Your Opinion: June 16, 2011

Opinion

Discussion

COMMENTING ON STORIES:

Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.

Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.

Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:

1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.

WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:

1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:

1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.

WE WELCOME:

1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.

MONITORING:

We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time will be sporadic.

comments powered by Disqus

June 17, 2011

Your Opinion: June 16, 2011

The Cooperstown Crier Fri Jun 17, 2011, 03:43 PM EDT

Wishes of merchants ruled the day

What a lucky chain of events. A few weeks ago, the village board and mayor announced that there would be no paid parking on Main Street this summer. While it would be collected at the Doubleday parking lot, it would not be collected on Main Street. Subsequently, it was announced last week by the mayor’s office that there would not be enough money to repair the deteriorating street surfaces in the village.

Instead, the streets will have to be repaired in a cheaper, substandard way. This was done a few years ago with less than satisfactory results. The surface of the macadam was removed, ground up, heated and put back down again. The thin resurfacing did little to repair our streets; it made the street look better for a short while.

Several years ago, Susquehanna Avenue, between Elm and Beaver, was resurfaced in this manner and it lasted only a short time. The DailyStar, conducting a survey, asked the question, “what is the worst road or street in the area?” One respondent cited Susquehanna Avenue between Beaver and Elm in Cooperstown as the worst.

The timing couldn’t have been better orchestrated to show our priorities. Once again, the wishes of our merchants ruled the day. Parking on Main Street was the important issue, not financing for our street repair and our infrastructure. It was as if our governing body did not want our streets repaired if it would inconvenience our visitors (tourists) with paid parking. Free money must be rejected (from paid parking), our priorities have been set.

Bob Lettis

Cooperstown

School says thanks

Thanks to the generosity of individuals, businesses, and organizations who donated four-wheelers, trucks, and equipment plus the hard work of friends, parents, and staff, The Brookwood School’s annual “Big Rigs” Festival held June 12 at the Fly Creek Cider Mill was a great success!

Children and their parents spent the afternoon admiring and exploring a wide array of trucks and equipment donated by the following generous businesses and organizations: Russ Smith, Hartwick Highway Department, The Clark Foundation, Otsego County Sheriff, Cooperstown Medical Transport, Delta Construction Specialists, Corp., Seward Sand And Gravel, Smith Ford, Inc., Tallman Enterprises Tree Services, Taylor & Sons, Inc., Jerry Goodspeed, H. J. Berry & Daughters, Town Of Otsego, Otsego Ready Mix, Royal Chrysler Dodge Jeep & Hyundai, Cooperstown Fire Dept., E. L. Kukenberger Sand & Gravel, Fly Creek Fire Company, Jason King, and Scott Ubner. Special thanks to Bill and Brenda Michaels of the Fly Creek Cider Mill for hosting the event and the friends and neighbors of the mill for allowing us to infiltrate their neighborhood for this annual community event.

The Brookwood School sincerely appreciates the support of everyone who contributed their efforts and expertise to make our annual “Big Rigs” such fun for all who attended — thanks!

Gina Reeves

Head of Brookwood School