Here to e make lift go righ
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1,500 advertisers See tribute to Hometown Oneonta supporters/B4-5
s, Agent a k i n a M Melissa wn, NY 13326
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Coopersto 47-2886 607-5
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 21, 2018 Visit www.AllOTSEGO.com E!
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Volume 10, No. 50
City of The Hills
Nursing Home Acts On Complaints Heather Power, formerly with Bassett, is new food service director as Cooperstown Center seeks to respond to residents’ complaints.
More Fruit, More Choices On Center’s Menu By LIBBY CUDMORE INDEX
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resh produce has returned to Cooperstown Center. “Every day, we have fresh fruit available with at least one meal,” said Parker Fish/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Johna Peachin, chair of the Town of Oneonta Fire Commission, tabled a motion to dissolve the fire district.
Commission’s Fiery Meeting Ends Stymied
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‘T
hese people are our customers.”
JEFF EMHOFF Cooperstown Center Executive
administrator Jeff Emhoff. “We’ve had peaches, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple.
EATING
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And we always stock fresh fruit in the neighborhood kitchens for people to snack on.” Following complaints about the quality of food expressed June 5 to Hometown Oneonta by the Residents Council, as well as allegations that Please See FOOD, A7
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Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Sheriff’s Race Still Up In Air
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fter a fiery meeting of the Oneonta Town Fire Commission Tuesday, Sept. 18, plans to dissolve the entity were quenched, at least for now. After four dozen townsfolk showed up a a hearing opposing dissolution, Commissioners Johna Peachin, Ron Peters, Fred Volpe, Al Rubin and Michelle Catan voted to table the motion to do so. Since the fire district’s budget must by passed by Sept. 25, another meeting must be held soon; Peachin wouldn’t say if dissolution, which she, Volpe and Peters support, would be raised at that time. For further details, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
Devlin Over Hurdle, But Fernandez Alive By PARKER FISH
I Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Oneonta’s Cathi Wiltsey helps daughter Charlotte, 4, mop up ice cream melting in the heat during the 40th annual Farmers’ Museum Harvest Festival Sept. 15-16 in Cooperstown. It was hot, but sunny skies attracted a crowd of 3,000, not a record but quite satisfactory, organizers say. To Cathi’s right is daughter Caitlin, 11, and Maria Griswold, 12, also partaking of the ice cream that was in big demand.
t may not be over yet. Republican voters in the Thursday, Sept. 13, primary chose incumbent Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr., 1,700, over Bob Fernandez, 1,316, who already has the Democratic line in the Nov. 6 general election. But is the margin of less than 400 votes decisive? “This result says that Richard Devlin is popular among those Republicans most likely to vote in the primary” – the party faithful, said Cooperstown Trustee Richard Sternberg, the Democratic organizer. “But it does also suggest a Please See DEVLIN, A7
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SWAN IN WINGS: The Otsego County Democratic Committee is planning to consider Aimee Swan of Oneonta for chair when it reorganizes at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, in Cooperstown Village Hall. She would succeed Kim Muller, the former Oneonta mayor. HERO HONORED: Franklin Weindeck, Wells Bridge, received a certificate of commendation from Police Chief Doug Brenner at Common Council Tuesday, Sept. 18, for coming to his aide when a drunk man attacked the chief at Fourth of July ceremonies. See photo at
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
Artspace Focus Groups Scheduled For October By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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oon, Oneonta may join New Orleans, Memphis and Honolulu as an Artspace venue. In October, the Minneapolis non-profit will hold three days of focus groups to assess whether Oneonta would be a good fit to build one of its acclaimed affordable combinedliving-and-studio spaces for artists in the downtown. “We want to get a sense of whether artists are looking for this type of facility,” said Mayor Gary Herzig. “We also Please See ARTSPACE, A7
Cut Cords, CV’s Sierra Tells TEDx
Focus Execs’ Guilty Plea Historic, AG Office Says By LIBBY CUDMORE
By CATHY NARDI ONEONTA
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ll texting and no play make for anxious and clumsy kids, Cherry Valley’s Ricardo Sierra told Otsego County’s third TEDx Talk. Sierra, who operates the Hawk Circle Wilderness Education camp, presented “Nature Deficit Disorder,” the one local in six TEDx Please See TEDX, A3
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t was historic. Focus Otsego executives Joseph Zupnik and Daniel Herman’s Parker Fish/HOMETOWN ONEONTA guilty plea is the first Focus executives Joseph time the state Attor- Zupnik, left, and Dan Herman ney General’s office exit Otsego Town Court. has convicted a nursnursing homes have a soling-home owner for resident emn obligation to ensure that abuse. residents are appropriately “Owners and operators of Please See FOCUS, A7
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD