LETTER from ANDREW MASON Step Up, OCCA, BFS, Watershed Commission To the Editor: Michael Whaling’s recent letter in The Freeman’s Journal and Hometown Oneonta, regarding pesticide use by the Leatherstocking Golf Course, was spot on. This is just the time when the course begins its annual dousing of the shores of Otsego Lake with chemicals dangerous to humans and wildlife alike. The last time the public was able to learn the specific materials and quantities used on the course, it…
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Opinion - Page 283
LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 Navigating Without a Compass One thing is very clear when dealing with a pandemic, it is very important to have good statistics in order to determine a plan of attack. Without good numbers it’s hard to say what to do next. It’s also important to understand what these numbers mean. With COVID- 19, it has proven difficult to determine its morbidity and mortality rate and its infectivity. Additionally, we’re not sure exactly what the…
EDITORIAL In Nation Under Duress, A Verb To Live By The verb, “to accept.” The verb became action at 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 1, when Public Works Director Mitch Hotaling climbed a ladder and hung the Pride Flag on Cooperstown Village Hall. When the Village Board, with some rancor, voted last July to fly the flag during Gay Pride Month, trustees couldn’t know how the verb, “to accept,” might resonate today after three months of pandemic and a week of…
Front Porch Perspective All Ashore That’s Goin’ Ashore Well, I’d circled the Baltimore inner harbor dockings and stood a bit, suitcase in hand, gazing up at an impressive three-domed building, each dome flying a huge pennant reading, “Old Bay Line.” And alongside the building a gangplank beckoned me. It climbed at a fairly steep angle to the main deck of the S.S. President Warfield. Suitcase clutched with left hand, I hauled myself up the gangway’s handrail to the deck. There…
LETTER from ONEONTA NAACP Outraged? Yes! We Exclaim, ‘Not Again’ When we saw the heinous act of another black man, George Floyd, intentionally being held down by four relaxed policemen and George not resisting arrest, but resisting suffocation and pleading “I can’t breathe, please let me stand,” it makes us return to the actions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It was difficult to watch one policeman putting his knee with increased pressure on Mr. Floyd’s neck and…
LETTER From STRASBOURG Day Begins With Baguette And Ends With A Bon Nuit Tuesday the 17th of March, a bright blue sky unlike the past two weeks is hovering over northern France, making the idea of a confinement even more difficult to understand. The world is continuing to breathe while its people are infected. The new virus, COVID-19, has taken more than 20,000 lives in France. The country’s president, Emanuel Macron, announced Monday night, that the country will have to…
LETTER from LEWIS HAMILTON Did New York State Really Do Better Than Texas? To the Editor, Chip Northrup’s recent letter condemning the efforts of Texans while praising those of New Yorkers was strong on opinion but weak on data. From my Google search on May 30: • New York (state population, about 20 million), 203,000 cases, 23,282 deaths; Otsego County (population, 59,249); 67 cases, four deaths. • Texas (state population, about 29 million), 62,338 cases, 1,648 deaths; Kerr County (population…
LETTER from ANDREW STAMMEL Cut Tourism Funding To Prevent Layoffs To the Editor: Last week, the Otsego County Board of Represent-atives made the tragic decision to terminate 59 employees, amounting to hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and public service. While the euphemism “layoff” continues to be used, it doesn’t accurately reflect what occurred. These jobs have been eliminated. To return, multiple committees and the full board would need to re-create, fund and then fill these jobs; an unlikely prospect…
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…
LETTER from ALBERT COLONE ‘Reimagine Upstate’ Will Lead To Single Oneonta A couple of weeks ago, Hometown Oneonta and The Freeman’s Journal published my opinion piece, once again trying to promote the idea of consolidating the city and town of Oneonta. I submitted it to try and generate some meaningful debate on the issue. Surprisingly, the only subsequent reference I’ve seen was an unsigned comment in another paper. How can this be? Whoever submitted that comment, thank you for the…
