And while we certainly would not disagree with statements regarding the school lunch program meeting program requirements and nutrition standards of the National School Lunch Program, we were somewhat surprised to learn what is no longer sound nutrition and will, therefore, be eliminated from the school lunch program. We are referring to whole and 2 percent milk. We were stunned. Henceforth the school will only sell 1 percent and fat free milk. We have no idea when whole and 2 percent milk became unacceptable. We have to think that there are still people out there who routinely use both whole and 2 percent milk as we note that both are still quite evident on the shelves of local food stores. And while we imagine that there are children who would benefit from 1 percent and no fat milk, we also have to think that there are children who would do equally well drinking whole or 2 percent milk.

We also note that the school's only ala carte options "will be ... 'baked' snacks, fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat products, dried fruits, nuts, grains, etc." We must say that we remain curious as to just what "etc." might include, although we can say it will not include regular ice cream. According to the proposed policy, "Ice cream choices will be low fat" and only 100 percent fruit juice, with no added sweeteners, will be available. We find "low fat ice cream" to be an oxymoron at best and the only non-sweetened juices that we are familiar with are orange, which contains 25 grams of sugar per serving, and tomato, with a somewhat more modest sugar content of 7 grams per serving.

However, we must admit that we are in no way authorities on various juices and so have a somewhat limited familiarity with them.

Quite frankly, at first we were somewhat upset about this particular policy until we discovered, upon questioning, that it does not apply to lunches that arrive at school via the lunch box from home. We gather anything is still fair game for those lunches, which means that, if the wee-we were still in elementary school, we would still be able to pack a lunch of plain bread with mayonnaise, two slices of cheese, not to come in contact with the plain bread with mayonnaise, an apple, two double stuff Oreos and a thermos of Tang. He's not and we don't. In fact, we no longer worry about what he does or does not eat for lunch. And since the proposed wellness policy does not cover box lunches we certainly are not going to spend a great deal of time worrying about what the students at CCS are having for lunch either. If it is not to their liking, it seems that they can always bring something else from home although we must admit that ice cream might prove to be tricky.

We have received a report regarding the CCS Class of 1966 reunion from class member Mary Marlette Crouthamel. She wrote to us: "I am just giving you an update on our 40th class reunion. We held it last weekend (July 1-15) at the Hyde Park Fire Station which was perfect for our class. We had 36 people in all on Saturday for the barbecue, of which 24 were classmates. We had people from the State of Washington, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York. Friday night at Cooleys there were about 20 people that came in at different times. Three more classmates came that night that couldn't come on Saturday. We are hoping everyone stays in touch, since they are talking about a 45th or at least a 50th already. About 25 people responded to our questionnaire that was sent out and we had a nice booklet for everyone to take home. The people who couldn't come I think will really appreciate seeing the pictures of their classmates and reading what is going on in their lives. Thanks for your help in making our reunion a success."

In closing, we hasten to point out that we were delighted to be able to help find classmates for the Class of 1966 reunion. It is something which we have done regularly for other classes in the past and trust that we will be able to do in the future for any class in need of assistance. And, although we are not always successful, we believe we have located a number of missing classmates over the years. Therefore, if any class is having trouble locating missing classmates, please let us know so we can make an attempt to locate them with the assistance of readers of this column. We always enjoy the challenge.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

PLEASE NOTE: The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.