Hometown Oneonta - The Otesgo-Delaware Dispatch

Post-Christmas Fun!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Here Are 10 Things To Do With Visiting Family & Friends

By JEANNINE BOHLER

The gifts have been opened. The eggnog has been drunk. The four walls of home-sweet-home are starting to seem a little too small. Don’t let the cookie crumble. Gather up the kids, round up the in-laws and head out for a local family adventure.
With a little planning, there is plenty to keep guests and pent-up kids happy in the lull between Christmas and the new year. Your search for ideas ends here.
(Just keep in mind that most places will close early on Dec. 31 and will be closed on New Year’s Day.)

1 Get some fresh air. Put those new skis and skates and snow shoes to use. Glimmerglass State Park, Gilbert Lake State Park in Laurens, and the Betty and Wilbur Davis State Park in Milford offer trails for cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing. Due to budget cuts, the tubing trails and ice skating pond at Glimmerglass will not be open this year, but the trails are open and usage is free. The City of Oneonta’s parks, including Wilbur and Neahwa, are also open for walking, snow-shoeing and skiing. Unfortunately, weather conditions have not permitted the ice skating rink to be up and ready for the holidays.

2 Exercise! Make room for a few more holiday treats with a visit to the local gym. The Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown offers day passes for children ($5) and adults ($10). The gym features an Olympic-sized pool, rock-climbing wall, bowling alley, racquet-ball courts and more. Or check out Oneonta’s YMCA. The facility offers family passes (good for two adults and two children) for $15.25, adults day-passes for $9.25 and kid day-passes for $4.50.

3 Looking for an afternoon of grown-up fun? Find yourself a designated driver and visit the local producers of various libations. Start your tour at Brewery Ommegang, a 10-minute drive from downtown Cooperstown or 20 minutes from Oneonta on Route 33. Tastings and tours are available from noon to 5 p.m. daily. Continue your afternoon with a visit to Milford’s Cooperstown Brewing Company for a taste of Old Slugger or Nine Man Ale. Tours are offered hourly from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are no tours on Sunday mornings. End the afternoon with a toast at Bear Pond Winery. The winery will be closed from Christmas Day until Monday, Dec. 29, but will reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30.

4 If winter’s chill has reached your bones, head for the tropics by visiting the Joseph L. Popp, Jr. Butterfly Conservatory. Located at 5802 State Highway 7, just east of Oneonta, the historic home houses a live tropical butterfly exhibit and botanical garden. The conservatory is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Shed your heavy coats and stroll among the butterflies. Don’t be surprised to spot a turtle or chameleon on your path or one of twenty species of tropical birds hiding in the trees.

5 Need a quiet afternoon and a good read? The local libraries are the place to be. The Village Library of Cooperstown is now open seven days a week. Relax and read the paper or cuddle up with your littlest family members and read some new books. The Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta is open Monday through Saturday and offers extensive collections for all ages.

6 Art lovers have one last chance to head to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The museum closes for the season on Dec. 31, but there is still time to visit the unique collection of exhibits, including “Of, By and For the People: The Art of Presidential Elections” “Earl Cunningham’s America,” and “Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art.” Check out the sale in the museum gift shop. Most items are 30% off until Christmas, and after the holiday, even the sale price drops. In Oneonta, visit the galleries at Wilbur Mansion. The historic home features three galleries, featuring high quality, original art work. Call 423-2070 for more information.

7 Sports lovers can find plenty to peak their interest. The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum showcases baseball’s fascinating history with a collection of artifacts, movies and exhibits. It is open daily. Soccer fans should head to the National Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum in Oneonta. The museum is usually closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but will open on those days during the holiday school vacation. The museum celebrates the history and honors the heroes of soccer and hopes to inspire today’s youth.

8 If history and architecture are up your alley, the area has much to offer. Stop by the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce. Fifty cents will buy you a map and a self-guided walking tour of the village’s historic homes and landmarks. Take a walking tour of Main Street Oneonta with a list of historic sites. It can be downloaded and printed by visiting www.oneontahistory.org.

9 Looking for an activity for the kids while you run a couple of errands? The Friends of Glimmerglass State Park, in cooperation with Safe Kids of Otsego County, will host a special kids’ morning of fun 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29. The morning will start with a light breakfast snack followed by learning and fun centered around making indoor and outdoor holiday decorations with pinecones and other kid-friendly supplies. Kids 6-12 are invited. The fee is $5 per kid and reservations are required by Dec. 27. Please call 547-8662 or e-mail friendsofglimmerglass@gmail.com .

10 Finally, dig out your sled and head for the local slopes. A series of winter storms promises to make for some great holiday sledding for the entire family.

Labels: 12-26-08, The City of the Hills

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How Sweet They Are!

SAM GOODYEAR

ART BEAT

This is a sweet time of year what with plum pudding, and fruit cake, and mince pie, and candy canes, and sparkly multi-colored cookies, and jellied fruit slices, and Stollen, and buche de Noel, and egg nog, all sweet, all expected, and all eagerly anticipated.
Even sweeter was an unexpected pleasure this past Sunday evening at a newly-renovated, highly popular, and successful Italian Kitchen on Church Street in Oneonta. For a Sunday night, it was doing unusually brisk business (always nice to see) and there seemed to be just about nothing but attractive ladies everywhere in sight (also always nice to see).
Your columnist settled unobtrusively into the corner window nook with the novel of the moment and was having a very pleasant time of it over chicken scarpariello, when what to his wondering ear, he heard the sweet, sweet strains of angelic voices.
Peering around the corner, he observed all the ladies on their feet, singing, crooning, harmonizing, swaying, smiling, having a grand old time in high sweet sixteen style. It was Ladies’ Christmas Night Out for the Sweet Adelines of Oneonta.
I have been a pushover for barbershop quartet music for decades (never mind how many). It is a staple of variety shows and talent nights and always pleases, not only with the music itself but also with the showmanship and the evocation of an era when music (and life) seemed to be just that much simpler and home friendly. Along with many other gender-enlightened developments (like voting) came the founding of the Sweet Adeline in Tulsa, Okalahoma on Friday July 13, 1945, a lucky day if ever there was one. As the Sweet Adelines International Website (sweetadelineintl.org) puts it:
“Sweet Adelines International is a highly respected worldwide organization of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performance. “This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world’s largest singing organizations for women.
“Members extend over five continents and belong to more than 600 choruses and 1,200 quartets. Today’s Sweet Adelines choruses and quartets sing
exciting a cappella, four-part harmony music, barbershop style. The music includes special arrangements of today’s ballads and upbeat songs, popular show tunes, and even jazz. Members say that singing the powerfully balanced sounds of barbershop harmony provides a rich, rewarding experience.”
The Oneonta chapter is a responsible membership continually honing its musical skills at workshops, competing regionally, and~ above all~ performing all over our area, whether in nursing homes or adult facilities, at the Pathfinder Village Summer Concert series, or the SPCA Festival of Trees at the Farmers’ Museum, to name a few. They sweeten up locations and events big-time.
Their Website is www.saregion16.com/cityofthehillschorus. Click on and find out more about them and consult their schedule so you can hear them for yourself. Don’t just take my word for it! They are always open to new recruits, but sorry, gentlemen, Ladies Only.
Happy New Year!

Labels: 12-26-08, Art Beat, Sam Goodyear, The City of the Hills

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Santa’s Soft Spot for Cooperstown

JEANNINE BOHLER

UNDER THE FLY CREEK SUN

If I lived here for no other reason, I would live here for Santa.
I am sure most of you are unaware, but Santa, it seems, has a soft spot in his heart for Cooperstown. I know. He told me. And in the event that his words aren’t enough, his actions speak for his love of these little local kids and people.
Santa, you see, is everywhere during the Christmas season. He not only accepts visitors (both human and animal) in his tiny cottage, he graces preschools and Head Start. He sits with the older folks in nursing homes. He sings with the kindergartners at Rotary lunches. He plays with toddlers at the gym. He visits patients at the hospital.
Santa is everywhere anyone needs him to be. His heart is as big as the job demands.
A visit to Santa in Cooperstown is different then anything most of us have experienced in the past. It is warm and cozy. It feels perfect and complete. You stand, hands buried in mittens, heads tucked into hats, feet dancing in the snow outside his tiny cottage and wait.
Always, it is cold, but even so, the wait never seems too long. It is too pretty. The village too quaint, draped in lights and greenery. Finally, the door opens. Out stumble a couple of happy kids, maybe some new parents with a tiny baby, and in you go.
Inside, it is warm. Music plays. Santa is soft spoken and gentle. He remembers the things that Santa would, of course, remember. He has watched Alex grow. He greets him by name. He asks about kindergarten.
He says hello to Cate. He has watched her grow too. He has followed her journey from China to this cozy little place across the planet. He welcomes her gently, anticipating her shyness, her reserve.
Alex goes straight to his lap. After five years of visits, Santa is like an old friend. Santa asks what he would like for Christmas, but the visit doesn’t seem to be about wanting. The visit with Santa seems to be about giving, about being content. There is an aura of giving and peacefulness all around him.
In that tiny cottage, it feels the way Christmas should feel. The way it feels in story books and Christmas songs. Santa takes his time. He doesn’t rush. He chats and asks questions. Sometimes he has even been known to read a story. The kids leave
with a candy cane and that special quiet that falls when one has been in the presence of one so great.
Back outside the cottage, it doesn’t feel quite as cold.
Cate, of course, doesn’t really understand what this Santa business is all about. She applauds when the tree is lit each morning. She goes wild for lights decorating a house.
Santa...how do you explain Santa to a little girl who had nothing to call her own? But after a visit to his house, I think she started to know – not the asking for something, not the wanting of something, but the spirit of the season, the spirit of this man.
We saw him again when he visited the toddler party at the gym. He entered. Cate cheered. She grabbed my hand and ran to him, embracing the same Santa she was afraid to speak to less then a week ago.
They say children are experts at detecting the true spirit of a person, and this is obviously true. When I lost sight of Cate in the crowd of parents and children at the gym, I had only to look for Santa. Cate was there, at his feet. I had to drag her away when it was time to go.
Her summary of the experience: “Santa, mama. I yike him.” I was 20 minutes late for a meeting. But I never would have changed that time for her.
As a bit of a roving reporter, I have had the honor of interviewing Santa on a couple of occasions.
I know he is a busy man. He has a whole world to visit, a whole planet get to on Christmas Eve. I am sure you could find one of his helpers elsewhere. I am sure there are many and that they are fine too.
But if you find yourself doubting, if the world, your world, has shaken your beliefs and gotten you down this season, come to Cooperstown. You can find Santa in his tiny yellow cottage. You’ll leave with a lighter feeling in you heart.
He is a part of my Christmas magic. And I am thrilled by the magic he has so generously given to Alex and Cate.

Jeannine Bohler, a
HOMETOWN ONEONTA writer,
lives in Fly Creek.

Labels: 12-26-08, Cooperstown, The City of the Hills

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THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS/FROM ONEONTA’S CLERGY

Peace, Joy, Hope and Love

By REVEREND TERESSA McCONNEL SIVERS • First United Methodist Church

Hanging in the sanctuary of First United Methodist Church are four purple banners proclaiming four words: Peace, Joy, Hope, and Love.
These four words depict underlying themes of the four Sundays that precede Christmas day, called the four Sundays of Advent.
Every time I enter the sanctuary, my eyes are drawn upwards by these four banners and I read once again these words of the season.
The more I read them, the more powerful they become as we approach Christmas in the midst of economic crises, presidential transition, and continuing war in Iraq and Afghanistan – Peace, Joy, Hope, and Love.
It does not matter which news broadcasting station you prefer, all highlight the economic difficulties on a regular basis. As we countdown to Christmas, we receive a daily report on how holiday sales are progressing and which businesses are struggling this year.
All news networks move from the economy to the presidential change, speculating on what President Bush will do with the automotive giants, and what steps President-elect Obama will take upon his inauguration.
In the background, reports whisper of increasing violence in Afghanistan and continuing work in Iraq. Messages begin to trickle forth, soldiers sending home holiday wishes to loved ones.
Though many stations try to lift spirits with human-interest stories and heart warming reports, what is desperately lacking is Peace, Joy, Hope and Love.
These four words of the season are critical pieces of the Christmas story for most Christian denominations across the world.
The book of Luke, Chapter II, in the Christian Bible speaks of a moment about 2,000 years ago when those four words of faith dominated the landscape of the small town of Bethlehem, if just for a minute.
Angels proclaimed “peace on earth.” Shepherds sang with joy. A child of hope entered the world whose name is “God with us” and whose life would demonstrate love.
These four words boldly decorating the banners in the sanctuary at First United Methodist Church are the essence of this holiday season called Christmas – Peace, Joy, Hope and Love.
The news media is not responsible for spreading peace. Reporters cannot capture Joy. No news segment or special report will broadcast Hope and Love, at least not the peace, joy, hope and love that Luke narrates so eloquently. It must come from the people of faith.
We can rise above economic depression and the stress of change. We can stand firm in the face of violence and war. We can be to one another and to the world at large a people who live peace and joy, who demonstrate hope and love.
On Christmas Eve each year, many churches read the passage from Isaiah 9, “a light shines in the darkness.” Despite the darkness this year, light still shines. If we allow it, it will shine within us as well.
Merry Christmas!

The Real Gift Came In Swaddling Cloths

By FATHER KENNETH HUNTER • Saint James Episcopal Church

Christmas in America is one big party. We put a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket. We march through the mall or down along the shops on Main Street. We enjoy the carolers. We revel in the parties. We ornament the tree with tinsel, and watch endless encores of “A Christmas Story” on TV. We place and plunder gifts beneath a tree, and consume far more food than nature requires.
It’s all good – at least if we are lucky enough to have everything going as I have described. But if we are alone, with no one to share the holiday, it may seem the very opposite of “merry” at Christmas.
While it seems everyone else is having a great time, those of us who feel left out of the party inhabit a cold and poor and lonely world. Somehow we were singled out, not invited to the party which is Christmas in America.
But of course, Christmas has not always been a party. The First Christmas was very different from what we now take for granted. It was a birth, always a joyful occasion. But it was done “on the run.” The parents were far from home. There may have been a star in the sky, but the location was no 5-star hotel; it was a barn. No doubt it smelled like a barn, too. It had no heat, let alone running water. No kitchen. No bathroom (except for the livestock). No decorations. No gifts (the Wise Men came later).
Joseph and Mary, as far as we know, were far away from the comfort of extended family. They had only each other. No friends. Other than the angels, the only Christmas guests were local shepherds. And shepherds were not considered respectable people. Imagine having the customers from a rough “biker bar” show up to pay a surprise visit. It was lonely, cold, and uncomfortable. It was like being plopped down alone in the rough part of town where you are a stranger.
Even if we knew the identity of the Christ child born in that rough Bethlehem setting, we might well ask, “So what’s a Nice God like you doing in a place like this?”
For this world is a rough neighborhood. Everyone who lives here is cursed: rich and poor alike, good and not-so-good, they all die. Even while they live, their efforts to control the world around them are chronically frustrated. Even the most powerful king could not simply flap his arms and fly. In the end, he could not even add a day to his life or a hair to his head.
We are not even the masters of our own intentions. New Years’ resolutions are notoriously short-lived. We admire the starry heavens in their splendor but are stuck with mud on our shoes.
We aspire to goodness and greatness and beauty but are mired in our own fallibility, compulsions, and limitations on our ability to love and appreciate, to persevere and overcome. As one saintly writer observed, the good things I wish to do, I don’t do; the bad things I want to avoid, those I find myself doing.
We humans are strange creatures: we long for goodness which we cannot grasp. In spite of a history filled with injustice and violence, we still somehow expect mercy and charity. Even if we become embittered by disappointment, the hope still lives quietly inside our hearts.
Though we are mortal, we long for eternity—both for ourselves and for those whom we love. Our reach exceeds our grasp. As the saying goes, that is what heaven is for.
But we don’t live in heaven. We live in the stable. And that is what Christmas is really all about: Heaven came down to us because we could not manage the “air fare” to reach heaven.
We have all the heard of the miraculous star that shone down on Bethlehem. Whether it was a comet or a nova or a conjunction of planets, it was a great miracle. But there was a greater miracle than the light in the sky: it was the Light that came down to shine here on earth.
There are many images of heaven. Some of them are rather blah and boring—unless pastel clouds and soft elevator music on harps is your idea of excitement.
My own favorite image of the kingdom of God is one Jesus frequently used. He pictured the kingdom as a party. If life does not seem like a party, it shows that at least one essential thing is missing. And that one essential things is not the toys, nor is it the tinsel. It’s not the decorations or even the tree. It’s not the carols, not the lights, not the cup of eggnog. What is missing is the Joy to which all those things point. It is the Spirit of celebration. It is the Party.
That Party came down at Christmas in the person of that small child. What is more alive than a child? And the Party came for all those who had no reason to expect an invitation to share the celebration.
The invitation was sent by means of winged messengers. Angels called the shepherds. They came in from the cold and found that they, the outsiders, had a place reserved for them at the feast. No eggnog. No evergreen tree. Just Joy, because the real gift came wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid to sleep in a manger. He must have been tired; he had made the long trip from heaven to earth to reach the earth, including those lonely shepherds.
And of course he came to reach us, too.
That is what a nice, loving God like him was doing in a place like this. And it is what he is still doing today. May the blessings of that Joy be with you all. May God’s Party be celebrated in your hearts today, and may you feast at God’s celebration forever.

Treasure And Ponder This Season

By PASTOR PAUL MESSNER • Otsego County Lutheran Parish

“But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”
St. Luke 2:19

Ten more shopping days until Christmas…nine, eight, seven….ARRRRRGH! It’s here and I’m not done buying, wrapping, decorating. So much to do, so little time until December 25 … And then it’s over.
And on the 26th the tree can be tossed out, the wrappings recycled, the decorations taken down…and we’re on to the next Greeting Card holiday: Valentine’s Day. Cards to get, chocolates to purchase, hearts to…what? Ponder?
We rush – stagger? – from one holiday to another. We buy things in the after Christmas sales for NEXT Christmas. We barely have a moment to savor – ponder – before we’re swept away by demands, expectations, deadlines, anxiety. Is this anyway to experience the coming of God?
Mary treasured and pondered. Such activities take time and cannot be rushed. Mary had been busy since God’s messenger, Gabriel, first announced to her that she was to be “theotokos” – God-bearer. There was tension at home, and with her betrothed, Joseph, and gossip in the village. She went away for a few months, mid-pregnancy, another stress on a young , pregnant girl.
Then there was the emperor’s decree and the hasty, tiring trip south, to the anscestral hometown, Bethlehem, only to find it over-crowded, no room anywhere, and the birth far from home, in the smelly barn, with only a feeding trough for a cradle. And soon would come another, hasty and fear-filled trip, escaping Herod’s murderous soldiers.
In the midst of such tension and fear, Mary made time to treasure the words from smelly shepherds, who spoke of angel choirs and a heavenly message: “to you is born this day in David’s town, a saviour…” Mary pondered what such words might mean for her, for Joseph, for the child. Mary had received a treasure from her God, the gift of a son.
Such a treasure is to be handled with care, protected, cherished. This child of divine-human origin was Mary’s gift. She carried him, in the womb and out of it. She held him close to her heart, and nursed him with her own dear mother’s milk. She cradled him, and would have given her life for him.
In the end it was he who gave his life for her, and for all of us. She pondered the meaning and purpose of his coming, and what she had been asked to do – to birth him, to raise him, to mother him, to mourn him. She gave him birth. He would give her great joy, profound sorrow and, ultimately, he would give her life, forever.
In the busyness of this all too brief and all too rushed season, we too would be wise to treasure and to ponder. And to do so we must take some time: a Sabbath day (which can be any day) to stop doing and just be.
To pray, to meditate, to reflect, to rest in the meaning of this holy child’s presence in our world, still today.
Perhaps to cradle our treasuring and pondering we might keep up the tree a few weeks longer; and the lights burning against the darkness far into the new year; and the carols singing from our lips and in our hearts for days yet to come…after all, what really IS the rush?
Mary’s example can be our role model. There are things that must get done, no doubt. But perhaps not as many as we think. And some things truly CAN wait. But treasuring? Pondering? Such things cannot wait. They need our attention. Our time. Our hearts. Let this be Mary’s gift to us this Christmastide.

Labels: 12-26-08, Hometown Views, Opinion

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A Perfect Blend

EVAN JAGELS

NIGHT LIFE

Nineteen years ago, a group of regional singers gathered to perform Handel’s “Messiah” at Christ Episcopal Church in Cooperstown. Since that Christmas in 1989, the performance has become an annual tradition at Christ Church and been enriched with select soloists and a chamber orchestra. This year, the Saturday, Dec. 20, performance was so packed that several people had to stand in the back of the church, under rear cluster of organ pipes.
Immediately after the performance began, I was taken by the magnificent clarity and warmth of sound in the small church. I had been in Christ Church many times before, but never for a performance like this. While sound often bounces around in a church, the orchestra, voices, and organ were rich and almost crisp. There was no need for amplification, despite the full support of such a fine organ.
The performance began with Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Magnificat,” featuring soloists Susan Vaules Lin (soprano), Mary Abba-Gleason (mezzo-soprano) Paul D’Arcy (tenor) and Steven Marking (bass-baritone). For the third time, Maestro Dan Foster was invited to conduct.
As one of Bach’s major vocal works, the “Magnificat” is the canticle of the Virgin Mary recounted from the Gospel of Luke, and was composed for orchestra and choir. It is one of the two large works composed by Bach in Latin (the other was his “Mass in B Minor”).
The orchestra and chorus were particularly delightful in moments of minimalism during the “Magnificat.” A solo voice, cello, and single note organ accompaniment, for example, sounded so round and uninterrupted.
At these points, and at several others, I was brought back to the Baroque era, when, without electric amplification or modern string technology, strings made from animal gut and less lengthy bows would have created a shorter yet round sound; less metallic and linear in sustain than modern instruments – more earthly in a way.
The chorus was equally charming, capable of both immense volume and delicate attention to musical detail. They created a sound that could meet on equal terms with the organ from the church’s rear pipes, blending among the audience.
Following the “Magnificat,” the chorus performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols.” The Fantasia is founded on the traditional English Carols, “The Truth Sent From Above,” “Come All You Worthy Gentlemen,” “On Christmas Night” and “There is a Fountain.”
The carols were connected seamlessly in Williams’ clever arrangement, at times quoting other well known carols during the musical interludes such as “The First Noel” in the violins. However, it was a simple lower extension bowed on Dave Irvin’s contrabass, almost eerie yet effective, which tied together “The Truth Sent From Above” and “Come All You Worthy Gentlemen.”
The concert concluded with the traditional carols “Torches,” “Coventry Carol,” “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” and “The Shepherds’ Farewell.” I was pleasantly surprised that the program steered clear of the more typical, or should I say, secular carols. Those tunes have their setting, and it was not here.
Gradually, the orchestra turned their attention to the chorus, becoming additional members of the audience. At first I was disappointed with their early and unannounced conclusion; I wanted a triumphant ending. However, as I listened to all the voices, I was left with the peaceful solace so unique to the season. It is music only of the body, sung softly with confidence and conviction.
I regret to admit that as a lifelong resident of Cooperstown, this is the first time I attended the Voices of Cooperstown Christmas performance. However, I found it the perfect blend of professional musicianship and community gathering. With the fresh snowfall, it would have made a fine companion to Candlelight Evening.

Evan Jagels may be contacted at evanjagels@yahoo.com

Labels: 12-26-08, City of the Hills, Evan Jagels, Night Life

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Hometown History

125 Years Ago

Home & Vicinity – The whistle at the railroad shops is now sounded at six in the morning as a signal to the employees that it is time to be stirring, preparatory to commencing work at seven. We are informed by one of the owners of “Mine No. 1,” the first of the recent discoveries, “that it has not proven a failure in any way; that several men are at work sinking a shaft preparatory to developing it, and that the different assays which have been made of the ore only tend to strengthen their confidence in the belief that it will be profitable to work.” We sincerely trust that all this may prove true.
December 1883

100 Years Ago

When Oneonta becomes a city it will go under the provisions of the Civil Service Law, which requires that employees, whether in clerical positions, or as police, or laborers, must take an examination. Mayor-elect Morris has designated I.H. Rowe, T.W. Stevens and S.R. Barnes as civil service commissioners for Oneonta. Wilbur Wright broke records for height and distance in his aero-plane at Le Mans, soaring to a height of 360 feet and winning the Sarthe Aero Club prize. Film manufacturers have had representatives in Oneonta this week taking films for moving pictures of scenes about the town. The films will include a panoramic view of Main Street, the arrival and departure of trains at the D&H station, a picture of the Oneonta fire department on parade, and several others. All these will be exhibited at the Oneonta Theatre on New Year’s Day.
December 1908

80 Years Ago

The Hon. Charles Smith, for the past 14 years president of the Citizens’ National Bank and Trust Co. of Oneonta, has placed his resignation in the hands of the board of directors effective January 8th, 1929, the date set for the bank’s annual meeting. It is expected that Frank H. Bresee of the Oneonta Department Store will succeed him. Mr. Smith, who has been active in business since 1875, wishes to have more time for travel and recreation. More than half a century ago, Mr. Smith was an employee at the D&H shops receiving $2.50 per day, when he conceived the idea of engaging in business for himself. For $350 he purchased a half interest in a small cigar, tobacco and peanut stand from which he soon began the manufacture of cigars. For a long term of years, Mr. Smith and his partner, the late Thomas Doyle, conducted the largest single industry in Oneonta aside from the D&H railroad, employing from 125 to 140 people and having the largest pay roll of any purely local concern.
December 1928

60 Years Ago

Women’s suffrage is about to go whole hog with the beginning of the New Year. Along with the privileges and rights that men have always enjoyed, New York State women may now share in some of the expenses. Effective Saturday, each female Isaac Walton must have a fishing license for the first time in New York history. The new ruling is one of several changes in the conservation laws made by the 1948 state legislature. Women have been required to be licensed for hunting for many years. Also, next year, the price of the combination hunting and fishing license will jump from $2.25 to $3.75.
December 1948

40 Years Ago

The Otsego County School Boards’ Association petitioned the Otsego County Board of Supervisors last week to levy an additional one percent county-wide sales tax to be used solely for educational purposes in support of school districts. Ani P. Colone, president of the Oneonta Board of Education, appeared before the board to explain the association’s petition. Last winter Otsego County adopted a two percent sales tax in support of county government. If the supervisors accede to the proposal, the amount raised by an additional one percent sales tax for education would amount to an estimated $700,000 annually. That sum would be apportioned back to the school districts on the basis of the average daily attendance of pupils living and attending school in Otsego County.
December 1968

20 Years Ago

Advertisement – Bresee’s After Christmas Sale starts Monday, December 26th at 10 a.m. Early Bird coat sale starts at 7:30 a.m. Liz Claiborne Separates, 25 to 50 percent off; Dressy dresses one-third off; all Christmas merchandise one-half price; Casual Slacks, $25 to $35 – Corduroy and Wool Blends from Haggar, brushed twills and washed corduroy from Thunder Bay by Asher; waist 32 to 42, regular $30 to $45. Isotoner gloves 25 percent off; unlined, warm-lines, Thinsulate or cashmere lined, Reg. $24 to $42, now $18 to $31.50. Pendleton for Women 20 percent off entire stock of beautiful wool coordinates in misses and petites, broken sizes from our Fall and Winter collections.
December 1988

10 Years Ago

The Otsego County Board of Representatives is poised to ask for state funding to build a new $21 million, 210-bed nursing home, one for the baby boomers to occupy in the next millennium. If the county’s certificate of need is submitted by year’s end, funding could be approved within six months and the building erected by the fall of 2001.
Where it would stand no one knows, because a site hasn’t been selected. Bedrooms in the new structure would be arrayed around common living spaces and the atmosphere would be “homier” than the current facility known as The Meadows. “We want people who live there to feel like this is home, not a hospital,” said Kurt Apthorpe, administrator at The Meadows situated near Phoenix Mills.
December 1998

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

Labels: 12-26-08, Columns, Hometown History

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Pupils Record Center Street School History

By LAURA COX

Center Street School didn’t always have a cafeteria, and kids would walk home for lunch.
In 1898, Miss Jennie Green taught 60 students in her second-grade class.
Phys-ed was in the boiler room.
Those were among the facts today’s Center Street School students learned in producing “A Photo History of Center Street Elementary School” just in time for the school’s alumni – they include Superintendent of Schools Michael Shea, who wrote the introduction – needing a last-minute
Christmas present.
The idea for the book began last summer, when Mark Parmerter, the Center Street Elementary School librarian, found an old box that contained a handful of historical photos of the school.
Curious about what other historical photos existed of the school, he spent the summer digging up whatever he could find at the Huntington Library, Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta libraries, New York State Historical Association archives and Greater Oneonta Historical Society, as well as scrapbooks from former students and staff.
Parmerter learned about Snapfish.com, a website that allows you to design your own hardcover book with digital photos and text. So he proposed the idea for a history photo book to Sue Benjamin’s class, since local history is part of the fourth-grade curriculum.
The class has 18 students. Parmerter paired them off and gave a laptop to each pair and a model of how the book would look when complete. The class sorted through 113 years of the historical material the librarian had collected, and he helped them edit it down and compose the text.
The students learned to use Snapfish.com, and spent 10 weeks putting the material together.
“At first it seemed a little hard,” said Emily Marshall, one of the students.
Her classmate Robbie Rafter nodded in agreement, “I was kind of nervous because I thought it would take a long time and would be hard, but it was easy and fun.”
Said Jon Miller: “It is cool to know that people could use our book for research!”
Added Faith Martinez: “I learned that Center Street School used to be a training school for teachers, before Bugbee school” – now SUNY’s Oneonta Bugbee Children’s Center, the campus school that opened in 1932.
Parmerter wanted the kids to learn the history and the technology, he said, but also “to participate in the creation of something that would become part of the historical record.”
Through a Jog-A-Thon, held Nov. 19, the class raised $1,100 to print the book. Another $500 came from the Daughters of the American Revolution, Oneonta chapter, through the LouElla E. Gridley fund.
The first printing was 65 hardcover books. A Center Street Sing & Celebrate event is planned Friday, Jan. 16, to present books to the Huntington, SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College libraries.
To buy a book, call Parmerter at 433-8212, or e-mail him at mparmerter@oneontacsd.org

Labels: 12-26-08, Center Street School, Front Page

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Hometown People

Hartwick College Honors 58 Total 845 Years of Service

Hartwick College celebrated the longevity of 58 faculty and staff members at the Quinquennial Awards ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
Their combined careers add up to 845 years of service.
The honorees were as follows:
30 Years
Robert Bensen, professor of English
Janet Bresee, instructor in dance/adjunct instructor in physical education
Robert Gann, professor of Computer and Information Sciences and Physics
Deb Hilts, interim associate director of Information Technology
Thomas Sears, professor of Accounting and Business Administration
Susan Stevens, head of Research & Instructional Services
Phil Young, professor of art
25 Years
Kenneth Golden, associate professor of Theatre Arts
Stephen Kolenda, professor of Business Administration and Accounting
Dianne Potter, floater
Mary-Anne Ross, instructor/private lessons
Terry Slade, sculptor in residence and professor of art
20 years
Dawn Baker, technical services assistant/periodicals/interlibrary loan specialist
Brett Bentley, custodian/recycler
Davis Conley, interim director of Information Technology
Lynn Elmore, associate professor of Psychology
Colmin Gajadar, system manager
Regina Mariotti, senior clerk
Stephen Markuson, resident artist in music
Anna Meyer, field hockey coach
Lawrence Nienart, professor of physics.
15 years
Regina Baker, director of Student Accounts
Nejla Camponeschi, assistant dean of first-year students
Mark Carr, head football coach and phys-ed lecturer
Nancy Golden, part-time slide librarian, Foreman Gallery exhibit coordinator
Douglas Konu, athletic trainer
Harry Matthews, associate dean and director U.S. Pluralism Programs
Andrea Pontius, head coach, men’s and women’s tennis
Kristin Reuter, cataloguer’s assistant
Robby Robbins, carpenter
Julia Suarez-Hayes, Writing Center Coordinator
Tom Worden, electrician.
10 years
Jane Bachman, assistant director of registration
Mark Erickson, associate professor of Chemistry
Cherilyn Lacy, associate pProfessor of History
Rene Mule, technical assistant in Physics
Mieko Nishida, associate professor of History
Ruth Snow, custodian
Tammy Sousa, part-time assistant equestrian coach.
5 years
Rebekah Ambrose-Dalton, archivist, records manager and information literacy librarian
Richie Borrggreen, custodian
Gerald Coons, security officer
Paul Culpo, head coach, men’s basketball.
Scott Dalrymple, associate professor of Business Administration
Neil DeVotta, associate professor of Political Science
Leah Elwood, office coordinator of the Office of Advising & Registration
Katherine Fitz-Henry, assistant director of student accounts Eric Hendrickson, custodian
Alan Huckins, head coach, women’s water polo
Carla Kinser, coordinator of Student Teaching and Service Learning
Anne Kramer, cashier/bookkeeper
Duncan Macdonald, director of Alumni Relations
Ian McIntyre, head coach, men’s soccer
Eric Nichols, assistant director of Athletics for Internal Operations
John Sienkiewicz, systems manager
Gregory Starheim, executive in residence and assistant professor of business administration
Dawn Stever, director of Annual Giving
Tammy Sweeney, senior switchboard operator

Callahans Join Century 21

Two Realtors with long experience and community ties, Joanne and Ed Callahan of Andes, have joined Century 21 Chesser Realty, Oneonta.
Eddie is an EMT with the Andes Fire Department and serves on the Andes Town Planning Board.
Joanne books the comics and performs year round in “Comedy Night” at The Andes Hotel. She is a volunteer with The Heart of the Catskills Humane Society in Delhi.

Hartwick Instructor Wins Fiction Prize

‘Benediction,” a long fiction piece by Brent DeLanoy, Hartwick College instructor in English, has been published by White Eagle Coffee Store Press.
This spring, the work won the A.E. Coppard Prize for a Long Story.
The Long Story Contest, International (formerly The Long Fiction Contest, International), now in its 15th year, has become the premier competition for writers of stories that don’t fit the conventional limits imposed by the economics of small press publishing. Brent DeLanoy has a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University.
He teaches at Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta, and lives in Cooperstown with his wife, Kira, and son, Aidan.

UPDATED BOOK: Assistant Professor Miguel Leon of SUNY Oneonta’s History and Africana and Latino Studies departments, has published a new edition of “Toribio of Mogrovejo’s Synod of Piscobamba (1594) in the History of the Christianization of Peru.” The book, which updates the 1994 edition, was released recently by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Huari, Lima, Peru. Leon joined SUNY Oneonta faculty in 2006.

Labels: 12-26-08, Hometown People

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The Most Wonderful Time...

Two Local Dancers Excel
In Key ‘Nutcracker’ Roles

By LAURA COX

April Bailey, 16, and Meredith Clemons, 14, are good friends.
The Oneonta teens dance together as members of the Fokine Ballet Company.
In September, they both auditioned for this Christmas’ performance of “The Nutcracker.”
So you can imagine how thrilled they both were to learn they had both won major parts in the Dec. 19-20 performances at SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater.
April danced the prominent Act 2 duet, “Spanish,” with dance partner Devin Sweet, both dressed in red.Meredith, in pink, followed, dancing the “Mereleton” solo in a pink tutu.
Since the roles of the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy are typically filled by professional dancers, the solos the two girls won are the most sought-after amongst their age group.
And the audiences weren’t disappointed. Quite the opposite.

Both showed the skill and experience they have gained in a decade of classes with Decker School of Ballet. Each had roles in “Nutcracker’s” past, but both saw their performances this year as a chance to shine.
“Dancing one of these solos allows you to have more personality and play with being a character,” said April.
“Though there is definitely more pressure because everyone is watching you,” added Meredith.
As you probably know, “The Nutcracker” is the story of a young girl, Clara, who receives a nutcracker as a gift.
She is threatened by an army of large mice, and the nutcracker comes to life to save her and takes her on an unforgettable journey through the Land of the Snowflakes, Kingdom of the Sweets and the Court of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
This year’s Fokine Ballet Company presentation included dancers from The Decker School of Ballet, supplemented by such professional dancers as Slawomir Wozniak, former principal dancer with the Warsaw National Ballet, as the Cavalier for his 21st year.
“The Arabian and Spanish are my favorite parts of the ballet,” said April, who has played the parts of a mouse, angel, snowflake and flower in the show in the past.
Meredith, who has played Clara and Clara’s brother Fritz, as well as a snowflake and flower in previous performances, said the “Spanish” was her favorite dance as well.
The girls were emphatic that it takes years of classes to get to the point to even audition for the part and then the months leading up to the show requires rehearsing on many Saturdays and Sundays in addition to your weekly classes.
“Dancing is a big time commitment,” said Meredith, who usually attends ballet classes three times a week.
“It doesn’t keep you from participating in school activities, but it would be hard to play a school sport,” said April.

Both teens participate in multiple activities at Oneonta High School. April is on the debate team and works for the school newspaper as well as participating in activities at her church. Meredith also works for the newspaper and is on the student council.
“The Nutcracker” gives the dancers a chance to work and learn from professionals as well.
“The professionals are great at showing us how to do things better, and just watching them dance and the way they move, you learn things,” said April.
Both girls expressed that it was an honor to dance one of the solos and they remember being younger and looking up to the girls who dances the solos.
“It takes dedication and a good work ethic to dance,” said April.
Meredith added, “I think the skills you learn through dancing help through all aspects of your life.”

Labels: 12-26-08, Ballet, Front Page, Nutcracker

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OHS Girls On Roll

CHRIS McSWIGGIN

SPORTS BEAT

After a shaky start for OHS boys, the girls’ team has continued its tradition of dominance as a win over Susquehanna Valley boosted the record to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in STAC play. The Jackets, who won the STAC league last year, have gotten a lot of help from their long range shooters and have found ways to get victories despite injuries.
Sienna Wisse and Madie Harlem were on fire at the three-point range as OHS beat up on SVHS 62-39 on Friday, Dec. 19. Harlem, a senior, had 17 points and 10 assists for the Yellow Jackets. Meredith Ridgway, who was also a member of the OHS swim team, contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds for Oneonta.
The Yellow Jackets sported a 32-15 lead going into halftime, and the key reason was the play of Harlem, Ridgeway and Wisse. Wisse, who scored 17 points in the first half alone.. Wisse would finish with 22, a high score for her since joining the varsity program.
The girls team goes into holiday vacation with some injury news as well. Val Ridgway went down with an ankle injury in OHS’s win against Johnson City and cartilage damage in the shoulder of Erin Wolstenholme will give some bench players some more time to shine.
OHS shows a lot of poise and a lot of emotion at the same time while on the court. The girls are calm and collected, like they know they are going to win, but the emotion they show when they do win is like they are winning for the first time.
The Lady Jackets don’t make a lot of turnovers and they always seem to make the right pass. Bob Zeh has this team going in the right direction, now he just needs to make sure they are able to close out.
In a division as tough as the STAC league closing out is always hard to do. With injuries and now having to rely on younger and less experienced players, Oneonta will not have an easy road.
This is a gut check of sorts for the girls’ team, who hasn’t had many of those throughout the past few years. They will get a chance to show just how good of a team they really are, and they get a chance to sting or get stung.

You can reach Chris McSwiggin at chrism@hometownoneonta.biz

Labels: 12-26-08, Basketball, Hometown Sports, OHS

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Perfection Unlikely, But Season Offers Hope For Journey

This may be the Era of Economic Uncertainty, but it’s also an Era of Good Feelings.
Since the Nov. 4 presidential election, where he won 52 percent of the vote, Barack Obama’s approval rating has shot up to 72 percent, and another 10 percent are undecided, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
While those numbers are good, the trend is typical. Once the elections are over, Americans are willing to give a new president, whoever it may be and however they cast their ballots, a chance to succeed.
In these particular times, it’s more than that: There’s yearning that the new president will turn around as least some of the dismaying realities of our current national scene.
•
When we reflect on the Christmas message – “peace on earth, good will toward all” – it’s hard not to do so ruefully, considering how short of that goal we’ve fallen.
It wasn’t so long ago when Americans, predisposed to be optimistic as we are, considered progress inevitable.
Yet with the 20th century, and with the horrors that have confronted us in the few years of the 21st century – 9/11, the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan, Darfur, Zimbabwe, Mumbai, mysterious epidemics, “Extreme Weather,” and the aforementioned shakiness – we have to conclude there’s no guarantee things will automatically get better.
While man’s inhumanity to man may seem to predominate, random acts of kindliness, less dramatic but massive in aggregate, surround us as well – love, forgiveness, fortitude, courage, laughter.
Yes, in recent years we citizens of the United States have discovered that things can trend worse. If so, they can trend better as well, and we can hope they are on the edge of trending so.
And while perfection may be beyond mankind, the journey has its own satisfactions.
Even more than the message of peace and good will, the central fact of Christmas is simply birth. With birth, comes hope.
As babies become toddlers, and toddlers become girls and boys, through them we recognize the world anew. Their surprise at the novelties of life remind us of when life was fresh for us as well.
Let us accept 2008 for what it has been – its joys and heartbreaks – and look forward as lightheartedly as we might to expanding the former in the year ahead and minimizing the latter.
Merry Christmas – in all its dimensions.

Labels: 12-26-08, Editorial, Hometown Views, Opinion

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IN THE CITY OF THE HILLS

LOTTO WINNER: A Dutchess County man visiting his father in Oneonta bought the $4 million LOTTO ticket at Stewart’s on Main Street. His name has not yet been announced.

VOICE SUPPORT: SUNY Oneonta is encouraging supporters to visit a new advocates site to help combat budget cuts: www.oneonta.edu/navigation/advocate.asp

FISCAL WORRIES: Mayor John S. Nader and Superintendent of Schools Michael Shea shared their concerns about the local impact of state budget cuts with the Oneonta Rotary Club Thursday, Dec. 19.

ALL-AMERICANS: Jason Boltus and Jack Phelan, players on the Hartwick College Hawks football team, have been named to the AP Little All-America Second Team.

LOCAL RESEARCHERS: Two local SUNY Oneonta students received Student/Faculty Grants for Research and Creative Activity: Matthew Miner, Sidney, $1,500, for Green Photochemical Dimerization of Dibenzylideneacetone; Rebecca Shea, $185, for Atwood’s Machine: Methods to Success.

Labels: 12-26-08, Front Page

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