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Our remembering Jerry in last week’s column has now lead us to muse about our early days of writing a weekly newspaper column.
Of course, when we started out writing back in 1984 the column was a team effort of the he-we, Jerry, and the she-we, Cathe. Bob and Dale Dupont, then owners of the Freeman’s Journal, asked us to undertake writing a weekly column about Cooperstown.
We remember we gave the idea a definite thumbs down. But the he-we had other ideas.
It all began on January 4, 1984 with ``We thought this was an excellent time of year to take a stab at continuing a column which appeared in `The Journal’ for more years than we can remember. In the first place, all those many organizations, that you may from time to time connect us with, tend to take a break for the holidays leaving us with something we are not accustomed to, namely free time.
We had to find something to do. Secondly, the holidays are a good time for finding all sorts of people going allsorts of places to do all sorts of things. We managed to take note of at least a few of them.
And thirdly, arm twisting, all four of them, on the part of the editor and publisher, works every time. So here we go, where nature smiles.’’
We were off and running, noting the following week on January 11, 1984 that ``We survived the first week! There were no irate calls concerning glaring errors, no nasty words from former English teachers and no announcement of a forthcoming divorce _ yet. And the response of readers with news items overwhelmed us. It seems that there was more coming and going in Cooperstown over Christmas than we thought.’’
We quickly managed to get into a weekly routine for writing the column. As suggestions or thoughts would pop up, the he-we made a list on his WNS legal pad. Then, towards the end of the week, we would decide who would write what. And we discovered early on that there was a great deal of interest on the part of our readers as to exactly who wrote what. And it was not an easy question to answer.
The he-we tried valiantly to deflect the question by announcing it was very personal one, not unlike asking about the most personal matters of someone’s life. Therefore, we were not at all inclined to answer the question. But the question persisted.
Finally on February 8, 1984 we wrote: ``In closing, we feel that we must take time to clear up some basic misconceptions about how we write this column.
It is not true, as David Pratt has suggested, that we sit across the table with pencils drawn. Nor is it true, as Carrie Southworth has suggested, that Cathe really writes the entire column and is generous enough to give credit to Jerry.
Nor, as John Mitchell has suggested, is it true that Jerry is generous enough to let Cathe write the column. Believe it not, we each write every other word.’’
And while we were busily writing every other word to report the comings and goings of Cooperstown, we quickly discovered that we could on occasion slip other items which we found of interest into the column. For example we tackled the issue of doggie deposits on February 22, 1984 when we wrote:
``However, we were dismayed, as usual, to discover that deposits other than snow were not disappearing quite so quickly from our yard. In fact, those large brown piles, which we know for a fact are not anthills, seem to be going nowhere fast.
Therefore, we would like to suggest that now is perhaps the time for all owners of depositors, large and small, to take shovel in hand and do some old fashioned street, sidewalk and lawn cleaning before the #&*&@)&(!! is on the other foot.’’
On March 28, 1984 we continued with the poop issue, along with the issues of pigeons and potholes, when we wrote:
``In closing, we realize that there are many people who only complain about a situation and who never suggest a solution. We do not wish to fall into that category so we offer the following to the village board to use when considering pooches, pigeons and potholes.
As all of us who are required to shovel our lawns periodically can attest, old dog deposits are extremely hard; so hard in fact that one can hardly blast them off the lawn. Therefore, the village should collect such deposits while fresh and fill the potholes with them. This method would allow the village to repair potholes with a long lasting patch material at minimal cost since the material is available all over the village.
Of course, the village streets would then have unsightly brown blotches on them. Horrors! However, if the whitish grey deposits on the pigeon’s favorite Main Street awning are any indication, these deposits could be used over the pothole patches thereby turning the unsightly brown color to concrete grey.
We feel this solution would benefit all concerned and certainly would not be as expensive as other alternatives. We offer this to the board for what it’s worth. We will, of course, continue to entertain any and all thoughts on this and any other related subject.’’
And while the village has to a large degree solved the poop problem by enacting a pooper scooper law and the pigeon dropping were dramatically reduce when pigeons stopped being feed by certain village residents, the potholes, unfortunately some 26 years later, continue to be problematic.
We, of course, have suggested a solution any number of times, but it has never been received with great enthusiasm. If it were up to us, we would simply let the potholes grow until such time as all the asphalt disappears and the streets return to dirt. Nothing, we think, could be more historic.
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 e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com.
In These Otsego Hills
In These Otsego Hills: In the beginning
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In These Otsego Hills: The losses are adding up ...
It is with sadness that we note the passing of long time friend, and distantrelative, Jane Patrick. Over the years we have worked with Jane in a number of organizations including Women’s Club and the Community Advisory Committee at Bassett. And, of course, in later years we joined her, along with the other Dinner Belles, for any number of delicious meals. But we do think that our favorite memory that we shared with Jane was when we discovered, having both married Cooperstown natives, that we shared Cooperstown Christmas plans.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that ...
We have found the weather so far this year to be on the unusual side. And while we have no problem with the fact that we have received very little snow, we are of the opinion that what we have had instead is not particularly to our liking either. In fact, we are very hesitant to venture out much as we live in fear that the rain will turn to mixed precipitation which will freeze into a sheet of ice. And we are definitely opposed to encountering a sheet of ice underfoot. In fact, we are so hesitant that we now have taken to canceling our participation in events based on what just might be a dubious forecast.
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In These Otsego Hills: ‘Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.’ − John Adams
Last week we were asked if we would be interested in previewing a documentary, “The Empire State Divide,”produced by the Foundation for Land & Liberty. And we were more than happy to do so as we understood the documentary dealt with the problems that continue to face family farms.
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In These Otsego Hills: Goals of the past and goals of the future
We have long subscribed to the concept that we are always more successful if we, number one, set a goal and then, number two, meet it. And this was our thinking when we decided before Christmas to watch at least part of every college football bowl game. It was perhaps an odd, if not completely nonsensical, goal.
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In These Otsego Hills: Not to our liking ...
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.
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In These Otsego Hills: Always a learning experience ...
We must admit that we thoroughly enjoyed our 2011 Christmas celebration. We partook of Christmas Eve dinner at the home of Alice and Harvey Eckler of Fly Creek and Christmas Day dinner at the home of Sandy and Al Bullard of Milford. We had our usual Christmas Day brunch at home on Pioneer Street, although we must admit it was a tad bit later than usual as, what we enjoyed most about Christmas, namely our granddaughter Abby, took a great deal of time opening her Christmas presents.
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In These Otsego Hills: Coming up ... 2012
Difficult as it seems, 2011 is fast coming to an end. And it is always our hope that as a year draws to a close, the issues which have been in the forefront during the year will be resolved. Unfortunately, we suspect that will not be the case this year. Instead, we are fairly certain that many of the issues that plagued this year, will continue to plague next year. Thus we will find ourselves still musing about the same issues we have spent time with already. And while we have not come toany conclusions about many of the issues, we do think they would all likely benefit from both sides thinking critically about perspective, risk assessment and possible solutions.
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In These Otsego Hills: The 2011 Cooperstown Carol
Since 1984, with the exception of one year, 1999, we have looked forward at the end of the year to going through all the issues of the paper in order to glean those news items which have been worthy of note throughout the year and which should make their way into our annual Cooperstown Carol.
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In These Otsego Hills: Dear Santa ...
Although we tend to think Christmas is for children and thus rarely think about what we might like to have, this year we have decided to let Santa know what might be left under the tree with our name on it. Of course, we fully understand if our list is a bit long, a bit expensive and a bitlate. However, we have just finished reading our November issue of Health and so have just realized what we need that we do not currently have.
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In These Otsego Hills: Another year under our belt …
Belated birthday greetings go out this week to Aline Heller, who last week celebrated one of those notable birthdays that end with a zero. In fact, if our math is correct, this is the ninth such zero ending birthday that Aline has celebrated. Thus we trust that she was properly feted by family and friends and enjoys many happy returns.
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In These Otsego Hills: The losses are adding up ...
