Last week, we did not receive our usual subscription copy of the paper, so we called the circulation department to see what happened. They did not seem to know, but assured us they would mail us a copy of the paper, which they did. It arrived, complete with $1.11 of postage, on Friday, more than 24 hours after someone left our new free copy on our porch.

Then, once we got our free copy, and read the little insert on the front page, we realized immediately our error in renewing our subscription earlier last week. Once again, we were on the telephone to the circulation department. Why, we wondered, if the paper knew it was going to become a freebie, did they continue to send out renewal notices?

There did not seem to be an answer for that although we were assured that our money would be refunded. We trust that is indeed the case not only for us, but for everyone else who is now receiving a free copy and has a current subscription as well.

When we first heard that the Crier might become a freebie, our initial response was that it would cheapen the paper. When we discovered the Crier had become a freebie, our initial response was that it had cheapened the paper. When we put forth this theory with the circulation manager, whom we found ourselves speaking with when we requested to move up the food chain in the circulation department, we were told that we should be happy as five times as many people would now be reading this very column.

We have to think that we are not so nanve as to think that just because a free paper crosses one's porch, that one is necessarily going to read it. Besides we willingly admit that we are egotistical enough to think that people should be more than willing to pay something to read our ramblings.

Once we got over our initial response to the freebie news, and stopped calling the circulation department, we sat down and proceeded to read the news of the week. We were fine until we hit the article "Al Getler is new Crier publisher" in which he is quoted as saying: "I want people to pick up the paper each week and see people they know'I want readers to be cutting out pictures of people and putting them on their refrigerators." It quite makes us think of refrigerator art.

We admit that in the past we have talked about food which is, we think, close to the refrigerator. Trifle, garnish, chipped beef and school lunches come instantly to mind. We have even been known to include recipes in the column which, no doubt, would work well on one's refrigerator. However, we do not think that is the purpose of this column and thus can, alas, not really be refrigerator art. At least we hope it isn't. We far prefer to envision our readers laughing, musing or throwing the paper down in disgust when they read this column.

But, in our mind, the most troubling part of this change is the proposed distribution of the paper. If we understand this correctly, the paper will be delivered free to every household in Cooperstown. We take this to mean the Village of Cooperstown, since our friends on Christian Hill, who have a Cooperstown address, did not receive a free copy of the paper last week. Perhaps they fall under the distribution of "'additional copies to rural areas and surrounding communities'"

But, as was pointed out quite clearly to us, if anyone has to travel to get a free copy of the paper, it is no longer, in view of the price of gas, free. We are also confused as to how some copies in the rural areas will be free, or at least we think they will be free, when we understand that "The Crier will still be available for sale at newsstand locations." We suspect there will prove to be more truth than fiction in the statement "We'll be adjusting our distribution patterns further during the coming months."

After all, the Cooperstown community does not stop at the village limits. It does not even stop with the territory of the Cooperstown post office. We think it would be far more accurate to think of the Cooperstown community in terms of the school district which is, after all, a uniting factor for this neck of the woods. Now if the Crier is going to be delivered free to all households in the school district then we might be tempted to think that a real effort was being made to reach what we consider to be the entire Cooperstown community. Having said that, we wish to say that we fully understand our concept of the Cooperstown community includes other communities that while part of the greater Cooperstown community also have individual community identities of their own. And we would think that there are those individuals who consider themselves part of the Cooperstown community but do not reside in the Cooperstown School District. We don't see how an uneven and inequitable free distribution of the Crier will be helpful in drawing the community together unless the free distribution of the Crier is much broader in scope.

In closing, we must admit that even though we find events with the Cooperstown Crier to be somewhat disturbing, we have discovered one good thing which came out of it. We have managed, with very little effort, to write an entire column about it. And for that, we thank them.

We remain,

Baffled,

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.