o ... To Roxbury Central School teacher Dana Fowler, who was recently honored at the annual meeting of the Catskill Regional Teacher Center for 58 years of teaching.
The oldest practicing public school teacher in the state, Fowler was praised by several area superintendents. She was the subject of a documentary, "A Life Worth Living," put together by the center in collaboration with a State University College at Oneonta film students Andrew Dapolite, Tim Rea and Brian Ambrosio.
Fowler still teaches remedial grammar and writing to fifth- and sixth-graders full time.
Such an obvious passion for and dedication to her life's work is inspiring, and we offer congratulations for her incredible achievement.
o ... To Carina Franck of Cooperstown, Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, Assemblyman Bill Magee, D-Nelson, and the state Legislature for helping get a law passed that requires all farm machinery to display a reflective slow-moving emblem on public highways.
Franck's father, Manfred Weidemann of Schuyler Lake, died in a car accident on state Route 28 on Dec. 23, 2004, in Milford. His car struck the back of a manure spreader that lacked the aforementioned emblem.
While it's extremely unfortunate that such a sad incident was what spurred the law, we applaud the regulation itself and the efforts undertaken to get it enacted. It will undoubtedly prevent further tragedy from coming to others, which was Franck's intention in working toward its creation.
Jeers
... To Carl H. Burrows, 32, of Deposit, for opting to go to prison rather than pay child support for his daughter, Mia, 13.
Burrows was arraigned in Delaware County Court on June 9 and pleaded guilty to first-degree nonsupport of a child, a felony, making him the first in Delaware County to be prosecuted for a felony under the "Deadbeat Dad" legislation passed in New York in the 1990s. He was sentenced to one-to-three years by Delaware County Judge Carl Becker.
Burrows had been sentenced in Delhi Town Court in March to three years of probation after being charged with second-degree nonsupport of a child, a misdemeanor.
He was required to pay $52 a week and keep paying until the $39,000 owed in back support was paid off, but he chose not to do so.
Mia lives with her mother, Laurie Schmitz, in Florida. Schmitz indicated that Burrows has had very little contact with his daughter during the years, and that Schmitz had tried several times to communicate with his family as well as get him to pay what was owed.
She expressed hope that Burrows' incarceration will be a sign to other mothers that fighting for their child's right to financial support is not always done in vain.
Burrows' lack of morality and any sense of responsibility and decency is appalling, and as long as he refuses to take care of his daughter, he's exactly where he belongs.
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