We must admit that we are still reeling from the tax debacle at the county. We cannot understand how such a potentially debilitating tax package could be approved with seemingly not one person questioning it. At the very least it does not engender great confidence. At the worst it would seem to have a horrific impact on the economy of the county. Logic tells us that if residents are scrambling to pay huge tax increases at the county level, there will be less discretionary money to be spent in the county at local businesses. We suspect that the fall out from this unintended, and seemingly unmonitored, taxation will have a great impact on the economy of the county. And that is indeed most unfortunate.

And we have been surprised by the outrage being expressed about the Cooperstown school by people whom we assume are parents. We would tend to agree with the mother who spoke rather forcefully against the recently adopted school policy of selective classification.

For those who are unfamiliar with the policy, it basically allows younger students who pass rigorous standards to be bumped up the athletic scale to play on a team for which they would not qualify based on age and grade level. It was pointed out quite clearly that one of the down sides of such a policy is the potential that older students will be bumped from athletic teams by younger students. It also means that younger students will be playing on teams which have been denuded of the better players, leaving the younger teams to struggle on the playing field.

And while the current policy is relatively recent, it is a policy which has been in effect before and was dropped only to be reinstated in the past year. We must admit that we are not quite certain as to why the policy comes and goes although a truly cynical person would be tempted to say it is related to important people wanting it. Whether that is true or not is, of course, open to debate. However, it is hard to watch the heartache of the students who lose out on athletic opportunities as a result of the policy.

We must also admit that we were disturbed by a recent letter to the editor which seemed to question the literacy of at least one faculty member and one administrator. We have no idea as to the validity of the claim, but we certainly hope that the school board and administration are looking seriously at the accusation. It is one thing to think the bricks and mortar need attention. It is quite another to think that the staff is in need of improvement.

And finally, we have heard, via the grapevine, that the Village Library Building contains a urinal which may not be removed because of its historic significance. When this came to our attention, we must admit that we laughed right out loud as we thought we had now hit the height or depth of something. We cannot imagine what would possibly make a urinal historic. Someone suggested to us that perhaps James Fenimore Cooper had used it.

However, we think not, as the building in question was not in existence during his lifetime. We can but hope that this historic designation, if it indeed was made, was made in jest and that we won’t be seeing this particular urinal on upcoming tours of points of interest within the village. We certainly hope that this particular item can be filed under "one-can-hear-almost-anything-from-almost-anyone."

Last week we received an e-mail from one Roderick Bradford which read: "Hello, I thought you might be interested in my new biography of one of Cooperstown’s more colorful, controversial, and historically significant former residents."

We gather that Mr. Bradford has written a biography of DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett entitled D.M. Bennett, The Truth Seeker. We must admit that we had never before heard of D.M. Bennett, which no doubt speaks to a lack in our education, let alone a Cooperstown connection for him. Fortunately, Mr. Bradford was kind enough to include a number of websites where we could broaden our horizon by learning more about Mr. Bennett. [an error occurred while processing this directive]