Volume 204, No. 21 Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, May 24, 2012

RICHFIELD SPRINGS • CHERRY VALLEY • HARTWICK • FLY CREEK • MILFORD • SPRINGFIELD • MIDDLEFIELD

Cooperstown’s Newspaper • F

OUNDED

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For 204 Years

Newsstand Price $1

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD

COOPERSTOWNAND AROUND

Iroquois IndianMuseum

Saturday and SundayMay 26 & 27 10am-5pmThe festival, on the shore of Otsego Lake, highlights select Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) artisans, storytellers, dancers, and more.Entry to the festival is included with paid museum admission.

Concert with Grammy-Winner

Joanne Shenandoah May 26 at 7pm

Tickets: $20

The festival is made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and a contribution from Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation.

To learn more, visit FenimoreArtMuseum.org MUSEUM�ADMISSION��

Adults and Juniors (13-64): $12.00; Seniors (65+): $10.50; Children (12 and under):Free; NYSHA members, active

military, and retired career military personnel: Free.

FENIMORE�ART�MUSEUM5798 State Route 80 Cooperstown, NY 607-547-1400

Winningest Paddler BackFor 50th Clinton Regatta

COOPERSTOWN

Newcomer Marcy Birch, top vote-get-ter in the May 15

CCS board elections, tallied 26 percent more support than the incumbent board presi-dent, Tony Scalici.

Birch received 471 votes to Scalici’s 346. The other incumbent, David Borg-strom, received 305 votes and newcomer Andrew Marietta, 296. Jonathan Greenberg and Holly Hren also ran for the four open seats.

Voters cast 548 ballots this year, compared to 407 in the 2011 school vote.

CHAMBER EXEC: Barbara Ann Heegan, Bas-sett Healthcare’s former director of volunteers, has been named Otsego County Chamber executive director, succeeding Rob Robinson.

WINDOW ON NEWS: “The Impact of The Image,” Frank Rollins’ photos from a career in the newspaper busi-ness, will open at 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 25, at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home. Public welcome.

Birch WinsA LandslideIn CCS Vote

The Freeman’s JournalDeputy Mayor Walter Franck examines new computers donated by the Friends of the Vil-lage Library during the Village Board’s annual inspection day Tuesday, May 22, a lapsed prac-tice revived by the new mayor, Jeff Katz.

SewardPrimary Possible

Democrat Joel TynerOpens HQ In County2 Democrats Vie To Challenge GOP’s Gibson

By JIM KEVLIN

For the first time since his first state Senate race in 1986, Milford

Republican Jim Seward may be facing a GOP primary due to a disagree-ment over the Home Rule doctrine.

“We’re just very frustrat-ed with Home Rule,” said James Blake, a business-man living in the Town of Maryland since 2004. “It’s not really Home Rule; it’s a preemption bill he (Seward) put in allowing people to ban natural gas.”

Blake and a neighbor, Jeannie Bridger, asked for the county Republican

Please See GOP, A8

HOMETOWN ONEONTAJames Blake, right, at-tended state Sen. Jim Seward’s Economic Development Summit March 9 at The Ote-saga.

TEA PARTY CHALLENGE

By LIBBY CUDMORE

ONEONTA

‘I’ve been the under-dog five times,” said Joel Tyner, a five-

time Dutchess County legis-lator, who is running against Julian Schriberman in the June 26 Democratic primary for the 19th Congressional

District. “And I’ve come out on top all five of them.”

In November, the winner of that will face off against U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, a Republican who spent May 10-11 in the Cooperstown area.

“We need a firecracker in every town,” Tyner said. “It’s all about the buzz.”

In Worcester, his cam-Please See TYNER, A11

Canoeing champ Serge Corbin is due back in the county.

MEMORABLE TIMEHAVE A...

ALL YOU NEED TO PLAN HOLIDAY WEEKEND, B3

By LIBBY CUDMORE

COOPERSTOWN

After a seven-year hiatus, Serge Corbin, the

unchallenged king of the General Clinton Regatta returns to Otsego County on Memorial Day, Mon-

day, May 28, to again claim his title.

“I can’t just do it for fun,” said the 28-time winner and native of St. Boniface, Que., who will race down the Susque-hanna from Cooperstown,

Please See RACE, A10

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s JournalA grandson-grandfather cancer-fighting team led off the 2012 Cooper-stown-Northern Otsego Relay for Life Friday, May 18, at Cooperstown Dreams Park. Organizer Carla Eckler said the event raised a record $102,000, and money is still coming in.

Two former Rotary Club presi-dents and Paul Harris Fellows meet and greet on the Relay sidelines: George Erhman, left, of Richfield Springs – who on trum-pet, with partner Ed Badgely on clarinet, entertained the gather-ing – and Bill Glockler of Cooper-stown.

Young Celtic dancers went through the paces.

IF YOU GO: The 50th Clinton Regatta departs at 6 a.m. Monday, May 28, from Lakefront Park.

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GOP/From A1Committee’s endorsement when it met Thursday, May 17, at the county courthouse in Cooperstown.

The committee rebuffed the request, however, voting 68-2 to endorse Seward for a 13th term. County Clerk Kathy Sinnot Gardner made the nomination, which was seconded by county Rep. Jim Power, R-Butternuts, and others.

In an interview Tuesday, May 22, however, Blake said he will circulate peti-tions to get his name on the

ballot for the 51st Senate District nomination in the Sept. 13 Republican pri-mary.

He announced his candi-dacy Saturday, May 16, at the annual gathering of local Tea Party activists at Chuck Pinkey’s River Valley New Holland dealership in Otego, and said he received general support. He also attended the meeting of Citi-zens Voices, the pro-busi-ness group, the subsequent Tuesday.

Blake is also associ-ated with Marie Lusins, the

Town of Oneonta Republi-can, who is a partner with his wife, Uni, in Hometown Energy Group, which has been holding seminars lo-cally advising people on alternate energies.

“People will say, you’re the fracking guy,” said the candidate. “No, I’m for any safe energy that will get us off OPEC. Wind isn’t ready. Solar isn’t ready. Natural gas is.”

Reached at the state Capitol after the interview with Blake, Seward spokes-man Jeff Bishop said of his

boss, “Right now, he’s more focused on what’s going on in Albany.”

Regardless of whether the challenger gets on the primary ballot, Seward’s “always out on the cam-paign trail, whether he has a challenger or he doesn’t have a challenger. He’s always had strong support, and I think he will again this time,” said Bishop.

County GOP chair Sheila Ross, Fly Creek, who presided at the committee meeting, said, “I don’t know Mr. Blake. That was the first time I had any contact with him. He was not prepared. He wasn’t aware of what was involved. I was not impressed with Mr. Blake.”

Ross was skeptical about where the challenge might go. “If he sticks with it, if he passes the petitions and if the petitions are OK, it would force a primary,” she said.

For his part, Blake said he served on the GOP rules committee in Newt Gingrich’s former Georgia Congressional District, and was surprised when he ques-tioned the local county com-mittee that it was unclear on the regulations it was supposed to adhere to.

“I wasn’t allowed to speak,” he added.

Tony Casale of Cooper-stown, the retired assembly-

man from Herkimer who is currently executive direc-tor of the state Republican Committee, said, “I don’t know who this challenger is. I’ve never heard of the person. But I don’t dispar-age anyone’s right to run for office.”

But, he said, “In this particular instance, I’m go-ing to support Jim Seward. He’s been my friend and colleague for many years. He represents the area very well.”

The news of Blake’s candidacy was likewise a surprise to Democrats.

The Cooperstown Demo-cratic chair, Richie Abbate, who is also on the county Democratic Party’s ex-ecutive committee, said the county committee will prob-ably try to field a candidate against Seward this year, “but he’s a tough opponent. He’s very popular. I’m sur-prised he has a Republican challenger.”

Home Rule is an is-sue where the senator has found himself caught in the middle. Traditionally a con-servative doctrine to keep as much power at the local level as possible, Seward championed the idea that Otsego County towns, if they chose, could use the concept to ban hydrofrack-ing within their borders.

When the Town of

Middlefield, which adopted an anti-fracking moratori-um, was sued by natural-gas interests and faced signifi-cant legal defense bills, the senator introduced a bill in Albany that would affirm Home Rule, strengthening the towns’ cases.

However, that bill has languished. At its most recent meeting, Citizens Voices claimed credit for getting the bill bottled up in committee in Albany. Since the Middlefield ban and a similar one in the Town of Dryden have been affirmed in state Supreme Court, Bishop said Home Rule is “the law of the land” and, thus, the bill has less urgency.

Blake, however, called the Seward bill “the most horrible proposed legislation I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

In the interview, Blake said he was raised in north-ern Florida, attended college in Rome, Ga., and went into the insurance business, where he achieved some success. He later partnered with a brother-in-law in ex-porting Manila-stock paper to markets worldwide.

He moved to Rochester in 2001, where he participated in an Internet venture, and discovered Otsego County while driving through the area. He, his wife and five children moved in 2004.

Over Home Rule, Seward Faces First Primary In 26 Years