FILM – 7 p.m. Showing ‘The Bishop Murder Case’ (1930) from screenplay by Oneonta author S. S. Van Dine. Features Basil Rathbone as the famous detective. Includes introductory remarks & talkback session. Oneonta History Center, 183 Main St., Oneonta. 607-432-0960 or visit www.oneontahistory.org/index.htm
NEW LISBON – Guenther H. Dammer, 84, a German immigrant and painter, of New Lisbon, passed away at the Bassett Hospital on Aug. 22, 2019.
Born on Dec. 14, 1934 in Cologne, Germany the son of Paul and Maria Dammer. After immigrating from Germany in 1965, Guenther enjoyed a 34-year career as a painter, beginning with AT&T, finally retiring from Bell Atlantic. An avid Mets fan, he was happiest outdoors hunting, fishing, and the occasional (wink) drink with friends.
Guenther is survived by his daughters Erika Dammer and Kristen Dammer-Stigi, son-in-law Tom and grandson Jack; his sister and brother-in-law Helga and Arthur Breen; nephews and niece Arthur Jr. and Eric Breen, James and Stephanie Dammer, cousin Rosemarie and second cousin Eckhard.
Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stalter shines his flashlight at the pen where a large dog, perhaps a Pyrenees, was found without food or water. The dog was on a foot-thick layer of feces. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
Sheriff’s Sgt. Jack Wilkens helps a team from Leatherstocking Veterinary Services, New Berlin, nudge remaining pigs into a tractor-drawn trailer to remove them from the scene.
GARRATTSVILLE – An electrified goose dead on the front lawn set the scene for horrors to follow at a 166 Backus Road farm about a half-mile from this hamlet:
• A dead goat’s carcass, fed on by nearby fenced-off pigs to stay alive.
• Pens where hens were packed so tight their feathers were rubbed off.
• A basement room where feces were piled so high deputies could barely force open the door to rescue the five dogs inside.
“This didn’t happen in days, or even months,” said Otsego County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stalter, the department’s information officer, who this evening had been at the scene for almost 24 hours.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered all this and more after being called to the 26-acre Town of New Lisbon farm plot at 7 p.m. Friday after a passerby spotted the goose caught in the electrified fence.
NEW LISBON – Helen J. Sokolowski, 90, a nurse who moved to Otsego County in 1971 and went into dairy farming with her husband and son, passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, at Chestnut Park Rehabilitation & Nursing Center.
Helen was born in New York City, the daughter of Frank and Mary (Cenek) Mahdal on Jan. 17, 1927.
She graduated from St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1948 and shortly after married Leonard Sokolowski on Nov. 7, 1948.
CELEBRATION – 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mark Independence Day weekend with a muster of the militia and a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the village green at 1 p.m. The Farmers Museum, Cooperstown. www.farmersmuseum.org/Independence-Day-July-4th-Celebration
WRITERS CAMP – 1:30-3:30 p.m. Join Jen and the HML Writers Group for a NaNoWriMo style weekly workshop. Jen will present prompts and other activities to get you writing. Registration required. Huntington Memorial Library, 62 Chestnut St., Oneonta. hmloneonta.org/calendar/
Wheat Road, where last evening’s alleged slaying occurred, is a dirt track about a a mile northeast of the hamlet of New Lisbon. The scene of last night’s incident – 353 Wheat – is not a home, per se, but a collection of two campers and three sheds. Police tape cordoned off the crime scene, according to reporter Libby Cudmore, who arrived a few minutes ago. A sheriff’s deputy stood guard. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
Perry Webb, 59, New Lisbon, has been charged with second-degree murder.
NEW LISBON – One New Lisbon man is dead and another in the county jail today on charges of murder, second degree, and assault, Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. reported a few minutes ago.
At 8:47 p.m. last evening, a 911 call was received from Perry J. Webb, 59, and deputies and state troopers were dispatched to a home on 393 Wheat Road, Devlin said in a press release.
On arriving, a deputy found one man dead – Arthur R. Bellinger, 63, who lived at 393 Wheat – and another man injured, as well as Webb. The preliminary investigation, Devlin said, indicated Webb had assaulted both victims, Bellinger fatally.
NEW LISBON – Otsego County Sheriff’s deputies have taken a man into custody following the death of a 63-year-old man at his home in the Town of New Lisbon.
Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. said that a call came in to Otsego County 911 around 8:45 p.m. and that deputies were sent to the scene, where they found the 63 year old man deceased of a suspected homicide. A suspect was later taken into custody.
HARTWICK – The discovery of an illegal garbage pile in New Lisbon has led to charges against two Hartwick residents, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reported today.
Devan Hazen, 19, and Tara Baker, 20, were both ticketed with misdemeanor charges of unlawful disposal of more than 10 cubic yards of solid waste.
When the garbage pile was discovered, conservation officers dug through the garbage until they found an envelope with an address on it. When Officer Timothy Card visited the address and interviewed the resident, he learned that a garbage removal service had recently completed a job at the home.
NEW LISBON – Howard E. Barton of Whitesburg, Ky., formerly of New Lisbon, whose law enforcement career included serving as security manager at Oneonta Job Corps, died on Aug.18, 2016.
Born in New Berlin, he was the oldest child of the late Edgar A. and L. Etta (Ray) Barton. In his formative years, attended the Burlington Green Baptist Church and Sunday school. He was a Boy Scout, Scout master and coached baseball at Morris Central School.
NEW LISBON – Glenn Robert Wilson, 79, a Procter & Gamble retiree and charter member of the Garrattsville Fire Department, passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, at Fox with his family by his side.
NEW LISBON – Joshua M. Theisen, 24, Medford, Suffolk County, died Wednesday from injuries sustained Sunday in an ATV accident, county Sheriff’s Deputies report.
Investigation found that Theisen, who was visiting the area for the weekend, was traveling westbound on Jones Road approximately one half east of the North Welcome Road intersection on a 1998 Honda TRX300FW 4×4 ATV when he lost control of the vehicle and the ATV left the roadway going into a drainage ditch.
