Jim Kaat with Pathfinder Village resident Grant Stubbs.
Less than two months after earning baseball’s greatest honor, Jim Kaat returned to Cooperstown in support of some new Central New York friends.
Kaat, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame July 24 as part of the Class of 2022, served as the celebrity host for the Pathfinder Village/Baseball Hall of Fame Golf Invitational September 19 at the Leatherstocking Golf Course in Cooperstown.
As the master of ceremonies, Kaat — who won 283 games and 16 Gold Glove Awards during his record-setting 25-year big league career — was featured as the guest speaker at that evening’s fundraiser dinner.
CONCERT – 5 p.m. The Cooperstown Concert Series presents ‘HEART: A Jazz Ensemble’ featuring the warm, brilliant tones of Melissa Stylianou, Godwin Louis, Chris Dingman and Ike Sturm in an enveloping and powerful quartet. Tickets, $20. Origins Cafe, 558 Beaver Meadow Rd., Cooperstown. Visit cooperstownconcertseries.org/heart-september-18-2022/
GHOST TOURS – 5:30 p.m. Explore historic village by lantern light and learn about the ‘Things That Go Bump In The Night.’ Tours leave at half hour intervals to 8. For social distancing 8 people/tour. Reservation required. Recommended for people aged 10+. Cost, $17/non-member. The Farmers’ Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1534 or visit www.farmersmuseum.org
Michael Whaling’s recent letter in The Freeman’s Journal and Hometown Oneonta, regarding pesticide use by the Leatherstocking Golf Course, was spot on. This is just the time when the course begins its annual dousing of the shores of Otsego Lake with chemicals dangerous to humans and wildlife alike.
The last time the public was able to learn the specific materials and quantities used on the course, it was revealed that the golf course used over 3,300 pounds and 100 gallons of pesticides – many carcinogenic, acutely toxic, and developmental or reproductive toxins.
The golf course has not released its pesticide usage since – is there any wonder why?
The use of these poisons adjacent to a public water supply and recreation area is unconscionable and goes unchallenged by SUNY’s Biological Field Station, the Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego Lake Watershed Supervisory Committee, and the Village of Cooperstown – all ostensibly concerned with the lake and public health. Clearly these entities are more interested in staying in the good graces of the Clark Foundation, owner of the golf course, than in living up to their responsibilities.
The Leatherstocking course claims to be environmentally responsible.
If that is truly the case, let them tell the people who drink and recreate on Otsego Lake’s waters just what they are spraying
next to it.
As spring slowly approaches, golf season will begin and pesticides applied to the Leatherstocking Golf Course on the sloping west shore of Cooperstown’s drinking water source and Susquehanna River headwaters.
While this practice has been previously challenged by this writer and others, the Biological Field Station has been silent. Their only comment was: “Nothing was found” in their testing.
While this is good news, the reality is that when these chemicals do appear, it will be too late. There is also the troubling contradiction that biology is the study of life, and pesticides are designed to kill living organisms.
Common sense should prevail, and the Leatherstocking Golf Course should be be managed organically. Where’s the harm?
TREES OF COOPERSTOWN – 5:30 p.m. Tour Cooperstown with Otsego County Conservation Association, learn benefits of street trees, threats to urban forests, basics of tree anatomy, identification. Free, open to public. Pre-registration preferred. Meet at Pioneer Park, Main St., Cooperstown. 607-547-4488 or visit occainfo.org/calendar/the-trees-of-cooperstown/
GARDEN CLUB – 6:30 p.m. Public meeting hosts Don Urtz presenting photographs of work done by the club over the years. Free, refreshments provided. Richfield Springs Village Library, 102 W. Main St., Richfield Springs. 315-858-0230 or visit www.facebook.com/Richfield-Springs-Public-Library-1068210423236404/
Fans clamor for autographs from Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, who will be inducted Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as he pauses this morning during a round of golf at The Otesaga’s Leatherstocking Golf Course. Main Street was closed to traffic this morning as an anticipated 35,000 fans descend on Cooperstown. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
The Leatherstocking Group team – from left, Matt Hazzard, Scott Whiteman, Sean Nelen and Matt Schuermann – won first-place gross at the 20th annual KeyBank Bassett Medical Center Invitational May 30, at The Otesaga’s par-72 Leatherstocking Golf Course. The tournament raised $100,00 for The Friends of Bassett Annual Fund, to be Baused for initiatives across Bassett’s eight-county service area.
OPENING RECEPTION – 5-7 p.m. Opening “8×10: Recent Paintings by Edward McDaniel, Leatherstocking Brush and Palette Club Fine Arts Exhibition, and the 26th Annual Essential Art Regional Juried Art show. Cooperstown Art Association. Info, www.cooperstownart.com
FLY CREEK – Larry G. Gallup, 64, an avid golfer and recently retired electrician, passed away Friday, April 21, 2017, at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester following an extended illness.
A Cooperstown native, Larry was born June 21, 1952, a son of Marge and “Pudge” Gallup. Raised in Cooperstown, he proudly graduated as one of the Cooperstown “Redskins” in 1970 and recently retired as an electrician.
On Oct. 10, 2003, Larry married Teriann Sammis in Shelby County, Tennessee. They shared their life and love with chocolate labs named Reno and Hunter in Fly Creek Valley and Titusville, Florida.
The team of Cooperstown attorneys Schlather & Birch – from left, Dave Elliot, Rodney Campbell, Joe Spytko and Bob Schlather – won Bassett Hospital’s 19th annual invitational May 31 at The Otesaga’s Leatherstocking Golf Course. The event raised $90,000 for the Friends of Bassett’s annual fund, the Friends announced today.
Dad Mike Trosset’s pals from his Georgetown days are in Cooperstown this weekend to cheer on Mike’s son Ted, one of the county’s foremost young golfers, who is playing in the New York State Junior PGA Tournament this weekend at The Otesaga’s Leatherstocking Golf Course. The Junior PGA, played at Leatherstocking for the past 11 years, continues through Sunday afternoon. At the golf course’s 17th hole are, from left, Jim Frohnhofer and his wife, Keri Dooley, Derek Sherman, the host, Bob Ennis and John Doyle. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
