Village Updates
In case you missed it, there has been a bit of a kerfluffle involving the new Village of Homer signs, and if we should have David Harum on them still.
Mayor McCabe says: No.
www.wxhc.com/?p=60493
Wow.
What is it with American politicians acting like dictators over signs? www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/new-york/2017/02/28/cuomo-defends-love-ny-signs/98542150/
The poll of residents to help choose the new sign design was meant to be a fun and positive experience to foster community.
Unfortunately, it turned negative and culminated this morning with one individual threatening to sue the Mayor, Board, and Village.
As mayor, I have a fiduciary responsibility to the Village and its residents above all else, and so we made the decision to end the sign vote, and move forward with the Village of Homer design.
There is some flexibility in terms of possibly adding the horse and buggy to the front. The back will say "Blue Pride!" and the sign will be in Trojan Blue with gold letters. (mockups below, but some elements may change when we get the designs back from the RFP, but this is the fundamental sign)
We are sorry for those of you who did not get a chance to cast your ballots. As of 5pm tonight the vote stood at 43 for Sign A, and 29 for sign B. We wish that everyone would have had a chance to weigh in, but we had to make a decision to protect the Village over an informal poll.
Happy with the sign selected. I’m disappointed that one individual had to ruin allowing the residents to be apart of the selection process.
Makes me sad to see this type of behavior becoming more common. Thanks for taking such great care of Homer, being. Respectful and Responsible Leader and always putting the residents and their needs first and foremost, Mayor McCabe! 👍🏼
Love it & love you including “Blue Pride”!! It’s too bad there is such negativity in the world, even our little corner of it these days 🙁 Great job choosing a nice sign. Thank you for your hard work.
No need for Blue Pride. Blue pride is already motto for our great school.
I love Homer but this sign is cold,boring and certainly doesn’t suggest anything historic. 😞 (IMO)
Here is a good option for the other side! On a serious note, I agree with the no Blue Pride on the sign, that is associated with the school
Hopefully the person that felt it necessary to threaten a lawsuit over a sign is happy. Get a life!
Your vote matters. Stop weighing in on social media, show up and coordinate your voices! And make sure you network with lawyers to know what your options are.
This is the best version. IMHO, don’t need the horse and buggy. Makes is too ‘busy’ with no real added value.
Blue pride is associated with the school, not the village. I like the historic homer with the horse and buggy with the “won’t you tarry a while” like it is now.
I personally associate blue pride with the absolute worst days of my life; high school. The village of homer is way more than the school system. Blue Pride is not the necessary.
Love them!
Glad you're making an executive decision. Sometimes nonsense just had to end. I do not understand the vehemence & negativity -& personal attack s- about this. Simple is better.
I don,t think you need blue pride in it.
I approve
Lawsuit threats? Seriously people it’s a freakin sign 🙄
Village of Homer Board of Trustees Meeting Live
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-qGUoENXfM
After finally watching the 1934 Will Rogers version of the movie David Harum, we are even more convinced that the Village of Homer needs to move beyond that aspect of our history.
The movie made it into the Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia:
"Fetchit's coon characters were racially demeaned and often verbally and even physically abused by white characters. In David Harum (Cruze, 1934) he was traded to Will Rogers along with a horse. He was traded twice more in the movie."
Is THAT the message we want to send to tourists, visitors, or even generations of residents yet to come?
www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/coon/
I want to be clear that as the co-owner of the house that was once owned by David Hannum, I do not agree with John’s viewpoint, and that I very strongly support the Historic Homer Village sign option which celebrates our architectural richness, and the diversity of contributions by many former residents. For one, I am truly impressed by the legacy of AD White, cofounder of Cornell, who served as its first president for 20 years. That is a meaningful and lasting achievement that has enriched the lives of many, many people through generations (currently 230,000 alumni alive around the globe), and created a world class educational institution in our backyard. I see his childhood home from my front porch. Unfortunately, since each household only gets one vote, I am sorry that mine will not be counted. AD White’s wife, Helen, was the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD, and had her own distinguished career as a scientist and educator - undoubtably a woman who also had her own mind. If we are to be known as the home of anything, let it be for the remarkable Center for the Arts of Homer, which has been such a positive force in this community. And every community could use more of that kind of grassroots spirit of accomplishment that brings people together around a common good. That is something to celebrate. Homer is more than one story, one book, or one film. It’s a story that is still being written, and everything that precedes it is just a chapter.
In regard to the water bill ballots- Will the count of these determine which sign is selected? Or is this an opinion pole...
I regard Lincoln's slavish adherence to the Constitution, which caused him to pursue a "containment" policy regarding slavery to be more morally reprehensible than a 1934 remake of a decades-old story (or indeed, his pursuit of carnal release for pay). However, as an immigrant to Homer, I have delighted in the connection of David Hannum and the world-renowned Cardiff Giant, and for me, Homer should not whitewash David Harum from its history. If we're talking about folklore vs. reality, we can start with the NY State Marker on the Village Green which is quite incorrect with the "Military Tract Deeded by Revolutionary Soldiers to First Religious Society of Homer, 1805, For Meeting House and Burial Ground." This is a myth, as Homer Lot 45 was sold by the Revolutionary Soldier it was patented to (listed in the 'Balloting Book of 1825' as "James M'Kinney") and six acres were later resold to the First Religious Society for $1.00. We live in an American Myth that swirls around us like the ripples of a canoe paddle in a lake. None of "reality" is completely factual and free of controversy. None of the myth is completely untrue and worthy of whitewashing. Perhaps we can find a way to keep David Hannum, he who noted that "A sucker is born every minute," at the top of our minds and also celebrate all the other qualities that make Homer our homeville.
Could not agree more.
150 years ago October 16... www.timesunion.com/local/article/Museum-plans-giant-celebration-14495319.php?fbclid=IwAR0fFvAXK1v...
I normally don’t do Facebook because I see it as the cause of much of what is wrong in politics today. One example is how the village administration is now applying the PC-measure of history in the argument promoting the Sleepy Hollow version of Homer’s proposed sign. When we do that we can say the same thing about Abraham Lincoln’s sexism. The village administration overlooks that in the Facebook message. And, as the historian Henry Steele Commager noted, morality and history make for a poor mix. As I discussed at the viewing of the two David Harum movies, the popular media reflect the biases of their era, including racism. Undoubtedly that will be true of our period, too (I predict that someday the style of the engraved sign the mayor likes so much will be viewed as gaudy and kitsch). As I noted at the screening, one has to view the historical media in its cultural context not as a justification (Commager’s stance), but as a learning opportunity about the values of another period—for better and for worse. For one thing it can remind us of how far we have come, and also of how far we may have to continue to go. But of course no one from the village administration was at the showing in an official capacity to hear that. Which makes admin’s message, if unwittingly, a cheap shot. Remember, Huckleberry Finn is now on the hot seat because he uses the “N” word. So should we ignore that history, or see it as a learning opportunity, again Commager’s point. Given admin’s logic, we will have to completely ban any reference to Abraham Lincoln. “Honest” Abe? Recently the village historian, the mayor’s appointee and officially the mouthpiece on behalf of the village’s history, applied the PC measure in The Cortland Standard when he used Lincoln as the exemplar in whose steps our young people should follow. I had to chuckle. This goes back to the mythology encouraged and abetted by historians that could brook no wrong on the part of the “Great Emancipator.” Except that for a long time historians conveniently ignored that before he married he engaged prostitutes. Now, one can imagine a Homer eighth grader coming home after his history class and saying to his mother: “Mom. We learned about Abraham Lincoln today. I want to grow up to be like him.” Mom smiles. But he adds, “I want to enjoy prostitutes.” Mom not happy. Or, imagine a student saying he wants to own slaves like George Washington? That is the superficial logic admin promotes in the observation about David Harum (overlooking that the book, the Broadway play, and the 1915 movie are not racist). Surely, mayor, you don’t mean your administration encourages junior high students to follow Lincoln’s example and indulge in prostitutes, do you? Or does it offer a learning opportunity about other cultural values from another time we can learn from even though we don’t agree with them? You don’t have to like or accept what happened in the past. But it happened and you can learn from it. Incidentally, it required a female historian to reveal Abe’s pre-nuptial prostitutes, even though the information had long been available.
