Published: March 20, 2008 10:50 am         

Letters for March 20, 2008

Let’s move forward together

Well the election is over, the signs are coming down, the campaign rhetoric is past. As we look to our future let’s take a moment to pause and reflect.

Let’s reflect upon the many years of service that Paul Kuhn has given to this community as he retires from public office. Thank you, Paul.

Let’s pause to thank all the candidates for their commitment to our community.

Thank you Carol, Jeff, Doug, and Jim.

Most of all, congratulations to those who made their voices heard by voting. Thank you all.

As we go forward, it is my sincerest hope that we now embrace our future with a renewed spirit of communication, cooperation and consensus.

Thank you,
Neil Weiller
Cooperstown

Team provided memories

We’d like to thank the Cooperstown Girls Basketball team and coaching staff for a fantastic season! You have been role models on court to our area youth with your hard work, determination, teamwork, excellence and sportsmanship.

You have so much to be proud of this season and you’ve given your fans (especially our family of girls) many wonderful memories this season. Thanks for taking all of us on a fantastic ride to the final four.

Our daughters will never forget your spirit at the buzzer of each game or your winning smiles atop the fire trucks on your victory lap down Main Street! Congratulations!

The Schuermann Family Mo, Matt, Margaret, Meg & Melissa
Cooperstown

Rebates available to farmers

The New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) is tackling the number one threat to New York farmers — tractor rollovers. In 2007, the first year of NYCAMH’s rollover protection rebate program, 350 farmers received assistance in retrofitting their tractors. To assist even more farmers, NYCAMH has increased the amount of the rebate in 2008.

A farmer’s risk of dying on the job is 800 percent higher than that of the average American worker. The largest cause of these fatal and permanently crippling injuries is tractor overturns. In the event of a tractor overturn, injuries can be prevented by installation of a rollbar or rollover protective structure (ROPS). The presence of the rollbar alone reduces risk by 70 percent. Additional use of a seatbelt with the rollbar reduces risk by more than 95 percent. This is why all new tractors have rollbars and seatbelts.

Unfortunately, about half of the tractors on New York farms are older, unprotected ones. Farmers find the cost ($700 to $1,200) of ROPS and the effort required to purchase and install the rollbar to be major barriers to making tractors safer. To provide additional help, NYCAMH has increased the amount of the rebate available to New York farmers who retrofit their tractors with a ROPS kit as much as 70 percent of the cost of retrofitting the tractor, from the maximum of $600 last year to $703 for 2008. This amount matches the average increase in cost of ROPS kits from manufacturers in the past year.

The rebate is available to farmers who call toll free 877-ROPS-R4U. The program is facilitated by NYCAMH and supported by Farm Family Insurance, the New York Farm Bureau and the Northeast Equipment Dealers Association. Farmers contacting the program’s hotline are given assistance in identifying, locating and pricing the equipment they need.

In 2007, the ROPS Rebate Program resulted in a 10-fold increase in the installation of rollbars on farm tractors. Well over 90 percent of the farmers who participated in the program were “pleased” or “very pleased” with the way it went. New York is now recognized nationally as a leader in the effort to reduce farming fatalities.

Farmers without a protected tractor are encouraged to take advantage of this unique opportunity to prevent disabling rollover injuries, and to protect family members and workers using the farm’s tractors. Call 877- ROPS-R4U today.

Dr. John May
Director
NYCAMH Cooperstown

Respect the earth

To the children of the Earth, young and old, The roadsides are not recycling centers.

The earth is not your garbage can.

Nor is it your ashtray. Respect the earth. My sister and I couldn’t ignore the roadside garbage any longer. This past weekend, we set out with a garbage bag and filled it quicker than we could’ve anticipated. Cigarette butts, soda cans, beer cans, candy wrappers, plastic forks, a paint brush, a CD, a bottle of Grey Goose vodka ... the list goes on. It was sad and frustrating that we didn’t have enough room in our bags to collect it all. We had to leave some behind, but we promised the earth that we’d return to finish the job.

This spring, take a walk, take a garbage bag, and fill it with roadside litter. This is the time of year to do it — the snow is melting and the spring growth has not yet sprung.

In closing, respect the earth and make sure that your garbage bag makes it to the proper disposal sites. This Easter Sunday, go for a garbage hunt instead of an Easter egg hunt — you’ll fill your basket quicker. Thank you.

Mallory Garretson
Bethany Garretson
Cherry Valley
Let’s try to save game

I attended the Cooperstown Village “Meet the Candidates Night” and asked the four trustee candidates and the mayoral candidate what each was going to do to save the Hall of Fame Game. I was disappointed to hear the negative answers and the overall defeatist attitude.

Mayor Waller said that Sen. Seward had formed a committee to discuss the options, but Sen. Seward in an article the very next day said that MLB called him and said absolutely no game. Isn’t there such a thing as a gentleman’s agreement or an unwritten commitment or understanding that the MLB could be held to?

So many fans are so unhappy about this, isn’t there something that this village can do to change their minds? How can we break a 68-year tradition?

Linda Smirk
Cooperstown

Go away NYRI

Angry? You’re darned tootin’ I’m angry. New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) claims that property values will not change if they get permission to ram their high voltage power line on a 200-mile journey through New York’s heartland.

That lie was in large headlines. Property values, however, can never equate to the damage that would be done to central New York. There’s a skewed sense of values at work here.

And all made possible under the co-sponsorship of corporate energy interests and the Cheney-Bush administration, back when the 2005 Energy Act was written.

Remember those secret Cheney meetings with industry while an energy policy was developed?

My advice: Go away NYRI and your cancer-causing power line. Go away National Interest Energy Transmission Corridors (NEITC)— your ``national interest’’ is phony. Go away 2005 Energy Act.

Make my anger go away. The public sees through this corporate-generated scheme to promote greater dependence on outside sources of energy.

Earl Callahan
New Berlin

Exercise class a success

Congratulations to the Senior Exercise Class and all of its members. They are now starting their fifth year, and have shown remarkable success by the regular attendance which averages about 20 people.

However, there is room for more, and everyone is invited to attend for an hour of exercise and fun.

The class is sponsored by the Otsego Office for the Aging and is free of charge. The exercises are designed for seniors by The Tuffs Institute, with a qualified trainer in charge, and all equipment is supplied.

Exercise is beneficial to everyone regardless of age, so come on over and join us at the Springfield Community Center on Monday and Thursday at 9 a.m. You may call George Rutler at 1-315- 858-2151 if you wish.

George. E. Rutler
Springfield Center