HOMETOWN HISTORY, June 14, 2013

125 Years Ago
In some of the large cigar-making centers the industry is being seriously injured through the general stagnation of the trade. Thousands of cigar-makers, including all branches of the craft, are idle, while many are on the verge of destitution. The prospects for future employment are not bright, either. One employer recently told a committee of employees who waited upon him that it was his opinion that, within three months, the rolling and bunching machines would almost eliminate manual labor from the trade. Inventive genius in the way of labor-saving machinery is rapidly displacing even skilled cigar-makers. The bunching machine was developed under the pressure of continual strikes and is more than any other device reducing mechanics to penury. Before bunch-making machines were introduced, a bunch-maker was able to make $2.00 and $2.80 for a thousand scrap bunches. The machine which supersedes them works longer and faster and costs less to work. It is called the “Iron Scab” among the cigar-makers. One girl is all that is necessary to operate it, and it produces from 4,000 to 25,000 bunches a week.
June 1888

100 Years Ago
Local News – George O. Ellis of the Brook View farm on Upper West Street has put in use a new milk wagon of modern pattern and attractive finish. During the 11 years of his serving a milk route in this city he has not missed a delivery and no one will deny that he is entitled to the best wagon he can get.
South Main Street is again open to traffic after having been paved. The street is one much used by heavy traffic and cuts off a considerable distance for hauls to certain sections of the city.
June 1913

80 Years Ago
Local Mention – Good progress has been made with the tar treatment section of the oiling program for the city streets according to Superintendent of Public Works Emerson H. Bull. The unusually warm weather this spring, coupled with a light rainfall, has given an early start and the work done has been most satisfactory. Work on Lewis Street, Otsego Street, Hazel Street, part of lower River Street, part of Prospect Street and Division Street has been completed. It is hoped that Ford Avenue, part of Walnut Street and Union Street can be covered during the present week.
June 1933

60 Years Ago
Oneonta’s Department of Public Works yesterday requested residents on Walnut Street to watch out for an oiling project which starts today. Residents should park their cars off the street to facilitate the work in the early morning. DPW crews led by foreman Harold Jacobus have been giving Oneonta streets the oiling treatment for the past week. Streets thus oiled have included Spruce from Myrtle to Clinton; upper Woodside Avenue; Lower Bugbee Road; East Street from the city line to Hazel; Richmond Avenue; Telford and Thorn Streets; Railroad and Stapleton Avenues, Susquehanna and Frederick Streets, North Fifth and Sixth Streets and part of Moffet Street.
June 1953

40 Years Ago
Charles Latorella, the man heading New York State’s investigation of the apparent gasoline shortage is finding that the more he studies the situation, the more confused he becomes. “The more we get to know about this, the more puzzled we are,” he said. Latorella predicts that 300 gas stations throughout New York will close shortly if no action is taken. Latorella’s office has confirmed the closing of more than 20 stations, mostly independent operators among the state’s more than 11,000 stations. “We’d like to know why there is an alleged shortage in New York State, which is very well supplied with petroleum facilities,” he said. Major oil companies have recently been allocating their supplies and, in some cases, actually cutting off supplies to various stations.
June 1973

30 Years Ago
Despite a 7.5 percent pay increase with their newly ratified contract, Oneonta policemen are still the lowest paid law enforcement officials in the area says patrolman Kenneth Puffer, president of the department’s Policemen’s Benevolent Association (PBA). An Oneonta police officer’s salary is about $1,100 below that of an officer from Sidney and about $1,300 below that from Norwich. Starting patrolmen in the Oneonta Police Department receive $14,129.97 a year. Patrolmen on the force for five years or more receive a base annual salary of $16,390.44. Patrolmen also receive longevity increases the longer they serve. Puffer also noted that state troopers receive salaries that average $8,000 higher than city patrolmen.
June 1983

20 Years Ago
AMI of Oneonta, a support group for families and friends of the mentally ill, is taking part in a statewide postcard campaign working for passage of the Community Mental Health Resources Bill now before the legislature. This bill would require that money saved from the closure of state psychiatric beds be reinvested in mental health programs and not be channeled into the state’s general budget fund. Of those diagnosed as mentally ill, less than 10 percent now live in state hospitals while more than 90 percent live in communities.
June 1993