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REMEMBERING RICKY PAGE B-1
THURSDAY-FRIDAY, OCT. 3-4, 2013
...and The Tragic Event That Shocked A Family And Their City
20TH ANNUAL PIT RUN SUNDAY, OCT. 6 NEAHWA PARK, ONEONTA
FUN RUN 9:45 AM 10K, 5K, 2M STROLL 10:45 AM STARTING LINE: MAIN STREET VIADUCT
SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS 2013•Aaron Murphy 2012•Hannah Visnosky 2010•Eric Michelitsch 2009•Jenna Konstantine 2008•Marcel Sanchez 2007•Katie Sullivan 2006•Sara Sason 2005•Thomas Vogler 2004•Genevieve Bernier 2003•Malorie Winnie 2002•Alec Macaulay 2001•Jack Sienkiewicz 2000•Jonathan Hojn 1999•Michael Curasi 1998•Caroline King 1997•James O’Donnell 1996•David Brower 1995•Kristin France
course records
MEN 2003•Paul Mwangi, 30:13 WOMEN 1998•Charlene Lyford 3:44 2003•Atalelech Katema, 35:44
2012 WINNERS
MALE Joshua Edmonds, Cooperstown FEMALE Amanda LoPiccolo, Oneonta YOUNGEST WINNER Angelina Burr, 11, Oneonta OLDEST WINNER, June Gravener, 81, Laurens
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A TRIBUTE
grew up in a house down the street from where Ricky’s parents live. I remember waking up that morning and hearing my mother crying in the living room. My father later sat me down and told me of Ricky’s heroic actions on that day. Years later I am now a NYPD police officer in Brooklyn, I look back at what you did and am proud to share the same profession of such a HERO. I often share your story with my brothers and sisters in New York. P.O. Garner NYPD 81st Precinct Jan. 3, 2013 Provide Your Tribute At http://www.odmp.org/
RICKY PARISIAN AND HIS BROTHER SID GREW UP TOGETHER IN ONEONTA’S BELMONT CIRCLE NEIGHBORHOOD, WORKED TOGETHER ON THE ONEONTA CITY POLICE FORCE AND, LATER, THE NEW YORK STATE POLICE. AS THE 20TH ANNUAL ‘PIT’ RUN ARRIVES, SID SHARES HIS MEMORIES OF THEIR LIVES TOGETHER AND THAT FATAL NIGHT ON SOUTHSIDE, AFTER WHICH THINGS WERE NEVER THE SAME.
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By JIM KEVLIN
ONEONTA n patrol one night when they were both Oneonta police officers, brother Ricky and Sid Parisian pulled over a car near the Corning plant on River Street Extension. “I knew I was drunk,” the driver later said, “because I was seeing double.” When one image got into the suspect’s car to move it out of traffic, and the other image stayed by his side, the driver said, “I knew I was really in trouble.” Mirror images. Twins. Such words and phrases characterized the two men’s lives together. The family was originally from Massena. Dad Al joined New York Telephone there. He was transferred to Utica and in 1963 – Ricky was 3 and Sid 3 months – was assigned to Oneonta. The youngest of six siblings, Ricky – nicknamed “Pit” or “Pitty” – and Sid were inseparable as they grew up together in the City of the Hills. “Rick was my very best friend – who also happened to be my brother,” said Sid. (Another nickname: His given name is Mark.) They looked a lot alike, and were often mistaken for twins. When full grown, both were 6-foot-3, although Ricky weighed 235 pounds, Sid 160. That added bulk made Ricky a contender. When he graduated from Oneonta High School in 1979, a year behind Mark May, who went on to Pitt and an NFL career, Ricky was considered by Penn State, Pitt and Boston College. He was advised to get additional seasoning at a community college. His second week at Westchester in Valhalla, a block “blew his knee out,” said Sid. “That ended his career.” But he soon found a second one, joining the OPD, and Sid soon followed. One night, Ricky and Sid were in the radio room. Ricky, uncharacteristically – he was always “Mr. Clean-Cut,” his brother said – put his feet on the desk. What do you think you’re doing? another officer asked. “Yeah,” Ricky joshed. “We’re going to do our 20. Then we’re going to buy Harleys. We’re going to be rebels.” • Fall 1986 found Ricky in the State Police Academy, then at SUNY
The Parisian brothers, Ricky, left, and Sid, posed together during their tenure as state troopers. Brockport, where he was a standout cadet. Sid was in the next class, in spring 1987, planning to follow his brother’s advice about keeping a low profile. It wasn’t to be. The BMO, Mike Corpin – behavior modification officers are the academy’s equivalent of the Marines’ drill sergeants – singled him out immediately. “You must be a parizee-ANN,” Corpin said in his Southern drawl, and he made sure Sid excelled, too. “He saw in Ricky, not only was he going to be a good trooper, he was going to be a good human being,” Sid said. The brothers served together again. If anything, they were closer, building side-byside houses on East Center Street on a hillside that overlooks their adopted hometown. State police had physical standards, and the stockier Rick had to exercise to keep his weight down. For once, the lithe younger brother had an advantage, and enjoyed dragging the older one out on training runs along “The Frying Pan,” the then-undeveloped Southside stretch where Home Depot and Hannaford’s are today. Augusts, “it was hotter than Hector,” Sid recalls. By that fateful night – Friday, May 20, 1994 – Sid had been retired with a hand injury. Ricky’s latest assignment was undercover in New York City, where – with a Fu Manchu moustache and an earring – he was part of a team identifying drug runners and tracing the illegal narcotics business up the hierarchy. He would commute to Oneonta on weekends. • That Friday, the brothers were at their parents’ home at 10 Belmont Circle, watching their beloved Chicago Bulls, then with Michael Jordan, competing for the Central Division title. Dad Al’s brother, Anthony, was visiting from California; with his family, he’d stopped in Oneonta after attending his high school reunion in Massena. Youngsters – cousins, nieces and nephews – would be around, so Ricky Please See BROTHERS, C1
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Susan Fenimore Cooper Weil (1922-2013), Summer Barn, ca. 1985. Watercolor. Private Collection.
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