Brides-to-be Abound 6TH ANNUAL FOOTHILLS EXPO LAUNCHES WEDDING SEASON/SEE B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
E RE
F Volume 6, No. 17
City of The Hills
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, January 17, 2014
Manor Buyers’ Varied Ratings Stirring Debate Company With Lower Ranking Offers $3.5M More For Facility By RICHARD WHITBY
IDA Focuses On ‘Single Contact’ Mathes Is Hired Here To Fast-Track Ec-Dev
T Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Oneonta potter Joanne Lentner of Oneonta crafts glass beads at CANO’s Carriage House Art Studio for bowls to be sold at the art group’s 10th annual Chili Bowl, noon-4 p.m. Feb. 2, Super Bowl Sunday/OTHER PHOTO, B8
Mandela, King To Be Honored At Annual Event
N
elson Mandela’s life will also be celebrated at annual Martin Luther King Day recognitions at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, at First United Methodist Church, 66 Chestnut St. The program is sponsored by the Oneonta branch of the NAACP and the city Commission on Community Relations & Human Rights. The community is invited to the tributes, music, and refreshments/RELATED
he local development corporation formed to sell off Otsego Manor is facing a difficult choice between two finalists. Does it take $15 million for the home from Long Island-based VestraCare, a company that operates nursing homes in Kingston and Johnson City, or $18.5 million from Focus Ventures, which is based in Rockland County and operates a Utica nursing home? On the surface, it looks like a nobrainer, with Focus’s extra $3.5 million sealing the deal. But below the surface, the companies have different track records. Care at VestraCare’s facilities is highly rated by federal and state agencies, while Please See MANOR, A7
A Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Sandy Mathes as the “single point of contact” and Elizabeth Horvath as his chief operating officer at the IDA comprise the county’s new “economic development team.”
Huge Induction ’14 Offers Opportunity To Oneonta Venues
t the Thursday, Nov. 14 “Seward Summit,” Dick Sheehy, one of the nation’s foremost consultants on finding sites for companies seeking to expand, told attendees Otsego County economic development would go nowhere without a “single point of contact.” What’s happened since
must have been some sort of record. Eight weeks later to the day, plus one, Friday, Jan. 10, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, and Sharon Oberriter, chairman of the county Industrial Development Agency board, announced the hiring of Sandy Mathes, the former Green County economic developer, as the “single point of contact” Sheehy Please See IDA, A4
‘GRILLED CHEESE FOR A GOOD CAUSE’
During Ripken/Gwynn Year, City Had Parking, Food, Entertainment For Fans By LIBBY CUDMORE
O
neonta has plenty to offer baseball fans on Induction WeekIDOL BOUND: SUNY end, July 25-28, by way of Oneonta 2010 graduate Kari dining, lodging and enterCrimmins, a theater arts ma- tainment. But the city also jor who starred in 10 college has a way to alleviate one of shows, was due to compete the biggest at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. stressors of 15, in the two-night premiere the packed of “American Idol XIII.”/ weekend FULL STORY, B2 – easy parking. SALUTE MSO: All “In downtown stakeholders 2007, are invited to Main Street during the Cal Ripken Jr.” Oneonta’s annual meeting at – and Tony Gwynn – “in7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, duction, OPT was running at the B-Side Ballroom in buses back and forth to Clinton Plaza. Door prizes, Cooperstown and it played a light refreshments. huge part in alleviating parking stress,” said Deb Taylor, JUMP TIME: The Chinese then-director of the county auction to benefit the 19th Tourism Office, (now direcannual Goodyear Lake Polar tor of privatized version). Bear Jump begins at 12:30 “It worked out beautifully, p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, in the and we’re hoping to offer Milford Central School gym. that again this year. When (The jump itself is Saturday, people park in Oneonta, they Feb. 15, this year.) To docome back to Oneonta.” nate items to the auction, call Brenda Waters at 286-7101. STORY, A2
By JIM KEVLIN
A repeat Ripken-Gwynn experience is no longer theoretical: On Wednesday, Jan. 8, it was announced that two pitchers for the Atlanta Braves, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine (the latter also Please See HALL, A6
AllOTSEGO.com NEWS UPDATES
• Wednesday, Jan. 15: Former Burlington, Vt., city planner Bruce Seifer lectures on “Sustainable Communities: Creating A Durable Local Economy” at 7 p.m. in the county courthouse. • Thursday, Jan. 16: The Town of Oneonta Comprehensive Master Plan Committee hosts a public hearing on the draft plan at 7 p.m. at town hall in West Oneonta. • Friday, Jan 17: Antifrackers Lou Allstadt and Chip Northrup outline findings that there’s insufficient gas here for fracking, at 7 p.m. at Foothills.
DETAILS AT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Tim Masterjohn of Oneonta’s Red Caboose, left, and Alex & Ika’s Alex Webster are experimenting with grilled cheese sandwiches in advance of Otsego 2000’s Sunday, Jan. 19, fundraiser at Brewery Ommegang.
‘Ultimate Comfort Food’ Becomes A Savory Success For Otsego 2000 By LIBBY CUDMORE
A
grilled cheese sandwich wasn’t originally on the menu at Oneonta’s Red Caboose restaurant, but, as the old saying goes, the customer is always right. “SUNY professor Starr Hobb came in here when we were first opened, and she was joking that she wanted a grilled
cheese sandwich,” said owner Tim Masterjohn. “So we made an open-face grilled cheese on a baguette, and it started taking off.” His expertise with bread and cheese earned him a place at Otsego 2000’s third annual “Grilled Cheese for a Good Cause” anti-fracking fundraiser Sunday, Jan. 19, at Brewery Ommegang in the Town of Middlefield. “This isn’t the classic Please See CHEESE, A6
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD