Week in Review: March 22-26, 2022
Tuesday
For Unadilla Rotarians, giving thanks is a piece of cake.
On Saturday, March 19, members of the 14-person club distributed boxes of homemade baked goods to Unadilla businesses, thanking owners for remaining open through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unadilla Rotarian and village resident Christie Connor said the concept grew from the group’s previously annual Pie Night, held on or near March 14. Distribution of the treat boxes, she said, marked the group’s first in-person activity since the pandemic’s start.
“When Mark (Barreto) became president last July, he decided each of us Rotarians should take a month and be in charge of a mini service project and have a program or a fun thing do to for the community,” Connor said, noting that such activities were limited to fiscal donations. “So, we’ve had various things — last month we contacted Family Services of Oneonta to see if they needed stuff — then here comes March and it should be Pie Night, but of course we can’t do Pie Night, but I can’t let go of this pie thing, so I said, ‘Maybe we can go around to all the merchants of Unadilla and give them all a pie, just to tell them thanks for staying open.’ A couple of days later, we said, ‘Why don’t we just make treats, because that’s easier for people to handle at work if they don’t have knives or plates’ and I thought that was a great idea. We packed up a few cookies, cupcakes, brownies and whatever people made, so everybody gets a little bit of everything.”
In addition to the boxed treats, business owners received a commemorative certificate and thank-you poem. Businesses acknowledged included The Green Giraffe, Green’s Long River Inn, Red’s Barber Shop, Donna’s Home Treats, Country Computers, the House of Consignment, Kwik Fill, Mirabito’s Convenience Store, the Unadilla Diner, Catalog Outlet, Village Bountiful, Unadilla Hair Company, Village Variety, Brown’s Pharmacy and Family Dollar.
Recognizing retailers, Connor said, underscores Rotary’s mission.
“It’s an organization founded by a businessman, originally, for businesspeople,” she said. “Even though not everyone who belongs to Rotary is in business — we have lots of professionals and teachers, doctors, nurses and all kinds — we do have many business owners and that was a way for them to network back in (the early 1900s when Rotary was founded). And what these poor people went through with having to wear masks all day and having to argue with customers or provide masks, I think they deserve it.”
Business representatives said they found the gesture meaningful.
“While some places shut down, we stayed open and helped and served the community,” Ashley Cordner, 28, owner of Donna’s Home Treats, said. “It was to say thank you for being open and thank you very much for everything you do. It meant a lot, especially since I’m one of the younger business owners, to be recognized for all my hard work and the challenges. And the (Rotarians) came in and presented us, so it was real people and people that we know. It made me feel really good."
“The Rotary came in with a couple of representatives and presented us with a box of cookies and a lovely sign that commemorated the essential workers,” said Chris Tuttle, store manager of the Village Variety. “It was an appreciation plaque that thanked all of us who worked day after day … and it was very nice recognition.
“It was hard at first, because we didn’t know if we were going to be able to stay open,” he continued. “Then we had to make sure we were deemed an essential business. We had a lot of feedback from the local public saying they needed us and wanted us to stay open and there were a lot of things they needed to get for health and safety that they couldn’t get elsewhere, because so many places were closed. We were happy to be able to serve the community that way and I think it’s an honor and I’m very pleased to be recognized, because we never expected to be recognized, we were just trying to do our job and keep everybody happy and healthy.”
For more information, find “Unadilla Rotary Club” on Facebook or visit unadillarotary.org.
The upcoming closure of the Delaware Aqueduct has some residents who live below the Pepacton and Cannonsville reservoirs voicing concerns.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced it will shut down the aqueduct this fall so construction can begin to attach the aqueduct to a bypass tunnel that was built under the Hudson River near Newburgh. The construction is scheduled to take five to eight months and no water will be released through the aqueduct tunnel. According to a DEP fact sheet, the Pepacton, Cannonsville and Neversink reservoirs send water through tunnels to the Rondout Reservoir where it is collected and sent through the Delaware Aqueduct to New York City. The Delaware Aqueduct "delivers about 500-600 million gallons of water to communities each day," the fact sheet said.
According to a May 14, 2020, media release, the DEP started the $1 billion bypass project in 2013 after years of knowing there was a major leak in the aqueduct under the Hudson River. A Dec. 20, 2021, media release from NYC Water said the leak allows between 18 million and 20 million gallons of water to escape every day. In addition, there is a leak in the aqueduct in the town of Warwarsing, which will also be repaired while it is shut down.
To get ready for the shutdown, the DEP has to complete two construction projects to the Rondout Reservoir, the December release said. Three siphons will be built in the Rondout Reservoir, and to prepare the downstream area for more water, the area of Honk Lake will be restored as a stream corridor. Water from the Pepacton and Cannonsville reservoirs in Delaware County and the Neversink Reservoir in Sullivan will not be diverted to the Rondout Reservoir once the aqueduct is shut down.
That fact has local residents concerned about potential flooding.
"Our concern is always if the reservoir overflows and the impacts of flooding on the community," Colchester Town Supervisor Art Merrill said. "There's not a lot we can do in preparation other than be aware it's going to happen."
Deposit Town Supervisor Thomas Axtell and Hancock Town Supervisor Jerry Vernold agreed. "What if we get a big storm and the reservoir is full and spilling over?" Axtell asked. "What does that mean for us?"
The town of Colchester is downstream from the Pepacton Reservoir on the East Branch of the Delaware River; the town of Deposit in on the West Branch, downstream from the Cannonsville. The branches converge in the town of *Hancock.
According to a fact sheet released by the DEP about the upcoming closure, the Pepacton, Cannonsville and Neversink reservoirs will be drawn down 30% before the closure, and more of the water from the three reservoirs will be sent to the city before the shutdown to keep the Catskill and Croton systems full.
"We've said from the beginning that if conditions are not perfect for the shutdown, such as insufficient water in the Catskill and/or Croton systems, we would push the shutdown to another year," said DEP spokesperson Edward Timbers
The Delaware River Basin Commission Regulated Flow Advisory Committee will discuss this closure during its meeting on March 23, via Zoom. The meeting will be from 1 to 3 p.m. According to the agenda, Decree Party representatives from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware will convene to discuss the aqueduct shutdown project and listen to presentations from Jennifer Garigliano of the NYCDEP and Garth Pettinger of Trout Unlimited. The meeting is open to the public and there will be public comment at the end of the meeting.
That is also the time of the next Delaware County Board of Supervisors meeting, and Merrill, Axtell and Vernold said they are upset they cannot attend both meetings.
"It's frustrating," Vernold said. "We really haven't been given much information."
Axtell and Merrill agreed. "We're waiting for the city to answer our questions," Axtell said.
To attend the DRBC meeting, visit https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82673491721?pwd=dkNnVENJblJMeUZ2NTV3U1kzaWgxQT09. The meeting ID number is 826 7349 1721 and the passcode is 464666. To attend via phone, call 1-929-205-6099. For more information, contact Amy Shallcross at amy.shallcross@drbc.gov.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
*Edited at 11:53 a.m. March 22, 2022, to correct name of town.
Oneonta seventh-grader Daanya Butt was declared champion of the 20th annual Daily Star Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 19.
"I was so nervous, I was shaking," she said when it was over. "There were a lot of good spellers. I was intimidated."
Butt said when she practiced at home with her family, she tended to "speed spell" and mess up the letters, so she took her time at the microphone and asked the judge to give definitions of the word or use the word in a sentence.
"I knew if I spelled the words slower I would get them right," she said. "When I spell fast, I get it wrong like I almost did with peacenik." In the 11th round, she almost left out the 'n' in the word, but said it just in time to get it correct.
When she spelled epoxy correctly in the 15th round, she asked judge and pronouncer Paul French if there were any alternative pronunciations of the word. After the competition, Butt said she would have spelt epoxy incorrectly if she didn't hear the alternative pronunciations of the word.
Fellow competitor Emily Menzies, an eighth grade student at Cooperstown Central School, kept pace with Daanya throughout the competition. In the 15th round, she misspelled ostensibly, leaving the door open for Daanya to win the competition on her next word. Butt spelled quittance correctly in the 16th round and won the competition, which was held in the Goodrich Theater on the SUNY Oneonta campus.
As soon as she won, she ran to the side of the stage and met her mom, Mursaleen, for a hug. In addition to her mom and her dad, Zubair, her younger sister, Safa, and younger brother, Dawoud, cheered Daanya on during the competition. Daanya said she practiced spelling with her mom and "focused on the words I don't know."
She said that during the past week, she practiced spelling one to two hours every day to get ready for the competition. She said her love of reading and writing "piqued my interest in spelling," and said, "I've been reading and writing since I was really young and found it fascinating that words that sound the same have different spellings."
During the practice round, Emily Menzies misspelled rodeo, but during the competition, she spelled several words correctly including caterpillar, genus, fomentation, monstrosity and postural. Some of Daanya's other words included squeamish, insomnia, Hungary, emerge, ulterior and savvy.
Ethan All, the Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School entrant, made it to the 12th round before he misspelled acceptance. On the way to his third-place finish, he correctly spelled several words including magma, scalp, maternity, scumble and medallion.
Afton seventh-grader Zoe Payne-Fuller made it to the eighth round before she misspelled kosher. The "kay" sound, which can be c or k, also tripped up Delaware Academy eighth grader Benjamin Hadley when he misspelled kindergarten in the seventh round.
Lucas Hoagland, a seventh-grader at Edmeston, made it to the sixth round before atonement tripped him up. Franklin fifth-grade student Amelia Coulter also bowed out in the sixth round when she misspelled restaurant.
Stamford sixth grader Allison Van Burren made it to the fourth round before she spelled isolation incorrectly. Home school student and fifth grader Stella Tam was knocked out in the second round by misspelling flounder.
Daanya will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland, this spring. The Daily Star will follow her progress throughout the competition. As a sponsor, The Daily Star pays the registration fee for all schools in the Otsego Northern Catskill and Delaware-Chenango-Montgomery-Otsego Board of Cooperative Educational Services region to compete at the regional level and for the champion to compete at the national level, said Martha Ryan, spelling bee coordinator. Along with other local sponsors, The Daily Star will cover the round-trip transportation and overnight costs for the champion and an adult chaperone to attend.
Daily Star Advertising Director Valerie Secor said the paper looks forward to the spelling bee every year. She handed out medals while DCMO BOCES Superintendent Perry Dewey handed out certificates to all of the competitors.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
HOWES CAVE — There were at least 20 bullet holes found in the Richmondville house where Connor E. Delaney, 21, was killed Jan. 29, according to a family friend.
“There were 16 gunshots in the bedroom door alone. I know, I counted them,” said Rich Foster on Monday, March 21. He works for Delaney’s landlord and was called in to help renovate the property after Delaney died. He described more bullet holes in the living room, the front door foyer, one through a kitchen cabinet and two in the dining room floor, where he said Delaney had died. The police had cleaned up most of the blood before he came, four days after the death. “We had to replace two doors, drywall, the floor, the bathtub. The blinds we just threw out,” Foster said.
State Police arrested two teenagers earlier this month in connection with the death. “This was a very vicious, heinous and violent crime committed by individuals who, quite frankly, aren’t old enough to buy alcohol,” said Major Richard O’Brien, commander of State Police Troop G in Latham during a brief media conference Monday, March 21. “But put a firearm in their hands and unfortunately, this had deadly consequences for our victim.”
An autopsy done at Albany Medical Center by medical pathologists found “trauma associated with gunshot wounds,” and was ruled a homicide.
Devon Hunter, 18, originally from Schenectady, was arrested March 11 outside his residence in the town of Colonie, and has been charged with second degree murder, a class A felony, O’Brien said. He was arraigned in Richmondville Town Court and remanded to Schoharie County Jail without bail after a preliminary hearing.
A 17-year-old surrendered himself March 15 at the state police station in Cobleskill, accompanied by his attorney. He has been charged with three felonies: second degree murder, a class A felony; first degree robbery, a class B felony; and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon a class C felony. He was also arraigned in the Richmondville Town Court, and sent to the Schoharie County Jail. He was subsequently released after posting a $200,000 bail.
O’Brien provided a few details about the case but declined to answer most media questions during the press conference at the Schoharie County District Attorney’s office, citing the ongoing investigation. “We don’t feel the public is in any danger as a result of this targeted and isolated incident,” he said. “We are still looking to speak to anyone who may have information, regardless whether it’s firsthand, secondhand, thirdhand.”
“We believe that it’s drug-related. A definitive motive has not yet been established,” he said.
A handwritten state police receipt from Jan. 30 provided to The Daily Star inventoried the items “that were secured from 359 Hite Rd, T/Richmondville subsequent to a search warrant: swabs, cell phones, tablet, casings, fired bullets, vape pen, projectiles, marijuana/marijuana concentrates, chrome book w/ cord, misc paperwork, photographs, marijuana packaging, dog.”
O’Brien reported that Delaney’s dog was shot and killed during the incident, but declined to comment on what was seized from the scene. Police said they believe that no one else was at Delaney’s home at the time of the killing. O’Brien said it was “a safe assumption” that the two accused traveled together to the crime scene, and that victim and suspects “were familiar” with each other.
Schoharie District Attorney Susan Mallory said that her office is making a motion to charge the 17-year-old as an adult. Even so, his name would not be released as “there are issues of youthful offender status,” but that if convicted, he would be publicly identified.
Outside the Schoharie County Sheriff’s office, about 30 friends of the deceased gathered before the press conference. They said they had hoped to attend the event but were not allowed in, so stood instead in small groups around phones, watching it on a live broadcast.
“He touched everybody he ever met, he was just a good person,” said Eoin Delaney, Connor Delaney’s younger brother. He stood holding a handwritten sign reading “Justice for Connor and Bo,” — his brother’s dog. He said his brother, a 2019 graduate of Middleburgh Central School, was an athlete who was on the basketball, soccer and track teams. “He was motivated, the hardest worker I ever met.”
Delaney was employed as a mail carrier, out of the Warnerville post office, and had been saving money to start his own business, selling imported snack foods from vending machines in the Cobleskill area, he said.
Brandi Foster, whose daughter was a classmate of Delaney’s, said he had lived with her family for a time. She confirmed that Delaney sold marijuana, but wanted it known that he never used or sold other drugs. “I really want to make sure that this is clear: Connor was not involved in narcotics,” she said.
Foster and several others present reported ongoing hostility between Delaney’s friends and friends of the two accused teenagers. They shared instant messages and social media posts harassing Delaney’s family. In one recording of a deleted Facebook Live video sent to Delaney’s father, a man identified as a friend of the accused teens said “I’m pointing at you. I don't care about your kids,” and made ambiguous threats.
Foster expressed frustration that she didn’t think police were taking the social media threats seriously enough. “The family is scared to go places — some were to scared to come here.” She connected the homicide to gang activity among local high school students and SUNY Cobleskill students. “I could show you 15 drug houses in the area. It’s gotten much worse in the past three years,” she said.
She has started a “Justice for Connor Delaney” Facebook group, which has nearly 2,000 members, intended to collect memories and information about the friend she said “lit up the room when he walked in.”
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
ALBANY — Republicans are waging an aggressive but uphill fight in the state Legislature to amend the state Constitution in a way that would keep noncitizens from voting in state elections.
The move is a response to local legislation adopted by the New York City Council last year that would let noncitizens who are legally residing in the state to vote in local elections. That measure could pave the way for more than 800,000 individuals to be eligible to vote in elections for the first time in 2023.
Upstate lawmakers supporting the effort to keep non-citizens from being made eligible to vote include Assembly members Michael Norris, R-Lockport; John Salka, R-Madison County; Chris Tague, R-Schoharie County; and Angelo Morinello, R-Niagara Falls.
The push is being led by Assemblyman Kevin Byrne, R-Mahopac, who argues that allowing non-citizens to vote diminishes the power of law-abiding citizens to determine who will represent them and shape public policy.
People need to have more faith and trust in our democracy and elections, and ensuring that only American citizens vote in our elections should be one of the easiest things to comprehend," Byrne said of his legislation.
There is a matching bill in the upper chamber, sponsored by Sen. Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville.
Supporters of allowing new immigrants to vote contend by allowing those individuals to participate in the democratic process it would motivate government leaders to pay attention to their needs while making the ranks of voters more representative of the communities impacted by elections.
Of the current crop of Democrats running for the governor's office, only one, New York City Public A Jumaane Williams, the son of immigrants from Grenada, supports the measure.
“This is a city of immigrants, and New Yorkers deserve a voice in their city representatives and the policies that will shape their lives," Williams told Caribbean Life in December.
Williams won the endorsement of the progressive Working Families Party last month. That move could be costly for the frontrunner in the race, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat and former congresswoman from the Buffalo area.
With both houses of the Legislature under the firm control of Democratic majorities, the Byrne-Tedisco bill is expected to be bottled up in committees.
But the issue of New York City poised to allow noncitizens to vote could become a thorn in the side of New York Democrats running in elections this fall, especially in upstate regions and the affluent suburbs of New York City, said Democratic campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf.
"When you mix this in with the crime wave and with what some perceive as the pro-crime legislative record of the Assembly and the Senate, you come up with a blend that could potentially elect a Republican governor in the fall, and frankly, could cost the Democrats seats in upstate New York and in the suburbs," Sheinkopf said.
The government watchdog group Common Cause New York, which often weighs in on issues pertaining to ballot access, signaled that it has not taken a position on whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote in state elections.
Byrne's proposal is aimed at amending language in the state Constitution from "every citizen shall be entitled to vote," to "only citizens shall be entitled to vote."
Byrne, who has launched an online petition campaign in support of the legislation, predicted that if the measure is put to New York voters it would be approved overwhelmingly.
A national effort to expand voting rights to include noncitizens has made incremental progress since 2017 when San Francisco voters approved a measure that allows noncitizens with children younger than 19 to vote in school board elections.
Hartwick midfielder Kristen Vaccarelli was named Empire 8 Player of the Week after helping the Hawks earn two wins in women's lacrosse, the conference announced Monday.
It's the second straight week a Hawk has been named E-8 Player of the Week. Goalkeeper Samantha Miller, a freshman, earned the honor last week after helping lead the Hawks to a 18-2 win over SUNY Poly.
Vaccarelli had eight goals and two assists in the two games, an 11-10 win at Bard College on March 16 and a 13-6 win over King's College at home March 19. The Hawks are 3-1, and Vaccarelli, a freshman from Dix Hills, has 12 goals and three assists.
The Hawks face cross-town rival SUNY Oneonta on Wednesday.
Wednesday
Congressman Antonio Delgado visited Clark Farms in Delhi on National Ag Day to talk about several issues facing dairy farmers in his district.
Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, toured the Clark Farms Creamery, store and farm with fifth-generation farmer Kyle Clark, 27, and asked several questions about the business and the farm. In the dairy processing plant, Clark and Plant Manager Adam West explained how the milk from the farm is processed and how they developed the different flavors of milk. In the plant, employees were making chocolate milk.
Delgado asked Clark if staffing was an issue at the plant and if he wanted to expand. Clark answered that the creamery is fully staffed and "at capacity without adding a night shift," and the farm's priority is to build a new barn. Clark said the farm milks 230 cows and 25% of the milk produced on the farm is used by the creamery while 75% is shipped to regional dairy processing plants.
Clark said that when he attended SUNY Morrisville he interned at the college's creamery before graduating in 2017. The Clark Farm had a creamery several years ago and the new creamery was built in the old creamery building, he said. The old ice house was converted into a store for people to stop by and buy not only milk and butter produced by the creamery, but also bread, maple and honey products produced by others. Clark said the products sold at the store are customers of his dairy.
Delgado asked Clark if he had had any issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark said he bottled his first milk on March 1, 2020, and "didn't know anything different" as the creamery wasn't in business long enough. He said in some ways the pandemic was a "blessing in disguise" as the emphasis on buying local was promoted and sometimes there wasn't an option as local stores didn't have milk.
Delgado also inquired about any price increases the farm has had to endure and of any supply chain issues. Clark said it is now harder to get bottles as there is a "supply chain bottleneck," and increased prices have cut into his profits. "It costs me 46 cents per gallon to self distribute milk." He said even though the price farmers are getting for their milk has increased, he didn't know how much more seeds and chemical fertilizers will cost this spring.
While touring the cow barn, Delgado, who is on the House Agriculture Committee, talked about some of the issues he is working on in Congress to help dairy farmers. One bill Delgado is trying to get passed is to reinstate whole milk in schools. He said he is also concerned about the upstate economy if New York City Mayor Eric Adams bans flavored milk in the city schools.
Delgado said studies show that children are more likely to consume milk if they are given more options, including chocolate milk. He said some families rely on schools to provide nutritious meals to their children, including milk. Delgado and other upstate representatives recently sent a letter to Adams asking him to reconsider the proposed ban, a media release said.
Delgado also said he is a sponsor of the farm to school bill that encourages school districts to contract with local farmers for food.
Clark said he supplies most of the milk consumed at SUNY Delhi and supplies milk to the DC-4 day care center at SUNY Delhi, but said after Delgado left that he would get underbid if he tried to get a local school contract.
When asked, Clark and Delgado both said they opposed the 40-hour overtime threshold for farm workers in the state.
"This proposal is not mindful of the dynamics of farming," Delgado said.
New York Farm Bureau Representative Duane Martin asked how climate change would be addressed in the next farm bill and if digesters that process manure would be included.
Dale Dewing, Watershed Team Leader at Delaware County Cornell Cooperative Extension, said digesters would be a challenge for small farms, but would be good at large farms. He also said the Clark Farm, which has partnered with the Watershed Agricultural Council since its founding, used many best farm management practices including manure storage, cover crops and precision feed management.
Delgado said the farm bill was right around the corner and he was looking for ways to help the small family farms he represents.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
At times, it was hard to tell who was most excited Tuesday at the Superheroes in Ripped Jeans animal shelter in Oneonta: Piper, a bouncy 4-year-old pit bull-terrier mix, or the Milford eighth graders gathered in a circle around her.
Twenty-five students from Milford Center School toured the facility on March 22 at the conclusion of a school fundraiser. The school raised $1,466.79 to support the shelter during a one-week “penny war,” in which grades competed to collect the most pennies.
In January, the Milford eighth grade wanted to do a fundraiser, but had trouble choosing a project they wanted to do, students said. The penny war idea appealed to them because it involved the whole school, pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, pitting classes against each other but with a common goal, student Lexi Sutphin explained. There were a row of jugs in the school, one per class. Students could put pennies in their own jug to gain points, or put nickels, dimes and quarters in another class’s jug to make that team lose points. “The nice thing is you can subtract in the competition, but when you add it all up in the end, it’s more money,” she said.
“Who won? Third grade won, but kindergarten made the most money,” eighth grade adviser Heather Van Essendelft said. “Elementary always does well, because they have parents helping.” Van Essendelft proposed the penny war concept, and the eighth graders decided where they wanted to money to go.
Jared Moore, executive director of the shelter, showed groups of students around, explaining daily operations, and introducing animals. The shelter is in a 40-year-old house on Winney Hill Road, but the organization bought a larger 4,300-square-foot commercial space on Pony Farm Road last year, and plans to move in the fall — dependent on successful fundraising for renovations.
As Piper bounced at the end of a leash, Moore told the students that their donation will go directly to operational expenses. “I always say, it's to keep our lights on, to keep the heat on. To keep a roof over our heads at this point. Winter was hard. It was a very cold winter, and oil prices went through the roof. So there's a lot of unexpected costs on that end.” Food, medical supplies and veterinarians also are big expenses. There are only three staff members, with the bulk of work done by volunteers.
It costs $20,000 per month to run the shelter, he said, and was a difficult period for fundraising. “We weren't just asking for donations to keep the shelter afloat, but we also had our capital campaign for our new building. You're hitting your donors double-wise … it was a hard balancing act. But they've really come through for us.”
The organization is trying to raise $440,000 to remodel the new facility. The estimated construction costs doubled during the pandemic, Moore said.
At the end of the tour, the students gathered on the lawn while students Claire Smith and Dahlia Levinson presented Moore with a poster drawn to look like a giant check. “146,679. That’s a lot of pennies, I can’t even imagine,” Moore said.
“It took a long time to count, weeks and weeks,” Smith told him.
“We're not the superheroes. Our community’s the superheroes for supporting us here,” Moore said. “The community is the reason we're here.”
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
The case between former Delaware County Social Services Commissioner Dana Scuderi-Hunter and the county is not over yet.
A17-page complaint filed on behalf of Scuderi-Hunter in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York alleges Delaware County Attorney Amy Merklen, Delaware County Board of Supervisors Chair Tina Molé, and the Delaware County Board of Supervisors violated Scuderi-Hunter's First and 14th Amendment *rights when she was fired after testifying in court and writing a letter to the board of supervisors in response to a letter she received.
Scuderi-Hunter's attorney, Ronald Dunn of Albany said the lawsuit was filed for two theories, "One she was disciplined in part because of her testimony in court. Two she was disciplined in part for writing a letter on a matter of public importance."
Dunn said a recent ruling by the state Supreme Court Appellate Division Third Judicial Department "annulled everything of magnitude" in the case. "It said the whole reason this occurred was because of her testimony in family court."
Scuderi-Hunter testified in family court in May 2019 on behalf of a youth that had a substance abuse problem, court documents said. She advocated for the youth to get substance abuse counseling and be placed in monitored foster care. The county's probation department and county attorney advocated for the youth to be placed in a detention center and given substance abuse counseling. The family court judged ruled to place the child in foster care.
After the ruling, Scuderi-Hunter was criticized by Merklen in a June 11 2019 letter for “advancing a position contrary to that of … the County” by testifying to her professional recommendations for a foster child in her custody when called to the stand by the child’s attorney, Victor Carrascoso, in a May family court proceeding.
The appellate court said in its ruling Scuderi-Hunter's testimony, "does not, as charged by respondents, constitute a breach of loyalty owed to either the County Attorney or the Director of Probation, or vice versa."
After Scuderi-Hunter received the letter from Merklen, she drafted her own letter to the county's Social Services committee. She was placed on paid administrative leave by Molé on July 9, less than three weeks after her response to Merklen.
Following an investigation by County Personnel Officer Linda Pinner and Scuderi-Hunter’s predecessor, former Social Services Commissioner William Moon, the county filed formal charges against Scuderi-Hunter on Aug. 15, alleging conduct unbecoming of an employee, insubordination, misconduct, breach of the duty of loyalty and mismanagement, according to the notice.
Alfred Riccio, the Clifton Park lawyer appointed by the county to preside over the disciplinary proceeding, found Scuderi-Hunter guilty of several charges and recommended her termination in a Dec. 6, 2019, statement to the board of supervisors, which voted to accept the recommendation five days later.
Scuderi-Hunter appealed the decision in June 2020. Her firing was upheld in supreme court in November 2020, and the case went to the appellate court. In addition to finding that Scuderi-Hunter did nothing wrong when she testified in family court, the court ruled she also did not endanger the welfare of a child when she asked for two doctors to collaborate before she gave a drug to a 5-year-old in foster care.
However, the court ruled the county had the right to fire Scuderi-Hunter due to her handling of the caseworker who was assigned to the youth with the substance abuse problem. The document said the caseworker worked in local schools and was relieved of those duties and screamed at over the phone by Scuderi-Hunter. The documents said there was testimony from other caseworkers about the "hostile work environment" created by Scuderi-Hunter.
"This is such a minor part of the case," Dunn said. He said an appeal of that decision is in the works, in addition to the federal lawsuit. The response from the county will be served in a few weeks, Dunn said.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
Edited at 11:33 a.m. on March 23, 2022 for clarification.
ALBANY — One lawmaker says she is so frustrated she plans to launch a hunger strike. Others are demanding transparency and full details of legislation being discussed behind closed doors.
The issue creating strife at the statehouse is the cashless bail law — and whether to leave it intact as progressives demand or roll back portions of the legislation so judges can again jail individuals who have been charged with crimes but are presumed innocent under the law.
With the state treasury flush with cash this year after an infusion of federal pandemic relief dollars, the table was set for what appeared to be relatively uncomplicated budget negotiations.
But that has changed amid a clamor for increased public safety measures to deal with a spike in violent crime in cities across the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, with less than a year under her belt as New York's chief executive, is facing criticism from all sides after an outline of her administration's criminal justice agenda was leaked to the press.
A Hochul proposal to again allow judges to remand more individuals to jail at their arraignments prompted state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-the Bronx, the influential chairman of the Senate Health Committee, to declare he objects to Hochul's 10-point plan and will vote against any budget legislation that includes it.
At a campaign stop in Manhattan, one of Hochul's rivals for the Democratic nomination for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-Long Island, called the Hochul plan "half-baked" while contending crime is causing many New Yorkers to avoid using public transportation.
"This is a real life crisis," said Suozzi, who favors restoring judicial discretion for bail decisions. "This is not something where you can put your finger in the wind to see what's going on. This is what everybody is concerned about." His supporters chanted: "No bail fix, no budget."
Veteran Democratic campaign consultant George Arzt said many Black and Latino lawmakers would prefer to leave the current bail law, which was amended in late 2019, intact at least until after the coming election. Their concern is that making changes to it would result in more people being sent to jail because they are too poor to come up with cash for bail, an inequality in the criminal justice system that they strove to rectify.
With crime rising and conservatives, police officials, prosecutors and some moderates arguing the bail changes went too far, "the issue has become Kryptonite," said Arzt,
As divisions within Democratic ranks deepened over bail, Senate GOP Leader Rob Ortt, R-Niagara County, said the public has been shut out of negotiations over important criminal justice policies.
"This is Albany business as usual: politicians pass broken, failed policies with no transparency and everyday New Yorkers are left to deal with the disastrous effects," Ortt said. Similar secrecy with the initial bail amendments left the package badly flawed, he argued.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former state senator and NYPD officer in charge of the nation's largest city for less than four months, is also calling for letting judges weigh a defendant's criminal history before releasing them to communities.
The bail issue has also gained attention in the aftermath of the high-profile murder of Christina Lee, who was stabbed to death at her Chinatown apartment by a man who authorities said had been released after being charged with three separate misdemeanor offenses earlier.
Hochul's proposal would also enhance the ability of judges to remand defendants who have been charged with multiple crimes and those linked to offenses involving firearms.
But in a sign of just how strident the opposition to her plan has become, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, D-Brooklyn, declared it was time to "stand up and fight back."
"I am prepared to go on a hunger strike to make sure that this does not happen,” said Walker, one of the lawmakers who argue the previous bail law was unjust and led to numerous Black and Latino New Yorkers being locked up because they could not afford the bail amounts set by judges.
The Brennan Center at New York University, in an analysis of the consequences of the New York bail law, said Tuesday that crime rates in recent years have risen in states that both have and have not scaled back their bail laws.
"Any attempt to link bail reform to rising crime should be evaluated skeptically," the authors of the analysis concluded.
The Oneonta YMCA swim team had a strong performance at the state YMCA Swimming Championships over the weekend, held March 19-20 at Nassau County Aquatics Center in East Meadow.
Oneonta's team of 22 swimmers won three titles and posted 60 personal best times. Emily Kane's time of 2:28.10 was first in the individual medley and a new Oneonta YMCA record. Kane and her teammates also finished first and set team records in the 200-meter individual medley relay (2:07.84) and 200-meter freestyle relay (1:53.61).
Several other Orcas had top-three finishes, including Peyton Gregory, Kinnley Wightman, Annika Koehn and Kaylen Turley. The team's lone senior, Anna Bischoff, reached the finals in all four of her events, and set team records in the 50-meter freestyle (25.39) and 100-meter freestyle (56.02).
Thursday
The city of Oneonta plans to close West Street between Chestnut and Center streets for five months, starting Monday, March 28.
A major street reconstruction project will replace outdated utility infrastructure along West Street and make pedestrian improvements, similar to work done on upper West Street in 2014 and Center Street in 2019. “The utilities are very, very old and undersized, and reached their useful life expectancy. And the road is beyond the condition to be repaired anymore,” said Gino Huggins, senior civil engineer for the city.
“The project will include complete replacement of the water mains, sanitary sewer mains, storm sewer mains, new service lines, manholes, catch basins, valves and fire hydrants,” according to a letter from the city department of public works to adjacent property owners. “New curbs and sidewalks with handicap accessible aprons will also be installed and driveway aprons will be replaced.” The project will cost about $2 million, Huggins said.
Vehicle traffic and bus routes will all be detoured to Church Street for the duration of the project. All the small residential streets between West and Church streets — High, Franklin, Cherry, Birch and Columbia streets and Harmon Avenue — will only be open for local traffic. The streets that are usually one way will be bidirectional. On-street parking will be prohibited on High Street but allowed on other streets.
Pedestrians will also be detoured to Church Street, although local foot traffic will be possible on one side of West Street in some blocks as the project continues, the city letter said. The work is divided in two phases, so the sidewalks below Cherry Street should remain open longer than those at the top of the project.
Three Oneonta Public Transit bus stops will be closed and moved. Bus stops on West Street near The Daily Star and on Chestnut Street in front of the Dollar General store will be closed. A new bus stop will be placed on Church Street, just uphill from the First United Methodist Church. The bus stop on Center Street near Church Street will be moved around the corner on Church Street.
The work is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 23, one day before Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta students return to campus, Huggins said. The road will remain closed during the May 21-22 weekend when both colleges have spring graduation ceremonies scheduled. The road work was originally scheduled for fall 2021, but the city was unable to get some of the needed materials due to supply chain delays, Oneonta City Administrator Greg Mattice told the city's Common Council earlier this month.
Construction work will be done between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on week days. Residences on West Street will not have access to driveways during work hours, but the construction company, Robinson Contracting, is required to install temporary access ramps at the end of each work day. Residents with special accessibility needs can get help with additional accommodations by contacting the Department of Public Works at 607-432-6465 or in person on the second floor of city hall.
Adjacent property owners will get regular notices about upcoming work from the contractor, and the city will post information on the online notification service Nixle at https://www.nixle.com, Huggins said.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors continued to discuss the issue of a countywide ambulance service during its March 23, meeting.
The board heard from Richard Strasser of the Franklin-Treadwell Fire District, Ray Baker of the Sidney Emergency Medical Services and Jim Rotzler of the Town of Hancock Ambulance about a county wide ambulance service. Strasser outlined three options the county could undertake for the next three years during the meeting.
Option one is to fund two county ambulances and hire basic life support emergency medical technicians and one fly car with an advanced live support EMT. Option two is to fund two county ambulances and hire ALS EMTs. In both options, during year three the county could add another ambulance that could be used for hospital transports between the county's smaller hospitals and bigger regional hospitals. Option three is to extend the coverage of the existing paid ambulance services in the county so they can respond to calls outside their coverage area.
Strasser said all three options could be put into action beginning Jan. 1. He said staff recruitment and retention will be the county's biggest challenge. The county would also have to hire a medical director and pay employees' salaries, benefits and worker's compensation. The county would also have to either contract out billing of patients or hire someone to bill patients. He said option two would allow for more patient care capabilities for a lower cost to the county than option one, as would option three.
He said to have the countywide service up and running, the county should appoint a program manager by the end of April, the county should start recruiting staff in August and apply to the state Department of Health for a certificate of need for the county. The CON is needed before the countywide ambulance service can begin.
Strasser talked about how Otsego County formed its own EMS service using American Rescue Plan Act funds. The county bought two ambulances and hired 20 EMTs. A doctor at Fox Hospital is Otsego County's medical director who oversees the program and the county contracted out to a billing company in Pittsburgh to bill patients transported by the county ambulance, he said.
"On Sept. 8, the board approved the employees and on Nov. 13, they answered their first call," Strasser said. "It's amazing it only took nine weeks. Since Nov. 16, the service has responded to over 800 calls."
He said Otsego County originally estimated it would make $500,000 per year on its ambulance service, however, in its first quarter of operation, it has made $400,000. The Otsego County Board of Representatives voted to use $1.2 million for two years from the ARPA funds it received for the service while it set up a way to pay for the service.
While options one and two would create a countywide EMS service staffed by county employees, option three would form a coalition of existing EMS programs that could be expanded county wide. This would give the county additional resources and there would be less administrative costs to the county, Strasser said.
Some towns in the county are serviced by paid ambulance services. The Margaretville Hospital has an ambulance service in the town of Middletown, there is a town-run ambulance service in Hancock and the towns of Masonville and Sidney are serviced by the Sidney EMS. The towns of Stamford, Kortright and Harpersfield are joining together to provide a paid service.
"Sidney is working well and growing," Strasser said. "Hancock is working well and growing."
Baker said the Sidney EMS began in 2015 and is a nonprofit. The company has one 24/7 ALS crew and one 16-hour ALS crew and has 27 employees. The company responded to 2,540 calls in 2021 and had $1.5 million in revenue. The company used the revenue to buy a new heart monitor, two ambulances and raised the pay for its workers, he said. The company has two spare ambulances it could staff to help other municipalities in need, he said.
Rotzler said the Hancock service started seven years ago, and responded to 848 calls in 2021. The company is partially funded by the town of Hancock, which levies a tax on residents. It receives $250,000 per year from the town of Hancock, which is half of its payroll, he said. Because there are no hospitals in the town of Hancock, the ambulance usually takes patients to Binghamton, which is 40 to 60 miles away.
"Delaware County is unique," Strasser said. "There are already services ready to start up. The base is already there. We all want to work together. A heart attack knows no boundaries."
Middletown Town Supervisor Carl Patrick Davis said the Public Safety Committee discussed the lack of EMS service a year ago and discussed starting a countywide service based on taxes.
"There are five to six towns with paid service already," he said. "It would burden the towns that already have this."
Davis said he didn't have a problem with using ARPA funds to pay for the countywide service in the coming year as it would allow other towns in the county one year to establish an ambulance service in their towns.
Andes Town Supervisor Wayland "Bud" Gladstone asked if the countywide service would pull volunteers from the local fire departments. Strasser responded that was a possibility as many EMTs work for local paid squads. Baker said many EMTs work for more than one company as the pay isn't that great. He said when Chenango and Otsego counties started their ambulance services they both increased the pay of BLS EMTs to $18 per hour.
"Everybody had to step up with a raise," Baker said. Sidney, Hancock and AMR all raised the pay for their EMTs following the start of the two county services, he said. He said paramedics make between $25 and $27 per hour.
Walton Town Supervisor Joe Cetta asked if the county was going to contract out to AMR for a year to use as a "Band Aid" while the coalition meets to establish a plan to have countywide ambulance coverage. He also asked which committee would oversee the plan. Board members agreed it would be the Public Safety Committee.
"We're going to have to learn how to service the county, rather than service the towns," Gladstone said.
The board approved spending $1.5 million in ARPA funds to establish a countywide backup ambulance service during its March 9, meeting. During the March 9, meeting, Emergency Services Director Steve Hood outlined the costs of contracting out to AMR versus starting a countywide company.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
The Cooperstown All Star Village in Oneonta has been bought from its founders by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, a company that owns the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and the Prudential Center sports arena in Newark.
The local company was founded in 1999 by Marty and Brenda Patton of Cooperstown, and the All Star Village opened in 2004. The Pattons have retained a 20% share in the business, and sold the rest of the company for $116 million, according to a media release from HBSE.
The business has expansion plans, still in the planning and design process, Marty Patton said during a phone interview Wednesday evening. The company has purchased a 60-acre property just north of the Oneonta Country Club, nearly doubling the baseball resort’s existing 67 acres.
The development will include some combination of new fields and additional housing, but “we're still in the process of deciding exactly what we want, where we're going to put things,” Patton said. They’ll take traffic flow, pedestrian safety and nearby residences into consideration, “to make sure that everything's gonna work out well for us and for the community.”
The new property in West Oneonta spans from county Highway 8 to Otego Creek, a former farm owned previously by the Leahy and Matus families. “It’s a nice piece of property. But of course, like every property it's got some issues that we've got to deal with,” including wetlands, he said.
No new construction is planned for 2022 except for a 7,500-square-foot two-story dormitory to house staff, which will be built across Highway 205 from the resort, next to an existing parking lot. The half-acre lot was rezoned last year by the town of Oneonta, and a building permit issued in January, according to town code enforcement assistant Wendy Cleaveland. It will provide housing for 60 summer workers and construction is expected to start in September, Patton said.
The resort offers six-day summer camp baseball tournaments for kids twelve and under. After being closed due to COVID in 2020, the complex brought in over 10,000 youth baseball players last summer and employed over 300 summer staff. They expect 11,000 players in 2022, up to 70 teams at a time and 700 teams over the course of the 12-week season, Patton said.
Tourism is essential for the local economy, Patton said — not just his business but everyone catering to sports tourism. “We don't have any manufacturing, you know, so for a lot of people in the community, they depend on these service jobs, and these service jobs depend on our kind of customer base.”
The resort advertises itself as being “in the greater Cooperstown area.” In Patton’s opinion, local government leaders need to work regionally to “meld together and work together for one common goal and that's to support the county,” he said. “I mean, there's no boundaries when these people are here … they don't see the boundaries between Oneonta and Cooperstown or Milford or Hartwick.” The tourists come and use Otsego County as a base for exploring upstate New York. Only local residents see their towns as distinct, separate communities, he said.
“The money that they spend, the places that they go. You know, they support just about all of the amenities that we enjoy when they're not here,” restaurants, shops, hotels and museums “that may not survive if they didn't have these baseball families come into the community,” Patton said.
Patton said he is enthusiastic about working with HBSE. “These guys are looking to take this business international, and I know they’ll do a great job with it,” he said.
Rick Abbott, the new CEO of the Cooperstown All Star Village, declined an interview request until after HBSE puts out a new press release. Communications officers for HBSE were not able to provide any additional information before deadline.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
The Delaware League on Friday announced its All Star teams for winter sports.
The selections are as follows:
BASKETBALL
Boys All Stars
First Team
Davenport: Dylan Waid
Gilboa Conesville: Michael O’Hara
Hunter Tannersville: Kristian Aizstrauts
Jefferson/Stamford: Kurt McMahon, Damien Merwin
South Kortright: Josh Andersen, Logan Firment, Connor Quarino
Second Team
Davenport: Jamison Quigley
Downsville: Gavin Brunner
Gilboa Conesville: Joe Wille
Margaretville: Michael Gavette
Roxbury: George Proctor
South Kortright: Adam Champlin, Troy Dianich
Windham: Keith Hewitt
Honorable Mention
Davenport: Ezra Ontl, Trevor Waid
Downsville: Tristan Reed, Ashton Townsend
Gilboa Conesville: Will Cipolla
Hunter Tannersville: Grady Glennon
Jefferson/Stamford: Spencer Clareen, Lucas Pochily, Jacob Staroba
Margaretville: Damien Brewer, Ryan Mc Vitty
Roxbury: Peyton Proctor
South Kortright: Darren Dengler, Damien Glouster
Windham: Judah Allsop
Girls All Stars
First Team
Davenport: Jenna Lubbers
Hunter Tannersville: Gwendolyn Glennon
Roxbury: Bryanna Meehan
South Kortright: Emily Andersen, Lacey Eckert
Stamford/Jefferson: Emily Clark, Seneca Shafer
Second Team
Davenport: Kailey Whitbeck
Gilboa Conesville: Kara Dumas
Hunter Tannersville: Hedda Flynn, Marissa Legg
Roxbury: Myah Johnston
South Kortright: Addy Eckert, Madison Coberly
Stamford/Jefferson: McKenna Hoyt, Georgia Lynch
Windham: Emma Drum
Honorable Mention
Davenport: Elizabeth Gerster, Maeve Carey
Downsville: McKenzy Brown, Kerry Young
Gilboa Conesville: Taryn Van Valkenburgh
Hunter Tannersville: Emma Constable, Brooke Tuomey
Margaretville: Netalia Herrera
Roxbury: Kylie DeMaio
South Kortright: Marion Stiber, Caila Thomas
Stamford/Jefferson: Tryhnati Donato
Windham: Serena Beckmann, Amanda Nilsen
Skiing
First Team
Girls
Piper Cohane, WIndham
Sophia Dyjak, Windham
Teagan Walsh, Corning
Boys
Konrad Gilbert, Hunter Tannersville
JP Klein, Windham
Ryan McVitty, Margaretville
Second Team
Girls
Olivia Gilbert, Hunter Tannersville
Erin Klein, Windham
Bella Poniros, Roxbury
Boys
John Garzone, Windham
William Schneider, Hunter Tannersville
Dennis Slauson, Roxbury
Honorable Mention
Girls
Bridget Czermerys, Hunter Tannersville
Tea Mattice, Roxbury
Boys
Garrett Legg, Hunter Tannersville
Slade Tynan, Windham
Paul Vamosy, Roxbury
ACADEMIC ALL STARS
Boys Basketball
Andes: Ben Andersen
Davenport: Trevor Waid
Downsville: Gabe Cazzolla
Gilboa: Gage Gockel
HTC: Jason Li
Jefferson: Kurt McMahon
Margaretville: Damien Brewer
Roxbury: Brett Morrison
South Kortright: Logan Firment
Stamford: Spencer Clareen
Windham: Alex Li
Girls Basketball
Andes: Emily Andersen
Davenport: Kailey Whitbeck
Downsville: Kayla Houck
Gilboa: Olivia Ross
HTC: Hedda Flynn
Jefferson: Chloe Mead
Margaretville: Bailee Herrel
Roxbury: Alina Chojnowski
South Kortright: Lacey Eckert
Stamford: Shannon Hartwell
Windham: Serena Beckmann
Boys Skiing
HTC: Konrad Gilbert
Margaretville: Ryan McVitty
Roxbury: Logan Vamosy
Windham: JP Klein
Girls Skiing
HTC: Marina Garcia
Margaretville: Amelia Pascarella
Roxbury: Tea Mattice
Windham: Piper Cohane
Cheerleading
Gilboa: Tristan Meli
HTC: Emily Pascucci
Roxbury: Lola Weil
Snowboarding
HTC: Nathan Koufmann
Windham: Charlie Mulholland
Friday
A Schoharie County man was arrested March 20, accused of shooting at a store and at the fire department in West Fulton.
Brian A. Goodrich, 53, of West Fulton is accused of shooting a firearm from his vehicle while on West Fulton Road during the night of March 19-20. The Sap Bush Hollow Farm store and cafe was struck and damaged, as was an above-ground pool on a second property across the road, 300 feet away. The West Fulton Firehouse, another 350 feet further east, was also hit, according to Troop G public information officer Kerra Burns. “Whether he was actively moving at the time the shots were fired is still under investigation,” she said.
“No one was inside the firehouse at the time, and no one injured in during the incident,” a state police media release said. The store was also empty.
Store owner Shannon Hayes said Thursday that she believes her business had been deliberately targeted by Goodrich as part of a campaign of intimidation. Three of the four freezers in the store were damaged by gunshots, she said, and the previous week, a rotted pig carcass was dropped outside the front door. Burns said that state police could not confirm these allegations during an open investigation. The business plans to reopen April 2.
State police charged Goodrich with three felonies and a misdemeanor — three counts of criminal mischief, and one count of possession of a large-capacity ammunition-feeding device. He was arraigned in Fulton Town Court and released, and is due back in court April 6. A protective order was issued against Goodrich by the court in relation to the incident, and state police agreed to patrol regularly, Hayes said.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
The state Department of Transportation announced a portion of state Route 28 will be widened in the town of Meredith this year.
A half-mile segment of Route 28 just north of Turnpike Road will be widened, said Scott Cook, public information specialist at DOT. Construction will involve widening the travel lanes to 12 feet and increasing the shoulder width on both sides of the roadway. The project also includes drainage improvements, guiderail replacement, tree removal and landscaping to improve roadway safety, he said. Trees along the side of the road have already been cut down in preparation for the construction.
He said NYSEG will have flaggers controlling traffic beginning March 28. Details of what NYSEG has to do as part of widening the road were not available as of press time. Once NYSEG is done with their project, the DOT will start widening the road. Cook said there will be temporary signals for alternating one-way traffic, but there won’t be any off-site detours.
In addition to the state Route 28 project, the DOT will replace two culverts, one in the town of Delhi and one in the town of Preston, this year.
The one in Delhi is on state Route 10, one-quarter of a mile south of the upper SUNY Delhi entrance. The one in Preston is on state Route 220 over an unnamed stream, about one mile south of Stafford Road. Traffic will be maintained on site during construction via alternating one-way traffic controlled by temporary traffic signals.
Cook didn't give a time as to when the two culverts will be replaced, but said he would issue a media release before construction starts. "Culvert replacements don’t usually take too long, so it could be any time during this upcoming season before the snow flies," he said.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
Variable groundwater at the new Delaware County Department of Public Works building site in Bloomville has led to a change order in the design.
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors approved an additional $555,855 for the project during its March 23, meeting. Public Works Commissioner Sue McIntyre said in order to respond to the variable groundwater, the building's finished floor had to be raised 18 inches and footer drains had to be placed along the base of the foundation.
According to the resolution, the cost to raise the finished floor, install a perimeter drain system and install a new trench drain by the salt shed is $505,487. In addition, 8-inch drainage pipes will be installed to the west of the building at a cost of $28,843 and 8-inch drainage pipes will be installed from the dry detention basin to a storm manhole at a cost of $21,525. The changes increased the building cost from $14.9 million to $15.5 million.
The building in Bloomville, which is behind the Kortright Town Hall on state Route 10, will house two patrols and the sign and guide rail manufacturing departments. It is one of three buildings the DPW is building in the county to house its personnel and equipment. A building in Delhi will house the county's Department of Public Works and the Planning Department administration staff. A building in Walton will house the maintenance garage for large diesel trucks, while light trucks will be maintained in the former Wickham Sales and Service building in Delhi.
McIntyre said the building in Delhi "is really taking shape," and she anticipates it to be completed by late summer or early fall. The other two buildings, however, are experiencing supply chain issues and it could be late spring 2023 before they are completed, she said. The Delhi building is being built from the ground up, while the other two buildings are pre-engineered buildings, she said.
During the meeting, the board also voted to approve a $630,000 bid for the replacement of a bridge on Dug Road over Cold Spring Creek in the town of Deposit. The cost of the bridge will be reimbursed through the BridgeNY program, McIntyre said.
The board also unanimously passed a resolution to celebrate National Public Health Week from April 4 through 10 and voted to support the United States Semiquincentennial and festivities in Delaware County leading up to July 4, 2026.
After some discussion, the board unanimously approved a resolution calling for support of the Catskill Veterans Outreach Center in Stamford. Hamden Town Supervisor Wayne Marshfield said that during the Social Services Committee meeting on Monday, concerns were raised over tension between the village and the center were raised. He said the facility houses 15 homeless veterans and there are 19 rooms in the building. He said the Utica Center for Development, the parent company of the outreach center, wants to buy the building from the Catskill Watershed Corp., but the CWC is in litigation with the village over permit and code issues.
Davenport Town Supervisor Dennis Valente said the center helped one of his neighbors who needed help and he "wholeheartedly" supported the resolution. Stamford Town Supervisor John Kosier said the town building inspector toured the site and said all of the code issues were fixed. Harpersfield Town Supervisor Jim Eisel and Walton Town Supervisor Joe Cetta also voiced their support during the meeting.
After a closed-door session to discuss personnel and the potential sale of a piece of county property, the board voted 18-1 to change its official Republican newspaper from The Reporter, a Delhi weekly, to the Hancock Herald, also a weekly paper. Andes Town Supervisor Wayland "Bud" Gladstone voted no to the resolution.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
The invasive species that scares Paul Lord the most, he said, is the one he knows nothing about, “the one that we have never given a moment’s consideration to, because we didn’t think it was going to be here.”
Lord, a biology researcher and lecturer at SUNY Oneonta, has run an aquatic invasive species program in seven counties across the Catskills for the past decade. The Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership is one of eight regional programs for managing invasives across the state.
SUNY Oneonta’s Biological Field Station has been awarded a five-year, $2.2 million contract to operate the CRISP Watershed Steward Program, which combats the spread of aquatic invasive species. The new contract doubles the annual budget for the program, the college announced in a media release last week.
The Watershed Steward Program aims to hire 25 summer staff, stationed at boat launches and fishing access sites to educate the public about invasives, teach boat cleaning techniques and provide free inspections of watercraft and equipment. The increased funding allows the program to buy needed equipment, such as a portable power washer, hire more staff and pay them higher wages. “We’ve always had a challenge locally, competing with hospitality industry,” Lord said during an interview on campus. With the new budget, the starting salary will jump from $13.50 to $16 per hour.
A primary goal of CRISP is stopping new invasive species from getting introduced, and early detection of newly arrived invasives before they become pervasive. The way to accomplish that is by raising broad public awareness of the species and prevention strategies, according to documentation from the Department of Environmental Conservation. Funded by the DEC, CRISP covers all of Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie counties, and parts of four other counties in the Catskills.
“Locally, we’re very focused right now on quagga mussels. Because we’ve ... been living with zebra mussels for a number of years. We think we understand the threats they pose. But it turns out quagga mussels are like the ugly cousin to zebra mussels,” Lord said. Quagga mussels can colonize the soft sediments on lake bottoms, while the zebra mussels prefer harder substrates.
Already, quagga mussels “are making drastic environmental changes up in Otsego Lake.”
But Lord and his student researchers already have their eyes on what’s coming next.
“Just outside of the region, we have fishhook water fleas and spiny water fleas that will similarly make big ecosystem changes to our lakes and rivers. They’re real close. They’re just the other side of Mohawk River,” he said. “We’re talking 20 miles, 30 miles.”
“Of course, the Erie Canal, the Mohawk River itself, is a direct highway for any invasive species coming in from the Great Lakes. We are very close to the frontier all the time.”
Some people at the waterfront are eager to learn about invasives. Others just want to get out on the water. “We will give them as much information as they want. Other people we do try to leave them with the message: Clean, Drain, Dry,” said Sarah Coney, a biology graduate student at SUNY Oneonta who is now the CRISP aquatic invasive species manager for the region.
“Our focus has always been on maximizing first encounters. We believe that the biggest change in behavior is most likely to occur in that first interaction,” between a steward and water users, Lord said.
The average boater doesn’t understand that moving an uncleaned boat a short distance can contribute to the problem. “They think it’s all one continuous water body. But as you go further and further downstream on the river, you’re going to encounter more and more invasive species. We don’t want those invasive species from Bainbridge coming back to Otsego Lake,” Lord said.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
Weekend
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and Main Street in Oneonta turned blue to celebrate Friday, March 25.
Rebecca Hess, Rebecca Barringer, Monique Misner and Mark Kirkby, employees of the Cancer Services Program, set up a booth in Mueller Plaza from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They were there to educate people about the disease and sign up people 45 and older for free take-home colorectal cancer screening test kits. During the event, people could answer trivia questions to win prizes of either goody bags or gift certificates to businesses along Main Street or regional businesses. The booth also included healthy snacks, a diagram of a colon showing different diseases a person could get, and literature about the Cancer Services Program.
"Some businesses joined us by placing a star in a window, each with a different fact about colon cancer," said Hess, outreach and education specialist at Cancer Services Program.
According to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer in the United States and 149,500 people were newly diagnosed in 2021.
"Colon cancer can be prevented," Hess said. The most effective way is by screening, she said. During a colonoscopy, a doctor can remove polyps before they turn into cancer, she said. The age to begin screening for cancer was at 50, but was lowered to age 45 last May, she said. The Cancer Services Program started covering screening at age 45 in January.
The Cancer Services Program provides breast, cervical and colon cancer screening at no cost to men and women who have no insurance or are underinsured. The program pays for colorectal cancer screening kits for people age 45 to 75 at average risk of cancer. The kits test people's stool for blood. If a person is at a high risk for cancer, or if the at-home test kit results comes back positive, the program pays for a follow-up diagnosis, Hess said. If someone is diagnosed with colon cancer, the outcome and treatment have improved, she said. If a person is diagnosed with cancer, the program helps the person, if eligible, enroll in the state Medicaid Cancer Treatment Program. The person is enrolled in this program throughout treatment.
"Insurance shouldn't be an issue," she said.
One person who stopped by the booth said she uses the program for her yearly cancer screening. "It's a great program," Stacey Smith said. "I have used the service every year for the past three years. It's so convenient. You make an appointment and just show up."
For more information about the Cancer Services Program, or to sign up for free testing, call 888-345-0225.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
Otsego Outdoors is expanding its "Octet Challenge" series to include a spring event.
Otsego Outdoors, a collaborative effort of Otsego 2000, the Otsego Land Trust and the Otsego County Conservation Association, "connects people with year-round opportunities to enjoy the outdoors throughout Otsego County," a media release from the organization said.
“This challenge encourages all of us to embrace all that an Otsego County spring has to offer. Along with snow, rain, sun and mud, there will be spring peepers, wildflowers and new growth,” said Peg Odell, program and communications manager at Otsego 2000.
For the Spring Octet, participants can choose from trails at state parks (Glimmerglass, Gilbert Lake), state forests (Texas Schoolhouse, Basswood Pond), Otsego Land Trust properties (Lordsland Preserve and Fetterley Forest), Wilber Park in Oneonta, county forests (Forest of a Dozen Dads and Van Cleft Trail) and private property open to the public (Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary, SUNY Oneonta College Camp, Clark Tower Trails). There are also paddling options and a bike route from Oneonta to Otego and back.
By completing eight activities between March 20 and June 20, people can earn a free embroidered Spring Octet patch and be listed on the online Otsego Outdoors Challenge roster, the release said.
"The new Blue Trail at Lordsland Preserve is a great place to explore in the spring, "said Alison Lord, an Otsego Land Trust board member. "It starts at Doc Ahlers Road and winds through the old orchard to the east side of the beaver pond. You can feel spring happening all around you on this walk with budding trees and nesting birds everywhere." At Lordsland, which is in Roseboom, new trail kiosks were installed and the Blue (East) Trail was blazed using funds raised by Henry Horvath for Otsego Outdoors. A ceremony to open the new trail is scheduled for April 24.
Destinations new to the Octet Challenge are the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary overlooking Oneonta, and SUNY Oneonta’s College Camp. Otsego Outdoors also is promoting volunteer opportunities and events by the Otsego County Conservation Association and the Otsego Land Trust as well as I Love My Park Day on May 7, the Rotary District 7170 Susquehanna River Paddle in May, and the Butternut Valley Alliance’s "On the Trail of Art" in Basswood Pond State Forest on June 11 and12. People have the option of attending an outdoor event or a trail work day as one of their Octet activities, the release said.
“Whether it’s taking a walk by yourself or with a group, helping to clear a trail or remove invasive species, there are many ways to enjoy the outdoors,” said Jeff O’Handley, OCCA’s program director. “We are thrilled with the number of people who have participated in past Octet Challenges and look forward to seeing this program grow.”
To participate in the Spring Octet, go to www.otsegooutdoors.org for information on the featured trails and an activity log form. The website also lists upcoming trail work days and outdoor events. Anyone with questions about the program or suggestions for activities to include in future challenges can call 607-547-8881 or email outdoors@otsego2000.org.
The Delaware County Sheriff's Department is investigating whether voter fraud occurred in the village of Fleischmanns' election March 15.
"We received multiple complaints of alleged voter fraud," Sheriff Craig DuMond said. He said deputies are investigating whether people who registered and voted are residents of the village, either permanently or secondary. He said when people register to vote and sign their name, they are swearing an oath that the information is correct.
To vote in a village election, a person must register at least 10 days before the election, said Paula Schermerhorn, Democratic deputy commissioner at Delaware County Board of Elections. Absentee ballots must be returned to the village clerk by a certain date, she said.
Judith Garrison, Democratic commissioner at Board of Elections, said the county provides voter rolls to the village clerk who must check the rolls to see if someone submitting an absentee ballot is registered to vote. Schermerhorn said there are 280 registered voters in Fleischmanns.
Fleischmanns Village Clerk Diane Rossman said when people gave her an application she made sure it was signed. Rossman said she certified the election results after people contested the election and the Delaware County Board of Elections recanvassed the vote. She said the results were Yesmin Sarabia with 135 votes, Aaron Goldring with 123, Elizabeth Hughes with 54, current village trustee Dan Halpren with 39, and John Hoeko with 25 votes.
"A majority of the in-person votes were for Dan and I," Hughes said. However, when the absentee ballots were opened and read, Sarabia and Goldring were declared the winners. She said Sarabia "hasn't been to a single board meeting," and said Goldring is registered to vote in New Jersey and "is completely unknown to village residents."
Hughes said the village issued about 125 absentee ballots, and she is challenging 75 of the votes as fraudulent. Rossman said she is new to the clerk's position, and didn't know if the amount of newly registered people or the number of absentee ballots was unusual.
"I know Delaware County second homeowners can vote in local elections, however, these people are not owners of property," Hughes said. She said some of the people who requested an absentee ballot listed a hotel room or listed one single-family home that is used as a weekly rental as their address. She said a group of other absentee ballots were picked up by one person.
According to state election law, a “residence” is “that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which he, wherever temporarily located, always intends to return.” The law also says, "A person with two residences 'may choose one to which she has legitimate, significant and continuing attachments as her residence for purposes of the Election Law.'"
Lawyer Dan Belzil said he is in the process of filing a petition in state court to challenge the election results based on the residency status of some of the absentee voters.
"A motel is not a permanent residence," he said. "They might have stayed there, but they were guests there. It's not the same as a permanent residence."
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
Karl O’Leary is no longer the principal of Cooperstown’s Junior-Senior High School. When he left March 18, he became the fourth Cooperstown principal in a row to last less than a year.
O’Leary was the principal in Cooperstown for eight months. Before that he held a string of principal and administrator jobs around New York, rarely for longer than a year. He worked for seven school districts in the past seven years, according to his resume on LinkedIn.com. Positions included principal at Delaware Academy in Delhi in 2016, a special education supervisor for BOCES in Ithaca in 2018, high school principal in Moravia in 2019, and assistant high school principal for Middle Country district on Long Island in 2020. Earlier in his career, he worked as an English teacher for 15 years in three different districts. O’Leary is a Port Jefferson native and a 2002 SUNY Oneonta graduate.
The Cooperstown Central School District declined to provide any information about O’Leary’s departure. In calls to the district and school board, all requests were referred to Superintendent Sarah Spross. She explained during two phone interviews March 22 and March 25 that she could not talk about open personnel matters in any way.
“There are several laws that govern personnel-related issues in school districts,” she said. “By law, there are mandated timelines that we adhere to. I think the best approach is to follow the regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings, and our next meeting is April 20.”
“I'm a rule follower,” she added.
Spross said she did want the Cooperstown community to know that no one at the school was in any danger due to the personnel matter. “I think it's important to note that this is not related to any safety-related issues for students or staff,” she said.
Spross, who started her tenure at the school March 1, 2021, said the district has enough administrative staff to finish out the school year, including herself, assistant principal Amy Malcuria, elementary principal Tracy Durkee, director of special education Ramona Luettger and business official Amy Kukenberger. “The team here knows what we need to do from March to June, to execute state testing requirements, graduation, National Honor Society, awards, and continue with instruction,” she said. “It has not been a distraction for the faculty, staff or students. These faculty are incredibly professional and dedicated to the success of students.”
The Cooperstown school district has had a lot of administrative transitions lately, with six principals and four superintendents in six years. In contrast, Oneonta High School has had six principals in 29 years.
“Absolutely there's been turnover at Cooperstown,” Spross said, explaining that some is natural: “we've had individuals that have resigned, we've had people that have retired, we had an unexpected death of an administrator, people have resigned for promotional opportunities,” or moved elsewhere.
Mike Cring was the last long-term Cooperstown high school principal from 2009 until March 2016, when he was reassigned to become director of student services. He left three months later, according to articles in The Daily Star archives. Donna Lucy was principal for two years, followed by interim principal Jim Brophy in 2018-19. Kristen Butler was hired as principal and served for 11 months. When she left, elementary school principal Ann Meccariello was appointed principal of the junior-senior high school. She left one year ago this week for another position, and the school was without a principal for the rest of the school year.
Spross defended the number of transitions, explaining that “between each of the appointed principal or superintendent or administrative position, there are interims. And that adds to the number,” she said, “while you do an extensive and exhaustive search.”
Spross would not discuss whether there will be an interim principal this year, but said that in general, an interim administrator is an essential part of transitions. “You want to make sure that you have someone covering the building while you're doing your active recruiting for the right person for the position.”
Tom Brindley, Oneonta school district superintendent and a former Oneonta high school principal, reflected on administrator turnover in an email Friday. “There are no positions in education that are easy, school administration included. Administrative transitions can be challenging as change is not always easy. But the key … is open communication and a process that involves school stakeholders,” he wrote. “It is their input and their acceptance of the successful candidate that makes this transition a more positive and accepting one.”
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.
Tracey Humphreys is piecing together something new in Unadilla.
Humphreys, 58, launched Sunshine House Alterations after returning to the area from Cincinnati. But she said her love of sewing spans a lifetime.
“Way back, I had the very good fortune of having two very involved grandparents when I was young,” she said. “I learned to love sewing from my paternal grandmother, who lived in Oneonta, so I’m self-taught, with her guidance, and I’d always sewn for friends and family. Then, when I became an adult, I found myself in Cincinnati and was a stay-at-home mom and did it while the kids were young to make a little spending money.
“I became a teacher … and had people inundating me with projects,” Humphreys continued, “so I put pencil to paper and realized I could really make it a profession that would compete with my teaching job. I left teaching and opened up an alterations shop in Cincinnati and had so many requests for costumes … that I realized there was not a costume rental business for children in the greater Cincinnati area. I opened up ‘Act Like a Kid Costume Shop’ and ran that business very successfully.”
Humphreys said she sold her business early in the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to her hometown in March and starting Sunshine House Alterations soon after.
“I opened the shop in the front of my house and have been sewing ever since, but really seriously since last summer, starting with some weddings,” she said.
Regarding services, Humphreys said, she won’t be hemmed in.
“I do everything, from minor upholstery jobs to full-on weddings,” she said. “I can’t think of the last time I turned somebody away. It’s standard alterations, with a highlight to formalwear. Some people who do alterations will not do formalwear, but I welcome weddings, proms and anything that goes along with that but, at the same time, if somebody brought me a tent with a broken zipper, I could put a new zipper in.
“I have five machines, so one will sew saddle leather and one will do very delicate work like a wedding gown,” Humphreys continued. “Especially here, versus Cincinnati proper, the variety of sewing is much more. I’m making pouches to accommodate handguns for a gentleman who wants to be able to carry his guns in his vest and, right next to that, is a wedding dress with a full train and bustle. I’m finding, ‘Patch my pants because I’m a farmer,’ or ‘Put a zipper in my Carhartts,’ … so it is everything. I also have a really big variety of vintage fabrics, and that would be important to somebody who has heirloom quilts that need to be repaired or patched, and … I make antique lampshades. The more variety, the more interested I am in doing it.”
Humphreys said she also offers group sewing classes and sewing-themed birthday parties.
Humphreys, who called her return to the area a “full-circle” moment, said the community and customers have welcomed her.
“It’s a wonderful place to have grown up and to return to; my folks and all my dear friends from high school are here,” she said. “The only way I’ve advertised is through friends and word-of-mouth, but everybody has indicated that it’s hard to find somebody that does what I do anymore and that my prices are very affordable. People are glad to know they have me as an option.”
Humphreys said she lets the craftsmanship speak for itself.
“I have a wall here with pictures that I’m putting together of all the weddings I’ve done, so people can see some samples, and I have a wall of thank-you cards,” she said. “It sounds a little braggy, but it can be hard to follow up on a reference from somebody; you just leap in with good faith and hope somebody isn’t going to screw up your wedding dress. It can be scary, so I tell people I have many people on reference and they’re usually pretty comfortable. And I have a relatively short turnaround; I don’t like to have garments for more than two weeks.”
Humphreys said she’s hopeful her growing clientele will translate to increased in-town traffic.
“I’m going to try to grow it here in Unadilla,” she said. “I’ve joined the chamber of commerce and am interested in this not just as money for myself or something here at my home where it’s convenient, but also as a reason for people to visit Unadilla.”
Sunshine House Alterations is open by appointment. For more information, contact Humphreys at 859-322-7606.
They didn’t call them the “roaring '20s” for no reason.
It was a time when bootleggers of booze and quiet “speakeasies” were busy keeping up with customer demand in a period of Prohibition. Just as busy were the federal, state and local law enforcers, doing their jobs.
Major raids were later to become fodder for movies and novels, but these busts were taking place in big cities such as Chicago or New York.
In the closing days of March 1922 however, the smaller, remote city of Norwich had its own episodes of law versus criminal activity common of the times.
“Spectacular Raid of Norwich Yields Rich Haul from Bootleggers and Speakeasies” was the blazing headline on the front page of the Norwich Sun of March 29.
The sub-headline read, “District Attorney Truesdell Engineers a Surprise Raid that Startles the Natives.”
It was a major bust for an area of its size, as the Sun continued “Nearly 1,000 bottles of booze are taken from the Aldcorn Place while other joints yield great quantities of liquor — Lackawanna Avenue once again shows up its old time form as five places are raided.”
District Attorney Ward N. Truesdell ordered the raids on a Tuesday night, executed by state troopers, Chenango County deputies and Norwich police at the exact same time, “giving no opportunity for one party to inform another of an expected visit. The visit of the officers was greeted with amazement at each place, for the raid had been timed and planned, and was conducted without a hitch.
“It was soon after 9 o’clock that the raiding party struck its first blow and it was well toward 8 o’clock Wednesday morning before the last case of home brew had been loaded on a truck and carted to the jail. The amount taken in the raids corresponds favorably to the supply of a well stocked brewery in the old days before Volstead.”
Needless to say the jails in the area were crowded that night.
The Sun then reported on March 30, “Pictures of the five truckloads of ‘wet’ goods … were taken Wednesday by Chipman the photo man. Samples of the various beverages seized … have been taken and sent to the laboratories of Norwich Pharmacal Company, where they will be analyzed by chemists. The samples will be used before the grand jury as evidence for the indictments which District Attorney Truesdell will seek to obtain against the offenders.”
Reactions from some local residents were plentiful. As reported on March 31, “The Calvary Baptist church has adopted resolutions praising the work of District Attorney Truesdell in the recent wholesale raid in this city.
“The Calvary Baptist church with a membership of more than 400 desires to put itself on record as absolutely and unilaterally opposed to all forms of lawlessness and anarchy.”
Sun readers learned on April 6, “Fifty-eight indictments found by the recent grand jury were handed up to Justice (Abraham L.) Kellogg in supreme court Wednesday afternoon,” making the Chenango County Courthouse a very busy place. In weeks to come, violators of the Dry Law were fined $2,050. Fines ranged between $250 and $500 at the highest, depending on quantities seized. Many were lower.
The March 29 raid wasn’t the last hit by law enforcers As it turned out, the “booze” business moved to meet demands only a few miles south, as Sun readers of April 14 found out.
“Raiding parties under the direction of District Attorney Ward N. Truesdell visited the sister village of Oxford Thursday night and unearthed quantities of evidence, tending to show flagrant violation of the Volstead law.
“The first place visited was at the home of C. Amos Bowers at South Oxford, near Robinson’s Mills. Here, considerable evidence was secured. The officers then paid a call at the place of Floyd Franklin of Oxford village where a pint bottle of whiskey partly filled was obtained.”
It was all in a day’s work at the time on either side of the law, with many more yet to come.
On Wednesday: A local college foundation marks its 40th year.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.
Ask Mark...
Have you ever had a question about a history-making event or a prominent person in our area and didn't know where to find the answer? Well, we've got an expert who might be able to help you. Historian Mark Simonson has spent many years chronicling major local happenings, and he's ready and willing to dive into The Daily Star archives for answers, which will appear in this newspaper and online at www.thedailystar.com.
Write to him at "Ask Mark," The Daily Star, 102 Chestnut St., Oneonta, NY 13820 or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com with "Daily Star: Ask Mark" as the subject.
Anthropologist Dr. Kate McGrath isn’t monkeying around.
McGrath’s work detailing facial asymmetry and its genetic implications among mountain gorillas was published in February. McGrath, 33, is an assistant professor of anthropology at SUNY Oneonta.
McGrath said her findings pick up where decades-old supposition left off, questioning previously held assumptions about facial asymmetry. McGrath’s study, her paper notes, examined facial asymmetry in 114 museum-held crania from three gorilla subspecies using 3D geometric morphometrics. Samples represented male and female gorillas that died between 1880 and 2008.
A Feb. 23 NewScientist article on McGrath’s work notes that “facial asymmetry in primates — including humans — is marked by a sort of spiraling of the facial features around a central point just above the jaw.”
According to McGrath’s paper, “Mountain gorillas are particularly inbred compared to other gorillas, and even the most inbred populations. As mountain gorilla skeletal material accumulated during the 1970s, researchers noted their pronounced facial asymmetry and hypothesized that it reflects a population-wide chewing side preference. However, facial asymmetry has also been linked to environmental and genetic stress in experimental models.”
The paper notes that mountain gorillas “have the highest degree of facial fluctuating asymmetry (explaining 17% of total facial shape variation), followed by Grauer gorillas (9%) and western lowland gorillas (6%), despite the latter experiencing the greatest ecological and dietary variability.”
“When I looked into the scientific literature, I realized these two pretty famous guys in the ‘70s wrote a paper saying mountain gorillas were messed up in their faces, and I thought that was an interesting jumping-off point to do our own studies,” McGrath said. “They had suggested, because of their chewing — they chew all day; they eat for eight and a half hours a day and are only awake for 12 — that it was reasonable to say they just like chewing on the right side and that messes up their face, but it’s clear that apes across the board chew a lot and not all have this messed-up face pattern.
“So, it seemed clear to me that something else was going on,” she continued. “I thought about it, and I knew mountain gorillas were super inbred and endangered — there are only about 1,000 left — so I knew that was probably a factor. When I read more literature about experimental researchers — people using rats and mice and flies — I saw that people said asymmetry could be caused by environmental or stressful things in life, or in utero or inbreeding, but people hadn’t teased that apart really well. I thought it was a clear example of something very much like us that we could use to try to figure out why people get asymmetry. We always talk about that we love beautiful, symmetrical faces and choose mates based on how symmetrical (their faces are), so I felt like this could be an important paper to address that.”
The paper echoes: “Facial asymmetry correlates neither with tooth wear asymmetry nor increases with age in a mountain gorilla subsample, undermining the hypothesis that facial asymmetry is driven by chewing side preference. An examination of temporal trends shows that stress-induced developmental instability has increased over the last 100 years in these endangered apes.”
McGrath said, while her findings are clear, questions about cause remain.
“Asymmetry is defined as developmental instability caused by environmental or genetic stress, but here the inbreeding can do two things,” she said. “Inbreeding can create deleterious bad mutations and that could explain the asymmetry, but being inbred makes you more susceptible to the everyday stresses of life, so environmental stressors could be more pronounced. The western gorilla we expect to have higher environmental stress because they eat a lot of fruit and that’s not always around, compared to leaves, which the mountain gorilla eats, and which are always around. So, is it inbreeding or environmental food stress? We don’t know the mechanism behind the asymmetry.”
The paper, McGrath said, was years in the making.
“I’m a new hire here (at SUNY Oneonta),” she said. “We moved here last summer, so this is my first year. (When I was in college), I came in as a poli-sci major … then took an anthro class to fulfill a requirement, just like my students do, and I liked it; I started doing research and studying really ancient primates — like 40 million years old — and I got bit, I got the bug.”
Much of the work behind the paper, McGrath said, began during a post-graduate internship and hire at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
“That’s where I actually worked on digitizing the whole skeletal collection, and it’s one of the biggest collections of apes in the world. They have (a lot) of ape skeleton material, so we 3D scanned it and got it online for researchers to use and that’s a big part of this project; I used the scans that I worked with way back then. Then I started my Ph.D. … in 2012, and we noticed, when studying the skeletal collection of mountain gorillas, that their faces were really messed up. So, I was a brand-new Ph.D. student and that’s when I actually started this project, 2012.”
“It was in starts and stops, and started (with) a lab rotation,” McGrath continued. “It sat on ice for some years, then I wrote a fellowship to move to France and a lot of this work was done in France from 2018 to 2020. I was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow, and the EU gave me money to continue this work, so I proposed that this would be one of three studies.” The other two, she said, were previously published. McGrath said the paper was also informed by field work done in Rwanda and Belgium.
McGrath said feedback from the scientific community has been encouraging.
“The response has been really good, and it’s been pretty well-received, with a good amount of Twitter buzz,” she said. “There’s been buzz in the U.S., but also Spain and France and I’ve seen reports about it in other languages and Japanese researchers are sharing it.
“It feels good,” McGrath continued. “In general, science is such a slow process; sometimes you have to take a moment to enjoy these moments where other people are recognizing what you’re doing, because a lot of it is just the slow slog by yourself. This paper is nice, because I had colleagues to speak with and share ideas and talk about results as they came out, but often, the act of actually doing the science can be a little bit lonesome.”
McGrath said she’s hopeful for the potential of her findings to factor in human study.
“It has relevance for us understanding what does an asymmetric or symmetric face signal when we look at faces and we’re judging, whether humans or gorillas,” she said. “We’re so closely related that we can assume similar phenomena and there is good data to suggest that humans choose partners with symmetrical faces, so our study adds to that story. The next step that would make sense is looking at asymmetrical gorillas and seeing if they have trouble in love: do they get mates and do they have fewer babies?
“We could definitely study this in humans,” McGrath continued. “You don’t have to study the facial skeleton; you could study actual faces of living people. (Gorillas) are our second closest relatives, after chimps and bonobos, so we share the vast majority of DNA, so things that work in gorillas should hold true in humans; it’s worth testing.”
In the NewScientist article, McGrath adds: “I think it’s a really interesting possibility … that symmetry (is) a sort of reliable indicator of the genetic fitness of the (individual). I think our work supports that idea.”
The paper, too, states: “Facial symmetry is widely regarded as a reliable indicator of attractiveness and reproductive success in humans, while asymmetry is often used as a measure of early life stress. As both sides of bilaterally symmetric faces share the same genotype, it is expected that they will exhibit the same phenotype, except when individuals experience instability during development.”
McGrath said she hopes to continue her work, while also incorporating it into her teaching.
“I do plan to do more asymmetry work, with SUCO students helping me, because it’s a lot of work to landmark these skulls digitally and place these markers all over their faces and compare shapes,” she said. “It’s a big undertaking, so I have recruited already to help continue this work and expand it into other ape species and then analyze in light of more data.
“In my lab methods upper-level anthro class, we used the raw data — the statistical code and raw data — that I published with the study,” McGrath continued. “So, students are learning how to use these methods in the classroom and are going to use some of these methods in their own research.”
Find the full paper, “Facial asymmetric tracks genetic diversity among Gorilla subspecies” at royalsocietypublishing.org.
Roots singer/songwriter Kerri Powers will return to 6 On The Square in Oxford at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26.
According to a media release, Powers, a Boston native, had an artistic youth that included music, painting and writing, and she composed her first songs at the age of 9. Her creative instincts may come naturally as Bing Crosby was a distant relative on her father’s side, while her mother’s relatives claimed a kinship to Herman Melville. Her grandmother had a regular gig playing piano as accompaniment to silent movies.
In her teens, Powers began performing in local coffeehouses throughout New England — but when she married and had a child, she put her musical pursuits aside. After raising her son and overcoming the end of her marriage, she rediscovered her passion and returned to making music.
As further stated in the release, a self-titled EP marking her return to music in 2014 landed the top spot on Roots Music Report’s list of Top 50 Folk Albums of 2014. Critics have compared her style to artists Shelby Lynne, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Tammy Wynette and Bonnie Raitt. Her latest album is called “Starseeds.”
Powers has reportedly shared the concert stage with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jimmy LaFave, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, Dave Mallet and Luka Bloom.
She has toured throughout the United States as well as overseas, making appearances in the Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom. She has performed at the Boston Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival and Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Her song “Diamond Day” was featured in the motion picture “Chuck,” and other tracks have been heard in the television series “Rescue Me” and “Justified.”
Tickets are $18, plus a $2 service charge and may be purchased at 6onthesquare.org or by calling 607-843-6876 to make reservations. Doors open one hour before the start of the performance.
Subject to change, all patrons will be required to show proof of a vaccination, either by a card issued by the vaccine provider or by an Excelsior Pass on paper or an electronic device. Also, all those entering the venue for a concert needs to be masked, covering the nose and mouth for the entire time the person is in the venue, except when that person is eating or drinking.
The performance also will be streamed live online on a pay-what-you-can basis. Purchasing more than two hours before the show is recommended so that the viewing link will be received in time.
Visit 6onthesquare.org and kerripowers.com for more information.
