Our ‘Mr. Bojangles’
JERRY JEFF WALKER, OTSEGO COUNTY ORIGINAL/B1
HOMETOWN
re a s e g n a h BIG c ee pg. B2 here! S Volume 13, No. 04
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, October 29, 2020
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MAN of THE HOUR Can Dennis Craig, Hero Of Purchase, Rescue SUNY Oneonta? By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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or SUNY Oneonta’s interim President Dennis Craig, 55, it’s all about how you react to a crisis. “In tough incidents, Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA sometimes you’re more Genesis Bushnell, defined by your response Laurens, and Shannon than Speenburg, Unadilla, by the wave the “Thin Blue incident Line” flag as they fall itself,” in line with numerous he said, trucks and cars in the whether “Back the Blue” parade cheating, on Saturday, Oct. 24. an instance of bias, a NYCOM Awards even a murder. suicide, Top Honors To When that happens, “I’m all about transparency and Survive, Thrive giving people more information, and letting them decide ONEONTA what they need to know,” he said in his first local he city’s “Survive, interview since arriving on Then Thrive” comcampus Thursday, Oct. 15. mittee has awarded SUNY Chancellor Jim the “Local Government Malatras picked Craig to Achievement Award” by the succeed Barbara Jean NYS Conference of Mayors Morris, who resigned after for their work in seeking COVID-19 raged out of grants strengthening partcontrol at the local campus, nerships for both the presinfecting more than 700 ent and the “post-COVID” students, more than on any world. campus in the nation. “I want to commend the As interim president at City of Oneonta for this SUNY Purchase, Craig excellent program,” said NYCOM President Rich David, Mayor of the City of Binghamton. “The Survive, Then Thrive Program will benefit Oneonta for years to come.” Details at
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AllOTSEGO.com
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Coming from a family of firefighters and police officers, SUNY Oneonta interim President Dennis Craig senses when trouble is coming – it’s in his DNA.
“pivoted” in March, closing the campus and shifting to remote learning. In the end, only 25 students on the 4,200-student cam-
pus in Westchester County tested positive. A native of Merrick, Long Island, Craig jokes he is the “black sheep” of the family:
Facing Cluster, Hartwick Confines Students To Campus For 27 Days
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FULL COVID STORIES ON
AllOTSEGO.com ►defendant in worcester slaying gets 22 years. ►salka brings bail reform repeal drive to county. ►First time ever, Otesaga stays open year-round. ►at lwv forum, Assembly candidates debate safety issues. ►as justice is sworn in, protestors remember RBG. ►rights commission supports review of “savagery” plaque. ►oneonta, cooperstown schools reopen after COVID case.
By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
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ith 12 cases at Hartwick College since Friday, Oct. 23, President Margaret L. Drugovich is asking students to stay in Oneonta for the next 27 days. “And if you choose to travel to a red or orange zone, you will not be allowed to return to campus for the remainder of the fall semester,” she said in a video posted on the college website, www.hartwick.edu. The State of New York
Three generations were firefighters – father Thomas Richard; grandfather Thomas Aloysius and great-grandfather Peter Thomas – and
Many People Are Casting Votes Early
►COVID-19 CLAIMS 8TH COUNTY VICTIM
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man who had been hospitalized for more than two weeks succumbed to COVID-19 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the eighth county resident to die since the start of the pandemic. The man was “over 60,” the most vulnerable category for COVID complications, said Heidi Bond, county public health director. “We know people over 60 are at most risk for severe illness,” Bond said in her press release. “We need to do all we can to protect our seniors.” It’s the first COVID-related death in the county since late September. All victims have been over 60.
By JIM KEVLIN
JENNA UTTER HIRED
Barown’s Successor Recruited
COOPERSTOWN
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n 2018, the first year early voting was permitted, 340 people took advantage of it. This year, by noon Tuesday, Oct. 27, three days into early voting, 2,053 early-voting ballots had For covid updates, visit www. OTSEGO.com already been cast. “Saturday this year, more began identifying in-state not considered a “hot spot,” people voted early than in the “hot spots” as red, orange Chemung, Orange and entire nine days last year,” and yellow zones. Rockland counties are “red said Mike Henrici, DemoThough Otsego County is Please See COVID, B5 Please See VOTE, B5
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several siblings and cousins were police officers. “I’m a first generation college student,” he said Please See CRAIG, B3
By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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enna Utter was worried. She had three children at home – Lucas, 10, Jenna Utter Dawson, 6 and Leah, 5 – and had lost her job as a paralegal in County Attorney Ellen Coccoma’s Please See UTTER, B5
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD