School of Law in 1998. Then he came home, practiced law,…
EDITORIAL Everyone Wants Fair Deal For Animal Shelter, County Drop The Threats, Negotiate An Agreement The issue’s been hanging out there for a while: What role should the Otsego County Board of Representatives play in funding the Susquehanna Animal Shelter? Schoharie County’s contribution is $75,000 a year to its shelter. Delaware County splits $88,000 among two shelters. Until now, Otsego County has contributed nothing. The county has been allocating $5,000 a year. It is not a donation, but a fee…
EDITORIAL On County Manager, Now Hard Work Begins By the time you read this, it’s very likely Otsego County will have created a job of county administrator, joining all but a handful of counties around New York State. Heading into the Wednesday, Dec. 4, monthly meeting of the county Board of Representatives, the momentum to professionalize government was clear. Six of the seven Democrats were firmly in favor, plus two Republican leaders – chairman David Bliss and Schenevus’ Peter Oberacker.…
