REINVENTING
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ROOKS BBQ
Landmark Converts To ‘Pick-It-Up, Take-It-In’/B1
HOMETOWN
s are e g n a h c BIG ee pg. A3 here! S Volume 13, No. 03
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ONEONTA
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, October 22, 2020
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City of The Hills Oneonta Councilman Questions Plaque
That Refers To ‘Savagery’ Of Iroquois By LIBBY CUDMORE
ONEONTA
A
fter 118 years, Common Council member Luke Murphy, First Ward, wants to amend a marker in Neahwa Park referring to the “savagery” of
File Photo Removal of a “Thin Blue Line” flag from in front of Oneonta’s Public Safety Building has caused a local social media uproar.
Online Uproar Erupts As ‘Thin Blue Line’ Goes
The offending marker
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AllOTSEGO.com
www.
2 Men Who Would Be Senators
►BULLETIN: cOOPERSTOWN schools were due to be closed Wed., Oct. 21, after a an elementary school staff member tested positive for COVID-19. ►Festival of lights is planned for two weeks at Christmastime in Oneonta. ►league plans forum next Monday for Assemblyman Salka, challenger Buttermann. ►Covid flood subsides at suny Oneonta, but cases still dribble in. ►A Drunk driver ran his car into a Mt. Vision bar, troopers say.
All
Craig Barber
They Don’t Show, May Never Show, Prosecutor Asserts
Oberacker Has Local-Government, Private-Sector Experience By JIM KEVLIN SCHENEVUS
‘A
businessman’s approach.” That’s how Peter Oberacker, handpicked to succeed state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, describes what he would take to the state Senate if elected Nov. 3. That approach has guided the job he’s done as Maryland town board member, Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA then town supervisor and, Republican Senate candidate Peter for five years now, county Oberacker discusses an 8-inch main representative from Schenhelping make Schenevus’ site for a evus, Worcester, Westford distribution center “shovel ready.”
and Decatur. He uses the term “ROI” – return on investment. “Where do we get the most satisfaction for what we’re spending?” Oberacker, 57, asked during a Friday, Oct. 16, interview in the renovated barn on Route 7 east of here, headquarters of Form Tech Solutions, a culinary research firm the CEO operates with COO Ron Wheeler, who’s also his campaign manager. As town supervisor, Oberacker’s main concern was maintaining and plowing 61 miles of road with decrepit equipment. Instead Please See OBERACKER, A7
Barber Would Bring 143-Year Farming Heritage To Albany
By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
I
f Monday, Oct. 19, was a test-run on whether the accused would show up for trial under the state’s new bail reform, Otsego County failed. “We’re two-for-two on no-shows,” said John Muehl District Attorney John Muehl. “I knew this is exactly what was going to happen.” Neither Joseph Mitchell, 36, New York City, or Eddie Holton, 35, Binghamton, showed up for trials due to begin in Otsego County Court. These were the first two trials scheduled since COVID shut down the courthouse in March. Mitchell was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a pistol, in the Please See NO BAIL, A8
By JIM KEVLIN
FULL COVID STORIES ON
AllOTSEGO.com
►Thursday, Oct. 15, the resignation of SUNY Oneonta President Barbara Jean Morris, who oversaw the largest on-campus COVID infestation in the nation, was announced. ►At the same press conference, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announceed Daniel Craig, who kept SUNY Purchase COVID cases to 25, would succeed her. Details on www. OTSEGO.com Also, this week’s editorial calls for town-gown amity going forward/A4
Bail-Free, 2 Skip Trials
ONEONTA he mayor, police and deputy mayor felt it necessary Tuesday, Oct. 20, to issue a statement saying they all agree it was proper to remove the “Thin Blue Line” flag from the Public Safety building pole in recent days. The flag was removed after discussion at a Common Council committee meeting last week about whether the flag, which some see as a way to support city police, was appropriate. However, Chief Doug Brenner said he removed the flag to avoid any controversy from developing, but wasn’t told to do so. More at
the Iroquois pursued by the Clinton-Sullivan Expedition. A neighbor of Murphy’s walking through Neahwa Park alerted the freshman council member to the plaque at the park’s River Street entrance, which says the 1779 expedition “destroyed the Indian savagery Please See MURPHY, B 5
SUNY ONEONTA PRESIDENT RESIGNS; HERO OF PURCHASE SUCCEEDS HER
A Rare Veto
MIDDLEBURGH
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here’s no doubting folks in the Schoharie Valley know Jim Barber, simply judging from the political signs that line Route 30 from Middleburgh to Fultonham and well beyond. The family has lived on Barber’s Farm for 163 years, since two brothers bought 38 acres of some of the richest soil in the world. Today, the family owns 450 acres of cropland, and another 100 of hillside. And what a family – Jim Barber, 62, Democratic candidate to succeed state Sen. Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA Jim Seward, R-Milford, has five sisters. He Democratic Senate candidate Jim Barber and wife Cindy have three children. Add the discusses the bumper pumpkin crop with wife Please See BARBER, A7 Cindy at Barber’s Farm in Middleburgh.
AllOTSEGO.com
►121ST ASSEMBLY RACE: For Salka, Buttermann Profiles, visit www.
Mayor Herzig Halts Mask Mandate In Private Homes By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
W
ith concerns over enforcement and overreach, Mayor Gary Herzig, who has pushed mask mandates, has vetoed the City of Oneonta’s proposed mask law Tuesday, Oct. 20. “I fully support wearing masks,” said Herzig. “The intent of the law was to make local enforcement more effective. Please See MASKS, B5
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD