n on
HOMETOWN
Home
!!
ET F F U B BEST
16
nta eo
w to
th anniversary
20
08 - 2024
ONEONTA
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
82 32-17 607-4 bbq.com s brook
JOB WELL DONE, COOP ROTARIANS! pages 6 & 7 VISIT www.
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, March 21, 2024
Volume 16, No. 21
Rotary Club of Cooperstown Celebrates 100th Anniversary By ELIZABETH COOPER
H
COOPERSTOWN ave you ever sat for a moment and enjoyed a sunny afternoon on a bench in the little park at the corner of Pioneer and Main? If so, you can thank the Rotary Club of Cooperstown. The local branch of the organization, which just entered its 100th year, was instrumental in the effort to create Pioneer Park after a 1961 fire destroyed the buildings there. Rotary’s international student exchange program is more widely known, but the club has quietly fostered countless local projects that area residents may enjoy without realizing how they came to be. “It’s a local service club focused on the community,” Cooperstown Rotary Club Board President Ellen Pope said. “But there is a strong belief that you need to be connected to others around the world, so there is less of a fear of the other and more of a sense that we are all one community.” Rotary encourages its members to ask themselves four essential questions about anything they do: Is it the truth? Is it fair? Is it beneficial? And, will it build goodwill and better friendships? The club’s motto is “Service above self.” To live out those values, members are encouraged to volunteer their time and contribute financially to good causes if they can—both locally and internationally. Today there are more than 46,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide. The organizaINSIDE ► HORRIFIC ANIMAL CRUELTY IN LAURENS, page 2 ► TRAX PROGRAM TEENS TO PERFORM, page 3 ► derosa ponders birds and the cosmos, page 4 ► PresidentS’ letters part of talk, page 7 ► ‘red kettle’ effort raises $580K, page 8 ► hart wick prof leads abortion study, page 8 ► SHELTIE PUP THINKS CATS ARE TOYS, page 13 ► easter events, page 14 Follow Breaking News On
AllOTSEGO.com
tion helped fund and organize the push to eradicate polio decades ago, and continues to support initiatives relating to everything from education to health to the environment. Promoting peace is a central goal. Cooperstown’s Rotary club was the 1,594th ever created. In recent years, they have helped fund the new surgical wing at the Susquehanna SPCA and bought air purifiers for a senior center so the elderly could more safely gather during COVID. They give to the local food pantry on an ongoing basis and helped fund a handicapped accessible fishing pier at Three Mile Point. And that’s just the past few years. Many of the historical signs in the Village of Cooperstown explaining the significance of certain landmarks were also commissioned by Rotary. An annual Susquehanna River clean-up is jointly sponsored by Rotary and the local Lions Club. But perhaps Cooperstown Rotary is best known for sponsoring the international youth exchange program for local students. An average of two local high-school students head abroad for a year to live and attend school, and about the same number from other countries come here. These initiatives are funded both by the individual contributions of Rotarians and through events such as the annual Election Day pancake breakfast. There are currently 84 Cooperstown Rotarians. They meet weekly for lunch to plan initiatives and update one another on progress. The luncheons Continued on page 6
Photo provided
Thomas Zegarelli
Photos provided
Misty Webster
Photo provided
LORAH GROH
Bassett Recognizes Six Nurses with Prestigious DAISY Award
S
COOPERSTOWN ix Bassett Healthcare Network nurses have been honored with DAISY Awards. The quarterly awards recognize nurses across the network for their commitment to providing patients and families with compassion and excellence in clinical care. Each honoree receives a certificate, a hand-crafted statue, a pin to
Photo provided
JOHN HENEY
wear on their ID badges, flowers, and various benefits from the DAISY Foundation. The DAISY Award is an international program of the DAISY Foundation to celebrate and recognize outstanding nurses. Nurses can be nominated by anyone—including patients, family members, other nurses and peers, cliniContinued on page 12
Photo provided
RACHEL GURAL
Photo provided
GRACE BURGIN
Foothills Now Offers Rehearsal, Recording Spaces By MONICA CALZOLARI
A
ONEONTA re you an artist looking for an affordable place to rehearse or get a professional recording of your performance? Black Hole Studios, opened in April 2023, is part of Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta. Thanks to a $20,000.00 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, the general public can rent Black Hole Studios for rehearsal for $20.00 an hour. Recording fees are extra and cost $50.00 an hour. Black Hole Studios offers aspiring recording artists professional-quality audio. Geoffrey Doyle, executive director of Foothills, said, “We have brand new, topof-the-line audio equipment and skilled audio technicians on staff that can record your performance.”
Photo courtesy of Foothills PAC
Black Hole Studios at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta is available for rent by the hour as a rehearsal space or as a recording studio.
The Loft is another Foothills rehearsal and multi-use space that is also being offered at $20.00 an hour. The Loft is regularly used for film screenings, live HD broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, birthday parties, stand-up comedy shows and anything else you can imagine. The NYSCA grant lowers the cost of using these two facilities in fiscal year 2024 only. Help is needed to spread the word about these affordable options. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Foothills from hosting events for an extended period of time. Doyle and his team have been looking for new ways to reach different audiences who may not know all that is available at the Foothills. Doyle explained, “Our center is a venue that has been reliant on bringing people Continued on page 12
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER EDDM PRESORT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ONEONTA PERMIT NO. 890