Then, as the date approached for the pick up of yard waste in July, we realized it was scheduled for the Thursday and Friday before Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. We thought the timing could not have been worse for the street crew. And yet, within 24 hours of our depositing it at our curb, it was gone.

And, if these two experiences were not enough to convince us of the street crew's attention to its job, we further note that on the Saturday evening before the Sunday Induction, a rather large limb fell out of a tree on upper Pioneer Street. We assumed, incorrectly, that it might be lying on the ground until sometime the following week. However, we discovered that not long after 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, the street crew was hard at work and the limb in question was gone before 6 a.m. We remain truly impressed with the job they do for the village and trust they receive the recognition they so seem to deserve.

Two weeks ago we made note of the mention of the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival in the July 9-15 edition of "American Profile."

We were duly impressed that a Cooperstown event was the one event highlighted for the entire state of New York. So we were somewhat surprised when in the July 23-29 edition of "American Profile," Cooperstown was once again in the spot light with the following event: "Leatherstocking Sheep Dog Trials - Cooperstown. Aug. 18-20. Watch as border collies and their handlers guide sheep through a course during a competition that attracts contestants from the United States and Canada." It quite makes us think that there is more to do here than most of us tend to think. We are indeed fortunate to live in an area which has such a variety of events throughout the year.

Two people e-mailed us regarding "Cooperstonian" versus "Cooperstownian" and number of people weighed in on the issue in person. From our somewhat limited response, we have to say that most people preferred "Cooperstonian." Peter Deysenroth wrote: " ... in regards to your column in The Crier on July 20th, my vote would be for "Cooperstonian," although far be it from me, as a relative newcomer to Cooperstown to render an opinion. I'll be 80 (if I live that long) and still be referred to as "the new guy." Just as a point of reference, when Jerry (a.k.a. the he-we) died - 7 years ago today, in fact - we wrote in his obituary that he was, "A well-known, active and devoted Cooperstonian ... "

Our second e-mailer, Larry A. Perkins of Syracuse, N.Y., who was perhaps a bit more scientific, wrote: "While the computer spell check may not recognize either term, I used a search engine to determine which term is more popular. Googling the two terms, the results are: Cooperstonian - 95; Cooperstownian - 82. Those are just raw numbers. You may want to rank the sources, but the Daily Star has used both terms." We, of course, rose to the challenge and did some googling of our own.

We came up with 107 references to "Cooperstonian," most of which, we must admit, came from this very column. But "Cooperstonian" was also used in one of Jim Atwell's columns; a blog featuring local author Marly Youmans; a reference to "Cooperstown, A Novel"; a website from a high school in Maryland which had information about Bea Bielaski's mother, Amelia Benson Bielaski, as well as a number of baseball oriented sites.

We found 84 references to "Cooperstownian," many of which were baseball sites. One of them, however, was an obituary which read "A devoted Cooperstownian, Bob was a member ... " At that point we gave up our research.

In closing, we note that we can add Cooperstonian Bob Lettis to our list of descendants of participants of the 1907 Cooperstown Centennial Celebration. Bob wrote us: "The Lettis who was on the Centennial Celebration Committee of 1907 was my grandfather, Fred Lettis, who was running a livery stable on Main Street

at the time and who eventually had the Ford Garage on Railroad Avenue." We thank Bob for contacting us and trust that others will do the same.

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 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.