HOMETOWN History Jan. 18, 2020

By: Jim Kevlin 01/15/2020 5:00 pm

Increase of Crime – The attention of the public is properly becoming aroused to the alarming and terrible frequency of high crimes. One can scarcely take up a paper but what contains an account of some fresh murder or robbery, or more likely both. The time is within the memory of those who are yet considered young when a single murder would thrill the whole land and become the theme of general comment. Lately, it has become the exception when the news of a day does not contain an item of a life unlawfully taken. The frequency of capital crimes can be explained by the infrequency of capital punishment. It is safe to say that we hear of at least five murders to one execution. In many states capital punishment has been abolished. In others, it is well-nigh impossible to find a jury that will convict even the most atrocious murderer – and if convicted, the chances are that political influences will obtain a pardon. Our cities are filled with native and foreign “dangerous” persons – murderous robbers, pickpockets, thieves, burglars, by profession.
They are known to the police as such. Should not all such characters be transported, on sufficient evidence against them, to some penal colony?

January 1870

125 Years Ago

Local: The four children of W.A. Hunter of Oneonta have just had a handsome windfall of about $7,000 each from the estate of their great-grandfather, the late Hoadley B. Ives of New Haven, Connecticut.
Henry White of Gilbertsville sold to New York parties recently a bill of furs which included two thousand skunk skins, seven hundred muskrat skins and fox, coon and mink skins enough to run the number over three thousand skins in all. The gross sum paid for them was about $1,700.
Irving J. Pruyn of Oneonta has purchased of Ella Layman her entire real estate interests in the town which comprise the old Jared Goodyear estate and contains over thirty acres of land. The property has been in the possession of the Goodyear family for about 70 years.

January 1895

100 Years Ago

National Prohibition: When the clock strikes 12 tonight (January 16, 1920) its boom will not only announce the coming of a new day, but also of the going into full force and effect of the Volsted Act, the stringent regulations of which have been loudly denounced by the “wets” and as generously applauded by the “drys” who, without doubt, constitute the larger population of the country. In Oneonta, which has been bone-dry for a long period, it will hardly cause a ripple. But, in many cities the provisions of the law will occasion a great deal of concern. The greatest concern in Oneonta is the provision of the law relative to the sale of liquor under strict supervision and only on prescription of physicians by druggists. Some Oneonta druggists state that under no circumstances would they again engage in the sale of liquors. Others have said they have had the matter under consideration. According to Charles R. O’Connor, federal prohibition director for the State of New York, a jurisdiction such as Oneonta that has been entirely dry previously, will remain entirely so, regardless of the provisions of the federal law allowing for the prescription of liquor for patients by physicians allowing for provision by druggists.

January 1920

60 Years Ago

Mayor James Georgeson yesterday urged Oneonta residents to attend the open house at Huntington Library from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Mayor Georgeson, who has already toured the new wing, said “Oneonta is fortunate in having such an excellent library – one that compares favorably with libraries in large cities.” The recent addition of the three-floor wing will improve the already fine facilities for library patrons, he said. “It’s my opinion that this library is one of the finest assets our city has and we should be aware of it, and appreciate it.”
A three-professor team will teach a course in “Great
Issues of Modern Man” at Hartwick College starting with the fall semester 1960. The first of a projected series of inter-disciplinary courses, the “Great Issues” class will be taught by Dr. Forest W. Miller of the Biology Department, Dr. Herman Keiter of the Religion Department and Dr. William Coker of the Music Department. The course will be limited to 15 students, all seniors chosen from the top level of various departments.

January 1960

40 Years Ago

The Oneonta Rape Crisis Center Network has reports of at least 10 times as many rapes in and around Oneonta as the city police do. Tallying records for 19 months the network has been active, the organization counted 24 rape calls, all but one in the area, plus 11 others reported through other sources, such as “Project 85.” City police reported one case in 1978 and no more than one or two in 1979. In one 1979 case, an Oneonta State student was arrested. Members of the crisis network’s advisory board say the incidence of rape here is proportionately as high as in much larger cities. According to publicity director Margaret
Hathaway, the organization released “statistics to make people aware that rapes occur at a much greater rate than most of us suspected.” City Police Chief Joseph De Salvatore said he is not surprised at the discrepancies. “It’s entirely possible. They’re not reported to us.” He guessed the department has had less than five reports last year.

January 1980

20 Years Ago

Oneonta police are investigating two recent burglaries reported on the Hartwick College campus. A student in
Holmes Hall reported that someone stole his laptop computer valued at $1,300 between 7:25 a.m. and 7:35 a.m. Friday. Another burglary was reported at Wilder Hall sometime over the holiday break. A student reported that someone entered his room and stole 100 compact discs valued at $1,500, a Toshiba Satellite laptop computer valued at $2,000 and a $150 Canon 35mm camera. There were no signs of forced entry.

January 2000

10 Years Ago

“Martin Luther King, Jr. just had a way of speaking that got to your heart,” Lee Fisher, president of Oneonta’s chapter of the NAACP said at that organization’s celebration of Martin Luther King Day at Temple Beth El on Sunday.

January 2010

HOMETOWN History Jan. 3, 2020

By: Libby Cudmore 01/08/2020 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Jan. 10, 2020

150 Years Ago

“The Innocents Abroad” or “The New Pilgrim’s Progress” – This is the title by which Mark Twain designates his book, now attracting so much attention. We can describe the book which is a large handsome volume of over 650 pages, embellished with 234 spirited and appropriate engravings.
The contents are indescribable – the book must be seen and read to be appreciated. The name of Mark Twain, as the author, will be sufficient recommendation with many to ensure a rapid sale.
“Stories for Little Ones at Home” and “The Old Kitchen Fire and Other Poems” – These two neat and beautifully illustrated books are just published by the American Tract Society, from the gifted pen of
Mrs. C.E.R. Parker. The general appearance of the books commend them to notice, the paper type and pictures being of the first quality – but they must be read to be
appreciated. “Stories for Little Ones at Home” is every way attractive and full of instruction. “The Old Kitchen Fire” takes us back to the good old New England days when so much real happiness was found in the Chimney Corner. The Poems abound in pathos and beauty.

January 1870

125 Years Ago

Successful Operation – Charles Woodall, a boy whose home is in Oneonta is recovering from an operation for appendicitis. The operation was performed at the Albany City Hospital last Thursday. Young Woodall went to Bath to visit his aunt, Mrs. A.W. Skinner on December 22. That evening he complained of feeling quite ill. Some remedies were given him, but they offered no relief. Dr. Roberts was summoned. On Monday, the lad grew weaker, and his parents were called from Oneonta. Dr. Roberts consulted other physicians and their diagnosis showed that he had appendicitis. The boy was taken to the city hospital and Drs. VanderVeer and McDonald performed an operation. The boy is now improving rapidly.

January 1895

80 Years Ago

“Examples for Minorities” Iowans in California, Ohioans in New York, Hoosiers scattered all over the country, and other native sons and daughters who move for reasons of business or pleasure from one state to another, could teach those European peoples much about the valuation of a federation of states. The minorities that make insurmountable problems in Europe can never be completely unscrambled and returned to “homes” that will be natural and satisfactory to them. The great mass movements of population groups going on today are creating more anguish and hardship, rather than ending existing troubles. In this country state societies organize in the new state for social purposes, holding banquets and making speeches about the old home town, county or state. They recall childhood adventures and school-day dreams. But, all the while, they are tax-paying, law-abiding, civic-spirited citizens of the city and state into which they have migrated. They need no little Fuehrers to lead them in singing or cheering for the homeland. They motor back home for an occasional vacation, or move back as freely as they moved away. It is hard to see how Europe’s many nations and races can ever settle down to peaceful, side-by-side living until they stop taking their borders and national power so seriously.

January 1940

60 Years Ago

West Germany’s first major anti-Nazi demonstration in more than a quarter of a century rolled through the streets of Berlin Friday night. Authorities were cracking down on neo-Nazi activities, and outbursts of anti-Semitism, reflected in anti-Jewish slogans on walls from Hamburg to Hong Kong. Police estimated 10,000 West Berliners, mostly young people, began their mile-long parade despite weather near the freezing point. Thousands more joined them as they marched. They carried banners reading “Against Race Hate” and “Nazis Get Out.” New anti-Jewish activity throughout the Western world is reported to consist mainly of painting swastikas and slogans on synagogues and Jewish homes. Elsewhere in Germany, a public convention of the radical-rightist German Reich Party scheduled for Sunday was canceled by the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. Also, a West Berlin court sentenced Alfred Straats, 49, a city housing official, to 17 months in prison for giving the Nazi salute before rightist youths in a tavern this week.

January 1960

40 Years Ago

New York State Governor Hugh Carey has outlined a plan for reducing the state’s dependence on imported oil. In his State of the State message opening the 1980 session of the legislature, Carey said “If we are to restore our economy we must reduce our oil consumption.” He reiterated a program which he said last November would cut the state’s use of oil – currently 19 billion gallons annually – in half within ten years. But, neither that plan nor the other items in Carey’s budget message count on any expanded use of nuclear power. However, Carey has told reporters in recent weeks that the state “can’t foreclose the nuclear option” and that “future nuclear plants should be built and run by the federal government.”

January 1980

20 Years Ago

Dr. C. Douglas Rowley, 81, an Oneonta doctor known for making house calls, treating thousands of children and delivering more than 2,000 babies during his 38-year career, has died. Dr. Rowley had been admitted to A.O. Fox Hospital before Christmas for treatment of pneumonia. Starting in 1948, Dr. Rowley had a general practice in Oneonta. He later specialized in pediatrics and obstetrics and maintained an active file for 6,000 young patients.

January 2000

10 Years Ago

About 60 people turned out at the Autumn Café downtown Monday night
to ask about the past and future of the Foothills Performing Arts Center. The Foothills board recently decided to dismiss the executive director and three other employees. Two other Foothills staffers resigned in support of their colleagues. Doug Reeser, Foothills’ board president, cited dissatisfaction about spending on staff and programming and a lack of focus on finishing the main theater in the Foothills complex. Several people voiced surprise that the theater lacks an orchestra pit and other features typically needed to stage productions. Patrice Macaluso, a SUNY Oneonta theatre professor involved with renovations at the historic Oneonta Theatre, said the Foothills Board is “in a hole” and may not know how to get out. She urged the arts community to think creatively about how the Foothills building can be used.

January 2010

HOMETOWN History Jan. 3, 2020

By: Jim Kevlin 01/03/2020 11:12 am

HOMETOWN History

Jan. 3, 2020

150 Years Ago

Bank Robbery – The safe of the Schoharie County Bank, at Schoharie Court House, was blown open early Wednesday morning of last week, and robbed of about $5,000 belonging to the Bank, and a considerable larger amount in bonds, jewelry, &c. left on special deposit – amount unknown.
Small Pox – The Deposit Courier of last week says that much excitement prevails in parts of the Town of Masonville and of the adjoining Town of Sanford, resulting from the breaking out of small pox in a family named French. Several district schools have been temporarily closed.

January 1870

100 Years Ago

Flyers in the proposed 1920 world-girdling air derby will not travel by Mercator’s projection, but rather by a new “butterfly” map devised by J.S. Cahill of Oakland, California. The Cahill map has been adopted by Major Charles J. Glidden, Executive Secretary of the Aerial Derby Commission.
Mr. Cahill said that an aviator using the Mercator projection as a guide would go 1,000 miles out of his way in a trip from Panama to Yokohama. “If the North Pole were on an island a mile wide,” Cahill said, “it would appear on Mercator’s projection to be 25,000 miles wide, or nearly the total circumference of the Earth at the equator. The inventor of the new map, who worked on his drawings for 15 years said “an impartial and rational world geography is essential to world peace.”
He said, “Mercator’s projection, originally devised for ocean navigators, distorted and exaggerated the earth as it receded from the equator.” This, for instance, made it appear as if South America were much smaller than North America, when, as a matter of fact they were about the same area. The Cahill map is as though an actual sphere had been cut and flattened, its appearance somewhat resembling the outspread wings of a butterfly.

January 3, 1920

80 Years Ago

What Children Read – School children no longer read fairy tales and the old familiar fiction, says a report of the American Library Association, based on a survey of the reading habits of nine to eighteen-year-olds throughout the country. Exceptions are “Snow White” and “The Wizard of Oz” in which great interest developed when the movies appeared.
No doubt there will be a similar wave of interest in “Pinocchio” when that picture is released, and in the much-modified Gulliver’s Travels. Child readers today are said to prefer stories about horses and dogs, in which the animals do not talk. Beyond the sixth grade many are interested in vocational subjects, books about airplanes, submarines and war.
History books and biographies were listed as favorites, too. Stories about children in many lands and different sections of the United States have great appeal for youthful readers. There are such books about children in China, in Scandinavia, the Ozarks, the Gaspe Peninsula, the Kentucky Mountains and Indian Reservations. Children growing up today ought to be more aware of their fellows throughout the world than many of their elders have been.

January 1940

60 Years Ago

Forty-year-old James Georgeson, Oneonta’s youngest Mayor, was sworn into office yesterday along with another dozen officials in simple ceremonies at City Hall. Joseph P. Molinari, Supreme Court Justice, who presided at the oath-taking ceremonies, urged the group to “cast aside partisanship of any kind and to perform their duties to the best of their ability.”
Mr. Georgeson, formerly a state official with the Civil Service Commission, will begin a two-year term of office. Mr. Georgeson, a Democrat, has only one other party member on the Common Council – John Kreger, Sixth Ward Alderman. The other five Aldermen are Republicans. The Mayor’s salary is $3,000 a year. In his state post Georgeson drew more than $6,000 annually and his resignation was effective this week. For the first time in Oneonta history, the Alderman will draw a $600 a year salary. The Republican Aldermen are Wesley Coddington, First Ward; Francis Feeney, Second Ward; Morton Auerbach, Third Ward; Cecil Mathews, Fourth Ward; Harvey Fredericks, Fifth Ward.

January 1960

40 Years Ago

Opinion – Oneonta faces a big test in the 1980s. Between 1960 and 1970, the period of the greatest growth at Hartwick and Oneonta State, Oneonta’s population increased by about 2,500 to 16,030. But, the year-round permanent population remained the same or slightly less than it was in 1960. The golden era of easy community growth is over. There are few signs that Hartwick and Oneonta State will be any bigger five or ten years from now than they are today.
Moreover, the trend toward smaller faculties and staffs has already begun. Oneonta needs a new mission and a new commitment. We’ve got to start fighting to keep our town and area economically sound. Mayor Lettis and Town Supervisor Les Foster, and others, got off to a good start by fighting to get a federal Job Corp Training Center located here. But, that is not enough. We need to sell the community as a desirable site for light industry and intensify the commitment to making it easier for new companies to come here and present companies to expand.

January 1980

20 Years Ago

“I’ve never seen a crowd that big on Main Street, and I’ve been here sixteen years,” said First Night Committee Chairman Mark Drnek, speaking of the event that kicked off Friday night with a parade down Main Street and a fireworks preview in Neahwa Park. Anne Webster of Cherry Valley and her four-year-old son, Luke Zenir, were part of the parade crowd that was lined up six deep on much of Main Street. “This is Luke’s first, First Night,” said Webster. Warmer weather this year made walking from venue to venue much more enjoyable.

January 2000

10 Years Ago

Patricia Riddell Kent and Steven Kent will lead a five-mile winter snow-shoe hike in the Robert V. Riddell State Park to Mud Lake on Sunday January 10. The event, sponsored by the Otsego County Conservation Association, is free and open to the public. This excursion is on moderate grade terrain up South Hill and will take about three and one-half hours to complete. Highlights of the hike are waterfalls along the way and Mud Lake, a sphagnum bog, at the top of South Hill.

January 2010

HOMETOWN History Dec. 20, 2019

By: Libby Cudmore 12/18/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Dec. 20, 2019

150 Years Ago

Miscellaneous: It is authoritatively stated that the loss of life by kerosene is greater than by railroad and steamboat accidents combined.
A German astronomer says that we are soon to have another moon, and that it will be nearer the Earth than our present satellite.
Some of the Syracuse papers now call the Cardiff humbug the “Exposed Giant” The Rochester Chronicle thinks the term ought to have been adopted in the first place.
Young lady physicians are multiplying throughout the country, and consequently, the young men are more decidedly sickly than they used to be.
A Massachusetts paper says “The good old style of things is coming round again in Berkshire. A farmer takes a load of wood to market and it pays for a barrel of flour, which has not been the case in nearly ten years.

December 1869

125 Years Ago

News Items: L.M. Warriner of Franklin has killed a pig eight months and 15 days old that weighed 268 pounds.
Snow fell to the depth of about 14 inches last Saturday night. Beautiful sleighing for Christmas.
The American Hotel in Albany is to be conducted hereafter on the European plan. This cannot fail to please all who have occasion to stop in Albany. For a city of its size, it has the worst accommodations of any city in this state. Charles A. Watkins is the proprietor.
The hardware store of Edwards & Liddle in Franklin was entered by burglars on Wednesday evening last and $300 to $400 worth of fine cutlery, plated goods, etc. stolen therefrom. They offer a reward of $50 for the return of the property “and no questions asked.” This is the second time the store has been robbed within two years.
The Methodist Church, aided by its own and neighboring pastors has been holding evening services for several weeks, and are doing much good. Help these people, men and brethren, for Oneonta is full of sinners of the toughest kind to whom any kind of Christian religion will be a new and startling God-send.

December 1894

100 Years Ago

Anarchists and undesirables from all sections of the United States were being rushed by special trains tonight to Ellis Island to join the large colony of radicals already assembled there awaiting deportation to Soviet Russia. Immigration officials said that the transport which will take the radicals, including Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman on their homeward journey, will probably sail sometime Sunday. The radicals were told tonight to hold themselves in readiness to go aboard. Three special trains – one from Buffalo, another from Pittsburgh, and a third from Philadelphia – will arrive in New York City tomorrow with contingents of radicals for deportation, it was learned at Ellis Island.

December 1919

80 Years Ago

Fred Waring, the nationally-known band leader, will compose a song for Hartwick College and play it on his radio program at 7 p.m. Friday evening, February 9, 1940 according to Frank Hakanson, Hartwick Director of Music. When Mr. Waring announced during his college program that he would compose songs for any interested colleges, Professor wrote of the traditions of Hartwick College, its athletic teams, the history of the institution and its location and requested that Hartwick be considered. In reply Waring indicated that colleges whose students showed the most interest in the project would be considered first among a huge list. Hartwick students then worked on the idea and sent a number of cards requesting the composition for Hartwick. Mr. Hakanson received a telegram telling of the forthcoming broadcast.

December 1939

60 Years Ago

Fast-coming Hartwick College gave the New York Metropolis a large dose of its own “give-and-go” “pin-point shooting” brand of basketball Saturday night as it upset Yeshiva 77-72. The Warriors beat Yeshiva at its own game – shooting proficiency – scoring on 55 percent of their shots from the floor.
The Mighty-Mites were second among small college fives during the 1958-1959 campaign, averaging 50.4 percent. Yeshiva might have expected the 24 points scored by Barry Lewis, Hartwick’s ace. But the shocker of all was that Lewis was outscored by a guy who had previously confined his point-making to soccer. Jack McCormack, who in nine games last fall set a Warrior “booting” record of 16 goals, nearly doubled that output on the game’s High School of Fashion and Industry court, canning a personal high of 28 points. McCormack’s output was more than he had scored in three previous games combined.

December 1959

40 Years Ago

In the stiffest punishment of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, the Vatican ordered Professor Hans Kung stripped of his teaching post for continued “contempt” of church doctrine. But the liberal priest said he would fight to keep his job. The declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as the Office of the Inquisition, said the Swiss-born Kung can no longer be considered a Roman Catholic theologian. A spokesman said Kung could remain a priest.
Kung, 51, one of Western Europe’s most liberal theologians said he would seek to keep his posts as professor of dogmatic and ecumenical theology, and also as Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the prestigious University of Tubingen, West Germany, which he has held since 1963. “As a Catholic theologian, I will continue to stand up for Catholics and fight so that this step will be revoked,” Kung said. “I am ashamed of my church,” Kung said, adding that it was a scandal that “inquisitional trials were still conducted in the twentieth century.

December 1979

10 Years Ago

After months of playing it coy and flirting with a bid for statewide office, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he won’t return to the campaign trail next year, leaving a wide-open field for New York Republicans interested in gubernatorial and Senate races. Giuliani, who is viewed by many Republicans as a savior for the struggling party, said his “significant commitments” to his lucrative law and consulting businesses made it impossible for him to run for office in 2010. Giuliani’s
most recent foray into politics ended with a loss to John McCain in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

December 2009

HOMETOWN History Dec. 13, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 12/11/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Dec. 13, 2019

150 Years Ago

Ed. Note: The following item is an excerpted editorial response to the public exhibition in Albany of the Cardiff Giant, a fake fossil created as a hoax. The Cardiff Giant
has resided at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown since 1948: “The Cardiff Giant – The interest in the stone man seems unabated, and the attendance shows no falling off, but rather on the increase. The statue will probably be removed to New York next week, so that it behooves those who have not seen it to do so tomorrow, as it may be their last opportunity. Speculation as to the origin of the old fellow is still rife, but no conclusion has yet been reached in the matter. The humbug theorists stoutly maintain their ground, while the believers in its antiquity as firmly stick to their side of the question, so that between them the mystery
is kept up. The “petrifactionists” are evidently losing ground, and are not very numerous, the absurdity of that idea being patent to almost everyone who examines the matter carefully. Each individual, however, must visit the giant, inspect him carefully, and form his own opinion.
He is worth seeing at all events.”

December 1869

125 Years Ago

Miscellaneous: The holidays are coming, and Christmas, their forerunner, is near at hand. Little eager-eyed children are even now counting upon their fingers, as best they can, the days that are to go before Christmas is here. So hurry up, Old Santa Claus, a countless number of tiny stockings are waiting for you. Unfortunate indeed it will be if even one little child in all the land shall be sad from your neglect on that happy morning.

December 1894

100 Years Ago

As a means of stopping automobile thefts, Major George Chandler, superintendent of the New York State Police urged the New York State Motor Federation at their convention to back a law requiring the Secretary of State to issue an Owner’s Card which would serve the purpose of a deed. Failure to have this card would be made a felony. Basing his plea on the increased number of automobile registrations and automobile fatalities, Secretary of State Francis M. Hugo advocated the licensing of all operators of automobiles. The Committee on Aviation recommended changes in the by-laws so that aerial clubs could be admitted to membership in the Federation. Legislation to compel those who sell automobiles to furnish headlights which comply with state law was recommended by another committee.

December 1919

80 Years Ago

There isn’t any use in preparing our children for the world as it is today, because in 20 years it will be different. The most important item in all education is the readiness for change,” stated Dr. Gerald Wendt, Director of Science at the New York World’s Fair. “This force, science, keeps on and on. In the next 20 years we shall have more changes in the conditions of our living than in the last 50 years. We say this is a materialistic mechanistic age. We blame science for it and rightly so. But it is because we are in the infancy of science. We have to know about matter before we know about life, consciousness and psychic phenomena. As examples of material progress, he exhibited synthetic textiles – a rubber glove made from limestone, coal and salt; a toothbrush with a plastic handle and fiber bristles, both made from coal; plastics; synthetic foods; and fluorescent light. These material developments, he declared, would have a great influence on social development. He nevertheless declared: “I don’t think there will be such a thing as synthetic foods on a large scale as part of our diet.”

December 1939

60 Years Ago

The Oneonta School Board will meet with Warren Ashley, Connecticut architect who has been commissioned to prepare preliminary plans for the proposed new high school. Attending the special meeting will be Nikolaus Engelhardt, educational consultant, Charles Belden, OHS Principal and Kenneth MacElroy, an associate with Mr. Ashley’s firm. Preliminary plans for the 900 pupil school to be constructed on the Upper East Street site calls for 30 classrooms, provisions for modern instruction in science, mathematics and languages, special wood, machine and electrical shops, a home-making unit, gymnasium and 550-seat auditorium. A central kitchen to prepare food for all schools in the district is also planned. The proposed school is a one-story structure. Earlier the school board had toyed with the idea of a campus-type school. The idea was later rejected.

December 1959

20 Years Ago

Former Oneonta High basketball standout Krissy Zeh, now a freshman at the College of St. Rose, was named New York Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Week on Monday. Zeh averaged 19 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 61.5 percent from the field during two conference contests for the Golden Knights. She scored a career-high 20 points in an 87-46 home victory over Marcy on December 1 and had an 18-point effort in a 76-61 victory at Dowling on Sunday. Lucas Murray, a 1999 graduate of Oneonta High scored 10 points for Skidmore in a game against Hampshire College on December 3.

December 1999

10 Years Ago

New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in the summertime as early as 2014, Al Gore said Monday at the United Nations Climate Conference. This new projection, following several years of dramatic retreat by polar sea ice, suggests the ice cap may nearly vanish in the summer much sooner than the year 2030, as was forecast by a U.S. government agency eight months ago.
Average global temperatures have increased 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the past century, but the mercury has risen at least twice as quickly in the Arctic. Scientists say the makeup of the frozen north polar sea has shifted significantly in recent years as much of the thick multi-year ice has given way to thin seasonal ice. Some predict that Arctic summers will be ice-free within 30 years.

December 2009

HOMETOWN HISTORY: Dec. 6, 2019

By: Libby Cudmore 12/04/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN HISTORY

Dec. 6, 2019

150 YEARS AGO

Miscellaneous: There are to be ten executions for murder in the United States during December.
The very latest style of boot has the toe turned up like an old-fashioned skate.
The gay young people of Henderson, Kentucky eat peanuts in church.
“Bugmaster General” is the popular name for the state entomologist in Illinois.
Mr. Fiske, of the Galveston Bulletin, has been shot at 23 times in three years.
“Ned” a modest young man in Buffalo, has been courting 14 young ladies at once, and has got himself into trouble in consequence.
Nineteen miles of sewers have been built this year at Chicago. The total length of sewers is now 130 miles.
A Hartford man, thinking he smelt gas in his rooms, lighted a match to see about it. He was found in the street immediately afterwards, all ablaze. A policeman kindly rolled him in the gutter and put him out.

December 1869

125 YEARS AGO

The Hudson River and New York Central railroads have been consolidated under the new name of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company. The roads have for some time been practically one concern with Vanderbilt and his friends controlling a majority of the stock in both. The change will have no effect either on their business or arrangements. That the ultimate result of the amalgamation will, however, be damaging to the public there can be little doubt. It virtually throws the power of those vast corporations into fewer hands, thus enabling them to use with better effect their lobbying influences, in procuring special legislation.

December 1894

100 YEARS AGO

Local: W.H. Koch, D. & H. Road Master left last evening accompanied by his daughter Dorothea, for Carbondale, Pennsylvania, where the latter will have the pleasure of attending the concert given by Fritz Kreisler, the distinguished violinist in the Town Hall at Scranton. Miss Dorothea is a violinist of unusual talent for a child of her years.
James Young, a small boy residing at 26 London Avenue, Oneonta, was struck by the River Street bus while playing last evening near the corner of Main and River Streets. As a result of the accident he is confined to his home suffering from a broken leg. It appears that the lad was playing with some other children on the corner and without looking dashed into the street and hit the side of the bus, falling down as the rear wheel passed over his leg. The boy was taken to his home and was attended by Dr. Brinkman, who found the right thigh bone had been broken and the left leg bruised. His condition is not considered serious.

December 1919

80 YEARS AGO

A new Super Market opens today at 37-39 Broad Street. Market Basket Corporation of Geneva, New York has added Oneonta to its group of more than 250 stores, largely located in New York State. The company recently took an extended lease on the former Broad Street garage, owned by J.A. Dewar. Extensive alterations and renovations have been made. The front of the first floor has been transformed into an attractive store, with a green and white color scheme, with storage space for surplus stock at the rear.
Arrangements have been made with Mettress Crandall for parking for an hour at the rear of the Twentieth Century Restaurant for customers of the market. The market is of the self-service type with groceries and packaged goods conveniently displayed with prices so shoppers may buy in a
hurry or select at their leisure as they wish. Four exits, each equipped with a calculating
register have been provided for service without delay.

December 1939

40 YEARS AGO

Oneonta High School graduate Mark May has been named as an “Honorable Mention” on the Associated Press All-America football team. May, a 6’5”, 280-pound junior at Pitt, was one of the honorable mention offensive tackles. He is the man the University of Pittsburgh’s offensive line was built around this season as he anchored the right side. May got his first start in the Gator Bowl in 1977 as a freshman and has been a mainstay ever since. He is also the biggest lineman in the history of Pitt football. “He has played extremely well for us and I would be very disappointed if he doesn’t develop into one of the best, if not the best offensive lineman in the country by the time he’s a senior,” Pitt Coach Jackie Sherrill said recently in evaluating May.

December 1979

20 YEARS AGO

Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s policy of arresting people who sleep on the street and pledged, if elected, to secure federal funding for affordable housing and mental-illness treatment.
“Criminalizing the homeless with mass arrests for those whose only offense is that they have no home is wrong. Locking people up for a day will not take a single homeless person off the street. It will not make a mentally ill person who should be in an institution any better. It will not find a job for a responsible person who is willing to work.” Clinton’s audience of 85 black ministers interrupted her talk repeatedly with strong applause. Giuliani, who was in Houston Texas, defended the policy.
“We do more for homelessness than the city has ever done before. The only people who get arrested are wanted for crimes, or have committed a crime.”

December 1999

10 YEARS AGO

New York lawmakers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, stunning advocates who weathered a similar decision by Maine voters just last month. The New York measure needed 32 votes to pass and failed by a wider-than-expected margin, falling eight votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Governor
Patterson, perhaps the bill’s strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it. After the vote, Paterson called Wednesday one of his saddest days in 20 years of public service. He criticized senators who he said support gay marriage but “didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to vote for it.” During debate, Senator
Ruben Diaz, a conservative Republican from the Bronx led the opposition.

December 2009

HOMETOWN History Nov. 29, 2019

By: Libby Cudmore 11/27/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Nov. 29, 2019

150 Years Ago

A genuine Yankee at Lisbon, Connecticut, who wanted to put a water pipe through a drain tied a string to a cat’s leg, thrust her into one end of the drain, and then giving a terrific “Scat!” the feline quickly appeared at the other end. The pipe was drawn through the drain by means of the line, and at an expense of ten dollars saved by the operation.
Advertisement: New discovery in Dentistry – Dr. Peabody has purchased the right to use Iodized Rubber for dental use for seventeen years. The rubber is free from
Sulphur, and is said by six of the best chemists in the United States, if not in the world, to be the best for dental use. Dr. Peabody has within the last three months, put up a great number of sets with the Iodized Rubber. Taking the testimony of those who wear them and my own experience in the last twelve years in working Rubber. I consider it the best in use by more than one-half. All Dental work will be done in my office from fifty- to one-hundred percent cheaper than any other office in Delaware County, and warranted to give satisfaction. All in want of good work and good material, call and examine the new rubber. Dr. D. Peabody.

November 1869

125 Years Ago

More than 60 years ago it was known that illuminating oil of an excellent quality could be extracted from bituminous coal, and in 1860 there were more than three-score manufactories of it in this country. In that year it was first discovered that vast deposits of rock-oil lie under the soil of Pennsylvania and adjoining states. Throughout wide districts, wherein wells were driven, the oil flowed like water. The cost was almost nothing, and in ten years the native product could be bought in any quantity for ten cents a barrel.

November 1894

100 Years Ago

The first national convention of the American Legion in Minneapolis today started with a pronouncement of its policy declaring the organization to be non-political. The first resolution passed demanded the deportation of Victor
Berger of Milwaukee as a “disloyal citizen.” Another resolution called for an investigation of Representative Voight of Wisconsin who supported Berger in a recent vote in the House of Representatives. Endorsement of universal military training, with a small standing Army and no compulsory military service in time of peace was voted enthusiastically tonight. It was recommended that the national citizen Army be under local control and administration. Indianapolis was chosen as the site of the permanent national head- quarters of the Legion. Debate on an amendment to the Legion’s constitution that sought to admit foreigners who served with the American or Allied armies, and who hereafter become American citizens, lost by a 2 to 1 vote with many speakers objecting to admission of foreigners.

November 1919

60 Years Ago

Oneonta High School Cagers – “It would be hypocritical for me to say anything bad about these boys,” said Coach Tony Drago. “They have been looking real good in scrimmages so far. In fact, maybe too good for this time of season.” Lest they get rusty, Drago is sending them to Delhi tomorrow to scrimmage Ed Shawkey’s five for the third time. “The only trouble,” Tony remarked, “is that Delhi and the likes who we’ve been scrimmaging against cannot match our boys in height. We’ll be facing bigger teams when the season begins.” The Yellowjackets open with a non-leaguer against Frankfort this Saturday. Those in line for starting berths against Frankfort are co-captains Bob Terrell and Bill Ronovech, Ron Crosby, Sonny Carey, Jim Konstantly and Mike Lewis, all seniors. In practice, Drago deployed this offense around a triple-pivot, an innovation of the 1958-59 campaign. The coach also disclosed that for the first time Oneonta will be garbed in knee socks in line with his policy of dressing his charges as befits champions.

November 1959

40 Years Ago

Students in a high school Civics class in Vassalboro, Maine took to the streets in Waterville and Augusta with petitions urging repeal of laws they said coddle criminals and found – to their dismay – plenty of supporters. A majority of the adults they approached readily penned the document, most perhaps not realizing that it called for the repeal of the Bill of Rights. “As a history teacher, the whole thing kind of scares me,” said Bill Forstchen, who conceived the project. “It all started when I was trying to think of a way to teach the Bill of Rights so the kids will remember it six months from now.” Deleting the title, but retaining the text of the Bill of Rights word for word, the petitions urged that a proposal to repeal the entire document be placed on the 1980 election ballot. In their solicitations, students said the document “coddles the criminals.” Forstchen’s 45 students, ages 16 and 17, told respondents that they were operating under the auspices of two organizations – “The Young Americans for Law and Order” and the “Peoples’ Freedom Movement.” Both were fictitious.

November 1979

20 Years Ago

About two-thirds of all medical X-rays in the United States are captured on film. Now comes the digital alternative. Eastman-Kodak Co. plans to unveil three radiographic products next week that record X-rays electronically rather than on silver-halide-coated film. Someday, X-ray technology may be hard to find in hospitals and doctors’ offices. However, the transition to the digital era is likely to be a slow one Martin Coyne, Kodak’s health imaging division chief says.

November 1999

10 Years Ago

Otsego County residents will be able to review Otsego County’s preliminary “flood map” at an “open house” on Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Oneonta Middle School. The event is hosted by the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. No public presentation is planned, but flood plain managers and flood insurance experts will be on hand to answer questions. Properties located in flood plains carry a mandatory requirement for flood insurance if the structure has a federally-backed mortgage.

November 2009

HOMETOWN History Nov. 22, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 11/20/2019 4:35 pm

HOMETOWN History

Nov. 22, 2019

150 Years Ago

Country Merchants Beware – The Twenty-sixth Street gambling house has organized a campaign for the winter on an original and comprehensive system after the Baden-Baden School. The house is but a few doors west of Broadway, and not far from the aristocratic St. James Hotel. It is a five-story brownstone front and is occupied by a score of the card fraternity. Women, elegantly dressed, flutter in and out of its doors. During the early evening the flutter of silks and laces and the shimmer of jewels grow most brilliant. These women are what are termed by gamblers “elegant cappers.” They inveigle many wealthy victims into the gambling den. Some of them “frequent” the Manhattan Club. They lounge in the parlors of their respective boarding houses after dinner and mingle with the boarders. They are asked out with rich men and ask rich men gentlemen out with them.

November 1869

125 Years Ago

What is called the national cycling costume for women is in danger of going out of existence in Paris for the Prefect has caused letters to be written to some well-known women cyclists, cautioning them that they are infringing the law in wearing men’s clothes.
The Oneonta people think they have the greatest conundrum out. It is “Why is the Democratic Party like the Earth?” Because it is flattened at the polls.
Governor-Elect Morton says his election expenses were $19,790, of which $16,000 went to the State Committee; $2,500 to the State Committeeman of the Dutchess District; $500 to the Town Committee of Rhinebeck; $390 for contributions to fire and hose companies, charitable and other associations; and $400 for Pastors. It shows that rich men only are available as candidates for high positions, and that the great bulk of these contributions was used illegally.

November 1894

80 Years Ago

Acclaimed as the first man to descend in a parachute and the first to drive a motor-powered dirigible, A. Leo Stevens of Fly Creek, a pioneer in the field of aeronautics, spoke at a meeting of the Lions Club last evening at the First Presbyterian Church in Oneonta. Mr. Stevens said that while he had made 3,456 dirigible flights and carried thousands of passengers, he had never lost a passenger. In 1916, Mr. Stevens was made Chief Instructor of Aeronautics in America by President Wilson. He remained with the War Department until 1927. Mr. Stevens once took James A. Hare, known as the president’s photographer, on a dirigible flight over New York City during which Mr. Hare took 51 pictures of the city, the first ever views from the air. Mr. Stevens holds pilot’s license number two in America and number seventeen in France.
Oneonta basketball fans will see three new faces in the lineup of the Renaissance basketball team when the crack colored club plays Schenectady in the gym at the Junior High
School Friday night. Manager Bob Douglas’ new pupils include Billy Gates, Zack Clayton and Puggy Bell, all tops in New York City scholastic circles in recent years.

November 1939

60 Years Ago

It is customary to address youth in terms of challenge and opportunity, to assure them that a better world will be their oyster if only they have the persistence to open it. Too much of this talk may badly misguide the young. They may conclude, dazzled by visions of shorter work weeks and electronic gadgets that life in their adulthood is going to be easier as well as better. This is not necessarily so. Technology will lift more and more of the burden of labor from mankind, but life may be far more trying in other ways than it is now. In the opinion of Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., of M.I.T., today’s children “will live in an increasingly intricate, turbulent and demanding world, requiring a new order of resourcefulness, adaptability, and trained intelligence on the part of both men and nations.” In addition to the challenges of communism, Dr. Killian sees these factors in the more complex life ahead – rapid change, explosive population growth, rising expectations of hitherto “backward people” and a surge of irresponsible, new nationalisms.
The picture is a sobering one.

November 1959

40 Years Ago

Just as they dominated play during the regular season, the Oneonta High School girls’ soccer team dominated the Southern Tier Athletic Conference’s All-Star Team. The STAC-championship Yellowjackets, have eight players on the All-Star team as selected by the league’s coaches. They are Kim Kurkowski, Dana Stam, Karen Bettiol, Sue McCarthy, and Laurie Jaques were all first team selections while Patty Butler, Sand Perry, and Judy Gergel were named to the second team. Stam, only a sophomore, was the team’s leading goal-scorer with 12. Kurkowski team with Stam to give Oneonta a strong left side. Kurkowski had ten goals this season. “She was an excellent pressure player,” said Coach Helen Sandford. In the STAC Championship game, Kurkowski had two goals including the game-winner in overtime.

November 1979

20 Years Ago

Hartwick College field hockey player Kim Carter is an All-American for the second time. Teammate Nicole Fish joined Kim as a first time pick. Both were named third team Astro-Turf/National Field Hockey Coaches Association honorees. The two seniors led Hartwick College to a 65-18 overall record and three NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. Carter, a first-team selection last year, is the third Hartwick field hockey player to be named an All-American twice. Erin Ross (first team 1997 and third team 1996) and Jen Motyka (second team 1996 and 1997) were the others. Carter, a sweeper on defense finished as Hartwick’s all-time leading scorer (35 goals, 12 assists and 82 career points). Many of Carter’s points came off penalty corners.

November 1999

10 Years Ago

The A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital Board of Directors has approved the appointments of three members and thanked those they replaced who had stayed on during talks of affiliation with Bassett Healthcare. Outgoing members William “Bud” Pirone, Ricky O’Donnell and David Brenner were honored at a board dinner in the Levine Conference Center at Fox Hospital, Oneonta. Pirone and O’Donnell each served nine years, and Brenner, a former Oneonta Mayor, served 11 years. “They were great board members,” Fox board Chairman Michael Getman said.

November 2009

HOMETOWN History Nov. 15, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 11/13/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Nov. 15, 2019

150 Years Ago

The Democratic Victory and What Will We Do with It: A new and grave responsibility now devolves upon the Democratic Party, which for the first time in 17 years will soon hold all the departments of the state government, Legislative, Executive and Judicial. As we shall well or ill use this opportunity, will be our political future. Our opponents, smarting under defeat, and consequent loss of power and patronage, affect to believe that we will be made drunk with power, indulge in excesses, and speedily lose the confidence of the people. Power brings with it not only the opportunity of doing better than our opponents, but it brings also responsibility for the way in which this power is used. As a party we have condemned the corrupt and unconstitutional acts of our opponents. Let the legislators, let our leaders, let our Governor council prudence, and insist on just and constitutional legislation.

November 1869

100 Years Ago

The amount of building going on at this time in Oneonta, and along with numerous changes in ownership of city
realty apparently signify two things – one, that everybody has pretty much given up hope of there being any immediate
reduction in the cost of building; and the other, which in a sense is very like the first – that since all cannot build, they will buy, if buying at any fair price is possible. The number of residences going up gives a fair idea of the confidence which is felt in the future of the city. Along with residences, important business structures are also going up or being enlarged. There is a future ahead of Oneonta which is bright with not merely promise, but assurance of prosperity and continued growth.

November 1919

80 Years Ago

Oneonta Sports – Only a small group of sportsmen interested in securing a franchise in the Canadian-American League season attended a recent meeting, but hopes have not been abandoned for the city’s representation in Minor League ball. It is now planned to gather statistical data from the three clubs willing to park their franchises. An effort will be made to have a representative of one of the teams attend the next meeting. Lights may be installed at the park next year for night baseball and football.
Over 100 high school girls will compete in the intra-mural basketball league this winter according to Mrs. Frances Bates, physical education instructor.
Mayor Frank Zuber of Norwich and Captain Dan Fox, Commanding Officer of Troop C, State Police, will act as judges of the boxing card to be presented at the Elks Club Friday night under the auspices of the American Legion. Benny Leonard of New York, retired, undefeated lightweight champion, will referee one or two of the bouts.

November 1939

60 Years Ago

In Oneonta’s art colony are persons who regard themselves as amateurs and explain that they paint only for enjoyment. Mrs. Virginia Repa, a charter member of the Oneonta Community Art Center, is one of them. She says, “I paint for fun.” Be that as it may she handles water colors with such skill and imagination that her paintings have been regarded as professional. Mrs. Repa is among those artists who, in doing pastoral scenes, likes to work directly from nature, striving to translate beauty as accurately as possible, with an occasional resort to composition for the “sake of art.” A painting titled “The Old Sycamore” that was done in early spring by Mrs. Repa is enhanced with Mrs. Repa’s memories. “It was done in early spring. My husband, Dr. Joseph Repa was fishing and I saw this beautiful old tree in a meadow. I had a very interesting audience – a herd of Guernsey cows who breathed down my neck most of the afternoon.”

November 1959

40 Years Ago

A new attitude toward illegal aliens is emerging in the American labor movement. Instead of summoning
immigration agents to get the illegal workers deported, a small but growing number of unions are trying to sign up the workers as members. For years, angry that illegal workers were taking Americans’ jobs, unions have argued that “we should close off the border and send them all back home,” says Allan Zack, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO. “But that’s a political impossibility now,” he says. “It’s also wrong. Many illegals have established residency here.” It isn’t known exactly how many illegal aliens live in the United States, or how many of them belong to unions.
The immigration service estimates the U.S. has four million to six million illegal immigrants, and other counts range
as high as ten million. Much of the labor movement, however, continues to urge a crackdown on illegal immigrants, arguing that foreign workers take jobs from members.

November 1979

20 Years Ago

Ten years after Congress ordered protections for whistleblowers throughout government, the Justice Department has set up a system to shield FBI agents – but they will have less shelter than other federal employees who report waste abuse and crime by co-workers. Under the rules, FBI whistleblowers are not protected for reporting misdeeds to Congress, in court during a trial, or to immediate superiors. FBI employees are protected only if they report to a short list of top officials and FBI internal investigators. The FBI Director will determine whether FBI employees will get a hearing. Also, FBI whistleblowers alleging retaliation will not have the right to a federal court review. Republican Senator Charles Grassley, Chair of a Senate sub-committee that oversees the FBI, said the rules “represent crafty
lawyering rather than good public policy.” Grassley said the Justice Department “interpreted the law to protect its own interests rather than the public interest in exposing fraud and mismanagement.’

November 1999

10 Years Ago

On Friday November 13, a player wearing number 13 on his jersey ended Oneonta boys’ soccer season. Marcellus senior forward Jon Schoonmaker made a baseball slide
into a bouncing ball on the right side of the penalty box and sent a low shot from 12 yards sailing past Yellowjackets’ keeper Alex Maschutt with eighteen minutes, 44 seconds left in the Mustang’s 2-1 Class B state quarter final victory at West Genesee High. “Friday the thirteenth? Maybe,” OHS coach Alex Brannan said.

November 2009

Local History Columns Switched

By: Jim Kevlin 10/30/2019 5:52 pm

Local History Columns Switched

Editor’s Note: The Hometown Oneonta and Freeman’s Journal history columns were switched in this week’s editions of our newspaper. Follow the links below to connect:

Click Here for HOMETOWN HISTORY

Click Here for BOUND VOLUMES

HOMETOWN History Nov. 1, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 10/30/2019 5:38 pm

HOMETOWN History

Nov. 1, 2019

150 Years Ago

(The following is quoted from an address by Dr. Orson M. Allaben to the members of the Delhi Agricultural and Mechanics Society at its Annual Fair, September 30, 1869) “It is but a few years since the first telegraph line was put in operation between Baltimore and Washington City. If the steamboat had been a wonder, and the steam-car had astonished and amazed the world, the Electric Telegraph was considered the miracle of the age.
That people could freely converse with each other and hold communications at long distances through the agency of electricity, and a simple iron wire had been considered impossible. But, the capabilities of a free intellect, as developed in the perceptions and productions of free thought, aided by the manipulations of a free hand, solved the problem, and the impossible became possible before the light of scientific investigation.”

October 1869

125 Years Ago

Normal Schools – The Hartwick Seminary Monthly tells a great deal of truth in a single paragraph – “The state spends $300,000 a year on Normal Schools for the avowed purpose of preparing young persons for the positions of teachers. Only about one-fifth of the pupils become teachers. Not one-tenth of the teachers in public schools are graduates of Normal Schools. The State pays largely for the whistle.
It has invested $2,000,000 in Normal School property. The academies of the State are preparing more teachers for their work than all the Normal Schools combined, and doing it as well. For this the State pays nothing except the pittance that comes from the distribution of the Literature Fund.”

October 1894

100 Years Ago

Wednesday afternoon, a team of horses belonging to Charles McCumber of Sidney Center ran away and crashed into the curb in Oneonta, demolishing the wagon and dumping the furniture, with which the wagon was loaded, on the sidewalk. The runaway was caused by the whiffletree coming loose and striking the horses on the legs, frightening them and causing them to get beyond control of Mr. McCumber.
The horses were not injured. It is fortunate that neither Mr. McCumber nor his wife, who was on the wagon with him at the time, were not injured. The furniture was damaged quite badly. Mr. McCumber had been to Milford for the furniture and was taking it to his home at Sidney Center.

October 1919

80 Years Ago

“A well-educated Christian leadership will provide the best possible means of restoring a spiritual balance to our distraught world,” declared Dr. Henry J. Arnold, following his induction as the third President of Hartwick College. The ceremonies were followed by an inaugural luncheon in the church parlors after which delegates witnessed the football game between Hartwick and Connecticut State Teachers College. “The College President as a Leader” was the topic chosen by Dr. William H. Cowley, President of Hamilton College of Clinton, New York, in his welcoming address to Dr. Arnold at the inaugural ceremonies. Dr. Cowley pointed out that a college president must above all else be a leader, defining a leader as “a person who is going somewhere and is able to persuade others to come along with him.”

October 1939

40 Years Ago

SUCO got over the first hurdle in its fight for a fieldhouse Wednesday when the SUNY Board of Trustees approved the college’s $629,000 request to plan the building. Now, Oneonta State’s request must be included in the overall university budget submitted to the Governor. Then, it must be included in the Governor’s executive budget and approved by the legislature prior to March 31, 1980. The fieldhouse request is part of a $1.3 million request for money to be used for construction and planning on the Oneonta campus. SUCO’s request is part of a $122.2 million SUNY capital construction budget for the 1980-81 school year. SUCO requested $539,000 for construction and $763,000 for planning. The entire $1.3 million package was approved by the trustees.

October 1979

20 Years Ago

Measures aimed at cracking down on phony school bomb threats and teenage drinking and smoking were signed into law recently by New York State Governor George Pataki. The first law makes it a felony to falsely report bombs, fires, explosions or the release of hazardous substances at a school. “It’s not a simple prank. It’s a crime,” Pataki said. “Our schools should be sanctuaries of peace and learning, not zones of mayhem and fear.” Schools throughout the state were disrupted repeatedly by bomb threats after the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Penalties for the crimes include driver’s license suspension. Teenagers may also receive a youthful offender or juvenile delinquency adjudication. A second bill encourages merchants to install scanners that verify a customer’s age in stores, bars and nightclubs. The scanners can determine whether a person can legally buy alcohol and tobacco by reading a bar code or magnetic strip on the back of driver’s licenses or non-driver identification cards.

October 1999

10 Years Ago

Last Saturday in Muller Plaza about 35 community members joined people from places as far away as Kazakhstan, India and Spain to make a lot of noise. Armed with kazoos, party horns, and slide whistles, the group raised a ruckus
at 3:50 p.m. as part of a global event to call attention to
environmental issues. Students in Todd Ellis’ Global
Climate Change class at Oneonta took part in the “Global Day for Environmental Action” called “Make a Noise
about Climate Change.” The event was sponsored by 350 Org., a grassroots organization. Groups from 50 countries also made noise at 3:50 p.m. in their time zones. Pictures from these events streamed live on a billboard in Times Square. The SUNY campus “Protect Your Environment Club” approached Ellis who said he realized this event could be another teaching moment for his class which looks at the science of climate change as well as the social, political and economic issues surrounding it. “The 350 org. movement is anchored by those like environmentalist Bill McKibben who care about all facets of climate change,” Ellis said.

October 2009

HOMETOWN History Oct. 18, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 10/16/2019 6:25 pm

HOMETOWN History

Oct. 18, 2019

150 Years Ago

It was supposed when the law was passed that about 1,200 of the veterans were still living in this State, and that the $50,000 appropriated would be sufficient to pay off the certificates of all the survivors. But it seems that 2,700 of the old soldiers were alive and filed their certificates with the Adjutant General. Many are still living to whom certificates were never granted. The result of this mistake on the part of our lawmakers is that the amount appropriated is only sufficient to pay about thirty-six percent on the principal of the certificates, saying nothing about the interest. The pro rata distribution has been made, and the soldiers are now being paid at the State Hall. The deficiency in the appropriation rendering a pro-rata distribution necessary, and the great difficulty in gathering in these certificates with the proper proofs, has given some of the state’s departments an immense amount of extra labor. The brave old veterans have long waited for the small amounts they are now receiving. We trust the next Legislature will see that justice is done.

October 1869

125 Years Ago

A girl balloonist lost her life at a fair in Franklinville, New York last Saturday. As the balloon started it was noticed that the girl held the trapeze by only one hand. Her strength was not equal to the effort of getting a grip with the other hand. When she reached a great elevation she lost her hold and fell to the earth. She struck on her head and shoulders and her body dug a hole in the ground a foot deep and three feet long. Her neck was broken and her body terribly crushed. She was only 18 and had promised her parents that this should be her last trip.

October 1894

100 Years Ago

A United States census will be taken commencing on January 2, 1920, and ending in cities and villages that had 2,500 or more population in 1910 in two weeks and in all other localities in one month. The fifteenth district of the State of New York is composed of the counties of Broome, Otsego, Chenango and Delaware and has been divided up into enumeration districts small enough so that the work can be done in the allotted time. An enumeration of the population and also of the agriculture will be taken.
Applications for appointment as enumerator were supposed to be filed with the supervisor on or before the fifteenth day of October, 1919. Persons between the ages of 18 and 70 are qualified, providing they have the other necessary qualifications.

October 1919

60 Years Ago

Two hundred shares of capital stock of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) valued at about $81,000 have been donated by Mrs. Charles W. Collins of Cooperstown to the State University College of Education at Oneonta to purchase rare books, unusual collections and special supplies, not normally provided from state appropriations. Mrs. Collins made the donation in honor of Dr. James M. Milne, the first principal of the Oneonta State Normal School for whom the college’s new library has been named. She was one of Dr. Milne’s students while attending the school. After graduation, she continued her education at Vassar. Raised in one of the oldest families in Oneonta, Mrs. Collins is the former Florence Ford, whose original family home stood where the Acme Market now is located. Her grandfather, Elaikim Feed Ford was one of the first merchants to settle in the village of Oneonta.

October 1959

40 Years Ago

The menu of the Otsego County Nutrition Program for the Aging the week of October 22-26 will be: Monday – Pineapple-grapefruit juice, Chop Suey with pork on rice sliced carrots, onion-dill bread, ice cream, coffee, tea, milk served with each meal daily. Tuesday – Cran-apple juice, stuffed peppers with tomato sauce, wax jellied fruit-cottage cheese salad, oatmeal bread, mixed fruit cup. Wednesday – Salmon loaf with white sauce, baked potato, broccoli, whole wheat bread, chocolate tart. Thursday – Tomato juice, roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, Brussel sprouts, tossed salad, popover apple. Friday – Grapefruit juice, cheese strata, Harvard beets, lime gelatin salad with shredded carrots, apricot halves. Meal locations: Nader Towers, Cooperstown First Baptist Church, West Oneonta Fire House, Worcester American Legion Hall, Unadilla Methodist Church.

October 1979

20 Years Ago

The Ku Klux Klan sued New York City and its police department alleging that its First Amendment rights to wear the traditional white hoods would be violated if the group was denied a permit to rally. The permit was denied on the grounds that the wearing of hoods violates a state statute that prohibits groups from congregating in public places while wearing masks or disguising their faces except for authorized masquerade parties or entertainment. The law has been on the books 150 years but is rarely used, officials said. New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Norman Siegel said “This is an important First Amendment case. Regardless of the message, the First Amendment says people have a right to express their views. They have a right to anonymous political activity.” The KKK contends its members wear the hoods to protect their identities because they have been subjected to retaliation because of their views. KKK National Imperial Grand Wizard Jeff Berry has also said that the hood is part of the group’s “religious attire.”

October 1999

10 Years Ago

The affiliation of A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta
with Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown is expected to be completed by January 1, 2010, officials at both organizations confirmed at a media conference at the FoxCare Center in Oneonta. Following the unanimous approval by the boards of both Bassett and Fox, the decision only needs the approval of regulators and the completion of a management and medical services agreements. Under the agreement, Fox will become an affiliated hospital in the Bassett Healthcare Network according to Bassett President and Chief Executive Dr. William Streck. “Any time health care is delivered in a more coordinated fashion, access, quality and efficiency improve and there is a reduction in the fragmentation of patient care,” Streck said. As part of the agreement Bassett will provide management and medical services to Fox.

October 2009

HOMETOWN History Oct. 11, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 10/09/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Oct. 11, 2019

150 Years Ago

The great storm which occurred here on the second and third of the month extended over several States – south beyond Washington and north and west into the British territory. Property to the amount of millions was destroyed and quite a number of lives lost, while shipping along the coast suffered very much. Hundreds of cattle, sheep and swine were carried into the streams and drowned, In the Hudson and other navigable rivers the boats were obliged to lay by on account of the great quantities of logs, timber, &c., floating down. Last Sunday, the third successive Sunday, it again rained all day. The streams and river here were high Monday morning, but not a flood. We see by the Albany papers that the rise in the river before twelve o’clock Sunday night was five feet, and the merchants began to move their goods to the upper stories.

October 1869

125 Years Ago

Local & Regional: H.G. Bishop, formerly of Oneonta, has bought off the Oneonta Press, and took possession last week.
Stamford now has a local telephone line with 21 subscribers. The subscribers not only have the advantages about the village, but they all connect with the Delhi, Grand Gorge, Harpersfield and Jefferson lines.
Ex-Governor Cornell is out with the
usual anti-election statements about the fearful increase of taxation under Democratic rule. He alleges that the state taxes have been increased nearly 100 percent. This is the annual chronic nonsense of Republican leaders. However, Delaware County is not weighted down with Democratic misrule. In 1882, the tax budget for Delaware County was $17,600. Under Republican rule it steadily increased, until in 1893 it was $63,800, an increase of nearly 400 percent. Meanwhile the increase in population has risen only about 5 percent.

October 1894

80 Years Ago

Speaking to members of Oneonta’s Rotary Club at the Hotel Oneonta yesterday afternoon, Bishop G. Ashton Oldham of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany said “With the determination to stay out of Europe’s conflict, I am in complete agreement – but for a different motive than that advanced by some of our leaders who seek the protection of our skins and our possessions, but rather because I want to see America ready to serve after the war in the leadership toward a lasting peace.” The Bishop commented further on the war and its effect on churches saying “the effect of war on our churches is feared by many who point out that they suffered during the last war because each side claimed that the church was on its side. However, that there is any war simply demonstrates that the church does not have the influence it should have upon governments, for every church and every denomination is most active in the cause of peace. Perhaps the fault lies in large part with the church which is too material and not sacrificial enough.”

October 1939

60 Years Ago

Bradenton, Florida – The home an elderly Negro woman was building in a new white neighborhood has been damaged by fire and authorities say the blaze was set deliberately. The woman, 67-year-old Elizabeth Jenkins has owned a 2.5 acre tract west of Bradenton since 1916. She has lived in one house there for 43 years and was building a new frame house nearby. She planned to move into the new house in a few weeks. Miss Jenkins’ property is surrounded by a fashionable white neighborhood which has been developed during the past two or three years. Sheriff Roy Baden said the woman had asked $20,000 for her land. But, when developers offered to meet her price, she hiked the figure to $40,000 and later to $50,000

October 1959

40 Years Ago

Hartwick College has received a $100,000 federal grant to establish a continuing education program for registered nurses. The grant, provided by the Health, Education and Welfare agency will fund classes, seminars and workshops for three years for nurses in Otsego, Delaware and Chenango counties. Hartwick College nursing department chair Mary Sees said the project is intended to provide additional training to as many as possible of the 1,300 nurses employed in the area. The exact line-up of programs will be determined in a survey of nurses. A coordinator will be hired.

October 1979

20 Years Ago

A wallet stolen during a recent robbery was recovered according to Oneonta police sources. In the past three weeks, three incidents of armed robbery were reported to police, compared to two robberies in all of 1998. “To have this number reported in this short a time is alarming,” said Oneonta Detective Sgt. Joseph Redmond. “People should exercise caution as in everything they do in life.” No one was hurt in the armed robbery incidents, during which wallets, cash, and keys were stolen, police said. At about 3:20 a.m. October 2, three people walking near 218 Chestnut Street told police they were robbed by two ski-masked men with handguns. Minutes later on West Street, another man was accosted by two men, one with a handgun. And, a man near Potter and Maple streets reported being robbed about an hour later, police said. Previously, a man told police someone had held a knife to his throat at about 3:15 a.m., September 23 while he was walking on Myrtle Avenue.

October 1999

10 Years Ago

When Chad Hall, a farmboy from Walton, was studying electrical mechanical design at SUNY Delhi, he figured he get a job as a draftsman, maybe in a some local firm. And he did, at Oneonta’s Custom Electronics. But instead of a job, Hall had found himself a launching pad.
Today, a mere 34, he’s COO of Custom Electronics’ spinoff Ioxus, jetting all over the country, to Korea, to Europe, pressing the cutting edge of ultracapacitors, a technology that, quite simply, could change the energy world as we know it.
The possibility is being recognized Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Otsego County Chamber’s 10th annual Small Business Banquet at The Otesaga, where Hall – and Chief Technical Officer Thor Eilertsen – will be accepting the chamber’s Breakthrough Award on their company’s behalf.

Oct. 9, 2009

HOMETOWN History Sept. 27, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 09/25/2019 5:00 pm

HOMETOWN History

Sept. 27, 2019

150 Years Ago

The Erie Railway Company announces that “on and after Monday, September 30,” they will reduce the running time to Chicago seven hours by means of the thirty-hour train, to be known as the “Great Pacific Express.” The westward traveler, taking his seat at ten o’clock on any given morning in one of the superb Drawing Room Coaches of the Erie line at Jersey City, may thus enjoy a ride rendered comfortable by all the accessories of Epicurus and Somnus, and alight in Chicago at 4 p.m. the next afternoon, not wearied and hungry with travel, but fresh as if awaking from a quiet snooze after dinner.

September 1869

125 Years Ago

Captain John Crawford of Davenport died suddenly at his residence about 2 a.m. Friday morning. On Thursday he had attended the Oneonta Fair and in the evening retired apparently in good health. Mr. Crawford has been a very active man, and at the time of his death was carrying on a very large lumber and manufacturing business. In 1862 he enlisted and was elected Captain of a Company in the 144th Regiment. In 1879, he was elected Sheriff of this county. He was 66 years old and leaves a wife and two sons, William and Henry, proprietors of the carriage factory in the Village of Davenport. Captain Crawford’s funeral was held at his late residence in Davenport on Sunday. Large delegations from the Masonic Fraternity and the G.A.R. of Oneonta were present.

September 1894

100 Years Ago

Will the Flu Return? Probably, but by no means certainly, there will be a recurrence of the influenza epidemic this year. Indications are that should it occur, it will not be as severe as the pandemic of the previous winter. The fact that a previous attack brings immunity in a certain percentage of cases should allay fear on the part of those affected in the previous epidemic. It is not yet certain that the germ has been isolated, or discovered, and as a consequence there is yet no positive, preventive, except the enforcement of rigid rules of sanitation and the avoidance of personal contact. A close relation between the influenza pandemic and the constantly increasing pneumonia mortality rate prior to the fall of 1918 is recognized. It is now believed that the disease was pretty widely disseminated throughout the country before it was recognized in its epidemic state. This failure to recognize the early cases appears to have largely been due to the fact that every interest was then centered on the war.

September 1919

80 Years Ago

That revolutions and dictatorships follow similar patterns through the ages of history may be the result of a system of society that cannot keep pace with public conceptions of rights, opportunity and justice, was the message of
Rev. Boyd McCleary, minister of the First Presbyterian Church in his address titled “Patterns in Dictatorships” at the meeting of the Oneonta Rotary Club at the Hotel Oneonta. Dr. McCleary said that an understanding of world unrest in our time can be gained through a study of a pattern into which earlier revolutions and dictatorships may fall. The speaker observed that peoples never break with their past save by cruel wrenches and then the pendulum swings to extremes. Dr. McCleary cited the earlier English and French revolutions and the Russian and German revolutions following the World War in his talk. Once the ball of unrest starts rolling it must finish its course, the Left of today becoming the Right of tomorrow as people search for justice which they feel the integrated systems of society under which they live will never provide. Dr. Cleary reviewed the lives of dictators such as Cromwell, Napoleon, Lenin and Hitler. In closing, Dr, McCleary expressed the conviction that in the development of society the time will come when force will no longer prevail and right and justice
will be enthroned.

September 1939

60 Years Ago

Memories of a lively portion of Otsego and Herkimer County history flew thick and fast yesterday as former employees of the Southern New York Railroad staged their first reunion since 1922 at the Milford American Legion Home. On hand were about 60 former employees of the now long-vanished electric line which once served commuter and freight needs between Oneonta and Mohawk. Chairman for the reunion, now to be an annual event, was Claude Tilley of Milford. Some of the individuals on hand can trace their memories of the railroad to its beginnings. Among those is Sherman Stone of Oneonta. Mr. Stone drove the first passenger trolley to operate under its own power between Oneonta and Hartwick. Mr. Stone worked on the construction of the line in 1902. He is now a prominent Oneontan and a member of the city’s Public Service Board.

September 1959

40 Years Ago

A resolution recommending no practicing homosexual be ordained by the 3-million member Episcopal Church was approved Tuesday night by the church’s House of Deputies, and is now official church policy. The resolution was approved Monday by the 239-member House of Bishops at the church’s Sixty-sixth General Convention. The vote followed lengthy debate. Among lay members in the House of Deputies, the vote to concur with the House of Bishops vote was 77-18 with 13 divided. Among clerics the vote was 70-29, with 11 divided. The divided tallies signify dioceses that were split on the question. On Tuesday, 21 bishops issued a strong “Statement of Conscience” saying they would not accept nor implement Monday’s resolution.

September 1979

10 Years Ago

State University of New York Distinguished Service Professor Gretchen S. Sorin, Professor of Museum Studies and Director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of SUNY Oneonta, has been named the 2009 recipient of the Katherine Coffey Award, the top honor presented by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. The Coffey Award is presented to a museum professional who demonstrates superior professional accomplishment; a record of service to the profession on state, regional, national and/or international levels; and a proven record of service to the community in which the museum is located. Sorin has been active in the museum field for 35 years, having served as Director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program for the
past 14 years.

September 2009

HOMETOWN History Sept. 20, 2019

By: Jim Kevlin 09/18/2019 2:39 pm

HOMETOWN History

Sept. 20, 2019

100 Years Ago

An Assemblage of “Fat Men” – A convention of fat men has recently been held in
Norwalk, Connecticut at Gregory’s Point Hotel. One hundred and forty of the fattest men of New England and the adjoining states assembled. The names and weights of the various individuals are recorded. The weights ranged from two hundred to three hundred and fifty-eight pounds. The 358-pounder was John A.P. Fisk of New York who was elected president of the society for the ensuing year. James A. Lincoln of Springfield, Massachusetts, weighing 329 pounds was elected vice-president. The aggregate weight of the six heaviest was 1,922 pounds giving an average of 320 and one-third pounds each. The aggregate weight of the whole 140 men was 31,385 pounds, being an average of 224 pounds each. They feasted on shell fish, scale fish, fish without scales and a great variety of vegetables. They devoured thirty bushels of oysters, 47 bushels of clams, 359 pounds of bluefish and eight barrels of sweet potatoes. Due to the intense heat the foot races were cancelled.

September 1869

125 Years Ago

Celestial Photography – Celestial objects can be photographed that will never be seen by the keenest eyes, aided by the most powerful telescope that can be made. One reason of this is that the photographic plate is sensitive to a far greater range of vibrations than the eye. Not only is it acted upon, to a slight extent, by the visual rays, but by those as rapid as 40,000,000,000, a second. Another reason is that, while the human retina can only retain an impression for about one-seventh of a second, the feeblest light that falls upon the sensitive plate is not lost, but is stored up. The countless millions of waves of light striking persistently upon one point of the plate must, in course of time, produce an image of the star. In this way, apparently blank parts of the heavens
have been shown to be crowded with stars. The total number of stars visible to the naked eye is only about six thousand. With our large telescopes this number becomes more than 50,000,000, while with the photographic eye it cannot be less than 160,000,000.

September 1894

100 Years Ago

Anti-Divorce Experts Advice: Kiss your wife three times before each meal. Don’t argue with her about her mother’s disposition. Don’t hide the change in your trousers pocket when retiring, but put it under your wife’s pillow. When she reads Shakespeare, forget the American League averages and read it with her. Don’t test the quality of her raised biscuits with your heel. Wipe your feet seven times before crossing the family threshold. So runs the advice of the anti-divorce experts. The City of Norwich, New York does not believe in issuing a series of impeachments on how to avoid divorce. It goes straight to the heart of the problem. For seven weeks, Norwich, through the medium of a summer school, has been teaching its girls how to become successful wives. It has taught them how to cook and sew. It has taught them how to make a successful home. It has taught them how to buy judiciously and how to make the pennies count.

September 1919

80 Years Ago

Village of Sidney Named for British Admiral – Once a part of the Indian conference grounds of Unadilla and later part of the Town of Franklin, Sidney, in the early nineteenth century, acquired the name Sidney Plains. When the village was incorporated in 1888 the name was shortened to Sidney. Tradition says that the name Sidney Plains was given in honor of Sir Sidney Smith, famous British Admiral who had gained much fame for his naval victories of that period. The name was first applied by John Mandeville, an English schoolmaster then living in Sidney Plains. Jay Gould, in his history of Delaware County published in 1856 confirms this origin of the name.
Unadilla was the original name that once applied to the whole region where the
counties of Delaware, Chenango and Otsego meet. The first settlement on the
site was established when Rev. William Johnston and his family arrived about 1790. For a time the area was known as Johnston’s Settlement and later called Susquehanna Flats before that name was replaced with Sidney Plains.

September 1939

60 Years Ago

The Oneonta Yellowjackets will host Ilion in their 1959 grid opener. Coach Lloyd Baker’s Yellowjackets who last year ran up a 6-2 record, have last year’s line practically intact but the backfield is missing three big fellows – Chuck Sweeney, Denny Weir and Mike Syros. Returning linemen are George Lynch, Charlie Hamwey, Tony Coraro, Pete Van Woert, Co-Captain Mike Zagata, Joe Rizzo and Skip Knott. Jim Konstanty will return as the starting quarterback. Pete Van Woert, who took over at center the second game of the season and remained there doing a fine job is back again. Pete is 6’ 1” and weighs 190 pounds. Big Jim Konstanty (6’ 2” 200 pounds) will share the quarterbacking with Pat Delaney, a promising sophomore.

September 1959

20 Years Ago

A recently published book about Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio includes an article written by SUCO history professor William Simons. In the book, “Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio”
Simons describes how DiMaggio’s place in American history extends well beyond baseball. Titled “Joe DiMaggio and the American Ideal” follows DiMaggio from his start as a baseball rookie in 1936 through his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, to his success as an advertising pitchman. DiMaggio became a role model for Italian-Americans and a model for masculinity
for 60 years.

September 1994

10 Years Ago

Meizhu Lui, Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy will present “The Color of Wealth” at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Center for Multi-cultural Experiences in Lee Hall at the State University College at Oneonta. Lui’s group is a national nonprofit organization that helps build social movements for greater equality, according to officials. In her presentation, Lui will explore why the distribution of wealth in the United States is so uneven and whether public policy, even when well-intentioned, reinforces existing inequalities, and whether race and ethnicity continue to play a pivotal role in defining the haves and have-nots in society.

September 2009

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