{ title: 'The freeman's journal. (Cooperstown, N.Y.) 1924-1996, January 21, 1996, Page 3, Image 3', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031249/1996-01-21/ed-1/seq-3/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031249/1996-01-21/ed-1/seq-3.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031249/1996-01-21/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031249/1996-01-21/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Fenimore Art Museum
ISO f nted INCS - After regarding the the three asses- Town Boairl of decided to go )i& year, lionai meeting 11, the town >te in favor o f Wowirow as the signing of three assessors I Garbera 111, i/oodfow prof- as. citing oppo- iviiich the town een practicing ly reported that 1 . resigned, that here was never e state would ist the town for ; warrants, smbers of the nt. two would nes Kurkowski. > well foroiltar She has been the Board of Jt this year we >ole assessor, as acre was a little the board, but ■r actually any led in respon*^ in an area pub- he resignations but they were that all three I telephone call Id come in and le also sard that danger of not nt signed, they weren’t get vued by the mg,' he said, nally did resign I Herkimer was ap(K3tntal to r e p l ^ the ow a judge es as dog con ic enfoTcemcfit ge of Richfield appointed the rcement officer was appointed of vital statis- Shirley Franchi y supervisor. kA’s enk @ni Regional News History lives Living alone In a veiy old house. I pay a lot of attention to its creaks and groans and think a lot gbout past inhabitants. My small clap board has just turned 200. Last night, with centra! New York at ^most 30 below, it complained steadily as frozen ground tightened around the stone foundation. Base sills moaned, as did oak posts and beams throi^hout die walls. Complaints multiplied every rimg the heat came on - rumbles from the furnace in the low cellm and From Fly Creek Backcotmtay skate Photo t? Glenn Volunteers recognized Bob Cemey of Bainbridge, a volunteer blacksmith at The Fanners' Museum in Cooperstown, talks with I>. Gilbert Vincent, director of museums, during a recent volunteer recognition luncheon held at the 1819 House in Hartwick. Cemey has logged more than 700 hours presenting his craft in the museum's blacksmitfi shop to visitors and school children. Hie luncheon honored more than 20 volunteers. To vduntee^ call Pat Millen, niuseum teacher supervisor, at 547-1431. jim/awei Trustees reject salary increases After the receding ice pack crushed out our river-troughed val leys, the proud Iroquois displayed a survival forbearance based on a spiritual desire to contend with and be a part o f this beautiful land. We should follow their lead. We should go outside for sport and spirit and be among their ghosts. First oft. 1 want to say “thaOk you” to those of you who asked if I was ever going to resume writing this column. Well, I am; and dus humble ofteiing arose, in part, from the encouragement that was implic it in your questions. 'Pte odier pan of the encourage ment came a lucky happen stance o f conditions, lying Acre, right outside my door. The temper- anne and dm condftion of the snow two Saturday nights ago, combined with the existence of snowmo* bilers* h i^way between my place and die town of Cherry Valley, pte- sented themselves like gifts from some snowy, Norse Valhalla. About 4:30 in the evening, 1 cray oned a litde bit of blue kick wax into my most ordinary pair of cross Among the Iroquois Ghosts rotests, metallic and wmxfen, as heating pi{»s flexed and the wide wall plonks strained, trying to strike compromises between dry heat on one side and lunar cold on the other. The whole house sounded pained; somedmes I t^ud a sound lite biKtth drawn in sharply between clencho! teeth as, afto' snow shoveling. 1 sometimes do, rising fiom a chair. I lay awake, eyes cirsed, for a Itmg time undm- die wool blankets, listening to the hou» and thinking of those who shelter^ in it before me • eight human generadons. at least How many, 1 wondered, hrul Iain where I now did, listening to wind blown snow stinging tiie window pan^ like sand? How many births in that room? How mamy (tetthbeds, ^eved families gather^ around the very s|»t where 1 now lay? (I ofKoed my eyes warily in the dark: no ctfcie of sad faces, storing down 01 me. 1 c to s ^ timm again.) More diverting, how many wed ding n i^m were spent in that room? And, in 20 humbed years, how many couples, young and old, drew ramfort from one another’s warmth as the wiiui blew and the house creaked? I often wonder about the men and wooKn who walked down my s t ^ Sw ATWELL on 6 Giles Russell gives reasons vs, raise By DAN SHERIDAN Editor COOPERSTOWN - FoUowing an impassioned speech by Trustee Giles Ru^ell, the Cooperstovifn Village Board rejected, by a S-2 margin, a local law that would have raised the salaries of the mayor and trustees. The mayor’s office carries widi it mi annual stipend of $1,600, with each of the six trustees receiving S6(M). The motion would have raised the r o t o r 's scdaiy to $3,000 and the ttustees* to $1.200 each. Russell said that there were very go<^ r ^ o n s for die increases, and that the people in diose positions de^rve them, but said tiiai he could not in good con^ence vote for the inrraase whmi there are so many people struggling to hang on in today’s economic climate. R u s ^ ^id that he was misrpto^ in an article following last memth’s luxting. He was in an area n e w ^ ) ^ as saying that Cot^erstown is tie <miy v 3 1 ^ (ft ite size t l ^ wnptnys a vilk^C wrimmistBattg. ‘T made no such remark,” be com mented at Moaday’s n o ting. “I m;eived comments firom two lesi^nts,” he added, ’’that said va shoidd be given” the raise. “The amount of time we devote (to die Eat up all tbe Free Air Tinii you want every fiighl and dtroughout every w^kend between now and April 1st when you sign up before 1/31 Fiitoh^e options iiudude FlliPHiniP! CaU today. Don't weight! 1 - 8 0 0 - 4 4 - C E L L 1 positions) and the aggravation, stress and pain.” he added, are a rea son for the increase. “If I were asked what I would take if this were not my hometown. 1 would say a whole lot more. Ten times more, if not 20.” He sard that trustees normally s{«nd at least 10 hours per week doing village business, and the salaries they command translates into about $5 per hour. The money that would be paid to the trustees and mayor. Rus^ll remarked, would not be a signifiomt part of the village budget - about 0.2 percent “Having said all that.” he contin ued, “apparently in support, why am 1 against it?” He gave th r ^ considerations for the board members to mull. It has been stated, he said, that the increase would attract others to run foroftice, but this “token” increase, he sirid, would not be sufficient There are people in the village working for nothing, such as the volunteers in the Are department and coimtiy, touring skis. From my place, I walked to the edge of the McCarthy cornfield, on tiie east side of Route 166, where I stepped into nergency medical personnel. Finally, he said, are the “cutl and sacrifices” that people are mak ing nationwide, throughout the state and in the cotiununity. “Any increase would send the wrong message to residents trying to keep afloau” he argued. Trustee Wendell Tripp agreed with Russell, although noting that the village Iroard members are ranked among the lowest in the slate, although administrative costs are highest ranked in the state for a village Ccxiperstown’s si%. *1 don't want to say anytlung so lofty as that I'm violating a primn- pai.” Tripp said, “but something like that a little more folksy.” When it was over, only Triist» Gary Kucb and Mayor James Woolsmi voted in tevor m ti» iIKaraa^ my ski bindings and head«l north. And ya Imow what? The conditions were perfect for something that can make even a geriatric Joe tike nm feel like Ludvig Lillebammer. The packed, smoothly textured surfm», left there by tiie many snowmobilers who had traveled over this stretch, cried out for the technique known as ski skating. Brace Ufflliams Hawk Mountain Sports * When the trail is wide enough ano packed down and smootii enough, and the surface has only a minimum of ruts to disturb the gliding ski. you have a set of ideal conditions for teaching yourself sometiiing crucial ^o u t cross country skiing, hi order to be able to do this technique - this zipping along in a skating mode - you must be able to commit and bal ance all of your weight on one ski while it is moving. It used to be called the “back- country skate.\ Typically in the spring, when the surface of the snow cover has gone through at least one melt and freeze cycle, you can sometimes skate right across the top Ski skating on a snowmobilers’ course is a little different if the snow has never melted and refroze The snow is packed to just the ngh degree, enabling you to edge your See IROQUOIS on Page 6 i^ o 0 t incIlldeloBgdi«lBce.»eai^*o^pii^feitascIl*^.8s8!»^«ltti^^ W h e n the weather outside is frightful... A helping hand can ease the problems of scheduling oago- ifig cancer treacment for padenls and their families. Oneonta Regional Cancer Cenier provides parents door-to-door tmnspoitation, along with a friendly smile and a piomise that your travel will bd cQinfoHable, safe and pompt, 1 ^ ^ asi^s to centml- ^ loeatsd, leading-edge cant^ . eeateeni is Jaat patt of ms ^lesiai d eSv^ of eaaeer cane. 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