OTSEGO COUNTY Children ages 11 through 13 throughout Otsego County have an opportunity to win a free week at a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation summer camp through a special lottery offered by the Otsego County Conservation Association. The lottery is open through the month of March, with winners announced on March 31, OCCA officials said.
“For over 75 years, DEC summer camps have offered young people so many wonderful educational experiences in the great outdoors,” said Amy Wyant, OCCA’s executive director. “We are pleased to be able to once again offer this opportunity to children in the area.”
ONEONTA—Ellin Falin captured this photograph of her handsome fellow, Basil, after he successfully climbed his first tree. This new weekly series highlights animals and the important role they play in our lives— whether furry, feathered or scaled; with fins, paws or hooves. We invite you to send your photos to darlay@allotsego.com. Every week, we’ll select at least one animal to be highlighted in the newspapers and online. All photos will appear on our website, in the “Furever Friends and Purrfect Pets” photo album.
Photo by Milo Stewart Jr.,/National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
COOPERSTOWN—Scott Rolen visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday, February 28 for his orientation tour. Rolen will be inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame class during Induction Weekend, July 21-24. He is a seven-time All-Star who won eight Gold Glove Awards for fielding at third base during a 17-season career in the major leagues. This is Rolen’s sixth year on the ballot. From left: Niki Rolen (Scott’s wife), Finn Rolen (son), Raine Rolen (daughter) and Scott Rolen. They are sitting on a bench in the museum in front of a photo of the 1939 Hall of Fame Induction Class.
HARTWICK—Tom and Betty Steele’s granddaughter, Lily Luna Goodspeed, developed a special bond with one of the Steeles’ hens during a recent visit from California with her father, Jimmy Goodspeed. “I needed a name for one of my hens that I adopted from the SQSPCA. Lily Luna decided to name her Popcorn. So fitting,” Betty Steele said. We invite you to send pictures of your furry, feathered or finned friends to darlay@allotsego.com. Every week, we’ll select at least one photograph to be highlighted in the newspapers and online.
Assemblyman Brian Maher (R,C-Walden ) and Sen. Peter Oberacker (R,C-Schenevus) announced their support for the creation of a universal healthy school meals program in New York at a press conference on February 17, 2023.
Assemblyman Brian Maher (R,C-Walden) and Senator Peter Oberacker (R,C-Schenevus) are among a group of legislators reaching across the aisle to support creation of a permanent healthy school meals program in New York State.
Maher is a co-sponsor of the legislation introduced by prime sponsor Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (D, WFP-East Elmhurst). The bill as proposed, A0194/S01678-A, would establish the program to provide breakfast and lunch to all children in public school districts, from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.
210 YEARS AGO Marine Prizes – At New York, British ship Rio Nouva, from London for St. Kitts and Antigua, with a valuable cargo of dry goods; prize to the Rolla, of Baltimore; taken after an action of 20 minutes, in which no lives were lost. The prize is a London-built ship, nearly 400 tons, coppered, not 3 years old – mounts 14 guns, and had 25 men. At Portland, British ship Ralph, and British brig Euphema prizes to the America, of Salem. The Ralph was from Quebec bound to London, with a cargo of oak timbers; and the Euphema has a full cargo of coca and coffee, and mounts 10 guns.
At 5 p.m. on March 7, the Cooperstown Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing to consider an application for a special use permitting short-term rentals to exist on the property at 40 Lake Street. The original application, heard on February 7, was tabled to determine whether the 400-foot-radius of notification to adjacent property owners had been completed as required.
The home in question, originally built in 1793 and once known as the Averill Cottage, is one of a number of large, single-family houses that front on Lake Street, east of The Otesaga Resort Hotel. Its present owners—Mark Curley, wife Mary, and Mark’s mother, Irene—purchased the property in October of last year.
Among the most important sections of our New York State Constitution is Article IX, one that has been on the local books since the organization of our local governments—our counties, cities, towns and villages: home rule. This, in a broad sense, describes those governmental functions and activities traditionally reserved to or performed by local governments without undue infringement by the state. More technically, home rule refers to the constitutional and statutory powers given local governments to enact local legislation in order to carry out and discharge their duties and responsibilities—budgets, property taxes, schools, highways, fire departments, libraries, and the like. Home rule is accompanied by a restriction on the authority of the state legislature to enact special laws affecting a local government’s property, affairs and government. The legislature is specifically prohibited from acting with respect to the property affairs or governance of any local government except by general law, or by special law enacted on a home rule request by the legislative body of the affected local government, or by a two-thirds vote of each house upon receiving a certificate of necessity from the Governor. Article IX, in fact, serves both as a source of authority for local governments and as a shield against intrusion by the state upon their home rule prerogatives.
