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As we continue traipsing through 1984, we realize that even though we were supposed to be covering the comings and goings of Cooperstown, we actually were able, even then, to touch on a number of pressing community, as well as personal, issues. Of course, much to the relief of the powers that were at CCS, the school was not among them. The he-we ran for the school board in 1984 and was elected. Thus the school was deemed off limits by the powers that were at the paper. But we discovered there was still a wide range of issues upon which we could write.
On January 11,1984 we noted: ``In closing we would like to leave you with the thought that there are, contrary to popular belief, some things you can take with you.
At a get-together recently we decided that Guy Lombardo took decent television programming on New Year’s Eve with him.’’ We believed it then and we tend to still believe it today. Of course, we fully realize there are those who would not agree with us.
And on April 18, 1984 we included in the column this disclaimer: ``In closing, we would like to dispel a rumor which seems to have reared its ugly head concerning our marriage. It is not true that one of us ever has, or ever will, take any responsibility for what the other one wears. Nor will we try to influence each other in mode of dress. We have checked the service, and no where in the wedding ceremony does it say for better, for worse, for what you wear ...’’
On June 20, 1984 we reported that ``We were not sorry to learn that the gum ball machines, which had been located outdoors on the sidewalk in front of a local business since the arrival of an ice machine, have moved indoors. We wish them well there, which we might note, is not what we wished them when they were on the sidewalk.’’
In 1984 we note that we spent the summer at Beaver Cross, the Episcopal Church camp that was then located at the northern end of Otsego Lake.
The he-we was the director there then and the she-we was greatly enjoying three meals a day for which she did nothing. And it was from that camp perspective that we made the following observation in the column of July 25, 1984: ``In closing, we must admit that one of the nice things about being at Beaver Cross is the opportunity it affords us to keep in touch with the current fads of the young generation into which category we, unfortunately, no longer fall.
This year the craze is break-dancing, so named we suspect because of the possibility of fracturing any and all parts of the anatomy. We must confess that we don’t think break dancing is for us. We have never even mastered the waltz. And contrary to what many of the participants think, we predict that break-dancing actually has a lot in common with swallowing goldfish, hula hoops, and cramming forty-nine people in a Volkswagen Beetle. It too shall pass.’’
Until we started this trip down memory lane we had quite forgotten that it was in 1984 that the sandwich board was approved for use in Cooperstown. And while we cannot remember all the gory details, we seem to remember it was controversial, a notion which seems to be supported by what we wrote in the column.
It started, we presume on August 15, 1984 with: ``In closing, when Thomas Paine wrote in 1775 ``... these are the times that try men’s souls ...’’ we’re not certain whether he was referring to ballgame day weekend or the village sign ordinance. In light of the events of the past week, perhaps both.
The current stir over the sign ordinance does lend itself to the presentation of the ``It’s too late to agree with us because we have already changed our mind’’ award to the village board for their recent, and numerous, decisions regarding the sign ordinance. And we suspect that there are some people in town who would like to further honor the board with the ``Timing is Everything’’ award.
Unfortunately, such awards do very little -- in truth, absolutely nothing--toward solving what we perceive as a potentially dangerous split in the community. At this point we do not have an obvious solution to the issue.
Nonetheless, we would urge that all lines of communication be kept open so that both sides may work for the continued betterment of Cooperstown. It is unfortunate, we feel, that the situation ballooned when it did. However, we would not like to see the rift of 1984 become the gulf of 1985.’’
This was followed on August 22, 1984 with: ``In closing, we have had many calls from both residents and nonresidents concerning enforcement of the village laws. And hard as this is to believe, everyone has a different priority. We have heard the sandwich boards are awful.
We have also heard the sandwich boards are not a problem, but bicycles are a real danger. There’s no place to park them, except, it seems, in the middle of the sidewalk on Main Street. Furthermore, most of the bicycles don’t have lights at night. Other people have problems with loud music at loud parties and we have even heard that either the town of Otsego landfill or the incinerator at the hospital spreads its distinctive aroma across the village on hot, humid nights. All in all, it makes us very glad that we spent the summer at camp and not on the village board.’’
And finally, thank goodness, we will end our trip down memory lane with the 1984 Cooperstown Carol, the first in what is almost an annual presentation in the column. And we hasten to note that in each and every Cooperstown Carol, we have mentioned parking, or the lack thereof. So it is true that some times never change.
On December 19, 1984 our first Cooperstown Carol appeared as follows:
``On the twelfth day of Christmas, we’d like to send you..
Twelve bus loads of tourists,
Eleven parking places,
Ten more opinions,
Nine dogs running loose,
Eight pigeons roosting,
Seven bed and breakfasts,
Six full-time policemen,
Five more potholes,
Four new fire-women,
Three school budgets,
Two gymnasium sites,
And a sandwich board for your sidewalk.’’
PLEASE NOTE: Comments regarding this column may be made by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by email at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com
Columns
In These Otsego Hills: 1984 comes to a close ... finally
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
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In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
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Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
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In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
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Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
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From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
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In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
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From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
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In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
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From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
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In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
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From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
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Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
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In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
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Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
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From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
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In These Otsego Hills: Waiting for spring to have sprung ...
Difficult as it to believe, both January and February seem to have flown by and we find ourselves turning the calendar over to the month of March, which we have long thought is one of the more dreary months of the year. Of course, as in the pastthere are signs of spring as reflected by the tapping of the maple trees. For many years, the trees sprouted buckets to capture their all important sap. However, we now know to look for the sap collection lines that are strung from tree to tree.
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Book Notes: Kennedy: a unique individual
It’s been almost 50 years since the Kennedy assassination shocked the nation. Since then much has been written about President John F. Kennedy and whether he would have achieved his destiny (whatever that may have been) if he had lived. It is said he inspired young people in a way that has never been equaled. And there is the notion of Camelot, espoused by his widow Jackie, that there will never be a time of hope and promise like that again.
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
