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overnor Cuomo may have authorized localities to assess $1,000 fines against anyone who fails to follow social distancing or wear a face mask where required to help combat coronavirus, and Mayor Gary Herzig said the OPD will levy them if necesssary to control 7,000 students returning to Oneonta’s colleges this fall. ►SEE EDITORIAL, A4
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Dr. Bed Fridell and Jackie Rowe, members of The Compassionate Friends, tend to weeds at the Oneonta High School memorial garden on Saturday, July 11.
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AllOTSEGO.com • COUNTY’S ONLINE DAILY NEWSPAPER
Energetic CEO Takes Bassett Helm At 39, Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, who has held top hospital administration jobs in three states, arrived Monday, July 13, as Bassett CEO.
Dr. Ibrahim Brings Planning Process From Oklahoma By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN
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sked when he would begin visiting ALL Bassett Healthcare Network facilities, as he’d promised, the new president/CEO, Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, replied on his second day of on the job, “I already have.” Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
School Yes, But Hugs No Details Iffy, But Classes Due In Fall
UNION PICKETS ANIMAL SHELTER SITE
Sentencing Due Friday In Arson, Murder In 2018 COOPERSTOWN
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By LIBBY CUDMORE
abriel Truitt, found guilty of the arson and murder of former Oneonta firefighter John Heller in December 2018, will be sentenced on Friday, July 17 as in-person court appearances resume at the Otsego County Courthouse. “He’s facing life without parole and that’s what I’m going to ask for,” said District Attorney John Muehl. “He should be in jail from now on.” On Friday, check
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AllOTSEGO.com ►DELGADO REOPENS Oneonta office. ►DRIVE-IN HOSTS second concert, this time, Blake Shelton. ►SQSPCA NEEDS VOLUNTEERS to help socialize feral kittens. ►COVID-19 INFECTIONS stable at three. ►city, otsego chamber distribute PPE. ►COLLISION WITH CRUISER ends high-speed chase in New Lisbon ►truck driver falls asleep spills milk on I-88. ►ONEONTA HISTORY CENTER reopens. ►Hill City Rollers “Skate Against Hate.” ►COOPERSTOWN OKAYS free parking on Fridays at Doubleday Lot. ►TRUSTEES DEBATE requiring masks on Main Street.
A month before occupying his office in the complex at Elk and Fair streets, Ibrahim – “call me Tommy,” he may tell you – slipped into town and spent a few days touring Bassett’s footprint – the four hospitals, the nursing homes, the dozens of clinics – in the eight-county service area. So when he arrived at a welcoming dinner Monday, July 13, Please See IBRAHIM, A10
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTAl
Ian Williams, Horseheads, right, representing the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, explains he, Mark Hopper, Wells Bridge and Bob Wilmott, Oswego, were picketing the Susquehanna Animal Shelter construction site Tuesday, July 14, to warn against a contractor who might not be paying the prevailing wage/DETAILS AT www.AllOTSEGO.com
‘Hard Worker, Good Soul’ Was Dedicated To Otsego By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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llen Tillapaugh still remembers the first time she met Anne Geddes-Atwell. “I was at Rotary Club, and this woman appeared and sat down near me,” she
said. “She introduced herself, and she was up from Maryland, visiting Jim Atwell. She just had this zeal about her.” Geddes-Atwell, 77, former Otsego town supervisor and, previously, a town board member, passed away Sunday morning at Cooperstown Center after a Please See OTSEGO, A8
neonta schools will reopen this fall, and one of the biggest challenges, Superintendent Thomas coronaBrindley said, is If virus lingers, going to be telling CCS won’t be the elementary back to norschool children mal this fall. that being friends means no hugging allowed. “These kids want to hug their friends, they want to hug their teachers,” he said. “But we have to discourage against that. Younger students don’t always think about these things.” Even before the state released its 23-page guide to school reopening on Monday, July 13, Brindley and Please See ONEONTA, A6
CUSTOM ELECTRONICS A HIT
Broadway Hails Oneonta Sanitizer By JIM KEVLIN ONEONTA
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piece of equipment doesn’t usually make PageSix, the New York Post’s daily gossip column. But Custom Electronics broke the barrier: The Oneonta company’s latest product – The Luminator, which uses ultraviolet lights to make PageSix Touted ‘The Luminator’ Please See LUMINATOR, A8
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD