Opinion: One Thousand Articles

As the Schoharie News was in the process of editing our article covering Oorah's legal victory over the Town of Jefferson Monday evening, we suddenly realized a major milestone would be achieved upon its completion and publication: our one thousandth published article. 

Sure, not every article was a masterpiece and several focused on nothing more than cold weather (granted, it was frigid outside and a slow news season to boot a significant portion of the past winter), but that is beyond the point.

The point is: we have been able to achieve something never before seen in Schoharie County, outside of the occasional television news coverage, in that information has been unleashed from a once every seven days experience to one that constantly changes and evolves before our readers eyes. 

Additionally, and this would not have been possible without our unbelievably incredible readership, but we have been able to expend our resources into the type of investigative journalism and healthy criticism of local government that has slowly dissipated from news bureaus nationwide.

Of course, such editorial decisions have resulted in allegations of yellow journalism or petty politics from our detractors, but we honestly believe the truth of the matter will always have the final say in how our stories are written and the facts contained within; agree or disagree with them, we digress. 

Although we do not know what the future holds for the Schoharie News, and we are expecting to make several important announcements in the coming weeks, we do know that without the support of our friends, neighbors, and strangers who have made this project the success it is, none of it would have been possible.

Thank you for sticking with us for one thousand articles.

Consider Subscribing to the Schoharie News

Consider purchasing a "subscription" to the Schoharie News. Running the area's only online news source and a full-time job is time consuming and expensive!

With the button below please consider donating to our venture. Feel free to check the monthly recurring option if you'd like to donate a dollar or more every month to expand our coverage for the people of Schoharie County.

Schoharie News Tops Half a Million Page-Views

Yes, that headline is correct.

Since the Schoharie News first debuted in June 2013 and officially launched that following fall, this little internet newspaper has received slightly over half a million page views from our absolutely incredible readership of thousands of friends and neighbors in Schoharie County. 

We owe every bit of our success to our humble readership, and we will forever be indebted to the amount of support you have contributed to this amazing project's success. From news tips, photos, donations, and our advertisers, we simply never would have been able make it this far without your faith in what we set out to accomplish. 

I do not know for how much longer this project will continue, or where the work I have done on it will bring me, but in spite of the hardships associated with spearheading the county's only online source of news: threatening e-mails, working all hours of night during heavy news periods, and sacrificing personal time; it has been worth it. 

Again, I thank every person and organization who has supported us through out this project and who will continue to lend their assistance as we continue to grow and report on the news that matters to you, the humble reader of this website, and our neighbor in the community. 

- Timothy Knight, Editor and Publisher of the Schoharie News

Life in Schoharie Contest Winner: Fall Serenity

With more than two hundred and seventy votes cast since Wednesday afternoon, Schoharie News readers have studiously selected Cobleskill resident Cheyla Bevins "Fall Serenity" submission as the victor of our first annual Life in Schoharie Photo Contest. There were nine photographs submitted overall. 

The winning photograph received 36% of votes

Ms. Bevins submission was the only photograph to reach one hundred votes, with Marvin Marsh's "Painted Night" the second closest at fifty-six. She will receive a $20 gift certificate to Cobleskill Wal-Mart for winning the contest, but in reality all of the photos submitted reflect that we are all the true winners for having such a beautiful place to call home.

Poll: 7% View County Board Favorably

Schoharie County residents are a varied lot politically, with many ideas and ideologies that together form one of the more complex governing systems in Upstate New York. However, if there is one thing they do agree on, it's that they view the county  Board of Supervisors unfavorably by a wide margin. 

According to the latest survey of roughly one-hundred and fifty Schoharie News readers, only seven percent of those participating (or just eleven people overall) view the county board favorably compared to 81% of those who hold an unfavorable viewpoint, with the remaining 11% currently undecided. 

Although the public's lack of confidence in the county board should worry local legislators, on the bright side their approval rating is up slightly over last October's paltry 4% showing in the midst of the Fitzmaurice Report's controversial release. 

Life in Schoharie Photo Contest

Since the Schoharie News launched last fall many of our stories have featured tag-along photos, some supplied by organizations filing press releases and other taken originally by us, but whatever the case they have always added a little something extra to our articles.  

With that in mind, we would like to announce our inaugural "Life in Schoharie Photo Contest," where you can submit your photograph of anything Schoharie County to be considered for a $20 gift certificate to Cobleskill Wal-Mart.

The winner of the contest will be judged by the readers of the Schoharie News, who will have three days to review the photos before voting on their favorite submission. 

All contest entries must be e-mailed to aaaabraves@yahoo.com, with the subject "Schoharie News Photo Contest," by noon on Wednesday, and will shortly thereafter be published on the website for our readers to take into consideration. You must include your name and town of residence for your submission to count. 

Goodluck!

Introducing Premium Ads

If your business or organization needs longterm visibility, consider renting one of our premium adspaces in our logo. Our site had 47,084 views in December, 52,603 in January, 58,763 views in February and is on track to grow even further.

Consider advertising on one of the premium adspaces for $200 per month and get upwards of 60,000 people seeing your ad.

There are so many possibilities. What are you waiting for?

Schoharie County Emergency Services Scanner Now Featured on the Schoharie News

In case of emergency or just to stay connected, a scanner is a great tool to see what is going on in the area. If you do not have a scanner, feel free to use the one linked on the Schoharie News site. We have installed the live feed of the Schoharie County Emergency Services scanner live at the top of our always-updated weather page. Check it out and take a look. Bookmark the page so it is handy in emergencies.

New Poll Up: Do You Approve of Sheriff Desmond's Job Performance?

In this new poll, we are asking readers to weigh in on whether they approve or disapprove of Sheriff Tony Desmond's performance as head of Schoharie County's law enforcement apparatus. The Sheriff was re-elected to a second term in November, receiving slightly less than fifty percent of the vote.

 

This poll will be open until Friday and is located on the right-hand sidebar on the Schoharie News website.

 

Note: The results of our previous poll, asking who readers supported for County Board Chairman, were disqualified due to vote-rigging by supporters of Mr. Van Glad and Mr. Skowfoe, which is very unfortunate considering the importance of the poll topic.

Schoharie News to Expand Coverage of Town & Village Meetings

The Schoharie News was created as a project to provide better news coverage to residents of Schoharie County, originally focused on highlighting political news that no other media format bothered to report. However, as our stories have evolved, so has our perspective of whether county residents are receiving across the board coverage.

Which, we believe, they are not.

Between the Cobleskill and Stamford weeklies, maybe six town and three village board meetings are covered in any given month, leaving residents of the other thirteen municipalities without adequate information concerning their local government and what is occurring within its purview. As such, something needs to be done, and we're going to do it. 

Thus, every month the Schoharie News will attend two board meetings from across the county on a rotating basis to provide every town and village resident with coverage of at least one public gathering over the course of the new year and every year subsequent we are in existence. 

Now, we cannot do this by ourselves. We need you, the humble reader, to assist our endeavor to expand news coverage in Schoharie County by (1.) letting us know which board meetings we should attend (note: the Schoharie News traveled to Conesville to cover their organizational meeting yesterday, but got lost and turned around after two dogs started chasing my car) and (2.) making this financially feasible for myself.

Here is a look at December's stats: the Schoharie News published seventy-six articles, four of which were the result of two separate county board meetings, three covered local high school sports, two dealt with Schoharie County acquiring new vehicles, another two covered community Christmastime events in addition to approximately ten hours of interviews and sit-downs with local officials to gain knowledge on a variety of issues.

Add in all the other crime-related articles, opinion pieces and general politics, and the Schoharie News has covered a newspaper's worth of stories in the past month alone while finishing my fall semester at SUNY Cobleskill and working around 26 hours per week at a local deli, all without any extra pay.

Thanks to our generous readers the past three months, the Schoharie News has enough funds to keep our office open and accessible until April in the Village of Middleburgh, however, that doesn't take into account the work aspect of running this project that consumes fifteen-twenty hours per week on an already thinly stretched schedule.

Which is where you guys can make a difference.

If every week one hundred readers of the Schoharie News donated one dollar via pay pal or mail, such as thousands of residents do when they pick up a copy of the Cobleskill or Stamford paper, that would be enough to cover monthly overhead costs of maintaining an office and gas, while earning a bit of profit for myself.

This project isn't about creating a full-time career for myself, which I wouldn't be opposed to if that was possible, but to provide better news coverage of not only the stories everyone else is publishing, but of those no one else is willing to publish, which is why we're all in this together and any amount of support you can offer is greatly appreciated.

If you have any tips, concerns or questions about advertising or donating, the Schoharie News can be reached by email at aaaabraves@yahoo.com, or snail mail at Timothy Knight, P.O. Box 891, Middleburgh New York, 12122.

Again, thank you all for your continued support and please let me know which town or village board meetings we should cover to bring our readers better coverage of the county they live in.
 

Schoharie County Legal Directory

The Schoharie News would like to introduce a special promotional page for local attorneys and law offices to advertise their services to residents of Schoharie County in the only internet based legal directory.

 

For $40 per year - local attorneys can submit their photo, a 50-75 word introduction and web address or phone number to be published in this free directory to our readership that visited the Schoharie News 45,000 times in the typically slow news month of December.  Please contact editor Timothy Knight at aaaabraves@yahoo.com, or 518-231-1465 for more information.

EXAMPLE AD:

                                                 
                                                      Shawn Smith, Esq. 518-827-8024

The Law Office of Shawn Smith is located on 1847 Route 30 N. Blenheim, N.Y.

and primarily provides services to people in Schoharie, Delaware, Otsego,

Schenectady and Albany Counties. Mr. Smith practices Criminal Defense Law,

Family Law, Real Estate Law, and Wills and Estates. Mr. Smith also serves as

Town Attorney for the Towns of Fulton and Schoharie, Village Attorney for the
Village of  Cobleskill and Town Supervisor of Blenheim.

 

Schoharie News Opening an Office in Middleburgh

The Schoharie News would like to announce the opening of our public office in the Village of Middleburgh. The office, which we are sharing with 4 Star Reality, is located on 308 Main Street - will serve as a physical outlet for both our readership to reach out to us and as a space where we can work on exciting new projects and stories heading into the new year. As always, thank you for your continued support!

We will be officially opening sometime next week and will post an update status with that information.

Reminder: Schoharie News to Join WSDE on Talking Schoharie Program Wednesday

 

Just a reminder for our readership: Schoharie News editor Timothy Knight and WSDE 1190 AM owner Ed Sherlock will be co-hosting the Talking Schoharie program on Wednesday morning from nine until ten on your source for premier local radio coverage.

Also - with the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, coverage will be spotty at the Schoharie News as we take a breather from the nonstop current of investigations, political news stories and covering county affairs, but we will continue to monitor the pulse of Schoharie County and update with news as it comes in as well as the continued publication of community events.

As always, feel free to send tips and community news to aaaabraves@yahoo.com and if you have an opinion, perhaps concurring with or arguing against that of the Schoharie News or a local politician, we publish letters to the editor as we receive them and without editing.

Once again, we can not offer enough thanks to our wonderful readership and we hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week. We will be deciding on several potential changes at the Schoharie News while enjoying the break and working on a couple of outstanding stories from the past couple of weeks.

Schoharie News, WSDE Announce Partnership

The Schoharie News and WSDE would like to announce a partnership between our news service and Schoharie County's premier radio station AM-1190 WSDE and their affiliate lite-94.3 FM, which is owned and operated by Ed Sherlock of Middleburgh. 

While the details of the partnership are still evolving, both parties have agreed in principle to share content and help promote the other on their respective formats, with the Schoharie News supplying news updates for WSDE's daily broadcasts and WSDE promoting the Schoharie News to potential advertisers and on the air. 

On WSDE's November 27th edition of "Talking Schoharie County," which airs weekly on Wednesday mornings from nine till ten, Schoharie News editor Timothy Knight will co-host the program with Mr. Sherlock to discuss the topics of the day from across the county. 

Both parties will retain full ownership of their original entities and the partnership is subject to continued joint approval. 

The Schoharie News to Ethington: From our Cold, Dead Hands

Todd Ethington believes that he can rally his supporters against the allegations against his wife Cassandra by attacking the messenger. Ultimately, it is not the Schoharie News, or Gene Milone, or Bill Cherry that acted in the way that Cassandra Ethington and her allies did. That is their burden to bear, not for those that are fighting against it.

The allies of the Conservative Party have been up to one dirty trick after another: alleged illegal push polling against Dan Singletary's opponent Sean Jordan, a mailer attacking Bill Cherry, Carl Barbic, Gene Milone, and Phil Skowfoe for daring to stand up to the Ethington machine, and now a call for the very First Amendment rights that we hold dear to be silenced.

No, Mr. Ethington.

Soldiers fought and died for that right. Men and women worked diligently for decades to protect that right. The Constitution was written to ensure that right.

Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are not simple playthings to be thrown away when things are not going your way.

If you want coverage to change, act differently. If you want negative coverage to become positive, be constructive yourself.

To call for the silencing of people you disagree with is against the values that you have taken an oath to uphold.

If you want to stop democracy-- if you want to stop the Schoharie News-- if you want to stop the discourse of the people of the County-- if you want to stop investigations into corruption-- if you want to trample upon the natural rights of anyone we have a message for you:

From our cold, dead hands.

Ethington to Supporters: I Will Fight to Make Activity Like the Schoharie News "Illegal"

Editor's note: Below is a copy of what Todd Ethington placed on his public Facebook page. It is in its entirety so that I won't be accused of taking things out of context-- and with some emphasis added. After his interview the Ethington campaign has made zero efforts to reach out to me or correct any "half-truths." I am the Schoharie County Young Republican Chair and am willing to support worthy candidates of any party. My site is mine alone and not the mouthpiece for the GOP or any candidate.

Todd Ethington blasted critics for what he described as "bullying." He calls for actions like the Schoharie News and the criticism that he and his wife as received to become illegal. As to not color opinion on his words-- here they are in their entirety posted on Facebook.

The Schoharie News is run by the President of the Schoharie County young republicans. Each day he reports a story with half truths or that are completely incorrect. He has been given information to correct his stories or to get both sides, yet he never does. He has used this site to push the Republican views onto the public as truthful and researched news, when in fact they are not. I have run a positive campaign, I have not attacked another candidate and when my supporters have wanted to respond to the nonsense I have asked them not to. I am all for freedom of speech but this has become ridiculous. I guess the behavior of the adults explains how and why kids are bullying others kids to the point of suicide. People are hiding behind fake screen names attacking each other, what has happened in the world to make people think this kind of behavior is acceptable. Win or lose I am going to make it my life's mission to get laws passed making this kind of behavior illegal. The internet was not made to attack people, it was made to connect with people.

Schoharie News Poll: 84% Say Charge "Report" Offenders

The next in the line of Schoharie News polls has shown great anger among voters in the County regarding the revelations released in part one of the Fitzmaurice Report. Since last Thursday the latest poll has been overwhelming against those implicated in the Report. The main person implicated thus far has been Cassandra Ethington, with a special appearance by Cobleskill Supervisor Tom Murray.

Yes: 223 -- 84%
No: 44 -- 16%
Total: 267

It must be noted, of course, that this is an unscientific poll and that the question was vague. The next poll is up on the Schoharie News' sidebar. Make sure to make your opinion count!

Introducing Letters to the Editor

The Schoharie News is launching its first round of letters to the Editor. This week we have received one letter that we will be publishing.

From now on, we will publish letters on Mondays. Please send them to us at aaaabraves@yahoo.com with the subject "Letter to the Editor." Include your name and location. We reserve the right to edit for profanity or potential libel.

Donate to the Schoharie News

Maintaining the Schoharie News requires a lot of time and dedication, often times over twenty hours per week - in fact just over the past three days that number has soared to near twenty-five - working part-time, going to college and running a website requires just enough to keep the bills paid and the gas tank filled.

As such I have decided to include a "donate button" via PayPal on the right hand side of the website for readers to consider donating a few dollars to help me keep the Schoharie News afloat and not use what wages I earn from a nearby supermarket delicatessen on this increasingly time consuming news project. You can donate from a PayPal account, a credit card, or a bank account. Even a few dollars helps me keep the site up and expand.

Also: advertising is available for business and non-political causes. We will not accept any political advertisements whatsoever.

Vote in the New Schoharie News Poll

Time to vote in the newest poll on our sidebar. After the Supervisors of the County have an approval rate lower than Congress it is time to find out what you think about your own representative. Make sure to vote in the poll and check back for updates.