FROM WOODSIDE HALL Ailing, Married, But Separated By COVID By JIM ATWELL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com All right, friends, I’m back on the metaphorical horse, feet in the stirrups, reins in hand, hands on the saddle pommel. Which is to say, I ready to write to you again. And so, I’ll clop on. Ours has been an interrupted correspondence lately. I never finished recounting my adventure at 15, when I traveled in luxury by overnight steam packet from Baltimore, Md.,…
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Opinion - Page 281
EDITORIAL Freshman County Rep Shows Guts, Consistency Let’s give credit where it’s due. In our May 29 edition, County Rep. Clark Oliver of Oneonta was tweaked in this space, along with his fellow Democrats who voted against 59 layoffs without offering an alternative. They ducked a hard decision, thus losing credibility with their colleagues, it was argued. • Last Wednesday, Aug. 5, the county board was considering a measure to set aside New York State’s 2-percent property tax cap –…
ISSUE & DEBATE: AYE Mandatory Mask Law Essential For Safety Editor’s Note: Judith Greenburg, Bassett physician, submitted this letter in support of requiring mask-wearing in downtown Cooperstown. Local Law 7 was approved by the Village Board after a Monday, Aug. 10, public hearing. By JUDITH GREENBERG • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com As I cannot safely attend the Cooperstown Village Board meeting on Aug. 10, I request that my concerns, listed below, be included in the record of the meeting. I strongly…
ISSUE & DEBATE: NAY Mask Law, $1,000K Fine Unecessary, Overreach Editor’s Note: Marc Kingsley, Inn at Cooperstown proprietor, gave this testimony against at law requiring mask-wearing in downtown Cooperstown. Local Law 7 was approved by the Village Board after a Monday, Aug. 10, public hearing. By MARC KINGSLEY • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com The proposed mask law. I don’t understand why the village is pursuing this. As I understand it New York State already passed a law requiring almost everyone to…
LETTER FROM THE CHIEF Officers’ Dedication, Professionalism Have Earned City’s Support Editor’s Note: In this July 19 letter, Oneonta Police Chief Douglas W. Brenner expressed his concern about the“Say Their Names” photo display at the Westcott Lot. Nonetheless, Common Council unanimously approved the display Tuesday, July 21, and it was installed this past Sunday. The Oneonta Police Department has always placed the needs and concerns of the residents and visitors to the City of Oneonta as its first priority. While…
LETTER TO www.AllOTSEGO.com Community Garden Beat COVID-19 Blahs, Hartwick Clerk Writes To the Editor: As the recent pandemic settled in on our small little community, town officials sought out a healthy outlet for residents to endure while safely following social distancing guidelines and getting a breath of our fresh Upstate New York air! The Town of Hartwick brought back the Community Garden, located off of Hatchery Road in the hamlet! With help from many members of the community it came…
LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 Ask Your Local Governments: Take Care Of Us By RICHARD STERNBERG • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com On Sunday, a friend of mine was talking to a family from South Carolina. They told him how bad it was down there now and how great it was up here and how we had beaten the virus. They talked for a while, then walked away down Main Street. None of them were wearing masks, nor knew if they…
WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER Slavery America’s Original Sin Eighty million native people of color lived in the Americas in 1492; 65 million primarily white people lived in Europe; 46 million people of color lived in Africa. In December of that year, Christopher Columbus landed on the Caribbean island of Haiti, which he then named Hispaniola, or Little Spain. It was the first recorded contact between Europeans and the indigenous Americans who called themselves the Taino. The Taino were divided into…
EDITORIAL Extremism Threatens George Floyd’s Legacy In our nation and county, we have a moment of opportunity. George Floyd’s death – and, in particular, the graphic video, 8 minutes and 46 seconds of it – caused every American of good will, black, white, Hispanic, even, yes, Indians, to say, enough is enough. The mechanisms of reform are starting to turn on the question of the moment: How do we retool our police departments so it, finally, once and for all,…
LETTER from JAMES “CHIP” NORTHRUP Give Native Americans A Say In How Things Are Named To the Editor: My distant relative and friend, the late Jim Northrup, was a Native American, decorated Vietnam Marine vet, and very humorous author. My real name is James so Jim and I used to joke about how all the “Jim Northrups are strong, handsome and above average.” He’s gone now, but on his behalf, as his paleface relative, I’d like to suggest that when…
