For DOAS Bird Count organizer Sandy Bright and Charles Schweim, DOAS treasurer, birdwatching is a year-’round activity, and their backyard on Fair Street, Oneonta, is set up to maximize their hobby. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
Early voting in Otsego County began Saturday morning at the county’s Meadows Office Building, Town of Middlefield, and a steady stream of voters lined up out the door and down the sidewalk to the parking lot. Above, Christine Chen, Oneonta, signs in with Polling Inspectors Diane Ehmann, Worcester, and Sue Straub, Fly Creek. Morning drizzle did not deter voters from showing up, as seen at right by the line of masked, socially distanced voters wait to for their turn. This week, polls will be open at The Meadows 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; noon-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls will be open around the county 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
MUSIC ON MAIN – 6 – 8 p.m. Get outside to enjoy a live performance by Jump the Shark. Pioneer Park, Main St., Cooperstown. Visit www.wearecooperstown.com/free-fridays/ for info.
DRIVE-IN MOVIES – 8 p.m. Come out for a fun outdoor movie experience. This week showing ‘Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.’ Movie starts at dusk. Free admission, donations welcome. Foothills Performing Arts Center Parking Lot, Oneonta. 607-353-7143 or visit www.facebook.com/TheOtsegoCountyChamber/
FIELD TRIP – 2 p.m. Celebrate Jackie Robinson Day and learn about this Hall of Fame infielder & Civil Rights Pioneer. Learn about Branch Rickey, the bigotry Robinson faced, his successes on & off the field, and his career after baseball in the Civil Rights Movement. Free, registration for Zoom conference required. Hosted by The Baseball Hall of Fame. Visit baseballhall.org/events/virtual-field-trip-Jackie-Robinson-Day?date=0
COOPERSTOWN – Everyone said that it was impossible to get a parking place and admission to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Jane Goodwin Duel didn’t buy it.
She and a close friend left Warren, Vt., before dawn in her light blue VW convertible bug with the Rolls Royce hood, car festooned with international flags and packed with helium balloons.
Arriving at the Olympic checkpoints, their festive phaéton was waved through. In short order they had tickets to the women’s giant slalom and men’s figure skating, seeing Robin Cousins win the gold medal – and they picnicked on Mirror Lake in between.
COOPERSTOWN – Jane G. Duel, 81, passed away Tuesday, July 14, 2020, at Cooperstown Center, following a long illness.
Most recently an executive assistant with Redpoint Builders, she was previously with the Susquehanna SPCA for four years, and for many years worked for the New York State Historical Association.
Arrangements are with Tillapaugh Funeral Home. A full obituary will be forthcoming on www.AllOTSEGO.com and in next week’s Freeman’s Journal.
Amsterdam’s Mark Leggiero of Straight Line Striping uses a blower to remove sand and debris from Main Street, Cooperstown, as striping the whole length from Village Hall to the county courthouse got underway this morning. The job is expected to be done by day’s end, but drivers are encouraged to avoid the area. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
It’s been hard to approximate layoffs. Business owners don’t want to announce them, and the monthly figures seem so theoretical.
Bassett Healthcare Network, people figure – and have heard anecdotally from time to time – has certainly furloughed and cut back hours after closing two floors and halting elective surgeries while coronavirus was considered a pending local emergency. But it doesn’t want to brag about it either.
So the county Board of Representatives plans to lay off 59 people – 50.5 FT equivalents, 10 percent of its payroll for $1 million in savings, and hardly enough – was a bracing bucket of cold water.
So were state Sen. Jim Seward’s declarations over the past few weeks that a depended-upon safety net, the state Department of Labor, is inaccessible. No one’s answering the phone and constituents, after days of trying, have been calling the senator’s office in tears. He wants answers, and action.
We need to focus, people.
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In an interview the other day, the able Cassandra Harrington, executive director of Destination Marketing Corp. of Otsego County (too long a name) or DMCOC (meaningless acronym) had some scary numbers to share.
In 2018, she said, tourism brought $206 million to Otsego County, of which $101 million was spent employing people in a total of 3,426 jobs. Those jobs aren’t there this summer.
Happily, Destination Marketing has an action plan: It is rolling out a summer marketing promotion on June 1, looking to draw people here from a 150-mile radius.
Before we all throw up our hands in horror: The idea is to attract people, hopefully a lot of them, to kayak (with a loved one who has been equally exposed, or not exposed). And go to our airy beaches. And
Ride bicycles – one person per bike. And hike our lovely trails – 6 feet apart, of course.
Social distancing is easy in the Great Outdoors.
After July 1, when the Hall of Fame and other attractions very likely will have reopened
(The Clark Sports Center is looking to open that day), the marketing plan will shift to attractions, (paced to ensure the local institutions are not overcrowded.)
In the fall, the marketing will shift to foliage.
All of this makes sense, in line with the two-word imperative: REOPEN SAFELY. Both words matter equally; each must be done.
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Two things:
One, are Destination Marketing’s promotions being sufficiently financed?
The county’s contribution to DMCOC is based on last year’s sales- and bed-tax revenues. We know the county’s broke, but it should take a flinty-eyed look at cost-benefit before it considers cutting here.
Another source of revenue is the Partners’ Program – partners being individual hotels, restaurants and attractions. They also are strapped, some less so, and they should participate if they can.
How about our local private foundations? Perhaps they can help ensure marketing efforts are fully funded.
People, some anyhow, are reluctant to accept the fact Otsego County is a tourist economy. That fact is going to be dramatically emphasized in the months ahead.
Two, local business must do what they can to serve, and thus profit from the people lured here by DMCOC’s marketing campaigns.
Maybe restaurants can make box lunches for bicyclists or picnickers. Maybe stores can set up sidewalk displays (enabled by municipalities.) Otsego County Chamber President Barbara Ann Heegan said Oneonta City Hall is considering allowing all restaurants to do sidewalk cafes.
Nice, airy and safe idea.
Individual businesses know better how to do so for themselves. It’s important they do so.
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We’re all in a fix. But it’s not a fix that’s going to last forever.
Maybe the weather will slow the coronavirus. Maybe a vaccine will be developed over the fall or winter or sooner. Maybe immunity will become widespread. Pandemics eventually end, some more happily than others.
The point is, as we flattened the curve, let’s now do what we can to soften the economic pain.
This is what the website, www.farandwide.com, had to say in concluding Cooperstown is the best small town in New York State:
Population: 1,769
A Favorite Of: Architectural Digest, Reader’s Digest
What is more American than baseball? How about the small town that is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame?
Found at the lower tip of Otsego Lake, this cheerful village is lined with quaint shops, restaurants, art galleries and museums, farming and, of course, baseball.
Cooperstown’s John Kennedy pulls down a rebound in a sectional game against Waterville. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com)
COOPERSTOWN – CCS junior John Kennedy landed on the Class C 2nd team NYSSWA all-state boys basketball team. Kennedy averaged 17.3 points a game and led the Hawkeyes to the Section 3 Class C championship game this season.
Edmeston’s Josh Martin was also a 2nd team selection for Class D. Martin, a junior. averaged 22 points a game and helped the Panthers win their second consecutive Tri-Valley League title this season.
Oneonta’s Graham Wooden was selected third team in Class B. Wooden, a senior, was the ‘Jackets team leader averaging 21.2 points a game. He will play basketball next season for D2 Mansfield University.
Henry Korte- kaas and Lord’s Table Director Joyce Miller serve takeout pizza. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
MILFORD – In an average shopping trip, Laura Eggleston, Milford Food Pantry director, might buy 1,100 pounds of food to serve their 39 households.
On Monday, April 13, she placed an order for 4,300 pounds. “In these last two weeks, we’ve served 56 families,” she said. “That’s 193 individuals.”
CDC image of the coronavirus
As the COVID-19 crisis deepens, food banks across the county are seeing “a dramatic uptick,” said Maj. Cheryl Compton, Salvation Army. “Everyone just paid rent and many of them haven’t gotten their unemployment this month.”
Many of them are new customers, noted Julia Perdue, Cooperstown Food Pantry director. “We served 29 new households last month,” she said. “In all, we served 219 families. That’s our highest since 2007.”
“We’ve already seen 15 new people this month,” said Joyce Mason, director, St. James Food Pantry. “And it’s going to get worse the longer this goes on.”
However, she noted, the evening feeding ministry, The Lord’s Table, has seen a decline in people coming for the take-out hot meals. “It’s a social thing for them,” she said. “People want to sit down, and not being able to do so is difficult for them, so they don’t come.”
In Richfield Springs, Polly Renckens has seen the same influx of new clients herself, but worries the poor weather – or fears about COVID-19 exposure or that food may have run out – is keeping some former clients away.
“We have plenty of food!” she assured. “If we don’t see some people soon, we’re going to start calling individually to check on them.”
At many of the pantries, visitors are given a “shopping list” where they can check off what they need and want. “Client choice maintains dignity and alleviates food waste,” said Purdue. “If we give someone something they don’t want, it’s just going to go to waste on a shelf.”
The groceries are packed and bagged by volunteers – in masks and gloves – and then taken curbside for the client to pick up, contact-free. “We make every effort to protect the safety of our volunteers and clients,” said Renckens.
And so that no one goes hungry, Stacie Haynes, executive director, Susquehanna SPCA, started
a pet food pantry to help families stretch their budgets in tight times. The pantry has
been placed outside of the shelter so that people can maintain social distancing.
But, she noted, if someone can’t get to the pantry, a volunteer will take the food to them.
And although the pantries are seeing a rise in need for the pantries, they’re also seeing a rise in donations.
“We’ve raised $1,000 in the last month,” said Eggleston. “A dollar buys $10 of food from the regional food bank.”
“People are donating anything they can,” said Mason. “And we’re getting a lot of help from organizations.”
Even between pantries, there’s sharing. “If I have an excess of anything, I call around to see who needs it,” said Mason. “That’s just how I do it. We have to help each other out.”
But however long this lasts, Eggleston assures people that the pantry will always be there to help their neighbors.
“As long as we have food, we’ll hand it out,” she said.
At the Cooperstown Farmer’s Market, Sherrie Kingsley, Otsego 2000 Executive Director Ellen Pope and Deb Dalton wear protective masks as they fill 40 orders for curbside pick-ups. “People order online and we follow the list going from vendor to vendor,” explained board member Robert Nelson, who was at the door making sure customers washed their hands before entering. “The vendors have been really prepared and organized, numbering the bags and making sure everything is organized. With this many orders, we kept this many people out of the market and kept that many safe. We hope this is successful.” Signs ask patrons to adhere to 6-foot social distancing and not to touch any of the produce; the sellers bag it themselves. At right, Seth Friedman, Greentopia Farm, Davenport, was offering some of his own masks (which he uses for harvesting mushrooms) to customers. “When you pick mushrooms you have to wear gloves and masks because you don’t want to be exposed too much to their spores,” he said. “So these safety measures are normal for me.” The markets, in Pioneer Alley, is open until 2 p.m. today (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
