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Volume 15, No. 18
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, February 16, 2023
Community Foundation Funds Warming Station
Internet Breakfast Café Opens In Historic Store
Homeless Numbers on the Rise
Coffee, Community the Inspiration
By TED MEBUST COOPERSTOWN he Community Foundation of Otsego County announced its largest, most recent and final donation of the organization’s 2022 award cycle, giving $25,000.00 to help Catholic Charities of Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie Counties support the Oneonta Warming Station. This is the second award the Oneonta Warming Station has received from CFOC, the first to the tune of $10,000.00 at the end of the 2021 award cycle. “Homelessness, as a rising problem, is all around us… clearly there’s an ongoing need and we wanted to help them [Catholic Charities] out again,” said Jeff Katz, CFOC president. The warming station has provided shelter, food and social services to unsheltered individuals for the last three years. It operates from November 1 to March 31, opening its doors each night at 5:30 p.m. at 296 Main Street in Oneonta. The CFOC donation will help meet the growing needs of the station, which saw an increase in the number of bed nights it provides from 49 in its first
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INSIDE ► New Connections at Clark Sports Center offers even more activities for seniors, page 2 ► chatgpt...don’t miss dr. sternberg’s column this week, a real eye-opener, page 4 ► field of dreams cemetEry... will interment include piranhas in our future? page 4 ► through with chew week and the great american spit out coming our way next week, page 5 ► HOF PITCHER RANDY JOHNSON PHOTO EXHIBIT AT FENIMORE, page 7 Follow Breaking News On
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year of operation to 1,031 last winter. The warming station is operated by professionals and community volunteers. “I’d like to express my gratitude for the grant from the Community Foundation of Otsego County. The support from this grant allows Catholic Charities to continue to assist those in need who come to the warming station this winter,” said Christy Houck, executive director of Catholic Charities of Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie Counties, an organization that recently received aid in combating homelessness from the U.S. Department of Housing and Photo by Arlene Nygren Urban Development. Nosey Little Nelson The charitable donation MARYLAND—Nelson, curious little companion of was organized in part by Arlene Nygren and Judith Sobers, peeks out from the Robert and Esther Black behind a vase of tulips. Nelson is the first four-legged, Family Foundation. furry and/or feathered subject to be featured in our new “Our goal is to strengthen weekly photo series highlighting animals and the imporour nonprofits and strengthen tant role they play in our lives. We invite you to send our community,” Katz your pictures to darlay@allotsego.com. Every week, explained. we’ll select at least one photograph to be highlighted in The CFOC invites area the newspapers and online. nonprofits to continue their applications for aid starting in March 2023, after approving their award criteria for the next cycle. Visit the Community Foundation of Otsego County website, cfotsego.org, or e-mail contact@ NEWBURGH cfotsego.org. n Oneonta resident, Capt. Zachary German, is one of two members of the 105th Airlift Wing to be named Airmen of the Year by the 5,880-member New York By DARLA M. YOUNGS National Air Guard. German was named the Company ONEONTA Grade Officer of the Year pproximately 80 for 2023, while Senior people attended the Master Sgt. Renea Turner, of Community Cat For- Middletown, was selected as Photo provided um on Thursday, February 9 at First Sergeant of the Year for CAPT. ZACHARY GERMAN the Foothills Performing Arts 2023. He also serves as a liaison The 105th Airlift Wing is and Civic Center. They gathered to discuss the increasing based at Stewart Air National to the New York Chemical, Biological, Radiological numbers of unowned cats in Guard Base in Newburgh. German, who joined the and Nuclear Task Force Otsego County and share strategies which might curtail that New York Air National Guard commanderregarding medical in 2017, is the medical plans operations during domestic growth. “Community cats” is a and operations officer for the operations missions. “Capt. Zachary German term used by the American wing’s 105th Medical Group SPCA to describe outdoor, Detachment 1. He is respon- and Senior Master Sgt. unowned, free-roaming cats. sible for daily operations Renae Turner represent the They can be friendly, feral, and readiness of the medical full-spectrum embodiment adults, kittens, healthy, sick, detachment and coordination of today’s Air National altered and/or unaltered, and for all training, exercises, Guard,” said Brig. Gen. Gary Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 and operations.
Zachary German Lauded by NY Air National Guard
Forum Draws Large Crowd
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By MAE LOEWENGUTH HARTWICK n analyst from Bassett Healthcare and an environmental advocate have been working since 2009 to restore what was once known as O.S. Burch & Son, a dry goods/general store. The historical building, dating back to 1864, is now known as the Freight Wheel Café. Owners Martha and Paul Clarvoe met and were wed in the state of Maryland. They later decided it was time to get back to nature—eventually choosing upstate New York, where they settled and raised three children. “I lived on a former farm in Potomac, Maryland and grew up in Montgomery County,” Martha recalled. “It was one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and we felt it was too busy for us. More traffic every year and getting from place to place was taking longer and longer.” While renovating their own home in Hartwick—a circa 1856 farmhouse on a former hops farm—Paul and Martha fell in love with the renovation process, preserving what they could while making necessary updates. Martha’s inspiration for the new venture was an old wooden mill she saw while visiting her grandfather in Hershey, Pennsylvania. She loved the post and beam structure, and how her grandfather had kept the original wood and built around it. Learning that the former general store was for sale, Martha knew it would be her
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next project. She fell in love with the woodwork and the history behind the building. “When I returned home after touring the mill, I thought I should see the inside of the former O.S. Burch store, which had been vacant and for sale for many years. We purchased the building in 2009,” Martha said. This was not going to be an easy undertaking for the married couple, so they asked for the help of Steve Zerby, proprietor of Steve Zerby Design/Build. Together, they have restored the structure to have energy-efficient heating and cooling, insulation methods and weatherization techniques. “Efforts were made to preserve as much of the historical structure of the building as possible,” Martha elaborated. “Dense pack cellulose was used to insulate the walls. The radiant ceiling on the second floor and radiant floor tubing distributes the heat on the first floor, from the condensing boiler in the basement. A Mitsubishi air source heat pump is used for heating and cooling in the workspace on the second floor.” The Freight Wheel Café is a certified Otsego County Waste Smart Business, Martha added, meaning food waste is composted, items that can’t be reused are avoided when possible and recyclables are properly disposed of. The Clarvoe’s goal was not only to restore the building, but to create a communal space for the people of Hartwick. Continued on page 6
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The long-awaited Freight Wheel Café offers free wi-fi and printer access, with space to eat, work, and socialize.
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD