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Local Efforts Support Milford Fire Victims
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Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, August 7, 2025
Volume 17, No. 41
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By LARISSA RYAN
MILFORD riday, July 18 began in ashes in the Village of Milford. A fire had raged through four buildings located in the heart of the village, destroying a home, an abandoned building, and two central businesses within the community—the Milford Corner Store and Sybil’s Yarn Shop. Since then, residents of Milford, Cooperstown and the surrounding areas have rallied
together to provide support in the aftermath of the devastating blaze. Children have raised money at a lemonade stand to help the families recover, and a GoFundMe page organized by Kate Joslyn has raised almost $5,000.00 to date. Dog Wild Pet Supply, 4785 State Route 28, Cooperstown, will host a fund-raising event behind the store on Saturday, August 9, featuring music, lawn games, face painting and a silent auction. The Greater Milford Historical
Association is selling T-shirts to support the Milford Fire Department and Emergency Squad, and Paul Singh is selling “Milford Strong” signs out of his Apple Food Store, 3634 State Route 28, Milford, the proceeds of which go to support victims of the fire. On Saturday, August 16 at 8 p.m., the Stoddard Hollow String Band will perform at The Elm Inn, 104 East Main Street, Milford, as a benefit for fire victims. Continued on page 13
Watershed Supervisory Committee Moves Ahead with Plan To Combat Algal Blooms The summer of 2022 marked the first major harmful algal bloom—or HAB—in Otsego Lake, resulting in the closure of the public beach at Glimmerglass State Park as well as the Village of Cooperstown-owned Three Mile Point and Fairy Spring parks. Though not to the scale that some New York State counties have seen, the negative effects of HABs on public health have been raising concerns. Dr. Kiyoko Yokota, associate professor at SUNY Oneonta and scientific advisor to the WSC, shared information regarding the HABs found in Otsego Lake, and addressed public misconceptions regarding them: “‘Harmful algal bloom’ is a generic name for different kinds of blooms of microscopic photosynthetic organisms, and the one that we are dealing
By BILL BELLEN
F
COOPERSTOWN or more than 30 years, the regulatory body of the Watershed Supervisory Committee has overseen the protection of the Otsego Lake watershed—a region that covers parts of the towns of Otsego, Middlefield, and Springfield. In the 1990s, this took the form of the committee organizing and implementing the septic system inspection program for lakeside properties, some of which, until then, had still been discharging sewage directly into the water supply. Though the group’s efforts have long been a success with regard to mitigating this pollution, a new challenge has arisen in the last few years that presents a much more complex conundrum. INSIDE ► oneonta’s sixth ward in the spotlight, page 2
with at Otsego Lake is actually cyanobacterial bloom,” Yokota explained. “It’s caused by prokaryotic cyanobacteria, not eukaryotic algae. Cyanobacteria are a type of bacteria that photosynthesize, but they had been called, erroneously, blue-green algae, so that’s part of the reason that cyanobacterial blooms are still called algal blooms. “The kind we tend to find in Otsego Lake blooms belongs to the genus Microcystis, which can produce toxins called cyanotoxins, and the group of cyanotoxins often tested detected in lakes and ponds [are] called microcystins.” According to Yokota, yanotoxins are the primary cause of worry when these blooms begin to occur. Microcystins are hepatotoxins, meaning that in high Continued on page 11
Photo by Darla M. Youngs
Bob Would Be Proud MORRIS—Emersyn Rowe proudly displays her Best in Show-winning painting on Sunday, August 3 at the Otsego County Fair. Rowe’s “Sunset Aglow” landscape was entered in the Fine Arts (K-4) Division for works in oils, acrylic and casein. It was inspired by the late Bob Ross’ “The Joy of Painting,” Season 26, Episode 12.
Oneonta Native Returns To Share First Published Book By BILL BELLEN
► larry malone, the mythONEONTA busting economist, is he Huntington Memorial back, page 4
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Library had quite the treat in store for its youthful visitors on Monday, July 21. Their programming for the day centered on a special ► PRIDE BLOCK PARTY IS guest presentation at 1 p.m. by NEXT MONDAY, page 8 certified child life specialist► TOWN OF OTSEGO turned-author Raye Pietruszka PREPARES TO UPDATE regarding her newly published COMP PLAN, page 11 children’s book, “ONLY ILove-Yous!” Based on nightly ► RATHBONE, BISHOP PARTIAL OBSERVER conversations with her daughter COLUMNS, page 12 throughout her youth, this story was the culmination of nearly a year and a half of consistent and persistent work on Pietruszka’s 1 98715 21709 4 part to put together a piece she ► glimmer globe’s ‘hamlet’ on stage now, page 6
Photo by Maria Griswold
Raye Pietruszka reads her book, “ONLY I-Love-Yous!”, to a crowd of children at the Huntington Memporial Library on July 21 as Children’s Coordinator Donna Foote looks on.
had been dreaming of for years. When asked about her inspiration to pursue publication, Pietruszka said, “My children inspired me just because [“Ilove-yous”] became so much of a living mantra every night before going to bed. It was obviously something that my youngest was relying on as a coping [mechanism] to kind of get through sleep. I thought, well, this might be helpful for other families to use this kind of concept … A big part of my job is to help make the scary not so scary, and help them understand what is happening to reduce some of that fear, bring more of an awareness and a knowledge Continued on page 11
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S AWARD-WINNING WEEKLIES 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
TWO Amazing Events ONE Fun-filled Day FREE with Admission
STD PRESORT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ONEONTA PERMIT NO. 890
FIND OUT MORE FENIMOREART.ORG Saturday, August 9th 10:00am - 5:00pm
30+ Juried Artists from the Region. Enjoy tastings from Cooperstown Distillery and Austintacious Chocolates!