Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Relay For Life

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Anita Briggs/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

SUNY Oneonta’s Alumni Field House was packed throughout the night of Friday, March 14, for the SUNY Oneonta/Hartwick College Relay for Life. More than 1,000 people participated, raising $62,000.

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page, Images

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Novelties Of Oneonta Past Surface At Ephemera Show

The fifth annual Post Card & Ephemera Show of the Greater Oneonta Historical Society confounded all predictions, said society president Bob Brzozowski.
In year’s past, the event’s raised $100 – “we did it for the fun,” he said.
But this year, he estimated, the sale raised $300-$400 to benefit the society, whose big fundraisers are the antique show, scheduled this year for Nov. 4, and the auction, which is still to be scheduled this fall.
The first year, the show was held in the society’s History Center at Main and Deitz, but its popularity made that venue too small. The next three years, the Universalist Church hosted it. This was the second year it’s been at St. James’ parish hall at Main and Elm.
In the future, Brzozowski anticipates, the ballroom on the History Center’s top floor will be complete and the event can be hosted there.

Labels: 03-20-09, Hometown Briefs

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago
Home & Vicinity – Owing to the disadvantageous weather, work at the silver mine has been abandoned for the present. It will be resumed actively as soon as the weather becomes settled.
The trainmen have been kept very busy of late. “I have averaged but two hours sleep a day for nearly a week and have put in more than double time,” said a brakeman on Monday.
Abraham Lincoln still lives – not the Abraham of old, but Abraham the jewelry peddler, who for many years has made trips through this locality. He is in town today and reports business as first rate.
March 1884

100 Years Ago
While a freight train on the southbound track between Colliers and Maryland was running slowly Monday afternoon near the former village, train 757, also southbound, collided with the first train. The shock of the collision was not hard enough to throw any of the cars off the track but was sufficient to knock over the stove in the caboose of the first train.
Live coals were thrown on the floor and as no water was at hand the caboose was soon in flames. The trainmen were unable to do anything toward saving the car which was accordingly uncoupled and left to burn, the trainmen riding to Oneonta on top of their cars.
March 1909

80 Years Ago
Otsego County automobile owners and operators in 1928 paid into the New York State Motor Vehicle Bureau $196,461.74 of which $45,574.10 was returned to the county according to the annual report of the state’s Motor Vehicle Commissioner. The money goes to the county highway fund. There were 11,876 passenger cars, 44 omnibuses and 2,526 commercial cars. The total number of automobiles in this county including those exempt from taxation was 14,569. There were 2,395 chauffeurs and 12,205 operators.
The report shows that 2,115,178 motor vehicles were registered in the state during 1928, a figure which represents seven percent of all the cars in the world. A total of 334,227 commercial automobiles, 15,802 motorcycles and 54,261 omnibuses were also registered in the state of New York. There were 4,852 automobile dealers in the state in 1928.
March 1929

60 Years Ago
As a result of charges brought by C. Albion Kenworthy of the Oneonta Office of the New York State Unemployment Insurance Department, two violators of the New York State labor laws were arrested by officers of the State Police barracks of Cooperstown and brought before Justice of the Peace Harold D. Carpenter on Wednesday. The two men, George Bird and John Harold Conklin, both of RD 3 were charged with fraudulently obtaining unemployment insurance while gainfully employed.
After a guilty plea, Bird was given a 30-day sentence in the Otsego County jail which was suspended on the condition that he resume work and make immediate restitution. For a four-week period beginning on September 13 of last year he had collected $104 from the state and during the same period earned $113.68. Conklin, who had obtained $350 unlawfully but had since made restitution, received a five-day suspended sentence.
March 1949

40 Years Ago
Republicans still outnumber Democrats by a margin of 2 to 1 in Otsego County, according to enrollment figures supplied this week by Mrs. Violet Schallert, deputy commissioner of the county election board. Schallert said there were 15,817 persons enrolled in the Republican Party last November 5, and 7,924 in the Democratic Party.
The Republicans increased their enrollment by 949 over the previous year’s 14,868, while the Democrats picked up 497 over their 1967 total of 7,427. Only one of Otsego County’s 54 election districts has a Democratic majority. In the Sixth Ward of the City of Oneonta, there are 398 Democrats enrolled and 313 Republicans. In 1967, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 371 to 274. Two minor parties showed increases in enrollment over 1967. The Liberal Party has 192 enrolled voters in the county compared with 151 the year before, while Conservative Party members numbered 162 compared with 134 in 1967.
March 1969

20 Years Ago
Opponents of Off-Track Betting (OTB) numbering well over 100 traveled from as far as Unadilla to voice opposition to OTB at a public meeting in the County Courthouse last week. County representatives are expected to take action on whether to permit OTB in the area at the next regular board meeting on April 5.
Most objectors to OTB said the issue is a moral one. “When gambling doesn’t satisfy government spending, do we legalize prostitution?” asked Dominic DiScala, former county board member from Laurens. “Don’t vote with your pocketbook,” he urged. “Vote with your heart and conscience. His remarks were answered with applause. “Support your government – lay down a $2 bet,” said Hartwick College professor Davis Conley. His remark was also followed by applause. Rep. Joseph Kenyon initiated the most recent OTB proposal as a member of the county’s Ways and Means Committee.
March 1989

10 Years Ago
State Senator James L. Seward discussed a $262.5 million economic development plan designed to create high-technology jobs throughout the state by attracting research dollars to colleges and universities particularly in the upstate region.
The plan which has been named “Jobs 2000” or “J2K” proposes four initiatives that would be phased over a five-year period – create an office of higher education to focus on research and economic development programs; establish a job-training program targeting existing workers who need to learn new skills for new jobs; improve the state’s infrastructure, particularly water systems, so companies find the area more attractive; and expand entrepreneurship.
March 1999

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

Labels: 03-20-09, Hometown History

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Attention, Gardeners! On Your Mark, Get Set... GROW

Like ‘Victory Gardens’ Of WWII,
Local Community Efforts Flourish

By JEANNINE BOHLER

During World War II, fresh produce blossomed in backyards, window sills, empty lots and school yards across America.
Tending a tilled plot of earth was as patriotic as waving the flag, and a necessity as commercially grown fruits and vegetables were processed and sent to feed the troops overseas.
Families and community members bonded over the plantings and weeding and canning that kept food on the table during the lean war years.
Almost six decades later there is again a national cry for sustainability. Locally, from Oneonta to Cooperstown and elsewhere, people are stepping up to the call.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Otsego County’s workshop Saturday, March 14, about growing a Victory Garden, attracted almost 40 participants interested in growing their own food.
The Cooperative Extension, on Lake Street, Cooperstown, will be the site of one effort to grow produce for community members.
Volunteer Master Gardeners plan to plant and maintain a Victory Garden for the benefit of Eat Smart New York, a program that provides nutrition, food preparation and basic budgeting information to food stamp recipients and other income-eligible participants in Otsego County.
Families work with educators to learn about food budgeting, quick and healthy meal preparation, and food safety, according to Dianne Dirig, senior nutrition educator.
“The program has been very successful over the years. We have seen the numbers grow. We have the capacity to reach more people,” she said.
This year year’s Victory Garden will be a first attempt at incorporating the produce into the program. Commonly used and familiar vegetables – lettuces, tomatoes, beans, potatoes – will be planted.
It is hoped the garden will generate community interest and interest among the families involved with the Eat Smart New York program.

“We hope to get more people interested in growing produce at home where they can really reap the rewards,” said Wanda Jagocki, Master Gardeners’ acting coordinator.
The garden will be funded by the Master Gardeners. The group raises money through its annual plant sale and seeks to put the money back into the community.
Oneonta residents will again have a chance to try out their green thumbs at the Oneonta Community Garden located in front of Riverside School.
The efforts of Alderman Erik Miller helped the idea of a community garden to grow after the flood of 2006 wiped out the original community gardens located on Silas Lane near the waste water treatment plant. Miller talked to teachers and neighbors and was told repeatedly that people needed a place where neighbors could meet and talk and have a community garden.
He talked the idea over with his daughter’s second grade teacher, Susan Brunswick and the next week he had 15 letters and pictures from young children expressing the need for a garden in Oneonta.
What resulted was 16 plots, 10 x 20, organized by the City of Oneonta under the Parks and Recreation Department. Every plot was filled last year. This year’s call for applications just went out, but if the demand is high, it is hoped the garden will be expanded.
Neighbors came from all over the city, first time gardeners and seasoned growers alike. Some started from seed, others brought in plants, each with their own style.
“It was great. It was great networking and great to be able to lean on someone with more experience,” Miller said.
Last year’s participants enjoyed $10-15 gift certificates and 10 percent off purchases from Asbury Gardens to help get them started. They shared a pot luck harvest dinner at one gardener’s house, and a great spirit of community, Miller said.
Hopes are high that the garden will expand as a community meeting place – perhaps one with benches for relaxing, a memorial herb garden to enjoy and a harvestfest for celebration. Kid Garden will blossom for the second year behind Cooperstown Elementary School. What began as a 600 square foot vegetable plot last year will be expanded to 3500 square feet of produce to be used in the school’s cafeteria and donated to the Cooperstown Food Bank.
“We heard a call in the community for a garden, and with sustainability being such a focus, we decided to give it a try,” said Kristen Griger, the garden’s coordinator. Last year, she and a small committee worked together to raise funding and plan the garden. It was planted in the spring and maintained over the summer by volunteer families. When the kids came back to school in the fall, they ate fresh produce from the garden, harvested 76 pounds of potatoes, donated produce to the food bank and enjoyed an opportunity to work in the garden during recess.
This year’s plans are even grander. Nineteen classroom teachers have asked Griger to visit their rooms and provide lessons to their students. The kids will have a chance to plant the seeds which will be transferred to Carefree Gardens and raised until they are ready for planting. Excess seedlings will be sold during Springfest held May 17.
The incorporation of lessons about the growing of food into the school curriculum is something Griger continues to develop.
“Math, science, literature, social studies can all be taught in the garden. It provides a place for hands-on education in nature,” she said. The garden will always be there. Teachers can read stories in the garden, look for bugs or study flower parts. It is a living laboratory.”
Some opportunities for gardening will be available to students this spring, as well as a salad bar filled with the early growing crops like lettuce and peas. Families will work throughout the summer to maintain the garden. Anything harvested during the summer months will be donated to the food bank.
When school reopens in the fall, kids will again have the opportunity to work in the garden during recess. The cafeteria will offer a salad bar using the produce and Chef Brian Wrubleski of Bassett Dining Services will prepare vegetables like potatoes that need to be cooked.
“We hope students learn to appreciate how food is grown and where it comes from, to enjoy healthy food and to carry with them lessons that will benefit them throughout their lives,” she said.
The appeal of an old fashioned Victory Garden is growing again. As one master gardener put it, “The term goes back to World War II. In today’s world, it is a Victory Garden because everyone can be successful at it.”

Green Thumbs Calendar

April 4: Vegetable Gardening in Containers, 10 a.m. – noon, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 123 Lake Street, Cooperstown. $5 Registration fee. Call 547-2536, ex. 235 to register

April 13: Oneonta Federated Garden Club Monthly Meeting: April 13 at 1 p.m. at St. James Church, 305 Main Street, Oneonta. Guest Speaker Ron Breland, Champion of Bees, will discuss the value of bees, not only for their honey, but for their service to a healthy earth and how to help save bees through natural landscaping.

May 2: Caring for Your Vegetable Victory Garden, 10 a.m. – noon, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 123 Lake Street, Cooperstown. $5 registration fee. Call 547-2536, ex. 235 to register.

May 11: Oneonta Federated Garden Club May Luncheon at the Otesaga Hotel. Reservations are required. Call Chairman Sue Guinan at 432-0693 to reserve a seat.

May 16: Oneonta Federated Garden Club Annual Plant Sale, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Swart-Wilcox House, River Street, Oneonta.

May 17: Kid Garden Springfest at Cooperstown Elementary School, Crafts and Seedling Sale. Time to Be Announced. Raindate May 24.

May 30: Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Plant Sale and Brooks Chicken BBQ, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Cornell Cooperative Extension, 123 Lake Street, Cooperstown.

Gardening Resources

Call the Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners Helpline at 547-2536, ext. 228, or visit the Cornell University Gardening Resources website at www.gardening.cornell.edu

Oneonta Community Garden information is available at: http://oneonta-region.wikispot.org/GARDENS REGISTRATION is through the ONEONTA RECREATION DEPARTMENT: In Neahwa Park, the office building by the pond. Bring a checkbook or cash $10...this deposit is refunded to you at the end of the season.

Or try Cornell University website for garden-based learning: www.hort.cornell.edu/gbl/index.html (Note: The regular Cornell garden site is: www.gardening.cornell.edu/

Or “Garbage-Can Gardening,” by Charlie Nardozzi, at www.kidsgardening.com/Dig/digdetail.taf?Type=Art&id=2240

Or “Seeds… the Promise of Life Lesson Plan,” at www.kidsgardening.com/special/seed-news/Seeds2.pdf

Or “Seeds from Botany on Your Plate,.” www.kidsgardening.com/boyp.lesson7.pdf

Labels: 03-20-09, Gardening, The City of the Hills

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Hometown People

MANY RACE IN PINEWOOD DERBY 2009

Oneonta’s Cub Scout Pack 91 held its annual Pinewood Derby at Greater Plains Elementary on Friday, March 13. In front, from left, are Caleb Casey, Bradley Morell, Andrew Lentner, Isaiah Stockdale and Devon Loucks; second row, from left, Liam Moore, Owen Mann, Andrew Baker, Nickolas Knoll, Austin Walter, Richard Serafin and Shane Miller; third row, from left, Jacob Robinson, Cole Rosener, Christian Mann, Jackson Mushtare, Ryan Nicolette, Andrew Morell, Stephen Benjamen and Tony Vagnoli; back: Zach Ramsey, Shawn Mauer and Cole Schaffer.

Oneonta Native Home To Deliver Lecture

Oneonta native Dr. Allie Terry was back in town in recent days to deliver a lecture, “Medieval Torture to Tortured Medievalism: The Transformation of the Bargello,” at Hartwick College’s Anderson Theatre.
The assistant professor of art history at Bowling Green State University, will discuss how a history of torture influences modern-day observations of art.
While on campus, the Bowlilng Green University professor of art history met Doug Zullo’s art history professional practice class, where she discussed her training and experiences in art history.

Hampshire House Unveils New Look

Hampshire House Assisted Living hosted a successful open house to commemorate its new look on the Thursday, Feb. 26.
The walls are freshly painted and new carpet and furnishings have recently been installed. Representatives from NY Connects, the American Red Cross and the Alzheimer’s Association were amongst the guests.
“We are so grateful to the community and all of our friends and family members for all their support,” said Pat Breuer, director, “thank you for making us a success.”
To learn more about Hampshire House Assisted Living and what it has to offer, call Pat Breuer at 432-6171.

SEARS EMPHASIZES THE ‘HOMETOWN’

Sears operates 965 company-owned stores nationwide, but it also operates hundreds of locally owned outlets – authorized dealerships. It has now renamed those authorized dealerships – they included Oneonta’s Sears at 61 South Main St. – as Sears Hometown Stores to better reflect their community role. Michelle Catan, who bought the local store last summer from David Zummo, marks the name change along with her staff members Shad Burgher, standing at left, and Neil Obergefell, right. Catan’s triplets, Reilly, left, Mackenzie and Christopher, in front, joined in the tableau.

Orpheus’ 25th Anniversary ‘Beauty’ Features 75 Actors

Orpheus Theatre will end its 25th Anniversary Season with a production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” May 8-10 at SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., Sunday’s at 8 p.m. For tickets, call 432-9392.
From the 124 people who attended auditions, director Sarah Lynn Hazard has chosen a cast of 75. Featured in the cast are Michael Gray as the Beast, Amanda Perrino as Belle, Patrick Lippincott as Gaston, Mary-Jo Merk as Mrs. Potts, Clark Oliver as Chip, Kyle Burch as Cogsworth, Cameron Kinnear (fresh off the stage of playing the same role in Bainbridge’s school production) as Lumiere, and a special guest performance by Betty Aberlin (of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” fame) as the Enchanted Wardrobe.
With musical direction by Dan Chien and choreography by Michelle Gardner, there is a slim chance that local audiences will not recognize at least one person in the cast, which includes the following:
Sean Sansevere, Mikaela Ost, Sam Westover, James Iversen, Jessica Gordon, Caitlin Cook-Wightman, Rebecca Hastings, Madison Messina, Evelyn Iversen, Taylor Cammer, Hunter Reed, Zak West, Brandon Bascomb, Amanda Weiss, Bill Goertemoeller, Michelle Sason, Bianca Fernandez, John Willis, Mike Jacobs, Tom Pondolfino, Julia Dimant, Susan Perkins, Anna Marie Lipari, Debbie Reep-Maskin, Zach Harris, Will Lipari, Robert Burch, Erik Miller, Valerie Furlan, Jennifer Moss, Quinn Kelley, Jill Reed, Shane Heidecker, Stevie Ranaudo, Jessica Maskin, Adrian Adamo, Ana Martin, Allison Tabor, Micaela Iversen, Barb Field, Vito D’Erasmo, Michelle Monser, Kacie Ost, Eliza Vaccaro, Michelle Geasey, Montana Damone, N’iesa Davidson, Joan Attanasio, Jannie Attanasio, Rachael Brown, Natasha Kashi, Elliot Iversen, Johanna Iversen, Sarah Collins, Katherine Sullivan, Benjamin Dengler, Lauren Lionetti, Darby Champion, Colette Corkery, Maren Corkery, Kalei Ann Valk, and Lauryn Makofske.

‘Little Eva’ Play Reading Draws Full House To Green Toad Event

More than 80 enthusiastic fans packed The Green Toad Bookstore Sunday evening, March 15, for a reading of the first act of “Little Eva,” Milford native and New York City playwright Isaac Rathbone’s take on one of Otsego County’s most notorious murders.
A cast of local actors assembled by Sam Goodyear read for a half hour, eliciting several bursts of laughter from the audience – among other things, this is a funny play – and hearty applause at the end. Then Rathbone answered questions for another half hour.
Coo, a local madam and the last woman executed by electric chair in New York State, was found guilty – after a sensational trial at Cooperstown – of heavily insuring her handyman, then running him over to make it look like an accident so she could collect on the policy.
The play will be presented in full on three weekends in June, beginning on the 12th, at the Upper Susquehanna Cultural Center in Milford.
Sunday’s event was co-sponsored by The Green Toad, Hometown Oneonta/The Freeman’s Journal, the Greater Milford Area Historical Society, and Cooperstown Brewing Company, which provided tastings of its Backyard India Pale Ale and other brews. The pale ale label bears a picture of Harry Wright, Eva Coo’s victim.
Rathbone is the son of Tom Rathbone, SUNY Oneonta vice president of facilities management, and Lola Rathbone, Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care executive director.

EDUCATORS RECOGNIZED AT ANNUAL DINNER

From left, Kristine Hammond, Suzanne Miller, Margaret Reilly, Angel Ferguson and Teresa Adell accept awards at the Third Annual Tri-County Association for the Education of Young Children Membership Dinner, held in January. Marie Petta, director of Bugbee Children’s Center, was the keynote speaker at the dinner.

LOCAL LEPRECHAUN: Jason Pomeroy, 24. SUNY Oneonta student from Nineveh, was a hit at Binghamton’s St. Patrick’s Day parade as a leprechaun. He told the Sun-Bulletin he scoured thrift shops to come up with a green wool jacket, green knickers, white knee socks and a yellow sweater. He danced a jig before the parade marched off.

REENLISTS: Sgt. Juan Sanchez, Maryland, N.Y., has reenlisted in the Army National Guard. He remains with Headquarters Company, 427th Brigade Support Battalion Rear.

OFF TO CONFERENCE: Michael Flinton, assistant professor at the SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship to attend the annual conference of the Public Risk Management Association in Dallas, May 31-June 3. A member of the SUNY Oneonta faculty since 2008, Flinton holds a master’s in public administration from Central Michigan University. He was previously executive director of the Saratoga Automobile Museum.

SHE’S THE TOPS: Nancy Swantak, a registered nurse at A.O. Fox Hospital has been recognized as Employee of the Quarter. Nancy works in the operating room and has been employed at Fox since 1982.
She was described by her peers as “a wonderful, compassionate and knowledgeable nurse,” who consistently demonstrates “a positive attitude and is a wonderful teacher.”

Labels: 03-20-09, Hometown People

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Let’s Make Cancer A Joke

LAURA COX

THE PARTIAL OBSERVER

Zach Dymond’s speech to 1,000 attendees at the Oneonta colleges’ Relay for Life started with a practical joke played on him when he was 8.
The jokester tells you, put your hand in front of your face. If your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer. (Note: That’s not the case.) The jokester then smashes the victim’s hand into his face.
The punch line for Zach wasn’t the hand in the face, but a cancer diagnosis three years later.
“Cancer is no laughing matter,” Zach told his unlaughing audience. “ Join me tonight in taking a step towards making cancer a joke, something you can laugh at, a memory no more significant than the plague.”
The first time I met Zach Dymond, he was reclining in a chair at the double red cell donation station at a SUNY Oneonta blood drive.
What made him decide to do the double red cell donation as opposed to the more regular type?
Zach said he was very excited because the double red cell would help more people, but he had never weighed enough to do it before that very day.
It seemed a little odd that someone would be so excited to give blood.
When setting up an interview with the opening ceremony speaker of the Oneonta colleges’ Relay for Life – it happened overnight Friday, March 13 – the Relay for Life website showed the person who had raised the most was Zach Dymond. I saw his picture and remembered that donation.
All of a sudden, everything made sense.
Zach Dymond was excited about giving blood because he had lived through a bout of cancer when he was 11 years old, medulloblastoma – a brain tumor the size of a golf ball that affected his balance and caused fatigue and nausea.
Since successfully completing 10 months of chemotherapy, Zach has done everything he can to help everyone else who is in need, including volunteering 400 hours since starting at SUNY Oneonta two years ago.
He has participated in many Relays for Life as a Hero of Hope. At last year’s Relay for Life he raised $2500, the record, the last $200 by asking for donations at the event itself.
A native of Clifton Park, Zach is an elementary education major: “I want to be a teacher so I can affect people and help start them on the path to a good life.”
The Relay raised $62,000.

Labels: 03-20-09, Columns, Laura Cox

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‘Friends’ Launch Drive To Rescue Historic Cinema

Meeting Planned To Rally Community

By JIM KEVLIN

ONEONTA

Everyone seems to have a special memory of The Oneonta Theater.
For Kathleen Frascatore, it was watching “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Guillermo del Toro’s gothic depiction of a girl’s life on a military outpost at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
All 675 seats were filled.
“It was so much fun to watch it with everyone and ride on that emotional roller-coaster with them,” said the executive director of the Upper Catskills Community Council on the Arts.
Since she heard that The Oneonta might be sold, “it hurts my heart.”
That reaction hasn’t been uncommon in recent days since the news surfaced that a buyer is interested in the historic movie house on lower Chestnut Street with unspecified plans that don’t include maintaining it as a cinema.
The news spurred The Friends of The Oneonta Theater into action, and as this edition went to press Friends’ President Patrice Macaluso said a community meeting is being planned to serve as a call to action.
Macaluso, who chairs SUNY Oneonta’s Theatre Department, intends to invite, among others,
Oneonta native Sandra Howard, executive director of Images Cinema, Williamstown, Mass., to spell out the steps necessary for The Friends to acquire the building and operate it as a non-profit.
But other people with Oneonta ties who are operating similar ventures elsewhere have also called offering guidance, Macaluso said. The goal is to organize the meeting in the next 10 days.
Meanwhile, Rob Robinson, who chairs the city Planning Committee, said the unspecified plans for The Oneonta were not complete by 9 a.m. Monday, March 16, so he had it removed from that Wednesday’s agenda, which gives The Friends a month’s reprieve.
“We have standards that have to be met before we spend our time on it,” said Robinson. “You can’t do a site-plan review if you don’t have drawings of what they’re planning to do.”
He said he didn’t know who hopes to buy the building from owner Terry Mattison. The city Planning Department wasn’t releasing any details since the plan was incomplete.
Macaluso said The Friends need $50,000 or $60,000 as a downpayment on a mortgage.
Doug Gulloty, Wilber Bank president, has been patient to give The Friends time to come up with a plan, she said, but the possible sale may require him to act.
At City Hall, Mayor John S. Nader said $80,000 – a Small Cities Grant obtained in 2008 – is available to anyone who buys the building with the intent of continuing it as a cinema.
The money would pay to update the lighting, heat and ventilation, and bathrooms, and to add energy-efficient boilers, a new roof over the stage and the front portico, and insulation in the attic, the mayor said.
Nader, however, was reluctant for City Hall to consider ownership of the structure, which in addition to the theater includes two stores and six apartments in the building that fronts on the street.
“What if they didn’t pay us?” he asked. “Would we put them out of business? We would have to be very judicious about that.” He said the city would rather help someone else carry the task forward.
Meanwhile, it surfaced that yet another party, Doug Howard of Otego, who operates Lodestar Entertainment, which licenses DVDs in Third World countries, has made an offer on the building.
Howard, however, said it was a “low-ball” offer, because he foresees the cost of renovating the building. He said he would be willing to collaborate with The Friends in such a venture.
He said Mattison hadn’t accepted or rejected his offer, but that the deposit check had been cashed.
For her part, Sandra Thomas – her first job, at age 16, was manning the box office and concessions at The Oneonta – said a convincing business plan is an essential first step.
“The success of non-profit of any kind depends on strong community support,” she continued, “strong municipal support. The organization has to be part of the fabric of the community.”
She said Williams College has been an active partner in Images success, and foresaw a similar role for SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College.
For her part, Frascatore, who is involved in the OpinionWorks survey of Oneonta’s potential, said she sees the Foothills Performing Arts Center, the UCCCA and The Oneonta as the three anchor institutions that would define the limits of a downtown arts and theater district.
In between, Main Street and its feeders would be populated by restaurants, bistros, galleries and night spots. Every dollar spent in local theaters, she said, translates into $7 more spent on dining and lodging.
She foresees Oneonta being host to an annual week-long film festival that would draw people from far and wide.
But it’s not just economics that convinces her The Oneonta should be saved, but the aesthetics.
“It’s the quality and the beauty of the architecture,” she said. “It’s not that it can’t be duplicated: It won’t be duplicated. It’s just too expensive.”

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page, Oneonta Theater

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OH FEST: SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College student leaders have announced that OH Fest IV, featuring crafts and music on Main Street and a triple concert in Neahwa Park, will be Saturday, April 25, this year. Last year, 6,000 people attended.

GRAD SPEAKS: Cyrus Mehri, Hartwick College ’83, who as an attorney has participated in some of the largest class-action discrimination cases in the nation, will speak at this year’s commencement Saturday, May 23.

TUITION PLAN: State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, has gotten behind a prepaid college contract plan that would generate needed revenue today and guarantee a fixed tuition when participants are ready for college.

REMEMBERING AL: An evening of appreciation for the late Al Gallodoro, the eminent Oneonta saxophonist who died last October, is being discussed for this fall at the Foothills Performing Arts Center.

SAP FLOWING: Cold nights and warm days have the sap flowing. This year, 1,500 maple producers are tapping trees, the state Department of Ag and Markets reports.

CD PARTY: The Horseshoe Lounge Playboys’ first album, “One Horse Town,” has just been released, and a CD Extravaganza Show for Oneonta’s acoustic backwoods Americana band has been booked for 9 p.m., Friday, March 27, at the Sego Café. Doors open at 8.

UPCOMING ELECTION: The polls will be open to the east and south of the Susquehanna River on Tuesday, March 31, to fill the 20th District Congressional seat. Republican Jim Tedisco, the Assembly minority leader, and Scott Murphy, Glens Falls, an investor in small businesses, are competing.

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page

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Destiny’s Darlings

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

SPORTS BEAT

So what do the OHS Lady Yellowjackets have to do in order to hoist up that state trophy?

They, first off, need to run their offense. They are an immensely talented team, and they have a plethora of natural scorers, so they should use that to their advantage.
Also, their D needs to play a huge factor. Those long arms need to be in every passing lane, up in the face of everyone who touches the ball, and the tenacity has to be turned up to otherworldly levels.
But, with this big of a prize riding on two games, is the pressure on?
“No,” said a calm and collected Madie Harlem Saturday night, “no more pressure than this game. We are confident that we can do it.”
Harlem, whose eyes lit up when the possibility of a state trophy – a first in her four-year OHS varsity career – is mentioned, has enough motivation to last her a another whole season.
“I feel like I am going to wake up from a dream at any minute” said Harlem. “This is unbelievable.”
The state’s Class B Final Four begins at 10 a.m. Friday, March 20, against Olean at Hudson Valley Community College, Troy. The final is at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 21, against the winner of the Nanuet-Northeastern Clinton game the day before.
If the game against the Cazenovia Lakers the week before is any indication, this Final Four could be a heart-stopper.
The emotions ran high, the stakes were monumental, and Madie Harlem’s performance in the regional game at Liverpool High School was nothing short of heroic, something you would see in a fairy tale.
OHS won a 36-33 thriller over Cazenovia, with Madie scoring 30 of those points.
“We couldn’t do anything on offense, Madie just took over” said assistant coach Matt Miller, who left the gym with a smile and a fist pump in Madie’s direction, “took over.” Oneonta, down by 9 at the half, had a season low 12 points at halftime. Madie had all 12.
Division 1 signee Kiley Evans, a 5-11 machine headed to Sacred Heart next season, was still no match for Madie. The all-star was held to two points, both coming on free throws, and a 0-9 performance from the field.
Division 1was outshone, as Harlem, headed to Division 3 Hamilton College, completely stole the show.
The Yellowjackets hadn’t been down at the half all season, but kept their cool. They held high-scoring Cazenovia team to 33 points, controlling the board decisively in the second half.
Greg Koubeck, a Duke University forward who was the only player in the NCAA to play in four final fours, still runs a summer camp in my home town, where he preaches what Mike Krzyzewski once said so elegantly: “Offense sells tickets; defense wins championships.”
That is one thing that the OHS team did well on Saturday: amazing defense, plus a net-scorching put on by the older Ridgway sister, kept them in the game.
“We played outstanding defense” said Coach Bob Zeh. “We were tenacious and determined.”
That should position the girls well to take on offensive juggernauts Olean in the Class B State Semi-Finals.
When asked about what a state title meant to her, she just smiled and said, “Oh my god, that would be amazing. I can’t even imagine it”.
Imagine it, Madie, because you are one of a select group of girls who now have a chance to be destiny’s darlings.

Labels: 03-20-09, Front Page, Hometown Sports, OHS Girl's Basketball

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:33 AM 1 comments

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To Go Fearlessly...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

JEANNINE BOHLER

UNDER THE FLY CREEK SUN

I can’t stop thinking about my garden. I say this and laugh because I am not a gardener. I have very little knowledge of growing things.
This is an improvement over last year when I knew nothing, but my “Organic Gardening for Dummies” is still an advanced text for me.
Still, I can’t stop thinking about the garden.
It started last year as a science experiment, really. Alex wanted it. He has an uncanny knowledge about things that grow, probably gleaned from my father. He has followed him year after year around his yard of blooming wonder.
Ask any experienced gardener and you will be told to start small - perhaps a container of cherry tomatoes on the deck, a tiny plot in the yard.
This, we ignored. Plan a garden with a 4-year-old, the ideas are grand in scale. Cherry tomatoes – no. Watermelons, pumpkins and, of course, the rutabagas.
These things need space. Give a powerful rototiller to a man who has never rototilled ... you will have space.
We had a big garden and a decent-sized new herb garden to boot.
And it grew. It was not award winning, but nature is as giving as she is cruel.
The deer chomped the heads off the sunflowers just as they were about to bloom, but they bloomed again, just before the frost.
The last of the butternut squash still sits on the kitchen counter. The eight jars of salsa we canned from our produce have long since been eaten. A few rutabagas still pop their rotting heads from the newly muddy earth.
Every tomato, every squash, every cucumber, no matter how ugly, was a sign of our great success. Even our mistakes were beautiful.
The tiny nasturtium overtook the herb garden with its fiesta of blossoms. The cosmos planted to add a dash of color grew stems as thick as young tree trunks and towered over the kids’ heads.
We walked into the garden everyday with anticipation. Disappoint was rare.
Today the sun shone bright overhead. I played Frisbee in the yard with Cate and stopped for a moment to lift my face high and breathe in its warmth.
I have fallen in love with yoga this winter, but it was today in my muddy yard that I truly understood Sun Salutation. Its series of poses naturally capture and pay tribute to the first spring rays. A true salutation.
Full of anticipation, I pushed aside the dead dry leaves. I was not disappointed. The first green sprig of thyme. The tiny sprouting leaves of mint - their smell pungent and clean.
Later the mint will overtake the herb garden (another experienced-gardener warning I chose to ignore). I will fight it like an enemy as it encroaches on its more delicate neighbors. But today I rejoiced. Spring.
We were too late to order seed catalogs. As I said, I am not a gardener. I had no idea that any form of catalog existed that would be out of stock - especially weeks before even the most optimistic of us begins to believe in the coming equinox.
I imagined Alex and I, and maybe even Cate and Steve, poring over the colorful pictures, carefully accessing our temperature zone as we fell head-over-heels for cranberry beans and heirloom tomatoes, our hearts breaking that the season would be too short to do justice to the elegant Japanese eggplants.
Instead, we will start as we did last year - laying out a map and then modifying again and again as we find things we can’t resist at plant sales and greenhouses.
We’ll accept the leftovers of the more experienced gardeners who know the limits of their soil and space. And we’ll wait for our garden to grow.
I only wonder what the deer and rabbits will take a liking to this year...

Jeannine Bohler, a Hometown Oneonta contributor, also maintains a blog at http://flycreeksun.blogspot.com/

Labels: 03-20-09, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:26 PM 0 comments

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In Memoriam

Gertrude Evelyn Gerken: Worked at Bakery and Oneonta Nursing Home

Gertrude Evelyn Gerken, 93, passed away peacefully Thurs., March 5, 2009, at the A.O. Fox Nursing Home, leaving behind five generations, including great-great grandchildren.
She worked at Decker’s Bakery and then at the Oneonta Nursing Home as an aide for many years.

Retia Venice Broadwell: Oneonta Resident for More Than 60 Years

Retia Venice Broadwell, 97, of Oneonta, passed away Sat., March 14, 2009, at the A.O. Fox Nursing Home, where she had been a resident since 1999.
She lived in Oneonta for more than 60 years and worked at Sears Roebuck as a teletypist until retiring in 1976. She was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church (Red Door).

Kathleen Sarah Hand: Worked for Bendix, Wilber Bank

Kathleen Sarah Hand, 89, of Oneonta passed away Wed., March 11, 2009, at Robinson Terrace in Stamford.
She was employed by the Bendix Corp. as a machine operator and by Wilber National Bank in the mailroom, auditing and then in bookkeeping. She enjoyed playing bingo, the piano, knitting and crocheting.

Labels: 03-20-09, In Memoriam

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:59 PM 0 comments

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Editorial

Prospective Sale Of Oneonta
Theater Is Wake-Up Call. Let’s React

At the Greater Oneonta Historical Association’s Post Card & Emphemera Show last Saturday, March 14, at St. James’ church hall, two of the exhibitors, Lois Herrick and Lynn Bissell, were commiserating over the loss of the city’s Stanton Opera House, where Bassett’s clinic is today at Main and Chestnut.
Lois had a stereopticon slide showing the Stanton’s main stage decorated in patriotic bunting. (Bissell, who spent 40 years with “Mother Wilber” before retiring, was showing personal checks belonging to Harvey Baker, that pioneer captain of Oneonta industry, signed by David Wilber himself.)
Few people driving by 125 Main today are aware of its past glories – the opera house, built in 1873, fell before Urban Renewal’s bulldozers a century later – but those who do regret the demolition these 35 years later.
Are those of us around today going to regret the loss of The Oneonta Theater, which today is in danger of an adaptive reuse – it’s still a mystery what exactly’s planned – that could transform it, perhaps irretrievably, from the repository of happy memories that it is today?
Are we going to let it happen?
•
It doesn’t have to be.
Happily, the news that a buyer has approached owner Terry Mattison, perhaps with plans to turn the city landmark into an arcade, has spurred The Friends of The Oneonta Theater into action.
As this edition was about to go to press, Friends’ president Patrice Macaluso, who chairs SUNY Oneonta’s Theater Department, said the group is planning a community meeting in the next few days – as soon as it can be pulled together – intended as a call to arms for the community.
Oneonta native Sandra Thomas, who is executive director of Images Cinema in Williamstown, Mass., is intended as one of the featured speakers, and can provide a blueprint of how a group of concerned citizens in that community took over a 1917 movie house, reestablished it as a non-profit entity and renovated it so that today it is flourishing as an arts-cinema venue.
(Sandra’s first job, as it happens, was at the Oneonta when she was 16 years old. Terry Mattison was one of her co-workers then. She manned the box office and the concessions.)
Patrice said several other people with ties to the City of the Hills who have gone on to manage unique cinemas like The Oneonta have called and offered their support as well.
•
Preservation is clearly within reach.
Happily, city Planning Committee chairman Rob Robinson reports, plans for the movie house were insufficiently complete to go before the committee at its monthly meeting Wednesday, March 18, so The Friends have a one-month reprieve.
Macaluso estimates all that’s needed is $50,000 or $60,000 for a downpayment. That’s peanuts, even in this day and age.
Wilber Bank’s president, Doug Gulloty, by all accounts, has been doing what he can to allow the rescue effort to succeed.
Let’s think about some options.
Wouldn’t it be great experience for students in SUNY Oneonta’s Music Industry Department to actually manage a cinema/music hall during their college experience? The college’s new president, Nancy Kleniewski, is determined to see the institution play a fuller community-development role, and this would be both ideal and high profile.
The county Board of Representatives doesn’t want to hear this sort of thing, but this would be an ideal expenditure of bed-tax revenues that, again, could be repaid. Where are the city’s county reps on this?
State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, who undoubtedly spent many happy boyhood hours in the movie house, went to bat last year to get the General Assembly to double the county’s bed-tax rate from 2 to 4 percent.
But, in return, he wanted to the county reps to be more proactive in using the money for other than artificially depressing the property-tax rate. Perhaps it’s time for him to weigh in.
The Friends should seek a handful of local angels to contribute a few thousand dollars each, and go to the public for support.
But you don’t have to wait to contribute. Just go to www.friendsofoneontatheater.org and click on the “donate” button. You can charge your donation, and it’s tax-deductible. Or send a check to Friends of The Oneonta Theater, Box 346, Oneonta NY 13820.
•
For its part, The Friends need to firm up the business plan and get the word out.
Kathleen Frascatore, the hard-driving executive director of the U-C-C-C-A, sees her Wilber Mansion, the Foothills Performing Arts Center, and The Oneonta as three points that would define a downtown arts district, populated by restaurants, night spots and galleries. (That 80 people turned out the other Sunday evening for a reading of Isaac Rathbone’s “Little Eva” shows the audience is there.)
Kathleen sees Foothills as focusing on music and theater, and The Oneonta on movies, the kind of movies that just aren’t shown in commercial movie houses. She envisions a week-long film festival, bringing thousands of people to our rural enclave from the populated centers around our periphery.
Keep checking www.hometownoneonta.biz. As soon as The Friends have a date for the community meeting, it will be posted there. When it’s scheduled, make sure to go there.
Regrets are usually realized retroactively. Here’s a chance to forestall regrets we can bank on if The Oneonta’s magic is lost in future years and to future generations.

Let’s Head To Troy To Cheer Girls On

If you haven’t seen the OHS Lady Yellowjackets play basketball yet this season, you’re missing a real treat if you don’t head for Hudson Valley Community College in Troy this weekend for the Class B state finals.
If you have seen the ladies, you already know you won’t want to miss the final showdown – and (bestill beating hearts) victory!
Of course, the team first has to overcome Olean at 10 a.m. Friday, March 20, (about the time many of you will be getting this newspaper in your mailbox.)
But we assume the Yellowjackets will overcome that obstacle and be in the finals at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
See ya there!
•
Standout guard Madie Harlem is a delight to behold.
A perfect Madie moment came in the final minute of last Saturday’s game against Cazenovia at Liverpool High School.
The Yellowjackets had bounced back from a nine-point deficit at halftime to a 34-33 lead.
All the Caz Lakers had to do was draw a foul and sink one basket, forcing an overtime. The game would have been up for grabs again.
Instead, Madie was fouled and went to the line. Swish. The ball didn’t even touch the rim. Swish. Ditto.
And the game was over. That coolness under fire is a hallmark of Madie’s game. It’s thrilling to see.
•
That Madie scored 30 of the 36 points might lead you to think she dominated the game.
Not so. The Yellowjackets play as a team – a ballet, if you will.
A cool Sienna Wisse sank the foul shot that tied the game – the Jackets never looked back.
And you should have seen Meredith Ridgway plunge down the middle. By the end of the second half, you could see a look of fear on the defenders’ faces as she headed their way.
That second half, the Yellowjackets – all of ’em – dominated those backboards. Caz got nothing.
Great defense. Great basketball. Whatever happens, it’s too bad to see this adventure end.

Labels: 03-20-09, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:58 PM 0 comments

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