EDITORIAL In Time Of Pandemic Hope Blooms Master Gardeners: Our National Mission ‘Extension Master Gardener programs educate people, engaging them in learning to use unbiased, research-based horticulture and gardening practices through a network of trained volunteers directed and supported by land-grant university faculty and staff.” Underneath the quiet of pandemic strictures and social-distancing, the world hasn’t completely come to a stop. Just as, soon, crocuses (not, croci, we’re told) will begin poking through the snow, so will the Otsego County…
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Editorial - Page 30
EDITORIAL Chamber Looks Past COVID And So Should The Rest Of Us With herd immunity headed our way – by mid-summer or earlier – it IS time to look toward what’s next. So interim Otsego Chamber President Al Rubin’s letter to members, which arrived Monday in e-mail boxes, is ideally timed. The letter was an appeal to members to volunteer for chamber committees: Marketing/Education, Membership Services/Events and Finance/Audit. “We want your input, we want your voice,” wrote Rubin, “and we…
EDITORIAL With Seward, Bassett Reclaims Some Of County’s Ebbing Clout Someone was remarking the other day that, over almost four decades, Otsego County had two key players that could be called upon in any crisis. One, Bill Streck, Bassett Healthcare Network president/CEO since 1984, who spent years developing contacts in Albany. A Democrat, he was a go-to guy around here, someone who could call the Governor’s Office and expect an answer. Two, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, who served in…
Editorial America IS Great Over Three Generations, Oneonta’s Naders Prove It With the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the summer-long riots following George Floyd’s death and debates over race relations, we can forget: We live in a great country, where ambition and hard work are almost assuredly rewarded. A case in point – a life in point – is Sam Nader, the respected and beloved former mayor of Oneonta, who passed away Tuesday, Feb. 9, at age 101. When…
Local Governments Should Tend Our Roads, Not Our Minds Do we really expect our local elected officials to tell us what to think? Quite the opposite, probably. And yet instead of focusing on paving streets, keeping tax at a reasonable level, and providing whatever might be considered essential services, they seem increasingly determined to do just that. Three examples popped up in the past few days that suggest this may be spinning out of control, including at the February meeting…
EDITORIAL We’ll Miss Roars For That Great American The passing of the great Hank Aaron last Friday, Jan. 22, at age 86, emphasized the death threats the future Hall of Famer received as he neared breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record on April 8, 1974. Death threats? Contemptible. But there’s a better perspective on Aaron’s 715th home run that broke Babe’s mark at a Braves’ home game in Atlanta. “A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep…
EDITORIAL WHAT IF? Hosting MLB Event In Plaque Gallery Gets Wheels Turning The idea was to bring fans to Cooperstown. What about taking Cooperstown to the fans? In the Age of COVID, the second sentence is a more intriguing one. And it played out this week with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s annual announcement of the Induction Class of 2021. While it turned out there was no one to announce this year, the MLB Network spent the afternoon transmitting…
EDITORIAL Inauguration 2021 Chance For New Beginning The loss of innocence. And we thought it could only happen once. “I can’t help but think: You see these photos of the West Side of the Capitol, where presidents have stood and the transition of power has occurred. It’s so tainted now, with insurrectionists actually storming the Capitol. It’s hard to go back.” That’s Joey Katz, son of Cooperstown’s former mayor Jeff Katz, then a teenager, who – with his mother, Karen,…
EDITORIAL Let’s All Get Behind President Biden’s Call For Calm, Unity It’s a day that will live in infamy, Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, vandalized and ransacked the venerable building, and was driven out by National Guard units and Capitol Police with some loss of life. Prior to Jan. 6, 2021, few Americans could visualize that ever happening. The natural response here in Otsego County, as throughout our United States, is horror, sadness and fear…
EDITORIAL In Troubled Times, Let’s Try ‘The Seward Way’ In reflecting on Jim Seward’s tenure as our state senator, one vignette always comes to mind. It was the fall of 2006, and Cherry Valley’s Pam Noonan, on a Sunday afternoon at her home on Montgomery Street, was hosting opponents of Reunion Power’s 24-turbine wind farm proposed for East Hill. Senator Seward had been invited and, prior to his arrival, attendees expressed some vexation that the senator, with his interest in…
