Monthly Archives: August 2014

HOMETOWN HISTORY, December 7, 2012

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company recently paid out upwards of $2,000 for uniforms for its employees. The suits were furnished to employees at cost price – brakemen paying $17.20 and conductors $24.
The brakemen’s coats, a double-breasted blue sack, have no pockets at all in them, and the conductors’ coats, a double-breasted frock, are also almost devoid of pockets, having only one small receptacle for cash aside from the coat tail pockets. The trainmen and station men now present a very neat appearance.
Only words of praise are heard for the electric street lights. They burn steadily without flickering, their brightness giving the streets a cheery look upon the most dismal night and making the gas lamps look sickly indeed. Yet gas was considered upon its introduction, a great step in advance of the Naptha lamps it succeeded.
December 1887

100 Years Ago
Thanksgiving evening, Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Baker entertained a large party numbering nearly 400 at The Oneonta and the City Club parlors, the large dance hall of the latter organization being utilized for the reception and dancing which followed. Music was furnished by Gardner’s orchestra and the spacious hall was thronged with dancers throughout the evening. In the adjacent banquet hall of the club card tables were provided and rubbers of auction bridge were frequent. The evening was one of unalloyed pleasure for the guests. During the evening the guests were invited to the main dining room of the Oneonta where a collation was prepared and served in the inimitable manner of the Mssrs. Millard was equally enjoyable. Numbered among the guests were Henry E, Huntington of Los Angeles and New York, Dr. and Mrs. R.W. Ford, and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Blakely of Otego, Dr. and Mrs. B.W. Dewar of Cooperstown , Mr. and Mrs. John T. Knapp of Worcester, Miss Hart of Schenectady and Lieutenant and Mrs. Frank B. Edwards.
December 1912

80 Years Ago
Editorial – Advertising is a highly developed science and a valuable asset to business. As such it has a distinctive place in the affairs of the present day. But, like a good many other things, it must be properly used or it becomes a nuisance and a menace to progress and happiness. For one thing it is imperative that advertising be kept in its place. The beauty of newspaper and magazine advertising lies in the fact that it is perfectly possible for the subscriber to read an article or a story and never look at an ad unless he wishes to do so. He knows where the ads are, but they are not forced upon his attention against his will. But what can be said of the radio advertising as at present conducted? Like the billboards that despoil the scenery along God’s highway, it is a disgrace and a nuisance. What is taking place on the radio today? Tooth powder, patent medicines, cosmetics, motorcars, household appliances, tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, and breakfast foods arise to smite the sensibilities of the listener. And we are helpless, because we cannot turn to another station. They are all alike in this respect.
December 1932
60 Years Ago
Dr. Norman W. Getman of Oneonta, who has served as Otsego County Coroner for the past 26 years, began his 13th consecutive term in that office on Tuesday. Dr. Getman was re-elected at the November 6th general election. Oldtimers say he has held office longer than any elected official. Curiously, he never sought office, never campaigned, and never asked anyone to vote for him, “unless it was in a joking manner.” Dr. Getman entered public life after moving around a bit. Born in Richfield Springs, he was taken to Kansas City, Missouri when a year old. His father, attorney Herbert Getman, retired in 1910 and came back to Richfield Springs. That same year Dr. Getman graduated from University Medical College in Kansas City, and two years later, when his father’s health broke, he also came back, settling in Oneonta in 1912.
December 1952

30 Years Ago
Unseasonably high temperatures are saving highway budgets a bundle of money this year. Normally snowstorms would have eaten away thousands in road clearing and salting funds by now. Because the city and town of Oneonta spend a lot of money each winter for snow removal, the street and highway superintendents for the two municipalities indicated that easing into winter has been easy on their budgets. “It sure saves plenty of money. I can tell you that,” said Ted Christman of the City of Oneonta streets department. He said his department should have a surplus of money left over for materials and wages normally needed in a year of average snowfall. The city allocated $33,250 for salt and sand and has $11,000 left over to date. For workers’ wages to clear snow and sand roads, $20,000 is left over, out of $40,000 allotted.
December 1982

20 Years Ago
Girl Scouts from Oneonta and Laurens filled containers with baby items Saturday at Interskate 88. The items are bound for needy mothers and their newborns under the direction of the Prenatal Care Assistance Program (PCAP). Jennifer Holling, a 10-year-old from Oneonta, said donating baby items made her feel good. “There are babies that need things,” she said. Kim Perry, an 11-year-old from Oneonta, agreed. “Just the fact that you helped someone makes you feel good,” Perry said. Learning to give to others at a young age is beneficial for the scouts, said leader Amy Foutch. “It helps them understand that there are other people in the world besides them that need things,” Foutch said.
December 1992

10 Years Ago
Oneonta City School District students are among five confirmed and 21 probable cases of whooping cough, a highly contagious disease. The victims range in age from five months to 18 according to Otsego County Public Health Director Kathryn Abernethy. “It’s an unusually high number of cases compared to other years,” Abernethy said. “But we don’t want people to worry unnecessarily, because generally this is a disease people don’t contract.”
December 2002

HOMETOWN HISTORY, December 14, 2012

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The D.F. Wilber Hook & Ladder Company are to give a grand minstrel show at the Metropolitan theatre on the evening of December 23rd. As is well known, this company contains among its membership some fine musical talent, all of which will be employed on the evening of the 23rd, and, in addition, four first-class minstrel performers from New York City have been engaged. The program will be very carefully arranged and it is expected the show will prove a great treat.
The town Sunday School Association was well attended and of great interest and benefit to all present. The program called for the discussion of practical questions and the persons to whom they were assigned advanced some good ideas. The importance of the Bible in the school, in the hand of each teacher, was very strongly endorsed. The line between safe and sinful amusements was discussed with considerable animation – public dances, games of chance and general theatre-going being regarded as unbecoming a Christian.
December 1887

100 Years Ago
Oneonta Herald Christmas verses – When grizzled Santa came to town, he didn’t wander up and down. A Herald in his hand he took. It was for him a shopping book. Just play the trick that Santa played – T’will save you money when you trade. “Ha” said Santa, “What’s the use of going further? New York’s bigger, but it isn’t better or cheaper; and when the going’s bad it would be foolish to tire my reindeer on longer trips. Everything useful, pretty or desirable for Christmas giving can be had in Oneonta, and right here’s where I do my shopping.”
December 1912

80 Years Ago
Santa Claus is going in for realism in a big way at Christmas time this year. Santa’s 1932 array of toys includes miniature vacuum cleaners and electric irons, for example. For boys there are electric trucks with real motors for them. Steam shovels are equipped to dig and dump in the sand pile. Instead of runners, the 1932-33 sleds will be fitted with four wheels. Whether this change with the event of good old-fashioned snow remains to be seen, but Santa says light winters in the past few years justify wheels instead of runners, Santa reports. The animals too have a lot of new tricks. There are ducks that quack as they waddle and frogs that leap and croak. Dogs and cats groan and mew when taken for a walk on their leashes. Dolls will have their own wardrobes, complete from lingerie to bonnet. Doll houses are modernistic in architecture and a strictly modern note is struck in tiny electric ranges and refrigerators which, like the electric lights, are wired for business.
December 1932

60 Years Ago
Oneonta Sales Company, Inc. 27 Market Street, put its 1953 line of Ford cars on display yesterday, featuring the new “miracle ride,” which smooths out bumps and controls side-sway on turns as one of the mechanical improvements. Prices will be unchanged from those on the present models, the Ford Motor Co. has announced. A new, wider and more massive grille with a single chrome center spinner is featured on the 1953 Ford passenger cars. A new chrome center bar wraps around the front fenders. New jet-tube tail lights with larger signal area which can be seen more easily from the side or rear, and a new chrome deck lid handle mounted below the Ford crest with a concealed weather-protected key opening, are other features. Eleven body styles and 18 models are available in the three lines of 1953 cars – Mainline, Customline and Crestline.
December 1952
40 Years Ago
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller said Wednesday that the state should consider making seat belt use by motorists mandatory. Speaking to a luncheon meeting of the Traffic Safety Council, he noted that 3,000 are killed and 300,000 injured by traffic accidents in New York State every year. He said much of this “epidemic” could be prevented by seat belt use. Studies show that only 30 to 35 percent of motorists use seat belts regularly. “We frankly don’t know if a mandatory seat belt law in New York would achieve results,” he said, “but too many lives are at stake to simply ignore the idea.”
December 1972

20 Years Ago
Hartwick College hopes to pay more attention to minority students and staff with the appointment of an interim director of multicultural affairs. College President Richard A. Detweiler has appointed Diane Slater of Oneonta to the job for about six months. Slater will be responsible for working with minority students, according to Ron Sherhofer, chair of the college’s new Pluralism Task Force. “We want Diane to focus on our students and not be too caught up in administrative work,” he said. A number of services for Hartwick’s minority students have been running at less than full capacity while the college sought to replace Carol Jean Hicks, who recently left Hartwick to finish a doctoral degree, college officials said. Hartwick has about 1,500 students with a minority enrollment of about three to four percent. “My concern for the future of the college is that we understand why diversity matters to Hartwick College,” Detweiler said.
December 1992

10 Years Ago
Officials at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta and The Hospital in Sidney said Friday they are asking their employees to volunteer to be immunized for smallpox. The inoculations are part of a New York State Health Department plan to vaccinate 16,000 healthcare workers for smallpox to protect against a terrorist attack. Between 90 and 100 Fox Hospital employees are being asked to volunteer for the vaccinations according to Dr. David Evelyn, Fox’s vice-president of medical affairs. “If a suspected case of smallpox came in, these people would be equipped to deal with caring for the patient without putting other healthcare workers at risk,” Evelyn said. President Bush on Friday directed some 500,000 military personnel and civilian defense workers serving in high risk areas to take the smallpox vaccine. The president said that he will be inoculated as well.
December 2002

HOMETOWN HISTORY, December 28, 2012

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The “Happy Coon” minstrels gave an excellent entertainment at the theatre on Saturday evening. Though composed mainly of young men living in Oneonta, the company compares favorably with many of the traveling troupes and indeed has some talent that would be a credit to the best of them.
The new engine and boiler of the Guy table company have been placed in position. It is expected that the factory will be shut down next week and be moved into the commodious new building at the East End. The prospects for a large increase in business are flattering. The corporation will hereafter be known as the “Oneonta Table Co.”
The special revival services conducted by Rev. I.T. Johnson in the M.E. Church have been of great interest. While his method is the old time altar service and has not received the endorsement of all, yet many have presented themselves for prayer, and several have expressed a hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. The evangelist is an earnest preacher, pressing home the truth by frequent reference to his own experience.
December 1887

100 Years Ago
The men’s club at the First Presbyterian Church is proverbial for the quality of its entertainments, but there was never a more pleasant evening than that on Friday when several of the early residents of the city gathered round and talked informally of Oneonta as it used to be. Three men who have spent their entire lives in Oneonta were present – O.C. McCrum, Charles H. Baker and C.W. Peck. All of the business of early Oneonta was conducted in the lower part of the city, at the section now bounded by the corner of River and Main Streets; here was located the grist mill, the saw mill, the tavern, and the first store of the hamlet. The entire section below Main Street was one vast swamp with muskrats swimming about and frogs croaking among the alders. The stores and houses were finally moved up on Main Street to the bluff, as it was then called, to take advantage of the fine springs which were common at that point, and some of which exist to this day in the basements of some of the Main Street stores. Silver Creek, which is now dry at most seasons of the year, formerly ran by the side of the McCrum Block and was well-stocked with trout and other game fish. When the railroad came, Broad Street had its birth. Before this time it was simply swamp, but to gain access to the track, two wide, deep ditches were dug down the hill to get sufficient drainage in that sticky clay that a wagon might traverse it in safety and thus the street was started. Main Street was the old Indian trail and was later laid on as a part of the Catskill Turnpike, extending from Catskill on the Hudson to Ithaca.
December 1912

80 Years Ago
Because of increasing demands for a night’s lodging at the Municipal Building, Oneonta city officials are looking for a place where the transients can be more easily accommodated than in the small quarters now offered them. Until a little more than a year ago a room in the basement of the building, fitted for six, was adequate. Now as many as 40 men have applied for accommodations in one night. More than 6,000 were cared for last year. This has made it necessary for the men to sleep in the boiler room and adjoining hallways.
December 1932

60 Years Ago
Citing a multitude of reasons, Oneonta businessmen yesterday expressed confidence that 1953 would be a good business year. Predictions ranged from conservative to liberal optimism. “Even if the Korean War ends, it won’t stop things,” one executive said, adding that the economy would be buoyed by the “peacetime demand for new goods.” Farmers, politics and the new Enterprise Aluminum Co. figured prominently in several estimates. Automobile dealers are looking for a good year. “They’ve released a lot more steel for new cars and that will of course let the manufacturers build more cars,” a dealer said. “The situation is beginning to parallel the end of WWII,” he added. “Demand is coming up again like it was right after the war. People want to trade their post-war cars in for new ones,” he concluded.
December 1952

40 Years Ago
The patients of A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home Unit were treated to the sound of Christmas Carols being sung by two Cub Scout Dens from Pack 16, Otego, on Sunday. Under the leadership of Cub Scoutmaster John Hartner, an employee of Fox Hospital, and the directorship of Den Leaders Mrs. Jean Seroka and Mrs. Sally Hartner, nine boys and several mothers sang Christmas Carols to the patients and nurses in both units. The boys were then treated to refreshments donated by the volunteer organization of the hospital. The Cub Scouts participating were: Jeff Seroka, Walter Bettiol, Darrell Tripp, Craig Young, Greg Cox, Craig Van Alstyne, John Hartner, Tom Platt, and Robert Thayer. The mothers were Mrs. Bettiol, Mrs. Tripp, Mrs. Van Alstyne, and Mrs. Thayer.
December 1972

30 Years Ago
Some of the 43 employees recently furloughed from Fox Hospital have found work, and hospital officials are hoping to hire back many more employees in 1983 as attrition takes its toll on the hospital staff. Michael J. McNally, hospital personnel director, said 35 of the 43 employees actually had to leave the staff because of a projected 1983 budget deficit of $1.3 million caused by a change in Medicare reimbursement. Eight of the workers took part-time jobs at the hospital to retain some kind of employment there.
December 1982

20 Years Ago
The Oneonta community has exceeded a goal to raise $100,000 toward restoring its historic Swart-Wilcox House, the oldest surviving structure in the city. Helen Rees, a local educator who has campaigned to save the house on Wilcox Avenue, said the community raised $101,000 after officially starting the fundraiser a year ago. “I had great faith we were going to make it, but I wasn’t quite sure how,” she said.
December 1992

HOMETOWN HISTORY, January 4, 2013

100 Years Ago
The dance given Miss Ella Deitz Bull by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bull at the City Club ballroom at The Oneonta Monday night proved delightful in every way. Miss Bull, one of the season’s attractive young debutantes, had as guests about 60 of the younger set, all of whom declared the event one of the happiest occasions imaginable. Mr. and Mrs. Bull were assisted in chaperoning the party by Mr. and Mrs. Perry R. Young. The music for the event was furnished by Gardner’s full orchestra and the music was enticing. The young folks found keenest pleasure in the merry dance. During the intermission a delicious collation was served in the club dining room by Mssrs. Millard of The Oneonta.
January 1913
80 Years Ago
A 13-year-old mystery was solved yesterday when the skeletons, one of a young girl and the other of a man, were discovered near Mount Upton yesterday. Identification of the remains revealed that they were Beatrice Deforest, 15, and Harry Gardner, 27, who disappeared in 1919. At the time it was thought they had eloped. Dr. E.W. Wilcox of Norwich, coroner, yesterday afternoon gave a verdict of murder and suicide. The verdict was based on the fact that an axe and a number of bottles which had contained chloroform, carbolic acid and paregoric were found with the remains. The skull of the girl appeared to have been beaten in. The gruesome find was made by George Miner of Johnson City, a pitcher of the Newark, New Jersey International League baseball team. While hunting in what is known as the Michigan swamp, two miles from Mount Upton, just at dusk the day before, he stumbled over a skull. He hastened back to the village, but it was too dark to return to the scene until yesterday morning. Identification of the girl’s remains was made from papers in her pocketbook. Other articles found with Gardner’s skeleton were taken to his wife, who is now living in Franklin, and she identified them as belonging to him. The girl’s parents are both deceased.
January 1933
60 Years Ago
There was one inch of snow on Oneonta streets yesterday morning, costing the city an estimated $135 to clean up before pedestrians could walk, or automobiles could ride, without slipping. “People don’t realize how much money it costs just to clear a light snow such as this, just to make it passable so people can get around,” said Edmund Shultis, Sr., foreman of the Department of Public Works. “The snow was just enough to make it slippery and greasy,” Shultis said. He estimated other costs as follows: Nearly three tons of salt, at $50; four loads of stone grit (20 tons) at $32; labor cost for three men on the salt truck and three on the sanding crew, $35; plus equipment wear and tear covering items as tires and chains at $18. “You can just imagine what it would cost if the city had to dig out from a heavy snowfall,” Shultis added.
January 1953
40 Years Ago
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller asked the legislature Wednesday for mandatory life sentences for all hard-drug pushers and was met with prolonged Republican applause and negative Democratic murmurings of “concentration camps.” Saying that attempts to rehabilitate drug addicts have accomplished little, Rockefeller called for tough new measures against addicts and pushers alike. “Our neighborhoods have been effectively destroyed by addicts as by an invading army,” he declared. Immediate reaction from the Democrats, who sat in silence as the governor delivered his annual message to a joint session of the legislature, was negative. “When are we going to open the concentration camps?” asked Assemblyman Manfred Ohrenstein of Manhattan.
January 1973
30 Years Ago
Penn State’s Nittany Lions, who have been playing intercollegiate football since 1887, were crowned national champions for the first time Sunday according to the final Associated Press poll. Penn State defeated number 1- ranked Georgia 27-23 in Saturday night’s Sugar Bowl showdown and moved up from the number 2 position to claim the national title with an 11-1-0 record over undefeated Southern Methodist University, which took second with an 11-0-1 record. The Lions were defeated 42-21 by Alabama in the fifth game of the season. “Obviously, we’re all thrilled at Penn State,” Coach Joe Paterno said when informed of the final rankings. “This kind of makes up for the times we didn’t get it.”
January 1983
10 Years Ago
The creation of a county executive, Medicaid reform and a reduction in New York State’s health care costs are among the issues on the Otsego County Chamber’s 2003 agenda, chamber officials said Friday morning. The seven initiatives on the agenda emphasize change “over the long haul and sustained economic growth,” said Rob Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the chamber. “We’re facing this year the biggest challenge we’ve had in years, maybe decades,” Robinson said.
January 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, January 11, 2013

125 YEARS AGO
The Local News: Some sixteen of the ladies of the Universalist Sunday School in Mr. Tompkins’ Bible class met on Tuesday evening and organized a society to be known as the “Murray Club.” Miss May Whipple was elected president, Mrs. Charles Paul, vice-president, Miss Anna Haswell, secretary, and Miss Alta Price, treasurer. A committee on entertainment, consisting of Misses Carrie Campbell, Ethel Doolittle and Grace Green was appointed, and it is proposed through the means of sociable, entertainments, lectures, etc. to raise a fund to help build the new church.
The Guy Table Company has been moving their machinery to the new factory at the East End. The building has been constructed under the supervision of S.R. Barnes, and when in running order will be one of the best equipped and most complete table factories in the country. Last year there were upwards of 10,000 tables made by the company, double the number of the year previous. Next year it is estimated that fully 20,000 tables will be made.
January 1888

80 Years Ago
Calvin Coolidge, president of the United States from August 3, 1923 to March 4, 1929, died suddenly today (January 5, 1933). He was 60 years old on July 4, 1932. President Coolidge was stricken with a heart attack as he was preparing to shave in a dressing room of his Northampton home “The Beeches.” He died alone. A few minutes later Mrs. Coolidge, returning from a shopping tour, found his body lying upon the floor. There was apparently no warning, and he died without suffering. His face was calm and bore no sign of pain. He had been dead about 15 minutes.
January 1933

60 Years Ago
The United States Senate Internal Security Sub-Committee said yesterday there are hundreds of American school teachers who are Communists and who must be rooted out to protect future generations. In a 13-page report, the sub-committee recommended further investigation of Red influences in the nation’s schools and colleges. The report concludes: “Despite the unquestioned loyalty and self-sacrificing devotion to duty of the preponderant bulk of America’s teachers, there are yet many hundreds of teachers who are Communists.”

The City of Oneonta’s Public Safety Board served formal notice last night on the Town of Oneonta that on and after July 15, the city will no longer provide fire protection for any part of the town. The action was taken following a series of negotiations with the Town Board beginning last July 14 when the board requested the town to pay for the service in proportion to the amount paid by city taxpayers. Fire protection then was costing city taxpayers $1.92 per thousand of assessed valuation. Under the 1953 budget, fire protection will cost city taxpayers $2.12 per $1,000.
January 1953

40 Years Ago
A young West Oneonta woman was forced into a terrifying cross-town drive at gunpoint late Tuesday after a man jumped into her car as she was driving out of the West End Shopping Plaza. The woman, whose name police are withholding for her own protection, told State Police she had just come out of the Grand Union store about 5:45 p.m. and was preparing to drive away, when the man – described as appearing to be a Puerto Rican with a mustache and short, kinky hair – jumped into her car, pointed a gun at her and told her to drive as directed. The woman, who had a small child with her, explained that the man directed her along a route through Oneonta and east to the Jamesway parking lot where he ordered her to stop the car and sit still. After waiting for 15 to 20 minutes, the man ordered her out of the car and told her to go into the store and not to come out. Once in the store, the woman summoned police. When police arrived, they found the car parked and empty with the key in the ignition.
January 1973

30 Years Ago
Taxpayers in the Oneonta City School District owe over $350,000 in delinquent taxes, slightly more than last year’s figure. “This year we collected 92% of the tax warrant,” Madolyn O. Palmer, district business manager said. “Last year we collected about 94 percent. In the city of Oneonta, unpaid school taxes total $183,761, Mrs. Palmer said, which is about $80,000 more than last year. The single largest taxpayer in the city with an unpaid bill is the financially ailing Delaware & Hudson Railway which owes more than $40,000.
January 1983

10 Years Ago
Joe Quandt, a teacher, writer and activist who recently spent time in Iraq, will address the Peace and Justice Forum from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howe’s Cave. The public is invited to participate. “View from a Baghdad Street” is the title of Quandt’s presentation. It is based on his experiences in Iraq’s capital city during a month-long visit in October under the auspices of Voices in the Wilderness, an international organization advocating for peace. Presented by Peacemakers of Schoharie County.
January 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, January 18, 2013

125 Years Ago
The Local News: Michael Sullivan of Osborn Hollow died recently. The deceased had been in the employ of the D & H Company for the past 18 years and had lost in that time but two or three days. He was track walker between Osborn Hollow and Port Crane, and his daily trip covered twenty miles. During his 18 years of service he walked a trifle over 131,000 miles.
A.N. Deuel, formerly a railroad conductor and later a grocery-man of Oneonta, is reported to have left town with the wife of Geo. Vanderson, a railroad employee. Vanderson is reported to be after them with a blunderbuss. The popular impression appears to be, however, that Deuel has done him a good turn.
January 1888

100 Years Ago
Fifty years ago the petroleum industry in the United States, and in the world for that matter, was in its infancy; and in our own country was confined to a small area around Titusville and Oil City, in Pennsylvania. Now, the world consumes a million 42-gallon barrels of petroleum per day. Of the petroleum products of the world, much more than half are in the United States, where the output in 1912 was over 220,000,000 barrels, which is practically the same as in 1911. Prices however, have greatly increased. Oil which sold a year and a half ago for $1.30 per barrel now brings $2.00 or more in a ready market. In even figures, the oil production in California last year was 87 millions of barrels. In Oklahoma it was 52 million and in Illinois more than 28 million, making all but 53 millions of barrels of the total production. Pennsylvania and Ohio, parent states of the oil industry, are credited with only eight million barrels each, and the once great productive New York field had to its credit only 700,000 barrels.
January 1913

60 Years Ago
Some 50 million Americans with personal incomes of $600 or more must file federal income tax returns this year. There is only one consolation – the rates have not gone up, although neither have they gone down. And, the same exemptions and deductions you used last March apply when figuring the tax on 1952 income. The rate increase November 1, 1951 averaged about 11 percent for most taxpayers. But, since the boost was effective for only one-sixth of the year taxpayers will feel its full impact for the first time when paying their 1952 taxes. Returns are due on or before March 15. It’s to your advantage to file a return even if you made less than $600 last year in a job covered by the withholding tax. Such income is tax-free, and you’ll get a refund check from the treasury.
January 1953

40 Years Ago
Oneonta would have more parks and open spaces if recommendations made by the Anti-Pollution and Environmental Board are accepted by the city. The report recommends the wooded area between Woodside Avenue and SUCO, already owned by the city, be used for nature trail studies to be used by college and Oneonta school district classes. “Because of its steep slopes,” it was recommended that “the area should be left in its natural state.” The Parish Farm, west of the city, and north of the new sewage treatment plant, should be developed into a historic park, exhibiting the Revolutionary War cemetery located there. That property is already owned by the city. Another land parcel, owned privately in the Sixth Ward, is recommended for use as a park and picnic grounds. The report suggests this park could be used by the Riverside School which lost playground land to the state for the construction of Interstate 88. Big Island, near Neahwa Park offers 90 acres of uninhabited land covered with second growth flood plain forest and river scenery untouched by development. The report concludes that Big Island should be used as a public nature study area and public picnic ground. A fifth property located above Table Rock and Hartwick College should remain untouched and undeveloped as forest land. However, these 100 acres are currently being considered as the site for a 200-unit town house complex.
January 1973

30 Years Ago
Tim O’Brien became the most prolific scorer in Hartwick college men’s basketball history with a 36-point outburst that led Hartwick to its 86-70 win over Division III powerhouse opponent Potsdam State at Binder Field House on Wednesday night. Hartwick’s season record is now 10-4. “You know, I was walking up here tonight thinking this could be one of the greatest nights of my life,” said O’Brien, after he eclipsed Barry Lewis’ 23-year-old career mark of 1,512 points late in the first half. “But, if we lose, it isn’t going to be that good.” After a record-setting free throw, the contest was stopped and O’Brien was swarmed with congratulations by teammates, family and fans.
January 1983

20 Years Ago
Proclaiming a message of national unity, Bill Clinton and Al Gore rolled triumphantly into the nation’s capital Sunday, kicking off five days of inaugural pageantry. “We must go forward together, or not at all,” Clinton declared. Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers filled the Mall, stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Monument where Clinton spoke after a trademark bus trip to his new home. “Let us build an American home for the 21st century where everyone has a place at the table and not a single child is left behind.”
January 1993

10 Years Ago
The Oneonta Police Department is seeking to evaluate and update its operation standards and procedures to meet requirements for accreditation by New York State’s Department of Criminal Justice Services. The effort will take two years to complete according to Oneonta Police Lieutenant Joseph Redmond, who is in charge of the project. Out of 550 state law enforcement agencies, only 93 have been accredited through the program. In all there are 143 standards that have to be met in the areas of administration, personnel training, and operations including basic crime-fighting responsibilities. There is no financial cost to the city involved.
January 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, January 25, 2013

125 Years Ago
The Local News: Evaporated apples have superseded the old-time dried apple. A dealer of this town has long had on hand some 18 barrels of dried apples, for which there appeared to be no sale. He challenged another dealer the other day to make him an offer for them, and accepted fifty cents a barrel. On examining the apples they were found as lively with worms as the average Italian is with fleas. But the purchaser didn’t weaken. “I want them for a mincemeat packing firm,” said he, “and it will be economy to use those apples.” They were shipped. No patent mincemeat for us.
January 1888
100 Years Ago
Advertisement – Diabetes: A Simple Herb Quickly Cures This Dread Disease To Stay Cured. A plant recently discovered in Mexico called Diabotol Herb has been found to be a specific in the treatment of diabetes, quickly reducing the specific gravity and sugar, restoring vigor and building up the system. A 50 cent package of this harmless vegetable remedy lasts a week and will relieve the worst symptoms in the most aggravated cases or your money will be returned without question. Send 50 cents to us for a week’s supply with free booklet of special value to the diabetic, containing latest diet list and exclusive table of food elements, giving percentage of starch and sugar (carbohydrates) in 250 different foods. Call the attention of your afflicted friends to this offer. Ames Chemical Co., Box 289-3, Whitney Point, N.Y.
January 1913

80 Years Ago
McClelland Barclay, noted artist and sculptor, advances the theory that the certain something that attracts us males to our particular screen favorite is not beauty or sex appeal, but rather “type appeal.” Elaborating, Barclay selects his list of the most “type-appealing” women in Hollywood. Claudette Colbert appeals to the man of the world; Joan Crawford to the family man; Katherine Hepburn to the professional man; Miriam Hopkins to the caveman; Elissa Landis to the student-scientist; and Myrna Loy to the adventurer. Barclay’s own dream girl would be a composite of several film queens. She would possess the legs of Marlene Dietrich, the hips of Carole Lombard, the chest of Miriam Hopkins, and the lips of Helen Twelvetrees.
January 1933

40 Years Ago
The days of the Homer Folks Hospital as a treatment facility for victims of tuberculosis will sooner or later come to an end. Already, the hospital which employs 177 workers is not regarded as an economically sound or scientifically necessary operation and the state has decided that operations there should be phased out. But, as yet, there is no word as to what will follow. Almost every person you talk to has a different suggestion and almost all of them are good ones. There’s one suggestion, however, that most people don’t want to think about – a drug rehabilitation center. Freshman assemblyman Harold Luther is poised to stage an all-out effort to keep Homer Folks open, but talking to a reporter, Luther made it clear that a drug rehabilitation center isn’t his choice. Luther is against the idea and be-

lieves area residents are against such an outcome as well. Area residents may well have harbored fears about a tuberculosis treatment hospital in their midst in the 1930s, but once it opened in December 1935, those fears quickly vanished.
January 1973

30 Years Ago
Citing red ink that has risen to record levels, President Reagan called for provisional income and energy tax increases that could take effect October 1, 1985, if his freeze is approved, the economy recovers, and the deficit keeps going up anyhow. “America is on the mend,” the President declared. Senators and representatives alike were brought to their feet in applause after President Reagan declared, “We who are in government must take the lead in restoring the economy.” Reagan said he would adjust his defense budget over the next five years to save about $47 billion in actual outlays. Even with the freeze and adjustments, the overall defense budget will increase about 14 percent according to a senior administration official.
January 1983

20 Years Ago
A $375,000 low-interest federal loan will help Bresee’s Oneonta Department Store fill its racks and funds will then become available for other businesses in the city. As the anchor retail store on Oneonta’s Main Street repays the loan, other businesses will be able to borrow the money originally provided by the federal grant. “The loan is great for us, and I think it’s going to be great for downtown Oneonta,” Marc Bresee said. Joseph Bernier, Oneonta Community Development Director, said low-interest loans may be available as early as mid-1994 after the Common Council approves guidelines. Merchants have already expressed in borrowing the money, expressly for start-up purposes.
January 1993

10 Years Ago
“I don’t want war against these people,” said Henry “Hank” Williamson, a peace activist who spoke at the First Methodist Church in Oneonta on Friday night. “We’re going to be killing these people, and they’re not doing anything to us.” Williamson, 54, has traveled to Iraq twice, most recently during October and November with the Iraq Peace Team. He told a crowd of about 50 that he wants to inform people about the human aspects of Iraq – the innocent civilians who would be killed in a war.
January 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 1, 2013

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The directors of the Delaware & Hudson Company had a gorgeous car made for their own use, at a cost of $25,000. It was heated by a new system, which was intended to supersede the present method. The car stood Saturday forenoon near the Green Island shops and William Burt of Albany was in charge. He raked up the fire to get a higher temperature in the car, when an explosion occurred, entirely wrecking the car and inflicting probably fatal injuries on Burt, who was conveyed to the hospital. It is believed that the explosion was due to the freezing of a pipe connected with the heater drum. February 1888
100 Years Ago
Much rainy weather has been encountered by the force of engineers, who under J.A. Small as foreman, have been engaged in making a survey for the proposed improved highway from Morris to Oneonta, connecting with the present Oneonta-Otego highway at the Junction corner at Oneonta Plains. The route, it is understood, follows the stage route with few departures from the present highway. The distance covered by the survey is 12.7 miles which is understood to cover the distance in the village of Morris to connect with the Morris-Gilbertsville roads. The road will be expensive to construct, the drainage of the road being a costly feature. It is also not located in proximity to a railroad which will increase the cost of the construction.
February 1913

80 Years Ago
Professor Lewis H. Whitehead told members of the Oneonta Rotary Club that this country is today in a much better position to enjoy normally prosperous times than at any time in its history. Mr. Whitehead is head of the statistical and advisory service of Benjamin Baker and company of Syracuse. Mr. Whitehead said he had no intention of charting the future of business or investment fields, but would briefly discuss the question of when national prosperity could return, depending on what is meant by prosperity. “If you have in mind the years 1926 to 1929, I would say they may be expected only after a great war. If you mean the days from 1923 to 1926, I would say they should return about 1945. I am not a chronic pessimist, but I am conservative and I feel we must have prosperity throughout the world and new international contacts. It takes a long while for a nation to get back on its feet after dissipating its resources for a period of 10 years. I use a chart of security prices dating to 1833. It is noticeable that the period of recovery from a period of depression is longer than the period of decline. In May of this year our current depression will be four years old, and on past experiences the period of recovery would be from seven to eight years. I feel it may be 10 to 12 years before business again reaches levels of 1923 to 1926.”
February 1933

60 Years Ago
Oneonta’s housing situation is still critical ten years after the war boom began. The demand for rental units is still high and the supply low. Yesterday, President Dwight D. Eisenhower forecast the end of federal rent controls except in acute defense areas. At about the time the President was speaking, the City of Oneonta was posting a “not-for-rent” sign on an old house it plans to raze for an addition to the municipal parking lot. Posting of the sign was necessitated by a large number of callers who wished to rent the unoccupied half of the two-family house at 38-40 Dietz Street. Good apartments are scarce, but you can find less desirable ones. It is no trick to find a three-room apartment suitable for two persons, but if you want two bedrooms, you’ll run into difficulty. The rent control law is responsible for much of the shortage. One landlord with four apartments of six rooms each was getting $19 a month per unit. He spent $6,000 to $7,000 to cut up the house into eight apartments. His rentals per unit now run from $33 to $58 a month. Some six and seven-room apartments are still frozen under $20 because landlords can’t get the capital to convert them into “arm chair” units.
February 1953

30 Years Ago
Dr. John G. New, who died unexpectedly this week at age 56, made strong and lasting contributions to the well-being of not only the Oneonta area, but also the entire state. He was the father of environmental awareness in our area. More than any other single individual, Dr. New helped make the people of Otsego and Delaware counties aware of how their actions, or inactions, affect the environment. He wasn’t afraid to champion unpopular causes, nor was he afraid to stand alone in the forefront of an issue. He had string opinions and little inclination for compromise or delay. He drew opposition but even his most vigorous opponents respected his dedication and his seemingly endless capacity for work and research. His name came to be synonymous, locally, with concern for the environment.
February 1983

20 Years Ago
Local gays and lesbians heralded the New York State Assembly’s passage of a gay rights bill as a major step forward, but said many hurdles remain. “I was in the assembly gallery when it passed and it was really an exhilarating experience,” said Cathryn James, a founding member of Oneonta’s Lesbian & Gay Concerns Network. Adopted by a 90 to 50 vote, the bill bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations and education. To become law, it must also pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Religious organizations are exempt and marital laws are unaffected.
February 1993

10 Years Ago
Area weather records list the month of January 2002 as the third warmest on record while January 2003 will likely go down in the books as one of the five coldest Januarys in the past 30 years according to the National Weather Service in Binghamton. The average temperature for this January is 15.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Only Januarys in 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1994 were colder.
February 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 8, 2013

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The electric light company have decided to construct a building and supply their own power. A lot on Prospect Street opposite the freight house has been secured from Moody and Gould, and work will soon commence upon a new brick building 60 x 80 feet. Four steam engines will be used, for which steam will be furnished from a 250-horsepower boiler. A duplicate set of arc and incandescent dynamos will be put in, and set to be kept in reserve in case of accident. Plans for the building are being prepared in New York and the company hopes to have it completed within 60 days.
February 1888

100 Years Ago
T.J. Gendron described the virtues of the Standard Oil Company’s high pressure road oil sprinkler for the benefit of members of the Board of Public Works and City Engineer Gurney with Commissioner Elwood present. Using a high grade product known as Oil No. 4, the oil is applied not upon the gravity principle as formerly, but with the use of a high pressure sprinkler which forces the oil into the dirt and macadam with 85 pounds pressure to the square inch at a cost of 1.2 cents per square yard. The company is prepared to inform the public of the advantages of street oiling. Mr. Gendron figures that he would oil Elm Street by this process for the length of 3,048 feet over a width of 24 feet at $97.52 as compared with an actual cost of something like $350 under the method employed last year. The proposed contract would require assurance of using at least one large tank of oil here, enough to oil about 20 streets like Elm. Mr. Gendron displayed photographs of many streets in Massachusetts which have been treated with oil under pressure where it is claimed street maintenance costs have been reduced 60 to 80 percent while disposing of the dust problem.
February 1913

80 Years Ago
Arthur Jansen, 45 years old, 1745 Railroad Avenue “B,” Schenectady, a former resident of Oneonta, succumbed in Ellis hospital, Schenectady, Saturday morning after being critically burned in a fire that destroyed the cab of D & H Engine No. 1116. Jansen, a veteran engineer was operating a “pusher” engine on a Mechanicville-Binghamton freight train when a back draft from the locomotive’s firebox suddenly engulfed the interior of the cab. The train was then just south of the Crescent tower about five miles north of Schenectady. The blast of flame set the interior of the cab ablaze and also the clothing of the engineer. Jansen leaped from the cab with his clothes afire. His plight was discovered by other members of the crew who extinguished his burning clothes. However, little hope was given for his recovery and he died at 7:30 a.m. Jansen was well-known in railroad circles and for a number of years held a “run” out of Oneonta.
February 1933

60 Years Ago
Final arrangements are all but complete for the serving of ‘umteen thousand or so pancakes, with sausage and fixins, all for the benefit of Fox Hospital, on Thursday. The pancake meal will be served from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the electrical center of the Oneonta Department Store with all of the proceeds going to benefit the hospital. The event is staged under the auspices of the Oneonta Kiwanis Club, which hopes to raise at least $1,000. Mrs. Edith Rich, manager of the Health Bar, will supervise preparation of the pancakes, sausage and coffee. Mrs. Ursel Beach of the electrical center is in charge of table and serving arrangements. Kiwanians will serve as waiters throughout the day. Flour and syrup have been donated by Pillsbury Pancake Mills, milk and cream by Meridale Farms, Inc., and Oneonta Dairy Co. Coffee is the gift of Sexton Co. and Standard Brands. Hudson Falls Paper Mills are contributing paper plates, cups and napkins. Towels are furnished by Abelove’s Laundry. The American Legion Post is loaning the griddles and the First Methodist Church is providing tables and silverware. Entertainment will be supplied by the Waltones, a barbershop quartet.
February 1953

40 Years Ago
A ten-page report compiled by the State University Federation of Teachers (SUFT) shows that 33 faculty members and 10 administrators earn salaries of $20,000 or more. However, a cover letter accompanying the report states that SUCO is, overall, “the lowest paying of the state’s four-year colleges.” Union leaders say the information demonstrates that salary abuses exist and contend there are many people receiving salaries that are not commensurate with their degrees and experience. Sources said this is particularly true of teachers who do not have doctorates and also true of many women. “They know they can get away with paying less because these people won’t leave,” one SUFT member said. The Education Department has the most $20,000-plus personnel with 11 of 57 members in that range. The report notes that college vice-president Cary Brush’s salary increased $9,000 over two years to $31,925.
February 1973

20 Years Ago
Local poet, Carol K. Frost has won a $20,000 federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, making her a two-time recipient. Frost said the award for the calendar year 1993 is a vote of confidence in her work. The work Frost submitted to support her application includes several 11-line poems written in a complicated form of her own invention. The Otego resident was chosen from among about 2,500 applicants in poetry and fiction. About 89 grants were awarded.
February 1993

10 Years Ago
The price of gasoline is on the rise. The price of a gallon of regular unleaded went up to $1.69 Thursday, a seven-cent increase from the day before at a station in Cooperstown. At Stewart’s shop in Oneonta, a gallon of regular unleaded was $1.63 on Thursday afternoon. Earlier that morning, the price at the same pump was $1.59. “I’ve never seen it this high before ($1.59), and it looks like the sky’s the limit so far,” said Don Scanlon, district manager for Red Barrel. “It’s going up daily. Two weeks ago, unleaded regular was $1.55.”
February 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 15, 2013

125 Years Ago
The Local News – The tower of the Episcopal Church is to cost $1,895, and will be carried up 31 feet in stone and nine feet of galvanized iron – a total of 40 feet. The top finish square will consist of a battlement and pinnacles with crockets at the corners, and on one of the pinnacles a cross.
February 1888

100 Years Ago
Engineer Frederick G. McAdam of Oneonta was caught between his own moving engine and the caboose of a train he was pushing up Richmondville Hill Tuesday afternoon about 1:30 o’clock and was so severely injured that he died less than an hour later in St. Peter’s Hospital at Albany.
February 1913

80 Years Ago
“Are we going to fight to prevent repeal of the 18th amendment, or are we going to let the wets have what they want and then try to regulate it?” Mrs. D. Leigh Colvin, New York State W.C.T.U. president and veteran prohibition campaigner, demanded in an address at the First Methodist Episcopal church in Oneonta last Friday.
February 1933

60 Years Ago
Jim Catella, Oneonta’s Director of Civil Defense, is concerned with the real lack of interest in the city on the part of its citizens to volunteer for civil defense activities. It is about time that we face the fact that bombing attacks on our cities are a distinct possibility.
February 1953

HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 22, 2014

125 Years Ago
The Oneonta Street Railway Company was the only bidder on the 20th for the franchise to “construct, maintain, Operate, and extend” a street railroad in town. The franchise was sold for a one-hundredth part of one percent of the gross receipts of the company, to be paid annually into the corporation treasury. The company intends to commence the construction of the road the coming spring and will form a construction company from the stockholders, each stockholder obtaining thereby a benefit pro rata to the number of shares he holds. Consents of the property owners along Front Street have been obtained for the purpose of running a branch to the depot connecting with all passenger trains.
George W. Woodburn is perfecting an organization to be known as the Central Labor Union. It will be composed of one delegate from every trade’s union in Oneonta and surrounding town. The object of the organization will be the discussion of the status of each kind and branch of labor for the benefit of labor as a whole. Nearly every trade in town now has an organization of some sort.
February 1888

100 Years Ago
Until the time arrives when a police officer can be maintained at headquarters at night the department needs an electrical signal that will enable the telephone operators to summon a patrolman when one is required in any section of the city. Up to the present time the budget of the police commission has been insufficient to permit of this expense, but this year it has been decided to install police signals. The first such signal is being placed at the corner of Main and Broad streets. When a red light is displayed, it can plainly be seen by a patrolman on Broad or on Main Street between Maple and Grove streets. When a call comes for police assistance from any section of the city at night and no one is found at headquarters, the central operator can, by pressing a button, display the red light. Any patrolman seeing the light is expected to answer on the nearest available phone and the person calling in will then be put on the line with him.
February 1913

80 Years Ago
On Monday, the U.S. Congress proposed to the states that national prohibition, after its 13 years of turbulent trial, be done away with by repeal of the 18th amendment. The House, by a vote of 289 to 121, 15 more than necessary, approved the repeal resolution passed last week by the Senate. For the first time in American history, conventions of the people are to decide whether the states shall ratify or reject a change in the Constitution. Thirty-six of the forty-eight states must ratify to carve the 18th amendment out of the national charter and substitute for it a 21st amendment. By its terms, also, the ratifications must all occur within seven years from today. With repeal of the 18th amendment will come a specific prohibition of importation of intoxicating liquors into any states remaining dry. Legislative actions to ratify repeal have already begun in half a dozen states.
February 1933

60 Years Ago
Oneonta meat counters are now conspicuous by the absence of posted grades on beef. No longer are meat retailers required to mark the government grades on beef. The federal government ended its grading when it ended its price controls. A trip to the meat market now is just like it used to be before the war – only simpler. Before the war there frequently were some sort of improvised grades, usually devised by packers, to denote the variations in quality. These gradings were sometimes displayed with the beef cuts in the show cases, but such action was entirely optional with the butcher. Now that Uncle Sam has quit certifying the grades of beef, shoppers have nothing to go by except the old custom of cross-examining the clerk, or proprietor. “The customer has got to know his dealer,” one meat retailer said. The end of grading does not mean the end of government inspecting of meat, however.
February 1953

40 Years Ago
Oneonta Police Chief Joseph DeSalvatore will be suspended without pay for one month and the department’s second-in-command, Lt. Gerald Platt, will be formally reprimanded, Oneonta’s Public Safety Board ruled last night. The disciplinary action stems from public hearings in December and January on neglect of duty charges Police Sergeant Leland Higgins filed against the senior officers last summer. Stamford Attorney Elias Jacobs said he would seek a State Supreme Court review of the case and the decision. Jacobs also said he will seek a temporary stay of the penalties pending court review. Chief DeSalvatore expects to be fully vindicated in court and there is no thought to him leaving the department Jacobs said. The suspension is due to begin March 1. The Higgins charges generally involved the Chief’s handling of an anti-war sit-in on Dietz Street last May and his role in training and equipping the department for crowd control. The charges all deal with departmental procedures and are not, in any way, criminal in nature.
February 1973

30 Years Ago
Alcohol abuse is rampant among college students across the nation and officials at Oneonta’s two colleges say they are doing what they can to combat the problem. Spokespersons from Oneonta State College and Hartwick College agree that the college drinking problem is widespread and neither college is immune. But, they add, it’s difficult to help students beat alcohol addiction unless they come forward for assistance. “Alcohol treatment and student services are fringe benefits,” said William P. Vitous, a counselor at SUCO.
February 1983

20 Years Ago
Campus police at New York public and private colleges should be allowed to carry weapons to help ward off campus crime according to a legislative task force report. New York should also make the use of self-defense weapons such as Mace legal, and extend a federal law that requires higher education institutions to report crime statistics to prospective college students. The college setting often reflects the same criminal activity as the towns and cities that surround it, the report stated.
February 1993

HOMETOWN HISTORY,  March 1, 2013

100 Years Ago
Resident Manager Roberts of the Oneonta Theatre has closed a contract with C.C. Miller for a thorough rewiring of the theatre and the removal of all the lighting fixtures now in use in that playhouse, and the installation in replacement of complete and modern equipment that will be up to the minute. The new wiring will conform to the highest standards of safety and of the underwriters and will make the house doubly secure from danger from the wires. There will be placed in position new chandeliers and drop lights of the most approved pattern and design. The exits will be plainly marked with illuminated signs “EXIT,” which will be plainly visible at all times. The new installation will represent an outlay of fully $3,000 when completed and will make the theatre even more popular as a place of amusement.
March 1913

80 Years Ago
“The 19th century made this world of ours a neighborhood, but it is the work of the 20th century to make it a brotherhood,” said Rev. George H. Phillips, D.D., pastor of the First Methodist Church at the second annual banquet of the Hartwick Class of 1935 held at the Elk’s Club last Thursday. Dr. Phillips’ subject was “The Shrinking Planet of Ours.” “In your life time the greatest war of all history was fought. We have seen a planet shrink so man is more dependent on one another than any time in history. When you were born no Bleriot had flown the English Channel or a Charles Lindbergh the Atlantic Ocean. It is a different planet with different problems than your fathers and mothers ever dealt with years ago. Today, in England, the prime minister sits down and takes up his telephone and talks 11,000 miles to that great colony of Australia. A liner leaving New York City tonight carries apparatus that picks up facsimiles of a newspaper page out there in the ocean so a football game played by Hartwick College can be picked up by that liner going across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Science has come into our homes and revolutionized them. Edison said before he died that the next age would be an age of buttons. You will just touch a button and the breakfast will be going.”
March 1933

60 Years Ago
Mrs. Catherine Donlin, 345 Chestnut Street, yesterday received a Bronze Star with a “V” for heroic achievement and a presidential citation telling how her son, Sergeant First Class John F. “Brud” Donlin, lost his life in wiping out a Communist bunker in Korea. The presentation was made in American Legion Home by Major John Michie, Binghamton. The action occurred near Utkkaemugi during a raid on Hill 200, held by the enemy. The citation reads: “The elements of the attacking unit fought their way up the hill until heavy enemy fire became so intense that a withdrawal was imperative. When he saw that one bunker in particular was extremely harassing to the friendly withdrawal, Sergeant Donlin, crawling and running charged toward this enemy stronghold. Upon reaching his objective, he jumped to his feet and hurled two white phosphorus grenades into the bunker, destroying it completely. However, in exposing himself to do this, Sergeant Donlin was fatally wounded by an enemy burp gun. His action in destroying the bunker allowed friendly troops to withdraw with far fewer casualties than otherwise would have been sustained. Sergeant Donlin’s heroism and selfless devotion to duty reflect great credit on himself and the military service.”
March 1953

40 Years Ago
One face in the crowd of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Otsego County Sheriff is that of Ms. Jan Hageman, 30, of 34 Cherry Street, Oneonta. She is believed to be the first woman ever to seek the sheriff’s post in Otsego County. Hageman is a criminologist teaching in the Hartwick College sociology department. “The investigating and apprehending functions of the sheriff’s office are important, but without considering other issues such as crime prevention, courts and corrections, or rehabilitation, our best efforts will not prevent increased crime rates, turbulent inmate populations, and a general public distrust of our system of criminal justice,” she said.
March 1973

30 Years Ago
The fast action and know-how of a Hartwick College freshman stopped a fellow student from choking Sunday afternoon in the school’s cafeteria. Salvatore J. Pepe, Jr., 18, used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a particle of food from the throat of Paul T. Leon, a Hartwick junior. “I was in shock when I went to help him and I realized he could have died in my arms,” said Pepe, a member of the college basketball team. “I was trembling, but I guess I just reacted.” “I blacked out. I don’t remember what happened at all,” said Leon, 21. “It was pretty hairy. My friends told me I was without oxygen and I started turning blue,” Leon said. “I’m just grateful there were people there to help.” Pepe acted only after efforts by two other students to aid Leon had failed. Pepe said he learned the Heimlich technique in high school.
March 1983

20 Years Ago
Friday’s bombing at the World Trade Center in New York City could be just the beginning of a new trend in urban violence for the 1990s in the United States. The blast that rocked the 110-story twin towers killed five and injured thousands. Explosives may as well be added to the weapons list in urban America, said John Lindell, a Political Science Professor at Hartwick College. “Our urban violence had been hand guns. Bombs add a new dimension,” Lindell said. “Maybe, it’s our turn. Maybe urban bombing will be the new terrorism for the 90s – at least in the U.S.”
March 1993

10 Years Ago
With standouts Mike Konstanty and Geoff Bean combining for 35 points and 24 rebounds, and a highly effective 3-2 zone defense, the Oneonta Yellowjackets won the Section Four, Class B title game 51-36, over top-seeded Corning West at the Broome County Arena. The Yellowjackets trailed 7-0 after three possessions when OHS coach Jerry Mackey switched from man-to-man to the zone defense.
March 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, March 8, 2013

125 Years Ago
The season 1888 opens with the biggest real estate deal yet recorded for Oneonta in the purchase by Geo. I. Wilber, from A.C. Lewis, of all remaining to the latter of the old Ford place, 156.75 feet on Main Street, at about $30,000. This includes the east half of the Union Block, 22.5 feet, a fine four-story brick building, store on the street and three flats above – as well as a large barn and tenement in the rear, and the well-known old stone dwelling now used as a boarding house. The lot has an irregular rear, 180 feet in length, and varies in depth from 223 feet on the west line to 169 on the east line.
The Ford property had originally a frontage of about 259 feet. It was purchased in July, 1881, by A.C. Lewis and C.B. Pepper at $11,500. Subsequently, Mr. Lewis gave his partner $1,000 bonus for his half interest. In 1882, D.F. Wilber purchased 80 feet, corner of Ford Avenue, with space in the rear for a barn, at $3,500. The next sale off the property was to M.S. Roberts, of East Meredith, who joined with Mr. Lewis in the building of the Union Block, securing 22.5 feet frontage with good rear, at $2,500. Now, Mr. Lewis closes out his interest at $30,000. Allowing $8,500 for his half of the Union Block and some other improvements, Mr. Lewis has put into the property $21,000. He takes out at least $30,000 plus $6,000 previous sales, making a clean profit of $15,000, which, considering the time involved, less than seven years, may be considered a pretty fair speculation.
March 1888

80 Years Ago
Word of the national banking holiday came as a surprise to Oneonta’s three banking institutions, the Wilber National Bank, the Citizen’s National Bank & Trust Co., and the Oneonta Building & Loan Association, and to other banks throughout this vicinity. Bank employees were at their places of business Saturday morning ready to open as usual when telegrams were received announcing the holidays and ordering all banks to close. The text of the telegram read: “You are hereby advised that Governor Lehman has declared a banking holiday effective today, March 4, and Monday, March 6, during which all banking institutions will be closed. J.A. Broderick, Superintendent of Banks.” Officials of the three Oneonta banking institutions Sunday reaffirmed their confidence that the banks of this vicinity are in exceptionally good condition. They are ready to resume business as soon as they are permitted to do so. As far as Oneonta and vicinity is concerned the banking holiday is simply a temporary cessation of banking activity which will be resumed as soon as possible, perhaps as early as Tuesday.
March 1933

60 Years Ago
Oneonta’s Board of Public Safety last night granted 19 licenses to master plumbers in Oneonta, the only men authorized to supervise plumbing installations in the city. The qualified master plumbers are Walter W. Eldred, Wilbur Newell, Fred R. Whitney, Milton D. Mitchell, Stanley Olds, A.J. Rorick, Jack Evans, Arthur Evans, Lavern Ginther, Robert J. Daley, George S. Andrus & Sons, Howard Edmunds, S.E. McKean, William H. Ziegler, Jack Thaler, Louis M. Baker, Oscar W. Butts and Earl D. Wilsey. An Electrician’s license was granted to Donald Rorick.
March 1953

40 Years Ago
The Oneonta Symphony Orchestra voted last night to go ahead with its planned May 13 concert, hoping that donations from area residents will carry the $1,500 cost of the event. Orchestra committee and trombonist, Donald C. Robertson Jr. of Sydney said last Sunday the orchestra has only $70 in its treasury. Half of the symphony’s 70 members who gathered for a meeting at the Oneonta State fine arts building voted to form a board of directors and elected three members to it – Mary Anne Mazarak and William Manly of Oneonta and Jeanne Herst of Cooperstown. Robertson said last week that the 20-year-old symphony was in danger of folding due to financial and organizational problems. He said the formation of a board of directors will do a great deal to alleviate the organizational problems. The orchestra’s financial problems have centered on the hiring of paid conductors to replace unpaid conductor Dr. John Mazarak, Oneonta State music director.
March 1973

30 Years Ago
Catskill Airways recently took delivery of a prop-jet airliner, which will be put into service between Oneonta and New York City in approximately two weeks. The airplane, a Beechcraft 99 was purchased to accommodate increased demand for passenger seating. It will hold 15 passengers and will be flown with two pilots aboard. Currently the airline operates a Beechcraft “Queenair” which carries ten passengers and one pilot. Costing approximately a half million dollars, the new plane flies at 280 mph, carries more baggage and freight, is more fuel-cost efficient and takes only 35 to 45 minutes to reach New York City.
March 1983

20 Years Ago
Nearly 10 years ago Ray Groves of Otego read an article about illiteracy. “I couldn’t believe it – that in this country where we have public education that there could be that many people who are functionally illiterate,” he said. “I thought what it must be like for somebody that can’t read the road signs, and can’t read a map. It made me want to get involved.” For nearly a decade, Groves has devoted several hours of each week to teaching people to read as a member of Literacy Volunteers of Otsego and Delaware Counties. “This is a gift – if anybody could give this gift to somebody, it would be one of the greatest things you could do.”
March 1993

10 Years Ago
The OHS boys’ postseason basketball ended in a 56-46 loss to the Red Hook Raiders in a first-round Class B regional matchup game at Binghamton University. Red Hook’s senior point guard Dave Jutton, who was averaging 16 points a game, spurted for 36 points and proved unstoppable. With Oneonta leading 33-20 with 5:30 left in the third period, Jutton hit three three-pointers and two free throws and the Raiders eventually overtook the Yellowjackets for the win.
March 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, March 15, 2013

125 Years Ago
The bright, spring-like weather of Friday and Saturday last, a warm sun shining on bare ground, was succeeded by a dark day Sunday, and that night began the heaviest snowfall of the season. The wind came up with the day, and the dry, powdery snow still falling, drifts formed very quickly. The scene on Main Street Tuesday morning was Arctic enough – nothing in sight but great heaps and long reaches of dazzling snow, with here and there a puzzled wayfarer; and nothing astir but the snow shovel. Toward noon things wore a livelier aspect, and many got out to enjoy the fine sleighing, while trade went on in a small way. But, it was a pretty dull day in the stores and business places. Not a stage or a train the whole day long and most of the telephone and telegraph lines down. Wednesday brought a marked change. The day dawned bright, the sun shone warm and the whole countryside was soon up and armed with shovels to clear the roads. The stage from Davenport was the first one to reach Oneonta, getting here about noon. That from Morris arrived toward night – having toiled through mighty drifts. The Hartwick stage pulls through today and perhaps that from Delhi, though the drifts on the hills are of fifty to a hundred feet at a stretch and six to eight feet deep.
March 1888

100 Years Ago
Saturday night the local high school quintet played the Morris team on the latter’s court and were victorious by the score of 56 to 13. The game was rather one-sided, but nevertheless interesting. The team work of the Oneonta boys was excellent and aided materially in winning the game. Soden and Gregory of Oneonta were the stars of the game, the former throwing ten baskets and the latter seven. Bull, the fast left guard of the Oneonta team, was unable to go with the team and Manager Polley was substituted in his place. He too, played a good game, holding his man down to one lone basket, while he caged the sphere three times himself.
March 1913

60 Years Ago
Camilla Williams, leading soprano of the New York City Opera Co. for five years, will be heard at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, in State Teachers College auditorium in the third and final program of the 1952-1953 Community Concert Series. As a concert singer she has captivated audiences from Venezuela to northern Alaska, and as a soloist with orchestras she has won the praise of noted conductors, among them Stowkowski. She is the first prima donna of the Negro race who had a steady job in a major opera company. Early in 1946 she auditioned for Laszlo Halasz, director of the New York City Opera Company and soon broke tradition by creating the most talked of post-war Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly. Her roles have been Nedda in Pagliacci, Mimi in Lae Boheme, and the title role in Aida. She has sung excerpts from Butterfly on the Kate Smith television hour. MGM and Columbia records have released a number of her selections.
March 1953

40 Years Ago
Bicycling shoppers will get a place to “park” their bicycles on Main Street, if locations suggested by the city’s Anti-Pollution Board are accepted. The merchants division of the Chamber of Commerce has offered to put up bicycle racks and the Common Council asked the Anti-Pollution Board to suggest locations for the racks. Anti-Pollution board members decided to ask for bicycle racks on each Main Street downtown block, one on each side of the street from Chestnut Street to Dietz Street to Ford Avenue. It will be suggested that another bicycle rack be placed on the north side of the Main Street block from Ford Avenue to Elm Street. Other racks would also be recommended for each park and in the municipal parking lot. The city will celebrate Earth Week in conjunction with the State’s Earth Week from April 9 to 15.
March 1973

30 Years Ago
Americans are among the world’s most satisfied people and are more likely to believe in heaven than in hell, according to a poll taken in 16 countries. Danes and Swedes also rank among the world’s most content people. However, Japanese, Italians and Spanish ranked as the most dissatisfied. The report also found that 80 percent of Americans and 55 percent of British were “very proud” of their nationality, but only 21 percent of East Germans, 30 percent of Japanese and 33 percent of French said they feel that way. Asked if they would fight for their country in a war, 71 percent of Americans and 62 percent of British citizens said they would.
March 1983

20 Years Ago
Opinion: Few people were surprised when they heard that Michael Griffin, dressed in his Sunday best, armed with a 38-caliber revolver, had shot Dr. David Gunn in the back. It was inevitable, said a pro-choice leader, who heard about the murder. “While Gunn’s death is unfortunate,” said Don Treshman of Rescue America, “it’s also true that quite a number of babies’ lives will be saved.” “While it is wrong to kill,” said Randall Terry of Operation Rescue, “we have to recognize that this doctor was a mass murderer.” “Praise God,” said a protester at a clinic in Melbourne, Florida. “One of the baby killers is dead!” If abortion is murder, after all, then the moral arithmetic taught by this rhetoric would seem to justify killing one life to save hundreds. Michael Griffin cannot become the next step on an escalator of violence. He must be the last step.
March 1993

10 Years Ago
City police and troopers raided downtown bars Friday night, arresting more than a dozen on charges of underage drinking. Law enforcement officials hit 10 bars during the raid and arrested 16 people for underage possession of alcohol. Two bartenders were also arrested for prohibited sales. Oneonta police Lt. Joseph Redmond said the raid went smoothly and promised his department would have more officers on duty for St. Patrick’s Day. The department also met with bar owners.
March 2003

HOMETOWN HISTORY, March 22, 2013

125 Years Ago
A Big Fire in Oneonta Early This Morning — $50,000 More Gone to Blazes – At about five o’clock this morning people were roused from slumber by a din of whistles and clang of bells that made it tolerably evident a considerable fire was underway. Those who hurried into Main Street were speedily aware that the “wooden row” was again in for it. The fire appears to have been first discovered by men in the railroad yard, who represent it as bursting from the rear windows of the basement under the store occupied by A. & M. Krohn, in the Geo. Reynolds block at the foot of Chestnut Street. It spread, we need hardly say, with great rapidity. The firemen were quickly on the scene, and notwithstanding some difficulty with the hydrants, two or three of which were frozen, or refused to work, had four streams playing within a brief period. But, the flames being mainly in the basements at the rear of the buildings, and the blocks unbroken for a long distance, it was impossible to get in any very effective work. The flames made rapid progress, the dry and in the main light-built structures offering small resistance. Within 50 minutes from the first alarm, the Reynolds building had fallen in; the Huntington and Strong buildings speedily followed, and soon after the Fritts building, this last fortunately crashing toward the fire’s center and leaving the Vosburgh and Miller building tolerably clear. The list of losses runs heavy, but those losing are pretty well protected. Jeweler Adams appears to be the heaviest loser. Talk now is that Chestnut Street must be extended to meet Mechanic to eliminate the dangerous and inconvenient continuity of buildings on the south side of Main Street
March 1888

100 Years Ago
When someone hands you a nice new shiny “Buffalo-Indian” nickel in change, be sure to examine it closely; for in the few weeks that the new coins have been in circulation have given the counterfeiters more than enough time to duplicate the five-cent coin exactly – but in lead. So well has the work been done that the only difference the ordinary person will notice is the absence of any “ring” when the counterfeit is dropped. In every detail it is apparently like the new coin; yet experts say that one of the feathers in the noble Red Man’s headdress is a bit shorter than it ought to be. A few of these coins have been found in Oneonta the present week.
March 1913

80 Years Ago
Demountable lips, demountable eyelashes, demountable noses, demountable fingernails, ear tacks, muscle oil, artificial eye sparkle and tiny pictures and letters for fingernail decoration were the talk of the four-day convention and exhibition of the International Beauty Shop Owners Association which opened Monday at the Hotel Pennsylvania. The detachable fingernails were invented by Maxine Burke. They are of a flexible composition, can be shaped and filed like real fingernails and come in all colors with perfect half-moons. They are for the typist whose nails are worn down by her work or for the debutante who wants long, perfect nails to match her gown. Miss Burke also invented the demountable eyelashes and the demountable lips and noses. “Many women with straight noses, who want that saucy look, sigh for a ‘retrousse’ nose. “We get a wax impression of the inside of her nose – she can breathe through her mouth while it is being done – and then make a gold-plated frame that will give the desired shape. The gold-plated nose shapers sell for around $35 and are made to order.
March 1933

40 Years Ago
Tuition would be abolished for undergraduate students at community colleges and State University campuses across the state, under terms of a proposal advanced Wednesday in the legislature. Assembly Minority Leader Stanley Steingut, D-Brooklyn, and Assemblyman Charles Henderson, R-Hornell, said their proposal would cost the state about $157 million a year. “The state would lose $191.2 million in tuition revenues,” they said in a joint statement, “but would gain $34 million used to fund Regents scholarship and Scholar Incentive grants above the statutory minimum.” Henderson voted against tuition at the State University when it was established about 10 years ago. Free tuition will obviate the need for the present complex student aid system based on family circumstances and the substantial administrative costs which it requires, the two men said.
March 1973

30 Years Ago
Fashion – The key words from Paris are “narrow, fitted, simple, slinky, lean and dressy.” Hair is short and simple, close to the head to follow the fitted fashion feeling. Styles are cropped at the nape and spill over the forehead to cover brows with ears exposed to reveal chunky earrings. There are two major fashion shapes – the fitted, form-defining ‘waisted’ look, especially popular in daywear suits; and the long, lean lines of dropped-waist casual and evening fashions. Suits are dressier than ever, with structured, fitted forms, and glove and hat accessories. Hemlines range from ankle to mid-thigh. Flat heels are right with short, casual skirts, but high heels are required to complement dressier day and evening wear. Colors are earthy – copper, bronze, khaki, sage, milky peach, deep sand and sweet pea. Two-toned looks are popular.
March 1983

20 Years Ago
Whether in a horse show ring or on stage at a beauty pageant, the toughest part of competing is measuring up to yourself, said Nicole Barnhart, 17, of Mt. Upton, the newly crowned Miss Otsego Teenager who was chosen by judges from among sixteen girls and five finalists in competition in Slade Theatre, Yager Hall, at Hartwick College. “Winning is just the extra something that really is the icing on the cake.”
March 1993

10 Years Ago
Grant applications are available from the Catskill Watershed Corp. for non-profit organizations and businesses planning economic development projects. A total of $800,000 has been allocated for 2003 for grants that create and retain jobs, revitalize hamlets and Main Streets, develop cultural programs and nonprofit projects, and enhance natural resource-based industry in the region. Proposed projects must have a positive economic impact.
March 2003