Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Hometown People

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

ELENA’S SWEET INDULGENCE

Elena Doyle accepts the Morgan-McReynolds Award for a Small Business Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the Executive Service Corps’ Celebration of Service at the National Soccer Hall of Fame. With her on stage is state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, and Joann Rasmussen. The Rasmussen Award To Non-Profit Organizations went to the West Kortright Center. The Small Business Award is named for Erna Morgan-McReynolds, the local stockbroker and civic leader.
Doyle, who has run Elena’s Sweet Indulgence for 20 years, said, “Every piece of that store is a little bit of all of you.”

EXHIBITION ON TRACK

Dory Brown, left, Aaron Sorenson and Amy Pondolfino set up the train exhibit at the Greater Oneonta Historical Society History Center. It includes information about railroad in Oneonta, a toy train track and children’s activities prepared by Oneonta World of Learning. Brown is a GOHS trustee; Sorenson and Pondolfino are with OWL.

LEARNING ABOUT HAND BELLS

Oneonta Nursery School’s four year old class took a field trip across the street last week to the First Methodist Church on Chestnut Street to learn about hand bells and the hand bell choir, who was rehearsing for the Community Christmas Carol. The children learned about the difference between high and low sounds and which bells make which sounds, as well as the difference between hand bells and hand chimes. Sitting in the back row (from left to right): Grace Craig, Teacher Susan Ryder, Elizabeth Brantley, Xander Van Cott and Garrett Seeley. In the front row, left to right: Emma Scanlon, Noah Ashe, Nathaniel Groppe, Sabrina Antrosio, Savannah Betterley, Teacher Susan Cuozzo, and Sasha Dudek.

Labels: 12-19-08, Elena's, Hometown People, Oneonta Nursery School, OWL, Train

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:42 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Hometown History

125 Years Ago

Home & Vicinity – The number of pieces of first-class mail handled in one day at the Oneonta post office was 4,217; of second-class mail, 2,958; a total of 7,175. This would give a weekly total greater than 50,000. Failing to conclude satisfactory arrangements with Henry Wilcox for running the sewer through his ground from River Street to the Susquehanna, the course of the sewer has been altered. It is to be carried through River Street to Burnside Avenue to Luther Street, thence through Luther Street back to and across Main, emptying into the millrace nearby. Mr. Wilcox is thus left in the cold and the railroad shop sewage is disposed of as well as by the original survey.
December 1883

100 Years Ago

Local News – Charles A. Hand of the Oneonta Department Store has lately bought a lot on the south side of Main Street, corner of Fourth, in Oneonta and has commenced the foundation for a residence which he hopes to have ready for occupancy about April 1. The house will cost about $3,500. The new directory of the Home Telephone Company is now being distributed. The directory, with 1,200 names, emphasizes the growth of the business of the company in this city. The Wilber bank has received a small number of the new gold coins of the United States. These coins are flat disks of metal with the inscription and figure upon the face and back sunk into the metal instead of raised out of it. It is suggested that the sunken figures on the coins are proof of recent financial depression.
December 1908

80 Years Ago

Daylight continues to grow shorter and darkness longer. Most people are getting up in inky blackness, going to work in duskiness and returning home in the afternoon in the dark. In addition to that, the overcast condition of the skies makes the constant use of electricity almost necessary. There is hope ahead, however. Friday, Dec. 21, winter will officially begin and the days simultaneously commence to lengthen. At first the difference will be hardly noticeable, but you will be surprised how fast the daylight will lengthen.
December 1928

60 Years Ago

Decline in farm prices in 1949, particularly in the prices of some livestock products, is in prospect for the farmers of Otsego County, says Robert Ames, county agricultural agent. Cornell farm economists look for continuing high prices for articles farmers buy in the face of declining farm prices and lower net incomes for farmers, the agent says. Support prices for basic crops such as corn and wheat will continue at 90 percent of parity while prices of livestock products were well above support levels at the end of the year. Much of the anticipated decline in prices of farm products, he points out, will be in the non-basic crops such as potatoes, cabbage, fruits, vegetables and in livestock products.
December 1948

40 Years Ago

The panel of 90 trial jurors whose names were drawn to sit at the January term of County Court includes the following persons from the City of Oneonta: Marjorie Bazin, Grace Fisher, Mildred Higgins, Kester Bookhout, Ila Blake, E.A. Donaldson, Laura Decker, Stephen Salata, Clyde E. Ott, George G. Suppes, Dorothy Flanagan, Beatrice Merchant, Irving Whitney, Alicia Salisbury, Bessie Van Warner, Doris S. Heck, Gertrude B. Natoli, Clara Morris, Albert Bridger, Margaret Sanchez, Christine Sloan, Norma Slawson, William O’Malley, John Burch and Thelma M. Carr. Those trial jurors residing at West Oneonta are: Shirley Sparaco, Louise Friedel, Dorothy M. Palmer, Harry C. Hurlbert, Beverly Olive and Henry Lare.

In Otsego County the cost of living is considerably higher than it was a few years ago. On the basis of the latest national figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average local family with a net income of $7,563 needed approximately $930 more in 1968 than in 1964 to buy the same “market basket” of goods and services.
December 1968

20 Years Ago

After eight years as governor of California and eight as president, Ronald Reagan still mistrusts government bureaucracy to manage or resolve the country’s complex problems. Government should “stop putting its faith in the false god of bureaucracy and trust the genius of the American people instead,” he told an audience of political appointees recently. Reagan also blames lack of support in Congress for his failed policy of supporting anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. President Reagan also condemns Congress for federal spending that has quadrupled. “It’s come right out of your pockets,” Reagan told a radio audience during a recent weekly address.
December 1988

10 Years Ago

A lawsuit filed by New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco, a Republican, was dismissed in state court, paving the way for the state board of elections to declare Democrat Eliot Spitzer the state’s Attorney-General-elect. A recount showed that Spitzer won the recent election by just over 20,000 votes. Vacco had charged that voter fraud cost him his job. However, in the six weeks since the election, Vacco’s attorneys were unable to offer any compelling evidence amounting to fraud.
December 1998

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

Labels: 12-19-08, Columns, Hometown History

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:39 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

The Bell-Ringers’ Code

When People Are In Need,
Be There For Them, Avow
Mary Wayman, Lewis Gage

By JEANNINE BOHLER

The shiny red kettle. The ringing brass bell. They are as much a part of the Christmas landscape as a lighted tree or Santa Claus.
But who are these kind-hearted individuals who wait patiently as people ruffle through their pockets and wallets in search of loose change or a dollar or two for the kettle and then send them off with a word of thanks, a wish for a blessed holiday season, and a warmer feeling in their hearts?
They are the Salvation Army volunteers, men and women like Lewis Gage of Oneonta and Mary Wayman of Otego, who brace themselves against winter’s bitter chill to collect money to aid families in need.
Gage, 59, first started ringing the Salvation Army bell more than 25 years ago. He has been doing it every holiday season since. He got involved almost accidentally, agreeing to stand in for a Salvation Army officer who couldn’t make it that day.
In the process, found a calling he is happy to answer.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “God gave me a gift. God told me to do it, and I did it. I don’t do it for myself. I do it for the Lord. It helps out a lot of people and it makes me feel good all over.”
And much of Gage’s holiday season is spent greeting people and thanking them for their donations. He spends as many as 48 hours each week manning kettles, often standing nine or 10 hours per day outside of stores. He can be found most often at Oneonta’s Price Chopper, but has volunteered at many of the Salvation Army’s other nine posts throughout Oneonta, Sidney and Cooperstown.
Meeting and talking with people keeps Gage inspired year after year. After 25 years on the job, he now sees the children of people who were children when he first began.
“I love seeing the little ones ask their moms to put something in the kettle,” he said. “I hear the moms telling their kids that they remember putting money in the same man’s kettle when they were kids themselves.”
Other people share stories with Gage of a time when the Salvation Army helped them out. They tell him they are happy to give if it means other people will get help in a time of need. Veterans, especially, tell stories of the Salvation Army’s generosity during war time. One soldier was grateful that the Salvation Army was able to pay his way home for a family emergency.
Each holiday season brings change, new volunteers begin, old friends pass away, new stories are shared, unusual things happen, and Gage’s holidays are laced with memories of Christmases past at the kettle.
One year, he stood ouide the old Ames department store in Oneonta near a group of teenagers smoking cigarettes. As the teens prepared to leave, they tossed the burning cigarette butts in Gage’s direction. One landed in the locked kettle and the money began to smolder. A fast-thinking Gage tossed the remains of a glass of soda into the kettle, dousing the fire before the day’s donations were lost.
With days left until Christmas, Gage will be out, ringing the bell, standing by the kettle as often as he can be to help bring the joy of the season to the less fortunate.
“This is a part of my Christmas. It just wouldn’t be Christmas to me if I didn’t do it,” he said.
For her part, Mary Wayman has 30 years of memories ringing the Salvation Army bell at kettles throughout the area. When she joined the Salvation Army, a call for volunteers had gone out. She answered the call and has made it a part of her holiday season ever since.
“It has always been interesting to meet people. I just enjoy standing there,” she said. “Sometimes you see people you grew up with. Sometimes people tell me they saved their money to put in my kettle because they know I always stand here. It makes me feel good to know people think well of the Salvation Army.”
Wayman first stood at the old Jamesway in Oneonta at a time when many Vietnam veterans stopped by with donations and expressed gratitude for the help the Salvation Army had given them during the war. People don’t talk as openly much anymore, Wayman said, but she still sees many individuals, themselves in need of food and clothing, who stop to put what they can – a dime, a nickel - into the kettle
“I tell everyone who comes that each penny counts. Each penny helps some other boy or girl who wouldn’t have a Christmas without the help,” she said.
Wayman stands at the kettles for 15 hours each week – she would do more, she said, but Maj. James Smith of the Salvation Army won’t let her do more because he is afraid she’ll get sick.
So for five hours at a time on her volunteer shifts, she stands at the kettle located between Applebee’s and Subway in the Southside Mall.
The stores have changed over the past 30 years. She has stood outside them all, once in the Salvation Army uniform, then wearing a Salvation Army pin on her coat, and now in a Salvation Army apron. The stores may change. The outfit may be different. But Mary Wayman’s dedication will not change.
“I’ll keep ringing the bell as long as I can,” she said.
Gage and Wayman are both members of the Salvation Army, but they work side-by-side with almost 150 volunteers who stand at the kettle’s each season, according to Major Smith. Some volunteers are members of the Salvation Army, others are individuals who simply call and ask to help out during the season. Others are members of service clubs, churches and organizations that come forward each year to aid with the kettle drive.
“There is an old phrase,” Smith said. “The army behind The Army is always our volunteers. Without them, we could never do the things we do, and not just as Christmas, but throughout the year.”
The targeted goal for this year’s kettle drive is $50,000. The money will aid the Salvation Army’s Christmas programs – from food baskets to Christmas toys. At the moment, the drive is “right on target,” he said.

Labels: 12-19-08, Salvation Army, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:30 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Amahl in Otsego County

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

Last year at just this time I was interviewed on local television in my guise as Charles Dickens for the Victorian Stroll in Cooperstown. When I mentioned James Fenimore Cooper to the cameraman, he confessed very blithely to never having heard of him. When I recovered from my profound shock (he was in Cooperstown, after all) I meekly asked him about “The Last of the Mohicans, maybe?”
“Oh yeah. I know the movie?”
I had a similar dismayed reaction recently in talking with someone who had never heard of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” Not quite as egregious a gap in culture, but still…
If you have never heard of it, then are you ever fortunate to have started reading this column!
And is Otsego County ever fortunate in having Impresario Patrick Calleo producing it over Christmas from south to north.
This is an opera originally written for television in the 1950s (is there an Internet opera yet?) and is just about as popular at this time of the year as “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker.” Just one hour long (for the 50’s TV attention span), it tells the story of a young lame boy and his mother somewhere in the in the remote wilds of the Middle East centuries ago.
Doing their best to survive in their rudimentary shelter, they receive the surprise visit of the Three Wise Men in need of a place to spend the night as they follow the star to Bethlehem.
The disparity between the visitors and their hosts leads to a dramatic confrontation that finally resolves itself in a miracle and shining hope for the future. (We are reluctant to give too much away.)
Besides the principals mentioned up till now, there is also a swarm of spirited shepherds and the cast Mr. Calleo has assembled features shining stars (pun fully intended) of all ages. The music is beautiful and the story timeless.
So now you are lucky not to have to admit to never having heard of this charming and graceful chamber opera.
And you are even luckier to be finding out where you can catch it over the upcoming Christmas season:
• Foothills Performing Arts Center, Oneonta, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 19 & 20 AND 2 p.m., Dec. 21.
• Upper Susquehanna Cultural Center, Milford, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 23.
• Templeton Hall, Cooperstown, 7 p.m., Dec. 27.
• Grace Episcopal Church, Cherry Valley, 5 p.m., Dec. 28.
We are grateful to Patrick Calleo for the extensive spreading of this joyous musical word at this festive time of the year.
Merry Christmas!

Sam Goodyear’s column on the arts in Otsego and Delaware counties appears weekly.

Labels: 12-19-08, Art Beat, Sam Goodyear, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:28 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

At the Black Oak

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

It’s of the jazz world – and lexicon. Bad means good and dirty means funky. Sam Kininger was both last Friday night, Dec. 12 at the Black Oak in Oneonta.
The alto sax virtuoso tore it up with his quartet, playing a relentless kind of neo-funk – a mix of lightning fast be-bop-esque heads played in unison by sax, organ and guitar with a hard and steady groove obviously influenced by everything from traditional jazz to Parliament, James Brown and hip hop.
Though he is best known for his tenures with the funk bands Lettuce and Soulive, both with keyboardist Neal Evans and guitarist Eric Krasno, he frequently tours under his own name as well.
Whether it was the road conditions or a touch of fame, Kininger showed up about half an hour after the band did. Initially, the trio minus Kininger seemed to have a little trouble finding the pocket. The greatest disappointment to me was the organist’s lack of a classic Leslie rotating speaker cabinet. The rotating speaker utilizes the Doppler Effect to create that unique vibrato associated with the Hammond organ. The speed of rotation is controlled by a foot pedal and its effect is that classic organ sound we know from Dr. Lonnie Smith to Joey DeFrancesco.
However, after Kininger entered the room and took the stage, reed in mouth, the band really began to find their groove. Most musicians tend to ferment as the gig progresses and by the time the band took their first break, the group was really smoking. By this point in the night, I no longer missed the Leslie as the group was so deep in the pocket.
Kininger, however, did not need to ferment. From the moment he took the stage he was on.
Like James Brown attacking the first beat, Kininger was explosive from his first breath. He called the shots whether it was a flagrant “Huh!” or a slight turn toward the band. His cues were never missed and the sound was tight. Sometimes he would simply yell through the saxophone while playing.
Some reviews compare Kininger’s sound to Maceo Parker, James Brown’s alto sax player who has had a fine solo career as well. Though they are of the same musical tradition, Parker uses fewer notes and a greater intensity of air. Parker’s is a soulful jazz developed in funk while Kininger tends to be a bit faster with a little more hip hop influence. Nevertheless, they are of a hard ripping school of alto sax that goes beyond straight jazz; more accessible to non-jazz fans yet just as advanced technically.
Kininger’s relationship with Oneonta began several years ago when he was hired to play at General Clinton’s pub. There, SUNY Oneonta’s “Professor of Funk” Jeremy Wall sat in on keys and Kininger has returned several times since, once performing at Alumni Weekend with SUNY’s funk band and at another venue with Professor Rich Mollin on bass.
Kininger will continue his tour with Soulive featuring Robert Randolph at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia Dec. 27 and will return to New York City Dec. 29 with Soulive at the Highline Ballroom on 16th Street between 9th and 10th avenues. With all hope, he will bring the heat back to Oneonta sometime soon.

Evan Jagels, whose column appears weekly, may be reached at evanjagels@yahoo.com

Labels: 12-19-08, Evan Jagels, Night Life, The City of the Hills

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:25 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

WEEKEND’S BEST BETS

NUTCRACKER: On Friday, Dec. 19, stop by the Goodrich Theatre at SUNY Oneonta for a performance of “The Nutcracker Suite” by the Donna Decker, Fokine Ballet at 7 p.m. Repeat performances will be at 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. Call 432-6290 for tickets and information.

ART CAMPS: Register your children for the UCCCA Christmas Art Camp happening on Saturday, Dec. 20, where children will create unique gifts for family and friends. The fee is $65 including materials. Don’t forget to bring a bag lunch! The camp will take place at the Wilber Mansion on Ford Avenue in Oneonta. Call 432-2070 to register.

MODEL TRAINS: On Saturday morning, Dec. 20 from 10 a.m.-Noon bring your kids or grand kids and enjoy some fun with model trains at the Greater Oneonta Historical Society History Center located at 183 Main St. Bring your own O Gauge models and share your love of trains with those special to you.

SANTA TRAIN: There is a special Santa Express Christmas train departing from Milford at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20. Santa and Mrs. Claus will entertain all riders on the holiday decorated train. Reservations and prepayment are required since seating is limited. Call 432-2429.
CONCERT: Sunday afternoon, Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. there will be a very unique holiday concert by the Catskill Symphony Orchestra. They will be accompanied by students from several area schools for a variety of traditional holiday music.
RECITAL: Sunday evening, Dec. 21 enjoy a recital of Songs of the Birth of Christ by two artists. Frederic Chrislip as tenor and on guitar plus Sandra McKane on piano. The recital begins a 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 66 Chestnut St.

Labels: 12-19-08, The City of the Hills, weekend's best bets

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:20 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Front Page Images

Labels: 12-19-08, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:15 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

City of the Hills

FALLS SHORT: State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, called Gov. David Paterson’s proposed budget, unveiled Tuesday, Dec. 15, “woefully inadequate.” The governor proposed higher taxes and fees.

NEW ANCHOR: Jessica Dombrowski, Southside Mall manager, told the Monday, Dec. 15, DOT hearing she is very close to signing a deal to bring another anchor store to the Town of Oneonta site.

TRAVISANO ON NPR: Hartwick College English professor Tom Travisano, editor of the acclaimed “Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence of Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop,” was interviewed extensively Sunday, Dec. 15, on NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered by correspondent Jacki Lyden. To hear the report, go to npr.org and type “travisano” into the Search line.

ICE EMERGENCY: Otsego was one of 16 counties where Gov. David Paterson declared a state of emergency after the Friday, Dec. 12, ice storms, allowing taxpayers effected monetarily to delay certain tax filings. For details, call 518-457-2332 or 1-800-338-0054.

GOODYEAR AIRS: Yes, that is Sam Goodyear, Foothills Performing Arts Center grants and literature specialist, Saturday afternoons on WSKG 91.7, the public radio station out of Binghamton. In addition to engineering the opera performances he will be producing his own show in between the opera and the news hour. A selection from Mozart – Sam’s favorite – opened his first segment, but he promises his selections will range through the Baroque and Classical periods.

400TH ANNIVERSARY: 2009 in New York State will feature multiple events to celebrate Dutch Explorer Henry Hudson’s sailing up the Hudson River in 1609. Check albany.org for details.

Labels: 12-19-08, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:10 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Southside Snarl Matters To All, Hearing Shows

50 Listen To DOT Presentation

By JIM KEVLIN

‘My husband was killed right there,” county Representative Kay Stuligross told Pete Larson, a DOT engineer, pointing to one of the blueprints that lined the walls in the Oneonta High School auditorium.
The public hearing was about to begin Monday, Dec. 15, on long-awaited Project 9120.43, “Oneonta Corridor Southside Improvements/NY Routes 28 & 23.”
Although Bill Naylor, the DOT engineer in charge of the project, would soon tell the 50 audience members has lost its funding for the time, no matter.
Stuligross – her husband, John, a retired Hartwick College economics professor, was struck by a car and killed while riding his bike near McDonald’s in October 2007 – wasn’t the only citizen drawn there with a specific interest.
With Stuligross was Lucille Wiggin, who said she and husband Leon covered 2,300 miles on their bicycles this year, primarily in Delaware and Otsego counties, but also on a vacation in the Delmarva Peninsula. She wanted to make sure the proposed bike paths were sufficient to the task.
Al Sosa, former SUNY Oneonta wrestling coach, said he trains mountain-bike enthusiasts, and he wanted to make sure cars aren’t favored in the new access the project will provide to New Island in the Susquehanna River, which is popular with his trainees. “The concept of a shared highway is important,” he said.
Donna Vogler, representing the Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway Committee, also praised the project for again connecting Oneonta with the Susquehanna, access that was cut off when I-88 came through in the 1970s. “This access is OWED to us,” she said.
And David Hutchinson, Oneonta Environmental Board chairman, encouraged Naylor to ensure “calming effects” are included in the project, in particular along James Lettis Highway. The width, straightness and 45 mph limit encourages drivers to speed into the charming city.
Bikeways, trees, medians would all make the entry into the City of the Hills more pleasant and sedate. Whatever amenities are built, he emphasized, “must be maintained.”
Naylor’s revelation that funding for the $15 million project no longer exists – that was even before Gov. David Paterson unveiled his Draconian budget the following afternoon in Albany – made what followed seem a bit theoretical, but not necessarily forever.
Jack Williams, the DOT’s Binghamton-based regional director, was in the audience. He said President-elect Barack Obama’s huge prospective public works program will inject new money into highway construction in 2009, but only projects that are ready to go in zero to six months will be considered in the first round.
Going forward, who knows?
“We’re going to continue with the design of this project,” Williams said. The process is due for completion by 2010.
An intriguing aspect of the proposed project is three roundabouts – at Main Street and Route 28, at McDonald’s, and in front of Southside Mall – but it was the aspect that drew the most criticism.
In his presentation, Naylor said projections show that if nothing is done, by 2032 it will take 12 minutes to drive from Main Street to Southside Mall; if traffic signals are used, five minutes. But if roundabouts are installed, it will take four minutes, even less than it takes today.
New research also suggests roundabouts would mean $200,000 less in accident costs per year along that stretch, and the accidents would be less serious, mostly with damage to vehicles and not injury to people, Naylor said.
Alan Pope of Route 23 Associates, Binghamton, owners of Southside Mall, said the other two might be fine, but he objected to the one at the mall entrance, saying it would slow “ingress and egress” to the disadvantage of mall stores.
Jessica Dombrowski, mall manager, even said that dips in traffic flow would allow mall anchor stores to break their leases.

Labels: 12-19-08, Front Page, Southside

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:04 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Letters to the Editor

Cut Taxes Fees, Don’t Raise Them

Editor’s Note: This is the reaction of state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, to the hard-times budget Gov. David Paterson released Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 16.

My initial reaction to the governor’s budget presentation is that it is woefully inadequate for the tough times that lie ahead. The proposal has everything except what New Yorkers need … property tax relief and new jobs. Families are tightening their belts and with a deficit approaching $15 billion, so should the state. This is no time to call for increased welfare spending, and over $4 billion in new taxes and fees.
These proposals will hit middle class families, senior citizens and businesses, and will lead to the loss of more jobs, particularly upstate. Transferring the state’s woes to local property taxpayers is not the answer. At no point did the governor mention the need for job growth. The only way out of this current fiscal downturn is to increase opportunities in the state.
The Senate has advanced a job-creation plan that would make New York more competitive, revitalize upstate communities, and encourage young people to live and work in their home state. This plan needs to be part of the budget discussion as we go forward.
I commend the governor for taking on this tough fiscal challenge. Now we must work in an open, bipartisan manner to enact an early budget that keeps taxes and fees in check, and encourages business growth.
We need to lower the cost of doing business, reduce red tape, and cut property taxes in order to provide a brighter future for all New Yorkers.

Arts in Oneonta, Yes – But So Much More

To the Editor,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts. We greatly appreciate your recognition of all the wonderful cultural activity taking place in the city Oneonta and our role in its development.
Unfortunately, the editor responsible for the article, “Look What’s Happening in Downtown Oneonta,” decided to change our organization’s name to ArtsOneonta! (including the exclamation point).
I am even referred to as ArtsOneonta!’s executive director.
The Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts is indeed located in the City of Oneonta at Wilber Mansion, an historic landmark that we have strived to restore over the past eight years.
Our facility now includes three galleries, a school for the arts, public meeting space and administrative offices for our organization, BOCES Arts in Education, the Upstate History Alliance and a private business.
However, through our mission as an arts council, we provide funding support and technical services to artists, cultural organizations and public and private schools in up to nine counties in central New York.
During the past year, we helped to facilitate 120 cultural events and concerts, over 30 art exhibitions and 10 extended artist residencies, outside of our own programming in Oneonta.
While we applaud any effort to highlight the exceptional array of cultural events in the City of Oneonta and work very hard to support their success, we cannot endorse a suggested name change that fails to recognize our broad constituency.
The Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts might be a bit unwieldy, but it has aptly described our mission for almost 40 years.
KATHLEEN FRASCATORE
Executive Director
Upper Catskill Community
Council of the Arts

Labels: 12-19-08, Hometown Views, Letters to the Editor, Opinion

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 9:00 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

THE ART OF GIVING

Keith Finds Pennies
Turn Into Dollars Of Help

By LAURA COX

This fall, 8-year-old Keith Fredette had an idea.
After church once a month, Keith and his parents walk up and down Franklin Street collecting pennies and change from eight families to donate to Saturday’s Bread, a home-cooked meal served 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturdays to anyone who shows up at the First United Methodist Church, 66 Chestnut St.
The Franklin Street Penny Harvest was born.
As a thank you, Keith and his parents, David and Sarah, clean up any litter along the sidewalks on Franklin Street, a street well traveled by college students making their way downtown and back.
Keith got the idea from a “Reading Rainbow” video he watched, that reported on the Common Cents Penny Harvest in New York City for the benefit of the Clinton Family Inn, a homeless shelter.
Sarah Fredette explained, “Because Keith is home schooled, we try to do a community service project with him every year. We do something as a family, and so Keith can be participate in the community and not just kids his age. He has baked cookies for Habitat for Humanity and helped at the food pantry in the past. “
Keith chimed in, “I wanted to start something new.”
To get started, the boy sent postcards to all the houses on his street informing them about the project and inviting them to participate. He then provided all the homes wishing to participate with a “bank” can labeled with “Franklin Street Penny Harvest.” The week before he comes around to collect the change, Keith sends out another post card alerting neighbors of the date so they are ready with their change.
The first collection date, on Sept. 13, Keith collected $54.35, and ran out of penny wrappers when he went to roll the coins. The second month Keith collected $35, and in November he collected $50.51, for a grand total of $139.86 collected in the first quarter. Throughout these months Keith and his parents have walked the street cleaning up trash and putting it in the wagon pulled by Keith, any cans or bottles found are returned for deposit and the money added to the Penny Harvest.
Frank O’Mara, Saturday’s Bread president, said Keith’s donation is “by far one of the larger individual gifts received over the year. Saturday’s bread runs on the goodwill of the Oneonta people, we receive grants from the institutions and every couple years we ask the community for donations, and typically we receive 25-30 from an individual.
“For a young boy to raise $130 by cleaning up his street is absolutely remarkable. Keith stands alone as one of the markers that people should look towards, if Keith can do that, think of what we can all do.”
Sarah shared some of the great things that have come from the project in addition to money raised for Saturday’s bread, “It’s a neat thing, people are fed, a girl down the street started to collect bottles and cans to raise money for the project, we have met more people from our neighborhood, and Keith took on the responsibility of helping take care of a neighbor’s dog during the day.”
Keith shared some of his favorite moments from the project so far, which included finding a half dollar coin in one of the cans, seeing the big pile of change sorting it, rolling it, and taking it to the bank, and lastly receiving a ten dollar bill from a neighbor who sent it from their other home in Manhattan.
“That is 1,000 pennies” he exclaimed.

Labels: 12-19-08, Front Page, Keith Fredette

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:54 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

Southside Traffic Plan Should Happen, And So It Will, Eventually

The main thoroughfare through Oneonta’s Southside makes a poor impression on first-time visitors and is an aggravation to regular customers who simply MUST drive there to get to so many essential retail services – after all, it leads through, to and from a very vibrant commercial hub.
There’s constant congestion in a county with very little congestion. The seven traffic signals – count ‘em – in the mile or so between Main Street and Walmart are an aggravation. The maze of ingresses and egresses is dizzying, to newcomers and regulars alike. Drivers need to keep their wits about them at every moment.
Undoubtedly, the engineers of the state Department of Transportation’s huge Region 9 – 6,238 square miles – are pulled hither, thither and yon by multiple priorities, but it’s clearly essential to the quality of life of Otsego County’s population center and retail magnet to simply get this fixed.
•
Thus, the DOT’s public hearing on a $15 million project – it’s very interesting indeed – at Oneonta High School the other evening was a welcome event, meaning as it does that the wheels of government, which grind exceedingly fine, are entering the last phase of the grinding.
The whole impression of that section of road – it’s Route 28 from Main Street to Lettis Highway, then Route 23 from Lettis Highway east – is shabby. But the new artist’s rendering, at least, present a much more attractive picture.
There is a tidy, neatly painted roadway, sidewalks, expanded shoulders to accommodate bicycles and – in the DOT’s preferred option, anyhow – three roundabouts.
Now, wait a minute: Roundabouts?
Anyone who’s gone to the Jersey Shore will remember those fearful circles, where drivers seems to be coming at you from all directions. It’s scary to get in, and hard to get out.
•
However, new research caused the DOT engineers to take a second look.
While signals can clog traffic – on the Southside, traffic is sometimes clogged from one light past through a second. (That’s called a failed intersection) – “a modern roundabout is an unsignalized circular intersection engineered to maximize safety and minimize traffic delay,” according to information the DOT distributed.
Roundabouts have been found to reduce all crashes by 39 percent but – get this – serious and fatal crashed by 89 percent. They’ve been found to be most effective in situations where there are many left turns (Main onto Route 28? Route 28 onto Lettis? Lettis onto Route 23?).
At first, the public is generally skeptical. After construction, however, low acceptance drops from 29 to 3 percent. High acceptance rises from 12 to 55 percent.
By 2032, it will take 12 minutes to get from Main to Southside Mall if nothing’s done. With the new signal plan, five minutes; with traffic circles, four.
All of this requires a second look.
•
That DOT Regional Director Jack Williams was in the audience the other night shows there is commitment to this project.
The state money has simply disappeared, and Gov. David Paterson’s scorch-earth budget suggests it won’t reappear for a while.
But Barack Obama has promised billions in public works’ money to get the economy going again, and that’s promising.
Williams said the first round of funds will go to projects that can be up and running in six months. But if there’s a second round, why not?
The point is that the Southside Oneonta project should happen.
The public is behind this – the inputs the other night were excellent – and determined to make it as good as it can be.
And so it will happen. Let’s keep those wheels grinding until they get us to where we need to go.

Labels: 12-19-08, Editorial, Hometown Views

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:53 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with:

THE ART OF GIVING

In 8 Years, Charlotte
Raised $35,000 for Charity

By LAURA COX

What started as simply rolling coins with her grandpa has turned into an 8-year long project raising more than $35,000 in funds to support local charity organizations.
At 5, Charlotte McKane of Oneonta began working towards starting her organization called “Charlotte’s Circle: A Circle of Friends, A Circle of Influence,” named by her and friends Ethan Cypress, Lisa Deemer and Dani Nicosia. Now 13, McKane boasts the support of 60 people and annual funds raised in the range of $7,000.
Charlotte’s Circle gathers donations from supporters on a yearly or monthly basis and buys items needed by the Family Services Association, the Violence Intervention Program Safe House –run by Opportunities for Otsego – and Catholic Charities. Charlotte’s Circle supported the Fox Psychiatric Unit until it closed last year.
“My grandpa and I had a lot of loose change that we didn’t know what to do with and one day we were wrapping coins and my dad, who was on the Family Services Board, suggested we use the change to buy something for Family Services,” said McKane, the daughter of Sandy and Timothy McKane.
Charlotte first started donating her own change solely to Family Services. As support from others grew, Charlotte’s Circle grew. Charlotte’s Circle includes many friends and family, church members, community members and friends of friends.
“Geoff Smith [from Oneonta] was a great help in helping me design a supporter signup sheet,” said Charlotte, who thanks to Smith can now provide her supporters with an easy way to help others sign up for Charlotte’s Circle as well.
“We have a lot of people who give a small but important amount; a man down the street gives $1 a month, but his contribution matters,” the teen said. “One hundred percent of monetary donations are contributed to the charities.”
The list of items donated by Charlotte’s Circle varies from month to month and includes a large array of categories.
Some of the more unusual donations included a fish tank and gift certificates for fish to the safe house because the children who live at the safe house are not able to bring their pets with them. The fish tank was to help provide an activity for children as well as the comfort of a pet.
More usual items include toiletries, diapers and bus passes. In addition to monetary donations, Charlotte’s Circle has helped to secure in-kind gifts needed by the organizations from local businesses.
Every month Charlotte sends all of her supporters a monthly report listing all of the items donated, the amount spent and any interesting things that happened that month. At the end of the year she sends each supporter a yearly report listing the total amount raised that year as well as the supporter’s total donation for tax purposes. While Charlotte’s Circle does not have its official not-for-profit status, the yearly report is stamped by the supported organizations making the donation valid for charitable contribution.
The Circle’s founder is no stranger to the podium and has been giving presentations about Charlotte’s Circle since she was too short to reach the microphone. She has spoken at many venues, including a tri-state Conference for young leaders, a Future of Oneonta Foundation Luncheon, a conference on volunteerism at SUCO and multiple presentations to churches and sororities.
She ran into Alan Donovan, then SUNY Oneonta president, in the checkout line at a grocery store. He asked about her four shopping carts. When she filled him in, he became a supporter.
McKane has also been the recipient of many awards on a local and national level, including a state senate proclamation, U.S. Congressional proclamation, Build-A-Bear Huggable Hero Award, Kohls Kids Who Care Award and NAACP Certificate of Community Service. She displays them all proudly around her room along with a photo taken with and signed by State Senator James Seward from when she was first starting off.
“I am not caught up on many of the fixations teenagers have, such as video games and that helps a lot,” said Charlotte when asked how an active kid has time to run an organization like Charlotte’s Circle, “I’ve got it down to a routine and it only takes about five hours a month to send out emails, talk to the organizations, write my report and shop and deliver the items.”
She said there is no reason to stop now because it is part of her life, but she hopes to pass Charlotte’s Circle along to another parent/child team when she graduates from high school, as she plans to leave Oneonta to go to school.
With a lot of experience behind her, Charlotte said she has always wanted to study political science and then run for office. She joked about having told State Senator Seward once that she wanted to do bigger and better things, when he asked her about the possibility of running for state senator some day.
To learn more about contributing to these organizations through Charlotte’s Circle, email Charlottescircle@yahoo.com and the founder will send you a supporter signup sheet, a project description and a copy of a monthly report.

Labels: 12-19-08, Charlotte McKane, Front Page

posted by The Freeman's Journal @ 8:44 PM 0 comments

Bookmark this post with: