SUMMER VISITORS... Plan Your Week of
Summer Fun! ...for things to do, see Page B1, B5
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
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Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 16, 2013
Volume 5, No. 47
City of The Hills
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
City Schools On Par With NY Test Scores
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By LIBBY CUDMORE
IKE FATHER, SON FATHER
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Holly Beitzel of Oneonta brought her plush friend with her to the Oneonta Community Band’s Teddy Bear Picnic in Wilber Park on Sunday afternoon, where she found a new friend: a small, one-eyed toad.
Spurning City, Town Goes To IDA For Loan
O
neonta Town Supervisor Bob Wood will appear before the county IDA board, seeking a $90,000 loan that would allow the town to proceed on its own with a Southside water district. Since a week ago, Wood changed his mind about accepting a City Hall offer to provide the loan and water from an untapped well in the city’s Catella Park. The town plan is to serve Southside from a new well in Fortin Park, Emmons/SEE EDITORIAL, A4
FOND FAREWELL: The Huntington Memorial Library trustees are hosting a reception for retiring Director Marie Bruni 2-4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in the third-floor meeting room.
Complimentary
The Rev. Paul Hunter, foreground, was ordained earlier this month into the family business: the Episcopal church. The new deacon at Christ Church, Cooperstown, follows in the footsteps of his father, the Rev. Ken Hunter, rector, St. James Church, Oneonta, (standing in pulpit). From the inset baby photo, you can see Father Paul happened on his vocation at an early age.
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he tourism industry, with specific experience and expertise, is best suited to direct Otsego Jim Miles County’s tourism promotion program. The county’s tourism leaders planned to present that thesis to the county Board of Representatives Inter-Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday, Please See TOURISM, A6
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Carl Delberta Sr. Gone; His Kindness Lives On By LIBBY CUDMORE
Calling To Episcopal Clergy All In Family For Oneonta Rector, Cooperstown Deacon
BENEFIT ART: To benefit Hartwick College, Hartwick Professor of Art Emeritus Phil Young will be selling a number of his works 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at the college’s Foreman Gallery.
ike Father, like … well, Father. The Rev. Paul Hunter, ordained at Christ Episcopal Church, Cooperstown, Sunday, July 21, is now serving there as parish deacon. He is the son of the Rev. Kenneth Hunter, rector at St. James Episcopal Church, Oneonta, for the past six years.
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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The much-anticipated results of the first round of testing Grades 3-8 tests based on the national Common Core Curriculum show city students performing close to their statewide counterparts. Oneonta scores were marginally above the state and county scores in all but two categories of the 12 released Wednesday, Aug. 7. Local students took the test in April. Oneonta City Schools’ new superintendent, Joseph Yelich, who arrived on the Please See TESTS, A6
By JIM KEVLIN
Carl Sr.’s family at the Swart Wilcox are, from left, daughter-in-law Kathy and husband Carl Jr.; granddaughter Jenn O’Donnell and her daughter Julia; daughter Angela Belavia and husband Ron.
REMEMBER RUSSO: The annual 5k Fun Run & Lower Deck Dash will be Sunday, Sept. 8, beginning at noon, to benefit the Chief Russo Memorial Playground Fund. Registration 9:3011:30 a.m. at Sixth Ward playground on Scrambling Avenue.
By LIBBY CUDMORE
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ar.
Industry Leaders: Privatize Tourism
“When I was ordained, I told my mother-in-law she’d have to call me ‘Father’,” said Father Ken. “She believed me!” “I just call him ‘dad’,” said Father Paul. Whether it was a calling or in his blood, the son might have known from an early age that the priesthood was his destiny. “I have a picture of him dressed up as a priest,” said Kenneth. “He was probably about 3 or 4 years old. Of course, he also Please See FATHERS, B6
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rom peeling potatoes to boxing around the world, from cleaning the blackboards to building the Boys & Girls Club, the early stories of Carl Delberta were not ones he told very often, but when he did, they gave a deeper understanding of his rise to rank as one of Oneonta’s most beloved citizens. Please See DELBERTA, A7
SUNY PLANS ‘SUPERSTAR’
Judas Returns As Pilate By LIBBY CUDMORE
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n 1981, Steve Fabrizio took a break from SUNY Oneonta to tour the country as Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
He expected to come back and finish college in a year and a half when his contract was up. It’s 32 years later, and he’s now back at SUNY. This time, he’s playing Please See PLAY, A7
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD