HOMETOWN HISTORY

July 1, 2021

Compiled by Tom Heitz/SHARON STUART, with resources
courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library

135 Years Ago

A letter to the editor: Allow me to
add a little emphasis to what you say concerning the loafers who are frequenting the Susquehanna House corner. So disagreeable has their presence become that the ladies generally dread to pass the corner, and not infrequently go out of their way to avoid doing so. Aside from being made a target for the eyes of every loafer and for the tobacco juice from the mouths of a dozen rowdies it is not unusual, particularly if a lady is passing alone, for remarks to reach her ears which set every drop of blood in her veins tingling with indignation. In behalf of the ladies of the village I would respectfully ask our trustees if something cannot be done to put a stop to the nuisance.
Sig. A Lady Reader

July 1886

90 Years Ago

The summer schedule of the D&H railroad will go into effect Sunday morning with the discontinuance of trains 303 and 312 and a change in the schedule of trains 306 and 308. Train 303 formerly left Oneonta for Albany at 5:40 a.m. and 312 left that city for Binghamton at 2:20 a.m. Additional stops will be made by train 308, leaving Albany at 4:10 p.m., Oneonta at 6:50 p.m. and arriving in Binghamton at 8:40 p.m. The stops will be made at Delanson, Schoharie Junction, Cobleskill, Colliers, Oneonta, Sidney, Bainbridge, and Nineveh, with additional stops at Worcester, Schenevus, Unadilla, and Afton to drop passengers from Albany and Schenectady, or to pick up passengers for Binghamton. Connection will be made at Nineveh with the Pennsylvania division train for Wilkes-Barre. Train 306 will leave Albany daily at 9:30 p.m. except Sunday; Oneonta at midnight and reach Binghamton at 1:55 a.m.

July 1931

70 Years Ago

It is no news to Oneonta area residents and businessmen that the cost of living reached a new all-time high in May. The announcement of that fact by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics merely confirms what simple observation already tells us in the market place. The continuous rise in the cost of living spells trouble for the family budget. Whether a budget is formally set down on paper or simply a rough mental plan from payday to payday, it doesn’t seem to cover the cost of feeding a family as it is supposed to do. This trouble is inevitable unless the budget is revised frequently or contains a generous margin in the first place, because it now costs almost a tenth more to live from day to day, according to the official figures, than it did before the start of the Korean war.

July 1951

50 Years Ago

When the Oneonta High baseball team takes the field next season, the Yellowjackets will have a new head coach. Nick Lambros, who has already enjoyed great success as a basketball coach at OHS, will take on the baseball reins next spring, succeeding Bernie Lull, who has coached baseball for the past nine years. Lambros is a former basketball and baseball star at OHS and also starred in those two sports at Hartwick College. He currently serves as general manager for the Oneonta Yankees in the NY-P League.
Former Hartwick College soccer great Timo Liekoski will coach varsity soccer at Whittier College this fall. Alec Papadakis, who wrote some of Hartwick’s most glorious soccer history on Oyaron Hill, will join former Warrior assistant coach Bill Killen at Akron University this fall. Papdakis will continue law studies there

July 1971

40 Years Ago

A Navy officer and a U.S. Naval
Academy midshipman who allegedly had a homosexual relationship will leave the academy but will not be court-martialed, according to Navy officials. Captain Clark Gammel, the academy’s public affairs officer, refused to disclose the names of the two men but confirmed that the incident had been investigated. The officer was being processed for a transfer to another post, while the midshipman voluntarily left the academy. “Homosexuality is not a problem at the academy,” Gammel said.
Time clocks should be put in all Otsego County offices, Representative Andrew Tisenchek, R-Oneonta, said Wednesday. “It’s a good idea to be accountable for time. Tisenchek said he has seen county workers who were scheduled to start work at 9 a.m. “wandering around at 9:05 or 9:10 a.m.” which he said represented “lost productive hours.” Meanwhile, Otsego County representatives voted themselves $800 salary raises effective January 1, 1982 from $4,200 per annum to $5,000. The chairman’s pay will go from $5,200 to $6,000.

July 1981

30 Years Ago

Delaware and Otsego counties, together with other New York counties, have been experimenting with better ways to spend money for Medicaid, the health care program for the poor. Recently, the state has followed suit. The state’s full scale Medicaid Reform Law, patterned partly after local programs, is designed to improve health care for the poor and gain control over costs. The state spends more than $12 billion on Medicaid, the highest in the nation. Under the new plan, state officials expect to reduce state costs by $52 million by the end of March 1992 and realize another $40 million in savings for the counties.

July 1991

20 Years Ago

Attendance at minor league baseball parks around the country is rising.
Unfortunately, it’s not the case in Oneonta. The season is young, but even with “free admission nights” at Damaschke Field the Oneonta Tigers already lag behind their New York-Penn League rivals. While the cost of attending major league contests in fancy stadiums where millionaire stars abound continues to rise, four dollars will get you a seat at an O-Tigers game. And, Damaschke concession costs are a fraction of prices in the majors. However, a recent mid-week game at Damaschke Field drew just 935 fans through the turnstile, far below the league’s average of 1,200.

July 2001