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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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PHOTOS OF SPRINGFIELD’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY PARADE/B1-7
For 206 Years
WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM Newsstand Price $1
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, July 10, 2014
Hanft Takes IDA Helm County Or Not, Ec-Dev Will Advance, He Says
Hartwick To Wall Street, Back To Otsego County
By JIM KEVLIN
L The Freeman’s Journal
Emily Hammond of Gilbertsville leads Miss Sensation back to her stall after the Hereford won best of breed Monday, July 7, at The Farmers’ Museum’s Junior Livestock Show, which brought 250 young competitors from eight counties. For results, visit WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
By JIM KEVLIN
ack of participation by Otsego County’s government won’t slow the “single point of contact” effort to bring business and jobs here. That’s the message that Bob Hanft, Pierstown, elected chairman of the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) Wednesday, June 25, delivered during an Independence Day interview. “It’s not going to affect us,” Hanft, former Please See HANFT, A7
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hen Bob Hanft was a Hartwick College senior in 1968-69, he met a fetching freshman, his future wife
Patricia. A memorable courtship followed, much of it in Cooperstown: Friday excursions to “The Pit,” Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal the Tunnicliff Inn’s basement hot-spot, sunny weekend trips to Glimmerglass State Park, the Bob Hanft, new IDA chair, right, with the spring formal of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Bob’s IDA executive team, President Sandy Please See CAREER, A7 Mathes, center, and COO Elizabeth Horvath.
ROCKIN’ Hollywood Agent HOF 75TH HAPPENINGS
DOCS
Most T-Shirts Ever Celebrate 100th Parade
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espite insisting he wasn’t competing, Country Memories’ Ernie Adams sold 133 100th anniversary parade T-shirts, compared to 88 for Tom & Kelly’s Tom Mabie. “I thought I could give him a run for his money,” said Mabie. “But he beat me pretty good!” Setting the contest aside, Ernie and Tom joined forces on the Fourth of July to sell the remainders, selling a grand total of 259 shirts. “The most we ever sold before was 90,” said Adams.
LIGHTEN TRAFFIC: An e-petition is circulating encouraging the Village of Cooperstown to bar trucks and buses from residential street. Review petition at WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
Oscar Winner Is Waiting In Wings By LIBBY CUDMORE
SPRINGFIELD
56 FAMERS DUE: So far, a record-tying 56 Hall of Famers, including new 2014 inductees Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine, Tony La Russa, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas and Joe Torre, are scheduled to be a part of Hall of Fame Weekend festivities.
Signing Up Stars
COOPERSTOWN
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oren Harriet is in the business of making dreams come true. The concert promoter and producer was working in the studio with former Yankees center fielder and jazz musician Bernie Williams when
an engineer asked what his greatest moment was. “I think he thought he was going to talk about the World Series,” he said. But instead, Williams talked about getting to Yankee Stadium to practice early one day in 1999. There was no one there except him and the person pitching to him, but when he looked off to Please See AGENT, A3
75-Mile Ride To Mark 75th Induction Year By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
Gradient plays Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” Saturday, July 5, at the Hometown Fourth of July’s Battle of the Bands in Oneonta. In top photo, band members are Kevin Harrington, Jessica Carlson, Toby Wilcox, Jay Szwejbka and Matt Brown, all Bassett medical personnel.
This Band KNOWS: Music Best Medicine By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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ne day a week, Dr. Jessica Carlson gets to trade in her surgical scrubs for rhinestone-studded leggings and spike heels.
No, she’s not going to a fancy party or the hottest nightclub – she’s going to rock. Carlson, a fourth-year resident in surgery, is the lead singer of Gradient, a rock ’n’ roll cover band made up of rockin’ docs from Bassett Hospital. “Music is the best medicine,” said Robbie Graham, bassist and addiction and recovery specialist. Please See BAND, A3
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here are plenty of ways to celebrate the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 75th anniversary Induction – concerts, games and new exhibits and old memories. But for county Rep. Linda Rowinski, D-Oneonta, a bike trip is the perfect way to celebrate. “The Hall of Fame wanted a year-long celebration of community involvement,” she said. “Downtown Oneonta has started to become a popular destination Please See BIKES, A6
The Freeman’s Journal
County Rep. Linda Rowinski, D-Oneonta, is training for a 75-mile bike ride in September to mark the Hall’s 75th anniversary.
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL
LOCALS LIFEGUARDS HANDLE CAPSIZING
Ommegang Pop-Up Draws Crowd On Day One; Across Street, Cooperstown Cigar Co. Launched
CARRIER GRANDSON WEST POINT GRAD
The Freeman’s Journal
Michael Kern, left, and Colin Wilcox, lifeguards at the Village of Cooperstown’s Three Mile Point Park, handled a potentially dangerous situation Friday, July 4, when a canoe capsized some distance from shore, according to Maureen Davidson, park director. One of the boys took a paddleboard to the craft, calming the four occupants, only one of whom was wearing a lifejacket. The other got a parkgoer to give him a lift to the scene and tow the canoe to shore. This is Kern’s second year lifeguarding, and said this was his first experience with a potential emergency; Wilcox had just assumed lifeguard duties. Both will be juniors at CCS in the fall. Davidson said such situations are rare, but was impressed by the guards’ coolness.
ON DEAN’S LIST: Michael Shillieto, Burlington Flats, is on the Dean’s List at Farmingdale State College for the spring semester.
Diploma in hand, Alexander West Carrier is all smiles on graduating with honors Wednesday, May 28, from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard West Carrier of Chicago and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Carrier of Cooperstown and Sarasota, Fla. He will be attending flight school at Camp Rucker, Alabama. The commencement speaker was President Obama.
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal
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wo enterprises opened in downtown Cooperstown over the weekend: Above, Sarah Fanion serves samples to patrons at Ommegang’s “pop-up shop” next to the Cooperstown Diner; patrons included Ted Hargrove, center, and Charles Papst, left, the umpire from Schenevus. At right, Roberta Roberts shows the offerings at Cooperstown Cigar Co., which opened Thursday, July 3, in the former Smalley’s Theater.
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States Sprint Championships 2K rowing challenge with a time of 6:19. Of 24 high school students invited to the camp, he is currently ranked number four. LeRoux began his training in 2012 after taking a class at the Clark Sports Center, and, at 16, is the youngest rower at the Seattle camp. He will complete his training in Seattle on July 30, and compete in Germany from Aug. 6-10.
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ndy LeRoux, grandson of Fran and John LeRoux and part-time Cooperstown resident, has earned a spot on the Men’s Quad rowing team for the Junior Men’s World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. LeRoux, who just completed his junior year at the Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey, Fl., is spending the summer in Seattle at the US Sculling Team selection camp. He was invited after taking the top spot in the Southern
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Bassett Hospital’s New Visions program. She majored in biology and chemistry at SUNY Hendricks Oneonta. While at Iowa State, she was granted an internship in Szost, Germany, doing in-vitro transplants on cows. She has accepted a clinical position in Germany, treating large and small animals.
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r. Liza Gladstone Hendricks received her doctor of veterinarian medicine degree Saturday, May 17, from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames. The daughter of Carole Hendricks of Oneonta and granddaughter of Gloria Hendricks of Milford, she concentrated on large animals, bovine and equine, and specialized in surgery and overall animal welfare and wellbeing. Liza graduated from Milford Central School and
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THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-3
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
This Band KNOWS: Music Best Medicine BAND/From A3 The band formed in 2013 when respiratory therapist and guitarist Kevin Harrington heard Bassett was trying to put together a “one-off” band for a company event. “And we’ve been rocking out ever since,” said Graham. Harrington started by recruited Jay Szwejbka, an X-ray technician and fellow guitarist. “I’ve known Kevin since we were nine,” said Szwejbka. “We’re not allowed to do anything without the other!” And Carlson brought a little bit of glam to the lineup. A former beauty queen, she was Miss Oregon in 1995 and competed in Miss USA while completing her M.D. at Oregon Health & Science University. “I’ve sung the National Anthem
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for the Baltimore Orioles, sung with friends’ bands, but I’ve always wanted to be in a rock band of my own,” she said. Matt Brown, a nurse in the critical care unit, plays drums, and Emily DeSantis, a physiatrist, also sings with the band. “She even sings while she works!” said Harrington. Toby Wilcox, a cardiothoracic surgeon, plays keyboards – and gave the band its name. “We wanted a band name with a medical connotation, and a gradient is a measurement, but it means something different in every one of our fields,” he said. “In my field, it’s used to describe the narrowing of a valve, but it has multiple meanings.” Gradient – minus DeSantis – played four songs for the Hometown Fourth of July Battle of the Bands on Saturday, July 5, in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park: “Separate Ways” by Journey, “Decode” by Paramore, “Paris” by Grace Potter and the
Nocturnals, and – their personal favorite (and a crowdpleaser) – Guns N’ Roses, “Sweet Child O’Mine.” “It turns out a lot of people in the medical field are very musical,” said Harrington. “It’s very math and science oriented; the same people who are drawn to playing music are also drawn to studying medicine.” “We all have stressful jobs,” added Carlson. “I work 80 hours a week, so to be able to go and rock out, that’s my creative outlet.” But unlike other rock bands, Gradient won’t be torn apart by drug abuse and heavy partying. “These guys are good, upstanding citizens,” says Graham. “They’re the cleanest band around!” And although they didn’t place in the Battle of the Bands, they plan to keep rocking wherever they can. “We want to play at your party, your bar, your openheart surgery!” joked Harrington.
Welcome
Loren Harriet, Agent To Baseball Aficionados said Harriet. “He’s so passionate AGENT/From A3 about his music, and he’s had a one side, there was Paul Simon, lot of success.” doing a sound check. Many of the musicians will Joe DiMaggio had just died, be performing in front of videos and Simon was going to play celebrating some of baseball’s “Mrs. Robinson” in his honor at historic moments. “When that evening’s game. Yolanda Adams sings in front And on Saturday, Aug. 2, of the video about integration Simon will call Williams up on in baseball, it’s going to be so stage to join him in playing that intense,” he said. “She’s going famous number at the Baseball to sing a really emotional, great Hall of Fame’s 75th Anniversong.” sary Concert at the Clark Sports A video of great moments in Center field. “This is a onceLoren Harriet has the World Series will be set to in-a-lifetime event,” he said. combined a love of Randy Newman’s score from “Nothing like this has ever been baseball and love “The Natural,” while a celebradone in music, baseball or at of music. tion of great ballplayers will be the Hall of Fame.” scored to John William’s sweepThough the lineup is still ing theme from “Jurassic Park.” being finalized – Harriet is hoping to anThe concert will also feature a tribute nounce a “Grammy, Emmy and Oscar-winto Little League, which is also celebrating ning headliner” later this week – the recent their 75th anniversary, and a special preaddition of Hunter Hayes is one more item sentation from Josh Wege of the Wounded off the 22 year old country star’s wish Warrior softball team. “He was the captain list. “His dream has been to perform with of his baseball team when he was in high the Boston Pops,” said Harriet. “He has a show on Friday and another on Sunday, but school and wanted to go pro,” said Harriet. Earlier that day, the Wounded Warriors will he’s going to fly down here to sing in this take on the Boston Astros, a team of innerconcert.” city high school kids, in a softball game. Hayes recently performed his hit “Invis“It’s ridiculous how much we have going ible” in the Macy’s Fourth of July parade, on,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going which he will also be performing with the to survive it – I’m not trying to be over-theBoston Pops. “He really appeals to the atrical; it’s just so exciting!” younger generation, especially the girls,”
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COOPERSTOWN First Baptist Church 19 Elm Street Monday: 5:00 PM
UNADILLA Methodist Church 172 Main Street Wednesday: 5:30 PM
RICHFIELD SPRINGS Church of Christ Uniting 22 Church Street Wednesday: 5:30 PM
WEST EDMESTON First Baptist Church 134 W. Edmeston Rd Wednesday: 4:45 PM
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Perspectives
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
A-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL
EDITORIAL
Ensure Oneonta’s Professional Management Is Model For County
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sticky situation has developed around Oneonta’s search for a new city manager. One, the City Charter, approved by a 1,177-370 vote in November 2011, calls for the city manager to have a master’s in public administration (MPA) and three years’ experience in a “responsible executive position,” or the equivalent. But the ad placed to find a replacement for City Manager Mike Long, who retired at the end of May, calls for “a bachelor’s degree with similar experience.” Two, the search is being closely held by Mayor Dick Miller and Common Council, with no representation from the community at large on a broad-based search committee, a best practice these days. Odd, perhaps, but it turns out this is being done for a reason. There’s a hoped-for pre-determined outcome. Mayor Miller, Charter Revision Committee members believe even the mayor himself acknowledges, is partial to having City Treasurer (and interim city manager) Meg Hungerford succeed Long, even before the first application has been reviewed. • As you can imagine, this has the Charter Revision Committee in an uproar. (From the outset, let’s stipulate Meg Hungerford is
the mayor wanted the afternoon of the HR Committee meeting. No matter. This isn’t parsing what the Founding Fathers may have thought two centuries ago; the original Charter Commission members still live and breathe among us, and their deliberations are fresh in their minds. The intent of seeking an MPA and “combination of Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal experience and training in Longtime City Charter advocate Steve Londner asks the Oneonta Common Council’s HR Commit- municipal government,” tee to include community members on the search Zimniewicz, Londner and others will tell you, was to committee for a new city manager. circumvent the “good ol’ an estimable public servant, League of Women Voters boy” network; to ensure but that’s beside the point in study, read a statement to an Oneonta’s city manager is a this context.) unreceptive council Huseasoned professional, with The committee, consistman Resources Committee a broad understanding of the ing of most of the former Monday, July 7, asking that challenges, who will bring members of the original the search committee be best practices and fresh Charter Commission – only expanded. ideas to Main and South two couldn’t participate He cautioned against Main. – was formed by Miller “groupthink,” which The idea was also to under pressure after Long’s “results in decisions being replace government by peruntimely resignation. (It made without rigorous critisonality with government by plans to issue a full report cal evaluation of alternative due process and consistent in the next couple of weeks reasonable viewpoints or policy. In other words, is on full implementation of options for action, and/or Oneonta that forward-lookcharter’s provisions.) also without full considering 21st century city, or “Here are the two quesation of the implications of a banana republic on the tions,” said Laurie Zimniethe decision being made.” Susquehanna, governed by wicz, a business consultant (See full statement, below.) personal whim? chairing the committee. Londner is being too • “Why are we not looking kind, given the decision This is uncomfortable to for someone with an MPA? may already have been write, given our otherwise And, why isn’t the search made. universal support of Mayor committee broader? All I’m • Miller’s initiatives. He is an asking is for fair play here.” Seeing trouble on the exceptional leader, an able Steve Londner, a commit- horizon, Miller asked City successor to Mayors John tee member whose interest Attorney David Merzig for Nader, Kim Mueller and in professional city manan opinion on the master’sDavid Brenner, his immediagement dates back to his bachelor question, and the ate predecessors. participation in the original lawyer delivered the opinion
Smartphone Cost, Service Show Flaws Of Capitalism
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sideration of the implications of the decisions being taken. The addition of community members to the search committee should both seek to ensure diversity of viewpoints and enable the Common Council to tap into available local experience and expertise in executive interviewing hiring as well as in change management. It is difficult to see any way that the benefits to be had by committee expansion – including the public’s perception of the recruitment and hiring process – would not greatly outweigh any possible costs. I would further note that the involvement of such additional people only in minor ways, late in the search process, will not accomplish the same things.
Those Who Lived History Helped Record It
James C. Kevlin Editor & Publisher
I am writing to urge the Common Council to add at least two respected community members to this search committee. This is a well-documented best practice – board search committees for chief executives of public service entities (such as local government, schools, libraries, nonprofits, etc.) often include external community and client representatives. The term “groupthink” refers to the well-documented phenomenon that commonly affects an existing cohesive small group striving to reach a consensus decision. Such groups naturally seek to avoid internal frictions, and Isolated from outside opinions and influences, groupthink results in decisions being made without rigorous critical evaluation of alternative reasonable viewpoints or options for action, and/or also without full con-
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
Editor’s Note: This is the statement Steve Londner, a member of the Charter Revision Committee, read to Oneonta Common Council’s Human Resources Committee Monday, July 7.
In Sweden, or maybe it is he search committee charged Norway, if you don’t have a with leading the effort to idengood connection the govtify and recruit our next city ernment comes out to your manager bears a major responsibility. house and fixes it. It is conIts job is to find and recommend a sidered an important service; single candidate, or small pool of canhere, it is all caught up in didates, to the full Common Council corporate greed. An illusion that exhibit the best appropriate fit that we have freedom. with both current and anticipated city The corporations have government operations/needs, and control of the government, with the broader Oneonta community. so government does not act I understand that, as of now, this in the best interest of it citisearch committee comprises only the zens. The government also four Council members who sit on the sees it as a way to squeeze Council’s Human Resources Commitmore money from the public tee. with more taxes to pad their incomes and retirement funds. CATHERINE ELLSWORTH • Ending “a”: That is WHERE NATURE SMILES ... AGAIN the way I see it. Capitalism is only great if you like to take advantage of people and reduce Please See LETTER, A6 Editor’s Note: With this edition, we welcome back our respected colleague, Catherine Ellsworth, longtime contributor of the beloved “Where Nature Smiles” column in The Freeman’s For 206 Years Journal. JU
To the Editor: Our Smartphone service at home is so bad we are thinking of turning our Smartphones back into just a cellphone. The taxes are also so outrageous. I pay for my friend who is in his 90s to have a back-up phone: $10 a month plus over $7 in taxes! To reduce our phone expenses and cut back, we have to pay $30 for a new service upgrade, even thought we want a downgrade, and our present phone needs to be replaced for $150 plus because they will not make the phone we have just a phone. In Europe, Smartphones are around $26 a month and the service is far beyond what we have here. Why do we pay so much for worse service?
Likewise, Meg Hungerford is an able city treasurer. If Miller has been the architect of five city budgets now that have put off the day when the downward revenue and upward expense lines cross on the budget graph, Hungerford has been the construction company. (And, with an MPA in hand, she might be an ideal candidate for city manager – the next time around.) But a city manager isn’t being hired for Mayor Miller, whose second term is over in two years. A city manager is being sought who will ensure professional administration, even if the next mayor lacks Miller’s vision, broad experience and determination. • It’s time for people of good will, on and off Common Council, to step up and reclaim the search process
Avoid ‘Groupthink,’ Expand City-Manager Search Committee
LETTERS
Oneonta Common Council members David Rissberger, left, and Larry Malone – they both served on the city’s Charter Commission – should ensure fairness in the current city manager search.
– and, by extension, City Hall – from the specter of cronyism. Two Council members, David Rissberger and Larry Malone, served on the original Charter Commission – Rissberger chaired it – and, inspired by the new era its adoption was suppose to herald, ran and won their seats. They know the issues; it’s time for them to lead. Interviews of the best of 36 candidates are supposed to begin Friday, July 25, so there’s time, although not a lot of it, to adjust. At the Tuesday, July 15, Common Council meeting, Rissberger and Malone should propose a new search committee, and the mayor probably should not be on it. All fairthinking Council members should join them in putting together a search committee that includes Common Council representation – 2-3 members, perhaps, certainly Rissberger and Malone – but also knowledgeable citizens from the city’s professional community. This is important, not just for the City of Oneonta, but countywide, as a 14-member Otsego County Board of Representatives circles and circles the inevitable: That county government, with part-time leadership with varied qualifications, needs a professional manager as well. Fair Oneonta, keep lighting the way.
Ian Austin Photographer
Stephenie Walker Production Coordinator
Tom Heitz Consultant
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR Otsego County • Town of Cherry Valley • Town of Middlefield Cooperstown Central School District Subscriptions Rates: Otsego County, $48 a year. All other areas, $65 a year. First Class Subscription, $130 a year. Published Thursdays by Iron String Press, Inc. 21 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown NY 13326 Telephone: (607) 547-6103. Fax: (607) 547-6080. E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com Contents © Iron String Press, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at USPS Cooperstown 40 Main St., Cooperstown NY 13326-9598 USPS Permit Number 018-449 Postmaster Send Address Changes To: Box 890, Cooperstown NY 13326 _____________ Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Judge Cooper is in The Fenimore Art Museum
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e, the he-we Jerry and the she-we Cathe, began writing “Where Nature Smiles” over 30 years ago in January of 1984. “Where Nature Smiles” had been a long running column in The Freeman’s Journal. It faithfully recorded the comings and goings of the village over the years. And we continued in that vein noting who visited whom, who had dinner where and, if we were lucky, who married whom. However, after a number of columns containing this sort of information, Frank Rollins buttonholed the he-we on Main Street and told him, in no uncertain terms, that people were sick of all that stuff. Instead, we should write about the history of the area. And thus began almost 15 years of columns which devoted, from time to time, a fair amount of space to what can only
Jerry and Cathe Ellsworth collaborated for 15 years on “Where Nature Smiles.”
be thought of as the area’s history as seen through the eyes of its then current residents. For example, in the beginning of 1986 we found ourselves musing a bit about William Cooper as he wandered about his nascent settlement watching homes and businesses spring up. What were the proprietor’s thoughts as he viewed the lake from the corner of Fair and Second (Main) Streets? Indeed fortunate are we to dwell in a place whose history has been so well chronicled and so well studied by so
many avid students. However, this faithful recording of the village history presented a real problem for us, namely the task of procuring suitable challenging historical trivia questions. But we plowed forward, noting that Nathan Howard and Samuel Griffin were two persons who have some importance in the earliest history of the village. We asked if anyone would care to hazard a guess as to why. Fortunately, we received several responses to our inquiry. Mac Preston, of Elm Street, and George Tilllapaugh, of Pioneer Street, called to tell us that Nathan Howard and Samuel Griffin were two “firsts” in the village’s early days. Nathan Howard, son of John Howard, was the first baby born in the new settlement and Samuel Griffin, a young child, was the village’s first death. Upon the little boy’s dying in October 1792, a piece of land on the corner of Water (River) Street and Third (Church) Street was chosen for a graveyard and Samuel was buried there. Thus the Christ Church Yard Please See COLUMN, A6
AllOTSEGO.com • MORE LETTERS, A6
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WELCOME • E-MAIL THEM TO info@
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-5
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
BOUND VOLUMES Compiled by Tom Heitz with resources courtesy of The New York State Historical Association Library
200 YEARS AGO
A new invented Torpedo Boat, resembling a Turtle floating just above the surface of the water, and sufficiently roomy to carry nine persons within, having on her back a coat of mail, consisting of three large bombs, which could be discharged by machinery, so as to bid defiance to any attack by barges, left this city (New London, Connecticut) one day last week to blow up some of the enemy’s ships. At one end of the boat projected a long pole under water with a torpedo fastened to it, which, as she approached the enemy in the night, was to be poked under the bottom of a 74 and then let off. The boat we understand is the invention of an ingenious gentleman by the name of Berrain. A gentleman who arrived here last evening from Sag Harbor (Long Island), informed us that on Tuesday last, the Torpedo Boat was run ashore at Horton’s Point, opposite Falkner’s Island, and on Sunday she was destroyed by the Sylph sloop of war, and a frigate. July 14, 1814
175 YEARS AGO
The history of all governments exhibits the struggles of two great parties – one rallying under the banner of the rights of property, the other under those of persons. The one will strive as a matter of course, to resolve the whole system into an extension of the rights of property so as to swallow up and annihilate those of persons. The latter will stand on the defensive and do all that is in its power to preserve and defend them. The contest is between the rights of men and the rights of things of inanimate substance. In short, they maintain the superiority of matter over mind; that property is the best of merit – and that the sordid miser who has heaped up riches and the unprincipled swindler or speculator are better entitled to a will and influence in the government than the laboring man who cultivates a farm, or the mechanic. July 8, 1839
150 YEARS AGO
In most of the letters addressed to young men, there is a great deal said about the elevating influence of female society. Now, while we are the last to deny the advantages which any young man of sense experiences from the society of a woman of pure and elevated taste, we do deny that there is anything in indiscriminate devotion to female society which makes a man better or purer. In seeking female society as an agency for the elevation of your taste, the cul-
25 YEARS AGO
4 o’clock. On Tuesday Thursday and Saturday afternoons, at the same hour, the boys will take their dip. On the girls’ days, boys and men are respectfully, but firmly, requested to keep away from the float. The float is for gymnasium members, and they have the right of way. Anyone may become a member and use the gymnasium as well on payment of the very small fee of one dollar per month for men; and one dollar and-a-half for the season for ladies and boys under 16 years of age. The classes will be under the direction of Professor Martin, physical director of the gymnasium who will give special attention to the children and beginners in the art aquatic. Private lessons may be arranged, if desired. July 8, 1914
75 YEARS AGO
Morning ceremonies on Sunday, July 9, were held on the second floor of the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame where a baseball library of over 400 volumes and documents was formally presented as were the flags of the July 12, 1989 United States and England in memory of departed players tivation of your morals, and the improvement of your mind, and members. Also, a large artistically inscribed bronze tablet was unveiled commemorating the founding of the seek that which is above you. Do not treat with rudeness National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. or studied neglect such inferior female society as you are July 12, 1939 obliged to come in contact with; on the contrary, you owe to such society a duty; you should stimulate it, infuse new vitality into it, and endeavor to do for it what you would Paul J. Lambert of this village has been named principal have superior female society do for yourself. July 8, 1864 of the elementary school here succeeding James A. Robinson effective July 1. Mr. Robinson, elementary school principal since the school opened in 1954, was elevated to the principal-ship of the Junior-Senior High School. He The United States Department of Agriculture has just takes over administrative functions formerly performed by issued a report on the English sparrow, an octavo volume N.J. Sterling who continues as the district’s Supervising of 408 pages containing maps showing the distribution of Principal. A native of Athens, PA, Mr. Lambert joined the the sparrow in the U.S., and illustrations of traps and nets for destroying the birds. There are reports from all the states CCS faculty in the fall of 1957 as a Social Studies teacher. July 8, 1964 concerning its ravages in orchards and grain fields with suggestions as to the best means of extermination. The sparrow was first imported by Hon. Nicholas Pike, one of the The absence of bombs bursting in air gave proof through Directors of the Brooklyn Institute, against the warning of the night that the annual Fourth of July fireworks show in naturalists and Englishmen who knew the bird’s character the village was prematurely silenced last weekend when a at home. The first pairs were brought over in 1850. July 12, 1889 10-inch shell created a hole in the dock at Fairy Spring Park on Saturday and the annual fireworks show came to a halt short of the grand finale. Damage to the dock closed the swimming area until Wednesday. The regular classes in swimming made their debut last July 9, 2004 week, and will continue to meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons for the girls, the boat leaving the dock at
50 YEARS AGO
125 YEARS AGO
10 YEARS AGO
100 YEARS AGO
Aug. 2, 2014
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A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
Bike To Go 75 Miles For 75th BIKES/From A1 for mountain biking, and the ball just went off – a 75-mile bike ride for the 75th anniversary!” The first Bike Otsego 2014 event will be Saturday, Sept. 20, starting and ending in Damaschke Field in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park. Main Street in Oneonta will close down to allow the cyclists to pass through before breaking off onto their individual routes: a 75-mile loop, a 30-mile, a 12-mile, family-friendly route and a mountain bike trail. “Everyone can participate,” she said. Rowinski is an avid cyclist herself, biking between 25 and 40 miles on a good day. She took up biking in 2011 after her last New York Marathon. “I knew it was going to be my last marathon, but I wanted to do something,” she said. “Someone suggested a triathlon, but I don’t swim – so I bought a bike!” She didn’t expect the idea
to catch on, but it did. “Everyone I talked to thought it was a great idea,” she said. “Everybody’s been coming up with different ideas; it’s networking at its finest.” She put together a committee that is currently planning the four routes through the county. “I want to make it a tourism event,” she said. “Promoting tourism increases the quality of life for people who live here – they can participate too.” She was inspired, by part, by the Pit Run, which she says has elevated running in Otsego County. “You didn’t used to see a lot of runners, but that got popular and now you see runners everywhere,” she said, pointing to a couple jogging by on Main Street. “People look at them and say, ‘I can do that’.” It will also be a chance to raise awareness of cycling safety, with police escorts following the riders to make sure everyone stays safe on the roads.
Local History Was A Big Hit Then, And May Be Now COLUMN/From A4 was the village’s first graveyard and preceded the establishment of the church by almost 17 years. Of course, not all of the questions posed went that far back in the village’s history. In fact, a more
Cell Phones Show Systematic Flaws LETTER/From A4 everything to the equation of money. If you think I am talking Communism, you are wrong, that doesn’t work either. It is time for a new and creative … “ism”. One that is interested “in the people and for the people”, not a system that exploits the people to benefit a few. Capitalism and Democracy do not work well together. • Ending “b”: This is what they call capitalism, more money for less service. R. SCOTT DUNCAN Hartwick Forest
current historical question was quickly suggested by Charlie Brynes when he asked what was the Grey Goose and where was it located? Rather surprisingly, Ruth Ritter, of Forestport, (former Cooperstonian Ruth Williams, CCS Class of 1944), called to talk about the Grey Goose. However, the conversation soon turned to the Blue Anchor which, if memory serves, was a tea room located in the last house on the lakeside of Lake Street before the golf course. That house has been demolished long ago and a new one built on the site. And while our conversation with Ruth was very pleasant, we had to return to Charles Burns, who told us the Grey Goose was a pottery shop located near the lake. We confess that we
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covered a wide range of the village’s history. And it was an oral history which we hope to now share in future columns with the current readers of The Freeman’s Journal. The history of the village was a big hit with readers back in the 1980s and ’90s. And we would hope that those living here now would also enjoy the memories shared by a number of long time residents of the area. We remain, Where Nature Smiles, The Ellsworths PLEASE NOTE: Comments regarding this column may be made by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com
John J. Mitchell, Realtor
AllOTSEGO.classifieds FARM ANIMALS
were ignorant of the exact location. Fortunately, we later learned that the Grey Goose was located near the lake end of Nelson Avenue. Our sources also reported that in so far as they have knowledge, Grey Goose pottery was not sold locally. We wondered then if anyone might have a piece of said pottery. And we still wonder that to this day as no one ever claimed owning any Grey Goose pottery. And interestingly enough, when we googled the Grey Goose, Cooperstown, NY, all we found was our reference to it in an earlier column. So even though we may not have always managed to answer a particular historical question, as we look back at our columns from 1986 we realize that we
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Otsego Lake Rights—New to the market, this darling 3-BR cottage is being offered as a 3-season property. Offering lake rights at Hickory Grove Point as well as at Springfield Public Landing, the house is in a country setting w/lake views from the deck. Completely redone, it offers an LR w/vaulted ceiling and woodstove, new kitchen w/dining area and door to the deck, 3 BRs and a full bath. Most furnishings remain. There is also a shop/storage building, perennials, nice yard space, stone-walled pathway, and the feeling of being in a quiet place. Great getaway or possible rental. Offered Exclusively by Ashley Connor Realty $169,000 Visit us on the Web at www.ashleyconnorrealty.com Contact us at info@ashleyconnorrealty.com For APPoiNtmeNt: Patricia Bensen-Ashley, Broker, 607-437-1149
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THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-7
Hanft Says IDA Board Retiring To Otsego County, Banker Comes Full Circle was in trouble. “And the Mack and Robbie, and to improve the situation A1 Determined To Succeed CAREER/From controller of the currency David and his wife recently dramatically.” fraternity, at The Otesaga.
HANFT/From A1 chair of the Hartwick College Board of Trustees and a retired Wall Street banker, said of the county Intergovernmental Affairs Committee’s decision not to participate, for the time being anyhow, in the IDA’s new initiative. “We’ve got so many good things that we’re going to be working on that are going to have such a positive impact,” he said. “To me, it’s a proportionate issue. We’re probably driving 95 percent of the activity. There’s 5 percent left behind, that maybe they (the IGA and Board of Representatives) will be able to figure out.” Hanft, who has served on the IDA board since 2010, succeeds Sharon Oberriter, Fly Creek, retired co-founder, with husband Don, of Cooperstown Bat Co. Over the past year, she oversaw the IDA’s absorption of the county Economic Development Department’s job-creation duties. Even before then, “the IDA was a very positive force,” said Hanft. “We did a lot of good things and helped a lot of organizations: Springbrook, Hartwick, the Soccer Hall of Fame” – its conversion to Ioxus – “the Bresee’s redevelopment. But a lot of it was done under the radar, and we were resource-constrained.” But “a period of reflection,” book-ended by state Sen. Jim Seward’s two “economic development summits” – March 2012 at The Otesaga; last November at Foothills – led to the IDA stepping up as the “single point of contact” for economic development, he said. That made sense for IDA, he continued, due to its powers to grant tax-abatements, PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) and tax-exempt financing; “plus, we had the financial resources that nobody else has.” While the IDA’s commitment has been characterized as $3 million over three years, Hanft said it only needs to generate $400,000 annually to “keep the doors open,” a much more doable challenge, given that Newman Development Corp.’s fee alone was $250,000 to finance the 320-student housing project near SUNY Oneonta. “The county has never considered economic development a priority by any stretch of the imagination,” he continued, and the recession, high state taxes and the “public outcry” by such groups as Citizen Voices called for a new approach. The shift away from the county has been good in several ways, Hanft continued: “We’re only in the first six months of this. We’ve hired people, we’ve moved locations (to the fifth floor of 189 Main, Oneonta’s tallest downtown building.) We’ve accelerated the beginnings of this at a dramatic pace.” Employees are no longer county employees, subject to Civil Service testing; this has streamlined hiring, beginning with the recruitment of Sandy Mathes, the former Greene County economic developer, as IDA president. “He’s done a fantastic job getting us started,” Hanft said. Elizabeth Horvath, Cooperstown, a Harvard-educated business consultant, is the new COO. More CFAs have been submitted – CFAs are the state’s comprehensive funding applications, required to access any and all economic-development grants under the Cuomo Administration – than ever before, Hanft said. They include $11 million for an agri-business hub in Oneonta, and $90,000 for a market analysis of Cooperstown and a visioning process to update the village’s Comprehensive Master Plan. What grants are funded
– decisions are expected in October, before the November elections when Governor Cuomo is up for a second term – will determine many priorities, Hanft said. However, some initiatives – notably the upgrade of the Pony Farm Industrial Park, Town of Oneonta, as the first “shovel ready” development site – will go forward regardless, he said. Another is the prospective Susquehanna Regional Center for Jobs & Entrepreneurship; Dawn Rivers, a recent summa cum laude Hartwick grad, has joined the IDA as office manager and will lead that charge. SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College have been invited to participate. Other members of Hanft board – among them Jim Jordan, the Richfield Springs architect, just elevated to vice chair – “basically have changed their mindset. They’ve been very supportive.” He added, “People are respectful of one another; they listen.” Hanft compared the new IDA to a start-up. “What I want right now is some wins for the board. People have to realize this is the first time we’ve done this.” The strategy: “You throw as many things against the wall as you can. You go down a lot of dead ends. The more things you do, the more chance some things are going to stick. That’s where we are right now.”
“We loved Upstate New York,” he recalled the other day. By 2006, when the Hanfts were deciding on retirement, Cooperstown and Otsego County were the natural choice. “I have a foot in Oneonta and a foot in Cooperstown,” said Hanft in an Independence Day interview. “I go back and forth frequently. I have good friends in both.” In between, there were adventures aplenty. An economics major and son of a banker, Bob graduated from Hartwick on a Friday and the following Monday he started as a trainee at J.P. Morgan, where he worked for the next 30 years, retiring as managing director/global equity research. “I did everything” – M&A, lending, private equity. He was one of four senior managing directors who started Morgan’s global equity business in the early 1990s. “It went from zero people to more than 2,000 in 5-6 years.” One memorable night in 1980, the phone rang. He was directed to go with his bank’s president to Washington, D.C., where they “snuck in the back door” at the Office of the Controller of the Currency, joining a half-dozen of the most powerful bankers in the U.S. First Pennsylvania Bank
said, ‘You’re going to save this bank’.” The result was the first major bailout of a national bank. After that, Hanft, still in his 30s, worked on a number of rescue packages. “Highly confidential,” he said. “You’d read about it four weeks later in the paper.” As Hanft was moving up the ladder, Morgan’s reputation was “top notch. It was one of the leading financial institutions in the world. One of our biggest problems was vetting people who wanted to do business with us, to protect our reputation,” the executive said. He traveled a lot, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Latin America. “I spent a lot of time in Europe,” he said, recalling one four-month project in London, working seven days a week. He and Pat raised a family in Ridgewood, N.J., Rebecca, who recently opened law offices in Cooperstown (she is engaged to Josh Truman, Friend of Bassett executive director); David, in Boston, and Cameron, in Connecticut. Cameron has two 15-month-old twins,
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He was particularly praiseful of his fellow trustees, “a large contingent of townspeople who loved Hartwick as much as the alumni.” Bassett CEO Bill Streck, now retired, was trustees’ vice chair. Other key local players included Doug Willies, former president/CEO, Mead Westvaco in Sidney, now retired to Cooperstown, and the late Henry Hulbert, the Oneonta attorney. If Hanft is retired, he’s hardly retired. In addition to expanded IDA duties, he working with a financial services firm in Utica and serving as president of The Friends of Bassett. He’s still a Hartwick trustee, and on the boards of Bassett Healthcare, Pathfinder Village and Rotary. He and another Cooperstown retiree, Lou Allstadt, the uber-active former Mobil executive VP, are “a lot alike. We’re not great at hanging around the golf course. I play tennis, but I like the intellectual stimulation of interacting with people, with doing something positive.”
Home games Be there!
Saturday, July 12 – NBT Bank Kids Night 7pm Game against the Syracuse Salt Cats. All kids 18 and under admitted free.
Tuesday, July 15 – Bassett Buy out the Ballpark Night 7pm game against the Syracuse Salt Cats. Everyone admitted free
Wednesday, July 16 – Oneonta YMCA Oneonta Outlaws 5K run before the game. 7pm game against the Cortland Crush.
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presented his parents with a new baby boy, Henry. In 2006, he retired a second time, from the Trinsum Group, founded by Nobel Prize winner Robert Merton, Business Week reported, to use “financial science” to close the gap “between management consulting and investment banking.” In the late 1990s, Hanft reconnected with his alma mater, first mentoring soon-to-be grads on career options. In 1999, he joined Hartwick’s board of trustees, then largely made up of people from Oneonta and Hartwick, and was taken by “the pace of life, the quality of the people. I really enjoyed it.” He was soon chairman during that daunting period when, close to bankruptcy, the trustees brought in Richard P. Miller, Jr., then SUNY vice chancellor and COO, to set finances aright again. “Dick stabilized the organization, and I think Margaret (Drugovich) has taken it to the next level,” he said. “It’s a good story about how committed people were, over a period of years, able
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A-8 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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MLS#88473 $26,000 waiting for your dream home! Two sloping acres. Open with 212’ of road frontage. Minutes from Cooperstown and Richfield Springs. Call Pamela V. Andela @ 315-717-1907 (cell)
MLS#92555 $113,900 Custom designed kitchen! Wow comes to mind when you see this ranch w/3 BRs, 2 full baths on 8+ acres. Call Donna A. Anderson @ 607-267-3232 (cell) Virtual tour: www.cnygreatrealtor.com
Affordable, well maintained home on the west end of town. First-floor living w/3 BRs, hardwood flooring under the carpet w/large eat-in kitchen, spacious enclosed porch along with some handicap features. Nice partially fenced yard with oversized 1-car garage w/greenhouse. Close to bus route and elementary school. $99,900 MLS#95419
MLS#93140 $219,000 James Vrooman 603-247-0506 (cell) MLS#95413 $85,000 best buy on Canadarago Lake! Family affordable! Cozy 3-season cottage w/2 BRs, 1 bath. Great getaway Cooperstown Village fun. home. Seller pays closing costs (up for all your summer to w/acceptable Call$3,000 Pamela V. Andela @offer). 315-717-1907 (cell)
MLS#94239 $275,900 Custom Log home on 15+ acres. Vaulted ceilings, exposed rafters, open floorplan, kitchen w/island, AC, partially finished basement. BR & laundry on 1st floor. Call Thomas Platt @ 607-435-2068 (cell)
P R NE iC W E!
we have buyeRs!
MLS#94947 $127,500 affordably Priced! West End Oneonta w/central AC! 3 BRs, 2 baths, hardwood floors, large yard, 2-car garage. Newer roof and windows, new kitchen. Call Bill Vagliardo @ 607-287-8568 (cell)
P R NE iC W E!
MLS#95274 $149,900 estate sale! Charming, massive 4+ BR farmhouse w/tons of storage space, huge attic. Pond w/goldfish, huge barn. 3 deeded parcels. Garrattsville area. Call Lynn Lesperence @ 607-434-1061 (cell)
MLS#94835 $179,900 nature and wildlife abound! 3-4 BR home on 25+ flat acres w/apple orchard, berry bushes, trails, streams on mostly wooded property w/4 large open fields. Call Thomas Platt @ 607-435-2068 (cell)
MLS#94824 $74,900 state Land nearby this chalet w/3 BRs, 1½ story htd garage and workshop. 0.35-acre lot w/views. Call Suzanne Darling @ 607-563-7012 (cell) Virtual tour: www.realestateshows.com/723055
MLS#90345 $118,000 big Price Reduction! 3-BR, 2-bath country house w/farm charm.Wood-burning fireplace, garage, barn. Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633 (cell) Virtual tour: www Adam Karns.com
MLS#94251 $189,000 a connoisseur’s dream! Well maintained Victorian features hardwood floors, roomy kitchen, large BRs. Call george (ROD) Sluyter @ 315-520-6512 Virtual tour: www.leatherstockinghomes3.com
MLS#94816 $220,000 55+ acres and a great home w/plenty of room. Awesome views and hunting. This would also be a great horse farm w/barn and stalls all ready . Call or text Sharon P. Teator @ 607-267-2681 (cell)
MLS#95280 $45,500 fantastic buy! Delaware Cty cottage w/views on 2.57 acres! LR, eat-in kitchen, BR, bath, laundry hook-ups. Call Suzanne Darling @ 607-563-7012 (cell) Virtual tour: www.realestateshows.com/724110
$319,900 MLS#94982 Come to the Country! 87+ picturesque acres, spacious 2-story home and huge 2-story barn all
Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner
located on a quiet country road. House has very large LR, spacious eat-in DR and 1 BR and bath on the first floor. Downstairs BR could be used as a den. 3 BRs, full bath and laundry on the 2nd floor. Enclosed front porch runs the length of the house on the front. Across the road is 2-story barn in very good shape. Small stream runs behind the barn. Land is a nice mix of open and wooded and would be great for hobby farm,horses, gardening,hunting or recreation. Both house and barn have 100 amp electric service. Loads of road frontage makes the property very private. Approximately 2300’ on the house side and 1410’ on the barn side. Don’t wait to view this property because at this price it won’t last long.
Cricket Keto, Licensed Assoc. Broker Peter D. Clark, Consultant Paula George, Licensed Real Estate Agent
HUBBELL’S REAL ESTATE
Village Dutch colonial
607-547-5740•607-547-6000 (fax) 157 Main Street Cooperstown, NY 13326
exclusively offered at $549,000
E-Mail: info@hubbellsrealestate.com Web Site: www.hubbellsrealestate.com
CharaCter and prestige
Cooperstown Village Value
(7844) Attractive 3 BR, 2 bath residence features large LR w/fireplace and built-in bookcases, enclosed porch, eat-in kitchen w/cherry cabinets, large yard, updated electric and plumbing. Completely remodeled village home in a country setting. It is so easy to love! Hubbell’s Exclusive—$239,000
Mike Otis
Cooperstown Village
(7861) Pristine 3 BR, 3+ bath home in a country setting w/idyllic views on 6+ acres. Spacious LR w/ fireplace, study/library, rec/game room, home theater, finished attic. Cherry floors, custom kitchen w/new appliances, formal DR, master BR suite w/steam shower. Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$749,000
Since 1947, our personal service has always been there when you need it most. With comprehensive coverage for all your AUTO • HOME • LIFE insurance needs.
BUSINESS
Hours: M-F 8am-5pm Phone: 607-432-2022 22-26 Watkins Ave, Oneonta, NY 13820
FOR MORE
(7836) Welcoming 4 BR, 2 bath home boasts new hardwood flooring, new carpeting, newer eat-in kitchen, laundry, large LR, formal DR, family room w/woodstove, first-floor master suite. Deck, front porch, spacious yard, garage. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$295,000
Thinking of Remodeling? Think of Refinancing!
LGROUP@STNY.RR.COM www.leatherstockingmortgage.com 607-547-5007 (Office) 800-547-7948 (Toll Free)
New Purchases and refinances • Debt Consolidation Free Pre-Qualification • Fast Approvals • Low Rates Registered Mortgage Broker Matt Schuermann NYS Banking Dept. Loans arranged by a 3rd party lender. 31 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown (directly next door to Stagecoach Coffee)
AllOTSEGO.home SEE PAGE A6
LISTINGS,
Build family memories in this well maintained Dutch Colonial on a large lot in a friendly neighborhood. The current family has resided in this 3-BR, 1½-bath home for 54 years! Built in 1910, w/large family room addition in 1996. Kitchen has oak cabinetry, center island and access to family room. LR, DR, den and staircase have beautiful natural woodwork. Finished space in basement. 2 fireplaces: wood-burning in family room, gas in the den. Large backyard, deck w/retractable awning, covered front porch. Detached 2-car garage has plenty of additional storage space.
Don Olin REALTY
For Appointment Only Call: M. Margaret Savoie, Real Estate Broker/Owner – 547-5334 Marion King, Associate Real Estate Broker – 547-5332 Eric Hill, Associate Real Estate Broker – 547-5557 Don DuBois, Associate Real Estate Broker – 547-5105 Tim Donahue, Associate Real Estate Broker – 293-8874 Madeline Sansevere, Real Estate Salesperson – 435-4311 Cathy Raddatz, Real Estate Salesperson – 547-8958 Jacqueline Savoie, Real Estate Salesperson – 547-4141 Michael Welch, Real Estate Salesperson – 547-8502
37 Chestnut street · Cooperstown 607-547-5622 · 607-547-5653 (fax) Parking is never a Problem! For listings and information on unique and interesting properties, make yourself at home on our website, www.donolinrealty.com
For reliable, honest answers to any of your real estate questions, call 607.547.5622 or visit our website www.donolinrealty.com