DREAMS PARK FAMILIES... PLAN YOUR WEEK OF
Summer Fun! ...for things to do, see Page B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
E RE
F Volume 7, No. 47
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 14, 2015
POLICE V. FIREFIGHTERS
City of The Hills
Out For BLOOD! Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Chris DeCesare and Karen Joest pause from gardening in the backyard at 27 North Belmont Circle, which won the Landscaping (residential) category in the Future for Oneonta Foundation annual Properties of Merit contest. For photos of all the winners, visit WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
Herzig Lists 3 Priorities For Oneonta
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f elected Nov. 3 – as seems pretty certain right now – mayor-apparent Gary Herzig listed three priorities at his “celebration and fundraiser” Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the Sixth Ward Athletic Club: One, redeveloping the D&H yards; two, optimum development for Market Street; three, complete $70 million Housing Visions project. He also pledged to hire the “right candidate” for city manager/SEE EDITORIAL, A4 SCOUTS DELAY: Votes on a prospective merger of Oneonta’s Otschodela and Utica’s Revolutionary Trails scout councils was delayed last week after verbiage from the Boy Scouts of America was found to conflict with state law. Votes may occur later this month. VENUE CHANGED: The Republican County Committee’s challenge to Democrat Andrew Marietta, running against county Rep. Rick Hulse, R-Fly Creek, for the county Board of Representatives, will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday the 13th at the Otsego County Courthouse.
Police Chief Dennis Nayor gives a thumbsup as Phlebotomist Danielle Giardina, Binghamton, prepares to take blood. In the background is Police Lt. David Brenner.
Complimentary
1st Love Tempts City Clerk Back Kendall Returns To Museum Work By LIBBY CUDMORE
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hen Doug Kendall took the position as the Oneonta City Clerk in July 2013, it was an opportunity to stay closer to his family in Oneonta. “I was working at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, so I was driving up there every week,” he said. But now he’s returning to his love of history and art as the new coordinator of operations at Hartwick College’s Yager Museum, resigning from City Hall ef-
fective Sept. 8. “I’ve always seen myself as a historian, but one who works with art and objects,” he said. “This Kendall is what I trained in; this is the field I’ve worked in for the last 30 years.” Kendall handed in his resignation on Wednesday, Aug. 5, having served through some of City Hall’s most tumultuous times: shortly after he became city clerk, the Oneonta’s first Please See CLERK, B6
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
OFD Draws 31 Pints To OPD’s 29, But Red Cross Wins By LIBBY CUDMORE
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he Oneonta Fire and Police Departments were out for blood - donations, that is. “A few months ago we were approached by the Red Cross to do a ‘Battle of the Badges’ to increase donations,” said OPD Lt. Douglas Brenner. “Blood donations are an ongoing need.” Donors at the Elks’ Club on Main Street were asked to choose whether they were Deputy City donating on behalf of fireClerk Nanfighters or police during the cy Powell squeezes the Tuesday, Aug. 11, American Red Cross Blood Drive. ball. “The idea is that when you choose a hero, you get to be a hero,” said Fire Chief Patrick Pidgeon. “I was a firefighter for two years, so I’m donating for them!” said Deputy City Clerk Nancy Powell. “But I love our police too.” Please See BLOOD, A6
Salvation Army Major Assigned Nearer To Home By LIBBY CUDMORE
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Oneonta Fireman Josh Rumenapp is tended to by Eviyan Peterson, a Red Cross Phlebotomist from Binghamton
inghamton-born and raised in New Rochelle, Maj. Sharon Harford attended the Salvation Army church with her mother. “This church has been my home my whole life,” she said. “I was a Sunbeam, a Girl Guard, a Junior and a Senior Soldier. I was part of everything they had to offer!” But it wasn’t until later in life, when she was working for Westchester County government, that she found her calling. “I was working parttime at the Salvation Army, but I was spending Please See MAJOR, B6
Despite ACA, Patients Still Go To Clinic By LIBBY CUDMORE
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ne day, Kay Stuligross hopes, the Affordable Care Act will put the Oneonta Health Clinic out of business. “We used to have a lot more return visits,” the founding board member said. “But we’re seeing fewer of those, so that means people are getting the care they need. That was our goal.” But until then, the Oneonta Health Clinic will be open every Tuesday and the first Thursday of every month, providing healthcare to people who wouldn’t be Please See CLINIC, A6
Low-Cost Loans Give Helping Hand To Mobile-Home Owners By LIBBY CUDMORE SCHENEVUS
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The blocks holding up his mobile home had broken in the sub-zero temperatures; the house dropped and the floor cracked. “Another night we came home, and our bed was soaked,” he said. “The ceiling panel had fallen down, and the roof was full of water. Same thing happened in the bathroom. “This place is falling apart so fast, it can’t be fixed.” Please See LOANS, A6
5-year-old twins Abby-Ann and Kaleb Birch, with mom Susan and Mattrew Foster, will get their own bedrooms under a mobilehome replacement program now being implemented in Otsego County.
TO APPLY for the Mobile Home Replacement Program, call Otsego County Housing Assistance at (607) 2867244.
attrew Foster was sitting in his kitchen this past February when he heard a noise no homeowner wants to hear. “It was colder than cold, and I heard a crack,” he said. “I walked down the hallway, and there was a crack all through my living room!”
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD