Without pomp, circumstance, speechifying or song, the Pride Flag was hung at Cooperstown Village Hall, 22 Main St., for the first time at 8:30 a.m. today. It will remain there through June, Gay Pride Month. Public Works Director Mitch Hotaling climbed a ladder, and the deed was done. The historic event was witnessed only by Deputy Mayor Cindy Falk and Trustees MacGuire Benton and Richard Sternberg. “I think, in a different world, without a pandemic and protests on more important issues, we might have handled it differently,” said Falk. Originally, the Pride Flag was supposed to be hung at the flagpole at Main and Pioneer; but with the Stars and Stripes at half staff indefinitely, in remembrance of those who died of coronavirus, hanging it at Village Hall seemed like a better idea, Falk said. Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch had a meeting with a client and was unable to attend. When the idea was originally debated over the winter, it stirred some controversy. The issue has yet to be broached in Oneonta. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
