Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Here’s How To Save $53,000 Heating Huge Building

Thursday, February 26, 2009

By JIM KEVLIN

As David Letterman might say, “Ladies and gentleman, it’s time for tonight’s top 10 list.”
Here are 10 ways for an $8 million building project to save $53,000 a year on energy costs, courtesy of Doug Reeser, chairman of the Foothills Performing Arts Center board of directors.
Number 10:
Recapture air leaving the building at 70 degrees and use it to warm icy air coming into the building.
Number 9:
Use a carbon-dioxide controlling device that, instead of being open or shut, opens and closes to fit levels in the building.
Number 8:
Do the same with the ventilator motor, so it runs as quickly or slowly as it has to, not simply stop and go.
Number 7:
Use all energy-efficient lighting, “state-of-the-art stuff,” as Reeser put it.
Number 6:
Use high-efficiency boilers.
Number 5:
Use roofing that consists of a half-inch of chip board, 5 inches of Styrofoam, and a half-inch of “a form of seaweed” on the inside, which also has acoustical qualities.
Number 4:
Use a Styrofoam wall inside the sheet rock that has a 24 1/2 r-Factor, very energy efficient. (A 4- inch brick wall with 4 inches of insulation has an r-Factor of 4.)
Number 3:
Trowel an EIFS (Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems) compound on the outside.
Number 2:
Recognize you have to have glass in the lobby, but use the most energy-efficient glass possible.
And, ladies and gentleman, Number One:
Install a Computerized Building Management System, which allows you to check and adjust all these other devices from a laptop, preferably a laptop in Miami Beach when it’s zero degrees up here.
Doug Reeser didn’t pull these ideas out of thin air.
A native of Pennsylvania and engineering graduate of Rutgers, he spent most of his career in the Hudson Valley with Trane, which specializes in heating and cooling systems.
He developed just these kinds of customized systems for customers like IBM’s plants in Poughkeepsie, East Fishkill and Kingston.
His wife was from Andes, so the couple had a home there and, over the years, he’d met Peter Macris, Foothills’ founder emeritus.
Recuperating from a heart attack, Reeser began working out in the Foxcare gym, which Macris frequented as well and, before he knew it, he’d been recruited into Peter’s latest enthusiasm.
When Macris himself fell ill and retired to Massachusetts, Reeser assumed the chairmanship and, to save a $350,000 general contractor cost on the huge concert hall rising at Chestnut and Market, volunteered to do it himself.
He made common cause with Norman Davis of Binghamton, who was also architect of the Soccer Hall of Fame, “a real practical, nice guy you can talk to.”
He outlined what you’ve read here to the Oneonta Rotary Club Thursday, Feb. 19, and submitted to an interview the following day and detailed it again.
Heating and cooling a “baseline building” like the new Foothills would cost $110,000 a year, Reeser said.
With the energy-efficient initiatives, it’s estimated the bill will be a mere $57,000, and the payback will be 2.3 years.
“You wonder why more and more people don’t do this,” Reeser mused. “People just don’t know.”

Labels: 02-27-09, Foothills, Green Energy

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IN THE CITY OF THE HILLS

GIRLS ADVANCE: The OHS Girls Basketball team will host their next opponent in a quarterfinal at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, in the Drago Gymnasium.

AT CONFERENCE: Mayor John S. Nader was in Albany this week for the Winter Legislative Meeting of the New York State Conference of Mayors.

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY: Volunteer your time and adopt a highway to keep clean in Otsego County. Businesses, churches, boy/girls scouts, clubs and schools often participate. Information, call Kevin Flint at the Otsego County Highway Department, 547-0538.

OFFICE HOURS: U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, will host office hours 1-3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at City Hall. Aide Pat Smith will be representing Arcuri.

SCHOLARSHIPS: The deadline for Oneonta Dollars for Scholars applications for the 2009-10 academic year is Wednesday, March 4. All applications must be submitted on-line or returned to the Oneonta High School Guidance Office at 130 East St., Oneonta, NY 13820 by that date.

THREE DEGREES: SUNY Delhi introduces three new associate degrees, Early Childhood Education, Childhood Education and Adolescence Education, as part of the college’s Liberal Arts and Sciences offerings this spring. For more information, call Enrollment Services at 1-800-963-3544.

CHEF RETURNS: Master chef Joseph K. Poon,’78, graduate of the SUNY Oneonta, will return on Thursday, March 12, to present “The Science of Cooking,” a dinner and silent auction fundraiser. Reception and auction at 6 p.m. in the Morris Conference Center, and dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for dinner are available at $125 each or $1,000 for a table of eight. Reservations are available by calling 436-2535 before Friday, March 6.

Labels: 02-27-09, Front Page

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‘Old England’ Inspired First County Name

OLD TIME OTSEGO

HUGH MacDOUGALL

Otsego County was formally created in 1791 from a chunk out of what was then Montgomery County. But the Town of Otsego is much older than the county, and originally covered all the western part of Otsego County from Lake Otsego to the Unadilla River. Only when Otsego County was created in 1791, did the town’s division into what eventually became 16 towns begin.
Before the Revolution, the counties of British New York were divided into “districts.” On April 8, 1775, in its last act before the Revolution closed it down, the Colonial Assembly in New York City created the “Old England District” that later became the town. Its choice of name presumably sought to distinguish it from the largely German-speaking District (today the Town) of German Flatts to its north.
The law provided that the “freeholders and inhabitants” should meet in May 1775, “at Smiths Hall within the said District” to elect a district supervisor and other officials. And it specifically named five district highway commissioners: John Johnson, John Hicks, Increase Thurston, Samuel Gardner and Ralf Falkner Sr.
Smith Hall was built in 1773, in today’s Town of Laurens, by Richard Smith (1735-1803) of Burlington, N.J. Smith, a Quaker and strict teetotaler, led a team of surveyors through the area in 1769, and returned here to build his home and live on what was then called the Otego Patent.
His journal of this trip was first published by Otsego County historian Francis Halsey in 1906 as “A Tour of Four Great Rivers in 1769.” (It has since been reprinted, and placed online by Google Books). It remains one of the most important sources of information for life in Otsego Country before the Revolution.
In a later journal entry, Richard Smith wrote of Smith Hall: “The cellar is about six feet high, of the same dimensions as the house, that is thirty by twenty. Saturday, July 17th [1773] we raised the house before dinner...no rum or other liquor than good water.
“The house is a frame one, two stories high, each of eight feet, besides the garret and cellar.... It is to have two large windows of 24 lights each in the first front story, and three above, and the like in the rear...a front and back door; one chimney and three fire-places in the North east end, and room left for others at the opposite end....
“It is the only house, properly speaking, as yet upon the Otego Patent, the rest being only small log huts.”
During the Revolution, all the district’s inhabitants, including Richard Smith, had to flee as Loyalists and Iroquois Indians raided its tiny settlements. But Smith returned to live at Smith Hall from 1790 to 1799. His home survived him by more than a century, until it burned down in 1921.
In 1788, the “Old England District” was re-named the “Town of Otsego,” still covering everything between Otsego Lake and the Unadilla River.
Otsego owes more to Richard Smith, however, than his diary and Smith Hall. Smith was a friend of another resident of Burlington, N.J. – William Cooper – who would buy up much of the area in 1786 and found Cooperstown. Cooper even brought Richard Smith’s son – Richard, Jr. – to run a store in Cooperstown, and later named him the first sheriff of Otsego County.
Richard Jr., who died in 1811, appears as “Richard Jones” in James Fenimore Cooper’s 1823 novel “The Pioneers,” set in the Cooperstown of the 1790s.

Hugh MacDougall, Cooperstown village historian and a retired diplomat, received an honorary doctorate from SUNY Oneonta in 2008.

Labels: 02-27-09, Hugh MacDougall, The City of the Hills

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HARTWICK COLLEGE REDEDICATES ARENA • FEB. 21, 2009

Editor’s Note: Robert E. Spadaccia, ’70, chairman of the Development Committee of the Hartwick College Board of Trustees, read this tribute to Nicholas H. Lambros, ’59, Saturday, Feb. 21, at the rededication of the basketball court in the Biner Phys-Ed Center as “Lambros Arena.”

Nicholas H. Lambros, today the Hartwick College community gathers to offer a token of our abiding esteem for all you have meant to this old institution, for all you have contributed to generations of its students through the years.
We convene, Nick, to thank you for your commitment to the enduring values of Hartwick College, to its spirit, its people, and its soul.
As a young man, Nick, there was not a game in which you did not excel. From tennis to stickball, your talent, passion, and confidence shone through. Those who played with you have said that when choosing sides, they always wanted to be on your team. You were a winner early on, Nick, and all of Hartwick is glad you chose to play for our team.
This building, and particularly this gym, were home to so many triumphs, Nick, and so many lessons learned in victory and defeat.
It is in this gymnasium that you helped so many achieve so much.
A child of Oneonta and a son of Hartwick, you returned to Oyaron Hill to give back some of what this place gave you. Nick, you left a legacy that touched so many, a legacy that continues to grow along with your legend.
Your resume as an athlete is long: city tennis and golf championships, Hartwick baseball and basketball success, a tryout with the Dodgers, a decade at the helm of our Oneonta Yankees.
And yet, the shadow you cast as a coach was even longer: Oneonta High School basketball sectional championship, baseball, golf, and basketball here at Hartwick, 353 wins on the hardwood, a Final Four appearance, a winning percentage ranking you among the lions of the sport, the National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year.
Despite all the success, despite all the victories, despite all the courtside admonitions to “MOVE!” Nick, your greatest gifts to the City of Oneonta and to Hartwick College were the relationships you formed and the families you built around your teams, the city, and the college.
As the years march on, as the practices and games become memories, these relationships persist.
The lives you touched form a legacy, Nick, that not even time can erase.
Your competitive fire, your commitment, and your compassion all serve as vivid examples to Hartwick College’s student-athletes, and to the entire community.
This space, this living monument to your work, will serve as a reminder for generations to come of the values that you have instilled in so many. And so it is with great affection and deep gratitude that today we christen this facility Lambros Arena at Binder Physical Education Center.

Labels: 02-27-09, Hometown Views

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United We Prosper, Divided We, Well, Limp Along

Something exceptional – something huge, potentially for all of Otsego County – is happening at the end of Oneonta’s Chestnut Street.
If you’ve driven along Market Street in recent months, you’ve seen it rising, but – impressive as the high steel has been – the full scope and ambition of the undertaking has yet to sink in widely.
For the $8 million, 600-seat, state-of-the-art concert hall that is quickly moving toward completion – by the end of July, in time for 10 weddings booked in August and September – will inject high-test into the growing local arts’ community’s already accelerating momentum.
There are 902 seats in Glimmerglass’ Alice Busch Theater, but, with the expanded Foothills, the performing arts can flourish ‘round here year ‘round.
•
The Fly Creek Cider Mill’s Bill Michaels put together a powerful marketing tool a couple of years ago in the 23-mile Cooperstown Beverage Trail.
It links Bear Pond Winery at Milford Center with Cooperstown Brewing and Ommegang in Milford with the cider mill four miles northwest of Cooperstown.
Perfect.
The beverage-trail enthusiast can be captured at any point and forwarded to the others partners. Sharing marketing costs just made the idea that much more palatable.
Foothills former executive director Diane Elliott and others saw the possibilities of a similar concept for the arts – a Route 28 Arts Trail, if you will.
In effect, the Grade-A Foothills Performing Arts Center to the south and world-class Glimmerglass Opera to the north can bookend rich arts, cultural and historical offerings in between and around.
The two Halls of Fame offer similar synergy. Little Joey may play baseball, but sister Sara is fanatical about soccer. Working together, the soccer and baseball Halls can double the draw.
•
The potential is obvious to anyone who thinks about it. Shortterm, however, we’re facing a summer of uncertain tourism prospects.
There’s an opportunity right now to put a toe in the water to test the fuller collaboration to come.
Someone – perhaps Deb Taylor from the county Tourism Office or, together or alone, Rob Robinson of the Otsego County Chamber and/or his Cooperstown counterpart – should convene an advertising summit and pool advertising resources to bring people here.
For instance, would saturation advertising in and around Boston bring fans, not just to see Jim Rice installed in the Baseball Hall of Fame at the end of July, but to spend a week in the neighborhood on either side?
How about a Philadelphia Phillies fan weekend, building on the Phils’ World Series win? That would work just as well, or better, in the shoulder seasons.
Could, say, jazz in Stamford, theater in Franklin, the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival and the Smithy Pioneer Gallery be promoted as a piece?
•
All the tourism-related entities have advertising budgets, some aimed in-county, some aimed elsewhere. If they pooled that second category to prime the pump, who knows what beneficial outcomes might result?

No doubt, there are a lot of reasons for it.
Some blame feuding among local arts groups.
Other say the issue wasn’t approached right, that the plan kept changing.
Still others say Oneonta can’t raise $1 million a year. (Nonsense!)
Whatever the reason, there’s no arguing with the fact that the $8 million Foothills Performing Arts Center rising at the bottom of Chestnut Street is a huge bargain.
Of the total bill, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, a son of the City of the Hills, cobbled together $6 million from various state sources.
Then the Foothills’ trustees borrowed another $1 million.
So far, the community at large has not contributed to a facility that could fast-track the transformation that is occurring in downtown Oneonta.
It’s likely – more like a certainty – that the completed 600-plus-seat facility, due to open at the end of July, will raise property values downtown, firm up the neighborhood’s tax base and, down the road, increase property-tax revenues for the city and sales- and bed-tax revenues for the County of Otsego.
Four new restaurants are due to open downtown in the next few months. Perhaps it’s mere coincidence, but the prospective opening of a facility for everything from local theater to traveling Broadway shows will contribute to their success, and that of all other downtown entertainment venues.
As that anticipated opening nears, the Foothills board of directors finds itself $1 million short of what’s needed to fully complete the project.
A curtain has yet to be ordered. The expensive rigging associated with a first-rate stage – it will be housed in that tower that will be above the performers – will have to wait. Landscaping and other final work will have to be put off.
All this means that the full benefit of the new theater will have to be delayed. It shouldn’t be and it doesn’t have to be.
There are many ways the gaps might be filled:
• City Hall could bond for the difference, confident rising property-tax revenues will more than cover the outlay.
• The Otsego County Board of Representatives could front the money, designating additional bed- and sales-tax revenues to pay it back.
• Or the Foothills board could launch a public appeal, professionally planned and rolled out along tried and true principles. The public would certainly respond.
If anything, every community in Otsego County – Oneonta and Cooperstown foremost among them – have been hindered by a lack of systematic annual fundraising.
Looking ahead, Oneonta’s YMCA is going to need $3 million. Cooperstown’s library could use $1 million, just for starters.
Everybody scrambling for money isn’t the way to go. It’s common these days for local chambers of commerce to establish committees to prioritize annual giving, organized in the United Way’s off months so as not to compete with that community mainstay.
That needs to be done in Oneonta, Cooperstown – in every community, really, that has aspirations for self improvement.
Many hands make light work. Jim Seward and the Foothills board have done the heavy lifting so far. The rest of us should ease the burden.

Labels: 02-27-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

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Record 348 Dive At Goodyear Lake During 14th Jump

By JIM KEVLIN

Who could have imagined?
Eleven friends jumped into Goodyear Lake in February 1996, raising nothing in what would become – they didn’t know it at the time – the first annual Polar Bear Jump.
Saturday, Feb. 21, a record 348 dare-devils took the plunge in the 14th annual such event, raising $55,000 and pushing the tally to date over a quarter of a million dollars.
That’s 25 percent more participants than the 280 from 2008.
Last year’s event raised $60,000 – a record – but co-founder and co-organizer (along with wife Brenda) Jamie Waters, said money continued to come in and he anticipated that record would be matched or surpassed.
And that happened even in the down economy.
“The shows the goodness of this community,” said Waters, noting that Sidney participation continued strong despite layoffs at Amphenol.
Jumpers get friends, family members and businesses to sponsor their plunges and the money is donated to needy causes, focusing in particular on families with ailing children.
The top three money raisers this year – in addition to Waters, who always tops the list – were Ed Gwilt, Cooperstown, Doris Sherman, Gilford, and Danny O’Brien of New York City and Portlandville.
This year’s recipients included Kylie Elizabeth Mattice of Oneonta, who weighed 1.5 pounds when she was born in September; Brandyn Nichols, 9, of Otego, who is suffering from chiari malformation and a tethered spinal cord, and Kristi Incze, 17, of Morris, suffering from hydrocephalus.
Each of them received $9,000 at the after-party that was so big this year it was moved to the Oneonta Elks Club from the Tally-Ho in West Davenport, although the Tally-Ho catered the buffet.
The Portlandville Methodist Church received funds, which it will share with Tracy Cous of Milford, who is suffering from multiple sclerosis. Some of those funds will also help establish a Lyme Disease Awareness Group.
Another $9,000 was donated to the Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, and $1,000 to the Milford Fire Department.
Other innovations this year included Iceography, the ice carving concern from Oneonta, which created sculptures at the scene of the jump. Also, the Roundhouse Rockers and country singer Mike Herman performed into the evening at the after-party.

Labels: 02-27-09, Front Page, Polar Bear Jump

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Hartwick Gives 3-Year Option For Bachelor’s

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Hartwick College is launching a first-of-its-kind three-year bachelor’s degree program, beginning next fall, designed to save $40,000 on the cost of a degree.
The Liberal Arts in Practice curriculum, which combines traditional classroom work with experiential learning, will save a student $30,000 in tuition and $9,000 in room and board fees.
“Hartwick is looking to the future and we are committed to ensuring that students continue to have access to a high quality liberal arts program,” said college President Margaret L. Drugovich, in making the announcement on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Unlike other three-year bachelor’s programs, Hartwick’s program will not require students to take classes during the summer months or complete coursework online. The accelerated route will require 120 hours of study, 18 hours each fall semester, 18 hours each spring semester, and four hours during a special January term for three years.
Three-year program students will receive priority course registration and special academic advising.
Summers off allows students who need to work to do so, and also gives them a chance to participate in study abroad.
“Our Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree Program is responsive to their affordability concerns,” said Karl Mosch ‘69, chair of the Hartwick College Board of Trustees, “without affecting the quality of student’s educational experiences.”

Labels: 02-27-09, Hartwick College, Hometown Briefs

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago
The following is given as a specimen bill of a city plumber: For fixing up Smith’s busted pipes, to wit: Going to see the job, $1; coming back for tools and help, $2; finding the leak, $1.50; sending for more help, $1.25; going back for solder forgotten, $1.50; bringing the solder, $1; burnt my finger, $2; lost my tobacco, 50 cents; getting to work, $3; getting my assistants to work, $2.50; fixing the pipe, 25 cents; going home, $2.50; time, solder, wear and tear on tools, overalls and other clothing, $5; total: $23.50.
February 1884

100 Years Ago
The Local News – Monday, being George Washington’s birthday, all the public schools closed, as also did the banks of the city. In general, however, the observance of the holiday was not pronounced, perhaps in some measure due to the fact of the occurrence within ten days of two national holidays.
The Oneonta & Mohawk Valley Railroad Company offers a round trip rate from Oneonta to Washington and return on account of the inauguration on March 4, 1909, for $16.20. Tickets will be sold March 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Stopovers may be made at Philadelphia and Balitimore in either direction.
An effort is being made to have Tilton Avenue, long used as a public thoroughfare, accepted as a street of the city. As the street is a very important one, leading directly to the Oneonta fair grounds as well as to the Ulster & Delaware station, there are many reasons why it should be accepted and suitable walks laid.
February 1909

80 Years Ago
Soon to displace the historic Ford Mansion at 245 Main Street – one of the last of the structures in the business section linking the present city with the village of a century ago – is the new building to be erected by the Wilber National Bank, plans for which have been approved by the directors and bids for which will probably be asked within the next few weeks.
It will probably require a year in which to complete the new structure which is to be the last word in bank buildings. It will be modern in every appointment and it is believed will meet all possible demands of the institution for many years to come.
The new building is designed by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, Inc., architects and bank engineers of 286 Fifth Avenue, New York City, one of the best known concerns of its kind in the country.
February 1929

60 Years Ago
Word has been received that the 4-H pheasant project will be conducted again this year. In 1948, 1,200 pheasant chicks were allotted to Otsego County and 720 pheasants were released at eight weeks of age. Thirty-eight 4-H youngsters participated. For 1949, 30 boys and girls already have in their requests for pheasants. The limit will be 35 chicks per person or 70 per family if there is more than one youth in the family who wishes to raise pheasants. The state pays $1 to the youngsters for each pheasant which is liberated. The chicks arrive in June and are fed and cared for eight weeks before release.
February 1949

40 Years Ago
Six organizations in Otsego County made more than $18,500 from bingo operations from April 1 to September 30 last year, according to the New York State Bingo Control Commission. Nearly 12,000 players participated in games in the county during that period, the Commission said.
The Holy Name Society of St. Mary’s Church in Oneonta netted the largest share of bingo profits in Otsego County last spring and summer when it held 25 sessions with 4,327 players. It netted $8,572 on a $24,598 gross and passed out $15,148 in prizes.
Oneonta Council, Knights of Columbus sponsored 22 bingo games during the period, reporting 2,229 players who paid a total of $13,384 to play for $8,335 in prizes. The Council netted $4,032 from its operations.
February 1969

20 Years Ago
Opportunities for Otsego (OFO), Inc. will distribute Federal Surplus food March 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18 in Otsego County. All new applicants must bring proof of income, including pay stubs, copies of social security checks, bank statements for proof of direct deposits, or the prior year’s tax return. Recipients of Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), HEAP and public assistance are automatically eligible but must have their appropriate identification cards or current HEAP letters.
Guidelines for eligibility are: family of one – $166 weekly, $721 monthly, $8,655 annually; family of two – $222 weekly, $966 monthly, $11,595 annually; family of three – $279 weekly, $1,211 monthly, $14, 535 annually; family of four – $336 weekly, $1,456 monthly, $17,475 annually. For each additional family member add $56 weekly, $245 monthly, and $2,940 annually. Distributions in Oneonta are scheduled for Fri., March 10, 2-4 p.m., and Sat., March 18, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at OFO.
February 1989

10 Years Ago
Hartwick College this summer will embark on a $12 million project to renovate and expand its Miller Hall of Science. The project is part of “Realizing the Dream: The Bicentennial Campaign for Hartwick College.” “It’s a wonderful decision,” said Susan Gotsch, vice president and dean of academic affairs. The project will cost about $2 million more than originally anticipated.
Hartwick professors have been working for the past six years to devise a science curriculum. Biology professor Douglas Hamilton said faculty have been expanding use of research as a teaching tool emphasizing hands-on projects. “We need to create an integrated area of science where faculty and students do science and are not just told about it,” Hamilton said.
February 1999

Resources for Hometown History have been provided courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library.

Labels: 02-27-09, Columns, Hometown History

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Oneonta Dancers Prepare For Competition

By LAURA COX

With March just around the corner, students at the Oneonta Dance Center have been bustling with energy preparing for their upcoming dinner show and dance competition.
The Dance America/Dance Olympus workshops – a dozen and a half of the regional competitions are held throughout February and March – allow dance students to showcase the year’s progress and be critiqued by a panel of professional judges.
The best dancers are invited to compete in a national competition held in New York.
Oneonta Dance Center, run by owner Megan Tannenbaum, has students dance in the New Jersey competition each year and many dancers have qualified for nationals in the past.
This year 17 of the Center’s 220 dancers will be traveling to Wayne, N.J., March 21 to dance seven solos and 12 groups pieces, including a dance choreographed to a song from the “13 The Musical.”
Each of the students competing in New Jersey has put forth hours of dance classes and on average most of them have been dancing for at least 10 years.
“At the competition you get advice from judges and other people and you learn a lot,” said dancer Ryan Shuler.
All competing dancers also get the chance to participate in workshops led by professional dancers.
In order to help lessen the cost for each student to perform all the dance numbers they would like at competition, the Oneonta Dancer Center will be holding a Lasagna Dinner and Dance show at 7 p.m. next Saturday, March 7, at St. Mary’s School. Tickets are available in advance at the Oneonta Dance Center or at the door, $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under.
As for reasons why people should come to the dinner show, “to support the dancers,” “there is going to be a raffle,” “for good lasagna,” “It feels good to have our friends and family watch” and “there is something for everyone at the dinner show” were just a few responses given by the dancers at rehearsal last week.

Labels: 02-27-09, Hometown Briefs, Laura Cox, Oneonta Dance Center

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The Right Fit

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

SPORTS BEAT

Sometimes dreams can change.
In Cha Cha Naito’s case, that is exactly what happened.
The OHS soccer stand-out has just faxed her signed letter of intent to attend New Jersey Institute of Technology, and play Division I soccer.
However, NJIT was an acquired taste for the senior midfielder, as her “dream” school was The University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“I have wanted to go there my entire life,” said Cha Cha.
Naito came to realize that there were no scholarships left at UNCW, and NJIT offered her a half scholarship and a guaranteed roster spot.
“I visited NJIT and the campus was beautiful and the coaches were all really friendly,” said Naito, who fell in love with it instantly.
The Highlanders can use someone with her talent as well. Coming off of a dismal 2-16-1 year, Naito’s 14 goals for the Yellowjackets this season is an alluring statistic. NJIT Head Coach Kevin Leacock has an impressive resume as head coach, taking his team to a Division II postseason and made the switch to Division I the very next year.
Being there to watch Cha Cha sign her letter and fax it over, was a great feeling.
Oneonta has produced so many great athletes, and Naito is now the second Oneonta soccer player this season to go Division I; Chris Hayen committed to Binghamton.
Naito will have an uphill battle with team, but her heart mixed with her raw talent should get her by just fine.
“NJIT has a very good relationship with one of the top medical schools in New Jersey,” said Naito, who wants to be a physician’s assistant and will be pursuing a biology degree.
“NJIT just had more to offer,” said Naito, “it’s good to have your options open. I thought Wilmington was my dream school, but you need to explore your other options, you might discover something new.”
Cha Cha was very excited about her decision, as was Coach Jerry Mackey and Athletic Director Joe Hughes. Naito being Mackey’s first Division I signee during his term as OHS head coach.
I followed Cha Cha down the hall and watched as the fax was sent. Her mind was made up, she was headed to Newark.
Cha Cha Naito made the only choice she could, the right one for her. Look for Naito to make a slash for the Red and Blue early next season, as OHS puts yet another quality athlete and quality student into college.

Labels: 02-27-09, Chris McSwiggin, Hometown Sports, Sports Beat

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Hometown People

Friday, February 20, 2009

PRESIDENT’S AWARD: Mary Rab, licensed associate broker with Benson Agency Real Estate was the recent recipient of the President’s Award given out by the Board of Directors of Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors at its annual awards dinner held in January.
The award is given quarterly to a Realtor best exemplifying the essence of what a Realtor is all about as shown through the candidate’s everyday conduct and practices.
Also recognized at the awards dinner with Top Producer Awards were the following Benson Realtors: Stacey Frazier, Rodger Moran, Mary Rab, Becky Thomas and John Weidman.

CADET SQUADRON: Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) Oneonta Cadet Squadron recognized Flight Officer Dan Smith of Oneonta with first promotions in the enlisted and officer ranks and Lt. Col. Andy Liddle of Oneonta was recognized for completing five years of service with CAP.

Labels: 02-27-09, Hometown People

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:17 PM 0 comments

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Friends Praise Fallen Soldier

Thursday, February 19, 2009

“it’s just not fair, mike. i’ll always remember you and how funny you are. i’m praying for you and your family. i hope to see you again someday, buddy” alan, on Michael Mayne’s myspace.com page
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Edmeston Central School was “devastated” by the news that Army Spec. Michael Mayne, ’06, along with two fellow soldiers and an interpreter, were killed by small-arms fire on Monday, Feb. 23, north of Baghdad.
“We all are devastated, that’s the truth,” Principal Martha Winsor said after receiving word of the fatal foray. “He was a really responsible, honest, caring, fun-loving, you name it, good-thing young man.”
The first fatality of the Iraq war from Otsego County, Mike – Eagle scout and football player – leaves behind father Lee, mother Cathy and sister Sherry.
“He was a hard, hard worker and his positive character always was respected. People enjoyed having him around,” said Winsor.
His father works at the school, so “the family is very near and dear to us. We love them.”
Arrangements were pending with the Houk-Johnston-Terry Funeral Home.
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“hey mike i loved u like a brother. will miss the loud truck going by and seeing u and bubba on the four wheeler together. RIP man will c ya in the future.” Elizabeth

Few details of what happened were available, but Sgt. First Class David Fallon, Army spokesman, said Tuesday it takes about 72 hours – three days – to “comprise” the situation, a reference to the standard investigation of any death under fire.
Fallon said he only knew that small-arms fire had been exchanged between Mayne’s platoon and unknown assailants.
The three soldiers who escaped alive will provide sworn statements to military authorities before a statement of what transpired is released, the sergeant said.
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“WE LOVE YOU MIKE AND WILL ALWAYS MISS YOU. LOVE YOU!!!” Sherry
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While the Iraqi insurgency is coming under control in Baghdad and other major cities, al Queda has retreated to provinces like Nineveh and Diyala, which stretches from northeast of Baghdad to the Iranian border.
The day Mike Mayne was killed, his commanding officer, Col. Burt Thomson of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, was quoted as saying he’s seeing progress.
“We have not destroyed al Qaeda in Diyala,” he told the Christian Science Monitor. “We have forced al Qaeda to reconsider [its] course of action.”
Until recently, U.S. forces lacked adequate troop levels to hold the ground they captured, but additional forces have been deployed from urban areas in recent weeks.
Now, after U.S. forces clear an area, the Iraqi Army, police, or neighborhood watch groups known as Sons of Iraq set up checkpoints along the road to ensure that insurgents don’t return, the Monitor reported.
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“Hey Mike you will never be forgotten. Wow, I just can’t believe you’re gone, I want to say thank you for fighting for our country.” Kates
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Mike Mayne is one of at least 4,250 U.S. soldiers who have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, the AP reports.
In high school, Mike attended the Milford BOCES, where a scholarship was established in his memory within hours of the news arriving.
By Tuesday, there were 20 comments and memorials posted on his myspace.com page.
“He was so young and in the military and doing what was his career goal: To serve his country,” said Winsor. “It’s just a tragedy.”
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“i miss you. if ever there was a best friend i never wanted to lose, it would be you. im sorry mike. im so sorry for everything ... you were the last person who deserved this.

Labels: 02-27-09, Front Page, Michael Mayne

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:50 AM 0 comments

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Presenting Rene Prinz, Original

By JIM KEVLIN

You might be interested in knowing that the precursor of the modern oboe was developed in the Middle East and brought to Europe by returning Crusaders.
That’s the kind of information you’ll come away with if you spend much time with Rene Prins.
For Prins, a young 62, has spent a life immersed in music – since 1975, in Oneonta’s vigorous music scene.
He’s a SUNY Oneonta instructor and then professor, oboeist in the Catskill and Utica symphony orchestras, president of Local 443, American Federation of Musicians, director of the Oneonta Community Band ... this list could continue a while.
“A young 62” is used advisedly, as Prins comes across as both the youthful whirlwind – his SUNY office and the one at home are a swirl of papers, posters, everything musical – and, paradoxically, the calm eye of the storm.
His eyes twinkle as he talks, and he talks with urgency. But when he picks up the baton, he focuses on the music in front of him with quiet intensity.
The energy shifts to his musicians. Then, the music stops. He turns to the audience, smiling brightly, the whirlwind again.
Music is a mixture of mathematical precision and artistic expression, but Prins tilts unabashedly toward the latter.
“Mistakes don’t make any difference at all as far as I’m concerned,” he said emphatically near the end of a recent 90-minute interview on his life and art.
The occasional “scraped” note is fine, as long as the musician is pushing to the next level.
“Music can’t really come to life unless you enjoy it,” he declared. “If you’re afraid, you aren’t going to go for it; there’s always a safer way to do something.”
Rene Prins has been fearlessly enjoying music for a long time.
His father, John – from Rotterdam, he was a cabin boy for “two and a half trips” on the Holland America line before he jumped ship in New York in the 1920s – had a device to make wax records at home.
He made a recording of young Rene, age 2, singing “Frere Jacques,” which the son still has at his West Davenport home.
John had jumped ship with a clarinet and although he trained as a printer, he played with various ethnic bands, eventually settling into a Swiss one, Edelwieiss Laendler Kapelle. (It used a string base instead of the tuba of its German counterpart.)
“At 5 I was playing kazoo,” said Rene, who as a boy growing up in Dumont, N.J., would accompany his dad on gigs. At 6, “a bartender handed me a quarter. That was the start of my professional career.”
By the time he was in sixth grade, he was first clarinetist in the Grant Elementary School Band, when the phone rang one evening.
His father turned from the receiver; it was Mr. Portner, the band director. “Do you want to play the oboe?” his dad asked.
“My fateful answer was, ‘What’s an oboe?’”
“I had a talent for it,” the son allowed, and he moved on to master the oboe’s double reed.
By his teens, the son was playing along in Edelwieiss Laendler Kapelle with his father. He doesn’t remember making the decision to go onto Julliard – he took a five-year bachelor’s program, then a one-year master’s – it just seemed natural.
During college, he spent a summer in a music program at Delta College in Saginaw, Mich., and made a fateful acquaintance with Janet Nepke.
Teaching at SUNY Albany after graduating in 1970, he renewed the acquaintance with Nepke, who by then was teaching at SUNY Oneonta. Soon he was often in the City of the Hills, teaching students at SUNY and Hartwick College.
“I found this to be a very interesting place, artistically,” he said, and was soon friendly with Carlton Clay, Charles Schneider and others.
Katie Boardman got him up to The Farmers’ Museum and soon he was researching 19th century instruments for what eventually became the museum’s Professor Hillman’s Band.
“It opened up your ears to different possibilities,” he said.
Soon, he was playing oboe in the new Glimmerglass Opera’s orchestra and with the Catskill Choral Society. And with Margaret Cawley, since moved to New Hampshire, who was experimenting with Renaissance instruments, common now but “very unusual in the 1970s.”
Into the 1980s, Prins was on five-month renewable contracts as SUNY went through the post-Rockefeller years of austerity, but then, in 1982, he was granted tenure and “that made a big difference. When that happened, I really felt stability.
“I can really build on things,” he said to himself.
By then, he had stopped going away in the summers. “I wanted to be part of the community,” he remembers. And he continued to be, getting more fully involved in the community band, in a German band that recalled the Kapelle.
Meanwhile, SUNY Oneonta’s music department was growing from a handful of professors to today’s 28, as the curriculum evolved from teaching and performance into a music-industry department.
Along the way, he became friendly with Marilyn Roper, a flautist whose father was Hartwick College bursar and grandfather had been one of the founder’s of the Oneonta campus. The two have been companions for 20 years now.
Talk to anyone who knows Rene Prins, and it doesn’t take long before the antique-instrument collection in his garage is mentioned.
Sure enough, there’s a rotary valve tuba – today’s are piston valve – manufactured, as the ornate engraved letters on the horn have it, “M. Wolf” of Frauenfeld, Switzerland. And a similar alto horn.
Rene’s father died in the mid-’90s, the last remaining member of Edelweiss Laendler Kapelle, and the instruments evolved to his son.
Not just the instruments, but hundreds of scores – 350, Prins estimates – of 19th century music arranged for the Swiss band.
“It’s invaluable,” the owner said. “It doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
Not a bad conclusion about Rene Prins himself.

Labels: 02-27-09, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:32 AM 0 comments

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