THE HOMER NEWS

Volume XI Thursday, December 17, 2020 Issue 13 FREE MMerryerry CChristmashristmas & HHappyappy HHanukkahanukkah FREE THE HOMER NEWS 2 December 17, 2020 ð The Homer News

110 YEARS 607/753-0812 Red Cross Blood Drive Sat. Dec. 19 - Methodist Church CLEANERS The Homer Community Blood Drive will be held Saturday, December “We’re as close as your phone” 19th, from 8am to 1:00pm, at the Homer First United Methodist Church, 16 Continuing to offer FREE pick-up and delivery in Homer Cayuga Street(on the Green) A Double Red Cell Collection unit will be available at this drive for type RT. 281 at SUMMIT STREET JOHN FINN A-,B-,AB-, and O. CORTLAND, NY 13045 B All donors with an online appointment will receive the free COVID-19 Antibody Testing. This tracks a body’s exposure to the Coronavirus. Even if you have a negative COVID- HAGE “ . 19 test, your body may have fought off the virus previously and you will REAL ESTATE a o know that you developed some level of immunity.

Donors - get good night’s sleep, hydrate, and streamline your dona- tion experience and save up to 15 y s d d ! minutes by visiting RedCrossBlood. org/RapidPass to complete your pre- donation reading and health his- tory questions on the day of your appointment. The Red Cross is also asking that Sally donors bring their own mask or Marie John covering that covers both their nose and mouth. If a donor does not have a mask, the Red Cross will provide o e one.

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As space permits, The Homer News will print a brief notice of your organiza- tion’s event at no charge in the EVENTS CALENDAR. For more detailed notices we suggest you purchase a display ad. Please keep in mind our publishing schedule and deadlines: December 22, 2020 for the December 31, 2020 issue. Linda, Marjorie, Annette, Lee and Matt A gift subscription to The Local Residents & Your Neighbors! Homer News will help keep $XWR‡+RPH‡%XVLQHVV‡&RQWUDFWRUV‡5HFUHDWLRQDO9HKLFOHV your out-of-town friends and relatives informed. $36/year Your “Homer” town insurance agency! for 1st Class Mail. Call 749- bensondavis.com 2613 The Homer News - December 17, 2020. 3

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Looking for a Project for Your Child? Help them become storytellers.

We invite youngsters up to age 14 to submit stories & photos on any of the following subjects:

Me and My Pet: Article should include the name of your pet and information on what you do together, why you love them, and how your pet has helped you. I had a great day with my family doing: Article should include the first names of those in your family and what you did together and why it was important. My best friend: Article should include the first name of your best friend and things you have done together.

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NEW LOCATION 84 Cortland St. Physical Therapy Return to what matters most

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All AARP Smart Driver Classes Canceled **For The Rest of 2020 due to COVID-19** Classroom instruction to resume in 2021 ONLINE Class available at www.aarpdriversafety.org 4 December 17, 2020 ð The Homer News

seemed to enhance Eva’s reputation, popularity, and box-office success. She also got her name in the papers for allegedly being kidnapped, allegedly Homer History having her jewels stolen, and for being fined $50 in Louisville, Kentucky, By Martin Sweeney, for throwing a stagehand down a flight of stairs. Apparently, she firmly Homer Town and Village Historian believed that bad publicity was better than no publicity at all. Consequently, she is considered the first performer to achieve national mass-media celeb- rity. Edward Bernays, “the father of public relations,” described Tanguay as “The Queen of Vaudeville” Performed in Homer “our first symbol of emergence from the Victorian age.” We are rapidly approaching the 126th anniversary of two remarkable Like Madonna and Lady Gaga of our era, Tanguay’s costumes were as events from Homer’s past. On the night of December 21, 1894, Homer extravagant as her personality. In 1910, a year after the Lincoln penny was farmer Patrick Quinlan had two drinks at Doyle’s Pub [now Dasher’s issued, Tanguay caused a sensation by appearing on stage in a coat entirely Corner Pub] on Main Street and headed on foot up James Street for his covered in the new coins. Did not Lady Gaga wear an infamous dress made home at the end of what is now Bishop Hill Road. He never made it. He was of raw beef at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards? bludgeoned to death along the way. No one was ever convicted. The heinous crime remains a “cold case” and proves you could get away with murder once upon a time in Homer. The event fell into oblivion over time as did another event that night across the street from the pub in Homer. While Quinlan had made his brags about making a lucrative sale that day in Christmas turkeys at O. B. Andrews’ grocery store, some of the con- versation in the pub must have focused on the show scheduled for that eve- ning at the third-floor opera house across the street. Sixteen-year-old Eva Tanguay (pronounced “tang gway”) was in town for one performance and was destined to go on to become the highest paid performer in vaudeville. This entertainment event at the Keator Opera House may have been possible because of George W. Ripley, who was a Homer resident and Tanguay’s advance man. He resigned from the post soon after the Homer performance. He apparently continued in show-biz with his own troupe of minstrels and thespians, because The Homer Republican of January 30, 1913, reported his plans for performances to be held outdoors “under can- vas” in Groton and in “his home town, Homer.” Eva Tanguay was born in 1878 in Canada, but before she reached the age of six, her family moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts. While still a child, she developed an interest in the performing arts. She made her first appearance on stage at the age of eight at an amateur night in Holyoke. In her earliest days she was promoted through a small theater company oper- ated by Paul C. Winkelmann. Soon, she was touring professionally with a production of a stage adaptation of the popular Frances Hodgson Burnett novel Little Lord Fauntleroy. She performed at least once in 1893 at the Opera House in Cortland. Three months before her appearance on the Homer stage, The Holley Standard (October 4, 1894), described her as “A great favorite and viva- cious and captivating artiste…who is without exception the most successful Child Actress that has yet been seen…. She is a good singer, superb dancer, and was loudly encored.” The paper went on to point out she had played to Tanguay was officially married twice. Her first marriage was to dancer a packed house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On November 17, 1894, The John Ford in 1913, but they divorced after four years. Following her New York Dramatic Mirror noted she had played to “good houses” at the divorce, Tanguay was romantically linked, though never married, as was Olean Opera House. sometimes reported, to vaudeville dancer Roscoe Ails. In 1927, at the age of Soon after the Homer performance and perhaps a Christmas break, 49, Tanguay married her piano accompanist, 23-year-old Al Parado. Shortly she appeared nearby again. This time it was in McLean. According to the after the marriage she had it annulled on the grounds of fraud. She claimed Cortland Evening Standard of Tuesday, January 8, 1895, “Eva Tanguay that Parado had at least two other names which he used so frequently that appeared in the comedy ‘The Californian Detective,’ last Saturday evening she was not sure which one was real. Actually, the marriage was another of at the opera house. It was the best play ever presented in this place.” her publicity ploys. She had it dissolved when it did not yield the intended Tanguay eventually landed a spot in 1901in the Broadway musical My promotional benefits. Lady, and it was the 1904 show The Chaperons that caused a rise in her Tanguay made only one known recording. In 1922 Nordskog Records popularity. By 1905, she was performing in vaudeville as a solo act, where marketed her signature song, “I Don’t Care.” She also starred in two film she would spend much of the remainder of her career. comedies. The first, Energetic Eva, made in 1916, and The Wild Girl, the In truth, she possessed only an average voice, but her energy, enthu- next year, captured on the screen her lusty stage vitality. siasm, and sense of abandon on stage while she performed her suggestive With the Wall Street crash of 1929, Tanguay was said to have lost more songs made her an audience favorite. She went on to have a long-lasting than $2 million (about $30,000,000 in 2020 dollars). She retired from show vaudeville career and eventually commanded one of the highest salaries of business during the Depression. Cataracts caused her to lose her sight, any performer of the day. In 1910, she was earning as much as $3,500 a but Sophie Tucker, “The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas” and a friend from week (about $90,000 in 2020 dollars), out earning the likes of contempo- vaudeville days, paid for an operation that helped to restore some of her raries Enrico Caruso and Harry Houdini. vision. Eva Tanguay is best remembered for her brassy, self-confident songs At the time of her death on January 11, 1947, in Hollywood, Tanguay that symbolized the emancipated woman. Those songs included “It’s All was working on her autobiography, to be titled Up and Down the Ladder. Been Done Before but Not the Way I Do It,” “I Want Someone to Go She was interred in the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, now called Wild with Me,” “Go as Far as You Like,” and “That’s Why They Call Me Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In 1953, Mitzi Gaynor portrayed Tanguay Tabasco.” She was nicknamed the “I Don’t Care Girl” after her most famous in a fictionalized version of her life in the film The I Don’t Care Girl. song, “I Don’t Care,” came out in 1905. Tanguay’s signature song was also recorded by Judy Garland and Eydie Tanguay was known to spend lavishly on publicity campaigns and cos- Gorme among others. tumes. Early in her career, a manager told her that money made money, and If you want to read a page burner of a biography, I recommend Andrew she never forgot the advice. She would buy huge ads at her own expense, L. Erdman’s Queen of Vaudeville: the Story of Eva Tanguay (Ithaca, NY: and on one occasion, allegedly spent twice her salary on publicity. Cornell University Press, 2012). It is a detailed account of an American One of her show-biz strengths was gaining free publicity with outra- celebrity who once graced the stage of Homer’s opera house, embraced the geous behavior off stage. In 1907, she stayed with married entertainment “Roaring Twenties” with abandon, and died in relative obscurity in a bun- journalist and publicist C.F. Zittel in a Brooklyn hotel for nearly a week. galow in Hollywood. Zittel’s wife uncovered the affair by hiring detectives dressed as room- service bellhops to burst into the room. The event made headlines and only The Homer News - December 17, 2020. 5 6 December 17, 2020 ð The Homer News Light of My Life: Another Successful year

Nancy and Gail laminating Gail and Dianne pinning up names

Living History Center Addition

The steelwork is up and the roof has been installed on the addition to the CNY Living History Center.

The new structure will house displays of Brockway Fire Trucks and other fire fighting memorabilia.

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New Name. www.hometoheritage.com 607-428-0708 Same Team. 7 James St. | Homer, NY 36 West Main St. | Dryden, NY

Christmas starring Mayor Hal McCabe as our guest reader. The reading will be 328 * ACRES * 328 News from the Library on Wednesday, Dec. 23rd at 6:30 pm. By Priscilla Berggren-Thomas Register by emailing office@phillips- freelibrary.org by 5:30 pm on Tuesday, nd LAND AUCTION December 22 . The first 25 families to are inviting you to find the moments of On site @ oī Cuyler Hill Rd. Cuyler, NY Stories of Sorrow, Stories of Joy register will receive a copy of the book meaning in these last nine to ten months to keep, supplies for a small craft, and Sat. Jan 16 @ NOON and into the future ones. Join your story Usually I have such a large stack the links to the reading and craft dem- with all the stories that line our shelves. BLIZZARD DATE: of potential book club books to read for onstration. Any family after the first th Write them down. Create poems, or Sat. Jan 23 @ NOON our K-12 grade book clubs that I rarely 25 registrants will receive a link to the get to read something just for myself. journal entries, or scifi stories. Create FARM LAND * TIMBER * RECREATIONAL reading. DEVELOPABLE * HUNTING * BUILDING LOTS drawings, take photos. “Make good Art” Over Thanksgiving though, I ignored SNOWMOBILE TRAILS the pile of books I was “supposed” to as Neil Gaiman says. We want your sto- BORDERS OVER 2,200+ /- ACRES OF STATE LAND ! be reading, and picked up The Midnight ries from behind the mask. We want to Lego Club know what it felt like the first time you Build with us during a Zoom Lego Eagles Library by Matt Haig. I could say I was th th treating myself, but after the first couple had class online, the first zoom meeting Club on Monday, January 4 for K-5 Nest of pages I couldn’t have put the book that you did in your pajamas, the first grade students. There’ll be a story and Views! challenges at 4:00 pm and show and down if I tried. I actually thought about time you drove into town after staying Walk land at your convenience or by appt. Signs buying a copy for myself after I finished home for two weeks without venturing tell at 5:00 pm. To receive an invitation posted. Land marked out. RE: offering with outstand- reading it, so sure am I that I could read foot outside your door. We want the to the zoom Lego Club, email office@ ing panoramic views 328 +/- surveyed acres of phillipsfreelibrary.org with your con- PRIMETIME land w/2,586’ of Road Frontage in it again and enjoy it just as much as the stories of trying to homeschool your rolling hills country setting. 56 +/- A. tillable; 262 +/- first time. I actually copied long pas- children while working from home, of tact information by 3:30 pm the after- A. timber; & 10+/- A. pasture/thickshrub ground sages into my journal, because the text waving to grandparents through win- noon of the program. including a HUGE pond site! A HOMEBUIDERS/DEVELOPERS seemed to be speaking directly to me. dows because you couldn’t risk going DREAM LOCATION & OPPORTUNITY!! The Midnight Library is about a in to see them, of baking non-stop or Book Discussion of Caste VISIT: www.SDZauctions.com for young woman whose life has gone so taking long walks with the dog. Caste: The Origins of Our details/pics/terms. totally wrong that she decided to com- When this is all over, how we lived, Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson is a #1 ANOTHER AUCTION SALE MANAGED BY mit suicide. Yeah, I know, that doesn’t what we thought, how we cared for New York Times bestseller and an Oprah SDZ RE AucƟon & CaƩle Co. Cortland, NY 607.423.3293 sound like a promising start, but like each other, will be what distinguishes Book Club pick. It has been described “A COMPLETE AUCTION SERVICE” a lot of books that start off in a dark us as individuals and a community. So, by Times book critic Dwight Garner place, the book really does bring us full let’s gather those stories and save them as “an instant American classic and circle with wit and wisdom and hope. for future generations. You can submit almost certainly the keynote nonfic- She ends up, caught between life and them through an online form at the tion book of the American century thus death, at a library where all the shelves library website www.phillipsfreelibrary. far.” The book examines the unspoken are lined with books that hold all her org. Over the next few months, we’ll caste system that has shaped America A gift subscription to The other possible lives. There’s one long be offering workshops on how to craft and shows how our lives today are Homer News will help keep tome of all her regrets and then all those your story, for those who would like still defined by a hierarchy of human your out-of-town friends and possible lives she might have lived if help. And eventually we might even divisions. You are invited to join a bi- relatives informed. $36/year she had made a different choice – the be able to record some spoken stories. weekly discussion of this important and for 1st Class Mail. Call 749- one she regrets. I won’t give the story We’ll be creating a digital archive of revealing book beginning on Thursday, 2613 away, but it has a lot to say about how our community’s Covid-19 stories, and January 21 and concluding on April 1. Oh my! all lives hold joys and sorrows. There’s we want everyone’s to be included. Of Please register by emailing the library Ematerials are still available. To no point in regretting what we didn’t do. all the things there are to regret, don’t at [email protected] by get started go to your app store and th Focusing on the life we are currently let not telling your story be one of them. Jan. 14 . Please note, although this download Libby by Overdrive to your living is – well, how to live. book is available through the library, device. After you download the app Like most kids, when I was in it is very popular and has a very long you will need to answer a few questions school, I started wishing for June around What’s New at the Library? waiting list. The book can be purchased including name of your library, Phillips the first week of September. My mother Library Hours through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Free Library, and your library card and always told me I was wishing my life This book discussion is sponsored by pin numbers. After that you should be the Philips Free Library and the Center away. And I’m a future oriented per- The library will be closed on all set to download books! son – tomorrow always holds so much Thursday, Dec. 24th, Friday Dec. 25th, for Racial Justice. It will be facili- promise, I really want to live there. In th tated by Rev. Gary Smith, director of and Saturday Dec. 26 for the Christmas Having difficulties downloading? the midst of the pandemic, it’s easy to Holiday. We will also be closed Friday, the Center for Racial Justice, and Ms. Give us a shout out. focus on what life “used” to be, or the Jan. 1st for the New Year holiday. Courtney Williams, doctoral student future when “we get back to normal.” I and the Huel D. Perkins Fellow in the If you are having difficulty down- We will be open our normal hours loading materials, email us at circula- get so bogged down in missing the past th Department of Sociology at Louisiana for curbside only from Dec. 28 through [email protected]. We’ll be or longing for the future that I forget Jan. 9th. State University. Please note: This is that I’m still living, life is still going on not a religious program. in touch to help you get reading free Our normal hours are Mondays downloadable library materials soon. around me, this is still the life I have and Tuesday 12 – 7 pm, Wednesday, to live and find joy in. I’m not saying Thursday and Fridays 12- 6pm, and Add Your Story Covid hasn’t upended all our lives and Saturdays 10 am – 1 pm. Masks must be We are collecting community Facebook that many things just – well, suck. But worn. Enter through the side door and member’s stories of living through Keep in contact with us through our when things are back to “normal,” I report to the main desk for directions. the Covid-19 pandemic. They can be Facebook page. You can find the links don’t think any one of us wants to think Please be aware that we still need to be retelling of important moments, poems on our website at www.phillipsfreeli- we spent a year or more wishing our monitoring/limiting the total number of about the emotions raised, art work brary.org . lives away. people allowed in the building at a time. that expresses feeling and experiences. Our lives are stories - the stories We are starting with written texts, but Board of Trustees meeting we tell ourselves, the meaning we make Join us for a Christmas Eve Eve will be adding artwork over the coming Library Board of Trustees will not of what is happening around us. The months. Go to the library’s website at meet in December. The next meeting Story Time moments of meaning that we find in liv- www.phillipsfreelibrary.org for the link will be Monday, January 11th at 7 pm. Phillips Free Library and the Homer ing through this pandemic will be what Please note this is a week earlier than Rec Department will be offering a vir- to the submission form. define us, define our community, define they regularly scheduled meeting which our times. So, here at the library, we tual reading of ‘Twas the Night Before rd Ebooks, and Downloadable Audio, is the 3 Monday of the month. 8 December 17, 2020 ð The Homer News

Little White Church Community Center (LWCCC)

The Village is continuing to seek bids from contractors to work on repairing/stabi- lizing the Little White Church Community Center.

Several years of being vacant have yielded structural damage to the building.

The Village plans to get the building back to usable condition and then find an organization to operate it under the guidelines governing structures on land owned by the First Religious Society, The First Religious Society owns the land the church structure sits on.

Foundation and Sill Deterioration View from East

Water Damage by Addition

View from Northeast

View from Southwest Community Bulletin Board relocated from Cayuga St. & Rt. 281. Now in front of the LWCCC The Homer News - December 17, 2020. 9

Christmas Eve At Dusk Candlelight Celebration So this is the last season where Homer Congregational Church branches and sidewalks wear invites you to the Green at 7 p.m. to hear a The Voice of the Town portion of the Christmas story. We will form a ice The Homer News candlelight circle to celebrate the birth of Christ and together sing Silent Night. walking is easier now The Homer News is published in Homer by The Homer News. All are welcome! after the crisp fl urry a Distribution is every other Thursday to all households and Please bring your own candles, real or battery, carpet for the boots businesses in Homer. ‘”•ƒŽŽƪƒ•ŠŽ‹‰Š–•ˆ‘”›‘—”ˆƒ‹Ž›ƒ†™‡ƒ”ƒ The Homer News is a community-based newspaper mask. dedicated to informing townspeople of current events the streetlamps show and issues; serving as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents; and celebrating the blue white sparks in people, places and happenings that make the Town their halo of Homer unique. Editor:Donald Ferris the colored windows *** Happy Holidays! Rates: in the church of silent The Homer News is delivered at no cost to NY Connects of Cortland County prayer Homer addresses in the 13077 zip code. We now offer subscriptions to The Homer Offering links to: News. Personal or out-of-town subscriptions are Serving older adults, the apostles stand watchmen available for $36 per year (First Class) Payable Information & Assistance individuals with waiting in the dim light from in advance. Send check or money order to: Options Counseling & Support The Homer News, disabilities of the advent candle P.O. Box 125, Homer, NY 13077 Long-term Care Alternatives all ages, Email your address to: to those who walk this [email protected] and their caregivers Homecare Services Home Delivered Meals longest night for the Signed Articles, Letters, Photographs and promise it brings. Drawings of interest are welcomed to be considered Support Groups for publication. All articles are subject to editing for The Cortland County Area Agency on clarity and length. Materials not used will be returned Aging is sponsored by the Cortland Respite Care if a self-addressed stamped envelope is provided. County Legislature in conjunction with the New York State Office for the Aging Medical & Assistive Equipment --Gary Weatherby THANK YOU! under Title lll of the Older Americans Act Circulation: 4,200 copies per issue. of 2016, as amended Transportation Choices Copyright © 2020 The Homer News The Homer News Residental Housing Options P.O. Box 125 Homer, New York 13077 And More! [email protected] Telephone: 607-749-2613 Contributors: Priscilla Berggren-Thomas, Martin Sweeney, Harry Coleman, Get The Homer News at: Village Food Market, Wall St. Laundromat, Phillips Free Library, Homer Men and Boys, Olde Homer House, Bev's, Lucky Kitchen, Sinfully Sweet Cafe, Key Bank, FNB of Dryden - Homer & Cortlandville Offices, Kory’s Diner, Origins, Anderson’s Farm Market, Frank's Place, Poole’s Drive In, Tops, Walgreen’s, Tyler's Cleaners, Hyde’s Diner, CNY Living History Center, Steve & Lu's Diner, Little Italy Pizzeria, Center4Arts,. ON LINE -www.thehomernews.com

All opinions expressed ADVERTISING in Letters and Commentaries To place an ad in are those of the writers The Homer News, and not of phone 607-749-2613 The Homer News, or which is published as an independent, email: unbiased community editor@ service and forum. TheHomerNews.com

FOOD PANTRY The First United Methodist Church has a Food Pantry for Homer resi- dents, which is open on Tuesdays, 10:00 am until 12:30 pm Walk-ins are welcome. For information or emergency, call 749-7159 10 December 17, 2020 ð The Homer News BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Open Open Mon-Sat. NEUMANDALE GROUP Year ‘Round 8 am - 6 pm Sun. 10:30 am - 4 pm Neumandale Law Group Attorneys PLLC 5887 Rt. 281 RSS Tax & Advisory CPA LLC Little York, NY 1634 State Street MJ Neumandale Group LLC, Private Banking Watertown, NY 13601 60‡7‡ Neumandale Ventures LLC, Farm & Real Estate ZZZDQGHUVRQVPNWFRP Cell: (607) 591-0691 Office: (315) 777-4365 &KULVWPDV7UHHV‡:UHDWKV‡.LVVLQJ%DOOV Matthew R. Neuman CPA Attorney Order your Pies for Christmas (315) 727-0291 Mary B. Gray Email: [email protected] $UJXHWD·V6SHFLDOW\&RIIHH‡'DLO\+RW/XQFKHV [email protected] Licensed Real Estate Salesperson www.NorthStarNNY.com

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Homer Men’s & Boy’s Store - QUALITY FAMILY CLOTHING SINCE 1951 - 0HQ¶V‡%R\¶V‡:RPHQ¶V‡*LUO¶V&ORWKLQJ +RPHU0HQ %R\V-HDQV‡/HYL¶V‡&DUKDUW &ROXPELD‡1RUWK)DFH‡&DUROLQD%RRWV ,IZHGRQ¶WKDYHLW\RXGRQ¶WQHHGLW 6RXWK0DLQ6W‡+RPHU1< (607) 749-3314 HPDLOVDOHV#KRPHUPHQVDQGER\VFRP ZZZKRPHUPHQVDQGER\VFRP Pat Hill Community Building the PORT WATSON MINI CONFERENCE CENTER Behind the Homer Fire Department at 45 South Main St., Homer, NY Your GO-TO venue for every occasion! Contact Us For Your Rental Needs 4 Convenient Locations: Business Meetings-Conferences-Trainings Weddings-Birthdays-Graduations-Reunions-Anniversaries-Parties /XNHU5RDG‡5W1RUWK  භWedding RecepƟons භWedding Showers Copeland AYH+RPHr භBirthday PaƌƟes භGraduaƟon PaƌƟes Stop by or give us a call today to book your event! 607-753-1447 Sizes: 5’ x 10’ to 10’ x 30’ භFamily Reunions භWork PaƌƟes Douglas and Marian Withey 607-345-0016 e-mail: [email protected] 607.756.4307 භGroup OrganizaƟons භFundraisers 131 PORT WATSON STREET, CORTLAND, NY 13045 Climate controlled available at Luker Road Please contact 607-756-2056 or 607-423-1761

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email: [email protected] 6WHYH'X0RQG owner/operator 60DLQ6W‡+RPHr, NY Located behind Steve & Lu’s Diner The Homer News - December 17, 2020. 11 THE HOMER NEWS Publication Schedule THE HOMER NEWS VolumeVolume 4 VOL ISS PUB DATE DEADLINE FREE 11 14 12/31/2020 12/22/2020 11 15 1/14/2021 1/5/2021 NewNew C4AC4ARTs Mural 11 16 1/28/2021 1/19/2021 11 17 2/11/2021 2/2/2021 11 18 2/25/2021 2/16/2021 11 19 3/11/2021 3/2/2021 11 20 3/25/2021 3/16/2021 FOR

THEME: HAPPY HOLIDAYS

ACROSS 1. “Lord of the Flies” shell 6. *New Year’s Eve choice: Brut or Demi-____ SALE 9. Get-out-of-jail money

13. Convex molding 14. *”____ I Want for FREE Christmas...” 15. Sign of life THE HOMER NEWS 16. Redo, to a carpenter The Homer News was started in 2010 as a bi-weekly news- 17. Flying saucer acronym paper to serve the Town and Village of Homer. The circulation 18. Often-missed humor has grown from 3000 copies to 4200 copies in the past 7 19. *Hanukkah toy years. 21. *____ Santa, gift-giving tra- There is now an opportunity for a new owner to build on the dition established advertising base to provide a substantial income 23. Ides mo. while providing a valuable and appreciated service to the 24. Part of a hammer readers in the area. Modest investment required. Current 25. Cook’s leaf owner will aid in the transition after the sale. 28. “Hey!” Reply your interest to: Editor, The Homer News, P.O. Box 30. Brain’s ____ system 125, Homer, NY 13077 35. Revered one 37. “____ Your Enthusiasm” 39. Capital of Egypt 40. Went by horse 41. “I do” spot 43. *____ Sandler’s “Eight Crazy Nights” 10. Medicinal succulent 44. Scary movie consequence The Homer News 11. Negative contraction 46. Dexterity 12. Bovine hangout 47. Boundary line 15. Alfresco meal CLASSIFIED ADS - $7.50 48. Modern self-portrait 20. Novelist Jong 50. Superman’s last name $7.50 per issue for the first 20 words, 22. Sushi restaurant choice 5¢ for each word over 20 words 52. Actor’s domain 24. *Have a piece of Christmas Goose, e.g. Fill out and mail this coupon with your payment to the Classified Department, 53. Wild plum 25. *”Five golden rings, four calling ____...” PO Box 125, Homer, NY 13077. All ads must be in our hands by Friday 55. Mama sheep at 5 p.m. for Thursday’s paper. 26. Dig intensely 57. *”I’ll be home for Christmas, 27. Cry of the Alps Name ______if only in my ____” 29. *Time for log Adress ______60. *African-American celebration 31. Address with apostrophe Phone ______No. of Issues to run ____ 64. Town news announcer 32. Stays somewhere Heading to be placed under ______65. Charged particle 33. About to explode 67. Elephant poacher’s ware 1______2 ______3 ______34. *Vixen follower 68. Give new guns 4______5 ______6 ______36. Table extension 69. *The night before Christmas 7______8 ______9 ______38. Diamond’s corner 70. Present 42. Sign up again 10______11 ______12 ______71. *Like a Christmas sweater, often 45. Divest one of a gun 13______14 ______15 ______72. Uncooked 49. “Slippery” tree 16______17 ______18 ______73. Adherents of Sikhism $7.50 for this many words 51. Mark and Shania 19______20 ______5¢ for each additional word 54. Twig of a willow tree 21______22 ______23 ______DOWN 56. End of a poem 1. Umbilical connection 24______25 ______26 ______57. Fortune-teller’s residue 2. *”Grandma got run ____ by a 27______28 ______29 ______58. Iranian coin reindeer...” 30______31 ______32 ______59. Suggestive of the supernatural 3. *Santa’s “cheeks were like 33______34 ______35 ______60. Was aware of roses, his ____ like a cherry” 61. Fall asleep, with ‘out’ 4. Request to Geico No. of words over 20 = ______x 5¢ = ______62. Foot part 5. Carriage on top of elephant + $7.50 63. Pirates’ affirmatives 6. Pulitzer winner Bellow 64. French vineyard = subtotal ______7. *Santa helper 66. Female gametes x No. of issues ______8. Bring to an end 9. Jefferson’s Vice President = TOTAL ENCLOSED ______

Solution to Classifieds December 3 HANDYMAN SERVICES ROLL OFF DUMPSTERS SHANE’S HANDYMAN SERVICE Lawn Mowing, Fall Cleanups, Gutter CP ROLL OFF Dumpsters. 20% off Puzzle Cleaning, Junk Removal, Pressure with this ad. Commercial, Residential, Washing Houses & Decks, Driveway Construction Debris, Household trash, Sealing, Cleanouts Houses & Barns, Junk removal. Fully Insured. Reasonable Mulching, Topsoil, Gravel delivery, rates. www.CProlloffdumpsters.com. Shrub trimming, much more. Fully 607/299-4184 12a20 Insured, Reasonable Rates, Free Estimates. 607/299-4676 12a20 THE HOMER NEWS Volume XI Thursday, December 17, 2020 Issue 13 Extracurricular Activities Cortland Breakfast Rotary - Impacted by COVID-19 Thriving During COVID-19 Throughout this challenging year, the Cortland Breakfast Rotary Club is proud to be continuing its service-oriented projects, despite the effects of the COVID- Too, Not Just Sports 19 pandemic. This holiday season is shaping up to be particularly challenging, By Jenna Johnston with financial and social constraints felt by so many - both personally and within our business community. The Cortland Breakfast Club has partnered with...and Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily life of every single is continuing to team up with....many area agencies to try to make this holiday person has been affected, and this has become more evident as school season a little brighter. The Club is currently supporting the Salvation Army by has been in session for a few months. There have been many precautions hosting drive-up bell ringing stations in partnership with Bailey Place Insurance taken in order to ensure the safety of family, students, and staff. One of and the CNY Living History Center on Friday, December 11th. The Salvation the more noticeable changes has been the modified sports schedule and Army has been hit hard this year because of the pandemic and the Club hopes to rules. However, there is another change that has taken place that has seen bring some needed funds to our local Salvation Army and the greater Cortland less reporting on the local news. Community it serves. Homer High School has a wide variety of extracurricular activities out- Another current project is the Club’s annual support of the Loaves and Fishes’ side of sports, and these have been affected by the pandemic, and it has Holiday Food Baskets. The need in the community is greater than ever this become much harder to keep these in person clubs actively having meet- year. Helping Loaves and Fishes fulfill their commitment to provide food for ings. However, there are organizations that have adapted to the situation, those in need is of primary importance. Providing this service, while follow- ing all the CDC-recommended guidelines for safety precautions, requires extra and have begun another successful year. One of these programs is the efforts. Nonetheless, the Club is committed to help with this event by shopping YMCA Youth and Government, specifically District 6, located in Homer. for supplies, preparing the food baskets, and assisting with the distribution to Youth and Government is a mock government experience that teaches individuals and families. high school students skills such as debate, public speaking, and helps Cortland Breakfast Rotary Club has flexed during this pandemic to continue them gain a better understanding of government and the processes within to meet weekly and maintain its support of other local community programs. it. Students can work as a bill sponsor and create a bill changing a New Members have continued their annual Adopt-a-Highway program, cleaning a York State law, and present their bill at the state conference in March, or two mile stretch of Route 281 in Homer. The Club also participated in the annual they can work as an attorney and argue a case using real court cases as Soil & Water Conservation District’s River Clean-up. Along with nearly a dozen evidence in front of justices. students from the Seven Valleys New Tech Academy’s Rotary Interact Club, the In a normal year, Youth and Government would debate in person, but group pulled two truckloads of debris from the banks of the Tioughnioga River they have adapted and have meetings in the evenings on Thursday over in Cortland. During the 2019 River Clean-up, the Interact Club members found Google Meets. Despite the restrictions that have resulted because of an old toy chest. While it was too damaged to restore, they used it as a pattern the pandemic, Youth and Government has been able to make connections to create a new one and are currently planning a toy donation drive. When com- plete, it will be donated to a local shelter. with all of the students in their program. These students range from fresh- In place of the annual pancake breakfast this year, the Club partnered with the men to seniors, and some even have positions at the state level. Cortland Noon Rotary Club and members of the SVNTA Interact Club to host The challenges the pandemic has brought forth have also produced a a Chicken BBQ. The Homer Fire Department donated space for the event, and group of students who are more technologically adept, and are willing to net proceeds for each Club was approximately $1,500. The Breakfast Club has work extremely hard, even though this year has been harder than most. earmarked these funds for future charity allocations. If you have any questions regarding Youth and Government, feel free to For over 30 years, the Breakfast Club has been the sole sponsor of the Cortland contact the advisor of District 6, Janine Giordano, at jgiordano@homer- Police Department’s McGruff Program, a safety program aimed at area youth in pride.org , or the President of District 6, Jenna Johnston, at 21jjohnston@ all communities within Cortland County. In 2020, the club’s annual golf tourna- homerpride.org . ment raised $4,000, which was donated to this program. Another major Breakfast Club’s Cortland County Area Agency on Aging fundraising event is the annual “Ride for Rotary”. This event began as a way Are you caring for someone over 60 with a chronic to honor first responders after the dev- Bright astating 9/11 disaster. Over the years, illness or memory loss? We may be able to help you proceeds have been donated to support Ideas with a digital blood pressure cuff, Reminder Rosie local first responder efforts, as well as Clock, medication dispenser or Echo Show 8 made other non-profit organizations. This Program available at a discounted price depending on your Care year’s net proceeds of nearly $9,000 provided much needed support to the

receivers income, funded by a grant from the Homer Center For The Arts and the

BP Cuffs for Arm & Wrist CNY Community Foundation. CNY Living History Center. Call the Caregivers Resource Center Other service projects supported this (607)753-5060for more information. The Cortland Breakfast Rotary Club is a service club with over 50 Pria Pill Dispenser Echo Show 8 Livefine Pill Dispenser Reminder Rosie Clock members, and welcomes all who are interested in providing Rotary’s motto Med of “Service Above Self”. Learn more about the Club by visiting: www.cort- landbreakfastrotary.org The Cortland County Area Agency on Aging is sponsored by the Cortland County Legislature in conjunction with the New York State Office of the Aging under the Title III of The Older Americans Act of 2016, as amended. From: The Homer News Deliver to: PRSRT STD P.O. Box 125 LOCAL BOXHOLDER US POSTAGE PAID Homer, NY 13077 HOMER NY Copyright © 2020 PERMIT No. 82

Where is The Homer News Being Read??

At Crazy Acres Campground in Davenport, NY in September, 2020. Ferris, Lieb, Smith and Braman families and friends...including Mr. Turtle.