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HOMETOWN ONEONTA
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, March 2, 2018 Visit www.AllOTSEGO.com CHAMBER DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN It Looks Like Sheriff’s Son Ros Bettiol Sr. Wins Award Will Be Key Issue Of Campaign
Mon to 11 pm m 11 a : t a Fri-S
Volume 10, No. 21
OTORING
E!
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Named In Son’s Honor By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
T
wo months after his Dec. 2 passing at age 85, Eugene A.
Bettiol Sr. will be honored with the award he created when his namesake son died in 2003. The Otsego County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, Feb. 27, Please See BETTIOL, B5
By JIM KEVLIN
I
t has the makings of a to-be-hard-fought campaign. In announcing he is running for Otsego County sheriff this year, retired state trooper Bob Fernandez of
Fernandez
Devlin
Otego said he was spurred to do so by the mass shooting of students and teachers at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Reacting to that news, Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. said this is another example Please See SHERIFF, A3
LOCAL INVESTOR TOM LAGAN CHARGED Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Oneonta race enthusiasts Tom Slicer and Mike Roda take off at the beginning of the YMCA’s Frostbite 5K on Sunday, Feb. 25. Roda came in first place with a time of 16:16, Slicer with a time of 20:45.
Cuomo Grant To Build New County SPCA
Cooperstown Figures In $4M Fraud Indictment By LIBBY CUDMORE
HARTWICK SEMINARY
COOPERSTOWN
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E
overnor Cuomo announced at $500,000 grant Tuesday, Feb. 27, to pay for the construction of a new Susquehanna Animal Shelter. The animal shelter here, which serves the whole county, has been subjected to periodic flooding from nearby Oaks Creek. Cuomo said this program is the first statewide one of its kind in the nation/SEE B5 PLANNING UPDATE: A summary of the January public-engagement meeting at the Wilber Mansion will be offered when the city Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at City Hall. Public welcome. GRANTS OFFERED: The Oneonta Rotary Club is accepting applications for grants in the $100-250 range for community projects in line with its mission. Download applications at facebook.com/oneontarotary NEW DIRECTOR: Kimberly Lorraine has been named the new Executive Director of The United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties. Previously, she served as Operations Director for Community Action Partnership in Madison County.
AG’S FOCUS
mpire Capital Trust, part of a $4 million fraud scandal that led to the arrest of Cooperstown investor Thomas Lagan and an associate, was used to purchase at least two Otsego County properties. According to county Tom Lagan at Village Real Property Tax records, Empire Capital Board meeting. ►To read Attorney Genowns: eral Schneiderman’s full • The former Paterno complaint, type “lagan” Brothers baseball store, in the search line at 83 Main St., purchased www. OTSEGO.com on Nov. 28, 2017. The sales price was listed at $500. • The Elm Inn, 84 East Main St., Milford, acquired July 10, 2017. The sales price was listed as $1. The Empire Capital Trust was part of an indictment Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought Friday, Feb. 23, against Lagan, 59, and Richard Sherwood, 57, an Albany lawyer and Guilderland Please See FRAUD, A3
All
Parker Fish/The Freeman’s Journal
The Empire Capital Trust, cited in Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s $4 million fraud indictment against Cooperstown’s Tom Lagan and another lawyer, were used to buy Paterno’s in downtown Cooperstown, above, and The Elm Inn (inset), Milford, in 2017.
SUPERS, SEWARD, SHERIFF OF A MIND
Consensus Forming Over Officer In Schools To Forestall Shootings By PARKER FISH COOPERSTOWN
I
t was a meeting made in Parkland, Fla. Six Otsego County
superintendents of schools, including Oneonta’s Joe Yelich, met Monday afternoon, Feb. 26, in their CCS colleague Bill Crankshaw’s office. The agenda, in part: Whether, after 17 students
and teachers killed by a shooter Feb. 14 in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, it now makes sense to support stationing a “school resource officer” in every school. Please See SUPERS, A3
County Manager Or Executive? First Question Reps Discussing By PARKER FISH COOPERSTOWN
T
o charter or not to charter? That is the question weighing heavy on the minds of county board Intergovernmental Affairs
Committee members meeting Tuesday, Feb. 27, to discuss creating a county administrative position. But what is a charter, and why is it significant to the governmental structure of Otsego County? “A charter is an organization of all county laws,” Please See IGA, A3
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD