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Volume 11, No. 29
City of The Hills
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 26, 2019 AFTER RAMSEY CLARK:
Filmmaker’s Next Topic: Living Poor By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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ilmmaker Joe Stillman wants to open people’s eyes to what he calls “The Invisible Class.â€? “In Otsego County, the poverty Ian AustinHOMETOWN ONEONTA rate is 16.5 â–şWANT to be 0tsego Now CEO Jody Zakrevsky told perin Joe Stillman’s Hartwick and SUNY next documencent,â€? he professors about plans tar? Call said. “In for an “eco-parkâ€? in 607-287-5175 Oneonta, the railyards. it’s 29.5 That’s one in three. Zakrevsky, Profs percent. These are our neighbors, Agree: Let’s Get friends, relatives and neighRailyards ‘Right’ bors, people we play with, shop with and work with.â€? Now, home from promotONEONTA ing an award-winning documentary on LBJ’s crusading tsego Now CEO Jody Zakrevsky met Attorney General Ramsay Clark, Stillman wants to with six Hartwick reveal “Faces of Povertyâ€? in and SUNY Oneonta college his next documentary. professors to talk about “I want to put a face to the the development of an Please See POVERTY, B5 “eco-commercial parkâ€? in Oneonta’s D&H Railyards. “We all want to see something happen there. We want to do it right,â€? Zakrevsky reported in a follow-up interview. “It’s the last piece of developable land in the city.â€? He made the remarks as part of his countywide “Town Hallâ€? tour on Thursday, April 18 in Richfield Springs. More details at By JENNIFER HILL
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Visit www.
AllOTSEGO.com
HE FACES CHARGES IN FATAL ONEONTA FIRE
Truitt Caught Next To OPD
Truitt hiding in the basement of the building where his children ONEONTA and their mother live. He was taken into custody fter 17 weeks on without incident. the run, Wednesday, Gabriel April 17, an Truitt, 33, is in Otsego County custody. Grand Jury in“Our detecdicted Gabriel tives developed on one count information that each of firsthe was in the degree murder area and served and first-degree a search warrant arson, and at 95 Main St.� Gabriel Truitt two counts of – that gray, twosecond-degree story apartment house murder for allegedly right next to Oneonta starting the Dec. 29 fire Ian AustinHOMETOWN ONEONTA Police headquarters, said on Walling Avenue that Gabriel Truitt, 33, suspect in Oneonta’s Dec. 29 fatal Chief Doug Brenner. killed John Heller, 38, a fire, was captured Tuesday, April 23, in the basement There police found Please See ARSON, A3 of 95 Main St. while visiting his family. By LIBBY CUDMORE
A
SUNY Senate To Study OH-Fest
Committee Will Study Concert Cancellation, To Get Better Scrutiny
AllOTSEGO.com
Brenner: Protests Made Concert Too Uncertain To Hold
www.
ON
AllOTSEGO.com
► STATE POLICE ARRESTED Antonio Fiorino, 52, on charges of poisoning two cats in Worcester with anti-freeze on Thursday, April 18. ► ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S letters to Aaron Burr prior to their fatal duel have been published in a new book by The Fenimore Art Museum. ► DEMOLITION OF historic Doubleday Field’s deteriorating concrete bleachers began last week, with modern bleachers and a two-story building for lockers and offices behind it to rise, perhaps beginning this fall. ►ASSEMBLYMAN JOHN SALKA, R-Brookfield, is sponsoring a bill to provide tuition assistance for family members of a deceased service man or woman who died in the line of duty to attend SUNY or CUNY colleges
By LIBBY CUDMORE
Pizzeria Looking To Grow Plans Includes More Parking, Outside Tables
ONEONTA
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y a 9-5 vote, with one abstention, the SUNY Oneonta Student Senate voted Tuesday, April 23, to do nothing for now on vetting of future OH-Fest headliners. Instead, it plans to set up a study committee to make recommendations. Drafted by junior Eric Battista after this year’s OH-Fest concert was suddenly cancelled over gang-rape allegations against Rapper Sean Kingston, the resolution sought to toughen background checks in the future. “Whereas students of SUNY Oneonta were left in the dark on communications that invited people to the college that conflicted with our values and mission statement,� wrote Battista. He drafted the resolution after SUNY Oneonta cancelled the concert for the first time in OH-Fest’s 13year history, the day after a “community dialogue� organized by a Know Violence Committee indicated protest might punctuate the music.
By JIM KEVLIN ONEONTA
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f one person gets hurt in the OHFest crowd, it takes five people, including law enforcement and EMTs, to reach them, according to City Police Chief Doug Brenner. “We form a wedge to move through the crowd,� he said. “But if there are 10 people fighting, we’re quickly overwhelmed.� Such concerns were among the reasons Mayor Gary Herzig revoked SUNY Oneonta’s permit to hold this year’s OH-Fest concert by Rapper Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA Sean Kingston. Know Violence Here, Student Senate President a student group, had spoke of protestZachary says a committee ing after learning he had been accused will study vetting OH-Fest of a gang rape in 2010. headliners. At right is Senator “It became apparent two days before Jazmin Phipps. the concert that there was as many as “We did the search on Sean Kings- 400 students who would be protestton. Nothing came up on his backing,� said Herzig. “I’m sure they were ground search because he was not designed to be peaceful, but it could Please See OH-FEST, A3 Please See BRENNER, A3
COOPERSTOWN
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t’s a village hot-spot, and customers intent on New York Pizzeria’s offerings park along Chestnut and Elm streets, and in the off-hours fill the parking lots at the adjoining Bank of Cooperstown and Triple-A offices. And that’s in the off-season. Several months of village meetings from now, the crunch should ease, restaurateur Joe Vezza is predicting. Triple-A has consolidated in Oneonta, Vezza bought the building, and he’s planning to demolish it to add 12 more off-street parking spaces. Please See PIZZERIA, B5
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD