Invention by Cooperstown Resident Getting Interest from Military By Caspar Ewig Ghosts, especially at this time of the year, are meant to scare one to death. But ghosts can also be used to save a soldier’s life. And it is upon that idea that Cooperstown’s James (or “Chip,” as he likes to be called) Northrup filed a patent seven years ago that underlies the function of a training system designed to enhance a soldier’s ability to zero in on a…
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Letter from Chip Northrup Carefree Gardens + Origins = Paradise As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, we begin to think of heading back to Texas. But we never leave before the closing event of the season: the plant auction at Carefree Gardens on October 10, Columbus Day. One of our great pleasures at Cooperstown is our time spent at Carefree and at Origins Café, where, if I’m lucky, I get to shoot the breeze with my…
Letter from Chip Northrup Keep the Glimmer, Lose the Slime Dr Willard Harman of the Biological Field Station understands the biodynamics of toxic slime (“blue green algae”) and he knows what can be done to mitigate their blooms — which may become chronic if left unaddressed — in which case lake water would become non-potable, fish would die, and people would get sick. The Biological Field Station is going to come up with plans to attempt to address the problem…
Letter from Chip Northrup Unnecessary Nuisance The Cooperstown firehouse siren is noise pollution at its worst — far above the Village’s own decibel limit, and totally unnecessary, unlike say a heavy metal concert. Pagers and cell phones can and have replaced these ridiculous noisemakers. If the firemen get a page or a text, they get the address of the fire — they can go straight there — they don’t have to go to the fire station first. When the Queensbury,…
Letter from Chip Northrup Hapless Mussels The hapless mussels didn’t want to come here. They were as happy as clams in Siberia — before they were Shanghai’d to the Great Lakes. They have no political advocates in Albany — so they get the blame for everything. Count the votes Chip NorthrupCooperstown…
‘Justice involved’ The proposed New York State licensing program for cannabis dispensaries (a.k.a. dope shops) gives priority to applicants that have a record of being “justice involved” – that is, persons convicted of drug charges, or the relatives of such persons, before the state dope sale law went into effect. What a great euphemism for a criminal! Fortunately, I qualify – having exported hashish from England to America in the 1970s. So where do I apply for a license to become the Dope…
Letter: Meanwhile in Texas Texas’s new voter suppression law is a great example of how to keep lots of people from voting. The new statute requires a voter to present either a driver’s license or their Social Security number in order to get an absentee ballot. Since Texas only requires one of these IDs to register to vote, if a county registrar receives an absentee ballot request with a type of ID they don’t have on file, they can’t match…
Letter: ‘Plague’ Improvements The Plague has produced some revelations, a few for the better. Our son works remotely at PIXAR. He lives a mile away from the office, where he used to commute by bike, but hasn’t gone there in over a year. Now that working from home is a viable alternative, a PIXAR artist or programmer could work from anywhere there is sufficient bandwidth — even Cooperstown.…
Letter: Another dispensary ‘no’ To the Editor: The most obvious, most sober course of action for the Village Board is to opt out of the state’s comically misguided and tragically misspelled “marihuana” law, and simultaneously schedule a referendum on the matter that, among other things, addresses zoning, etc.…
LETTER from CHIP NORTHRUP Proposed apartments better than existing eyesores To the Editor: A new apartment building has been proposed at 10 Chestnut between Main and Lake. Simple Integrity proposed much the same thing two years ago. I was the only person at the hearing that spoke in favor of it—on the simple premise that what they proposed was clearly an improvement on what’s there now—a dilapidated building. The first and foremost utilitarian test on the redevelopment of property in…