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Volume 9, No. 44
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 11, 2017
City of The Hills
Complimentary
QUESTIONS SURROUND 11-YEAR-OLD’S DEATH
JACELYN MOURNED Ian Austin/Hometown Oneonta
Autumn Marshal, Oneonta, paints a flower on a pane of glass at the CANO Community Art Project booth during the City of the Hills Arts Festival on Saturday, Aug. 5/MORE PHOTOS, B8
Oneonta Girl Missing After Laurens Fest
P
olice are searching for Alyssa F. Jones, 16, of Oneonta, who was last seen at 10 p.m. Friday, July 28, at the Bunga Wiz music festival in Laurens. Jones is a black female, 5-foot-1, with a muscular build. She was last seen wearing pink shorts, a gray tank top and flip flops, and has not updated her Facebook page or been in contact with family since the concert. Anyone with information is asked to call state police at (607) 432-3211. For updates, check
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
BRIGHTER HILL: Sen James Seward, R-Milford, announced a $15,000 special state grant to the Bright Hill Press & Literary Center for youth scholarships, workshops and exhibits. TRIAL POSTPONED: Joshua Underwood, accused of killing Mark J. Morrison, 52, on New Year’s Day, had his trial postponed until Dec. 12. SAFETY COURSE: XNG provided emergency responders with training classes regarding their compressed natural gas trailers on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at the Emergency Services Office at the county’s Meadows Complex in Middlefield.
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
200 friends and wellwishers gather around Jacelyn’s portrait at a Candlelight Vigil at Morris Central School Monday, Aug. 7.
‘Just Kill Me,’ Suspect Told Arresting Officer
VIGIL IN MORRIS
Death While Crime Was In Progress Led To First-Degree Murder Charge
‘Jack...Really Sweet, Everybody’s Friend’
By ANDREW REINBACH
By LIBBY CUDMORE
NORWICH
MORRIS
nderstanding the severity of his predicament, James Brower, accused of the rape and murder of an 11-yearold Morris girl, told officers arriving to arrest him, “Please just kill me.”
ne day in class, Jacelyn O’Connor raised her hand with an idea to share. “She said the teacher should email the homework to the mom instead of printSchool photo ing out sheets so we could of Jacelyn save a few trees,” said Everett Pondolfino, a classmate at Morris Central School. “She always had bright ideas in class, like that we should have a school swimming pool.” The Pondolfino family joined more than 200 Please See VIGIL, A7
O
U
That was a highpoint of a number of revelations surrounding the Sunday, July 30, death of Jacelyn O’Connor, made at a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Aug. 8, where
Brower’s case was held over for grand jury. The hearing, before Norwich Town Justice James A. Fox, was held Please See COURT, A7
Tylor Kropp, Morris, drives the 1989 Oldsmobile decorated by friends in Jacelyn O’Connor’s memory in the Northeast Demolition Derby Sunday, Aug. 6, at the Otsego County Fair.
‘It Takes A Village’ To Save 6 Kittens Found Abandoned them and pet them,” said Sasha Sloth, 9, daughter ONEONTA of Kristin Sloth and sister of Anya, ix little res12, who took on cued kittens the responsibility are making a Found, saved of helping save lot of people happy. two of the newborns found “I’ll hold them and rock Please See KITTENS, B5
City Manager Puts Himself In Picture City Manager Korthauer discusses the city’s waste-water treatment plant with Steve Kruh, chief operator.
By LIBBY CUDMORE
By JIM KEVLIN
S
ONEONTA
I
n trying to relocate here to start his job as the Oneonta’s third city manager, even George Korthauer spent six months looking for an apartment. “It was a real struggle to find Please See KORTHAUER, A6
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD