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Volume 9, No. 34
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, June 2, 2017
City of The Hills
HIS AIM: SMOOTH TRANSITION
After Mathes, What? With Whole Staff Gone, Otsego Now Hires Headhunter To Find New CEO By JIM KEVLIN Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Fred Hickens, Oneonta, veteran of World War II and Korea, salutes during Memorial Day commemorations Monday, May 29, at the top of the Veterans’ Walkway in Neahwa Park/
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he cost of staffing Otsego County’s economic-development effort is heading from $250,000 a year to zero by summer’s end. The question that remains is how much economic development that will buy. MORE PHOTOS, A3 A few weeks ago, Otsego Now’s headquarters on the fifth Dick Miller’s of 189 Main St., Oneonta, 2017 Concert floor included CEO Sandy Mathes Is USAF Brass and COO Elizabeth Horvath, and HOMETOWN ONEONTA newly hired Corey Miglianti, he Heritage Brass Otsego Now CEO Sandy who succeeded Office Adminisfrom the U.S. Air Mathes is leaving the trator Joseph Hughes, who had county Aug. 31. Force Heritage of resigned earlier. America Band will perform a When the Otsego Now board his agreement with the organizafree concert at 6 p.m. Thurs- of director met Thursday, May tion – on Aug. 31. “I have enday, June 8, at Foothills 25, Mathes submitted his resigjoyed the tremendous challenge Performing Arts Center. nation, effective – as defined by of this mission,” he said, “transiThe performance is this year’s presentation in the Dick Miller Performance Series, in memory of the city’s VIGIL AT ‘WALL THAT HEALS’ late mayor.
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TREASURER HOPEFUL:
Allen Ruffles planned to announce his candidacy for county treasurer at noon Thursday, June 1, in front of the County Office Building, Cooperstown. For details of annoucement, check
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
SUMMER LEARNING:
Bassett Hospital is now accepting applications to the Junior Volunteer Program, for students ages 14 to 17. Call Barb Tarka, 547-6691. JOINS FORCE: Oneonta’s Steve Lansing, a OHS alumnus and graduate of SUNY Albany, has joined the Cooperstown Police Department. He was sworn in Monday, May 22, at the Village Board’s monthly meeting. Dad Robert was present.
IN RELATED ARTICLES: ► Mathes discusses qualities his successor will need to succeed/A7 ►Otsego Now board chair Devin Morgan says Mathes changed our way of thinking about economic development/A4 ►EDITORIAL: Now is the time to gear low, move forward/A4 ►For more details on last week’s climatic Otsego Now meeting, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
tioning…to the dynamic organization Otsego Now is today.” Horvath had given her notice a month before, and her last day was Friday, May 26. At the meeting, she proposed a $5,000 “retention bonus” for Miglianti if she would remain on the job for Please See TRANSITION, A7
‘They Must Not Be Forgotten’ Oneonta’s Barry Townsend and sister Pam Rabidoue, Middleburg, point out their brother David on The Wall That Heals in Neahwa Park over the Memorial Day
By LIBBY CUDMORE
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t’s been 45 years since CWO-2 B. Dave Townsend Jr. died when his helicopter was shot down over An Loc, Vietnam. PASSING SCENE: Former county Highway Super- “It feels like yesterday,” said his brother, Barry. “Certain times, I still can’t even talk intendent Leonard “Bud” Perry died suddenly Sunday, about it.” Barry was one of the local volunteers at May 28, at his Cherry Valley home.
‘He Changed Thinking About What’s Possible’
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andy spent three years building a brand, helping some of our largest communities develop more ambitious visions, and gathering support for larger projects in downtown Oneonta, the Oneonta Rail Yards, and, most recently, Schenevus. “Along the way, he has also taken on regional challenges in energy, broadband, and raising the county’s participation in regional, state, and even federal economic development. It was a very successful engagement that happily coincided with an increase in state economic development grants through the CFA, DRI, and URI processes. “I am proud of Sandy’s work and the projects that he has gotten started and cultivated state support for. He has successfully changed our collective thinking about economic development in Otsego County and what’s really possible.” DEVIN MORGAN Otsego Now board chair, in email briefing Otsego County Board of Representatives (Full text, A4)
MLB Stars Doubted ‘Simpsons’ Prospects 25 Years Later, Homer’s In ‘Hall Of Fame’ By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
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n a pre-recorded speech to fans gathered at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Cooper Park, Nuclear Power Plant right-handed hitter Homer Jay Simpson told the audience to never give up on their dreams. “If the Cubs can win the World Series and a Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA cartoon can enter the Hall of Fame, there are The Wall That Heals, the traveling halfno rules,” said the star of Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans MeCooperstown Mayor Jeff “The Simpsons” and, as morial, working the midnight-4 a.m. shift to Katz joins Homer himself to of Saturday, May 27, the assist visitors in helping find names. open Hall of Fame’s “HomHall’s newest inductee. “A lot of veterans come later at night er At The Bat” exhibit. As part of the 1992 or early in the morning, when they can be in “The Simpsons” episode, alone,” he said. “I lost my brother and three Springfield Nuclear “Homer at the Bat.” Power Plant softball team, friends. I know how they feel, I can be there And the episode’s 25th Homer’s exploits with to talk to them.” Please See HOMER, A6 Wonderbat were chronicled Please See WALL, A3
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD