THE ‘OTHER’
ONEONTA NO PLACE LIKE HOME, BUT THIS ONE’S CLOSE/B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
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F Volume 7, No. 53
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 25, 2015
City of The Hills Oneonta’s Ruby Rogan Wins Ticket To Pope Francis Mass By LIBBY CUDMORE
T
he tickets were few, but three lucky Otsego County Catholics will celebrate a mass with Pope Francis on his first trip to the United States. “The Albany Diocese was
given 200 tickets and we gave out 126, one for each of our parishes,” said Mary DeTurris Poust, Albany Diocese director of communications. At St. Mary’s in Oneonta, parishioner Ruby Rogan won the lottery to see His Please See POPE, A3
NEIGHBORS QUESTION HOUSING VISIONS
At 11th Hour By LIBBY CUDMORE
T
he city Planning Commission is calling a special meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, for further citizen input on Housing Vision’s Silver Creek senior housing project, and it’s not sure what it’s in for. The commission’s regular Wednesday, Sept. 16, went on for more than two hours, as neighbors expressed concerns about wildlife, traffic and water runoff. “I let everyone speak,” said Chairman Dennis Finn. “The neighbors had competing concerns,” said Benjamin Lockwood, Housing Visions vice Dennis Finn president/business development. “Some people are saying ‘leave this’ and others are saying ‘keep that.’ Everyone has concerns, and we want to make sure we adequately address them.” Some wanted to keep the area wild, but the biggest concern Finn heard was whether or not the site had proper water pressure for firefighters. “They’ve got three or four ways they can accomPlease See HOUSING, A6
Ride’Em, Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
A novelty at this year’s City of the Hills Art Fest Saturday, Sept. 19, was Kwan Chan-House of Oneonta with Morse Code bracelets, whose beads spell “breathe,’ “c’est la vie,” “peace” – whatever message a customer may want.
COWPERSON!
County Loses 300 Jobs From August-August
Hops Expert Bullard Injects Life Of Expertise Into Book
O
tsego County lost 300 jobs between August 2014 and August 2015, according to the state Department of Labor just-released monthly report. Last August, the county had 27,300 jobs; this August, it had dropped to 27,000 even. No other particulars were broken out for Otsego County. New York City saw the largest increase, 2.3 percent, from 4,098,000 to 4,192,000. Overall, Upstate employment was down. JOIN FOR HALF-PRICE:
In observance of National Museum Day, the Greater Oneonta Historical Society is offering half-price one-year memberships Friday-Sunday, Sept. 25-27, at the History Center, www.oneontahistory. org, or by mail. (To qualify, your membership must have lapsed before Sept. 30, 2014.) Call 432-0960 with any questions. NEW SIGNAL: Work was
due to begin Wednesday, Sept. 23, to install a new traffic signal at Center and Maple streets, including a pedestrian signals and handicapped ramps. Powerline Constructors of Clinton won the bid. The project is expected to take two months.
By JIM KEVLIN MILFORD
I Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Chelsea Dalton, Unadilla, competes in the barrel races during the rodeo at Damaschke Field Saturday, Sept. 19, to benefit the Oneonta Outlaws. Watching the thrills (inset, top) are Oneonta’s Logan and Ethan Temming and Cyrus Wightman. Highlights included Miss NY rodeo Cheyenne Shufelt of Ghent, Columbia County, competing in cattle herding and barrel racing. She also signed autographs.
n 1966, Al Bullard, freshly arrived at the Cooperstown Graduate Program, had never seen a hop, or HOMETOWN ONEONTA a hops-related structure, or any Al Bullard and hops plant. associated tools of the beer-making trade in his native southern Pennsylvania, territory he had traversed with his antiques-seeking dad. Please See HOPS BOOK, A7
Mother, Daughter Struggling ‘Out Of Darkness’ Mayor Miller’s Family Finds Allies In Record Suicide Walk the Darkness Walk” in Oneonta’s Sixth Ward no doubt have asked the same question of themselves. ONEONTA “They are not alone,” said the mayor’s daughter Fable Booker, ndi Miller asks the queswho walked alongside her mothtions many of Mayor Dick er as the solemn marchers circled Miller’s friends do: “How from the Moose Lodge at 87 did I miss the signs? How did I not Mayor Miller West Broadway, up Duane Street, know?” east on River Street to Wilcox, Most if not all of the more than 200 then back to the lodge’s picnic grounds. people in the Saturday, Sept. 19, “Out of Please See SURVIVORS, A7 By JIM KEVLIN
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Daughter Fable comforts her mother, former Mayor Miller’s wife Andi, after the “Out of the Darkness” Walk. Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD