Since we dearly love opening the mailbox to discover the check really was in the mail, we applied online for our middle class STAR rebate practically the second we took the letter with the necessary instructions out of the mailbox. We dashed to the computer and followed the step-by-step instructions of how to file for the rebate online.

We then tucked the thought of the impending rebate into the back of our mind as we fully expected the check to take four to six weeks to wend its way through the system. Imagine our surprise when within the week, the check appeared as if by magic in our mailbox. We were thunderstruck. Naturally, just in case the state decided it had made some sort of grievous error, we dashed posthaste to the bank to deposit said check in our account. Of course, it was, in the long run, all rather bittersweet as we then had to pay our school taxes. You win some, you lose some.

We have received unexpected e-mail correspondence regarding our recent report on the annual Eagle Street Block Party. Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, who did the talk during the recent bicentennial week at the Fenimore Art Museum on the subject of movies that might have been shown in Cooperstown 100 years ago in 1907, wrote to ask about some Eagle Street history.

Asking if we would be able to put her in touch with someone on the street who might be able to shed light on the Eagle Street Cook family, she wrote: "... My question is does anyone remember the people who used to live at the yellow house at the end of the street, I think it’s number 23. Back in 1900 it was home to the Shaw family, and Fannie Shaw married Bert Cook. Bert Cook was the fellow who had the traveling movie show, performed at the Centennial, and eventually ran the first movie show up in the Bowne Opera House ..."

She continues: "... I think maybe Sam and Katie Shaw (Sam was Fannie’s younger brother) lived in that Eagle Street house for many years. Katie outlived them all and died in the early 1970s, I think. I have heard that maybe she was a housekeeper for the Busch family. Anyway, I am just trying to find out about who the Shaw family members who stayed in Cooperstown were, and what they were like. Fannie’s brother George Shaw also lived in Cooperstown. And Bert and Fannie Cook came back to visit often until they passed away in the 1950s."

We must admit that all of this is before our time in Cooperstown, but we do wonder if there might be someone who could shed some light on the Shaw family. If anyone does have any thoughts please let us know so that we might pass it on to Kathryn Fuller-Seeley. We understand she plans to use anything she might learn as background research for the book she has been writing on Bert and Fannie Cook as well as how the movies came to Cooperstown back in the early 1900s.

We have also received an e-mail response to our writing about the number of people who feel compelled to avoid the sidewalks, choosing instead to walk in the streets. Evidently, this behavior can also be found in Utica, N.Y. according to former Cooperstonian Doug Preston who wrote: "... While it would be nice to think that the American people still use sidewalks, you have only to come to Utica to see many who do not ... Perhaps it starts in the winter when the sidewalks are totally impassible.

But even after the city’s miles of pretty good sidewalks re-emerge from hibernation, far too many pedestrians persist in perambulating betwixt and between the curbs.áAnd not just individually! Oh no, large groups of youths walk in the streets, practically daring motorists to run them over ... But what is especially disturbingáare the numbers of innocent children being pushed in strollers in the streets, incapable of opting out of this lethal mode of transportation.

"Add in the fools who run red lights and stop signs, those driving while yakking on cell phones, etc. and it makes city driving _ even in a small city like Utica _ a most interesting experience."

We thank Doug for his thoughts and commend him for only thinking such driving hazards make for a most interesting experience. We tend to think our reaction would be rather more colorful and certainly not fit for publication in this particular paper or in any other paper, for that matter. We tend to find driving hazardous enough without the added challenge of the streets being taken over by pedestrians.

In closing, it has come to our attention that the 2008 Women’s Club calendars, featuring photographs of club members which have been taken over the years by Lady Ostapeck, are now available at Augur’s, Ellsworth and Sill and the Village Cobbler in Cooperstown as well as at the Fly Creek General Store in Fly Creek.

Additionally, should anyone wish to purchase a calendar but is unable to get to any of these locations, we would be happy to mail calendars to anyone who sends us a check, made out to the Women’s Club of Cooperstown, in the amount of $17, $15 for the calendar and $2 for shipping. Checks may be sent to our home address which is listed below.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer St., Cooperstown, N.Y. 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.

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