Thank you, Guiness is home safe and sound.

Thank you to all our great friends who dropped their Sunday plans to pass out flyers and to help us look for him. Thank you to the businesses who posted flyers in their windows, and thank you to all the individuals who spread the word to "keep an eye out" for our lost dog. And, a big thank you goes to the wonderful family that found him in the road late Saturday night, took him home to keep him safe, and called us when they saw the flyers. We are grateful for your kindness.

Deanna, Doug

and Ireland Gable

Cooperstown

What parking problem?

The Ellsworths’ column is always absorbing and instructive, and the columns of June 14 and 28, which dealt with tourism and parking in Cooperstown, were especially insightful. I was particularly interested in the allusion to our late mayor Harold Hollis and to his statement that Cooperstown did not have a parking problem, that parking was simply an annoyance.

Harold was completely correct. However, he did not take that position because he feared that if he recognized a problem he would have to deal with it.

He simply recognized that parking is primarily a seasonal problem on Main Street and its immediate vicinity and that the average resident avoids Main Street during much of the day from mid-June to mid-September. Residents may drive there before, say, 9:30 in the morning but not much after that until evening.

The June 14 column, no doubt written by the she-we, who lives on Pioneer Street, supports this observation when it stated, "Fortunately, we are able to limit our Main Street forays to a once a week trip to the post office and the bank, both of which can be made early on in the day, thus missing most of the Main Street traffic as well as its perpetual lack of parking."

The more pressing necessities, food and gasoline, are available at the Great American and at Taylor’s, neither of which has a parking problem and rarely a parking annoyance. And if the urge to visit Main Street is overwhelming at mid-day, most residents can walk there. As a supporter of Main Street businesses, I often do walk "downtown" at high noon or thereabouts as do my grandchildren and many of my neighbors.

On the other hand, it is difficult to criticize Board of Trustee concerns about parking and traffic flow on Main Street and its immediate vicinity. It was the summer parking problem that drove many, though obviously not all, of the traditional businesses away from the village center and stimulated the emphasis of business activity on Railroad Avenue.

The new loading zones may alleviate the sporadic traffic congestion caused by the unloading of trucks. They do not address the matter of parking, but if "standing" is permitted by those who want to pick up a pre-ordered pizza at Sal’s, no great harm is done.

But, to return to Harold’s position, trustee concern about parking can have a very negative impact on the residents of the village if they go too far, as they once did when the village seriously (seriously enough to spend $30,000 on consultants) considered constructing a parking garage.

The consultants, after eliminating a number of sites, including the post office lawn, suggested that the structure could occupy part of the Doubleday parking lot and part of an adjoining plot, to be acquired. Village residents, usually placid about specters, were aghast. The cost of acquiring land, and of building and maintaining a parking structure, alarmed and outraged so many residents that the project was dropped.

The trolley system was inaugurated soon after that. The purchase price of the first trolleys was provided as a gift and the trolleys thereafter have been self-supporting. However, I have been told by an authoritative source that trolley income is now declining.

This raises another specter: that those obsessed with the "parking problem" (Harold’s quote marks) will pressure the village of Cooperstown to provide financial support for the system.

This would be unfortunate, for the trolleys are very rarely used by residents. And, since Fenimore House and the Farmers’ Museum have their own parking lots, the trolley system seems to have the primary purpose of transporting visitors from outlying parking areas to the Baseball Hall of Fame. As anyone visiting Main Street and vicinity on a summer day can attest, the trolleys have had no effect on the "parking problem."

Harold Hollis was indeed correct. When he said that the village did not have a parking problem he was completely aware of the timing and methods that residents employ in their visits to Main Street and vicinity. He knew, though he didn’t use these particular words, that the only thing the village of Cooperstown need fear is fear itself_an irrational concern that the "parking problem" is so severe that the village must take giant steps to solve it. Giant steps are very expensive.

Wendell Tripp Cooperstown

Shop will

be missed

On a recent visit to Cooperstown, I was saddened to note the closing of Ron Mitchell’s antique shop.

A visit to his shop, for me, equaled a visit to any of the town’s museums. Unlike many cluttered antique shops, Ron’s merchandise was neatly individualized in its setting, and for its quality, never wildly overpriced.

And the ambience was pure nostalgia; one felt like entering Cooperstown of 50 years ago when entering his shop. Whatever his reason for leaving, his shop will sorely missed by this Cooperstown visitor.

Alan Litwin

Kenmore, N.Y.

Arcuri cares about workers

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Congressman Michael Arcuri for standing up for the working men and women dedicated to keeping the skies of the U.S. safe.

In July of 2005, the Federal Aviation Administration walked away from the bargaining table and imposed an unjust set of work rules on the Nation’s Aerospace Certification Engineers, as well as many other FAA safety personnel.

Then, in the fall of 2006, the FAA again walked away from the bargaining table and imposed an unjust set of work rules on the Nation’s Air Traffic Controllers. We have both been working without a contract ever since.

Thursday, Congressman Arcuri demonstrated his concern for the American worker by passing an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would force the agency back to the bargaining table and provide for binding arbitration in the event of an impasse. His willingness to resist political pressure and restore a fair collective bargaining process should be commended.

Congressman Arcuri, on behalf of NATCA’s Aviation Safety Workforce and the flying public, I thank you.

Anthony Yushinsky

President

NATCA Local Albany

Give politicians some training

Teachers are required, generally, to study for years before they are certified to teach. They must continue to study to keep their teaching certificates.

Law enforcement officers go through rigorous physical and mental training before they can "serve and protect" citizens. They are also retested.

What training do politicians have to qualify them to represent the rest of the U.S. public, to perform the duties of government?

I believe there should be some system devised to train future government personnel. There should be an impartial board (is there such possible?) to pass on their qualifications for obtaining office, at least on the state and federal levels. I believe a rigorous psychological test should be part of such system. And all politicians’ performance should be subject to review, periodically.

William F. Roberts

Otego