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Volume 210, No. 29
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VISIT THE NEW
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tate regulators twice cited Xpress Natural Gas, which has been trucking the fuel across Otsego County for the past few months, with violations of pollution control laws, according to a copy of the notice sent to the company and obtained Tuesday, July 18. However, Matt Smith, co-founder & executive vice
The Freeman’s Journal
Motorbikers Die In Crash On Route 20
Smith
Dillingham
president of Boston-based XNG, reached that evening, immediately said his lawyers have advised him the company has addressed the Please See XNG, A3
NORTHERN EAGLE INNOVATES
WARREN
Sleeving Machine Enables 1,000 Souvenir Beer Cans
B
rookfield motorcyclists Douglas and Theresa Woolsey, 50 and 46 respectively, were killed Sunday, July 16, when the bike they were riding ran into the back of a van that had stopped on Route 20 while trying to turn into a driveway. The van was pushed into a van driven by Bruce VanBrink, Cooperstown, who was taken to Bassett Hospital with injuries
By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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/PHOTO, DETAILS, ON B7
SEE PAGES A5, B2 and B3
State Issues 2 Violations; Executive Says Regulator Concerns Assuaged By JIM KEVLIN
Brent Murdock, foreground, Boone Rose and Luke Ough have been painting the historic Higgins Cottage, part of “extensive renovations” to the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Matt Hazzard reports.
WEEKEND PLANS: For Dining & Entertainment ads,
Newsstand Price $1
XNG, DEC Spar Over Natural-Gas Trucking A
WORST PLACE? According to The Financial World website, New York State is the worst place to retire, noting “state and local income taxes in New York are the highest in the U.S. while property taxes rank fourth highest in all 50 states.”
For 209 Years
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, July 20, 2017
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
HELP FOR VETS: Otsego Rural Housing has obtained a $100,000 grant to help veterans make their homes more accessible. To find out if you qualify, call ORHA at 286-7244.
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
O M C O PE
MORTON FAMILY DROPS PEBBLES OF INSPIRATION/B1
rs0t! i f s u l l a C 315-736-666 ORKVILLE NY OMME 5056 C
ROCKS!
Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
“Fenimore on Ice” brought Olympic Gold Medalists – and folks from across Otsego County – to Otsego Lake’s shores last weekend to meet Dorothy Hamill and watch performances on artificial Glice by Erika Choi Smith and A.J. Reiss, above, and other headliners from Ice Dance International/MORE PHOTOS, DETAILS ON B1
She Found Home Here, And, Now, Citizenship By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
I
n 2007, Veronica Pokorny arrived in Cooperstown to nanny for a local family. “I fell in love with the area,” she
said. “This countryside was so beautiful,” said the native of Lima, Peru. And on Friday, July 14, Pokorny, Cooperstown Country Club manager, received her American citizenship at a ceremony in Binghamton. “I felt so Please See POKORNY, A7
he bottle-focused craft beer industry is starting to show some respect for cans, and Northern Eagle Beverage is ready: a can-sleeving machine is up and running at the company’s Railroad Avenue plant. “Last year, we put our Cooperstown Nine Man Ale in cans, but we had to bring in a mobile canning unit with a shrink sleeve machine,” said Northern Eagle President George Allen. “The cans cost more than Please See SLEEVES, A3
Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
Northern Eagle President George Allen shows off a newly sleeved can of “Northway Nectar.”
Phones Out Over July 4 Weekend After Years Of Outages, Fly Creek Valley Neighbors Are Fed Up, Will Pepper PSC By JIM KEVLIN FLY CREEK
O
nce, it was a nest of mice in the Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal junction box, RaJoe Udovich and wife mona Udovich of Panther Ramona test their phone. Mountain Road reports.
Another time, “a snake was fried in a box on the corner,” said a neighbor. “We have to go forward. We have to let the Public Service Commission know we’re not happy,” said Please See PSC, A7
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD