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Volume 215, No. 26
VISIT www.
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, June 29, 2023
upcoming Independence day festivities
ONEONTA—Hill City Celebrations (formerly First Night Oneonta) announced that it will hold its annual Hometown Fourth of July Festival in Neahwa Park on Tuesday, July 4. The festivities will begin with a parade on Main Street at 1 p.m., followed by a full day of activities in the park and fireworks at dusk. Featured mainstage music acts include Dan Sales and Rich Mollin (1:30-2:30 p.m.), Randy Miritello and the Hop City Hellcats (3:30-4:30 p.m.), Hanzolo (5:30-6:30 p.m.) and headliner Alex and His Latin Orchestra (7:30-9 p.m.). Kosmic Karma Fire and Circus Arts will perform at 9 p.m., with fireworks beginning at 9:30. A second acoustic stage in the park will feature performances from Solid Ground, the Sweet Adelines and Heaven’s Back Door. Various local performers, including jugglers, bicyclists, dancers and martial artists, will offer entertainment on the large basketball court. A rain date is set for July 5.
Museum Hosts Traditional 4th COOPERSTOWN—The Farmers’ Museum will mark Independence Day with a traditional 1840s-style celebration from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4. The Declaration of Independence will be read on the Bump Tavern Green at noon. There will be 13 celebratory toasts with lemonade made from an 1840s recipe. All regular museum activities and demonstrations will run as usually scheduled. Tintype photography portraits will be available for $35, weather permitting.
Springfield Celebration Returns SPRINGFIELD—The second-oldest Independence Day celebration in the country will return in Springfield Center on Tuesday, July 4. The parade’s theme this year is “salute to Lady Liberty.” It begins at 11 a.m. Afterwards, a celebration will be held at the Springfield Community Center, featuring live music, food, historical exhibits, raffles and more. Free parking is also available at the Community Center. All are welcome to join the parade; registration information may be found at https:// forms.gle/LNJK7CMKudSEpz339. Continued on page 11
► TRUSTEES APPROVE CHANGE TO ZONING LAW, page 2 ► trans liberation history discussed, page 3 ► smart meter fears rebutted, page 4 ► OLA announces boat parade, page 4 ► Richfield youth sports facility a reality, page 6 ► events, elections and more, page 6 ► successful art trail recounted, page 7 ► ‘little murders,’ page 8 ► welco me, joel, page 11 Follow Breaking News On
AllOTSEGO.com
Photo provided
Heritage at The Plains resident Don Carter gets ready for his ride in a Porsche Boxster, kicking off the new “Tree of Dreams” program.
Don Is Living the Dream By DARLA M. YOUNGS ONEONTA hanks to a program introduced in April, Heritage at The Plains at Parish Homestead is making residents’ dreams come true. Heritage at The Plains, a senior living community located at 163 Heritage Circle in Oneonta, features independent living, assisted living, memory care and temporary stay options. The new program, “Tree of Dreams,” is designed to identify special experiences for which residents yearn or achievements to which they aspire. “The program is designed for a resident to get their lifelong dream fulfilled,” explained Kristen Jones, director of sales and marketing. “We hand out a questionnaire form to all the residents to fill out. They write down their accomplishments in life and also things they wish they had time to do. Continued on page 11
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Bassett, Hartwick Building Teamwork Physicians, Students Combine for First Joint Simulation Lab COOPERSTOWN assett Healthcare Network and Hartwick College are launching joint simulation labs for first-year Bassett residents and nursing students. This is the first time Bassett residents are partnering with Hartwick nursing students in simulation labs. Twenty-three first-year resident physicians from Bassett Medical Center Graduate Medical Education Programs (Internal Medicine, General Surgery, and Transitional Year) will work together with summer nursing students from Hartwick, St. Elizabeth’s College of Nursing, SUNY Morrisville, and SUNY Delhi. The group will participate in
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hands-on training, observation and debriefing as they rotate through three clinical simulations: Transitions of Care/Safe Effective Handoff, Emergent Situations, and Patient/Family Communication. The Clark Nursing Simulation Lab at Hartwick College will be the site of the exercise. “Teamwork is the essential foundation for the best patient care. These collaborative simulation labs for a new generation of doctors and nurses build team thinking and hone their practice,” said Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, president and chief executive officer of Bassett Healthcare Network. “We extend our thanks to the professionals who built this exceptional program and enthusiastically support the participa-
tion of the nursing students and our residents.” “We are very excited to be partnering with Bassett in this interdisciplinary simulation event,” said Patricia Grust, PhD, RN, CLNC, chair and clinical associate professor, Nursing Department, Hartwick College. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to integrate the perspectives of medicine and nursing in a variety of realistic and challenging scenarios that support an optimal healthcare experience and outcomes for the individual, family, and members of the healthcare team.” “We embarked on this alliance with Hartwick College because simulation is a valuable tool for training nurses and physicians Continued on page 11
COOPERSTOWN This week, AllOtsego.com’s much-needed facelift goes live. The online home of “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta” since 2009, AllOtsego.com also provides breaking news coverage and exclusive web content to subscribers. Slow response time due to ever-increasing archival materials and an outdated layout have prompted parent company Iron String Press to revamp the site, resulting in a much more responsive and graphically pleasing online platform. “Since I came on board at the end of last September, we have been working on a number of changes and improvements here at Iron String Press, and people are beginning to take notice,” said General Manager/Senior Editor Darla M. Youngs. “Chief among our goals was a new, more user-friendly website. Months of weekly meetings have resulted in a site that will be easy to access on any device, is pleasing to the eye and offers a multitude of new advertising opportunities.” AllOtsego.com is a subscription-based news site, currently averaging 35,000 unique visitors and 80,000 page views each month. Subscribers to “The Freeman’s Journal” receive complimentary access to AllOtsego.com in addition to their hard-copy newspaper. “Even during this restructuring period, we continue to attract new subscribers to both TFJ and AllOtsego. In celebration of our fantastic new site, we’re dropping the paywall for two weeks so folks can navigate the redesigned website for free at their leisure,” Youngs said. When the paywall is reactivated, new readers can subscribe to AllOtsego.com at special introductory rates: $3.99 for one month, $3.39 per month for six months and $2.99 per month for an annual subscription. “The annual subscription is by far the most economical choice, at 25 percent off the open rate,” Youngs added. “Subscribers will have access to all the weekly content of ‘The Freeman’s Journal’ and ‘Hometown Oneonta,’ as well as to breaking news and exclusive web content.” According to Xander Moffat, who was tasked with the redesign, “The new and improved site includes many upgrades to both the underlying technology and the overall design, structure, and layout. It’s built on a new server designed to offer major improvements to the site’s performance, especially page loading times,” Moffat explained. “We’ve updated the homepage layout to make the site easier and more enjoyable to navigate,” added Iron String Press Publisher/Advertising Director Tara Barnwell. The new homepage includes sections for each of the main content categories (news, opinion, Continued on page 11
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD