Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

HAIL, CHAMPIONS!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Next Stop For Lady Yellowjackets, State Tournament

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

SPORTS BEAT

The best things in life come in pairs.
For Oneonta’s Lady Yellowjackets, the best thing in life right now is a sectional title. However, a state title is looming and the number-one ranked Class B team in the state has its sights set on hoisting that trophy.
“Meredith and I want to keep playing, keep going” said OHS Senior standout Madie Harlem, “but if the season has to end, we want it to end on our terms.”
They have a chance to end it on their terms, but first they have to get through Cazenovia (21-3) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, at Liverpool High School near Syracuse.
The War Veterans Arena in Binghamton was packed to the rafters Friday, March 6, with screaming fans and nervous parents. Oneonta had come this far, had not lost a game all season, and now could either win it all or throw it all away.
The opponent was also 22-0. Lansing, a small school near Ithaca that has run through competition as easily if not easier than the Yellowjackets have this year. A speed and finesse team, Lansing was without a dominant center presence or outside shot, but had great defense and indubitable poise.
Lansing forced Oneonta into some uncharacteristic turnovers to begin the game ahead by 8-0. Oneonta, which has not trailed in a in a Sectionals game this season, was in some trouble early on.

In clutch situations, the star usually arises.
For Oneonta, their shining star was Sienna Wisse. The 10th grader netted everything, it seemed, scoring double-digit points, as the Yellowjackets faithful who made the trip serenaded the Lansing crowd with a “you can’t stop her!” chant.
No use in lying when the truth is so sweet.
Lansing had its shining star too, though. Senior guard and soccer star Rachael Paladino, the speed demon, led the game with takeaways and shattered the school’s steals record this season. She is headed to Ithaca College for soccer. She caused havoc for the ladies in white early on, but Oneonta was simply too big inside.
This is the atmosphere that people and players love. The converted hockey arena was hotter than ever as the intensity of this game picked up. Easily the most physical contest OHS has been in for quite some time, their 41-32 victory left them black and blue, but smiling. I watched this game from the press table on the sidelines, and when that final buzzer rang I was a bit choked up as well.
OHS, which was all business during game play, converted immediately to smiles, jumps and hugs when the clock hit zero.
Having been in several games of this sort, playing for a Sectional Champion three-peat team in high school, I know how hard you have to work to get here and how good it feels to finally get it over with.
This OHS team is one of the most fundamentally sound programs I have seen in a long time, and their heart and determination out shadow their hard work. The team who wants it rather than expects it will come away with the W. OHS wanted it, and they got it.
“Winning is always nice,” said OHS Head Coach Bob Zeh, “and winning twice? It’s like the cherry on top of a big bowl of ice cream.”
The emotions of this game ran wild, with the seniors leaving their hearts still beating on the floor. Their blood, sweat and tears soaking the Arena floor and leaving an indelible mark of a career coming to an end.

Three Lansing seniors played their last game, and three Oneonta seniors will see another.
Overall, the win was as special as it was because of the story behind it.
Both teams, 22-0 with an average win margin of 20+ points in sectionals. Both teams regarded as the “best.” And both teams fighting tooth and nail in the arena, like gladiators in ancient times. The ferocity of this game was unmatched by any girls game I have watched.
The echo of the student-section chants and the anxious screaming and cheering, the dead ball shouting and “shots up!” from the players. There were the grunts when running into picks and the thud of bodies hitting hardwood, but at the end of the day, atmosphere aside, the better team got the prize. The better team was OHS.
When asked what she would tell the girls in the locker room if this were her last game, Senior captain Madie Harlem claimed “I would tell them I love them, and to keep working hard. They will be successful if they do that.”
If they do that, maybe they can hold up the signs next year cheering, “three-peat, three-peat, three-peat!”
Oneonta has another tough one against Cazenovia, then would go on to the final four weekend March 20-21 at Hudson Valley Community College, Troy. The semi final is at 10 a.m. that Friday, and the final at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Will the Jackets sting or get stung? Only time will tell, but for now the Lady Jackets can sit back and enjoy their sweet repeat.

Girls Echo 1997, ’98 Champs

By LAURA COX

Most memorable to Tiffany Hurley – now Tiffany Carr – was how her OHS Lady Yellowjackets’ basketball team got along.
But team members were competitive, too, and the combination pushed that legendary team to back-to-back state championships in 1997 and 1998.
In addition to Hurley, ‘98, the starting lineup was Stacey Knapp, ’98, Kristin Konstanty,’98, Karyn Piece, ’98 and Kristin Zeh ’99, best friends who had grown up playing together since the third or fourth grade.
“We didn’t like losing,” said Carr, who is currently the nurse at Oneonta Middle School, “we all wanted to win, so when we stepped on the court we put it all out there and did the best we could.”
The championship team was honored during the halftime at this year’s homecoming football game.
Krissy Zeh – OHS Coach Bob Zeh’s daughter who is currently teaching 3rd grade in Florida – described her team as confident and competitive and said it was an honor to be recognized at the game with her fellow teammates.
“Personally, I didn’t realize how amazing or great of an accomplish it was in high school. Until you are away from home and see other places and programs, you don’t know that to win back to back state championships doesn’t happen that often. We reminisced and had such a good time together.”
Zeh and Carr remember the girls who are on the team now from their own basketball days. Both indicated they helped coach clinics the girls participated in 10 years ago when current players were in elementary school and they remember the girls sitting on the sidelines as fans during those championship years.

Labels: 03-13-09, Front Page, Hometown Sports, OHS Girl's Basketball

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Vinnie’s Whimsical ‘Jester’ Featured At Arc’s Gallery

By LAURA COX

There it is, jester’s whimsy.
And that will be evident to art enthusiasts who attend the 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 13, opening of “Imagine,” the latest exhibit at Arc of Otsego’s Main Street Gallery.
Whimsy, unmistakable in the vigorous and color-filled “The Jester” by Vincent Devine, which graced the front of the postcard promoting the opening and will be front and center in the show.
Known to his friends as Vinnie, Devine is one of the 15 students who attend Arc’s Center for Self Expression five days a week.
“This exhibit is a real testament to celebrate this month,” said Lynne A. Sessions, Arc Otsego’s director of employee development. March is National Developmental Disability Awareness Month as well as beginning of organization’s membership drive.
At the center, working with professional artists, the students learn art techniques and how to express their thoughts and feelings through shapes and forms.
For “The Jester,” Vinnie worked with local artist Doug Jamieson of Treadwell and oil, canvas, shapes and colors.
“It took me quite a while to do it,” he said. He finished it over the course of four classes and is currently working on another one.
Painting is Vinnie’s favorite form of art because it so relaxing, with sculpture coming in a close second.
“The hardest part was getting it shaped out,” said the artist, “I drew it first and then painted it using my imagination with Doug’s help.”
The class Vincent participated in, four other students from the center participated in producing the same type of painting.
When teaching a course, Jamieson said, he gives directives as they go along, starting with finding shapes and measuring using traditional art school procedure. As the students draw, he draws.
“What’s really interesting is they all become individuals, they go off the line, and they each have their own point of departure,” said the teacher, “It’s remarkable guiding them. Five are doing the same painting and they are all extremely different. They begin from a template or basic set of instruction and really take on their own personality.”
“Vincent is unique,” said Doug, “and they are all unique. Vinnie has done very wonderful things, quite charming.”

Labels: 03-13-09, Front Page

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Foothills Director Adept In Theater AND Business

NYSHA’s McDowall Brings Range Of Experience

By JIM KEVLIN

Actress, playwright, director, marketer and business strategist.
Jennifer McDowall, the New York State Historical Society acting director of marketing and communications, will bring a range of experience to Oneonta Monday, April 6, as the new executive director of the $8 million Foothills Performing Arts Center.
It was that relevant variety that convinced the search committee that McDowell, who has been with NYSHA in Cooperstown for three years, was the right person for the job, said Doug Reeser, Foothills chairman of the board.
The committee – Reeser, former mayors David Brenner and Kim Muller, Barbara Apoin, Cal Chase and Arnie Drogen – also sensed “a quiet determination that will win out in the end,” the chairman said.
In an interview, McDowall said the first order of business will be for her and the board to define a vision for Foothills that the community will enthusiastically embrace.
On a more personal level, she said, she believes “people in rural communities deserve the same quality of art as people in urban communities,” and she will strive to see that’s provided.
Raised in New York City and New Jersey, Jennifer went to McGill in Montreal, then transferred to Edinburgh University. And it was in the Scottish capital – “a big theater town” – that she first fell in love with the stage.
“What I love about theater,” she said, “is it’s consuming. In any project, you have to open yourself to a whole new world. And good theater gives that back. That’s what we’re going to be doing here at Foothills.”
The highpoint was getting a role in a four-character cast of a David Mamet play. Another cast member was Elaine Smith, who since has become “a big star in Scotland,” so she was able to observe acting at its best.
A literature and language major, Jennifer also launched an underground newspaper that was so successful she was brought onto Edinburgh University Students’ Publications Board, the first woman to achieve that honor. She later edited a visual arts quarterly, Penumbra.
Graduating in 1982, she returned to New York and a communications job with Harper & Row, but participated in the city’s experimental theater scene, acting, directing and writing plays.
At one point, a theater cooperative she was associated with – it included three theaters, a gallery and a cafe – drafted her to guide them out of a financial mess.
“They were behind on the rent. The power was about to be shut off,” McDowall remembered.
She was able to keep the creditors at bay as she found funding to complete construction and develop a business plan, leveraging the company’s resources – renting space, providing acting services beyond the regular performances – to create “a lot of unconventional income streams.”
During this period, she also wrote four plays, her favorite being “Re-Criminal Minds,” an exploration of the trial and hanging of President Garfield’s assassin Charles Giteau, whose bleached bones were sent on a tour of the country.
In disassembling Giteau, it was discovered he had a large tumor in his brain, which would have added credence to the insanity defense.
To McDowall, the story suggested “how out social institutions can be skewed and dysfunctional.”
In 2001, she left New York, joining Golden Artists Colors Inc. in New Berlin as marketing director.
There, she met Ben Savett, and soon had a husband as well as three children, Paul, 17, Sylvia, 14 and David, 12, who are students in the Sherburne-Earlville district.
Reflecting on the challenges ahead, Jennifer said, “I would extrapoate on my own personal journey. It’s taken me a lifetime to appreciate theater as I do. What we need to offer people is a journey.”
The citizens of the Oneonta area, Doug Reeser added, will be playing a role in deciding how that’s done.
“This is their performing arts center,” he said. “they have to embrace this place. We have to get a feeling for what people want here.”

Labels: 03-13-09, Front Page

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20 Arts Groups Win UCCCA Grants Up To $5M

The Oneonta Community Concert Band and the City of the Hills Chorus (Sweet Adelines) are among 20 arts entities in the Oneonta area that received Community Arts Initiative Grants of up to $5,000 for programs during 2009. The total awarded was $30,000.
Highlights of the grants awarded include:
• Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble: Presents a free concert of traditional and contemporary wind band music featuring composer / conductor Brian S. Wilson.
• Orpheus Theatre, Inc.: Presents a spring musical theater production of Beauty and the Beast.
• Opportunities for Otsego: Two performances of the musical A Tooth Fairy Tale at the Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta.
• OCAY: “O-teen” TV holds 2 six week TV production workshops, spring and fall Oneonta Teen Center on Academy Street in Oneonta.
For more information on the grant, contact Corrine O’Connor, Coordinator of Arts Programming at the Arts Council at 432-2070.

Labels: 03-13-09, Hometown Briefs

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Gas-Drilling Dangers Subject Of 3 Forums, One Set In Oneonta

COOPERSTOWN

One of three forums, “How The Dangers of Gas Drilling Affect You,” will be held in Oneonta, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 16, at St. Mary’s Parish Center, Walnut and Elm.
Panelists will include Ron Bishop, chemistry lecturer at SUNY Oneonta, James Herman, Hartwick property owner, and Colleen Blacklock of Oneonta, who has been researching gas drilling impacts on agriculture.
They will address concerns about water quality, public health, environmental degradation, and damage to infrastructure raised by natural gas production and distribution, including drilling, air pollution, pipelines, and toxic waste disposal.
The forums are sponsored and organized by Sustainable Otsego. Supporting co-sponsors include the Otsego County Gas Group, Citizens Concerned for Otego, the Environmental Work Group, Oneonta Healthy Communities Campaign, and the Chenango DelawareOtsegoGasGroup (CDOG).
Similar forums are planned at 7 p.m., March 13, Old School Cafe, Cherry Valley, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at Templeton Hall, Cooperstown.

Labels: 03-13-09, Hometown Briefs, Natural Gas Drilling

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IN THE CITY OF THE HILLS

Thanks! We’re Half A Year Old

With this edition, Hometown Oneonta is six months old.
The fledgling newspaper is being delivered weekly to all 8,881 homes in the 13820 zip, and 309 homes in the Oneonta zip were added by popular demand. Total distribution is 12,000.
Hundreds of advertisers have chosen this vehicle to tell their stories to their customers.
And we thank you all!
To mark the occasion, general manager Jim Kevlin will be interviewed at 6 p.m. Friday, March 13, on WSIF, Channels 15 and 27.

VOLUNTEER! All fire houses in Otsego County will be open 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 15, for County-Wide Recruitment Day. Volunteers will be available to explain how to become a firefighter or EMS member.

TRAILBLAZER AWARD: Nominations are being sought for the third annual “Woman Trailblazers: Past & Present” award in conjunction with Women’s History Month. Nominations should be submitted to City Clerk Jim Koury by Monday, March 23.

RECESSION? HA! Cleinman Performance Partners, 343 Main St., business-development consultants for the eyecare industry, announce, recession or not, it is planning to add five professional positions in the next five months and raise the number of employees from 21 to 40 in five years. “Many, many businesses are thriving,” owner Al Cleinman observed.

WORD IS OUT: Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter for March recognized Hartwick College’s use of “social marketing” via the Internet to spread the word widely when it announced its program to allow students to get a B.A. in just three years, saving $40,000. So successful, a web search garnered 9,580 results.

DUNCAN INTERVIEW: Photographer Richard Duncan’s Sunday, March 8, televised interview on Mohawk Valley Living may be viewed by following the link at www.mohawkvalleyliving.com. His third photo book,
“Otsego County: Its Towns & Treasures,” was published in December.

‘LES MIS’: The OHS Drama Club is planning “Les Miserables,” based on Victor Hugo’s novel and performed in 15 countries, as its spring musical at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, and 2 p.m. Sunday the 28th. Mark your calendars.

AVOID STROKE: During May, National Stroke Awareness Month, Bassett Healthcare is offering community presentations. To schedule one, call Coleen Vesely at 547-4812.

Labels: 03-13-09, Front Page

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springbrook, Springboard To Productive Lives For All

This Year’s Gala Benefits
Unified Daycare Program

By JIM KEVLIN

MILFORD CENTER

Jamey Waters’ 4-year-old Sophia says of her daycare, “I love Bob and Jeannine. I want to stay here forever.”
Sophia is a “typical” youngster among the “special” youngsters at the unusual Kids Unlimited Preschool at Springbrook, where children of whatever type play and learn side by side.
“Kids have no qualms about other kids with differences,” said Jeannine Lyon of Cherry Valley, who directs one of the centers along with Bob Whiteman, also of Cherry Valley. “They look at people as being people before they see the differences.”
Jeannine has been working in Springbrook’s daycare program for 16 years and, overall, for 20 years – Bob, for 30 – in the former orphanage on Route 28 that grew into an organization to help people, young and then adults, who can’t always help themselves as easily as the rest of us.
For that reason, the folks Springbrook serves are particularly at risk right now. Just a few weeks ago, the Albany-based Center for Disabilities closed down its Cobleskill daycare center.
These undertakings are not inexpensive. It costs just short of $1 million per year to care for the 40 children at three sites, one in Oneonta and two in the campus that stretches up a hillside just south of Portlandville, and it’s running $100,000 in the red.
That’s the amount Springbrook has been able to raise through its annual gala, so this year’s proceeds from “What Do You Dream?”, planned Saturday, March 28, at The Otesaga, will be used to keep the daycare program whole.
In past years, the honoree has been a local community leader, but this year it is a national headliner, Connor Gifford, 27, of Nantucket, Mass., whose “”America According to Connor Gifford” became a national bestseller for the author with Down syndrome.
Tim Russert, the former National Baseball Hall of Fame trustee and “Meet the Press” moderator, championed Connor, among others.
In addition to the gala, a weekend of activities is planned, starting with a book signing 7-9 p.m. that Friday evening at The Green Toad Bookstore in Oneonta, a Springbrook open house 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and a presentation by Connor at 1 p.m. at The Fenimore Art Museum.
Sunday, Connor will be given a private tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Jamey Waters, Sophia’s mom, has been working for Springbrook for a year now, for the past few months as director of communications, and said her decision to put her daughter in the daycare was a natural.
There five staff members for the 11 youngsters in Sophia’s program, “a lot of attention and care,” said Jamey. Sophia “has done very well. I love it here.”
Patricia Kennedy, Springbrook’s executive director, noted that if the gala hits its $100,000 goal, the daycare program will be “in break-even mode for one year.”
“The pre-school is underfunded,” she said. “It’s a very, very necessary program. Early education is the most important thing.”
She hopes when people learn about the program, they’ll say, “Yes, I’m going to make an annual gift to the pre-school program.”
Said Kennedy, “Kids” – mostly with autism – “are identified by 2 or 3, when language becomes an issue. We start to get kids as they are identified.”
But the daycare handles children – there are vacancies for “typical” children; nobody knows about it,” said Jamey – from birth through age 5.
At that point, the “typical” kids go into regular school programs, while the others may continue at Springbrook, which provides physical, occupational and speech therapy to day students or in a residential setting through age 21.

If Stimulus Package Comes Through, $23M Expansion Will Create 130 Jobs

MILFORD CENTER

In the other corner of the conference room, across from the framed photograph of Harriet Parish Smith, who founded the Up State Baptist Home for Children in 1925, is a map of where Springbrook hopes to be in 2025.
The map and legend details a $23 million plan that Springbrook – it’s motto: “Making the difference for people with disabilities, for a lifetime” – intends to implement, perhaps as soon at President Obama’s economic stimulus package begins to trickle into Otsego County.
The original local share of the $23 million – $5 million – is in the process of being raised through a $2.5 million matching gift provided by Tom Golisano of Rochester, founder and CEO of Paychex and former gubernatorial candidate.
If the $25 million arrived through the stimulus – it is the largest item on the county Economic Development Office’s $60 million list of “shovel ready” projects – it would fast-track the development of six additional houses, a lodge, more classrooms, a new pool and a field house; further expansion would come just that much more quickly.
“It’s everything the stimulus package ought to do,” said Patricia Kennedy, Springbrook executive director. “It’s so shovel-ready, I can’t stand it.”
Most important, said Kennedy, it includes critical infrastructure – water lines, sewerage, roads – laying the foundation for even more growth.
“It’s preparing our school for the next 50 years,” she said.
The economic impact is manifest: Already, 800 people work for Springbrook, making it the fifth largest employer in the county. The expansion would add 130 permanent jobs.
Right now, Springbrook can accommodate 96 students in all, including 26 day students. The investment would accommodate another 24 students who are now being sent out of state at great expense.
Expansion is nothing new for Springbrook – it’s name was changed from Up State Baptist Home in 2005.
The Chellis Nichols building, the brick structure on the corner of Routes 28 and 44, opened just seven years after its founding.
In the 1970s, the extensive residential school on the hill was built.

Labels: 03-13-09, springbrook, The City of the Hills

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WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

IMAGINE! “Imagine,” an exhibit by artists at The Arc Otsego’s Center for Self Expression will have its opening reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 13, at the Main View Gallery, 73 Main St.

HALT HUNGER: Six musical groups will perform to raise money to fight hunger locally 7-9 p.m. Friday, March 13, at St. Mary’s Church, 39 Walnut, sponsored by the Oneonta Hunger Taskforce. A free-will offering will be collected.

CANCER FIGHTIN’: SUNY Oneonta’s Relay for Life will kick off with an opening ceremony at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 13, followed by a survivor walk and all-included walk. Everyone’s welcome to participate.

LOTS OF LAUGHS: For $25 in advance ($30 at the door), enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet and comedy night beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, March 13, at Oneonta’s Holiday Inn. For reservations, call 433-2250.

GET FIT: Experts will be available to give you advice on foot problems, shoe selection, sports related injuries, training programs and more at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at SportTech, Oneonta. For information or an appointment, call 432-1731, or visit sportechonline.com

EPHEMERAL: 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. The Greater Oneonta Historical Society’s annual Postcard & Ephemera Show is 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at St. James Episcopal Church, Elm Street. In addition to postcards, offerings include sheet music, posters and other documents. Admission $1.

WHY, EVA, WHY? Portions of an original play, “Little Eva,” are the topic of a reading at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at The Green Toad Bookstore, 198 Main St. Milford native Isaac Rathbone, who runs a theater company in New York City, wrote the play for the 75th anniversary of Otsego County’s most notorious murder.

HOW SWEET IT IS: Sugaring Off Sundays continue on the 15th, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at The Farmers’ Museum, Cooperstown, featuring pancakes and locally made maple syrup. Adults $7, children 6-12 $3, 5 and under free.

Labels: 03-13-09, The City of the Hills, weekend's best bets

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Hat Trick

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

Maybe it’s the end of winter and the thaw is setting in, but the number of things to cover in this column is beginning to step up, not unlike a racing heartbeat.
Three items this week:
First, your columnist had the pleasure of dropping in on the regional version of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on the SUNY Oneonta campus Saturday, March 7.
It did one’s heart good to see so many young people devoted to proper spelling, an art in increasing danger of extinction.
It takes a lot of courage to get up in public and enumerate the letters of a word drawn at random from thousands and thousands of possibilities. Apple, embargo, morgue, sierra, vivisection, polymer…
I am like the person at the pound who wants to take all the dogs home; I want everyone to win the competition.
One by one, contestants dropped out as the difficulty of the words increased, but I say BRAVO to all for getting as far as they did and for taking seriously a most serious matter.
Second, the art of theater will bring to life a page of local history in the national spotlight several decades ago.
Milford native Isaac Rathbone, now a playwright based in Brooklyn, has written “Little Eva,” the dramatization of a titillating early 20th Century scandal involving booze and ladies of the night overseen by one sassy, sexy, seductive and murderous, Eva Coo.
She started out in Oneonta, then a railroad boomtown of prominence, but was run out of town by the affronted citizenry (despite the considerable patronage of the sheriff and a pastor).
She first went all of two miles outside the city limits, then all the way to Milford.
Her trial was a sensation and drew spectators in the tradition of Charles Dickens’ Madame Defarge.
Rathbone, who with his wife Jenn has also founded the Oracle Theatre in New York, has assembled a cast to present excerpts of the play at a reading at 6 p.m. Sunday the 15th at The Green Toad Bookstore, 198 Main St., Oneonta, co-sponsored by Hometown Oneonta, the Cooperstown Brewing Co. – its Backyard India Pale Ale has Coo victim Harry Wright on the label – and the Greater Milford Area Historical Association. A full production will be mounted in Milford in June.
Isaac had thought the story was ideal material for a screenplay and then, happily for us, decided he would put his playwriting skills to use to make it a live drama. It promises to be quite an event.
Third, Oneonta resident Joe Stillman, an award-winning cinematographer and inspiration to the youth of our area, has filmed a riveting documentary of contemporary importance. “From Mills River to Babylon and Back…The Jimmy Massey Story” chronicles the moving, harrowing, and ultimately redemptive experience of a Marine who, true to the corps’ s code, placed honor above all things and returned from duty in Iraq with a mission of truth.
The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at Hartwick College’s Anderson Theater.
As a PS, don’t forget: the BIG READ approaches (April 18-May 16). Watch this column in the coming weeks for previews of what to see, attend, and participate in.

Sam Goodyear’s column on the arts
in the region appears weekly

Labels: 03-13-09, Art Beat, Sam Goodyear, The City of the Hills

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What’s Going On?

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

A traditional Balinese Gamelan via Massachusetts calling the Hindu Gods and welcoming spring, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Third Lute Suite, Joao Pernambuco’s “Sounds of Bells” and a little late night swing. 
These were the events I attended this weekend – Gamelan Galak Tiki at Cooperstown Central School’s Sterling Auditorium (the finale of the 39th Cooperstown Concert Series), Giancarlo Sidoli’s classical guitar recital at SUNY Oneonta’s Fine Arts Building, and Full Thermos and the Jazz Messengers at Cooperstown’s Hoffman Lane Bistro. 
 Since this past October, I have maintained a weekly column on nightlife, music and entertainment in the Oneonta and Cooperstown region. 
For the most part, I have offered previews, reviews and pertinent historical or background information on the events, performers, genres and styles which have fallen under my pen. 
For lack of a better word, however, I would like to dedicate this week’s space to a survey of area music performance venues. 
And yes, this especially goes out to the “I had no idea that was going on” crowd.
 A new and most valuable event forum comes to us from an anonymous local musician and appreciator of the arts: www.whatsup-ny.com provides a daily, weekly and monthly feed of live music, art and cultural events in Oneonta, Cooperstown and Delaware County.
The site’s event calendar is evidence enough that one can in fact live in Central New York without the assistance of a television.
Similarly, www.oneontams.blogspot.com – yes, oneontams, with an “m” – offers a detailed catalog of the Oneonta music scene.  If you feel out of place wandering aimlessly around either of the colleges’ music wings with a calendar taking note of the countless flyers and program notes, this local blog is worth a routine check. 
Regarding genre, those with an ear for classical music should keep an eye on the Catskill Choral Society under direction of Dr. Timothy Newton, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra under Charles Schneider, and this summer’s Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.  The New York Summer Music Festival, held at SUNY Oneonta with artists and educators from the New York Philharmonic, the Manhattan School and Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and others, will surely bring some wonderful sounds to the area.
For rock music, just open your ears – two colleges and the bars on Main St. in Oneonta provide a pretty steady flow of this.  However, for something out of the ordinary it is worth while look for an out-of-the-box party at the Foothills Performing Arts Center. 
For Country Bluegrass and Blues (and I’m not talking about that old place on the Bowery), look to the Horseshoe Lounge Playboys. 
Jazz can be found the Hoffman Lane Bistro in Cooperstown, Thursday Nights at the Quarter Moon Café in Delhi, and occasionally at My Father’s Place on Route 7 in Oneonta. 
Similarly, the New York Summer Music Festival will bring some real heavy hitters from the jazz world. 
 SUNY Oneonta also has some talented genre bands, including jam bands, blues bands, the jazz octet (in residency Wednesday nights at the General Clinton Pub – feel free to bring your instrument to sit in), and the eclectic yet awesome Mothers of Intention – a serious Frank Zappa cover band.
 Obviously, these are not all of the events, groups, and venues in the area.  Neither is this an event calendar, though, and it was my intention to provide a good starting point for those who had “no idea it was going on.” 
Keep an open eye to the newspaper and events calendars and get out of the house while staying in town.  It may sound counterintuitive, but the audience has the greatest effect on the quality of the music. 

(Editor’s Note: Hey, Evan, Hometown
Happenings in this newspaper strives to be comprehensive as well)

Labels: 03-13-09, Evan Jagels, Night Life, The City of the Hills

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AWAITING THE DANCE: Members of the Oneonta Dance Center share laughs and conversation prior to a lasagna dinner Saturday, March 7, to raise funds for their upcoming trip to the Dance America/Dance Olympic Workshop in Wayne, N.J, Saturday, March 21. Clockwise from Mia Quinones, center, are Maraya Fisher, Jordan Jeremias, Erik Miller, Stefanie Paluch (she was Jafar, from Disney’s “Aladdin”), Michael Lee, Amber Talbot and Ryan Shuler. The dinner in St. Mary’s School auditorium drew 180 fans.

‘Roberto’s Kids’ Expands Into Nicaragua

By: LAURA COX

The Oneonta-based charity, “Roberto’s Kids,” marked a milestone on Saturday, March 7, as they filled trucks with one ton of baseball equipment and to be shipped immediately to Nicaragua for distribution amongst the children.
The organization, which started in 1999 with a donation from the Oneonta Little League, collects used baseball equipment – anything from cleats and jerseys to gloves, bats and balls, anything having to do with baseball – and donates it to youth in need of equipment, particularly throughout the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and parts of Africa.
Inspired by Roberto Clemente’s legend, and with his families’ blessing, the charity was named Roberto’s Kids in 2006 when it joined forces with a similar organization based in Pennsylvania.
The Roberto’s Kids website quotes Clemente about the need to give a helping hand: “We need to show love and to love, not only our kids and our family as a whole but also our neighbors. We’re all brothers and sisters, and we must give each other a helping hand when it is need.”
Last year alone, 20 tons of equipment was shipped to the Dominican Republic, where it was distributed to thousands of children in worthy leagues, churches, orphanages and schools.
“We have never turned down a request,” said founder Steve Pindar of Oneonta, “the economic downturn is not only affecting us, but people worldwide, and requests show that this year. We have had an increase in requests particularly in the U.S. from inner city regions and American Indian Reservations.”
But even with requests up, Pindar is not too worried about filling them, as donations have not dipped. Part of this is explained by the general wear and outgrowing of equipment by the hundreds of youth baseball teams across America, as well as many of the Minor League Baseball teams. Plus community equipment drives are held by many organizations each year to benefit Roberto’s Kids.
Many of the youth teams that come to Cooperstown to play baseball each summer come with cars full of extra equipment to donate.
The new Oneonta Tigers General Manager, Andrew Weber, has agreed to team up with Roberto’s Kids to promote equipment drives at games throughout the New York-Penn League.
As the country eases into full-blown baseball season this spring, Roberto’s Kids hopes that people don’t forget about the players who are in need of all the old bats, balls and gloves piled up in the garage or the outgrown uniforms from last season and they think about the children all across the world whose joy it would be to receive these old relics.
More information about the Roberto’s Kids organization or how to donate items can be found at their website, www.robertos-kids.org.

Huge Flag, ‘Buy American’ Message On Display

If you were on I-88 just west of Oneonta Friday, March 6, and looked to the north, you would have seen a big American flag -- and the words: Buy American, Take Control -- on the side of Apple Converting Inc. in the Pony Farm Industrial Park.
Tim O’Connor, Maryland, and the crew from his TMO Construction & Contracting completed the job today for Mike Manno of Cooperstown, Apple Converting owner.
Manno had three separate signs made -- the other two say: Stimulate This, Buy American, and Buy American, And Get the Lead Out -- and they will be rotated.

Oneonta’s Carleigh Bettiol Wins Chancellor’s Award

Oneonta’s Carleigh Bettiol, business economic major who graduated in December, is one of four SUNY Oneonta students chosen to receive the 2009 Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.
The citation called Carleigh, an excellent student who displayed “outstanding talent” as a choreographer, dancer, teacher, actor and singer.
Locally, she choreographed and appeared in the Orpheus Theater production of “A Chorus Line.”
Carleigh was named as one of SUNY Oneonta’s “Best and Brightest.” She recently landed a role in a professional production of the musical “Guys and Dolls” at the Armory Theater in Janesville, Wisc.

IN NYC SHOW: Joanne Grigoriev, proprietor of Nikita Indoor Outdoor, Elm Street, will be demonstrating her company’s convertible furnishings at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in Manhattan at the end of this month. Their display will in the Pure Catskills Organization booth.

ON DVD: A musical composition, “thinning, and away,” by Hartwick College Assistant Professor of Music Thomas Licata, has been released on “Space/Sound: Multichannel Electroacoustic Music,” a new DVD by Capstone Records.

ROCK EXHIBIT: Hartwick College Professor of Geology Robert Titus has curated a new exhibit of more than 25 rock slabs from the Devonian Sea floor to the Ice Age at The Catskill Center’s Erpf Gallery, Arkville. It runs through April 26.

KEYNOTER: SUNY Oneonta Athletic Director Tracey Ranieri, an All-America soccer player in her own right, was the keynote speaker at the Atchinson Reception at the Soccer Hall of Fame honoring 300 soccer players from around the region.

POETRY READING: Poet and scholar Roger Hecht, SUNY Oneonta assistant professor of English, gave a reading of his works Wednesday, March 11, in the Morris Conference Center. A reception followed.

Labels: 03-13-09, Hometown People

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Joining The MS Club

MAGGIE WANDELL

OTHER VOICES

Editor’s Note: Maggie Wandell, a Hartwick College student who is fighting MS, prepared this essay in advance of National MS Awareness Week, March 2-8.

From the moment I hit high school I knew I was supposed to focus on my future. What am I going to be? What am I going to do?
I knew that I was supposed to get involved. Be active. Join Clubs. Make a difference. So I did. I played volleyball. I joined the swim team. I was the freshmen point guard on the basketball team. I sat in the first chair in the saxophone section in both the jazz band and the concert band.
Like I said, I was a joiner. However, there was one club that I became an unwitting member of in February of my sophomore year, a club whose membership I did not choose.
I remember my induction as if it were yesterday. I had just spent a week in the Children’s Hospital in Boston after complaining of various unexplained symptoms.
The doctors ran their numerous tests, everything from spinal taps to MRI’s to vial after vial of blood work.
My parents and I sat anxiously in Dr. Gorman’s office, awaiting the final results.
I remember hearing the words, “You have MS,” but I remember more my parent’s faces as they absorbed the diagnosis.
I did not understand what Dr. Gorman was telling me, but they did. I looked with confusion at my Mom and Dad and all I could see was their fear and panic. I did not fully grasp what they were telling me, even after sharing their own grief. I remember asking, “What does this mean?”
It took a few minutes for it to sink in what I was being told. I thought they were joking or that the doctors had confused the results with another kid, but my parent’s faces told me the truth. I had MS. Shock hit me like a tidal wave. I was fifteen.
I knew then that my world would never be the same. I was thrown into an existence of daily injections, monthly dialysis, steroids, unbearable fatigue, and an uncertain future.
Gone were my carefree and spontaneous after school activities. I did not have the energy or the physical agility to play sports. At first, all I could think was that I wanted my life back. I was furious; I wanted to be a normal 15 year old girl again, but there was no one who could give that to me.
To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement.
I did not want to be in The Club. The worst part was that I could do nothing about my membership, and moreover there was no one to blame.
I knew that there were other members, but somehow that didn’t make me feel any better. To add to my frustration, being a member forced me to forego all my other memberships. That was hard for me; I did not realize how much of my identity was wrapped up in participating in my other activities.
Moving into my junior year I realized that I still wanted to be a part of something positive. After all, I realized that others such as Lance Armstrong were affiliated club members, and Lance got back on HIS bike.
I decided that I was not going to let MS dictate my life. It was hard to let go of the many sports with which I had been involved, but in looking around I learned that there were many other activities.
So I rejoined. I joined the Best Buddies program and was paired with an amazing young girl who taught me more about resilience and character than anyone else I had known.
In time, I became president of the Best Buddies chapter at our school. Since I was still a member of the band, I ran for band president, and won. I even took a giant leap of faith and dove into politics, eventually running for junior class president.
Coming to terms with my own strengths and limitations actually made me a compassionate and caring leader to my peers, and I came to realize that I enjoy being a voice for those who may not be able to speak.
As a result, I decided to pursue a career in special education, where I can focus on fighting for those who often need an advocate.
I even started to be an activist. With help from members of Best Buddies, National Honor Society, and other clubs in which I was involved I organized a group of students from Pembroke High School, called “Maggie’s Crew.”
Maggie’s Crew is 144 volunteers who raised more than $10,000 to help find a cure for MS by walking in the National MS Walk-A-Thon. The level of support I received by my community members overwhelmed me, and I remain awed by the response when called for action in behalf of people living with MS. MS has taught me to be grateful and gracious.
I am learning firsthand the power of inspiration, commitment, and passion.
Booker T. Washington once said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”
There is no question that I have faced obstacles, but I am proud that I learned not to define myself by MS, rather by what I have learned about myself as a result of MS.
I will not deny that there are days that I resent my initiation into The Club, but then again, there are days that I embrace it as a vehicle of survival and inspiration.

Labels: 03-13-09, Guest Column, Hometown Views

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Thank You, Oneonta. Your Support Has HOMETOWN Humming

First and foremost, thank you Oneonta, for making Hometown Oneonta – celebrating its six-month anniversary with this edition – such a huge success.
Thank you, Oneonta, for being such an interesting, diverse and vibrant place. There’s just so much to write about and record photographically.
Thank you, Oneonta community leaders, celebrating the City of the Hills the way you do. Covering the city’s Centennial was a delight.
Thank you, Oneonta businesspeople, for not losing your nerve in a dicey economic climate. Whatever happens with AIG or Citicorp, local success, now as always, depends on getting local customers in the door by getting the word out.
•
Significantly, the business owners who have most recognized the unique potential of Hometown Oneonta and acted on it continue to garner good results in challenging times.
The Hometown Oneonta concept, it turns out, is a powerful one. Keep costs low. Share those savings with advertisers. And deliver a newspaper that people want to read to every single home in the 13820 zip code, plus West Oneonta, 9,100 in all.
Another 3,000 copies are dropped at high traffic points in southern Otsego and northern Delaware counties. That translates, using the 2.5-readers-per-copy industry standard, into 30,000 sets of eyeballs weekly, and the weekly publication cycle gives Hometown Oneonta the longest shelf life.
So there’s the formula, cost-effective pricing, full – 100 percent – distribution. (13820 stretches from this side of Davenport Center to near Milford to just this side of Otego – Oneonta merchants’ prime customers.)
•
In its first six months, Hometown Oneonta has gotten a reputation as “the good news newspaper.”
That was never our intent. We just followed our nose for news and discovered fascinating people – Madalyn Palmer, Tom Travisano, Nancy Kleniewski, Ryan Brooks, Erna Morgan McReynolds, Nick Lambros, Bob Zeh, Charlotte McKane, Diz Lamonica and many, many more.
And we discovered a fascinating town: The YMCA’s Dad & Daughter Dance, the railroad heritage, the great downtown, Neahwa and the other fine parks, music, theater, art, OWL, the
U-C-C-C-A and its Chili Bowl. Wow.
And we discovered a challenging future. A state commission on streamlining government has recommended the town and city of Oneonta as one of two top prospects for merger. SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick are being buffeted by dire economic winds. Mayor Nader has put restoring downtown on the top of his agenda this year. There will be no shortage of good stuff to write about and comment on.
•
In short, we’ve been encouraged, surprised and challenged by what we’ve learned about our City of the Hills in the past six months, and have continued our efforts with a sense of responsibility – a newspaper like Hometown Oneonta has an important role to play in the community’s future, and we pledge to fill that role to the fullest extent.
Again, to all of you, many thanks!
BILL REEVES
Publisher
JIM KEVLIN
General Manager

Labels: 03-13-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago
Home & Vicinity – Stratton the caterer has rented of A.C. Lewis the store in the new Lewis & Roberts’ block, upper Main Street, for a restaurant which he proposes to call “The Windsor.” Mr. Stratton informs us that the appointments of his new place will not be equaled outside of New York – a Brussels carpet, cherry tables and furniture, and a toilet room for ladies being among the attractive features.
Arrangements will soon be made for the convenience of the men at the railroad shops whereby stamps, postal cards and stamped envelopes can be obtained of someone in the shops, who will be supplied with a stock constantly. A box will also be provided there in which mail matter can be deposited and from which the mail will be collected daily.
March 1884

100 Years Ago
The Oneonta Chamber of Commerce met to discuss matters of interest to this city, among them being the not uncommon custom of making Oneonta the dumping ground for the needy poor of other counties, thereby making them a charge upon the relief fund of the city.
Mr. Bresee reported that the matter of a union station had been brought to the attention of the public service commission and also that he had entered into correspondence with the Postal Telegraph Company relative to the establishment of an office here.
The committee on statistics and publications reported that it was anxious to issue a book descriptive of Oneonta and its industries.
March 1909

80 Years Ago
Though no will for the late Willard E. Yager has been found, the famed author and Indian archaeologist had well-defined intentions relative to the disposition of his collection of relics and data housed in his Long House at the rear of his Ford Avenue residence. His sister and sole heir, Miss Marion Yager, is thoroughly conversant, she having been his confidante throughout the years.
In settlement of his estate Hartwick College will receive the residence on Ford Avenue, the Long House with all its contents and a substantial legacy for the upkeep of the property and the safeguarding of the remarkable collection of Indian relics. Mr. Yager’s collection is by far the best extant of the Upper Susquehanna aborigines, of whom he made a special study.
March 1929

60 Years Ago
A gospel team of the Salvation Army of Binghamton, led by Major Jacob Hohn of Oneonta, presented a musical program at the Otsego County Home on Sunday afternoon. In addition to the residents of the home there were 18 guests present. A special program was given in the infirmary for patients there.
The New York State Apprentice Training Program is open to veterans and non-veterans alike, according to Edwin R. Moore of Oneonta, director of the Otsego County Veterans Service Agency. Training classes in various trades include a minimum of 144 hours a year of related supplemental instruction in addition to actual work.
The related instruction is arranged for by the New York State Department of Education in cooperation with local school authorities and, when established, is under the supervision of local authorities. The school district receives both state and federal financial aid when the program is underway.
March 1949

40 Years Ago
Hunters in Otsego County last fall took a total of 3,074 deer, according to figures released by the state conservation department. They bagged 2,093 adult bucks, and 189 male fawns, plus 613 adult does and 179 female fawns.
Statewide, hunters took 91,993 whitetail deer last fall, topping the previous record of 78,481, set only the year before in 1967. Included in this new total were a record number of adult bucks – 53,957 as well as 23,147 adult does and 14,889 fawns. Regular gunners took 51,289 adult bucks; party permit hunters took 39,026 deer of both sexes; and archers took 1,407 deer of both sexes.
March 1969

20 Years Ago
The Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts spring film series will feature Rosa Luxemburg by German director Margarethe von Trotta.
Rosa Luxemburg was a leftist leader whose life involved her in most of the major radical movements of the early 20th century. Known as “Red Rosa” to friends and enemies, Luxemburg had been one of the leading figures of the European left for more than 20 years until her murder in 1919, just two weeks after joining the German Social Democrat splinter group, the Spatacists, and founding the German Communist Party. Rosa clung to her interpretation of Marxism, believing firmly in the dictatorship of the proletariat, but remaining a staunch pacifist, claiming no cause was worth the taking of a human life.
The film also depicts Rosa, the woman: her love affairs, her fiery speeches, her frequent self-reflective imprisonments, and her brutal murder. Barbara Sukowa won the best actress prize at the Canne Film Festival for her performance as Rosa.
March 1989

10 Years Ago
The Oneonta girls’ basketball winning streak ended at 50 as the Yellowjackets lost an overtime thriller 57-55 to Poughkeepsie’s Our Lady of Lourdes in a state regional on Wednesday at Dutchess Community College.
The Yellowjackets got 14 points from Krissy Zeh who was hobbled through the final minutes of the overtime with a severe leg cramp. The Yellowjackets’ Lindsay Adams hit two buzzer-beaters in the contest to keep Oneonta in the game, both shots from beyond the three-point line. The Yellowjackets’ defense was led by Erin Shackelton who eventually fouled out after guarding Lady of Lourdes Center Maureen Margarity who scored 10 of her game-high 27 points in the overtime.
March 1999

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

Labels: 03-13-09, Columns, Hometown History

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