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Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, December 26, 2024
Volume 17, No. 9
OCCA Expands Programs with National Grant
O Photo provided
Members of the Lucky Duck Foundation present a ceremonial check to representatives of Bassett Cancer Institute and Cooperstown Food Pantry at a holiday celebration. From left, Patti Wallace, Lucky Ducks board member; Ed Wallace, Lucky Ducks board member; Connie Jastremski, Lucky Ducks board member; Mark Kirkby, program coordinator at Bassett Cancer Institute; Michael Trosset, Lucky Ducks board member; Will Kleffner, director of the Cooperstown Food Pantry; Mike Sullivan, Lucky Ducks co-founder; Kate Sullivan, Lucky Ducks co-founder; Matt Schuermann, Lucky Ducks board member; and Mike Jastremski, Lucky Ducks board member.
Foundation Awards $5,000 to Food Program COOPERSTOWN he Lucky Duck Foundation has made a $5,000.00 donation to a program that provides nutritious and medically-tailored food to Bassett Healthcare Network cancer patients at no cost to them. The program is a collaborative effort between Bassett Cancer Institute and the Cooperstown Food Pantry. It provides food to dozens of cancer patients and their families across Bassett Healthcare Network’s eight county service area. Items are delivered to patients directly at their homes or during their medical appointments. Dietitians and nutritionists are consulted to ensure the food provided fits each patient’s medical needs. “The local community’s response
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to this program has been incredibly inspiring. We are so grateful to the Lucky Duck Foundation for their support,” said Mark Kirkby, program coordinator at Bassett Cancer Institute. “Our cancer patients face treatments, therapies, and other challenges with so much strength and resolve. We are honored that through this partnership with the Cooperstown Food Pantry we are able to take away the financial pressures and logistical challenges that can come with planning out meals and purchasing groceries.” The Lucky Duck Foundation is a charitable group that has awarded tens of thousands of dollars raised through an annual golf tournament to local causes and organizations. “We are truly ‘lucky ducks’ to live
here in Cooperstown, which is such a special community full of warm and wonderful people, so we were inspired to give back,” said Mike Sullivan, who is the co-founder of the Lucky Duck Foundation with his wife, Kate Sullivan. “We are thrilled to be able to support local cancer patients through this donation and we wish them all the best in their treatment and recovery.” “The Lucky Ducks are wonderful supporters of the food pantry. Prior to this donation, they were already backers of our backpack program, which sends children in need home from school with nutritious food for themselves and their family members, discretely delivered in a backpack to prevent any stigma,” said Will Continued on page 6
Hamilton Named 2025 Ford C. Frick Award Winner
► eight nonprofits get funds from cfoc, page 2 COOPERSTOWN ► t wo churches plan to combine, page 3 ► editorial waxes poetic for the holidays, page 4 ► miosek pays tribute to nagelschmidt, page 4 ► music’s in the air with catskill so, page 5 ► zvirzdin: light energy and stonehenge, page 6 ► prognosis for inflation not optimal, page 7 ► things to do, page 10 Follow Breaking News On
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SPRINGFIELD tsego County Conservation Association has announced the expansion of its community science programs following a $144,459.00 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project, titled “Expanding Community Science in Otsego County to Advance Inter-Watershed Collaboration, Assessments and Future Restoration,” aims to involve community members in vital water quality monitoring of local streams and lakes, as well as evaluations of stream-road crossings. The project will engage members of the public in collecting data about streams, lakes and stream crossings. The data collected through this initiative will provide essential insights into local watershed conditions and establish robust groundwork for future restoration projects aimed at enhancing aquatic habitats. Additionally, OCCA will offer technical assistance to strengthen several local, volunteer only, environmental organizations, enabling them to achieve their conservation goals more effectively. “We are very excited to be building our community science teams here at OCCA. Connecting people to interactive ways to get outside and collect data for future environmental improvement projects benefits both the environment and the local community,” said OCCA Executive Director Amy Wyant. The focus of the project will primarily be on the Butternut Creek, Canadarago Lake, and Otsego Lake watersheds, which contribute to the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. OCCA will enhance its existing volunteer Stream Team Water Quality Monitoring program, originally Continued on page 6
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om Hamilton, who has called Cleveland Guardians games on the radio for 35 seasons, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Hamilton will be honored during the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation as part of Hall of Fame Weekend, July 25-28, 2025. Hamilton becomes the 49th winner of the Frick Award, as he earned the highest point total in a vote conducted by the Hall of Fame’s 16-member Frick Award Committee. The final ballot featured broadcasters whose main contributions came as local and national voices and whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era. The 10 finalists were: Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas,
Photo courtesy NBHoF/Cleveland Guardians
TOM HAMILTON
Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Ernie Johnson Sr., Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dave Sims, John Sterling and Hamilton. “With an unmatched love for Cleveland, Tom Hamilton has narrated the story of one of the franchise’s most successful eras
since joining the team’s broadcast crew in 1990,” said Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Guardians fans adopted Tom as one of their own as soon as he arrived in Cleveland thanks to his knowledgeable play-by-play and passionate calls of some of the franchise’s most historic moments. For a generation of listeners, Tom Hamilton is the very definition of Cleveland baseball.” Born August 19, 1954, in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Hamilton came to Cleveland in 1990 after spending the previous three years as the voice of the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. Teaming with the franchise’s beloved former pitcher Herb Score in the broadcast booth, Hamilton soon had a front-row seat to call a resurgent team that advanced to the World Series in both 1995 and 1997. Assuming duties as the voice of the Continued on page 6
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