It is with sadness that we note the recent death of Steve Nagel. The son-inlaw of our late husband’s cousins, Alice and Harvey Eckler of Fly Creek, Steve was married to the Ecklers’ oldest daughter, Gail. We had the pleasure of spending Christmas Eve with the Nagels and the Ecklers in Fly Creek, greatly enjoying the delicious food and delightful conversation.
Thus it was very hard for us to believe that but a week later, Steve would be gone. We will greatly miss him at future family gatherings. We always enjoyed his perspective on the issues of the day. To his family and friends, we extend our heartfelt sympathy. We were also sorry to learn of the death of our down the street neighbor, Bonnie Kaido. Although we did not know Bonnie well, we always enjoyed chatting with her. And we are forever grateful that she loaned us a book on her hometown, Sharon Springs.
We found it to be a wonderful book that gave us a true appreciation of the history of that village. We too shall miss Bonnie. We also extend sympathy to her family andfriends.
We must admit that with all the comings and goings of the holiday season, as well as the need to deal with another death in the family, we feel we have gotten somewhat slow start to the new year.
And, as we have attempted to catch up, we realize various well-known issues continue to dominate the scene. However, we also think there is a new issue that appears to be moving to the forefront.
There is little doubt that there has been a fair amount of concern over the economy on both a national and statelevel for some time. But now we realize that concerns about the economy locally are also being voiced. In fact, it is our understanding that there is a new group, Citizens Voices, that has been formed to address, among other things, concerns about the effects in Otsego County of the proposed Home Rule legislation in New York state. To date, this group has meet twice with elected officials, the first time with Senator Seward and the second time with the senator as well as Assemblymen Bill McGee, Pete Lopez and Marc Butler.
And while it might appear to some that the Home Rule legislation is devised to stop natural gas development, there is also concern on the part of others that such legislation might well have unintended consequences to local and completely unrelatedbusinesses, not to mention overall economic development in the area. Thus, as we understand it, “Citizen Voices” is a grass-roots movement started by business ownersin Otsego County to address the impact of such consequences.
At the same time we learned about “Citizen Voices,” we also read an article in the Jan. 3 edition of The Daily Star, entitled “Area lawmakers: State of state improving,” written by Jake Palmateer about the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce State of the State Luncheon. The article said that “One of four state legislators at the event, Seward said the county needs to ‘beef up’ its economic development pursuits.
‘We need to get together and see what’s holding us back in Otsego County,’ Seward said...” To that end, Seward evidently announced he would organize an economic summit to look at ways to improve Otsego County’s economic outlook. He added, “There’s more we need to do in Otsego County...” noting that “Identifying initiatives, as well as barriers to economic development, would be a goal of the summit ...”
We are confused, to say the least. It seems to us that on one hand we have a group willing to point out potential drawbacks to the economy of the county at the same time someone else is trying to figure out what some of the barriers to economic development might be.
And it seems that the same elected officials have evidently attended events where both points of view were articulated. We just don’t get it. In fact, we are tempted to ask if the right hand knows what the left is doing. And if not, why not?
Of course, since we are not directly involved in any of this, and only know what we read in the paper and learn from people who have attended the meetings, there may be more to this than we realize.
We certainly hope that is the case. And we also hope, for all the residents of the county, that progress is made to ensure a healthy economy for this area as the state of the economy would seem tohave a great deal to do with the overall stability of the population.
We have long thought that living here has always been greatly enhanced by the diversity of individuals who call this neck of the woods home. But, if the economy of the area is such that some people, many of them long time residents of the area, find themselves no longer able to live here we will all be the poorer for it.
We shudder when we hear of locally produced eggs at $5 a dozen as well as local Thanksgiving turkeys costing $5 a pound. We tend to think such prices are well above what many in the area can afford. So we hope that not only can a path to a healthy economy be found, but that it be an economy which will serve the diversity of the area. And maintaining our diversity will help to keep thoseindividuals who proudly call Otsego County home doing so.
PLEASE NOTE: Comments regarding this column may be made by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com.
Columns
In These Otsego Hills: Not to our liking ...
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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
