Hometown Oneonta 02-26-16

The Nightingale & The Firefly

Boyhood, Interrupted 3-PART SERIES TELLS ASHOK MOLHATRA’S STORY/SEE B1

HOMETOWN ONEONTA !

E RE

F Volume 8, No. 21

City of The Hills

& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary

Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, February 26, 2016

SUNY Goal: In 10 Years, $100 Million Endowment After ‘Possibilities,’ Foundation Confident It Can Continue Growing Alumni Giving

By JIM KEVLIN

HOMETOWN ONEONTA

A busy, busy Charlotte Wiltsey, 2, was among dozens of youngsters attending the open house for the new children’s room at the Huntington Memorial Library Thursday, Feb. 18.

Trees Falling As Downtown Project Starts

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rees were clearcut on the north side of Main Street Tuesday, Feb. 23, between Dietz and Chestnut as the new “Streetscape” project got underway.

Mayor Gary Herzig said he doesn’t know how many trees are due to come down, but hopes new ones will be planted by the colleges’ graduations. Photo at

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ocus on this number: $100 million.

“Possibilities Full of Promise,” SUNY Oneonta’s 125th anniversary fund drive, pushed the college endowment target beyond $50 million to $52 million, the largest of any

of the SUNY system’s “comprehensive colleges” – Brockport’s, New Paltz’s, Geneseo’s; there are 11 in all.

The “Possibilities” goal was $12.5 million; when the threeyear drive wrapped up last summer, the drive had raised $13.6 million.

Yet there’s no resting on laurels in Please See $100M, A5 Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

FLIGHT!

Merzig: Let Politicians Do It

By LIBBY CUDMORE

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Cooperstown’s Chief Covert hammers home the point: The medical community has contributed to the heroin scourge.

Prescribed Drugs Root Of Scourge

PINCHED IN LOT: An Oneonta father and son, as well as the father’s fiancee, were arrested Monday, Feb. 22, after they allegedly sold morphine tablets to an undercover police officer in the WalMart parking lot.

Medical Community Failed Us, Police Say

2 PEG-SETTERS: Two brothers, James Sobers, second from left, and Fred Sobers, fourth from left, were identified in the photo of pin-setters at Diz Lamonica’s lanes that appeared on Page A4 in last week’s edition.

LEAP YEAR: Monday is Feb. 29!

Who’ll Decide City Manager’s Qualifications?

POLAR BEAR ...

WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

HEALTHY TEETH: Bassett Healthcare will be offering free dental screenings for children 6 months to 16, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, at Southside Mall, part of National Children’s Dental Health Month.

College Foundation Executive Director Paul Adamo reviews the final campaign report on “Possibilities Full of Promise.”

By LIBBY CUDMORE

O Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

With a triumphant thumbs up, Eric Berger, a detective with the Oneonta Police Department, plunges into the icy deep Saturday, Feb. 20, at the 21st annual Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump, which raised a reported $125,000 for ailing children, including $11,000 for Springbrook/SLIDE SHOW AT WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

f 43 of the addicts Cooperstown Police Chief Michael Covert has helped since starting his PAARI program, all but two of them became addicted to heroin through prescribed painkillers.

“They were … for injuries incurred when they were 13, 15, 16 years old,” Covert told state Sen. Jim Seward’s Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin & Opiate Addiction Tuesday, Feb. 23.

“When they couldn’t get painkillers because of I-STOP laws, they started snorting heroin, then they began Please See HEARING, A7

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ayor Herzig’s ad hoc Charter Review Committee is recommending taking the city manager qualifications out of the City Charter.

But at its final meeting Tuesday, HOMETOWN ONEONTA Feb. 23, concern coalesced around Merzig, left, and commita new question: tee member Who’s going to John Rafter. write the job description?

“I’ve already had a Council member say they weren’t happy that we pulled out the requirePlease See QUESTION, B2

‘Hamilton’ Was ‘Live From NY’

By LIBBY CUDMORE

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t wasn’t the first time Oneonta’s Carleigh Bettiol and the cast of “Hamilton” performed the opening number, “Alexander Hamilton,” but when they returned to the stage on Please See GRAMMY, B2

HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD

Birds · Equine · Home and Garden · Pets

4119 State Hwy 7, Oneonta 607-432-3884 brandowsfeedandpet.com

A-2 HOMETOWN ONEONTA

fRIDAY, february 26, 2016

HOMETOWN People

Data Expert From Texas Joins Hartwick Afghanistan Veteran Scott Cleaveland ONEONTA Institutional Research.

Promoted To National Guard Colonel She will serve as the primary

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r. Amanda Kay Moske source of data for the president, the has been named Hartwick president’s staff and the Board of College’s director of instiTrustees in monitoring the college’s tutional research and effectiveness, overall health and progress.

President Margaret L. Drugovich For seven years, she also was announced. a teaching fellow at North Texas, Moske will begin her new duties teaching graduate and undergraduate on March 7. She joins Hartwick classes, including Educational StaMoske from the University of North Texas, tistics, Psychoeducational Testing & where she has served as a data Measurement, Human Development, analyst in the Office of Data, Analytics, & and Quantitative Methods in Psychology.

All OTSEGO. dining & entertainment

ONEONTA

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neonta’s Scott Cleaveland, a veteran of two combat tours in Afghanistan, has been promoted to colonel in the New York Army National Guard.

Cleaveland, who serves as both the construction and facilities management officer for the Guard, and the garrison commander of the Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill, was promoted during a Feb, 22 ceremony at state Division of Military and Naval Affairs Headquarters here.

Cleaveland enlisted in the Army in 1984, and joined the Guard in 1986, after serving two years on active duty. He attended Officers Candidate School and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in 1990.

Cleaveland has served as an engineer company com-

Brig Gen. Raymond Shields, left, promotes Col. Scott Cleaveland during a ceremony on Monday, Feb. 22, at the state Division of Military & Naval Affairs headquarters in Latham.

mander, engineer battalion executive officer, and division engineer.

He deployed to Afghanistan in 2004 and served as a resident engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers.

He deployed to Afghanistan for a second time in 2012 and served as a team chief with the Stability Transition

Team there.

Cleveland’s awards include two Bronze Star awards, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Assault Badge.

He is currently enrolled in the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. Cleaveland has two daughters, both attending college.

Former New Lisbon Supervisor Taylor President Of NY Association Of Towns

NEW LISBON

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ob Taylor, the former New Lisbon town supervisor who completed 12 two-year terms in office on Dec. 31, has been elected president of the New York State Association of Towns, effective May 1.

He was elected to what he described as an “honorary position” by 1,800 attendees at the association’s annual meeting earlier this month at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.

All 932 towns in the state are members of the Albanybased association. The only other Otsego countian to hold the post in recent memory is Marie Lusins, when she was an Oneonta Town Board member.

Formerly from Westchester County, where he was New Salem town supervisor for a term, Taylor moved to New Lisbon 35 years ago.

The Lake house Taste Your Way Around the World

He and wife Claire had been doing sheepsheering demonstrations downstate and, drawn here Taylor by proximity to The Farmers’ Museum, bought a farm and began raising sheep and other animals.

He also was hired by Delaware-Chenango-MadisonOtsego BOCES in Norwich as director of instructional support services, a position he had held at Westchester County BOCES. As supervisor, he gained a reputation for pioneer-

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Pasta?Take it out!

Salad? Take it out!

Dessert? Take it out!

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5438 State Hwy 28 • Cooperstown • 607.282.4031 • www.boccaosteria.com

with executive chef, Michael Gregory

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Friday, Feb. 26

- Chicken & Sausage Gumbo Soup - Blackened Southern Catfish - Apple Pie w/Cinnamon Ice Cream Visit a different country each Friday!

2 large plain pizzas $25* Tax included! Toppings extra

Only $17.99

Saturday, March 19 at 8 pm

1 – Jerk Chicken Wrap 2 3 4

with mixed green salad – Roasted Vegetable and Grilled Tofu Wrap with fried green plantain chips – Fried Chicken with mac & cheese – Fried Fish with green plantain chips

Smoothies Specials Pineapple . Strawberry . Banana Mango . Peanut Punch Super Green (kale, spinach, cucumber, ginger) Double fruit combos available on request.

Let’s get together and eat all night!

Our 46th Season!

A FREE event featuring Tumbleweed Highway, and Horseshoe Lounge Playboys.

Tickets: Saturday only $30 for music from noon to 8 pm, including The SteelDrivers.

Call 607-431-2080 or foothillspac.org

Saturday, March 18 Noon to 8 pm

Leading up to The SteelDrivers at 8 pm, we are proud to present The Howlin’ Brothers, Hop City Hellcats, Milkweed, and the Ruddy Well Band.

24 Market Street, Oneonta 607-431-2080 www.foothillspac.org

Saturday February 27 at 7pm

Schuyler Lake United Methodist Church, Church Street, Schuyler Lake Open mic—sign up to perform.

Music from the heart, for the heart • The VOICE Finalist 2012

Nicholas David

Saturday, Mar. 5 at 7:30 pm Otesaga Resort Hotel Cooperstown www.cooperstownconcertseries.org

Not valid w/other offers • 1 coupon per person

Friday, March 18 7 to 10 pm

16 Water Street Oneonta 607-353-7911

$5.99 Lunch Specials $2.50 Tropical

75 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown · 607-547-2930 126 Main Street/ Rt 20, Richfield Springs · 315-858-0405

M At u t si e c nt Lo i v on er s!

2521 CounTy highway 22 • RiChfieLd spRings RsVp - 315-858-2058 • cooperstownlakehouse.com

ing computerization of town finances, introducing programs developed by Steve Lawton, a computer teacher at the ONC BOCES, assisted by Ken Nolan, Butternuts. “It worked out beautifully,” said Taylor, who was succeeded by Tim Miller at the first of the year.

Bob and Claire also operated Second Sunday Antiques & Collectibles in Oneonta for a while.

The Taylors have three sons, including David, the local attorney, Kevin in Chicago and Benjamin in New Hampshire, and daughter Heather, who works in Vermont.

Please call the Otesaga’s Hawkeye Grill at 607-547-9931 for dinner reservations before the show!

TiCkeTS: $20 for adults $15 for senior citizens and college students with current ID $8 for students age 13-18 Children age 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult.

Call 607-547-1812. Tickets also available at Church & Scott Pharmacy, Fly Creek General Store and Riverwood.

Remaining tickets will be available at the door.

Upcoming Event: Willy Tea Taylor Saturday May 21, 2016

Cooperstown Concert Series programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Other support provided by Sound Performance.

THURSDAY-friday, febRUARY 25-26, 2016

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-3

AllOTSEGO. opportunities

Career Fair Are you a caring, compassionate person?

Find a career that matters— assisting people with developmental disabilities to realize their dreams!

Wednesday Heritage at tHe Plains at ParisH Homestead

Come join our senior community team!

We are looking for professional, caring, patient, employees that enjoy being with seniors.

ImmedIate OpenIngs Lpn – Ft every other weekend Resident Care aide – Ft every other weekend Cook – Ft servers – pt/Ft dishwasher – pt Please apply in person at The Heritage, 163 Heritage Circle, Oneonta, NY. eOe

Personnel Director The City of Oneonta is seeking applications for Personnel Director. Applications should be submitted by March 11. Salary will be based on experience. Permanent appointment will be contingent upon satisfactory completion of Civil Service requirements. Job descriptions and applications are available at the Personnel Department, 258 Main Street, or online at www.oneonta.ny.us/personnel.

EOE

VACANCY Pk-6 School Counselor Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton Central School TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: Full-Time Tenure Track Position RESPONSIBLE TO: Pk-12 Principal SALARY & BENEFITS: Per GMUTA Contract RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE: Pk-6 Guidance Office duties STARTING DATE: September 1, 2016 and limited hours during Summer 2016 QUALIFICATIONS Applicants should have NYS Certification in School Counseling and School Counseling experience.

APPLICATION PROCESS: Send letter of application to: Annette D. Hammond, Superintendent, Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton CSD, 693 St Hwy 51, Gilbertsville, NY 13776-1104, Phone: 607-783-2207 CLOSING DATE: March 11, 2016 WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Leatherstocking Timber Products We are continuing to expand, and are currently looking for employees to fill several positions. · Heavy equipment/ Truck mechanic · Sawmill positions: Sawyer, grader, general labor · Kiln operations personnel · Sales representative: Experience in hardwood or dimension lumber preferred

March 2, 2016

3-8 pm

The Arc Otsego 35 Academy St., Oneonta, NY 13820 Now hiring for: Direct Support Professionals: Assisting individuals with developmental disabilities in a residential setting and/or day setting. Multiple locations and shifts

   

Fill out an Application On-Site Interviews No appointment necessary Childcare Available

Be sure to bring:

Community Service Providers: Assist individuals in their own homes and in the community. Full and Part-Time

 

Additional positions: Bus Driver, Registered Nurses, Plan Writers

For more information:

Read more at: http://www.arcotsego.org/ Careers/careeropportunities.asp

The Arc Otsego offers competitive wages, an outstanding benefits package and comprehensive training.

All positions include competitive wages, retirement, health insurance, and stable long-term employment.

Please apply in person at 359 Delaware Cty Hwy 11, Oneonta.

Resume or Work History Names and contact information for three references

www.arcotsego.org 607-432-8595

The Arc Otsego is a chapter of NYSARC, Inc. and a member of The Arc of The United States. The Arc Otsego is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Community Bank, N.A. is seeking friendly, dependable, motivated individuals with exceptional communication skills and smiling faces to join our Bank Happy Team.

Teller – Various locations centered in Oneonta

This full-time floating Teller position is based out of Oneonta. Major responsibilities include providing exceptional customer service, handling cash accurately, meeting customers’ financial needs, and promoting bank products and services at various office locations throughout the Central Region. Qualifications for this position include a high school diploma or equivalent, excellent communication skills, accuracy, and basic math skills. Reliable transportation is required. Prior cash handling and customer service preferred.

Teller – Schenevus

This full-time Teller position is located in Schenevus. Major responsibilities include providing exceptional customer service, handling cash accurately, meeting customers’ financial needs, and promoting bank products and services.

Qualifications for this position include a high school diploma or equivalent, excellent communication skills, accuracy, and basic math skills. Prior cash handling and customer service preferred.

Branch Manager – Norwich

This full-time Branch Manager position is located in Norwich. Major responsibilities include management of branch operations in order to meet financial service needs of customers; lending; business development; sales and customer service calls on present and prospective customers; and directly supervises assigned personnel. Qualifications for this position include an Associate’s Degree or equivalent, specialized banking education and training, a minimum of four years’ experience in related banking and lending positions, excellent communication skills, sales ability, and demonstrated supervisory skills.

Candidates being considered for this position will be subject to additional background checks as required by regulations.

Employees in this job must register and comply with all rules and regulations of The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (The SAFE Act). Employees hired or transferring into this position will need to meet the qualification requirements, in Community Bank’s sole discretion, under Reg. Z, prior to acting as a loan originator in a consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling. Qualification requirements include but are not limited to an assessment of overall financial responsibility, character, and general fitness through review of a criminal background check, and credit report.

Branch Manager – Cobleskill

visit

AllOTSEGO.com

DAILY FOR OPPORTUNITIES

This full-time Branch Manager position is located in Cobleskill. Major responsibilities include management of branch operations in order to meet financial service needs of customers; lending; business development; sales and customer service calls on present and prospective customers; and directly supervises assigned personnel. Qualifications for this position include an Associate’s Degree or equivalent, specialized banking education and training, a minimum of five years’ experience in related banking and lending positions, excellent communication skills, sales ability, and demonstrated supervisory skills.

Candidates being considered for this position will be subject to additional background checks as required by regulations.

Employees in this job must register and comply with all rules and regulations of The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (The SAFE Act). Employees hired or transferring into this position will need to meet the qualification requirements, in Community Bank’s sole discretion, under Reg. Z, prior to acting as a loan originator in a consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling. Qualification requirements include but are not limited to an assessment of overall financial responsibility, character, and general fitness through review of a criminal background check, and credit report.

Facilities Specialist-Oneonta

ZONING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER (PaRT-TIME) The Village of Cooperstown, listed in the Glimmerglass Historic District on the National Register of Historic places, and a Certified Local Government, seeks qualified applicants for the position of part-time Zoning Enforcement Officer. Duties include explaining and interpreting the Village zoning ordinances to contractors and the general public, reporting to the various zoning boards and Village Board of Trustees, investigating complaints of violations, attending monthly meetings of the zoning boards and Board of Trustees, assisting the public in applying for zoning permits. Preference will be given to applicants with experience in municipal planning, zoning enforcement, historic preservation or related field. Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships between the public and Village representatives is an essential component of this position. Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience.

Please send resume, cover letter, and references to the Teri L. Barown, RMC, Village Clerk, Village of Cooperstown, P.O. Box 346, Cooperstown, NY 13326 or by email to vcooperstown@stny.rr.com.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Any questions regarding this position should be directed to the Teri Barown at 607547-2411. Candidates must be Otsego County residents at the time of appointment. EOE.

CHECK

This full-time Facilities Specialist position is located in Oneonta. Major responsibilities include providing exceptional customer service and performing various maintenance repairs and preventative maintenance tasks for plumbing, electrical, lighting, and HVAC systems throughout the organization. Educational qualifications for this position include a High School Diploma (or equivalent); an Associate’s Degree in a related field is preferred. Applicants must have a minimum of five years in facilities maintenance or construction, including the ability to perform routine repairs to heating, air conditioning, lighting, and electrical and plumbing systems. Other qualifications required are strong carpentry, electrical, and plumbing skills; no fear of heights; ability to work effectively in a team environment and multi-task in a fast-paced environment; and ability to work independently and remain on task. To be considered applicants must have a valid driver’s license as travel to different locations is necessary as needed. May be required to lift 100 pounds as well as perform laborer functions such as climbing and shoveling.

If you are interested in applying for these positions, please complete an application available from the Careers page at www.communitybankna.com, submit online or print out the form and send it to: Community Bank N.A. Attn: Human Resources 245 Main Street PO Box 430 Oneonta, NY 13820 Or Employment@communitybankna.com

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

An Equal Opportunity Employer Male/Female/Disabled/Veteran

DAILY FOR BREAKING NEWS OF OTSEGO COUNTY

HOMETOWN Views

A-4 HOMETOWN ONEONTA

FRIDAY, February 26, 2016

EDITORIALS

We Can Have It All: Natural Gas Now, Renewables Later

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t’s not a question of either, or. It’s win, win: Natural gas today, as the cleanest, lowestcost fuel available for business and manufacturing. Tomorrow, inevitably, there will be even cleaner, even less-costly, sufficiently powerful renewables. We can embrace them then.

That SUNY Oneonta – hardly a radical entity – would summon major employers and institutions from Otsego and Chenango counties to discuss what to do about “interruptible power” natural-gas contracts settles – or should settle Constitution Pipeline photo – the argument for now.

The first segments of pipe for the Constitution Pipeline NYSEG, the natural-gas utility arrived in New York State in March 2014, two years ago around here, simply doesn’t have next month, but none has yet been laid. the supply to meet demand. During the rounds, Lutz Feed was of natural gas becomes a central ing cold snaps – like the sub-zero denied natural gas to operate a concern to anyone concerned Feb. 13-14 weekend – NYSEG new bird-seed drier at its Lower about the “fragile” local economy, directs major institutions, from River Street mill. as state Sen. Jim Seward, R-MilChobani to Fox Hospital, to switch If there’s not enough natural gas ford, described it several times in to dirtier, more expensive “high for a bird-seed drier, there’s ceraddressing Cooperstown Chamber viscosity residual” Number 6 oil tainly not enough natural gas for of Commerce members Monday, for heating.

Amphenol’s 800-employee plant Feb. 22, at the Hall of Fame.

This pains the people in these in Sidney that, previously Bendix • organizations who, for years now, and Scintilla, has been an economThere are two options on the have been seeking to maximize the ic mainstay of the local economy table: efficiency of their heating plants for almost a century.

• One, NYSEG has plans to and – in SUNY Oneonta’s case, And, with the county’s first replace an 8-inch pipeline from explicitly – to reduce their carbon “shovel-ready site” awaiting a maDeRuyter, which has been servfootprints. jor employer in the Oneonta Busiing Oneonta for 50 years, with a • ness Park (formerly Pony Farm), 10-inch line.

The goal is to start Already, there’s insufficient and promising plans to redevelop the work in 2020, but that could natural gas. In a story that’s makthe former D&H yards, this lack be 2022, or 2025, or 2030, given

regulatory vagaries. Do we really want to delay any significant economic development for half a generation?

• Two, tap into the Constitution Pipeline, which, if final objections are met, can be functioning sometime in 2017. This is the fastest, fullest way to meet unmet needs, not only of future economic development, but of SUNY Oneonta, Fox Hospital, Chobani and other “interruptible power” contract holders. (And a feeder line up to Cooperstown would mean huge savings for Bassett Hospital, the Hall, the museums, the public schools en route, not to mention householders.)

• Regrettably, the essential and successful anti-fracking fight also resulted in demonizing natural gas in some people’s minds.

You’ll hear it argued, based on research by Cornell professor Tony Ingraffea, that leaking natural gas is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon monoxide from burning oil or coal. But this isn’t settled science. Others say Ingraffea overestimates the amount of leakage and, regardless, natural gas dissipates relatively quickly in the atmosphere, while CO2 lingers for years.

Meanwhile, Lou Allstadt, the

most formidable anti-fracking leader around here, gave a very encouraging lecture on the future of energy last September at the Friends of the Village Library’s Sunday Series.

Over recent years, he reported, fossil-fuel costs have risen steadily; the cost of renewables is dropping sharply. Market forces are already driving an energy transformation most of us will see in our lifetimes.

• It’s going to happen. But not today. Shortterm, major employers, would-be employers and will-be employers are looking to natural gas as the cheapest, cleanest, most adaptable fuel source.

And the Constitution can provide natural gas aplenty within months.

The final hurdle to the Constitution Pipeline’s construction is a lingering decision on state waterquality permits. Let’s get on with it. The state regulators should complete the review and, lacking evidence otherwise, issue the permits promptly.

The fate of the earth won’t be decided by the relatively miniscule amount of natural gas that would be burned in Otsego County, but – for now, at least – that relatively miniscule amount may determine the fate of Otsego County.

LETTERS

MIKE ZAGATA OTHER VOICES

What Do We Do About Poverty Effecting Half Our Neighbors?

ISSUE & DEBATE: Is Natural Gas Answer?

Get Off Fossil Fuels, Don’t Develop Them Further

To the Editor: It is disheartening to see neighbor? According to Editor’s Note: Mike in your report, “Natural-Gas staff at St. Mary’s food Zagata, who lives in DavShortfalls Energize Pipeline pantry, they provide food for Push,” in last week’s edition, enport, is a former commisabout 300 mouths per week that Senator Seward and our sioner of the state Departand they’re not necessarily ment of Environmental local economic planners led by the same people each week. Sandy Mathes are pushing for Conservation.

These aren’t people who more pipelines to increase natuare milking the public ashe median household ral gas consumption in our area. sistance programs like Food income average for The demand by local instituStamps and SNAP. Otsego, Delations and businesses for reliable They are people ware and Schoharie and adequate energy should who hold one or counties combined be taken as an opportunity more jobs but don’t to prioritize the development is about $49,000. have a cash reserve of renewables, not to call for According to the to handle expenses federal government, more natural gas. The serious when a car or the poverty level local and global harms done refrigerator breaks for a family of four by natural gas and other fossil down or a family is $24,000. Howfuels are no longer in dispute. member becomes ever, according to Their environmental costs now ill. Cooperstown, staff from Catholic Mike Zagata Milford, Otego, Un- clearly outweigh any benefits. It Charities of the is astonishing that Seward and adilla and Laurens Albany diocese, Mathes do not seem to recogalso have food pantries as the number for Upstate nize this. do towns in the two other New York should be about Can renewable energy sourccounties. $43,000. Thus nearly one es supply all our needs? Can we According to Opportunihalf of the residents in those entirely replace natural gas and ties for Otsego, about 6,000 fossil fuels? We won’t know three counties live near or people receive some form of below the poverty level. annual assistance. Catholic That’s an overall numCharities assists about 6,000 ber, but what does it mean Please See VOICES, A6 to you, and possibly your

T

Natural Gas Is Safest, Most Abundant

until we try. What we do know is that fossil fuels are slowly killing us. If we have to accept long-term limits to economic growth by sticking to truly clean energy, that’s a compromise we may have to make. At least that will give us a chance to leave a livable environment for future generations.

In the meantime, we have to get off of fossil fuels, not develop them further. To that end, we need massive infrastructure investment in renewables to provide alternative energy.

If Senator Seward and Sandy Mathes are serious about promoting economic development, they should focus on lobbying Albany to implement a wholesale transition to renewables.

Building an infrastructure for renewable energy is the only way to create jobs while respecting the environment.

ADRIAN KUZMINSKI Moderator Sustainable Otsego

To the Editor: The lead story “Natural Gas Shortfalls” in last week’s newspaper illustrates an imperative need for increasing the supply of natural gas, not only to our region but also to New England (where I recently lived.)

While “fracking” has become a dirty word to many environmentalists, it is a source of natural-gas production in neighboring states, upon which we are dependent.

Until such time as renewable sources of energy, such as solar power and wind farms (which local environmentalists also reject) become economically viable, natural gas is our safest, most abundant, and environmentally acceptable source of energy.

Perhaps the environmentalist would prefer wood-burning stoves and furnaces.

Senator Seward doesn’t want our region to “become a highway for pipelines,” but New York State is already a highway for commerce between New England and the rest of the nation.

We should no more discourage using pipelines for the transportation of natural gas than we should discourage using Interstate 17, 88 and 90 for trucking and buses.

WILLIAM W. DORNBURGH

Cooperstown

County Should End Predatory Tax Collections Immediately

HOMETOWN ONEONTA

& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch

Jim Kevlin

Editor & Publisher

Tara Barnwell

Advertising Director

Thom Rhodes • Allison Green Advertising Consultants Celeste Brown Thomas

Copy Editor

Mary Joan Kevlin Business Manager

Kathleen Peters • Christine Scales Graphics Libby Cudmore Reporter

Judith Bartow Ivan Potocnik Billing Office Manager & Web Architect

Ian Austin Photographer Tom Heitz Consultant

MEMBER OF New York Press Association • The Otsego County Chamber Published weekly by Iron String Press, Inc. 21 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown NY 13326 Telephone: (607) 547-6103. Fax: (607) 547-6080.

E-mail: info@allotsego.com • www.allotsego.com

To the Editor: Otsego County taking property for back taxes is understandable and legitimate. Not allowing the property owner to pay those back taxes right up to the last minute before the tax sale, and not returning excess tax-sale money to the property owner, creates a misery-tax credit to all other Otsego County property owners.

This makes us all unwilling participants in the taking of our neighbors’

property for profit, often leaving them homeless and destitute.

This is a dirty business and I do not want any part of it or any of this dirty money to reduce my tax bills. It is like the medieval punishment of slowly crushing a person under a slab with everyone in a village forced to put a stone on the slab.

Otsego County government is in place to help and serve the residents of Otsego County, not to confiscate their

property and what little additional assets they may have left.

This tax-collection practice, and the misery it is continually creating, is making me sick. The Otsego County board should immediately end this predatory tax collection practice.

This is a dark cloud over Otsego County, and a dark cloud over me, that I resent every day.

JAMES R. DEAN Cooperstown

George H.W. Bush Attended Hall Of Fame Game As Vice President Vice President George H.W. Bush, center, with U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, left, and Hall of Fame Director Ed Stack.

To the Editor: I enjoyed your article on the presidents that have visited Cooperstown.

I think you failed to mention George H. W. Bush.

Back in the mid 1980s I spent the day with him and our local congressman taking photos for him. He was vice president at the time.

The day started for a tour at The Baseball Hall of Don Urtz photo Fame, then to Doubleday

Field for the annual game and in the afternoon to The Otesaga for a Republican fundraiser on the lawn.

Enclosed are a few of several photos I took that day.

DON URTZ Richfield Springs Editor’s Note: Thanks, Don; we’ll do George H.W. Bush next year!

AllOTSEGO.com • MORE LETTERS, A6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WELCOME • E-MAIL THEM TO info@

FRIDAY, february 19, 2016

HOMETOWN

History

HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5

Compiled by Tom Heitz with resources courtesy of The New York State Historical Association Library

125 Years Ago

The Local News – Multer, the proprietor of the West Oneonta Hotel, whose trial for keeping a disorderly house was set down for Tuesday of this week, failed to put in an appearance and it was afterwards reported that his wife and himself left town on the sleeper Monday morning, leaving orders for his goods to be packed and shipped. West Oneonta folk, who are glad to have the nuisance abated, will probably make little effort to discover his whereabouts.

According to the corrected figures of the census bureau, Otsego County has 50,861 inhabitants; Delaware 45,490, and Schoharie, 29,164. The total population of the state is 5,997,853.

The Oneonta Electric Light and Power Company will replace its Thompson-Houston incandescent lamps, as fast as they burn out, with new ones of the Edison pattern. The new lamp has a shorter carbon and gives a much stronger light.

February 1891

100 Years Ago

would house up to 300 people and provide 100 area jobs.

James Seward, aide to Assemblyman Peter Dokuchitz said the assemblyman is “cautiously optimistic” that the Oneonta site will be chosen. The other sites under consideration are in Albany and Rochester. If Oneonta is chosen, the center will provide vocational education for people from sixteen to twenty-one years of age and offer training in fields such as television repair, auto mechanics and possibly nursing.

February 1976

30 Years Ago

About 550 people are currently on the Huntington Memorial Library’s most wanted list. They are all wanted for the same crime – unreturned, overdue books, about 2,000 of them in all. Under the library’s Law Week Amnesty Program, running from March 1 through 8, perpetrators can return their overdue books with paying fines, according to Marie Bruni, library director. “A lot of the books, we can’t replace, especially the children’s books, since they are out-of-print. That’s why we are desperate to get them back,” she explained. Prices for books missing from the library’s shelves range from $13 to $24. “We only have so much money with which to purchase new books. If we use that money to replace unreturned books, we can’t buy new ones,” she added.

February 1986

80 Years Ago

Guidance, or helping each pupil make satisfactory adjustments to his present environment and plan definitely for a happy and successful future, has come to be an important high school function. And, extensive work along this line is now carried out at Oneonta Junior high school which recently received its charter from the New York State Education Department. Guidance functions have been organized into three divisions – educational, personal and vocational – and each teacher is responsible for doing everything possible for each pupil in his or her classes. To meet the need of more personal service than any teacher can provide for the 100 or 200 boys and girls in all his classes, each child is assigned to a home room teacher. Each home room teacher takes a helpful, personal interest in all the 30 or 40 pupils assigned to him or her. Teachers make home visits and give advice about appearance, habits, studying, and getting along with fellow students and other teachers. Home room teachers keep attendance records, make reports, and develop school citizenship, leadership, and personality. All eighth year pupils meet once a week for a class in occupations.

February 1936

60 Years Ago

Shunning rides, Negroes in uncounted numbers walked the streets of Montgomery Alabama today to demonstrate their continued protest against segregation on city buses.

They trudged to work through a drizzling rain in response to an appeal from their leaders for a mass 24-hour pilgrimage on foot to prove their willingness to walk if necessary to carry on their 11-week-old bus boycott. Ninety of them walked to the courthouse for arraignment on anti-boycott

February 1916 indictments returned by a grand jury on Tuesday. They all pleaded innocent and their trials were set to start March 19. The maximum penalty under the law is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Meanwhile at the Alabama capital, Governor James E. Folsom won support from a group of newspaper editors and publishers, and radio and television broadcasters, for a proposed biracial commission to settle differences between the White and Negro races. The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., both Baptist ministers and two of the bus boycott leaders, estimated that thousands of Negroes were walking to work, refusing even to drive cars.

February 1956

40 Years Ago

Old Main will be sold at public auction on Tuesday, February 24, at noon. An auctioneer from the New York State Office of General Services will turn the keys over to the high bidder. The bidding will start at $15,000. Old Main was once the center of the Oneonta State campus. The building has been vacant for more than a year.

Oneonta’s Homer Folks facility is now one of three sites in the state being considered for a job training center that

20 Years Ago

Twenty years ago the last building on Broad Street in Oneonta was torn down. Under the city’s Urban Renewal Plan of 1966, the lot was to be part of a shopping center site. But today, the lot remains vacant. “They took the heart out of downtown when they took out Broad Street,” said Tom Oliver, whose family ran the Silver Grill. “It’s a sin they didn’t do anything with it. Now the lot is just a mud hole. The city learned a lesson, a sad lesson,” Oliver said.

February 1996

10 Years Ago

State spending during Gov. George Pataki’s last term will grow by more than 28 percent if his budget plan for next year is enacted as is, according to the analysis of the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative think tank. That would be the biggest fouryear increase since Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo’s second term. Pataki’s proposed budget for 2006-2007 would boost state-controlled spending by 7.1 percent, the second highest percentage since he took office in 1995. The increase would be more than double the 2.7 percent rate of inflation projected for the fiscal year beginning April 1.

February 2006

College Foundation’s Aims To Keep Tuition, Student Debt Low $10M/From A1 the College at Oneonta Foundation offices on the fourth floor of the campus’s Netzer Administration Building. Quite the opposite.

Following approval by the College Foundation board on Jan. 29, work began in earnest this month on the goal of doubling that endowment to $100 million in 10 years.

“Our best work is still ahead of us,” said Paul Adamo in an interview. Adamo, Class of 1981, 12 years later the foundation’s executive director and vice president for college advancement, was recruited back from Union College in Schenectady.

• Doubling the endowment in a decade may sound ambitious, but as Adamo details plans to raise $3 million – probably $3 million plus – and invest it at a 5.25 percent return (plus inflation), reaching the goal seems almost inevitable.

That’s because it’s built on alumni loyalty – 6,281 individual donations last year. “5,000 are loyal annual and very generous donors,” said Adamo, adding, “I’m not satisfied with having 5,000 loyal donors; I want 10,000 loyal donors.”

This will be helped by low turnover on Adamo’s 24-person staff, which results in the same gifting officer meeting with the same alumni year after year, developing a “long-term professional relationships that donors like to see.”

Half Adamo’s staff is in the Office of Alumni Engagement. “We explore with them their passions and priorities,” he said. “We want them to make the college one of the top three (giving) priorities in their lives.” (The others are, typically, church and a graduate school, he said.)

COLLEGE OF ONEONTA FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS ►OFFICERS President Paul Perlman ’76 Vice President William Pietraface Secretary Carol Baker ’66, ’71G Treasurer Todd Foreman’ Executive Director Paul Adamo ’81

Atty. PAUL PERLMAN

►DIRECTORS Janice Ashley ’62; Jerrold Bermingham ‘83; Keith Bundy ’62, ’66G; Carol Burkhart ’68, ’73G; Andrea Casper ’75; Edward Hyde Clarke ’10; Yvonne Cummings ’72; Arthur Dauria; Caitlin Dempsey ’17**; James Doig ’75; Karen Elting ’84*; Eleanor Filburn ’54*; James Guzewich ’74; Stanley Hansen, Jr. ’75; Jay Jacobs ’77*; Kenneth Kellerhouse ’57, ’60G; Nancy Kleniewski; Reginald Knight ’74; Meaghan Kristol ’16**; Daniel Lagani ’85; Patrick McCann ’75; William McVicar ’81; Mary Milmore ’06H*; Janet Perna ’70; Angelo Scopelianos ’77; Jeffrey Strauss ’71*; Andrew Turner ’11; William Vining ’81; Michael Williams ’88; Todd Zimmer ’90 *Indicates Honorary Director **Indicates Student Director

Most alumni need their incomes over the course of their lives, but they are increasingly intrigued by the option of including their alma mater in their estate planning.

That gift becomes the logical outcome of “a lifetime of enjoyment and giving,” said Adamo.

“My belief,” he said, “is we will have donors in the future who will make multi-million-dollar gifts to our college and our foundation.”

Today, only 15 percent of donations are unencumbered – 85 percent are given for a specific purpose. Long-term relationships with alumni, however, build a level of trust so that donors will make unrestricted donations; the staff consistently reports back on how the money is then used.

Adamo hopes to raise the share of unrestricted gifts a third more, to 20 percent of total gifts.

• Granting scholarships today – 1,079 this academic year to 960 students, about a quarter of the enrollment – begins the loyaltybuilding process. “When students experience philanthropy and know others have invested in them, there is a higher percentage of likelihood they will become donors,” he said.

That sentiment is reflected in many, many of the letters all scholarship recipients write to their donors, he said. (Adamo also has three staffers dedicated to acknowledging all donations within 48 hours.)

As with everything these days, this undertaking involves database management, keeping information current on 60,000 alums.

Developing the $100 million goal began within weeks of the “Possibilities Full of Promise” conclusion with individual “selfassessments” by members of the College Foundation board. The foundation contracted with BoardSource, national consultants based in Washington D.C., to guide the process.

HOMETOWN ONEONTA

The College of Oneonta Foundation strives to keep donors in the loop with high-grade publications from the Final Campaign Report on “Possibilities Full of Promise” to nifty desk calendars.

The next step was development of a “vision statement” – more specifically targeted than a “mission statement” – that defines the $100 million goal as part of “supporting affordable access to high-quality academic experiences for students.”

The detailed plan approved Jan. 29 spells out specific steps going forward, particularly in the area of gifts of property and personal property,” and “more complex gifts in lifelong and estate planning,” the executive said.

Much of what is desired is already happening. Adamo cites the Global Connectedness Fund, which provided $20,000 to 34 students to study abroad this year.

Since 2012, the D’Antonio Stu-

dent Travel Fund has allowed 604 students to attended professional conferences around the country.

The Clement Fund for Field Study in Geosciences this year sent 33 students on two “extended field trips” along the San Andreas Fault, enhancing their course, “Field Geology of Plate Boundaries.”

Alumni giving is also focused on improving faculty, with 180 professors participating in professional development programs over the past three years.

• The SUNY Oneonta community’s legacy of giving goes back to the foundation’s founding in 1982, with the faculty, in particular, endowing many scholarships that are still awarded annually today.

When Adamo was recruited back to his alma mater from Union College in 1992, he found “an incredible high amount of alumni loyalty and enthusiasm.” Still, he found less than $100,000 in scholarships was available annually, and this lead to the first two fundraising campaigns, in the 1990s, and subsequent and continuing efforts. “This is serious business we’re involved in,” Adamo said.

Becoming part of the loyal alumni cadre isn’t all work and no play. At the time he was interviewed, Adamo’s staff had sent out invitations to the “best donors” in the New York City area to a reception planned for the Vanderbilt Room of Café Centro in Manhattan’s Met-Life building, an expression of appreciation and a means of further building loyalty: it’s a circle.

“A college can be part of a person’s life for the rest of his or her life,” Adamo said.

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A-6 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA

As With Any Addiction, Weaning From Fossil Fuels Better Than Cold Turkey To the Editor: A few years ago, we fought and won a battle to prevent hydrofracking for natural gas in New York State.

Many of us supported a ban because fracking posed a real danger to local water supplies.

Some of the veterans of that battle are now fighting the construction of new gas pipelines in the area. They argue that these will lead to more consumption of fossil fuels and thereby accelerate climate change. While I am greatly concerned about climate

change, I do not support this campaign.

The problem is we are dealing with an addiction, an addiction to energy. We need heat in winter and cooling in summer. We must drive long distances to work and school and to shop for necessities. Electricity powers our lights and smart phones. It pumps our water.

Our milk needs refrigeration, and our food needs cooking. Our lives depend on energy, and fossil fuels provide most of this energy.

LETTER

This dependency changes everything. Consider for a moment another battle over addiction, the “War on Drugs.” The primary strategy – cutting off the drug supply – has failed miserably despite a tremendous effort made by law enforcement agencies since 1971. The problem is that with every drug seizure, the supply is reduced, thereby making drug dealing more profitable for new suppliers.

Today, addiction to narcotics in one form or another remains a scourge.

An alternative strategy proposed by

progressives is to reduce demand by treating the addicts, educating young people about the dangers of drug use, addressing its social causes and, in some cases, legalizing, taxing and regulating usage. This strategy has demonstrated measurable success in fighting tobacco addiction.

Reducing demand for fossil fuels, as with addictive drugs, is the only approach that can work. As long as demand persists, energy cartels, like drug cartels, will supply fossil fuels to satisfy demand one way or another.

Environmentalists should focus their attention on energy conservation and increasing competitive sources of renewable energy. But while our addiction persists, we should adopt policies and practices that enhance our immediate safety and well-being.

If distributing clean needles to heroin addicts is appropriate, then allowing the construction of a pipeline – the safest means of transporting natural gas – is also appropriate.

RICHARD BLABEY Cooperstown

Jobs Needed To Curb Poverty Here, And Jobs Require Natural Gas VOICES/From A4 people annually in the three counties. Charlotte Valley Central School may have a larger percentage of its students on the assisted lunch program than any other Upstate school.

This list of the groups that assist the poor is incomplete and it does not include all of the Federal and State programs for those in need. That number is in the tens of thousands.

Indeed, who would have ever thought that Oneonta would have a population deemed “homeless”? We do and it is growing. Governor Cuomo, in his 2016 “State of the State” address, went so far as to rank Oneonta among the 10 cities in New York with the highest poverty level.

If you have difficulty relating to numbers, it may be easier to relate to what you can observe. As one drives through our beautiful countryside, it is difficult not to observe fields overgrown with goldenrod. It looks pretty in the fall when the yellow tops are waving in the wind, buy it is an indicator of poverty. Goldenrod invades fields that are left fallow when a once-thriving family farm goes out of business because it can no longer make ends meet.

Stop a minute and reflect upon how many fields like that exist in these three counties.

When we attend religious services our pastor, priest or rabbi often talk about our responsibility to assist the poor.

Usually that means making a monetary donation. However, there is more than one way to provide assistance. One of those ways is to participate in and support the creation of a viable, healthy, local economy that results in the creation of new jobs. Having a meaningful job allows one to regain their self-esteem and become at least partially self-sufficient.

It is the gift that keeps on giving.

According to state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, one of the impediments to job creation in our area is the lack of a secure supply of natural gas. It seems that NYSEG, now owned by a Spanish company, has looked at the lack of business growth in the Oneonta area during recent times and decided not to increase the existing supply of gas.

As a result, both businesses and the two colleges may, at times, be forced to curtail their use of gas under a clause in their contracts that allows their service to be interrupted when supply is low. That means that if we get hit with a severe cold snap their service could be curtailed just when they most need the gas.

If NYSEG can’t assure a dependable supply of gas to existing customers, how can we attract new business that likely will need an un-interruptible supply? The answer is that we can’t. Zero new growth equates to no new jobs at a minimum. It also helps assure that our young people will continue to leave and our

population will continue to decline.

That may not seem important, but as people leave there are fewer people left to pay for our schools, roads and government. As a result, those of us who are left will have to pay more in taxes to maintain the same level of services.

In the City of Oneonta, the situation is even more critical as over half of the property within the city is tax exempt due to its ownership by not-for-profits. That means those who live there are paying double what they would normally pay for a given level of services. By placing a 2 percent cap on tax increases, the state has helped with our tax bills but, at the same time, forced cuts in our schools and local government.

An opportunity to help address this situation has presented itself in the form of the Constitution Pipeline, as it has the potential to both create jobs associated with the project and to create or maintain existing jobs by increasing the supply of natural gas, especially to communities and businesses that don’t yet have it.

Yes, there will be impacts that some will be asked to endure, but the overall result has the potential to be positive.

Some local governments have looked at the glass as being half empty and others have looked at it as being half full.

The Town of Windsor has taken the half-full approach. It chose that approach because of the following reasons. The

pipeline company building the project will make payments to property owners to either buyout or lease the needed rightof-way for the pipeline and that money will boost the local economy. The town believes that will create new jobs and increase local business.

During construction there is expected to be a short-term economic shot-in-the-arm from lodging, food and fuel needs associated with construction workers. Motels, campgrounds, rental properties and local eateries will be in demand. On a more longterm basis, there will be jobs associated with the on-going operation and maintenance of the pipeline and compressor station.

However, other significant benefits may well be those not often considered. The construction company is upgrading roads – an expense usually borne by the town.

The 2012-13 school tax budget rose by 2.55 percent, but the tax rate was reduced by 5.8 percent. The budget for town taxes for 2012-13 increased by 3.08 percent, but the tax rate was reduced by 8 percent.

How could that be? The tax-rate reductions were due to tax assessments on the pipeline and compressor station and they will be annual assessments. The pipeline was assessed $10,340,352 and the compressor station was assessed $19,478,736 for a total assessment of $29,819,088 – another gift that keeps on

giving.

Think about what that influx of new money would mean to you as a taxpayer and to our schools, roads and infrastructure. Then take it a step further and think about what an increased supply of clean-burning, low-cost energy in the form of natural gas and good schools might mean to our economic viability as they could well attract new business and professionals like doctors to staff our hospitals.

Lastly, think about how the proposed taps off the primary pipeline will save taxpayers money by providing gas to schools, colleges and government offices and what that low-cost energy will mean to major employers like Amphenol.

Rights-of-way (ROW) also provide a habitat type for wildlife that is rapidly vanishing as our abandoned farmland is replaced by forests. Deer, songbirds and other wildlife frequent the early successional habitats (grass, forbs and low woody vegetation adjacent to “edges” created where the cleared ROW butts up against the forest) in search of food.

Indeed, recent research at Cornell and the Alleghany National Forest in Pennsylvania shows that birds hatched in the forests often move out of the forest and into openings, like those provided by the ROW, after they fledge, or leave the nest, to feed on insects and fruits in preparation for the rigors of migration.

As a result, the rights-of-way

make excellent areas for bird watchers to add new species to their life lists.

No one is touting this as a panacea. It will take leadership, mutual respect and a commitment to our community

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

and our neighbors who share it to turn around our economy and help those in need get back on their feet. To me that is a goal worth pursuing.

NBT Bank is pleased to partner with

The Otsego County Chamber honoring

NYCM Insurance

as the NBT Bank Distinguished Business of the Year

John Remillard

as the Eugene A. Bettiol, Jr. Distinguished Citizen of the Year and

Oneonta Family YMCA as the Chamber of Commerce Quality of Life Award

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FRIDAY, february 26, 2016

Medical Community Failed Us, Covert, Brenner Say HEARING/From A1 injecting it.”

“I’m seeing kids as young as 8 being prescribed hydrocodone,” said OPD Lt. Doug Brenner. “We have I-STOP laws, but maybe what we need are I-Don’t-Start laws.”

“I got 60 Percocet when I broke my wrist,” said Dr. Celeste Johns, Bassett’s psychiatrist-in-chief. “My son said, ‘Mom, do you know how much I could sell those for?’

And into the septic system they went!”

Two years ago, Seward, R-Milford, first brought the tax force to Oneonta for hearings, and he reconvened it this week at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom.

“Despite our best efforts, this continues to be a serious, life-taking problem,” said Seward. “And we need to

double our efforts, make the changes to beat this epidemic.

I’m optimistic that we can do that.”

Though Covert has had success sending addicts to rehabs across the country, the task force heard over and over again that beds – both in and out of rehab – were desperately needed.

“We should not have to send our friends and loved ones to California, North Carolina, Arizona and Florida to get treatment,” said Julie Dostal, LEAF Inc. executive director. “We are a state with rich resources. We should be able to support recovery right in our own backyard.

We wouldn’t send any other kind of patient out the door with a phone number and an appointment in two weeks.

Why are we treating addic-

tion like this?”

“There is no other illness in which you get half the treatment you need, where you have to fail first,” said Susan Matt, Otsego County’s director of community services. “When we are sending patients to treatment providers outside of the state, we have a broken system.”

And although getting addicted is easy, healthcare providers say it’s difficult to find ways to help patients off the drugs.

“Physicians can prescribe as many painkillers as they want,” said James Anderson, a Bassett manager. “But there are so many hoops to get through to be able to provide Suboxone. That’s a problem.”

Anderson says that Bassett is working on creating a

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Judge Brian Burns testified he’s diverted 500 people into drug court, helping them to avoid prison and turn their lives around. “When someIan Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA one has a non-violent crime “We need to redouble our efforts,” Senator – larceny, forgery – drug Seward tells the hearing of the Joint Senate court can help break the ad- Heroin & Opioid Addiction Task Force. At right is diction cycle,” said Burns. co-chair Sen. George A. Amedore.

“And if someone completes rehab successfully, I can erase between someone selling their recovery.” that felony, which helps them a bag and keeping a bag,” And when they are reget a job, get housing so that said Seward. “We’ve put leased, she wants to see more they don’t have to go back to in legislation that punishes sober housing. “Crossroads is selling drugs.” the kingpins, rather than the always at capacity,” she said.

“There’s a big difference low-level dealers who are just The Turning Point, a sober feeding their habit.” recovery center in Oneonta, And for those who do end is one of only three such up in prison, Noel Clintonfacilities in the state. “We get Feik, who runs the Crossover 1,000 visits to our center roads sober-living community a month,” she said. “But we in Otego, wants more ways offer support coaches to help to help recovery begin before break the grip of addiction.” release. “It’s so heartbreakThe task force moved on ing to go into the jail and to a hearing planned that hear, ‘I can’t wait until they evening in Penn Yan, and will send me Upstate, there’s continue holding meetings more to do there’,” she said. around the state. “This will “They’re just sitting in their all be part of the deliberations cells doing nothing. Let’s get as we craft new legislation,” them the resources to begin said Seward.

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MLS#101318 $98,900 Oneonta School District! 17.44 acres of prime developable land in the highly desirable Wilber Lake area. This recreational paradise won’t last!

Call Leanne McCormack @ 607-287-8965 (cell)

MLS#103962 $55,000 25 Church Street, Morris The hard work is done.

This home needs finishing. Fantastic opportunity.

This home is priced to sell quickly call today.

Call or text Sharon Teator @ 607-267-2681 (cell)

MLS#103554 $234,000 Swiss Alps style 2- to 4-BR home w/newer roof and many recent updates on over 18 wooded acres. Perfect for outdoor adventures. Oneonta School District.

Call Matthew Schuler @ 607-437-5533 (cell)

MLS#103783 $124,900 Charming Renovated Ranch Beautiful views, finished basement, 2-car garage, huge family room.

Hardwood floors, new appliances. Priced to sell!

Call Tom Tillapaugh @ 607-434-9392 (cell)

MLS#103896 $159,500 Home Seeking New Owners! 2,000+ sq ft, master ensuite, finished family room, deck, fenced yard, and the privacy of a dead-end street.

Call Erin Moussa @ 607-435-1285 (cell)

MLS#104059 $120,000 104 River Street, Oneonta Fantastic updated home has 4 BRs, 2 baths. New roof, new wiring in kitchen and other areas, replacement windows.

Call or text Sharon Teator @ 607-267-2681 (cell)

MLS#104056 $184,000 One-Owner House! Private location. 3-BR, 1½-bath, 1,592 sq ft, tri-level home on 3.56 acres. 2-car detached garage, 1-car attached garage.

Call Suzanne Darling @ 607-563-7012 (cell)

MLS#103171 $149,000 Beautiful Chalet Near Stamford on 5 acres. Close to the Zone, Hunter, Windham and Plattekill. Catskill can be full-time residence or seasonal retreat.

Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633 (cell)

lis NE tiN W g!

MLS#104116 $110,000 Worcester – 2-BR, updated home has new eat-in kitchen, hardwood floors, newer windows, doors, 200 amp electric.Stone fireplace w/pellet insert.

Call Suzanne Darling @ 607-563-7012 (cell)

MLS#103744 $119,500 55 Years in Same Family! This circa 1871 house Spacious bathtop-of-the-line house is close toheating I-88. Large has newer4 BR, roof2and system. backyard, workshop/garage, shed. Make your Recent house inspection cansmall be shared. appointment today.

Priced to go this week!

Call Erin Moussa @ 607-435-1285 (cell) Virtual Tour: www.RealEstateShows.com/708598

MLS#103982 $75,000 26 Mill Street, Worcester Starter home w/many upgrades: newer floors and roof. Heat is wood and oil, public water, good-sized rooms. Easy access to I-88.

Call or text Sharon Teator @ 607-267-2681 (cell)

MLS#104070 $123,900 81 Mostly Wooded Acres This is a great place to build a house or cabin. Trails, views, stream. Enjoy year-round! Commune with the nature around you.

Call Suzanne Darling @ 607-563-7012 (cell)

MLS#103394 $49,000 4-BR, 1½-bath, village home in Milford. Corner of Main and Grove Street. 1-car basement storage.

24’ x 18’ family room on the first floor. Rear deck.

Call Frank Woodcock @ 607-435-1389 (cell)

MLS#103068 $209,000 Great Farmette 13 acres in Oxford, B-G Schools!

2004 home w/3 BRs, 2 baths, open floorplan. Security system! Barn with 4 stalls, tack room, riding rink.

Call Suzanne Darling 607-563-7012 (cell)

PR NE iC W E!

MLS#101899 $204,900 Nearly $100K in Improvements 4-BR, 2-bath upscale farmhouse w/beautiful views, ideally located within walking distance to universities and downtown.

Call Leanne McCormack @ 607-287-8965 (cell)

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MLS#102610 $132,500 Awesome Views! 3 BRs, 2 baths, large garage on 1.34 acres. Finished basement. Otego area.

Call William ‘Billy’ Vagliardo @ 607-287-8568 (cell) Virtual tour: www.OtsegoCountyLiving.com

MLS#96838 $148,800 3-BR waterfront home on 12.76 acres. Priced to sell immediately. Stunning valley views, river frontage, huge 3+ acre natural pond. Milford School District.

Call Matthew Schuler @ 607-437-5533 (cell)

MLS#98593 $99,999 Cozy Cape Cod Near I-88 for easy commuting.

3 BRs on ground floor, 1 BR upstairs w/possibility to expand the upstairs. Refinished hardwood floors.

Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633 (cell)

MLS#100312 $78,800 Double-wide has 3 BRs, 1½ baths, newer metal roof, high-efficiency furnace and carpet. Full basement.

Cooperstown home.Owner Sellercan payshold closing costs (up 3 parcels totalVillage .73 acres. mortgage. to Call$3,000 Frankw/acceptable Woodcock @offer).

607-435-1389 (cell)

Locally owned and operated Single and multi-family homes Commercial property and land

99 Main Street, Oneonta office 607.441.7312 fax 607.432.7580 www.oneontarealty.com

Great Commercial Opportunity! Two buildings on 5 acres on a busy corridor – State Highway 23 in Southside Oneonta. Two 8,000 sq ft buildings with overhead doors, loading docks and outdoor fenced storage area. Plenty of parking for both buildings. Separate heat and electric, 2 wells. Minutes to Oneonta and I-88, an hour to Albany and Binghamton.

MLS#99178 $875,000

Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner Cricket Keto, Licensed Assoc. Broker

Lovely, Affordable, 4-BR Home in the East End of Oneonta. Open floorplan between LR and DR w/pass-through to kitchen. Short walk to Main Street, hospital, school and playground. Home is in move-in condition w/recent updates including replacement windows.

MLS#104041 $109,500

Peter D. Clark, Consultant

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YOUR NISSAN HEAD

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OTSEGO.seniority

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, February 25-26, 2016

PAGE B-1

The Nightingale & The Firefly/Part I

NISSAN

Boyhood, Interrupted

would Und like er the tobig con NISS gra ANtul sign ate 55 OneNB idaO T 5IF 'SFF St., +P OneVSO ontaBM

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HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO

BEST BETS SUNY senior Melissa Trainor stars as Bianca and the Schoolmaster in “The Taming of the Shrew” at SUNY this weekend.

All-Female Cast Stages Shakespeare’s ‘Shrew’

W AllOTSEGO.seniority

Jim Kevlin/

Dr. Ashok Malhotra, the founder of SUNY Oneonta’s Philosophy Department who retired in December after a 48-year career there, is also an artist, and paintings in the great room at his Center Street home depict his boyhood in India’s Punjab province, including portraits of his grandfather, upper left, and father, upper right.

Placid Family Life Taken Apart

By Raj End, Destructive Flood “Even though you are small, you can perform miracles,” his grandONEONTA father told him. “You can be the hope in the hen Ashok Maldarkness.” hotra was 5 or Malhotra, one-time 6, his grandfaNobel Prize nominee, ther told him a story. retired from SUNY A nightingale had flown Oneonta in December far from her nest, seeking Hari C. after a 48-year career Chopra had food for her fledglings, a lifelong im- there and 75 years of a and it was night, dark life full of tribulations pact on his night. Lost, at the end of a grandson. and accomplishments, branch, she wept. taking him from a modAlong came a firefly and, est home in the small town of learning of the nightingale’s Ferozepur, near the India-Pakiplight, guided her home by his stan border, half-way across the tiny light.

Please See MALHOTRA, B5

‘LOL’ READING: Reading of the Tony-winning play “God of Carnage,” about two sets of parents behaving badly, 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26. Free by donation. Part of series of “LOL” play readings at The Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 Rte. 80, Cooperstown. Info, www. fenimoreartmuseum.org.

By JIM KEVLIN

W

The Ferozepur Cantonment, where Ashok Malhotra’s grandfather worked, was a key British Army facility during The Raj and is still a landmark in that Indian city near the Pakistan border.

For Auctioneer Buzz Hesse, This Sale Is Final After 40 Years, Archaeologist Turned Entrepreneur Decides He’s Going, Going, Gone Into Retirement

By LIBBY CUDMORE OTEGO

A

fter nearly 40 years, Hesse Galleries, is going, going... gone.

“I’ve worked all my life,” said owner Buzz Hesse. “I’m 76 and I’m not getting any younger. My wife and Jim Kevlin/ OTSEGO.seniority I would like to travel, consider other things.”

In April 2013, Buzz Hesse packed his Otego His last auction under the Hesse auction house when selling off the moosehead, birch-bark canoes and other remnants of Stevens Galleries moniker was planned ThursHardware, then Oneonta’s oldest downtown store. day, Feb. 25: the estate of Allen and

All

hat play features a drunk heckler, a pantomime horse, food juggling, cross-dressing, disguises and more? SUNY Oneonta Theatre Department’s production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew!” High-energy comedy, with all-female cast. “If this were a movie, it would be PG-13.” 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Feb. 26-27 & 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 (also March 1-3). Tickets $5; free with student ID. Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg., SUNY Oneonta. Info, www.oneonta.edu/academics/theatre.

Dorothy Caswell of Laurens.

“People have been e-mailing me, saying that Otego won’t be the same on Thursday nights,” he said.

“They’ve been sending me these wonderful Buzz Hesse accolades, and some of them have brought me to tears.

“People have said I’ve touched their lives, but we’ve just always done what we thought was the best job for Please See HESSE, B2

‘FROZEN’ FETE: Kids encouraged to dress up, as the Village Library of Cooperstown presents the family movie “Frozen” on Saturday, Feb. 27 with special guest, the Hill City Ice Queen, doing photos, story time and autographs. Free! Story time upstairs 1-1:45 p.m.; film downstairs at 2 p.m.

22 Main St., Cooperstown. Info, (607) 547-8344.

ONEONTA IN 1866: Oneonta History Center hosts a free program 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, on Oneonta in 1866 and the first 50 years of the center’s home building. Oneonta History Center, 183 Main St., Oneonta.

Info, email info@oneontahistory.org.

SPANGLISH CONCERT: “Splanglish: Music of Passion and Propriety” concert, with Timothy Perry on clarinet and Margaret Reitz on piano. 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 27 & 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. Free, all welcome. Anderson Center for the Arts, Hartwick College, Oneonta. Info, email paiged@hartwick. edu.

DINNER WITH DRAGONS: Join the SUNY Oneonta Women’s Soccer team for dinner! All-you-can-eat pasta & a silent auction, noon-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. $10 adults; $5 kids under 10.

Elks Club, 84 Chestnut St., Oneonta, Info, email liz.mcgrail@oneonta.edu.

Allotsego.com

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FOR DAILY NEWS UPDATES, VISIT OUR New www.

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AllOTSEGO.life

B-2

THURSDAY–FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25-26, 2016

HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO Thursday, February 25

LAND TRUST OPEN HOUSE -- 5-7 p.m. Come meet the Otsego Land Trusts’s new executive director, John Winter.

All welcome; light refreshments served. No RSVP needed. First Presbyterian Church, 25 Church St., Cooperstown. Info, (607) 547-2366.

Friday, February 26

LOL PLAY READING – 7 p.m.

Reading of Tony-winning play “God of Carnage,” about two sets of parents behaving badly. Free by donation; all welcome. Part of series of “LOL” play readings at Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 Rte. 80, Cooperstown. Info, www. fenimoreartmuseum.org FREE FILM – 7 p.m. Screening of 1973 rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar,” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Part of Lenten series of films focusing on Jesus. Parish Hall, Christ Episcopal Church, 69 Fair St., Cooperstown.

THEATER – 8 p.m. (also Feb. 27 & March 1-3 at 8 p.m. & Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.) SUNY Oneonta Dept. of Theatre presents “The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.” High-energy comedy features a drunk heckler, a pantomime horse, juggling food, cross dressing, disguises and more! All-female cast. If this were a movie, it would be PG-13. Tickets $5 (free with student ID) at Hunt Union Info Desk, or tickets. oneonta.edu, or at door. Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg, SUNY Oneonta. Info, www.oneonta.edu/ academics/theatre

Saturday, February 27

‘WINTERFEST–8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Pancake breakfast, organizations and events at annual Winterfest.

Milford Central School.

LEUKEMIA FUNDRAISER – Three-week event, “Stepping for Stephenie” luached today at Winterfest to Benefit Stephanie Talaia-Murray, MCS 2012 alumunus and Hamilton senior. Pledge for available at MCS, Clark Sports

Centers or on Facebook, “Stepping for Stephanie.”

FROZEN’ FILM & GUEST – 11:45 p.m. story time upstairs; 2 p.m. film downstairs, followed by photo opportunities. Kids encouraged to dress up for free showing of family movie “Frozen” with special guest, the Hill City Ice Queen, doing photos, story time and autographs before and after. Free.

Village Library of Cooperstown, 22 Main St., Cooperstown. Info, (607) 547-8344 or www.villagelibraryofcooperstown.org.

HISTORY PROGRAM – 2 p.m.

Oneonta History Center presents program about Oneonta in 1866 and the first 50 years of the Center’s home building celebrating its Sesquicentennial Celebration (the hardware store years, Walter Brown, and David & George I. Wilber). Free; all welcome. Oneonta History Center, 183 Main St., Oneonta.

CONCERT – 3:30 p.m. (Also 7:30 p.m. Sun. Feb. 28). “Splanglish: Music of Passion and Propriety” concert, with Timothy Perry on clarinet and Margaret Reitz on piano. Free. Anderson Center for the Arts, Hartwick College, Oneonta. Info, email paiged@ hartwick.edu.

SPAGHETTI DINNER – 4:30-7 p.m. To benefit the Living Waters Mission Project, providing clean water to adults and children in a small village in Honduras.

Homemade sauce, salads, desserts. Vegetarian and gluten-free options. Adults $10; kids $5. Eat in or take out. First Presbyterian Church, Church & Pioneer Sts., Cooperstown Info, (607) 5478401.

THEATER – 8 p.m. (also March 1-3 at 8 p.m. & Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.) SUNY Oneonta Dept. of Theatre presents “The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.” All-female cast. If this were a movie, it would be PG-13.

Tickets $5 (free with student ID) at Hunt Union Info Desk, or tickets.oneonta.edu, or at door.

Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg, SUNY Oneonta. Info, www. oneonta.edu/academics/theatre MORE CALENDAR, B4

Era Ends As Buzz Hesse Lays Gavel To Rest HESSE/From B1 the buyers and the sellers.”

Hesse got into antiques by way of his first love, archeology. “In 1955, I was a Boy Scout, and some of the other kids in my troop were finding arrowheads,” he said. “I realized I could go into freshly plowed fields and find them myself.”

And in high school, he made a decision that would change his life forever. “I played on the football team, but we had a game that coincided with a field that I’d always wanted to explore being plowed – so I skipped school to explore, found a beautiful chert drill.”

But the next day, his coach forced him to wrestle two of the varsity wrestlers Jim Kevlin/ OTSEGO.seniority in front of everyone to teach The team that made Hesse Galleries hum all these years included, from left, him a lesson. And although proprietor Buzz Hesse, wife Jackie Hesse, John Carter, Bella the dog, Virhe pinned both, the event ginia Stevens, Levi Cole, Karen Mintel and Christine Getter. was so stressful that he spent the remainder of the certified by the New York valuable antiques. “In 1983, he hadn’t called, the other day in the nurse’s office.

State Archeological Society, we had a Lionel train set bidder would have gotten it “It taught me that I should he soon found his way back with an engine and three for much lower.” never do something my to antiques. “So many of cars,” he said. “The highest Hesse also handled the heart isn’t into,” he said. these artifacts just end up price that one had ever gone Stevens Hardware auction, And he soon realized that in a drawer in a museum for was $8,000 at Sotheby’s, and, last year, auctioned off he could just as easily buy somewhere, never to be and this one had some dete- his personal collection of artifacts in antique stores as seen,” he said. rioration on the wheels.”

“Star Wars” memorabilia. he could dig them out of the He sold at flea markets The crowd was big that “It’s a wild and exciting ground. “I’d go around to and auctions, and then, in night, with an absentee bid beast,” he said. “I’ll miss it.’ stores with a friend of mine 1978, opened Hesse Galler- in from a buyer in Vermont As he retires, he plans to and ask, ‘What’s that? Tell ies. “I never went to aucwho was on the road that return more to his love of me about this!’ It was such tioneer school and I wasn’t night. Hesse never looked archeology. “I have a few an overwhelming thing for a fan of that ‘auctioneer at the absentee bids himself, archeological sites I want to me. ” chant’,” he said. “But when but the bidder called in a bid investigate and some papers He still has the first piece I first started, people would from a phone just outside to write,” he said. he bought, a captain’s chair come up to me and say they the Lehigh Tunnel, just as But Hesse will continue he purchased for $1. “It’s liked how articulate and the highest bid was placed. with appraisals and the ocin storage somewhere, but I specific I was.”

“He ended up being the casional auction. “I’m not know I have it,” he said.

He quickly gained a good underbidder, and someone ready to give up antiques as Though he worked on dig reputation, and soon, found else got it for $10,400, a re- a whole,” he said. “It’s who sites for the state and was himself in calling rare and cord price,” said Hesse. “If I am. It’s a part of my life.”

All

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AllOTSEGO.life B-3

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, fEBRUARY 25-26, 2016

T

he Cooperstown Central Boys Basketball Team includes, front row, from left, Ethan Niles,

Riley Hall, Sean Mayer, Jack Lambert, Zack France, Dan Francis and Carmen Booan.

Back row, from left, are Coach Bertram, Teddy Trosset, Tyler Bertram, Chad Carr, Owen Kennedy, Travis Thompson, Noah Hecox, Duncan Clark

Go Team Go!

T

he Cooperstown Central Girls Basketball Team includes, front row, from left, Meghan

Fans: Cheer Our CCS teams at the Sectional Finals

Perrino, Maggie Schuermann, Elizabeth Millea, Jennifer Flynn, Paige Cring, Mallory Arthurs.

Back row, from left, are Coach Glen Noto, Olga Papaux, Julie Ford, Head Coach Mike Niles, Ciara McGoldrick, Maria Noto, and Coach Matt Hazzard

CCS Boys vs. Tully 12:45 Saturday, Feb. 27, Onondaga CC CCS Girls vs. Syracuse Academy 12:45 Sunday, Feb. 28, Onondaga CC NEXT WEEK STATE TOURNAMENT BEGINS

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Saturday, February 27 CONCERT – 8 p.m. “Rock Varieties” concert, featuring The Holy Thunderheads, Brian Beckford & Open Your Eyes Small Bear. Foothills Production Center, upstairs, 24 Market St., Oneonta.

Tickets, info, (607) 431-2080.

Sunday, February 28

SUNY SOCCER DINNER – Noon-3 p.m. Join the SUNY Oneonta Women’s Soccer team for dinner! Team hosts 11th Annual “Dinner and Auction with the Dragons.” Events supports team’s training trip to Florida.

All you can eat pasta dinner and silent auction. Tickets $10

adults; $5 kids under 10. Elks Club, 84 Chestnut St., Oneonta, Info, email liz.mcgrail@oneonta. edu or call Liz McGrail at (607) 436-3474 and players will deliver tickets to you.

THEATER – 2 p.m. (also March 1-3 at 8 p.m.) SUNY Oneonta Dept. of Theatre presents “The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.” Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg, SUNY Oneonta.

Info, www.oneonta.edu/academics/theatre CONCERT – 7:30 p.m. “Splanglish: Music of Passion and Propriety” concert, with Timothy Perry on clarinet and Margaret Reitz on piano. Free. Anderson Center for the Arts, Hartwick College, Oneonta. Info, email paiged@hartwick.edu.

Great looks! Visit the

Tuesday, March 1

THEATER – 8 p.m. (also March 2-3 at 8 p.m.) SUNY Oneonta Dept. of Theatre presents “The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.” Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg, SUNY Oneonta.

Info, www.oneonta.edu/academics/theatre

Wednesday, March 2

THEATER – 8 p.m. (also March 3 at 8 p.m.) SUNY Oneonta Dept. of Theatre presents “The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.” Hamblin Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg, SUNY Oneonta. Info, www.oneonta.edu/academics/ theatre

• Eye exams

Bassett Eyewear Center

• Fashion frames & contact lenses

Thursday, March 3

COOP KINDERGARTEN ROUNDUP – 6 p.m. Cooperstown kindergarten orientation and registration for parents of children who will be age 5 on or before Dec. 1, 2016. Parents encouraged to complete registration by March 31. Cooperstown Elementary School, 21 Walnut St., Cooperstown. Info, email interim principal Ann Meccariello at ameccariello@cooperstowncs.org SIP & PAINT – 2-4 p.m.

Greater Oneonta Historical Society hosts a “Sip & Paint.” Caitlin Cook-Wightman, art teacher at Cooperstown Central School, leads participants step-by-step in creating an original piece of art.

Take home your painting - and maybe a new-found talent. $30 includes materials and one glass of wine. Matt Masterjohn of Dietz & Wall Wines will serve. Space limited. Pre-register by March 10 at (607) 432-5495. Oneonta History Center, 183 Main St., Oneonta.

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HOMES FOR RENT

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Thursday-Friday, FEBRUARY 25-26, 2016

Milford House. 2, possible 3 bedroom. Nice lawns.

Views. Garage. Milford schools. No pets. No Smoking. $750.00 plus utilities.

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LEGALS Legal

Legal notice Notice of Formation of Azure Arts LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/26/15, under LLC Law Sec. 203. Office location: 1149 County Highway 27, Richfield Springs, NY, 13439, Otsego County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Christina Milliman,1149 County Highway 27, Richfield Springs, NY, 13439. Purpose: Any lawful business.

6LegalFeb25 Legal notice Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company, (LLC) Name: WILLSUE, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary

Legal

of State of New York (SSNY) on 1/13/2016.

Office Location: Otsego County, SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to: 50 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalFeb25 Legal notice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY The name of the entity is Suntime LLC, for which the Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State on January 21, 2016. The office of said entity is to be located in Otsego County, New York. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the limited liability company, upon whom process

Legal

Legal

Legal

Legal

against it may be served, and the post office address within this State to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against it served upon her is 1130 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10128. The purpose of the business of such limited liability company is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which limited liability companies may be organized under the Limited Liability Company Law. 6LegalMarch3

County, New York. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the limited liability company, upon whom process against it may be served, and the post office address within this State to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against it served upon her is 168 Sugar Hill Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326. The purpose of the business of such limited liability company is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which limited liability companies may be organized under the Limited Liability Company Law. 6LegalMarch3

ticles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State on January 20, 2016.

The office of said entity is to be located in Otsego County, New York. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the limited liability company, upon whom process against it may be served, and the post office address within this State to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against it served upon her is 1130 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10128. The purpose of the business of such limited liability company is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which limited liability companies may be organized under the Limited Liability Company Law. 6LegalMarch3

LIABILITY COMPANY

Legal notice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY The name of the entity is P & L Properties VII, LLC, for which the Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State on January 20, 2016. The office of said entity is to be located in Otsego

Legal notice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY The name of the entity is Bissell Road, LLC, for which the Ar-

Legal notice NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED

The name of the entity is N811SA LLC, for which the Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State on January 20, 2016. The office of said entity is to be located in Otsego County, New York. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the limited liability company, upon whom process against it may be served, and the post office address within this State to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against it served upon her is 1130 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10128. The purpose of the business of such limited liability company is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which limited liability companies may be organized under the Limited Liability Company Law. 6LegalMarch3

Legal

Legal notice BARRISTER AND MANN LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/04/2016. Office loc: Otsego County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Devin S. Morgan, ESQ. Hoffman Warnick LLC, 540 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

6LegalMarch3 Legal notice MEGAMOTION, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/11/2016.

Office loc: Otsego County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 3514 Craig

Legal

Road, Clinton, NY 13323. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

6LegalMarch3 Legal notice EMILYSARA, L.L.C. Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 01/07/2016. Office in Otsego Co. SSNY designated Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of process to C/O TROSSET GROUP ATTORNEYS, P.O. BOX 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Purpose: Any Lawful purpose.

6LegalMarch3 Legal notice THE EMPIRE HOUSE HOTEL, LLC filed with SSNY 12/18/15. Office location: Otesgo County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail

Legal

process to Sasan Khashaei, 136 Marion Avenue, Gilbertsville, NY 13776. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

6LegalMarch17 Legal notice Notice of Formation of Brower Property Management, LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) on 01/25/2016.

Office location: Otsego County.

SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her to: The LLC, 17 Spencer Dr., Oneonta, NY 13820. Purpose: any legal purpose.

6LegalMarch31

AllOTSEGO.life B-5

Thursday-fRIDAY, february 25-26, 2016

Raj’s End, Then Devastating Flood, Altered Family’s Fortunes water for 15 cups of sweetin sixth, and Sanskrit, the MALHOTRA/From B1 ened tea. language of literature and globe to a bright, meticuShe would then call her poetry, in seventh.) lously maintained home on daughter, Vidya, to knead His grandfather had been Center Street. the flower for chapatis, a railroad stationmaster for He seems to remember enough for 45 of the flatthe British. He was transevery detail of those early breads to sustain the famferred every two years; days in the house he shared Ferozepur was his final with 10 brothers and sisters, ily that day. The youngest would eat first. posting, and he retired in his parents – father Ni1941, the year Ashok hal and mother Vidya was born. In his re– and grandparents Hari tirement, he worked as Chand Chopra and his a civilian in the local wife Veera.

Army post.

The family of 15 slept Of the adults, Hari in two rooms. Every Chopra was the only morning in those early one who could read, years, his grandmother, having completed high between 4-5 a.m., would school. He would begin churning milk read to the children in a big bowl, reciting from “The Arabian devotional songs – “I Nights,” the tales of remember listening from While Malhotra has no photos Sinbad, Aesop’s my bed; I never wanted from his earliest years, this one it to end” – until the was taken with two of his young- fables, and literature from China and Japan. liquid became butter. er brothers before he left India.

He never distinguished By then, Ashok’s At age 6, Ashok entered what he read by country father, who owned 10 cows elementary school, typically or culture; Ashok simply and sold milk – this put the four grades; most Indians accepted this wide range of family firmly in the Inwould study no further. The world literature as part of a dian middle class – would other day, with his iPad common culture. be making the rounds for close at hand, Malhotra told “Grandpa’s home!” the Ferozepur, selling his daily how each student wrote his children would shout when wares. he arrived home at 5. And To the sound of his wife’s or her lessons on a white board, with handle attached, he would sit in the one cane devotions, grandpa Hari after mixing ink from black chair and put his feet up. would have been handpowder and cutting a quill The grandchildren would pumping water into an urn. for a pen. assemble his multi-part At 5, he would summon On one side of the brass hookah, place tobacco his grandchildren, oldest board, pupils would write in the bowl, drop burning to youngest – Ashok was their Urdu lessons; on the charcoal on it, and watch as eighth in line – for a coldother, math. (In the next six he inhaled through the bubwater dousing with a ladle. grades – high school – stubling water.

Meanwhile, Veera would dents who went on would As the smoke entered start a fire in a modest begin learning Hindi, the his lungs, “his eyes would hearth – a square, three national language, in fifth; pop open; we knew, now, sides of brick, heated with English, the official lanthe fun would begin,” his dried cow chips from the guage of the ruling British, grandson remembered. Risfamily’s herd – and boil

AllOTSEGO. seniority

AllOTSEGO.seniority

Jim Kevlin/

At his home on Center Street, Professor Ashok Malhotra, recently retired founder of SUNY Oneonta’s Philosophy Department, examines the book he published containing 40 of the 250 stories he remembers his grandfather telling him during their evening walks in Ferozepur.

ing, the grandfather, Ashok in tow, would then go for a walk, telling a story as he went. The walk would be a mile, two miles, five miles, depending on the length of the story. “You are my vitamins,” he would tell his grandchildren. “You are the flowers in my garden.”

That was seven decades ago now, and Malhotra had forgotten many of the stories. A few years ago, however, an artist as well as a philosophy professor, Ashok began painting a portrait of his grandfather from a dark black and white photograph, adding the colors he remembered from those long-ago walks.

As he painted, the stories came back to him. By the time the portrait was complete, he remembered 250 of them. He has since written down 80, the first 40 in a book published in 2011, “Grandpa Chopra’s Stories for Life Nourishment,” and 40 more in an e-book. “My goal, in the next couple of years, will be to write them all,” Malhotra said.

Of all, “The Nightingale and The Firefly” has brought the most nourishment over the grandson’s many years.

And so life proceeded, day to day, a dependable cycle, devotional songs, chapati and tea, studies in Urdu, grandpa’s stories in the evening, as history – the waning days of the British Raj – developed around the unsuspecting family.

That life received its first cruel jolt on Aug. 15, 1947, the day of partition, when Moslems were ordered to leave India for Pakistan, and Hindis in Pakistan were ordered to depart for India.

Since Ferozepur, in the state of Punjab, was only three miles on the Indian side of the border, communities like Ashok’s hometown experienced a huge, immediate disruption. “There was lots of killing in the streets, lots of looting going on,” some of which the 6-year-old witnessed from the windows of his family refuge.

If partition was the

beginning of the end, the end came the next summer, when the Sutlej River, separating India and Pakistan, overran its banks. At 2 a.m. one August morning, the family was awakened: 14 feet of water is headed toward the city; evacuate, they were told.

The three generations, the 15 people, climbed aboard a big, bullock-drawn cart.

The family hung on in the flat cab as they traveled all night and all day until 5 the next evening, covering 15 miles. Thousands of people had evacuated; there was no food, no water. Military aircraft flew over, dropping dried chapatis on the refugees below.

After 14 days, the water reportedly receding, two of

his father went on a scouting mission to Ferozepur and found water had receded to 3 feet. A hellish return trip on the bullock cart followed. “There were dead snakes, animals, rats, all floating by,” Malhotra said.

“It took seven, eight, nine hours to make it through.”

“We finally came to our house,” he recalled. “It had always been so clean.

Everything was smashed.

The whole thing was in disarray.” Mud was everywhere. Most disastrous, the family’s 10-cow herd had drowned. The Chopra-Malhotra clan lost its means of support.

At the grandfather’s direction, the family began filling buckets of water to begin the cleanup.

Ashok’s father was increasingly morose, with 14 people to support and no way of doing so. “One day, he got up and just went away,” said Ashok. “I was 8 years old.”

“Grandpa kept going,” said the grandson. “He said, education is all there is.”

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PART II of “The Nightingale & The Firefly” – in next week’s edition – will follow young Ashok Malhotra to university in India, then Ph.D. studies in Honolulu – and love.

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Ashok’s older brothers and

B-6 HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Friday, february 26, 2016

IN MEMORIAM Jeffrey McGowan, 55; Oneonta Eagle Scout

ONEONTA – Jeffrey D. McGowan, 55, an Oneonta Eagle Scout who went on to a career in automotive finance departments, passed unexpectedly on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.

Jeffrey was born in October 1960 in Syracuse, the son of Dean and Mary Jane McGowan. Oneonta became Jeffrey’s home town when his family moved here in 1968. Jeff attended Bugbee School then graduated from Oneonta High School in 1978. Jeff was active in several extracurricular activities during high school including sports earning him a letter jacket. Jeff attended SUNY Oneonta majoring in business.

Jeffrey was active in

many organizations. A baptized and confirmed member of the First United Methodist Church, he was active in youth group. Jeffrey was a Boy Scout, his Eagle Scout rank in 1976 and the High Vigil Honor in scouting’s Order of the Arrow. Jeff enjoyed the outdoors, camping, hiking, cooking, swimming, riflemanship, and other activities that grew out of his scouting experience and he shared with his parents. He participated in several National Jamborees and Order of the Arrow conferences. Jeff enjoyed the sport of hunting, loved barbequing and had a great love of dogs. However he considered his greatest love being the time spent with his

two children.

After college, Jeff worked in financing for several car dealerships. This vocation took him to Boston for several years managing leasing of high-end autos.

Jeff returned to Oneonta in the mid 1990’s to continue his career in auto leasing. In the late 90’s Jeffrey celebrated the births of his children Lindsey Marie and Sean Mathew. Lindsey and Sean were the loves of Jeff’s life and his proudest accomplishments.

Jeff transitioned into sales and worked in the contracting business and most recently in the sales of eyewear.

Jeff is predeceased by his father, Dean McGowan Jr.

and grandparents.

Jeff is survived by his mother, Mary Jane McGowan of Oneonta; brother, Scott McGowan of Chicago, Ill.; daughter, Lindsey Marie and son, Sean Mathew McGowan and their mother, Denise (nee Francisco) McGowan; as well as cousins, Tom (Pat), Bob (Cathy) and Gary (Robin) VanSchaick.

A graveside memorial service and interment will be planned for the spring time at the family plot in the Oneonta Plains Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home.

Wayne Russell, 72; DOT Engineer Traveled In Retirement WEST ONEONTA – Wayne L Russell, 72, who spent 37 years as a civil engineer with the state Department of Transportation, passed away peacefully at Fox Nursing Home Feb. 19, 2016.

He was born Nov. 12, 1943, in Delhi, the son of Lawrence and Georgia (Ruling) Russell. The family lived in Bloomville until his junior year in high school when they moved to Schenevus. After graduation from high school in 1961 he went on to receive an associates degree in engineering from SUNY Delhi, and they began his career with the DOT. He met his wife Lela (Eller) in high school and, after starting his career, they were married in 1965.

Wayne had many talents, interests and accomplishments. Chief among them was the loving upkeep repairs and remodeling of his home and gardens where the couple raised their two boys.

Wayne was a lifetime member of the Elks Club, and was a trustee and junior bowling coach Wayne for many Russell years.

Another priority of Wayne’s was golf. He was a long time member of the Oneonta Country Club and loved nothing more than to be on the course with his golfing buddies.

For many years, summer weekends were spent by the family aboard their boat on Otsego Lake among their boating friends. On retirement, Wayne and Lela turned to cross-country RV travel. During the winter months they would visit

many National Parks and points of interest along the way to California and back.

Wayne is survived by Lela, his wife of 50 years; his two sons, David and wife Michelle, of Walden, and Michael and Katalin of Berkeley, Calif.; three grandchildren; Timothy Russell of Hollywood, Calif., Casey Russell of Walden, and Rowan Russell of Berkeley, plus nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was predeceased by his parents; his brother Howard W. Russell, and his brother-in-law, Erick Hall.

Calling hours will be 1-2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at the Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, Oneonta.

The funeral service will be at 2, with the Rev. Judith Thistle officiating.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Catskill

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Area Hospice 1 Birchwood Rd. Oneonta, NY 13820 or to the Susquehanna Animal Shelter 4841 St. Hwy 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Arrangements are entrusted to the Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home.

Arthur R. Maine, 72; Certified Brunswick Bowling Mechanic ROXBURY – Oneonta native Arthur Ronald Maine, 72, of Roxbury, a certified mechanic for Brunswick Bowling machines, passed away on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. For a time, he also lived in Gilbertsville.

Arthur was born on Dec. 29, 1943, in Oneonta, a son of the late George, Sr. and Alice (Cope) Maine. Arthur married Molly Travis from Walton in November 1967.

He received his certification from American Machine & Foundry as a mechanic for Brunswick Bowling machines. He worked at Pla Mor Bowling Lanes in Statesville, N.C., until his retirement. Arthur enjoyed meeting new people and loved talking. He enjoyed reading and taking walks. He will always be remembered for his smile and his sense of humor.

Arthur is survived by his son, Mark Maine and his wife, Brenda; his grandchil-

dren, Steven-Mark Maine, Alyssa Maine, and Charla Peaslee and her husband, Nathaniel.

He is also survived by his brothers, John, Duane, William, Frederick, Paul, and David Maine; his sisters, Ida Belle Maine, Ruth Wilson, Linda Kent, and Anna Kinsey; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Arthur was predeceased by his brothers, Emmett Maine and George Maine, Jr.; and by his sister, Eleanor Harbaugh.

A Celebration of Arthur’s Life will be at 2 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Bookhout Funeral Home, Oneonta.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 417005, Boston, MA 022417005.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Bookhout Funeral Home.

ST. MARY’S ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY 39 Walnut Street, Oneonta (Corner of Walnut and Elm streets) www.saintmarysoneonta.org · 607-432-3920

Lent for Real Life!

Sunday, February 28 to Friday, March 4

All presentations will be held in the Parish Center and all prayer is in the Church proper.

Sunday, FebRuaRy 28 – Third Sunday of Lent 3 pm – Lent, Life and Mercy – Sr. Katherine Hanley, CSJ

In Lent the Church celebrates God’s deep love for us. How do we celebrate?

In this Year of Mercy let us focus on the mystery of the adventure of mercy.

5 pm – Pot Luck dinner

Monday, FebRuaRy 29 9 am – eucharist 10 am – Lord, teach us to pray – Rev. david Wm. Mickiewicz

This presentation will explore prayer, Jesus at prayer and various forms of Catholic prayer.

7 pm – Our Mission of Mercy: Supporting Persecuted Christians in the Holy Land deacon Gregory Kandra The struggles and hopes of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East will be recounted and what all of us can do during Lent to show our solidarity and support.

TueSday, MaRCH 1 a day of Prayer 9 am – eucharist

10 am – Our Mission of Mercy: Supporting Persecuted Christians in the Holy Land (Repeat Presentation) 1:30 pm – Rosary 3 - 4 pm – exposition of the blessed Sacrament 5 - 6:30 pm – Sacrament of Reconciliation 7 - 8 pm – Taize Prayer

WedneSday, MaRCH 2 9 am – eucharist 10 am – Jesus, Friend of Sinners – ameen aswad

What does the Bible have to say about prison ministry and the need for aftercare upon a person’s release? How does the power of the Gospel transform their lives. Helpful resources.

7 pm – Jesus, Friend of Sinners – ameen aswad (Repeat Presentation)

THuRSday, MaRCH 3 9 am – eucharist

10 am – Change: The Only Thing We Can be Sure of and How to Deal With It – Mark Mogilka This session will take a look at approaches to change and explore some life-giving strategies for both dealing with it, transitioning and growing through it.

4:30 - 6:30 pm – Knights of Columbus Fish Fry 7 pm – Change: The Only Thing We Can be Sure of and How to Deal With It (Repeat Presentation)

FRiday, MaRCH 4 international Women’s day of Prayer 8 am – opening Prayer for Peace

10 am – Reflection 1: Recognizing the Sacredness and dignity of the Human Person 12 pm – Reflection 2: Recognizing the dignity of Work and Rights of Workers 2 pm – Reflection 3: Recognizing That We are all Called to Care for Creation 4 pm – Reflection 4: Recognizing our obligation to Reach out to the Poor

7 pm -- Taize Prayer and Concluding Prayer for the World

Hometown oneonta B-7

Friday, february 26, 2016

Who Will Define City Manager’s Qualifications?

QUESTION/From A1 ments,” said committee member Melissa Nicosia, also the Second Ward Council member.

“I’m most interested in the vagueness of the qualifications for city manager,” said Patricia Crowe, a member of the 2009-10 Charter Commission that created the top City Hall job.

“There’s no formal written standard position,” Nicosia said. The charter defined the job as a “professional position with experience and education, and not just a pipeline to promote from within.”

If the ad hoc committee’s recommendations make it through a public hearing and survive a challenge and possible referendum, then – said City Attorney David Merzig – what the job becomes is up to Common Council.

“It can cover a very broad spectrum,” he said. “It is incumbent upon the council to articulate what it is seeking, and then personnel” – the personnel director job has been vacant since Kathy Wolverton resiged in October – “will write up the description.”

Some, like Sixth Ward Council Member Russ Southard, are already looking to see what other cities have done.

“I’ve looked at some job descriptions for managers, and, for example, one wanted a masters in public administration with five years experience, or a bachelor’s degree with 10 years experience,” he said. “The more restrictive we are, the more we limit the pool.”

“The Council will have to be well-educated in how you hire an executive,” said Council member John Rafter,

Eighth Ward. “We have to ask about their track record, focus on their accomplishments.”

The recommended changes will first go to Council’s Legislative Committee at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, March 8, and from there, will go to the Common Council and a public hearing.

And although Merzig and the committee has stated that the changes are not significant enough to warrant a referendum, Laurie Zimniewicz, another member of the original Charter Committee, said under Home Rule, either Council or the public can call for one.

“All we need is a petition signed by 5 percent of the voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election,” she said. “If there are significant changes in terms of what the public voted for, power and

the way things work, we can call for a referendum. There will be arguments, but it’s our right.”

Copies will be made available to anyone who wants to see them. “I want people to understand that we’ve simplified the document,” said Nicosia. “We’ve just moved responsibilities to where they belong.”

“As you read the entire document, you can see that we’ve placed our trust in elected officials, hoping they’ll know what the city needs at any particular point,” said committee chair John Nader. “I’m very happy with that.”

For her part, Zimniewicz said, “Obviously, I’m concerned that we haven’t fully implemented our city charter, but we’re already ready to change it.”

Grammy Ceremony Reenacted In Real Time On Broadway Stage the show from every angle.

GRAMMY/From A1 “We had a 10-hour day that Sunday, Feb. 15, it wasn’t day,” she said. “Our call for the next scene. was at 12:30 p.m., and we It was to collect their went on at 10:30. We had Grammy for “Best to rehearse the number very Soundtrack Album.” slowly for camera blockBut the cast wasn’t in ing.”

L.A. with the rest of the The Grammy staff was stars – they were home in also on hand to instruct the NYC, performing on the cast on what to do if they same familiar set at the heard their name called.

Richard Rogers Theater, “They told us what would shown live via telecast. happen if we won, and they When you think about had the Grammy backstage it, transporting the whole waiting for us.” cast to the West Coast in the The cast did win, and ran midst of a hit Broadway run Carleigh Bettiol in her “Hamilon stage to gather around would have been close to ton” costume.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the impossible. writer and star, as he gave “We didn’t get to see any his speech. “It was an electric feeling,” celebrities,” said Bettiol in an e-mail interview. “But Stephen Colbert was there said Bettiol. “We know we have an incredible album, but to hear that we won to introduce us.”

Adjustments were made to accommo- a Grammy was major for us all.”

The album has been a smash success; date for the roving cameramen capturing

the first cast album to ever reach #1 on the rap charts and the highest-selling cast album of 2015.

And though the Tony Awards haven’t been announced yet, many critics predict “Hamilton” will be this year’s big nominee for the June 7 ceremony. The show remains sold out nightly, and a tour was announced for 2017.

Bettiol, a member of the chorus, got her chance to play a lead as Eliza Hamilton on January 10, filling in as the understudy for Phillipa Soo and singing solos in “The Schuyler Sisters,” “Helpless” “The Room Where it Happens and “Burn.”

“It was an incredible day and I had a lot of fun!” she said. “I was nervous, of course, but still was able to enjoy it.”

Bettiol’s contract is open-ended, meaning she could stay on until the show closes, but she plans to remain in the cast up until the Tony Awards. “I am unsure of what will come next,” she said.

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