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GOP Legal Beagle May Be Called In
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Friday, November 6, 2009
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In Races Like Crowell-Keator, Ciampoli Strategizing Valued By Republican Party
By JIM KEVLIN
COOPERSTOWN
Democrats say attorney John Ciampoli, the Republican heavy-hitter in recent election challenges across the state, may be coming to Otsego County to scrutinize the tight race for county treasurer.
For their part, some Republicans are being coy; others say, not yet.
"I guess we’ll all have to be surprised, won’t we," said county GOP Chairman Sheila Ross, Fly Creek.
"I don’t know, I don’t know," is all Tony Casale of Cooperstown, the Republican
strategist and retired Herkimer-Otsego county assemblyman, would say in response to questions about what outside help might be brought in, given the tight race between Democrat Dan Crowell and Republican Ed Keator Jr.
"The best person to contact would be Sheila Ross on that," said Jeff Bishop, spokesman for state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, when asked for details from the senator.
Given the number of tight races being contested across the state right now – Essex County district attorney, five in Columbia County, four each in Dutchess and Westchester, plus the razor-thin margin for Nassau County executive – it’s unlikely that Ciampoli will come here in person for the Friday, Nov. 13, recount at the county’s Meadows Building, Town of Middlefield.
But if the other races resolve themselves and the Crowell-Keator contest is still in play, others say a Ciampoli visit is possible.
Meanwhile, by Tuesday, Nov. 10, the margin had grown from 5 to 146 in favor of Middlefield’s Crowell against West Oneonta’s Keator.
Crowell, who planned to observe the validation of absentee ballots on Thursday and the final count on Friday, said he will be guided by what can be determined to be "the intent of the voter."
"We have full confidence in the election commissioners and deputy commissioners on both sides of the aisle," he said.
Ciampoli’s most high-profile involvement lately was in last fall’s recount in the race for the 20th Congressional District, where Democrat Scott Murphy eventually edged out Jim Tedisco, the state Assembly’s Republican leader.
Murphy – his district includes eastern Otsego County, where Crowell was his campaign chair – eventually won.
More notorious was a smaller-scale case in the Village of Irvington, Westchester County.
Ciampoli was representing Republican Dennis Flood, who lost by one vote to Democrat Erin Malloy in the March 15, 2005, village mayoral election.
After six months of legal challenges, Ciampoli succeeded in having an absentee ballot thrown out, bringing the outcome to a tie.
In a coin toss, Flood unseated Malloy, who had been serving as mayor, and was immediately sworn in.
Election Night, Nov. 3, tally was 5,869 for Crowell to 5,864 for Keator.
When non-automated voting machines in seven towns were rechecked Nov. 5, Crowell gained 44 votes and Keator 10, bring the Democrat’s lead to 59.
Election night, a machine had failed in one district and votes needed to be cast by "emergency ballot." Those 21 votes went 7 for Keator, 14 for Crowell, bring the lead to 66.
Finally, it was discovered that, in one Town of Otsego District, Keator’s independent votes had been miscounted as 85 but actually were 5, bringing Crowell’s lead to 146, where it stood before Friday’s anticipated final count.
The statistics concept – The Law of Large Numbers – suggests the 639 uncounted absentee ballots will break along the lines the electorate did in general, Crowell said.
Absent a challenge, the results of the race should be clear by early next week at the latest.
Keator did not return a call to discuss the status of the race.
Labels: 11-13-09, Front Page |
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SUNY Oneonta Of The Future May Stress Learning By Doing
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Campus Strategic Plan Being Prepared Now
By JIM KEVLINVisiting South Korea’s Yonsei University, two hours from Seoul, a couple of weeks ago was quite an experience for Nancy Kleniewski.
One, the differences: The SUNY Oneonta president was stunned by Seoul’s size – at 29 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the world, after Tokyo.
Two, the similarities: “You walk around the Yonsei campus, you would think you are in Oneonta,” said Kleniewski, who was back in the U.S.A. and being interviewed the other day in her third-floor corner office in the college’s Netzer Administration Building.
Why shouldn’t SUNY Oneonta students be exposed to the same kind of experience? she asked.
Why not, indeed?
And an increase in that kind of “experiential learning” may be an outcome of the ongoing deliberations of SPARC, the college’s Strategic Planning and Resource Council.
SPARC is SUNY Oneonta’s visioning process, which was already under way when the new SUNY chancellor, Nancy Zimpher, issued her call for such July 13 during her first visit to campus.
Dr. Lawrence Guzy in the psychology department is chairing council, which is made up of faculty, students, administrators, alumni and community members. A consultant, David McFarland, former Kuztown (Pa.) University president, is advising the effort.
Three task forces – governing ideas, organizational structure and institutional distinction – are brainstorming and developing idea in their specific areas.
One “stakeholders conference” has already happened, and a second is 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, at the Morris Conference Center.
“Distinction” is the word Kleniewski is focusing on.
“What do we do that’s very good?” asked the college president. “And how can we make it distinctive?”
One tentative answer, she said, is “experiential learning,” in three areas.
First is the opportunity to study abroad, and Kleniewski and Carol Mandzik, director of international education, were in South Korea seeking to establish an exchange with Yonsei.
The following week, Mandzik continued to Japan and, the week after that, planned to visit Norway and Finland.
A second area of “distinctiveness” is the opportunity to do internships. SUNY Oneonta’s largest major is education, and Kleniewski pointed out that “student teaching,” done for decades, is a type of internship.
In the college’s second-largest major, music industry, all graduates are required to obtain a professional internship in the music biz. More and more, fashion students in the Human Ecology Department are seeking internships, too.
Third is how SUNY Oneonta undergrads can compete for grants to pursue research projects.
Such projects have included studying the ecology of Goodyear Lake, traveling to Alaska to observe receding glaciers, and an archeological dig – under way for a couple of summers now – at the school’s Pine Lake camp.
The results are highlighted annually at an undergraduate research fair.
Kleniewski likes the fact that these concepts – studying abroad, internships and research – cut across all disciplines.
While planning is part of any institution, she said, the idea of visioning, of strategic planning, is to ask the question, “What are we going to do that’s exciting, new and different?”
That got Kleniewski talking about the campus’ STEM – for science, technology, engineering and mathematics – Leadership Council. SUNY Oneonta has partnered with Hartwick and SUNY Delhi, with BOCES, public schools in three counties, and a dozen industry partners, including Amphenol, Wilber National Bank and Bassett Healthcare.
Industry people go into the classrooms and talk about how book learning applies to the outside world, “so kids can see, why do you need to learn fractions?”
Once SPARC’s draft vision is complete, by April, the campus’ seven-person “cabinet” – the president and vice presidents – will finalize the priorities in May, and complete an operational plan over the summer.
“There’s a great deal of consensus about the strengths of this college,” Kleniewski reflected, “a great deal.”   Labels: 11-13-09, Frontpage |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 12:00 AM |
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Record Number Of Races Hanging
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Absentee Ballots Counted Nov. 13 By JIM KEVLIN
The squeaker – Democrat Dan Crowell and Republican Ed Keator Jr.’s razor-thin margin in the county treasurer race – is just the start of it.
Nine other races – one for county Board of Representatives, eight for town offices, including two in Oneonta – are still too close to call.
“In don’t know if we’ve ever had this many,” said Cindy Jarvis, deputy elections commissioner.
That means the county Board of Elections at The Meadows, Town of Middlefield, will be jammed this Friday, Nov. 13, as two two-person teams – one member a Republican, the other a Democrat – will recanvas all votes cast in the Nov. 3 elections, add in some 600 absentee ballots, and declare the outcomes final.
All 17 candidates in the disputed races have also been invited to the attend the recount, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Any interested member of the public can show up as well.
“We’ll start in Burlington and work out way through the alphabet,” said Jarvis.
In the Town of Oneonta, there are 72 absentee ballots, enough to change the town board race: Bill Mirabito has 679 votes, Scott Gravelin 623, and John G. Frisch, 607.
Those 72 ballots could also change the four-vote gap in the town justice race, between Andrew Liddle (572) and Philip Hosely (568). The third candidate, Bruce Smith (755), is far enough ahead that he’s assured one of the two seats.
Another high-profile race still in doubt is that of incumbent Republican county Rep. Betty Anne Schwerd of Edmeston, who led Democrat Keith Carpenter by only 16 votes in District 10 on Election Night, 458-442. There are 27 absentee ballots submitted from that district.
Other town races could be changed by absentee ballots in Hartwick, New Lisbon, Springfield and Worcester.
Labels: 11-13-09, Front Page |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 12:00 AM |
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WHAT A GALA IT WAS!
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The icing on the cake was a $60,000 check from the Fox Hospital Auxiliary to President & CEO John Remillard.
But there were goodies through the evening of Saturday, Nov. 7, as 400 partygoers reveled at the hospital’s 19th annual gala, “Red Hot Nites.”
The annual gala is the hospital’s largest fundraiser. The 115 member Auxiliary contributes more than 20,000 volunteer hours annually, and $75,000.00 to the Fox Foundation.
 Dipping into the chocolate fountain at Red Hot Nites, Fox Hospital’s 19th annual gala Saturday, Nov. 7, at the FoxCare Center are, from left, Rudy Ballard of Oneonta, Erin Kilpatrick of Saratoga, Barbara Burnham of Wells Bridge and Aleta Ranieri of Oneonta.
 Fox Memorial Hospital Auxiliary volunteers who presented the check to President & CEO John Remillard are, from left, Joanne Burdick, director of Volunteer Services, Evelyn Ericson, Cynthia Goertemoeller, Laurie Zimniewicz, Diane Terry, Bill Goertemoeller, Robbin Scobie, Marcella Drago, co-presidents Marge O’Mara and Linda Chamard and Rita Hansen. Labels: 11-13-09, Front Page |
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City Of the Hills
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Arcuri, Murphy Split Votes On Health Reform
Otsego County’s congressmen cancelled each other out in the historic Saturday, Nov. 7, vote on health-insurance reform.
U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, voted yea, while U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-20, voted nay.
FOOD VS. FUEL: SUNY Oneonta students and faculty have launched the second annual food drive to help local senior citizens avoid having to choose between purchasing food or fuel this winter. Food and money donations will be collected through Nov. 30 in the lobbies in Fitzelle Hall and Netzer Administration Building.
SMOKE OUT: Fox Memorial Hospital’s chief of surgery reminds Oneontans that Thursday, Nov. 19 is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout: Quit smoking!
$100,000: The George I. Alden Trust awarded Hartwick College a
$100,000 grant for advanced classroom learning technology: Seven Crestron systems to experiment with digital media and discipline-specific software.Labels: 11-13-09, Front Page, The City of the Hills |
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Hometown Sports
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OHS BOYS SOCCER BESTS OWEGO 3-0 FOR SECTION FOUR, CLASS B TITLE
Oneonta’s YellowJacket Ryan Graig makes a header in the Section Four, Class B sectional game versus Owego on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the National Soccer Hall of Fame fields. OHS won 3-0.
 The Oneonta High School YellowJackets jump to block the ball during the Section Four, Class B championship game on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the National Soccer Hall of Fame Fields. OHS won over Owego 3-0 and will face the winner of Section III this weekend. From left, helping on on defense, are Joel Sullivan, Ryan Graig, Ryan Gracy and Kyle McCue.
GO, GIRLS! The OHS varsity cheerleaders finished their fall season with a first-place finish at the Deposit Competition. Back left to right are Nicole Berdnik, Maria Ranieri, Alden Duckett, Stefani Paluch, Ashley Delello, Gabi Rossi, Sophie McCarthy, Katie Webster, Emily Brackett, Amber Talbot, Melissa Flathmann and Coach Jill Reed. Labels: 11-13-09, Hometown Sports |
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HOMETOWN People
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10 Local Frosh In Honor Society
Ten Otsego and Delaware county residents were among 131 SUNY Oneonta freshmen inducted Friday, Oct. 25, into the Oneonta chapter of Phi Eta Sigma, the national scholastic honor society.
They are: Andes – Jessica Lin Reynolds
Oneonta – Gabrielle C. Argo, Alexander H. Chase, Julianne M. Clune, Kendra Lea Lord, Korey H. Rowe and Alicia Nicole Scanlon
Otego – Steven A. Davis and Dayle L. Dutcher
Unadilla – Kasta M. Howland
GOOD EMPLOYEE: Cassandre Utter, LPN, has been designated “Employee of the Quarter” at Fox Memorial Hospital. Cassandre has worked in Fox’s Oneonta Family Practice since 2006. Her nomination was submitted by her peers for consistently demonstrating kindness to her patients, diligence in her job duties and fostering teamwork in the workplace.
GEO FYRST: SUNY Oneonta earth science faculty members Devin Castendyk, Leslie Hasbargen, Tatiana Vislova, James Albanese and James Ebert presented “GEO FYRST: Creating Majors with a Pre-semester Field Trip for First-year Students” at the 2009 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America Oct. 18-21 in Portland, Ore. Their presentation was selected from 4,000 nominees
PRIZE, LECTURE: Dr. Devin Castendyk, SUNY Oneonta assistant professor of earth sciences, has won the 2009 Richard Siegfried Junior Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence. He will deliver the 15th annual Siegfried Lecture, “Mine-Full Nation: The Paradox of Sustainable at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Morris Conference Center.
POLIO FIGHTER
 Morris Rotary Club President Gary Johnson holds aloft the plaque from Southern Tier Rotary officials praising the local club’s contribution of over $2,000 to immunize children in every country. Rotary International, in a multimillion-dollar campaign, has eliminated polio from all but a handful of developing countries.
NEW DOCTOR: Dr. Sarbjit Vilkhu has joined the Fox Memorial Hospital in the anesthesia division. Board certified in anesthesiology. He is a graduate of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Most recently, he practiced at St. Joseph Hospital in Cheektowaga.
SUNY STUDENT, WILBER BANK LAUNCH TOILETRY COLLECTION
 Jennifer Lord, right, a SUNY Oneonta student and Oneonta resident, has launched a service learning project titled Operation Hygiene in all Otsego County branches of Wilber National Bank. She is collecting hygiene items to be donated to Opportunities for Otsego and Generations Humanitarian. A list of needed items can be found at www.wilberbank.com and will be collected through Dec. 1. To Lord’s right is Oneonta Branch Manager Susan Tietjen.
Professor Publishes Book On Borges, Argentinian Poet
 ‘Borges and the Critique of Myth,” by SUNY Oneonta assistant professor Daniel Nahson, has just been published by Iberoamericana/Vervuert.
Dr. Nahson’s book describes how 19th-century Latin American literature converges on the poetry, narrative, and criticism of Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges
The professor, who has taught foreign languages and literature at SUNY Oneonta for a year, has a doctorate in Spanish Literature from Columbia.
He taught previously at the University of Texas, Emory, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Williams College and Columbia.
Office Max Honors Teacher SpauldingOffice Max donated $1,000 to the Center Street School’s fourth-grade class in recognition of teacher Beth Spaulding generosity to her class.
Principal John Cook Mrs. Spaulding to Office Max’s “A Day Made Better” program.
As part of the award, goodie bags, a printer, a digital camera, paper, and even an office chair for Mrs. Spaulding herself.
NEW BOOK: The Otsego County Historical Association will host Thomas Pullyblank, author of “Cornflower’s Ghost: An Historical Mystery,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Masonic Lodge, Cooperstown. Pullyblank teaches at SUNY Oneonta.Labels: 11-13-09, Hometown People |
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How Do You Spell Community Vitality?
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Editorial
Mayor-elect Dick Miller is a proponent of benchmarking – finding what similar communities are doing something well and tagging Oneonta’s progress to the that Gold Standard.
Some things – financial, in particular – are objective and clearly measurable. But how do you measure community vitality?
Last weekend was just a regular weekend in Oneonta – no Centennial celebration, no City of the Hills Arts Festival – but the manifestations of community vitality were overwhelming.
From the concert in the Oneonta Theater, to the Fox Gala, to the flamenco dancing at the Elks, to OHS winning the Section B finals at the National Soccer Hall of Fame, energy was evident everywhere.
Every one of those events involved hundreds of person-hours to make happen, much of it enthusiastically – and freely – provided.
As it happens, a “community vitality index” does exist, developed in 1990 by the Commercial Club of Chicago.
It measures:
• Social Capital – Voting records, diversity, stabililty.
• Economic Potential – Buying power (income per square mile), home-ownership rates, educational attainment.
• Community Amenities – arts and entertainment, restaurants, health care, institutions.
You can see how Oneonta would very likely score very well on this type of report card, and how that score would be a great way to celebrate the City of the Hills achievements and potential, for our own satisfaction, and to the world at large.
2:17 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7: The parking lot at St. Mary’s School is packed, as it has been all day, with attendees to the Greater Oneonta Historical Society’s annual Holiday Antiques Show & Sale. Inside, author Jim Loudon autographs copies of his books. At right is Susan Kennedy, Mount Vision. More than 350 people attended, a record.
3:37 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7: Las Tacones Calientes’ heels are clickety-clacking on the wooden floor of the Elks Club on Chestnut Street. A packed house of 200 watched dancers trained in traditional Spanish flamenco. From left are Rebeca Byam, director, Michelle Gardner and Sandy Welsh.
 5:43 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7: 400 voices burst into song in Hartwick College’s Lambros Gymnasium, where Dr. Raymond Wise, one of the nation’s foremost Gospel music proponents, directs 250 high school students from 13 Central New York high schools, four college choirs, four community choirs, and many interested individuals in the college’s Gospel Chorale Festival, organized by the school’s chorale director, Jirko Kratochvíl. Last year, the festival’s first, only 150 voices sang. More than 200 people paid $10 to listen.
 7:36 P.M., SATURDAY, NOV. 7: Barbara Barkley snaps a photo of Kelly Ahlqvist, left, and Stacy Champlin at Fox’s Red Hot Nites gala, which drew 400. All work for David M. Dugan D.D.S., M.D., P.C. Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery.
 2:52 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8: John P. Nowitny, a World War II Navy veteran of the USS Belleau Woods, describes how his aircraft carrier was hit by a kamikaze pilot. The program was part of the GOHS’ ongoing exhibit, “Oneonta In World War II.” Some 80 audience members filled the house.
 3:37 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8: Rene Prins conducts the Oneonta Community Band in a tribute to local veterans into the Oneonta Theater, vaudeville house and cinema that is now undergoing renovations. Some 200 people listened.Labels: 11-13-09, Editorial |
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Three And Out
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LAMAR ALEXANDER
OTHER VOICES
Editor’s Note: U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., former U.S. education commissioner, used Hartwick College’s new three-year bachelor’s program to frame a discussion of higher education’s challenges in the Oct. 17 issue of Newsweek. Here is an excerpt.
Hartwick college, a small liberal-arts school in Upstate New York, makes this offer to well-prepared students: earn your undergraduate degree in three years (six semesters) instead of four, and save about $43,000—the amount of one year’s tuition and fees.
A number of innovative colleges are making the same offer to students anxious about saving time and money. The three-year degree could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car. And that’s both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world.
... The United States has almost all of the world’s best universities.
A recent Chinese survey ranks 35 American universities among the top 50, eight among the top 10. Our research universities have been the key to developing the competitive advantages that help Americans produce 25 percent of all the world’s wealth. In 2007, 623,805 of the world’s brightest students were attracted to American universities.
... Yet, as with the auto industry in the 1960s, there are signs of peril within American higher education. It is true that the problem with car companies was monopoly, whereas U.S. colleges compete in a vibrant marketplace.
Students, often helped by federal scholarships and loans, may choose among 6,000 public, private, nonprofit, for-profit, or religious institutions of higher learning.
In addition, almost all of the $32 billion the federal government provides for university research is awarded competitively.
But as I discovered myself during my four-year tenure as president of the University of Tennessee in the late 1980s, in some ways many colleges and universities are stuck in the past.
For instance, the idea of the fall-to-spring “school year” hasn’t changed much since before the American Revolution, when we were a nation of farmers and students put their books away to work the soil during the summer. That long summer stretch no longer makes sense.
...Some forward-looking colleges like Hartwick are rethinking the old way of doing things and questioning decades-old assumptions about what a college degree means.
For instance, why does it have to take four years to earn a diploma?
This fall, 16 first-year students and four second- year students at Hartwick, located halfway between Binghamton and Albany, enrolled in the school’s new three-year degree program.
According to the college, the plan is designed for high-ability, highly motivated students who wish to save money or to move along more rapidly toward advanced degrees.
Instead of taking 30 credits a year, these students take 40.
By eliminating that extra year, three-year degree students save 25 percent in costs.
Labels: 11-13-09, Opinion |
| posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 12:00 AM |
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The Road To The Gas Wells
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JIM GOLDSTEIN
OTHER VOICES
Editor’s Note: Lebanon Town Supervisor Jim Goldstein is one of the Madison County officials who organized the natural-gas drilling conference in June at SUNY Morrisville. Both Broome County and the Town of New Lisbon have draft laws they are working on regarding protection of roads that may be viewed at www.occainfo.org
In the Town of Lebanon in Madison County, there are over 55 wells drilled and another 30 at least in various stages of planning or development.
Our town experienced a 3-D seismic testing experience two years ago that was quite significant as a precursor to much of that drilling activity that generated more complaints in two months than my office had received in the prior six years combined. Our neighboring township in Chenango County, the Town of Smyrna, and other towns to the south, Plymouth, Preston and others, as well as Eaton, Brookfield, Hamilton and DeRuyter have more activity and have had their share of complaints.
Other elected officials who are highly knowledgeable on this issue include Supervisor Jim Bays of the Town of Smyrna, Supervisor Peter Flanagan of the Town of Preston, both in Chenango County, Supervisor John Salka of the Town of Brookfield in Madison County, where a serious drilling accident occurred, and Supervisor Don Barber of the Town of Caroline in Tompkins County.
There are land coalitions in Madison, Chenango, Otsego, Broome and other counties that can speak to these issues.
In our area, there have been two gas-well rig fires in the last six months, there was a profound drilling accident of a test well in the Town of Brookfield in 2007 that contaminated a number of homeowner wells and rendered some properties worthless.
The DEC makes no mention of these impacts or similar impacts or worse ones in other states. I am also aware of public health discussions about the impact of drilling in the western part of the state in Chautauqua County that are still in some dispute but ignored for the most part by the DEC.
Labels: 11-13-09, Opinion |
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HOMETOWN History
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125 Years Ago
The Oneonta silver mine was discovered one year ago. A great deal of work has been done since that time and much money expended. Indeed, a visit to the mine is necessary in order to appreciate the extent of the work of sinking the shafts. The owners are apparently not in the least discouraged by Professor Prosser. The fact that they continue to put their money into the mine is evidence of this. We hope they may finally take out as much from the hole as they put into it, and more.
November 1884
100 Years Ago
An inventory of the estate of the late Col. R.L. Fox, who died recently leaving $30,000 in cash and the greater part of the residuary estate to the Fox Memorial Hospital, indicates that the estate has been much over-estimated. The first estimate given out was that the property was worth $400,000. It has since been found that some of the securities are worth less than par, and that the estate will in all probability not amount to over $200,000. From this sum the $30,000 bequest will be fully paid.
November 1909
80 Years Ago
Although many sections of New York State are well adapted to the sheep industry and while the law providing for the licensing of dogs enacted in 1917 would greatly enhance sheep production, it appears from the state’s Department of Agriculture and Market reports that the number of sheep has not increased to any great extent and that comparatively few farmers are engaged in raising sheep. The number of sheep in the state is estimated at about 500,000. The reports also indicate that there are now more dogs in New York State than sheep, if the 200,000 or more canines resident in New York City are included. The census of dogs taken this year shows that the canine population outside of New York City has reached at least 440,000. The menace to sheep production than once existed in the form of attacks by dogs has been considerably diminished through the operation of the law providing for the licensing of dogs and the payment to owners for sheep killed, injured, or chased by canines.
A more direct bus service between Utica and Oneonta has been instituted by the Colonial Coach Company. The new line, which made its inaugural run last week, will serve a section which hitherto has had only indirect connections to Utica. A bus will leave Utica at 4:30 p.m. daily, running to West Winfield where a bus will be awaiting to carry passengers to Oneonta. Stops will be made at intervening communities with arrival in Oneonta at 8 p.m. Another bus will leave Oneonta at 4 p.m. and make connections in West Winfield with arrival in Utica at 7:10 p.m.
November 1929
60 Years Ago
A new list of Oneonta real estate transfers discloses that John M. “Jack” Ohmeis and Mrs. Helen B. Ohmeis have sold their large home at 60 Dietz Street to Francis A. Lee, 18 Ford Avenue at an estimated price of $15,000. The property at 13 Walnut Street was sold by the Citizens National Bank, trustees for the Edward E. Ford estate, to the occupant, Sarah Flanders Dietz, for about $16,000. The residence at 1 Spring Street was sold by Sarah C. Dutcher to George and Mary Skinner of Oneonta for about $5,000. The residence at 15 Tilton Avenue was sold on behalf of the Henry E. Hetherington estate to Sarah Edna Hetherington for about $6,500.
November 1949
40 Years Ago
Oneonta Police Chief Joseph DeSalvatore’s report on police activities for the month of October list one felony arrest, 22 misdemeanor arrests, 67 traffic tickets and 1,029 tickets for meter and other parking violations. Offenses for which arrests were made included second degree assault, 1; public intoxication, 5; drunken driving, 4; criminal possession of stolen property, 2; and unregistered motor vehicle, 2; criminal mischief, 2; bad checks, 2; third degree assault, 2; unlicensed operation, 2; and family court, 2. Traffic summonses issued included speeding, 27; red lights, 13; stop signs, 9; flashing red lights, 6; equipment violations, 4; failure to keep right and more than three in front seat, 3; improper left turns, 2; and unlicensed operation of a motorcycle, 1. Parking tickets included meter violations, 424 and other violations, 605.
November 1969
20 Years Ago
There are no easy answers to issues like planning and economic development, but a group of Oneonta community leaders are working to find solutions and new ideas. At an old-fashioned town meeting style gathering on Monday, a group of more than 80 Oneonta-area residents gathered at St. James Episcopal Church to discuss community issues and problems brain storm solutions and new ideas in small groups. Hartwick College president Philip Wilder suggested to his group that “the city live dangerously” by putting itself out of business and joining the town. That is a step many town residents resist because they enjoy the “freedom” of living in the country.
November 1989Labels: 11-13-09, Columns |
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In Memoriam
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Patrick Joseph Cerra, 90; WWII Veteran, Worked On D & H Railroad For 35 Years ONEONTA – Patrick Joseph Cerra, 90, of Oneonta, passed away on Monday, Nov. 10, 2009 at his residence.
Patrick was born on March 24, 1919, in Carbondale, Pa., the son of the late Pasquale and Francesca (DeFazio) Cerra.
He served in the Army during WW II. He worked for the D & H Railroad for 35+ years. Patrick loved being with his family and at home. He enjoyed many hours gardening. During his retirement, Pat and Mary enjoyed extensive travel abroad.
Patrick was a member of the 6th Ward Athletic Club and a member of the Oneonta American Legion and the VFW in past years.
Patrick is survived by his wife of 66 years, Mary Cerra of Oneonta; his children, Donna Coyne and her husband, Joe of Oneonta, Patrick Cerra and his wife, Barbara of Bermuda, Mary Jean Price and her husband, Jeff of Dallas, Texas, and Cindy Belanger and her husband, Dave of East Kingston, New Hampshire; his grandchildren, Lynne Gould, David Filtranti, Kelly McRae, Stacey Price, Patrick Cerra, Joseph Belanger and Emily Belanger; three great grandchildren, Ellie and Evan Gould and Raegan McRae.
He is also survived by a brother, Bernard Cerra and his wife, Minnie of Worcester; a daughter-in-law, Janet Cerra of Orchard Park and several nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family.
Patrick was predeceased by a son, Joseph Cerra; two sisters, Rose Pascoe and Jennie Carline; a brother, Louis Cerra.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. in St. Mary’s Parish Center with the Rev. Joseph Benintende, officiating. Interment will follow in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Emmons.
Friends may call Thursday, Nov. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, 14 Grand St., Oneonta at which time the family will be in attendance.
The family would like to thank Hospice for the service it provided. We would like to express our great appreciation to Audrey and Eileen for all their love and care.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Catskill Area Hospice, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Condolences to the family may be made online by visiting our website: www.grummonsfuneralhome.com
Arrangements are by the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, Oneonta.
Marie Rose Murwin, 74; Retired A.O. Fox Employee
OTEGO – Marie Rose Murwin, 74, of Otego, a retired administrative assistant at Fox Memorial Hospital, passed away on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 at her home, surrounded by her loving family.
She was born on April 15, 1935, in Oneonta, the daughter of Salvatore and Lucy (Baldo) Bossio. She married Claude R. Murwin on April 18, 1954, and he predeceased her in 1994.
She enjoyed gardening, antiquing, reading and traveling south and to the Caribbean to visit her family. Marie was a member of St. Mary’s Church, Oneonta.
Survivors include Claude (Randy) Murwin of Otego, Sally Emsley and her husband Ross, of Trinidad, West Indies, Stephen Murwin and his family, Charlotte and Jeremy of Melbourne, Fla., and Elizabeth Murwin (George Allen) of Oneonta; her grandchildren, Randy and Stephanie Murwin; her mother, Lucy Gaisford of Melbourne, Fla.; her sister, Carol Quackenbush and her husband Henry, of Oneonta.
She is also survived by two nephews, David Quackenbush and his children, Brittany and Macey, and Mark and Janet Quackenbush and their children, Drue and Bryn; one niece, Kristin Quackenbush; and an uncle, Albert Baldo.
The memorial mass was Wednesday, Nov. 11, in St. Mary’s Parish Center, with the Rev. Joseph Benintende, officiating. Burial followed in the Bundy Cemetery, Otego.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Harris Memorial Library, 334 Main St, Otego NY 13825.
Arrangements were with the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.
Muriel I. Jeffrey; Active In Church MinistriesONEONTA – Muriel Jeffrey went home to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Family and friends were in attendance at her passing.
Muriel was born in Binghamton, the daughter of Emmett and Ruth Shreckengast. She was raised in Kirkwood, received an associate's degree in food services and nutrition from Delhi Agriculture and Technical College in 1940.
She married Howard E. Jeffrey on Sept. 14, 1941, who died in 1981.
Muriel was a longtime resident of Nader Towers, and an active member of the River Street Baptist Church. She volunteered for the Youth for Christ Ministries, Baptist Missionary Society and sent special greeting cards to friends and family for years.
Muriel enjoyed her pinochle card club, watching baseball, visiting family and traveling with her friends.
Muriel is survived by her children, Mary J. Lewis and her husband, Stephen of Sequim, Wash., Ronald L. Jeffrey and his wife, Jean of Marietta, and Adelaide Van Buren and her husband, Bruce of Virginia Beach, Va.; three grandchildren, Jeffrey Lewis of Olympia, Wash., Holly Lewis of Nashville, Ind., and Steven Jeffrey of Liverpool; and three great-grandchildren, Mitchell Lewis, Emilee Lyn and Regan Jeffrey.
A memorial celebration of Muriel's life journey will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at River Street Baptist Church, 133 River St., Oneonta. Reception to follow, location to be announced.
There will no interment as Muriel generously donated her body to Albany Medical College for education and study.
The family would like to express sincere appreciation to the Virginia Beach and Catskill Area Hospice for their thoughtful care and family support.
Memorial donations may be made to River Street Baptist Church (Van Fund), 133 River St., Oneonta, NY 13820, Central New York Youth for Christ, P.O. Box 362, Oneonta, NY 13820 or Castskill Area Hospice, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.
To light a candle or send an online condolence please visit www. bookhoutfuneralhome. com.
Labels: 11-13-09, In Memoriam, Obituaries |
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