Dozens March To Protest

Seizing Children At Border

Almost 100 Cooperstown folks participated in a vigil this evening in front of Cooperstown Baptist Church on Elm Street in protest to the separation of children, perhaps as many as 2,000, from families attempting to cross the Southern border from Mexico.  Participating pastors, at right, included, from right, the Rev. Joe Perdue, Cooperstown Baptist, who hosted the gathering; the Rev. Elsie Rhodes, First Presbyterian; the Rev. Tom LeBeau, Cooperstown Methodist; Randy Velez, a Roman Catholic deacon, and the Rev. Ladonna Clark, who is associated with the Presbyterian Church.  In sequence, the pastors read an “Open Letter to Donald Trump” authored by a Unitarian Universalist minister in Wisconsin, the Rev. Amy Petrie Shaw.  In part, it said, “There must never again be internment camps, concentration camps or forced detention camps by any other name on American soil or under American control.”  While unable to attend, the Revs. Kyle Grennen, Grace Episcopal, Springfield Center, and Sharon Rankins-Burd, Fly Creek and Schuyler Lake Methodist churches, also signed the document.  The gathering then marched to First Presbyterian, where a worship service followed.  Some attendees contributed packages of diapers intended for the youngsters taken from their families.  (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)