C
INSIDE
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HRISTMAS ARDS & GIFT IDEAS FROM
A to Z
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
E RE
F Volume 8, No. 11
City of The Hills
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, December 18, 2015
Complimentary
No Fire-Protection For Town
Council members, from left, Brzozowski, Palmer, Holmes, Hennessy and Malone attended their final Common Council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 15. Council member Lynch was absent.
Fire Commissioners Low-Ball Offer; City Council Balks By LIBBY CUDMORE
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ayor Gary Herzig Tuesday, Dec. 15, presented Common Council with the Town
of Oneonta offer to pay $897,980 for fire protection, $300,000 less than the city wants. Council members – five of the seven at their final meeting – were silent. None
made the motion. The $897,980 was well below the $946,000 the town is paying this year, and even further below the $1.2 million in the 2016 city budget Please See PACT, A3
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
The Winners Are... A
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Volunteer Patricia Berry of Oneonta was serving mulled cider again this year at The Farmers’ Museum Candlelight Evening Saturday, Dec. 12. Temperatures in the 50s brought out a record crowd of 3,600, 1,000 more than the record set last year.
SEASONAL THRILL
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JOIN THE FUN: Community and neighborhood groups are welcome to participate in First Night New Year’s Parade, stepping off at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, from the corner of Elm and Main. Register at firstnightoneonta@gmail.com A PLACE TO BE: The Education Trust recognized SUNY Oneonta as one of 26 public colleges nationally with the biggest improvements in graduation rates among African American, Latino and Native American students.
TOP CFA WINNERS
By JIM KEVLIN
Police Catch Driver After Brief Chase n unlicensed 21year-old driving the wrong way down Water and Chestnut streets led to a brief chase early Saturday morning, Dec. 12, and John C. Buffa II, 21, of Plymouth, was arrested for DWI and reckless driving. Officers reported observing a car leaving the parking deck at 1:10 a.m., travelling the wrong way up Water Street, striking two cars and just missing several pedestrians who jumped clear. Turning up Chestnut, the car crashed into trees and bushes near First United Methodist Church; the driver fled on foot, but was apprehended, city police said.
No $½ Billion, But Boon To Oneonta May Indicate Plan Is Coming Together
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Clara (Grace Craig) frantically pursues her brother Fritz (Sioban Higgins) for the return of the Nutcracker just given to her by Herr Drosselmeyer in an annual Oneonta Christmas tradition, the Fokine Ballet’s “Nutcracker” performed over the weekend at SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater.
MEET NEW COUNTY BOARD ANDREW MARIETTA, district 8, town of otsego
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s a Cooperstown Central school board member, Andrew Marietta has been pressing his colleagues to better communicate with the public. One of his first actions on the county board will be to will be to start an email newsletter to his constitutuents. See his and profiles of the six other county board newcomers at WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
tsego County won’t get a piece of the $1.5 billion, but the money the City of Oneonta did receive turns out to be plenty to get things started. For instance, the $700,000 in state funding the Cuomo Administration announced Thursday, Dec. 10, for the Upper Susquehanna Regional Agricultural Center will be used to appraise, acquire and raze that black hulk at the bottom of Chestnut Street (the former Oneonta Ford building), according to Otsego Now President Sandy Mathes, the county’s “single point of contact” on economic development. Of that total, $165,000 will be used for a food hub feasibility study, which will focus on the actual ag center, but also on the redevelopment of Market Street, including, perhaps, a restaurant on a craft food and beer theme, a parkingdeck upgrade and an exPlease See CFAS, A7
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
Model Chosen, Chief Nayor Is Ready To Outfit His Officers With Cameras By LIBBY CUDMORE
T Marietta in his NYCON office
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hese were among local grants announced by Governor Cuomo Thursday, Dec. 10: ► $700,000 for the Upper Susquehanna Regional Ag Center in Oneonta, to help market artisan food and beer to New York City. ► $500,000 to complete planning to redevelop the D&H Yards in Oneonta for commerce and manufacturing, including a bridge to vicinity of I-88. ► $68,000 for further development of Hartwick College’s Center for Artisan Food & Beverage Center. ► $30,000 for Route 205 Corridor study, including ingress and exit from the Oneonta Commerce Park (former Pony Farm). ► $20,000 for Cooperstown & Charlotte Railroad, Milford, to explore carrying tourists and workers into Cooperstown. ► $30,000 for Catskill Symphony Orchestra to hire parttime development coordinator. FOR FULL LIST, SEE
here are two sides to some stories. At the Tuesday, Dec. 15, meeting of Oneonta Common Council, Oneonta Police Chief Dennis Nayor gave a presentation on body cameras that highlighted just how important the equipment is.
Chief Nayor
In a video from Texas, an officer, recorded on Dash Cam footage, pulls a gun during a traffic stop. “From the Dash Cam footage, you don’t know why the officer pulled his gun,” said Nayor. He then showed the same footage, from a body-worn camera, revealing that the man in the truck had a revolver visible on the front Please See CAMERAS, A7
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD