INSIDE: al firsT c o l k n i h T a GrEaT h T i W r a E all Y EW forD n a n o l a DE
2012 otsego county yearbook
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
n, nY eRStow h , Coop own.com t u o S 8 Route 2 mithcooperst 4 www.s
-992 607-547
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
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Volume 6, No. 14
AllOTSEGO.life
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, December 27, 2013
Complimentary
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
James L. Seward
City of The Hills
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
2013 citizen of the year
BUILDING CONSENSUS ON A PROSPEROUS FUTURE
When Otsego County’s state senator for the past 27 years, Jim Seward, R-Milford, is in the room, he’s First Citizen. Here, he is flanked by the county’s three assemblymen, from left, Bill Magee, D-Nelson, Cliff Crouch, R-Bainbridge, and Pete Lopez, RSchoharie, at a meeting of ONC BOCES superintendents Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Otsego Area Occupational Center, Milford/IDS ON
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. deploys officers after a shootout in front of Cooperstown’s Seventh Inning Stretch. Behind him, with shotgun on shoulder, is Village Police Chief Mike Covert.
Police Look For Suspect In Shootout COOPERSTOWN
A
t presstime Monday evening, Dec. 23, a would-be assailant who sparked a shootout in Seventh Inning Stretch, a downtown baseball store, was still eluding police. The incident, reported at 8:53 a.m. that morning, caused a deluge of village police, deputy sheriffs and state troopers to descend on the village. The shot was fired by store owner Vinnie Carfagno, who alleged a disgruntled former employee, Barry Renert, had entered the store, dressed in black, his face covered with a ski mask, and threatened him with a gun. Full story, updates, at WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
STATE OF STATE: This year’s State of the State breakfast, featuring a briefing of the county’s Albany delegation, is 8-10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, at the Foothills. $25 per person; register at 547-4500. QUIT SMOKING: Bassett Healthcare is offering a “Butt Stops Here” program in Oneonta, eight one-hour sessions beginning at 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 13. $40. Call 547-3028.
SUPERINTENDENTS, SEE A2
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
For Senator, Keep Focus On People – And Everything Works Out By JIM KEVLIN
T
o Jim Seward, floods are the most wrenching. “You arrive and people are taking their belongings and putting them at curbside,” he recalled. “Sometimes, all you can do is give them
a hug – and tell them they won’t be forgotten.” Listen for a while to Otsego County’s state senator since 1986, and you conclude: It’s not about ideology. It’s not even about winning, although he has won every race since, age 20 and a student at Hartwick College, he lost a Republican primary for assemblyman against Harold Luther of Herkimer. It’s all about people.
And Seward’s people skills – courting them, convincing them and, lately in particular, leading them – have been very much in evidence since that morning in December 2011 when, meeting with the newly formed pro-business Citizen Voices, he was challenged on “unintended consequences” of the bill he’d sponsored affirming Please See CITIZEN, A4
Lots Of ‘First Night’ Fun And, Parents, Babysitting, Too By LIBBY CUDMORE
W
ho needs a champagne toast when you’ve got giant puppets and fire-spinners? “First Night is a wonderful, fun, lively, exuberant party,”
said David Hayes, who is on the board of the organizing committee. “It’s a great way to ring in the New Year without worrying about traffic or bad drivers.” The Oneonta tradition, now in its 17th year, kicks off with a 5 p.m. parade down
Main Street and ends with 10 p.m. fireworks in Neahwa Park, with all sorts of music, dance and entertainment in between. “We try to do something fresh and new every year,” said Hayes. “We want to bring new experiences to
First Night every year.” New this year is a babysitting service, sponsored by OHS. “We heard from a lot of parents that they had to go home early because the kids were tired,” said Hayes. “This way, parents can drop Please See FIRST, A3
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