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VISIT www.AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Volume 212, No. 11
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, March 12, 2020
Travel Bans Multiply LeCates: 6 In Quarantine
SUNY, Hartwick, Bassett Act By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
W Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
Abbigail Ford, left, cheers for the CCS Lady Hawkeyes as they mowed down Weedsport 58-37 to take the Class III Section C Title. With her are Ashley Kiuber, right and Gabby Woeppel, kneeling/SEE TRIBUTE, A3
Newsstand Price $1
ith Coronavirus cases increasing daily, SUNY
Oneonta students who hoped to study abroad will have to wait until the fall semester. “We have cancelled all study abroad programs for the rest of the semester,” said Kim MacLeod, SUNY
Oneonta associate director of commuCoronavirus nications. “And we called back 33 students and faculty Please See TRAVEL, A9
By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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hough six local people have been voluntarily quaran-
tined as precautions against coronavirus (COVID-19) since the first case was reported in New York State, said Bassett Hospital President William LeCates Tuesday, March 10. Please See LeCATES, A9
Blackhawks Swoop Over County, Draw Crowd
Meccariello To Replace Butler At High School COOPERSTOWN
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AllOTSEGO.com
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►state republican chairman Nick Langworthy and former gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro were at the Hall of Fame Saturday, March 7, at the state Young Republicans’ awards banquet.
Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal From Oneonta to Roseboom, hundreds of people showed up at dusk Saturday, March 7, at the Bassett Hospital helipad, Cooperstown, to watch three UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters land during a U.S. Army Reserves, 353rd Civil Affairs Command training mission in conjunction with the Cooperstown Graduate Program. In the foreground, Ken Morrisey and Sally Harrington of Cooperstown head back to their car after examining the chopper at close hand.
Schenevus Site #1 For Jobs
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s soon as the jury foreman read the “Not guilty” verdict, Kimberly Steeley,
29, burst into tears. After six days of trial, including taking the stand in her own defense on Friday, March 6, the jury acquitted her of both manslaughter charges in the June 2018 deaths of Please See TWINS, A9
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Then A Newcomer, Waller Helped End Union-Ticket Idea COOPERSTOWN
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Kathy Peters/The Freeman’s Journal
Tearful Kimberly Steeley testifies for over an hour Friday, March 6. Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
By JIM KEVLIN
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Mom Found ‘Not Guilty’ In Twins’ Deaths By LIBBY CUDMORE
TRADITION RAISED AT DEBATE
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t’s not perfect. It needs natural gas. It needs a wastewater treatment solution. But what the 130-acre site at I-88’s Exit 18 – selected out of 86 sites within two miles of Otsego
Schenevus Central School
130 ACRES
he
SCHENEVUS
County’s nine interstate exit as the best for a 350-500 job distribution center – has that’s almost impossible to find is “99-percent community support,” said county Rep. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus. “When we had discussions with development firms,” said Oberacker, “they said that’s one of the biggest positives: The town is for Please See SCHENEVUS, A8
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By JIM KEVLIN
TOP PRIORITY
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Study: It’s Best Of 86 Parcels Near I-88
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he Cooperstown Central school board is prepared to appoint Elementary Principal Anne Meccariello high school principal when it meets March 18, Superintendent of Schools Bill Meccariello Crankshaw said. He spoke after announcing that Kristin Butler, in her first year as high school principal, resigned for “personal reasons.” Given the turnover in the job – Mike Kring to Donna Lucy to Jim Brophy to Butler in four years – he said Meccariello, who has been with the district for 23 years, will provide needed “consistency” to the job, he said. More details at
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►FOR REPORT on League of Women Voters’ Candidates’ Night on Cooperstown elections, type “bluntest” in search line at ALLOTSEGO.COM
t’s been 42 years, but the idea of the “Union Ticket,” and the community amity it suggests, lives on. It was the subject of a lively debate last Thursday, March 5, at the League of Women Voters’ Candidate Night – three candidates are running for two trustee seats. Early in the evening, Dr. Roger MacMillan, the retired Bassett physician, asked the panel’s opinion on the Union Ticket, adding, “It was wonderful.” Please See UNION, A8
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD