Bound Volumes, Hometown History
August 7, 2025
90 YEARS AGO
Political satire has a way of flourishing in spite of governmental opposition, and in Germany no edict of Adolf Hitler seems powerful enough to check the “underground” manufacture of pointed jibes at the ruler of the Reich. The story goes that Hitler went to see a movie incognito by himself and took his seat unobtrusively in the rear of the house. When the newsreel came around and Hitler’s picture was flashed on the screen, everyone stood up and applauded and cheered vociferously. Hitler alone remained seated and quiet. Presently, the usher tapped him on the shoulder and said, “You better stand up, friend. We all feel the way you do about it, but it’s not safe to show it.” Another tells of Hitler’s visit to an insane asylum. One of the inmates asks: “Who’s that funny little fellow with the Charlie Chaplin moustache? Hitler, overhearing the question turns to the man and shouts indignantly, “Don’t you know me? I am Adolf Hitler, the leader of the whole German race.” To which the patient retorts, “That’s just how it started with me, too.”
August 1935
50 YEARS AGO
The total value of taxable property in the City of Oneonta is $94,081,801. City assessor Calvert Bailey said the final figures were contained in computer print-outs received by the city. That is about $1.2 million less than the amount the city had estimated prior to the hearings on grievance days last month. The computer print-outs show that the full value of properties during the reassessment is $96,758,965. This figure, Bailey explained, is the value of all the properties assessed. Properties that are totally exempt such as churches, schools, and the two colleges, are not included in that figure, he said.
August 1975
40 YEARS AGO
New York’s law that will make the legal drinking age 21 goes into effect on December 1. City officials, merchants and residents have expressed some concerns over what impact the new law will have in Oneonta where half of the population is college students. Sergeant Carl Shedlock of the Oneonta Police Department said, based on his experience in the city, there will definitely be problems for the police. “You are not going to change the behaviors of that age group,” Shedlock said. “The situation is going to be dispersed back into the neighborhoods. This is a part of college life, and they are not going to change that overnight. That is what the law wants to do. It has some potential for some pretty severe consequences – we could get an adversarial role with the students, and that is not going to serve anybody.” Peter Granger, owner of the Copper Fox Tavern said, “My problem is getting enough 21-year-olds in here to stay in business, an older crowd that gets us through the summer.”
August 1985
20 YEARS AGO
August 2005
