E
ERS, Y U B CAR ice! W E N Area ave a Choe... a t n Oneo You DO H0 minute dercivonditio7-n4i4n2g-6461
‘BIG CHUCK’S’ LATEST BOOK DUE MAY 4/B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
0 R 2 Onlyiace • Partisn•bridge.c•o6m
o rv Ba s • SeStreet • villemen SaleM o n c i a ww.s th w 8 Sou
NERGIZER EMCEE
E!
E FR
Volume 9, No. 28
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 21, 2017
City of The Hills
Complimentary
Oneonta Mourning Christopher’s Loss
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Emma Brower, right, Oneonta, poses with her visiting friend, Meadow Hyatt, North Carolina, and the Easter Bunny at Bookhout Funeral Home’s Easter Egg Hunt Saturday, April 15.
Oneonta’s DRI Program Over Albany Hurdle
O
neonta’s $14 million, state-financed Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) has won preliminary approval from the Cuomo Administration. Mayor Gary Herzig received the good news for the Food & Beverage Innovation Center and other projects Thursday, April 13. The DRI must still go through a final review. To read the plan, type “cuomo oks” in the search line at
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
PASSING SCENE: Hugh I. Henderson, 90, political and civic leader, from Oneonta Town Board to the county board to Otsego Now, passed away Friday, April 14/DETAILS, B6 RATING UP: Standard & Poor’s has raised its bond ratings on city bonds from A+ to AA-, accruing significant savings when City Hall finances $4.2 million in general obligations next month for street work and water-line improvements.
Cira Schmitt photo/Special to HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Franklin’s Assistant Fire Chief Steve West assesses the scene of the blazing Christopher’s fire Saturday, April 15.
Trophies, Costner’s Buckskin Coat, Lost In Raging Inferno By LIBBY CUDMORE
L
ocking up Christopher’s Restaurant at midnight on Saturday, April 15, head chef Greg Miller was thinking of the party he had to cook for that afternoon.
But by 2:30 a.m., he was getting text messages from friends: Christopher’s was on fire. “I didn’t believe it at first,” he said. “Then I saw the pictures on social media.” The 911 call to Oneonta Fire Department came in at 2:19 a.m., and crews were on the scene by 2:23
a.m. “I responded from home and was there by 2:25 a.m.” said city Fire Chief Patrick Pidgeon. By the time Oneonta fire crews arrived on scene, the fire, which investigators believe started in the bar, was in the roof. “I was lying in bed when I saw
on Facebook that Christopher’s was on fire,” said Cira Schmitt, who snapped some of the best photos from the scene. “My mom, Julie Miller, was a head chef there, so I got my camera and sat out there all night.” Please See INFERNO, A3
STUDENTS ENROLL IN MVCC TRAINING
Raised Locally, She Tomorrow, Airplane Mechanics Runs For Congress CCS Graduate, Janet Potter’s Niece Plans To Challenge Faso Next Year
By LIBBY CUDMORE
W
ith a name like Goodspeed, Kadin, 17, an Oneonta High School senior, may have been destined to soar. “My Goodspeed dream has always been to fly wherever I wanted,” he said. HONORARY DEGREE: Otsego County’s former con- “I want to go all over the world.” And he’s one step closer to his dream, gressman, Chris Gibson, will thanks to a presentation county Rep. Len receive an honorary doctorCarson, R-Oneonta, gave at OHS on Moate from SUNY Cobleskill at its May 13 commencement. hawk Valley Community College’s Aircraft & Powerplant Technology School.
By JIM KEVLIN
I
t was Monday, Jan. 22, the morning after the Women’s March Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA on Washington. Len Carson promoting his dream. Sue Sullivan, Cooperstown Central ’82, “One of the perks of the program is that was sitting at her sister Beth when you go to work for these employers, Please See MVCC, B4 Sywetz Naff’s breakfast
table across the Potomac in Arlington, Va., with their mom, Betsy Sywetz, Town of Otsego. The three had marched on The Mall the day before, where they heard a call to action: The best way to blunt the Trump Administration and RepubliPlease See SULLIVAN, A7
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD