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Volume 15, No. 34
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, June 15, 2023
County Clarifies Emergency Declaration
Springfield Announces 2023 Fourth of July Parade Grand Marshal By ANDREA HOUSE SPRINGFIELD red Culbert, the voice of Springfield’s Fourth of July Parade for 30 years, will be taking a break from announcing parade entries this year to lead the parade as grand marshal. For Springfield’s Fourth of July Committee, Culbert was an easy choice for the honor, not only for his dedicated service to the parade over the years but also for his countless other contributions to the Town of Springfield. Born at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown and raised in the Village of Richfield Springs, Culbert received his certification in secondary education at the University at Albany and in 1965 took a job teaching social studies at Springfield Central School’s grade seven to 12 building in East Springfield, where he taught until 1989. Culbert’s good nature and diligence have often earned him extra duties, and this was the case at the school, where he took shifts driving a school bus as needed and eventually took over as school principal and administrator, as well as serving as
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INSIDE ► DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS AWARD WINNERS, page 2 ► ed stack remembered, page 4 ► dan gers of weaponry, Smoke discussed, page 4 ► PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES IN THE NEWS, page 6 ► terry berkson remembers his dad’s desoto, page 9 ► new book, talk on housing, CV outdoor games, page 11 ► mEET THE glimmerglass festival director, page 12 ► BASEBALL AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT HOF, page 13 Follow Breaking News On
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chair for the Committee on Special Education, all while continuing to teach. An Eagle Scout himself, Culbert served as Eagle Scout Merit Badge Counselor for Citizenship Badges in Home, Community and World. As a social studies teacher, Culbert encouraged his students to attend town board meetings as he did himself, to understand the workings of local government and to be informed citizens. A knowledgeable and well-known presence at the meetings, it was only a matter of time before Culbert won a seat as Springfield town councilman, where he served for 12 years. Culbert has also served on Springfield’s Zoning Board of Appeals and currently holds the office of Springfield town historian. A member of the Springfield Fire Department from 1968 until this year, Culbert has served 54 active years as a volunteer firefighter. Due to his keen interest in local history, Culbert has been involved in the Springfield Historical Society since the 1970s and currently serves as Continued on page 13
Jensen Reaches State Podium By WRILEY NELSON COOPERSTOWN ooperstown senior Claire Jensen rounded out her high school athletic career with a fifthplace finish at the New York State Track and Field Championship on June 9. Jensen placed in the Division II (small school) 400m. Her time of 58.09 was a top-50 time statewide for the season. Victoria Guerrier of West Hempstead won the event with a time of 55.65. Jensen racked up nine Section III Class C titles in her career with Cooperstown track and field. She was also part of team sectional
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By CASPAR EWIG OTSEGO COUNTY hat we’ve got here,” said the jail warden in “Cool Hand Luke,” “is failure to communicate.” According to Steve Wilson, Otsego County administrator, this comment aptly describes the present state of affairs resulting in the county’s issuance of the State of Emergency Declaration and Emergency Order No. 1 with regard to housing migrants in Otsego County. “Our actions were a response to the extremely chaotic situation created by the way New York City was handling the migrant crisis,” Wilson added. “No one reached out to us and gave us any indication of what we might be faced with.” He said the only information that was available to the county was that which was published in the newspapers, and what appeared in Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Order 28 declaring a state of emergency for New York State. “Added to the existing migrant flow, we were faced with the expectation that elimination of Title 42 would make it worse,” Wilson explained. New York City officials denied that they failed to reach out and ask other counties to share in the responsibility to house migrants. In a litigation filed on June 7 against 30 upstate counties seeking to overturn their exclusionary policies— including Otsego County— city officials allege that the office of Mayor Eric Adams “emailed a letter addressed to ‘Mayors, County Executives, and Municipal Leaders’ describing the City’s efforts to address the sudden influx of asylum-seekers and asking for their assistance.” However, Wilson stated he, as administrator, had not seen such an e-mail, and neither Otsego County Board Continued on page 8
W Photo by Lori Bailey
As we celebrate Flag Day and the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777 by Congress, Lori Bailey is learning more about her grandfather’s accomplishments as both a soldier and an individual. His plane was shot down by enemy fire in 1944.
Long-forgotten Mementos Unpack Soldier’s Personal, Military History By DARLA M. YOUNGS ONEONTA found these fascinating treasures in a box of things left behind by my grandmother, Gertrude Fuller, when she passed. They are pictures and letters from my grandfather when he was overseas fighting in World War II,” wrote Lori Bailey in a recent e-mail. Sgt. Harold L. Fuller was a rear gunner pilot killed in action in 1944. According to Bailey, his final mission was aboard a B-24 Dogpatch Raider on February 3, 1944. There were 53 ships out of the 193 Airborne that abandoned their mission over Zuiderzee due to high cloud cover. The B24 41-24192 (Sgt. Fuller’s plane) was struck by enemy fire and crashed at the Royal Air Force station in Hardwick, England, killing nine of the 10 aboard.
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Fuller was a self-taught carpenter, a jack-of-alltrades, and a talented ice skater and barrel jumper. According to clippings provided by Bailey, he was training for the Olympics when he was called to serve his country in World War II. Fuller’s dream of competing was never realized. The Continued on page 13 Olympics were cancelled
that year and he joined the Army Air Forces. “He was also a song writer and was being asked to appear on radio and early TV,” Bailey wrote. A newspaper clipping from the “Adirondack Daily Enterprise” dated November 26, 1940, boasted of Fuller’s musical accomplishments: “A penchant for writing songs in his spare time may augur a composer’s career for Harold Fuller of this village, who has received a copyright and the interest of several music publishers for his waltz, ‘Starlight and Moonlight.’” The article goes on to say that Fuller’s waltz would make its formal debut later that week, when it was to be introduced by Bryce Lavigne and his orchestra, “after it is orchestrated and polished up.” Harold Fuller was 20 years old when he married Gertrude L. Sessions in 1930. They had one child, Janice L. Fuller, who later married Richard Kelly in Oneonta, where they resided until their deaths. Lori Bailey is the daughter of Janice and Richard. “One of the letters here is signed by our President Johnson,” Bailey wrote of the mementos she uncovered.
Photo provided
SGT. HAROLD L. FULLER
“There is a handmade ring that he made for my grandma out of nickels. You can also see in one pic that he was training for the Olympics, skating and barrel jumping. I should look into having one of his songs recorded. And, yes ... one of the photos is of Hitler with a little girl at his tea house. It was smuggled out of Germany at a time when that was a real no-no.” Other artifacts in the grouping include a photo of Fuller and the men he served with on his final mission, handwritten songs including “Starlight and Moonlight,” information about his Purple Heart, notification from the Continued on page 8
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD