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ola RECOMMENDS MITIGATION OF POLYSTYRENE PRODUCTS, page 7 VISIT www.ALLOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Volume 217, No. 25
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, June 19, 2025
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Local Groups Sponsor ‘No Kings Day’ Rally
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ONEONTA ast Saturday, June 14, Cooperstown/Oneonta Indivisible, Butternut Valley Indivisible, Cherry Valley Indivisible, Indivisible for Schoharie County, Otsego Residents for Democracy and the Otsego County Democratic Committee sponsored a No Kings Day Rally in Oneonta in the field adjacent to Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center. According to a press release, the Oneonta rally joined more than
2,000 No Kings Day events held across the country in opposition to what protestors believe are the authoritarian policies of the Trump administration, including the $45 million taxpayer-funded military parade held in Washington, D.C. the same day. Organizers for the peaceful Oneonta rally put the attendance count at more than 1,200 people. Rally speakers spoke on issues including how they believe Trump administration policies are harming
vets, threatening programs for the aging including Medicaid, and illegally harassing immigrants. Speakers drew a contrast between organizations like unions representing and protecting workers and policies that support working families and the Trump administration’s policies they contend would cut essential services to America’s communities while providing tax breaks to the wealthy, organizers said. RaIly organizer and leader of Continued on page 10
Arc Otsego Receives Matching Grant for Training Program By CASSANDRA MILLER
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ONEONTA n Monday morning, June 9, Heather Worden deftly prepares and fills bag after bag with hygiene products on a three-person assembly line at Creekside Industries, a packing and shipping work center operated by The Arc Otsego. Worden was working on a new machine, a Unibagger II, which includes a bagging apparatus and a conveyor belt. The equipment was funded by a $25,000.00 matching grant from New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc., combined with a $25,000.00 investment from The Arc Otsego. With the funding, The Arc has also purchased a new van, which provides transportation for individuals working on the NYSID line who would otherwise struggle to reach their work location each day, according to Faith
Tiemann, Arc Otsego spokesperson. The Arc Otsego is one of NYSID’s 140 member agencies that the Albanybased nonprofit works with to secure business contracts for workplaces where at least 50 percent of employees are individuals with developmental disabilities. “We are deeply grateful to NYSID, not just for this grant and their ongoing funding opportunities, but for their commitment to inclusive workplaces like Creekside Industries,” said Erin Seeley, chief operating officer of The Arc Otsego, during Monday’s $25,000.00 check presentation at the work center. The $25,000.00 grant is the largest NYSID gives each year and the highest amount The Arc Otsego has ever received from NYSID, its partner of more than 30 years. State and local government agencies Continued on page 9
Photo provided
CCS in the News COOPERSTOWN—Cooperstown Junior High School student Kallen Hotaling, pictured above, portrays baseball great Babe Ruth at the annual “Night of the Notables” event held on June 9. Turn to page 6 for more information from Cooperstown Central School.
Local Titanic Memorial Now Restored
INSIDE ► bass fishing tourney COMING UP, page 2
By KERRY LYNCH
► ANTIQUES APPRAISAL IS SUNDAY, page 3
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► LET’S RETHINK USE OF PESTICIDES, page 4 ► tell congressman riley you support snap, page 4 ► COOP CONCERTS: YEAR IN REVIEW, page 5 ► MCS SUPERINTENDENT HEADED OVERSEAS, page 7 ► ‘nO DEFENSE’ REBUTTAL, page 11 Follow Breaking News On Photo by Kerry Lynch
The Ryerson memorial in Lakewood Cemetery has been cleaned and repaired.
COOPERSTOWN he sinking of the Titanic is perhaps the most famous shipwreck in history, and the tragedy has a Cooperstown connection. When the ship sailed on its maiden voyage, the passengers included Arthur Ryerson and his family, who spent their summers at an elegant home on the north end of Otsego Lake. And when the “unsinkable” Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, Arthur Ryerson refused a seat on a lifeboat so that women and children could be rescued. He
went down with the ship. His wife and children survived. Soon after, the family built a memorial to Arthur Ryerson in Lakewood Cemetery, just outside the village limits. The four survivors are also buried there. It is Lakewood’s most frequently visited lot. Two years ago, a visitor attempted to wipe lichen off several gravestones to read the inscriptions but created a smeared mess. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Otsego County and its Cemetery Restoration Fund, plus other donations, the memorial has been
cleaned and stonework has been repaired. The Ryersons’ Titanic story began a week before the ship hit the iceberg. Arthur Ryerson and his wife, Emily, were traveling in Europe with three of their children when they were dealt the hardest blow a parent can face—their son, Arthur Jr., had been killed in a car accident near Philadelphia. They rushed home for his funeral, booking passage on the first steamship available, the RMS Titanic. After the ship hit the iceberg, Arthur stayed aboard while his family and their governess, Grace Bowen, Continued on page 10
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S AWARD-WINNING WEEKLIES 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD