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Volume 9, No. 26
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ARJUN VERMA AT ONEONTA FATHER’S SIDE SINCE AGE 7/B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA E!
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 7, 2017
Complimentary
‘Brother, Can You Spare Me A Dime?’
City of The Hills
Panhandling On Rise, Passersby, Police Report. But Do Handouts Help The Needy? By LIBBY CUDMORE & IAN AUSTIN
I
t’s becoming a familiar refrain in downtown Oneonta. “Can you spare a dollar?” “A hustle is a hustle,” said Bobbi Jo Warden-Utter. “I am out here every day. I collect Social Security and I get $822 a month for the two of us.
It’s hard around here. You pay a lot or you are on the street. I have lived the street.” Bobbi Jo was panhandling in Muller Plaza with her husband, Robert, who added, “If you have to beg for it, then you do. You have to do whatever you need to get by.” But panhandling is a rising concern Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA to acting Oneonta Police Chief Doug Bobbi Jo and Robert Utter say Please See PANHANDLING, A7 they can’t make ends meet.
Sheriff Probe Begins Again
T
he investigation of Sheriff Richard J. Devlin and his son Ros was due to resume Wednesday, April 5, but it was uncertain if county board Chair Kathy Clark, R-Otego, whose husband may challenge Devlin next year, would be at the table. For update, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
MAYOR HERZIG’S 2ND STATE OF CITY Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Connor Parker, Mount Vision, lept from the sidelines to run with his mother as she crossed the finish line of the SADD run Sunday, April 2, at OHS.
SUNY Oneonta President Due To Retire In ’18
‘Anonymous Mailings’ Won’t Revive Oneonta
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n an e-mail to the campus community Tuesday, April 4, SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski announced she plans to retire in July 2018, at the end of the Kleniewski next academic year. In her e-mail, the college’s seventh president praised the institution, faculty and staff, but “most of all, I have enjoyed many opportunities to meet students, and see them grow and thrive here.” OUT OF RACE: Democrat Zephyr Teachout, who lost to U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-19th, for an open seat last Nov. 8, is telling supporters she won’t challenge Faso again in 2018.
Mostly, He’s Reassuring On City Initiative By LIBBY CUDMORE
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n his second State of the City address, Mayor Gary Herzig sought to reassure anyone who has concerns about the $14 million “Authentic Oneonta” downtown revival effort now underway. But there are limits, he said sternly at one point. “I will tell you one thing that does not work,” he said to a standing-roomonly crowd at the Common Council meeting Tuesday, April 4. “And that is anonymous mailings with blatantly false information designed to promote the sender’s personal self-interest.” He was referring to a Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA mailing sent out two weeks Speaking to a packed Common Council chamber, Mayor Herzig was reassuring, but also direct, in Please See SPEECH, A6
SUNY’S Kleniewski To Retire In ’18
NEGLECT CHARGED: Deputies charged a Waterloo woman, Kerstin Marland, addressing challenges associated with a $14 million downtown revitalization effort. 22, with animal neglect Saturday, April 1, after finding two dead cats, two emaciated ones and six untended rabbits in a Milford The new By JIM KEVLIN college house. The animals were presileft without food or water, dent rriving EXCERPTS from Nader By LIBBY CUDMORE deputies said. was inaugural speech, A4 on Long inauguIsland, SHELTER HELPER: rated by usic – this time, when John S. Nader The Susquehanna Animal SUNY opera – will once would tell people he was the new president at trustees’ Shelter’s thrift store will again ring out SUNY Farmingdale, they would reply: “Oh, chair celebrate the grand opening from Oyaron Hill. that’s across the street from Adventureland,” a Carl of its “boutique corner” at “Three years ago, some popular fun park since 1962. McCall. 10 a.m. Saturday, April 8, of my students at BinghamPlease See NADER, A2 SUNY Farmingdale photo in Hartwick Seminary.
From Now On, President Nader
A
Hartwick College Hosts Summer Operatic Camp
M
ton University approached me and asked if we could do summer programs for opera students,” said Steven Nanni, Hartwick College adjunct voice teacher and artist-in-residence. “We started just doing a weekly Please See OPERA, A7
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD