Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Three Little Girls Helped Mother Vault Professional Sports Barrier

Monday, July 27, 2009

By JIM KEVLIN

If you don’t know much about baseball, or football, or soccer, sometimes it’s hard to understand why someone is worthy to enter a Hall of Fame.
Joy Fawcett’s story, as it emerged at her Soccer Hall of Fame induction Sunday, Aug. 2 – Jeff Agoos and New York Times soccer writer Alex Yannis were inducted too – has universal appeal.
As described in her tearful teammate Shannon Miller’s introduction, Joy was the first professional athlete to have a baby, and continue to play.
When Fawcett gave birth to her first daughter, Katelyn Rose, now 15, she didn’t know if she could be a mother and a professional soccer player.
“USSA said, ‘Yes, family and sports are not mutually exclusive,’” she told the 1,000 attendees at the ceremony inside the west side museum. Three weeks later, Fawcett was back on the field.
Husband Walt was equally supportive: “Not once did he say, ‘Don’t go,’ or ‘Don’t try’,” the newly minted Hall of Famer related.
Three years later, Carli Jean was born, and mom went back to work.
And, four years later, Madilyn Rae, and, well, Joy was 33 and enough was enough.
Hall of Fame inductions are times for summing up, and Jeff Agoos’ father, Andrew, was likewise tearful on introducing his son after a lively video depiction of the on-field accomplishments.
(David Abrams, Sports Productions, did both videos.)
“You can imagine, as a parent,” he said to all the parents in the hall, “it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Jeff, his father recalled, was caught in a cycle of accomplishment, recognition, which fueled more accomplishment, and more recognition, and so on.
“It’s not what you’ve got,” the father said his son showed him. “It’s what you do with what you’ve got.”
Alex Yannis, the retired New York Times’ reporter who at one time was the only soccer writer on a major American newspaper, called his induction something beyond what the son of Greek immigrants could imagine.
Drive, determination, focus, intensity, passion were among the words that kept surfacing.
And stick-with-it-ness.
In 2001, when D.C. United told Jeff Agoos he was being traded to the San Jose Earthquake, his first reaction was, “I don’t want to go to San Jose; I’d rather retire.”
On reflection, he took the trade.
His brother, Brad, was going to Cal, and the two got to know each other. And Jeff led the Earthquake to two championships before he retired in 2004.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page, Soccer Hall of Fame

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:21 AM 0 comments

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Animals Find Local Shelter

By LAURA COX

Perfect, Liz Keller, creator of Glen Wild Animal Rescue, said to herself.
“It’s like this building was built just for us,” said Liz. “The front room is perfect for doing doggy daycare and grooming services and the back is perfect for the rescue area, which we call rescue central.”
The smooth concrete floors of the two-building complex at Pindars Corners, a former gift shop and landscaping business just beyond Oneonta’s city limits, also make for quick cleanup if one of the dogs has an accident or marks territory.
Keller has been in animal rescue and control for 25 years, most recently as director of Animal Haven Acres sanctuary, South Kortright, which closed over the winter.
Liz couldn’t let the animals go homeless – each comes with a past, be it dogfighting, abuse or starvation – and immediately began looking for a new location, using her own resources to found Glen Wild.
She’s helped by three employees, three volunteers and three young workers from the CDO Workforce, who are caring for 45 dogs and a multitude of cats, taken in locally or brought here from animal rescue units in New York City that have run out of space.
Glen Wild is surrounded by a big lawn. There’s a big fenced-in section where dogs can play for hours a day. The dogs are also given individual walks around the yard.
The idea is to train the dogs to the point where they can be adopted. But some, like a pit bull named Courage, is there permanently.
Courage was used in dogfighting and has been permanently damaged because of it. She cannot even be allowed to see other dogs, since her training would put her on the attack.
Glen Wild keeps Courage as an example of what can happen when dogs are treated inhumanely.
Once a week, and soon twice a week, Keller brings some of the animals to the Sgt. Henry Johnson Youth Leadership Academy, a low-security youth correctional facility in South Kortright, seeking to dramatize the damages of dogfighting to boys who come from communities where it is common.
“They see how Courage cannot be out and enjoying her life to the fullest with the other dogs,” said Keller.
Keller also brings the dogs into schools to teach children about pet care and how to be safe around animals, to help reduce instances of children being bitten by dogs.
To help financially support her effort, Keller plans to start a doggy daycare and grooming business for profit in the front building. In the meantime, she’s been seeking donations and volunteers to keep the effort afloat.
For more information , visit www.glenwildanimalrescue.org or call Glen Wild at (917) 553-0591.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 7:18 AM 1 comments

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IN THE CITY OF THE HILLS

TEE TIME: A few slots are still available for the 23rd annual Country Club Automotive Group Golf Classic Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oneonta Country Club. Call Rob Robinson at 432-4500 or rob@otsegocountychamber.com.

NEW EATERY: Country Buffet, a new restaurant on East Main Street, was due for a “soft opening” Wednesday, Aug. 5, the latest venture of the Georgakopoulos family.

LET’S RELAY: Oneonta’s Relay for Life steps off at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, at Fortin Park in Emmons, and goes until 7:30 the next morning. It’s not to late to show up, walk and make a donation.

THEY’RE TOPS: The Princeton Review has named Hartwick one of the 67 best colleges in the Northeast.

NEW BUILDING: SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher was at SUNY Cobleskill Tuesday, Aug. 4, breaking ground on a $41.7 million Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources building.

ARTS GRANTS: UCCCA is seeking applications from arts organizations for state grants ranging from $500 to $5,000. Check www.uccca.com for details, or call Corrine at 432-2070. The deadline is Oct. 14.

NEW SITE: Opportunities for Otsego has redesigned its web site. Check it out at www.ofoinc.org

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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$1,000 A Good Reason To Visit

By LAURA COX

Coming back to Oneonta had its rewards for painter Sabine Krummel, formerly of the City of the Hills, now of Binghamton.
A $1,000 reward, in fact.
Krummel’s “Glorious Sunflowers” won the Best of Show at the seventh annual City of the Hills Arts Festival Saturday, Aug. 1, organized by the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts.
Former director of family services at Arc Otsego, she moved eight years ago after son Nicklas was born. Sabine decided to stay at home for a couple of years with newborn son Nicklas and his older sister Melissa, and husband Matthais Boeher, an engineer, took a job in the Broome County seat.
During those “stay at home” years, Sabine started to focus more on her painting, something she had always enjoyed but had lacked the free time to refine. Eventually, she decided to stay home and paint for good.
“All people can do art, but it takes passion, perseverance and staying power to really make something of it,” said the artist in an interview after the Best of Show announcement. “Every artist has their highs and lows and it’s a matter of how you handle the lows; you can’t give up to early and get dismayed.”
“Glorious Sunflowers,” a large, cheerful watercolor, was surrounded by similarly cheery images.
“I used to do children’s portraits, but I love vibrant colors and the most vibrant colors are in our gardens,” she said.
Krummel doesn’t do much gardening herself, but enjoys painting in other people’s gardens. She’s even knocked on strangers’ doors to ask if she can sit in their garden for a couple hours.
“Sunflowers are my favorite to paint; they are such joyful and life-affirming flowers, and come in all sizes,” she said.
Her art includes blueberries and poppies as well.
This is Sabine’s fourth City of the Hills festival, but the Best of Show is a first. In the past she has won at the Norwich festival and Best Painting at the City of the Hills.
She loves Oneonta, she said, and this festival: The festival-goers are friendly and curious. She’s had many repeat customers who buy something small, then return the next year for something larger.
The $250 winners of the five individual categories were Barbara Ardan, a Hartwick College art professor, for excellence in painting; Nathan Banks, Franklin, for sculpture; Kevin Gray, Springfield Center, for photography; Doug Jamieson, Treadwell, for graphics, and Chris Pettingill, Afton, in fine craft.
Judging the artists were Jurors Doug Hallberg, Oneonta; Ernest Mahlke, Laurens, and David Kiehm, Milford.
Cheri Albrecht, UCCCA interim director, said the she was very pleased with how things turned out, and the artists were too: “Everyone seemed to have a really good time.”
“All in all, given the time constraints we had to get it all done, we did a great job and when I say we, I truly mean the board, volunteers, past board members, members, past staff and Job Corp. students who all came out and gave a hand, everyone helped so much,” said Albrecht.
UCCCA has their Ford Avenue Fun Camp going on for the next two weeks for children ages 7 to 12 and its next exhibit opening, featuring Jamieson and artist Tracy Sheldon, will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 21 at the Wilber Mansion.

Labels: 08-07-09, Front Page

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Hometown People

THEY’RE NUMBER ONE!

This year’s Green Wave was the first Oneonta Legion Post 259 team to
win Legion sectionals in Mike Jester’s 19 years coaching. Front row, from left, are David Wright, Eric Scorzafava, Logan Pondolfino, Jack Benjamin, Coach Mike Jester, Matt Marcewicz, James Emilio, Mike Tietjen; back row, from left, Sean Getman, James Carson, Conor Youngs, Jeff Wiltsie, Brendan Wolfanger, Dan Hodne, Ryne Ravino, Nate Eastman. (Zach Pidgeon is missing.)

B. SHARP GALLERY HOSTS FAMED CARTOONIST

Don Sherwood, lower right, famed creator of the cartoon strip, “Dan Flagg,” pauses from autograph signing during the opening of an exhibit of his work at the B. Sharp Gallery, Route 28, Franklin Mountain. Clockwise from Oneonta native Sherwood are Alice O’Neil, his companion, former Oneonta Mayor David W. Brenner, Joe Campbell, the legendary voice of local radio, and proprietor Bobby Sharp. A new exhibit opened Tuesday, Aug. 4.

DAR Presents 6 Students With Good Citizen Awards

The Oneonta Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented Good Citizenship Medals to the following Oneonta elementary school students:
• Ryan Laymen, Center Street School, presented by Barbara Turner
• Jessica Calendresa, Greater Plains School, presented by Cecilia Russell
• Charity Armstrong, Riverside School, presented by Jackie Leahy
• Connor Tavarone, Valleyview School, presented by Doris Martin
• Daniel Haile, St. Mary’s School, presented by Sandra Gutosky
• Logan Miller, Franklin Central School, presented by Barbara Yoder
The DAR determined that, by their acts and attitudes, these students proved themselves to be the most outstanding citizens in their classes. The criteria included honor, service, courage, leadership and patriotism.
Each student received a certificate, a lapel pin, and an engraved medal.

Nola Henry To Administer 2-County ESC

Nola Henry has been appointed to the newly created position of office manager for the Executive Service Corps of Otsego-Delaware.
She assumed her new role Monday, Aug. 3, following the resignation of Lori Solensten, who was executive director.
Henry will assumed the overall management/coordination of the corps.
She holds a B.A. in education from SUNY Potsdam and a masters in education and administration from NOVA Southeastern University.

NEW DOCTOR: Dr. William J. Fredette has joined Fox’s Child & Adolescent Healthcare Associates. He is a graduate of Albany Medical College and completed his pediatric residency there. He joins Drs. Tarricone, Tannenbaum, Boheen, Jayasena and Kabeer in the FoxCare Center practice.

LAW RESEARCH: Oneonta resident Arieh Gildor has founded AGI Inc. in Cobleskill, which does research for clients and then presents them with the text of the law and printed legal commentary pertaining to their situation. AGI does not provide legal advice or practice law. Gildor is a retired lawyer. He received a master of law from the University of Jerusalem’s law school and practiced in Israel and England.

GOOD SPORT: Bayla Akulin of Oneonta, a Herkimer County Community College student, is a member of the school’s women’s swim team that received Academic Team of The Year honors from the National Junior College Athletic Association. An OHS grad and former Miss Otsego Teen-Ager, Bayla is daughter of Beth and Donald Akulin.

ON DEAN’S LIST: Ashley Pleban of Oneonta was on the Dean’s List for the fall and spring semesters at SUNY Albany. She is majoring in social welfare.

TOP TEACHERS: Four Brookwood School lead teachers have earned a Child Development Associate credential: Elizabeth Daley, Sylvia Landers, Barbara Belknap and Maria Reisen.

PROMOTION: Dominic Spucches, Otego, serving with the 1108th Ordnance Co. (explosive ordnance disposal) has been promoted to private.

Labels: 08-07-09, Hometown People

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Dad Loved Demo-Derby Racing; Family Keeps His Memory Alive

By LAURA COX

HARTWICK

Two weeks ago, mom was still driving the 1994 Chrysler Concord.
Today, it’s a tie-dye Sponge Bob themed car with nothing inside but the driver’s seat. No windows. No floor. Just metal and hoses.
Yes, the Number 105 car is ready to be demolished at 6 p.m. Sunday , Aug. 9, at the Otsego County Fair, Morris. The county fair’s demo derby has been an annual affair for the Hopkins family of Hartwick forever.
It was always dad Randy who would get an old car, strip it down, paint it up and speed around the dirt ring, crashing into similar vehicles every chance he got.
Wife Patricia and children Raymond and Tina would cheer him, learning the tricks of the sport from watching dad at play.
Then came that fateful day in September 1997, when a tire exploded on a front-end loader in the Hartwick town garage. Randy, then 36, was fatally injured.
Winter passed, then spring and, as summer neared its end and county fair season arrived, it just seemed right to continue what dad had made a family tradition.
So Patty entered two cars in the Otsego fair’s 1998 demo derbies. Ray followed suit in 2004 when he was 22. Tina entered her first car in 2006.
This year will be no different, the Hopkins kids, now 27 (Ray) and 25 (Tina), will again experience the same thrills their father did in pursuit of a sport they’ve come to love as their father did.
Because of a heart medication she’s taking, Patricia will have to sit this one out.
“You’re always nervous for the first hit, but after that one you get an adrenaline rush and you really enjoy it and have fun,” said Tina, who lets her son Donald Boecke, 5, pick her car’s theme and number: this year, SpongeBob and 105.
When Tina found out her mom was ditching the Concord, she was so excited she started painting it before Patty even stopped driving it – SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick – and hopes to win Best Paint Job for her car’s décor.
Ray will be driving a 1984 Ford Escort. It’s painted orange and all his friends have signed it. On top it reads, as it does every year: “In loving memory of Randy Hopkins and Ruth Hopkins” (his grandmother), and list the dates of their deaths.
Written on both Tina and Ray’s cars is, “Hang On, The Family Is Coming.”
The Hopkinses have met with success to date. Randy won three first place trophies during his time, Patty has three first places – one in the powder-puff category and two in the regular six-cylinder heat – Ray has taken second place a couple times and Tina has taken fourth and fifth.
They have no intentions of quitting anytime soon.
“Once a year I get to smash into another car and not get a ticket for it,” said Ray. “ You can take out all your road rage for the year.”
He plans to continue ‘til he’s old and grey: “I will pull my wheel chair in with me if I have to.”

Labels: 08-07-09, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:38 AM 0 comments

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Bravi! To Young ‘Dido’ Cast

ROBERT MOYNIHAN

OPERA REVIEW

Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera, “Dido and Aeneas,” came to wider notice in 1951 with an HMV recording starring Kirsten Flagstad.
The little term “starring” distorts the work – for it is above all an ensemble piece and is best heard with voices of relatively equal ability.
Flagstad couldn’t easily make the top notes which were dubbed by Elizabeth
Schwartzkopf, who sings indifferently in three roles – the ultimate negative proof of collaborative recording.
As a kind of potentially successful ensemble, nonetheless, Dido and Aeneas runs against the grain of 19th-century opera. It’s common for standard operatic fare to feature virtuoso singing of three or four leading roles, with the soloists in a not-so-repressed competition for high notes and accompanying exaggeration. At the death scene, usually only one or two claim the vocal prize.
This phenomenon, while much loved, could be viewed as a corruption of musical expression. Performance takes on the baggage of virtuosity and overstatement – both necessary to reach the highest balconies of increasingly gravid auditoriums.
Flagstad, who, with Melchior, kept the Metropolitan afloat during the 1930s, was very much the star of opera – and her version of Purcell did bring the work to wider note.
Yet the recording is very much a dated curio of its era, with “serious” slow tempos and unequal singing from every soloist. The great Flagstad, however, donated her talents to this English production, requiring two pints of stout a day as her only payment.
What is different about Purcell’s Dido? Well, about everything – and the ear and mind in this early score find a repose from extreme virtuosic distortion.
Purcell is not a performance commonplace, though some of his songs have been beautifully recorded. Mack Harrell did an “Evening Hymn” and de los Angeles a 1960s recital beginning with Purcell. Thurston Dart also recorded
Purcell’s rarely heard clavier pieces. All of these rarities are worth locating.
What is so different? Simplicity was defined as “fewness of parts” over 700 years ago, and it takes the ear some time to adjust to this high form of simplicity – musical purity, rather. There is nothing quite like it in the standard caravan of classical music.
The production at Glimmerglass was wanting in a few moments of ensemble, but the young cast, clad generally in blue jeans, will work out the few rough spots.
The reduced orchestra played with the adjusted minority of strings and a brilliantly realized continuo – both on harpsichord and virtuoso Michael Leopold’s plucked strings of the therabo, a bovine-size “baroque guitar.”
One, of course, has favorite moments in any well-realized performance – and the Jonathan Miller production seized instances of insider parody – exaggerating the hey-nonny-nonny trivia of English madrigal singing to satiric effect, even realizing a bouncing antiphonal echo in one chorus – a repeated mannerism of Renaissance song deserving a witty parody.
This production was not merely in street dress but in a now standard uniform of jeans, sneakers and pullovers. The use of simple costuming is long overdue on Route 80. If Richard Burton played Hamlet in street clothes, why not their more common use in opera? If the demonic can be indicated with a couple of red hoodies in this performance, why pay somebody to hand sew horns and tails and body sheaths of red satin?
To repeat the not so obvious, Dido and Aeneas is an ensemble opera demanding equal ability from every soloist. Even though there are personal favorites, the following singers are, alas, praised together.
High credit is due conductor Michael Beattie for “early-music” ensemble and perfectly judged tempos.
“Bravi” to Joelle Harvey, Tamara Mumford, David Adam Moore; young artists Hannah Dixon, Anthony Costanzo (!), Kathryn Guthrie, Liza Forrester, Brittany Wheeler, Rebecca Jo Loeb.
Just for the record, everyone in the cast brings this opera to pulsing life – much, much better than the first standard on 1951’s LHMV number 1007.

Labels: 08-07-09, Columns, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:36 AM 0 comments

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Great Behind The Plate – And At It

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

IN THE TIGERS’ DEN

When you watch the Oneonta Tigers this season, there is no doubt you are awe-struck by the presence (and performance) of #18.
Catcher John Murrian, the Detroit Tigers 9th round draft pick out of Winthrop University, has provided some fireworks this season. Probably the most memorable two games came July 27-28 vs. the Vermont Lake Monsters.
In the first, Murrian was a hitting machine – going just a triple short of hitting for the cycle. At this level, that kind of production is rarely seen. He went four for four that night.
Coming into that game, Murrian had already established himself as the team’s starting catcher. Batting cleanup, Murrian is hitting .352 with 37 hits on 105 at bats. He has nine doubles, a triple, four home runs and 26 RBI’s – with stats like this, his one-hit-shy night is no surprise.
He has hit home runs three times against Vermont, two at home and one in Burlington, and one at Tri-City.
So, at four for four and a triple shy of the cycle, the sparks wouldn’t stop there. The next night Oneonta would find themselves down 5-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.
John Murrian was hitless on the night and had already struck out once. The Tigers rallied, bringing the game to 5-4 going into the 9th. Jaime Johnson tied the game with a triple that scored Luis Palacios. After walking Rockett and Bishop to get to Murrian, the Summerville, South Carolina native made them pay.
On a 0-2 curveball, Murrian squared up and turned on the ball. With the bases loaded, Murrian cranked a one out grand slam over the left-center field fence, his first grand slam of the season. He was met by his teammates at home plate and mobbed as the Tigers won in walk off fashion 9-5.
He wasn’t done, however. He would homer the next night in Burlington, keeping his amazing hitting streak alive.
John Murrian is also a great defensive catcher as well, a stat that earned him the right as the team’s predominate player at that position. Catchers, stereotypically, are slow, flat footed, and not expected to do much on the base paths without a hit and run situation. However, Murrian has been able to leg out two stolen bases so far. His on base percentage is .420 and his slugging percentage is .571.
John Murrian is an all around danger both at the plate and behind it, and has more than earned his place in the Tigers organization. Murrian had a huge July, hitting 4 homers, registering 30 hits (8 of the doubles and 1 triple), pushed across 23 runs, drew six walks and stole two bases.
In upstate New York, August is usually the hottest month. For Murrian, if August is any hotter than July then expect to see him in West Michigan very soon.

Labels: 08-07-09, Hometown Sports, oneonta tigers

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Steroids, Soccer? Not A Winning Combination

GUEST EDITORIAL

The news of admitted steroid use by sprinter Marion Jones got me thinking about performance enhancing drugs in the world of soccer.
Even in such a skeptical world, soccer has seemingly escaped the magnifying glass. While baseball, football, cycling, and track and field draw the most scrutiny, suspicions of soccer players does not run as high.
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been instances of banned substances being used.
There have been some high profile drug run-ins, like Jaap Stam and Edgar Davids in 2001 for taking nandrolene.
Also, in 2007 defender Sergei Sokolov was suspended for 18 months for corticosteroid and SL Benfica midfielder Nuno Assis and AC Milan striker Marco Borriello failed doping tests.
Still none of these players are as big in their sport as a Jones or Barry Bonds.
That doesn’t mean performance enhancers aren’t used in soccer. While there is testing, the cheaters always figure out a way to get by. But I still find it hard to figure out way steroids or HGH would be used in soccer.
The sport has never been about being the biggest or even the fastest. While physical talents obviously can impact a game, soccer is a sport where technical skill can overcome physical prowess.
Now some performance enhancers can help a player’s endurance and recovery, something that is very vital to the game, soccer players do not need the endurance of say a cyclist.
A cyclist travels hundreds of miles on consecutive days, while a soccer player may run seven or more miles in a game and then have a few days off.
But in a sports world where everyone is looking to get ahead in any possible way, performance-enhancing drugs cannot be ruled out of soccer. So the same rules apply as they do to every other sport: Be cautious. But until the big scandal comes, there is no need to be a cynic.

– Blogger Philip Batson, 2007

Labels: 08-07-09, Editorial, Guest Column

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago
The Rev. L.E. Schuster is the pastor of the Free Baptist church at West Oneonta. Rev. Schuster is pronounced in his temperance convictions and has of late delivered two temperance sermons, in which he handled without gloves the subject of liquor selling and drinking. Last Monday night, between the hours of 12 and 1, Mr. and Mrs. Schuster were startled from their sleep by the sound of a revolver and the rattling of glass. Investigation revealed that a pistol ball had struck a window glass and badly shattered it, and had then glanced off and embedded itself in the wood. Had the ball taken a direct course it would have struck the head of Mr. Schuster’s bed.
August 1884

100 Years Ago
The first thing we should desire for our children is good health. Every boy and girl should participate in those games and plays which are based upon the activities that give poise to the body, depth of chest, strength of heart, active blood circulation and good digestion. Every child, before and after what may be called the age of games is reached, should play at walking in difficult places, at climbing and hanging by the arms, at swinging, at digging and lifting and hauling, at running and dodging and chasing, at swimming, at jumping, at throwing and striking, at wrestling and fighting. The next thing to a sound body that we should desire for our children is a sound mind to control it. Therefore every boy and girl should play those games that tend to make the mind the perfect master of their body. These include innumerable games of skill beginning with the simple games of ball, tip cat, ring toss, bean bag board, jackstones, marbles, hop-scotch, hoop rolling, top spinning, and concluding with the most complicated games of ball.
August 1909

80 Years Ago
Telephone Poles Now Disappearing – Within a few days the subway work on Chestnut Street which has been underway for a number of weeks by the Otsego & Delaware Telephone Co. will be completed, and with its completion a system of new cable will have been pulled through conduits on Main, Dietz and Chestnut streets and prepared to be put in service this fall. It looks like a bad day for the telephone pole. The telephone pole is doomed, at least in the cities. The number of conductors that have to be strung in a system of overhead wiring in the business section of a city would almost shut out light from the sky directly above them. The supports and the wires are unsightly and they interfere with trees in the streets. The doom of the telephone pole in the densely populated area of the city is sealed but in the wide open spaces it reigns supreme.
August 1929

60 Years Ago
A special meeting of the Otsego County chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis has been called for August 10. Dr. Otto Sahler, chairman of the local chapter, said the chapter’s directors will meet to discuss possible steps to take in the event of a polio outbreak. One polio case has been reported, the first in Otsego County this year. A three-year-old Otego girl was admitted to Fox Memorial Hospital Thursday of last week with infantile paralysis. Dr. Sahler said he had heard of no other cases. The local chapter goes into action when persons afflicted with the disease require financial aid. The foundation will pay for hospitalization, buy braces, and provide shoes and additional braces as needed. If a polio outbreak proves too large for the local chapter to handle, more funds can be obtained from the national foundation.
August 1949

40 Years Ago
Albert S. Nader has been a forceful mayor in Oneonta, sparking many drives for long-needed improvements in this city. It is a tribute to his vision, perseverance and persuasiveness that Oneonta has expanded its water and sewer facilities; obtained a master plan, embarked on urban renewal, constructed an airport and now plans to build a sewage treatment plant. The mayor has much to be complimented for, in his nearly eight years as chief executive. This past April, Mr. Nader announced he would not seek re-election.
August 1969

20 Years Ago
The Delaware-Otsego Coalition for Pro-Choice is now organizing for concerned men and women to join forces in the fight to keep our abortion laws in New York State as they are – available to all women and to ward off the passing of an already-formulated amendment to the Constitution which is designed to make abortion a federal offense. Pro-Choice believes that whether an abortion is had, or not, that individuals have the right to make this most private of personal decisions for themselves with their doctors and of their own conscience without outside interference.
August 1989

10 Years Ago
According to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), dry conditions this spring and summer have made natural food sources for black bears very scarce, and as a result, reports of bear damage and nuisance encounters are on the rise. “Black bears will take advantage of almost any readily available food source,” said Art Johnson, DEC Region 4 Wildlife Manager. “Once bears learn to associate the presence of humans with food, conflicts between bears and humans are inevitable. Bears can cause significant damage if they believe they can obtain an easy meal from structures such as bird feeders, garbage cans, dumpsites, barbecue grills, tents, out-buildings, or houses. If bears are fed, they will become a pest.”
August 1999

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

Labels: 08-07-09, Columns, Hometown History

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 6:18 AM

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In Memoriam

Ethel May O’Mara, 99; Leaves 39 Great-Grandchildren

ONEONTA – Ethel May (Tilford) O’Mara, 99, who met her husband riding back and forth to high school on the D&H, passed away Tuesday, July 28, 2009, in New Market, Ala., where she lived with her daughter’s family.
She was born Feb. 28, 1910, in Harpursville, the first of three daughters of Chester A. and Emma (Livingston) Tilford.
She attended elementary school in Harpursville, then Whitehall, and when her family returned home, she would ride the train daily to Afton High School.
It was riding the train that she met her future husband, Joseph, a D&H telegrapher at the Harpursville station.
They met again in the Binghamton area, and she became Mrs. Joseph E O’Mara on May 23, 1933.
As an adult, she lived in Sanitaria Springs, Otego and Unadilla, before moving to Alabama.
During these years she was dedicated to husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grand children.
She was a member of St. Mary’s Church, Oneonta.
After her husband died in 1963, she traveled on Senior Tours throughout the eastern states, then to California, and finally to Canada, Germany, the Caribbean and Hawaii.
She is survived by her daughter, Colleen Ann and husband, John Gau, of Alabama; two sons, Dennis Joseph of Hampden, Maine, and Michael Eugene and wife, Liv, of Otego; one daughter-in-law, Sara Jane O’Mara of Waterloo; two sisters, Gladys Parker of Sidney, and Charlotte Videtto of Concord, N.C., and 21 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
She is predeceased by her parents, her husband, one son, Bernard Arthur O’Mara, one daughter-in-law, Carol Ann O’Mara, and two brother-in-laws, Lewis Parker of Sidney and Fred Videtto of Adams Center.
A funeral mass was held Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 at St. Mary’s, with the Rev. Joseph Benintende, pastor, officiating. Interment followed in Evergreen Cemetery, Otego.
Memorial donations may be made to the Otego Fire Dept. Building Fund, P.O. Box 467, Otego, N.Y. 13825 or Hospice of Marshall County, Shepherd’s Cove, 408 Martling Road, Albertville, AL 35951.
Condolences to the family may be made online by visiting our website: www.grummonsfuneralhome.com
Arrangements were with the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, Oneonta.

Charles M. Potter, 69; OHS Hoop, Track Star

ONEONTA – Charles M. Potter, a well-known basketball and track star at Oneonta High School, Class of 1959, died Monday, July 13, 2009, at his home in Ocala, Fla. He was 69.
He was born June 8, 1940, in Oneonta, son of Mary O. and Charles A. Potter.
He married Grace Dingee in 1961 in Peekskill. They had two children, Stephanie and John.
Charles worked construction, then went into his own business as a contractor for 16 years.
He coached Little League and Boys Club basketball.
In 1984, they moved close to their children in Texas for four years. In 1988, they managed a condominium in Juno Beach, Fla., which they called Paradise.
In retirement, they traveled the country in their motor home and saw many wonderful sights.
Charlie is survived by his loving wife, Grace; daughter, Stephanie; grandchildren, Holly, Luke and Jessica; his son, John and his wife, Irena; brother, Jim (Margo) and family; brother-in-law, William Gorham and his family; aunt, Rose Marie Ham; and many cousins.
He was predeceased by his son, Arthur Perry; his parents; his sisters, Jean and Ella Mae; and several cousins.
A graveside service will be held at a later date in Oneonta.

Ellen V. Lasell, 92; Oneonta Native

SMITHVILLE FLATS – Oneonta native Ella Virginia Lasell, 92, passed away Monday, July 13, 2009, at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton.
She was born Aug. 9, 1916, the daughter of Benjamin and Laura (Lathrop) Voorhees.
She married C. Chester Lasell in November 1936. He predeceased her in 1954.
Mrs. Lasell was a life member of the Royal Rebekah Lodge and a member of the Main Street Baptist Church, Oneonta.
During World War II, she assisted her husband at the Oneonta Daily Star, where he was a photographer and an engraver. She also worked for the Oneonta State Teachers College in the dormitories.
She is survived by her daughter, Lindy Kluge of Smithville Flats; a daughter-in-law, Carol Lasell of Vestal; five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
She was predeceased by a daughter, Claudia Barbara Lasell; a son, Chester B. Lasell; a brother, Harold Voorhees; a sister, Emma Oliver; and a granddaughter, Barbara Kluge.
A graveside service was Wednesday, July 22, in the Oneonta Plains Cemetery, with Diane Brower, lay pastor at Smithville Flats Presbyterian Church, officiating.
Memorial donations may be made to hospice or charity of one’s choice.
To sign the online guestbook or to send a condolence to the family, visit www.lhpfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements were with Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, Oneonta.

Steven Weill, 58; Worked At Otesaga

ONEONTA – Steven Dennis Weill, 58, of Oneonta passed away on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at the Fox Nursing Home in Oneonta.
He was born on April 4, 1951, in Rockport, N.Y., son of Lawrence J. and Betty (Sullivan) Weill.
Steve worked in the kitchen at The Otesaga in Cooperstown.
The funeral was Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the Oneonta Assembly of God Church, Oneonta, with the Rev. John Grenier, pastor, officiating. Interment will be in the Oneonta Plains Cemetery.
Condolences to the family may be made online by visiting our website: www.grummonsfuneralhome.com
Arrangements were with the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, Oneonta.

Labels: 08-07-09, In Memoriam

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