Bound Volumes, Hometown History

July 10, 2025

70 YEARS AGO

July 1955

40 YEARS AGO

Enid Carter closed the door on 32 years of her life with the end of the school year at Oneonta high school. She has sold her mobile home in Oneonta and returned to Bovina Center to the house once owned by her grandparents. As a home economics teacher Miss Carter has fought for recognition of home economics in schools, including testifying at a Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. on the importance of the program to the quality of life to modern families. She also served on the committee which consulted to the State Education Department on the content and title of the portion of the Regents Action Plan which mandates 30 weeks of home economics classes for everyone by the end of the eighth grade. “This is the first time home economics has been a mandated program in New York State,” she said. “In the past, home economics classes were stipulated as being available, but not every student needed to take it.” When Miss Carter started teaching in Earlville 32 years ago, boys did not take home economics. Now it is very common and Miss Carter approves.

July 1985

30 YEARS AGO

The number of AIDS cases is on the rise, but so are the numbers of support groups, services and treatments for people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. According to the New York State Department of Health, 34 AIDS cases have been reported in Otsego County since the epidemic broke out in 1981. The state also reports 17 cases in Delaware County, 11 in Chenango County and 21 in Schoharie County. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared AIDS the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. According to reports from the CDC, more than 441,000 Americans have contracted AIDS since 1981. Women, especially young girls and adolescents, have been identified as the fastest growing number of HIV cases worldwide.

July 1995

20 YEARS AGO

An 18-year-old was charged with attempted murder Sunday after the second stabbing in nine weeks at Messina’s Trailer Park. State police Lt. James Land said Brian Zindle is alleged to have knifed Christopher Smith, 40, of Oneonta during a 3 p.m. fight in the trailer park on State Route 23 near the Wal-Mart store. Lt. Land described the weapon as “a large kitchen knife.” Smith had surgery at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital on Sunday night for wounds to his lower abdomen and left arm. According to reports the two men were feuding over the trailer’s female occupant.

July 2005