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Volume 13, No. 27
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, April 8, 2021
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ONEONTA MAYOR REPORTS TO PUBLIC:
City of The Hills
‘Officer Acted To Save Life Of Child By Firing 2 Shots’ Tyler Johnson, 23, Takes 2 Bullets In Chest By MIKE FORSTER ROTHBART & JIM KEVLIN Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal
In Oneonta and around the county, youngsters like Luca Vibaway, 9 months, pushed by sister Anna, enjoyed the warmer weather, in this case by swinging on Neahwa Park swings. The past few spring-like days followed last week’s late winter snowfall.
Bruno Talevi, WWII Vet, Accountant, Civic Leader, Dies
B
runo A. Talevi, 96, a civic leader in Oneonta and, after his retirement, in Cooperstown, has passed away. A World War II veteran of the OSS and the Navy, Talevi he went to St. John’s University on the G.I. and soon moved to Oneonta, where he opened what became the largest accounting firm in the region.
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23-year-old man, Tyler Johnson, was shot twice in the chest after he allegedly pulled a knife at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, during a domestic dispute in a duplex at 48 River St., next to the former Foti’s Bakery. According to Mayor Gary Herzig, who provided a report Tyler Johnto the public via son, 23, died YouTube at the from two beginning of that gunshots to evening’s Common the chest. Council meeting, two officers responded to “a domestic matter” and found a mother, a 2-year-old child and Johnson at the scene. A neighbor said the child was Johnson’s; he identified the mother as Caitlyn Marie Calvey, and said she was Johnson’s fiancée. This is a frame from a video taken by Kevin Marcewicz after Tyler Johnson, 23, was shot twice “While officers were there,” said in the chest. Police said he pulled a knife during a domestic dispute at 48 River St., Oneonta, Herzig, “the third-party male did Please See SHOOTING, A3 and later died of his wounds. For transcript of interview with Marcewicz, SEE A3
$32 Million FROM $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Headed OUR WAY
►FULL OBITUARY, PAGE
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►16-Year olds can now get C-19 shots. ►Theaters can open Governor announces. ►Oneonta police reform proposals arrive in Albany by deadline. ►CLARK OLIVER RESIGNS as Democratic chairman. ►LISTENING TOUR BRINGS Senator Schumer to Oneonta. ►COVID CASES RISING, Otsego County Health Department reports. ►WALLER’S GRANDDAUGHTER Kira joins National Soccer Team.
Biden Makes Us ‘Whole’, Ruffles Says By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
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fter a year of hemorrhaging losses, the Biden Stimulus Plan will make Otsego County government “whole,” according to County Treasurer Allen Ruffles. “That’s what I would think,” Ruffles said, after reviewing the news he was planning to deliver when
the county Board of Representatives met Wednesday, April 7, for its monthly meeting. “It would Ruffles make us whole.” In all, county government, towns, villages and school board are expecting about $32 million from President
Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID Stimulus Plan, signed into law March 11. In January 2020, before the COVID-19 emergency, the county had put $4.8 million aside in savings. Soon, “that was gone, kaput,” he said. In the year since, the county gave up another $5.8 million in sales, occupancy and property taxes. Total: $10.6 million. That means the so-called American Rescue Plan means the county will come out ahead
►COUNTY TREASURER Allen Ruffles planned to detail the stimulus plan to the county Board of Representatives at its April 7 monthly meeting. Find out how the reps reacted at
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www.
by $400,000. The county, through borrowing at record-low interest rates and fast-tracking road work, the one category still reimbursed by Albany
– christened The Ruffles Plan – plus 50 FTE layoffs, avoided severe impacts. The City of Oneonta is getting $1,530,000. Mayor Gary Herzig said “our first priority will be that our staffing be kept whole.” City Hall avoided layoffs, but “reorganization plans” that would have required new hires “to be at our best,” were put on hold, he said. In addition to the county Please See STIMULUS, B2
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD