WINDOW ON f Yournly Lease! o e m Ho Down O rs! yment
STORIES ABOUND OF FAMED PAINTER IN CATSKILLS
a First P
yea ing 20 t a itionin5g1 r d b n o c e Cele R Parts • a • 607-433-12 m • e c i v r t n co Se Sales • ida St. • OneO enohonda. 65 One scovillem . www
Volume 8, No. 49
City of The Hills
DETAILS, B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA E!
E FR
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 9, 2016
Complimentary
Refugees Debated Bringing People To City Challenged By Audience By LIBBY CUDMORE
W
hen the Oneonta Refugee Resettlement Committee and its plan to bring a refugee family here were announced, committee member Ken Sider, Temple Beth El
At 1st Look, Budget $8M Over Target COOPERSTOWN
C
ounty department head requests are $8 million over target as 2017 budget preparations begin. However, Budget Committee chair Ed Frazier, R-Unadilla, and county Treasurer Dan Crowell are confident they can winnow them down to an acceptable final document. Crowell said he expects any tax increase to be under 1 percent by the Nov. 15 deadline for a preliminary document. Details at
Allotsego.com
www.
RAZING IN WORKS: Common Council voted Tuesday, Sept. 6, to seek a grant to raze the former Oneonta Ford building at Chestnut and Market to make way for a “food hub” there. OFF TO MAINE: George Siatos, the retired postal worker from New York City who commented piquantly and often at two years of Common Council meetings, has moved to Portland. CUTS, BRUISES: Fox Hospital announced it is making next-day appointment for scrapes, sprains and minor illnesses.
called out from the audience, “I didn’t say that!” Mayor Gary Herzig quieted him. Sider continued, “If someone doesn’t have compassion to welcome someone into their church, there’s nothing I can say. But I’ve lived in Please See REFUGEES, A7
A
fter someone took her “Gnomeland Security” statue, Sarah Condon has removed the remaining 153 from her Mount Vision front lawn, where passersby had enjoyed them for the past three years. Whether she will again put the gnomes on display is unclear. DETAILS, A3
RING OF FIRE
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Be nice to Nikoala Buzzy – it’s his first day of school. The chalk board around his neck made it clear to everyone at Greater Plains Elementary School as classes began Tuesday, Sept. 6.
president, got a phone call giving him insight into might be in store. “I asked (the caller), ‘If Christian refugees wanted to come to Oneonta, would you let them’?” Sider told Common Council Tuesday, Aug. 6. “And he said no.” At that point, David Bellinger,
GNOME STOLEN, 153 REMAINING BOXED, STORED
IAN AUSTIN • HOMETOWN ONEONTA Balloonist Mike Caccavale of Long Island uses burners to inflate “Old McDonald’s Farm,” his entry in the Susquehanna Balloon Festival Saturday, Sept. 3, in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park. The 126,000cubic-foot balloon, shaped like a barn, has made 135 flights all over the world, Caccavale said. Behind him, Tim Distler of Oneonta looks on.
Hands-On Experiences Will Mark Airport 50th Sept. 17 Celebration Target: Young Future Pilots By LIBBY CUDMORE
J
eff Back and the Oneonta Airport Commission want to make sure that no one in the area has a chance to say “I didn’t know we had an airport.” “I still hear that a lot,” he said. “Part of our mission state-
ment is the increase community awareness and involvement.” So Saturday, Sept. 17, the Oneonta Municipal Airport will celebrate 50 years of continuous operation with demonstrations, displays, music, food, rides and tours. “The airport is a tool for economic development for the city and the region,” he said. “It’s
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11
Image Of Stoic 1st Responders Imprinted In Seward’s Memory By JIM KEVLIN
L
ike most Americans, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, learned at about 8:50 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001 – from Katie Couric on NBC’s “Today Show” – that an airplane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal Please See SEWARD, A3 Seward saw 9/11 firsthand.
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD