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Volume 8, No. 41
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, July 15, 2016
THE VERDICT’S IN
City of The Hills
Sauced’s is the one, meatball Fabulous Friday judges, from front, Les Grummons, Margaret Drugovich and Chuck D’Imperio determined.
...On The Best Meatballs In Oneonta By LIBBY CUDMORE
W
hen the call came in, Taylor Baker, owner of Sauced, rose to the challenge. “We got a call from Destination Oneonta on Wednesday
Ian Austin/ HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Senator Seward at work in his Oneonta office.
Seward Runs For 16th Term In NY Senate
O
tsego County’s veteran state senator, Jim Seward, RMilford, Tuesday, July 12, submitted petitions with 3,800 signatures to run for a 16th two-year term. The senator, who has rebounded from a cancer scare in the spring, is being challenged by two Democrats, who will face each other in a primary Sept. 13 before meeting the senator in the Nov. 8 general election. For more details on the run and his platform, go to
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
KEEPING VIGIL: A candlelight vigil to honor victims in the latest acts of gun violence, including Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and the five Dallas police officers, is being organized by the local NAACP for 5 p.m. Thursday, July 14, in Muller Plaza. OPD Chief Dennis Nayor is expected to keynote. RISING RANK: SUNY Oneonta is again on Forbes magazine’s list of the 500 best-value colleges in the country, ranked 166 in the Northeast and 474 among the nation’s 4,000 colleges and universities. MEDICARE TIPS: The county Office for the Aging will be offering tips on accessing Medicare at the annual Senior Picnic Thursday, July 21 at Glimmerglass State Park. Call 547-4232 by noon on the 18th to register.
asking if we could participate in the meatball challenge,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could do it, so I told them to put me down as a maybe.” Inspiration turned that “maybe” to a “yes” and earned Baker’s Hot Honey Garlic Please See SAUCED, A7
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Bettiol Readies Parcel For Town Water Lines Philly-Yankee Friendship lives Bobby Richardson’s donated memorabilia brings back memories for Jim Konstanty’s daughter Helen Rees.
Jim Konstanty Pal’s Memorabilia Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Will Benefit City Christian School By LIBBY CUDMORE
O
n Helen Rees’ 10th birthday, Oct 18, 1955, she looked out the window to see not one, but two birthday surprises. “My dad, Jim Konstanty, had come up from playing the Yankees and he was coming up the walk with Bobby Richardson,” she said. “And Bobby was wheeling a brand-new three-speed English bicycle for me!” Richardson, the former Yankees second-baseman who famously made a clutch catch of a Willie McCovey line drive and saved the 1962 World Bobby Richardson Please See BENEFIT, A7 and Jim Konstanty were pals.
By LIBBY CUDMORE
F
or months now, visitors to Southside have wondered what’s going on as bulldozers clear the parcel on Courtyard Drive, across from the Courtyard by Marriott hotel. “You never know what’s in the woods!” teased landowner Gene Bettiol. “That’s how mystery novels begin.” But this is not an archeological dig, a new hotel or a restaurant. Bettiol is clearing his own “shovel-ready” site in hopes of luring developers to Southside to open new businesses. “Some developers want to see the project potential when they look at the site,” he said. “They don’t want to have to Bettiol take the time to clear the land.” “People can’t visualize what they can do with a site,” said Town of Oneonta Supervisor Bob Wood. “This will help attract developers.” The six-acre site – behind McDonald’s – is being cleared of trees, leveled and filled, and Bettiol expects that it will be ready to welcome developers by late summer. Bettiol plans to market the site to developers as having water and sewer lines ready for hookup, thanks to the new Southside Water District, scheduled for completion in 2018. “You can have a beautiful flat piece of land, Please See PARCEL, A6
Dreams Park Founder Presutti Remembered
L
ou Presutti II, 75, who passed away Wednesday, July 6, is remembered as a hard-working visionary determined to make his dream – Cooperstown Dreams Park – come true. He founded the youth-baseball camp sector that, with the development of a second camp – Marty Paton’s Cooperstown Allstar Village in West Oneonta – has become a major player in Otsego County tourism. DETAILS, B7
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD