Hometown Oneonta 11-24-17

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HOW

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WEET IT IS!

INVENTIVE DAD FINDS NEW WAYS TO MAKE CIDER/B1 OWN COOPERST ember 23

28 - Dec m and November llOtsego.co A to o G ! y a deal everyd ber.org for details! A different h c n am Cooperstow

Volume 10, No. 07

City of The Hills

HOMETOWN ONEONTA E!

E FR

& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary

Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, November 24, 2017

CROWELL’S FINAL BUDGET UPS RATE 1/70TH OF CENT

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etiring county Treasurer Dan Crowell’s final tentative county budget includes a tax increase of .07 percent increase, or 1/70th of a cent per $1,000 valuation. A budget hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m., Dec. 4, at the county courthouse in Cooperstown, with the county board due to vote at its monthly meeting Dec. 6. For story and document, type “county budget” in search line at

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

‘County Manager or County Executive?’ Expert Invited To Address Issue Locally

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efore you act, ask the expert. When it comes to the structure of local government in New York State, no one is more expert than Dr. Gerald Benjamin, SUNY New Paltz associate vice president/regional engagement, and director of the

college’s Benjamin Center. An academic who’s also walked the walk, he served on the Ulster County Legislature, 1981-93, and as chair in his final two years. With the Otsego County Board of Representatives prepared to further discuss the issue

Parker Fish/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

City Manager George Korthauer presented his first budget Tuesday, Nov. 21, to Common Council, which delayed action pending further review.

1st Korthauer Budget Down, But Taxes Up

in the new year, Benjamin will speak on the topic, “County Manager or County Executive” at 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at Springbrook’s new Family Engagement Center, Route 28, Milford Center. A Q&A will follow. Please See EXPERT, A7 Gerald Benjamin

ABBATE ERA ENDS ...On High Note, With 7-7 County Board Split By JIM KEVLIN

BRIDGE DONE, DETOUR ENDS

Drivers Breathe Sighs Of Relief: Rte. 28 Reopens By LIBBY CUDMORE

ONEONTA

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COOPERSTOWN

ew City Manager George Korthauer’s proposed 2018 budget is $22,005,289, down one percent from last year’s, but includes two tax increases, 3 percent on property taxes, 5 percent on water and sewer, due to debt services and state obligation. When Common Council met Tuesday, Nov. 21, Mayor Gary Herzig proposed Council members reconvene at the Finance Committee meeting on Monday, Nov. 27. “I’m not comfortable supporting this at this time,” said Mayor Gary Herzig, following Korthauer’s presentation to the Common Council earlier this evening. “We haven’t had time to read through it.” For full story, go to

AllOTSEGO.com

www.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Harold Buckingham, who has passed the same birthday card back and forth with friend Harold Anderson for 63 years, again received the card on his 87th birthday Sunday, Nov. 3. NEW LOCATION: Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care has moved into new offices at 297 River Street Service Road. COMIN’ TO TOWN: Santa will arrive in Oneonta at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 as part of the Home For the Holidays parade on Main Street.

COLLIERSVILLS

ge 12, Richard Abbate fell in love with his future wife – and politics. Now Rosemarie Abbate, her mom Marie Mauro, a captain on the local Democratic Committee in their native Staten Island, recruited the two With Rosemarie, youngsters to stuff mailboxes his original inspira- with political flyers. As a tion, at high school reward, she would buy the kids prom. ice cream. Still a teenager, he pursued both loves, taking Rosemarie to her high school prom and signing on as Staten Island organizer for Ed Koch’s successful mayoral campaign. Almost a half-century later, Abbate’s two loves from long ago have endured, through moving to Otsego County in 2003 – he was recuperating from ailments that Abbate coached son developed during six Dominick’s soccer team months at the scene with John Lambert (beof the Twin Towers hind them), then helped cleanup – and 10 years the Republican run for Please See CHIEF, A3 county judge.

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Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

The boy from Staten Island led Otsego County Democrats to unprecented successes. Here, he addresses the annual Henry Nicols Jr. Democratic Dinner in September at Foothills.

ver the river and through the woods for many Thanksgiving travelers just got easier: A new $1.7 million bridge on Otsego County’s busiest two-lane reopened Monday, Nov. 20. “I took the detour Tuesday morning, and when I got up to Route 28, I realized all the traffic cones were gone,” said Bill Stamp, vice president/corporate communications at Bassett Hospital in HOMETOWN ONEONTA Cooperstown, Traffic began crossing the who lives in Route 28 bridge Oneonta. “It was a pleasant at I-88’s Exit 17 surprise, and I Monday, Nov. 20. took the new bridge coming home.” The bridge, closed since the day after Labor Day Weekend, carries commuters from Oneonta to Bassett, Please See DETOUR, A7 The Chinese white swan geese in that appeared out of nowhere in Neahwa Park’s Hodges Pond over the summer.

AS SNOW FALLS, NEW HOME BECKONS

Neahwa Geese Moved To Fly Creek By PARKER FISH FLY CREEK

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he mysterious Chinese white swan geese that nested in Neahwa Park over the summer will no longer be

seen swimming in Hodges Pond, having found a winter home at the Fly Creek Cider Mill. “The folks at the Fly Creek Cider Mill offered to adopt the geese and take care of them,” said Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig. “They’ll live out the rest of Please See GEESE, A6

Parker Fish/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD


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