The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/31966
Levon Helm plays drums with his band as the closing act. Jennie Williams claps to the music. Photos by Genevieve Pedulla Ann Hotang and David Meves sign a petition. Make Music, Not Gas Wells More than 2,000 see Arlo Guthrie and Levon Helm perform at Brewery Ommegang’s anti-fracking event From the stage erected in the field next to Brewery Ommegang, Arlo Guthrie sang his father’s famous folk song, “This Land is Your Land,” which some of the 2,000 people in attendence at the anti-fracking event Friday night sang along to under clear skies. “That’s an appropriate song,” said Ellen Pope, execu- Jen Potrzeba holds daughter Carley as she signs an anti-fracking petition. tive director of Otsego 2000, the organization that will benefit from the event’s proceeds, as well as a $20,000 donation from the brewery, which sponsored the event. Guthrie’s performance followed several anti-fracking speakers, including Susan O’Handley of the Cooper- stown Chamber of Commerce, Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego, Wes Gillingham of Catskill 16 O-Town Scene May 19, 2011 Mountainkeeper and others. The event concluded with a performance by the Levon Helm Band, which played past 11 p.m. Pope said Friday night the turn-out for the event and the response from attendees had “surpassed” her expectations. “This gives people a sense that they’re part of a larger group,” she said. “There is a majority of people who are against this issue.” The issue is drilling into the ground for natural gas while using chemicals, which has a possibility of polluting drinking water, ruining roads from heavy machinery traffic, decreasing land value and other negative effects, according to anti-fracking groups. Continued on Page 17