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Volume 216, No. 35
VISIT www.ALLOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, September 12, 2024
Newsstand Price $1
County Representatives Discuss Electrification and Sprinklers, COVID and Foreclosures By KRISTIAN CONNOLLY
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OTSEGO COUNTY t’s a curious feature of Otsego County government that the monitor which displays voting results on matters before the Board of Representatives is set up so that every member is already listed as a “Yay” before a vote is even called on any particular issue. In that sense, it came as no surprise that a raft of resolutions bundled into the consent agenda—as well as one resolution edited in order to fix a typo, and an added resolution following an executive session—were all unanimously approved by board members at their regular meeting on September 4 in the Otsego County Board Chambers. With all votes taking place without public discussion, most of the board’s conversation during the monthly meeting took place amid the reports given by the chairs of various board committees. The September meeting started with SUNY Oneonta President Alberto Cardelle and Otsego Now Chief Executive Officer Jody Zakresvky each making presentations to the board, with both leaders speaking about their entity’s relationship with Otsego County government; the role that their institution or organization fills in the county; projects that each has underway or on the horizon that will be to the benefit of the county; and the various challenges each entity faces—particularly in recruitment and retention of staff.
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S AWARD-WINNING WEEKLIES 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
remembering and honoring... we will never forget 08 - 2024
ONEONTA
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ONEONTA enjamin Casola, age 17, decided at age 12 that when he became an Eagle Scout, he wanted to educate others about the importance of retiring old American flags properly. “I got the inspiration because when I was 12 years old, I saw a temporary box on Main Street [in Oneonta] for flag collection,” he said. “It was only there a week, but it gave me the idea for my Eagle Scout project.” Casola joined the Cub Scouts in first grade when he attended Valleyview Elementary School. He became a Boy Scout in the fifth grade when he entered Oneonta Middle School. He graduated from Oneonta High School in May 2024 and is now a
freshman at SUNY Cobleskill majoring in wildlife management. Along the way, Casola earned 36 merit badges. “Eagle Scout is the highest rank you can achieve in the Boy Scouts,” he explained. He added, “The whole point of the Eagle Scout project is building leadership skills.” Casola spent hours planning the project, writing it up and applying for permission to build six indoor boxes distributed throughout Oneonta. He wanted to educate people, young and old, how to properly retire an American flag. Every spring since he was 12, Casola Photo by Ryan Pereira and his troop of Boy Scouts helped the Eagle Scout Benjamin Casola stands beside one of the American Legion and older veterans boxes he had built to encourage retirement of old AmeriContinued on page 6 can flags. This one is in the Town of Oneonta Town Hall.
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By MONICA CALZOLARI
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► 25 for 25: city of Oneonta’s goal, page 5
Eagle Scout Project Helps Retire Old American Flags
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COOPERSTOWN—Hundreds of people gathered in the Cooperstown Central School auditorium on Saturday, September 7 to pay their respects, share remembrances, have a laugh, and perhaps even shed a tear or two as longtime influential community figure and CCS educator, coach, and athletics Hall of Fame member Don Howard was celebrated posthumously. Howard passed away in early June at the age of 82. In a career at CCS that spanned more than three decades, Howard taught history and psychology and was a longtime coach of both boys JV basketball and boys varsity track and field. After 49 years living in Cooperstown, he and his wife of 44 years, Doris, shown above, split time between the Adirondacks and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina later in Howard’s life. The memorial service featured four speakers, each invited by Howard’s family as a representative of a group (or groups) of people who were integral in his life. The quartet featured Howard’s daughter, Kelly Howard Kerner, on behalf of the family; Frank Miosek, as a teaching and coaching colleague, fellow golfer, and neighbor; CCS alum Wayne Miller, as a student and athlete; and CCS alum Joe Kennedy, as an athlete and track and field coach. “I look around today, and I see in the audience the people he loved, and cared about,” said Kerner, who spoke first. “From family, to friends, to childhood friends, his golfing buddies, coworkers, and so many former students and athletes. I know he’s looking down today, and he is grinning from ear to ear. He is loving this.”
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A Celebration of Life and Fond Farewall
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Following the presentations and committee reports, the board’s consent agenda contained a host of resolutions asking to approve committee decisions on department requests concerning everything from the construction of tiny homes for the unhoused to creating or abolishing county staff positions, to software, technology, or equipment purchases. The lone resolution that substantially differed from the rest came out of the Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Daniel Wilber. Resolution 301, as proposed, said the county board was “opposing updates to the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code requiring automatic fire sprinkler systems in all new residential construction and to the state energy conservation construction code prohibiting fossil fuel equipment and building systems in all new construction.” A 2023 report from the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services noted that “sprinkler systems rapidly apply water to a fire during its initial phase, when it is smallest, far sooner than a responding fire department, reducing fire and smoke damage, providing residents extra time to escape, and reducing the risk to firefighters.” Meanwhile, according to the New York-based nonprofit organization Urban Green Council, the fossil fuel measures proposed by the state are to “require zero-emissions new construcContinued on page 8
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