hometownoneonta 4-13-12

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ComplimentaryVolume 4, No. 30 Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 13, 2012

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HOMETOWN ONEONTA& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch

City of The Hills

For more information visit FarmersMuseum.org • Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm (closed Mondays)5775 State Highway 80, Lake Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326 • 888.547.1450

Step back in time!TM

Fun for kids of all ages!Ride the Empire State Carousel! Tour the historic 1840s village andfarm on a horse-drawn wagon! See all sorts of farm animals!

Watch for our 8 NEW summer weekend events!

STAR RETURNS: Emmy Award-winning ESPN national correspon-dent Sal Paolantonio, SUNY Oneonta ‘77, will keynote at the college’s Student Re-search & Creative Activity Day at 12:30 p.m. Wednes-day, April 18, at the Hunt Union. His topic: “From WONY to ESPN: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” Ad-mission free; community welcome.

HELPING HANDS: The Sixth Ward Athletic Club is the first community entity to sign up as a sponsor of Op-portunities for Otsego, a new OFO program that enables organizations to support need families. For details, call Megan Stanley at 433-8000.

JOIN JOB FAIR: The Otsego County Chamber is looking for employers to participate in its 2012 Job Fair, `1-5 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at the Holiday Inn/Southside. Call 432-4500.

HOPS ENJOYED: The Otsego County Historical Association’s first annual “History Today and Tomor-row” festival is 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at the Beardslee Homestead Hop Barn, New Berlin. It include hop-house tours, a presentation by hops expert Al Bullard at 1:30 p.m., and a beer-tasting tent.

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OTSEGO COUNTY & THE TITANIC

Titanic victimArthur Ryerson Sr.

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s JournalA flat slate cenotaph – literally, “empty tomb” – was installed in front of a Celtic cross at Cooperstown’s Lakewood Cemetery, memorializing Arthur Ryerson Sr., above, who went down with the Titanic. His body was never recovered.

Ron Jex, general manager, Cooperstown General Store, contemplates family memo-rabilia on William Alexander, his grandmother’s brother and Titanic victim.

Century Later, Victims’ FamiliesRealize Life Was Never The Same

IF YOU GO: The new 3D version of James Cameron’s “Ti-tanic,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, is playing at 12:10, 4:05 and 8 p.m. daily at the Southside Mall Cinemas over the anniversary weekend.

By JIM KEVLIN

COOPERSTOWN

a century later, and the Titanic disaster still resonates here.

It’s personal for Arthur R. Clarke Jr., great-grandson of Arthur Ryerson Sr., the Chicago lawyer and heir to a steel fortune who disappeared when the un-sinkable ocean liner sank at 2:20 a.m. on Monday, April 15, 1912,

a hundred years ago this Sunday.Clarke’s great-grandmother,

Emily Borie Ryerson, 48, with five children and homes on Philadelphia’s Main Line, Chi-cago and “Ringwood” on Otsego Lake, was bound for a life of domesticity, with family cares and grandchildren in her future.

That changed in a matter of days. On Monday, April 8, 2012, her eldest son, Arthur Jr., 21, was killed in a car crash in Bryn Mawr, Pa. By that

Please See TITANIC, A3

AllOTSEGO.dining&entertainmentBEFORE YOU GO OUT, CHECK THE COUNTY’S BEST GUIDE/B2-3

townokaysmergeStudyNo Talks Yet,But 1st StepBeing Taken

By LIBBY CUDMORE

WEST ONEONTA

Against any betting man’s odds, the Oneonta Town Board Tuesday, April 10,

voted unanimously to create an independent fact-finding commit-tee to explore a possible consoli-dation of the town and the City of Oneonta.

The vote followed a speech by the City of Oneonta’s mayor, Dick Miller, who declared, “I see an opportunity to strengthen our community, improve its economy and protect and leverage our significant assets so that Oneonta will be a greater force in the region and state.”

And it followed an April 9 let-ter from state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, where he diplomatically but clearly stated that the benefits of merger should be explored. He suggested Otsego County govern-ment be included on the 10-person study group Miller was proposing, since it has a stake in the outcome if the county’s sales-tax pie is cut differently.

But the Town Board chose a third course in an independent, town-only – at this point – as-sessment of the facts. If the facts suggested further study, the Town Board could then vote to go further.

“This board doesn’t have the facts,” said Town Board member Scott Gravelin, who made the mo-tion to create a town study com-

Please See STUDY, A6

INSIDE: For the full text of Mayor Miller’s speech to the Oneonta Town Board, see Page A4

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTAMary Lossi and Sandy Swift ladle Italian dress-ing onto the salads heading to the Sixth Ward Athletic Club’s banquet hall Saturday, April 7, packed for the first annual Joe & Mary Dinner, honoring the restaurateurs who used to run an establishment there. (Story, more photos, A2)

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012A-2 HOMETOWN ONEONTA

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Sandy Swift delivers a plate of corn to the table of Fred and Nancy Delillo as part of the 6th Ward’s Athletic Club’s first annual Joe and Mary banquet.

Louis Colone, left, and his wife Beverly, rear, look over a table of memo-ries with Ron Braiser, center.

Mary Lossi, in white, delivers platters of ham and roast beef to the Russo clan, Sheila Russo, left, Diane Russo and her husband Frank Russo.

6th Ward Banquet Serves UpMemories of Joe, Mary, More

By LIBBY CUDMORE

The big moment at the Sixth Ward Athletic Club’s first annual

Joe and Mary Banquet was whether or not the cab-bage rolls lived up to Joe’s famous recipe.

“They’re just as good as Joe’s,” boasted Dick Morey,

who prepared the feast for the Saturday, April 7, event, which also doubled as a Sixth Ward reunion.

“They look authentic,” said Albert Colone as he spooned a cabbage roll onto his plate from the “family-style” dishes in the center. “Looks pretty darn good!”

The cabbage rolls – and the rest of the banquet

– lived up to Joe and Mary’s memory, Colone declared.

And that prompted people to share their memories of the couple, who ran the famed bar and banquet hall. “It was home away from home for most of us,” said Colone.

“What this place needs is gogootz,” Nancy Dilillo added. “Mary used to make it – it was like a zucchini casserole that she put on Foti’s bread like a sand-wich.”

“You always knew your husbands were safe with Joe,” Nancy said. “He didn’t tolerate women coming in there, trying to pick up your husband. If someone came in that Joe didn’t like, he’d tell them to leave.”

Al Colone shared his own story of being kicked out of the bar by Joe, despite being a regular customer. “Ron-nie Crosby” – Mr. Bojangles creator Jerry Jeff Walker – “was back in town from trying to make it in the mu-sic industry. I ran into him, and he said, ‘Let’s go to Joe and Mary’s.’ We both had long hair and beards, and Joe took one look at us and said, ‘Get out’!”

“I was young, but I re-member my mom and dad going to Joe and Mary’s,” added Lucia Colone. “A lot of people here didn’t have easy lives, but they all figured out a way to come together here – people gave back to the community.”

“I grew up knowing what my neighbors were going through,” she said. “Some people call it intrusive, but I call it supportive.”

Joe and Mary were instru-mental in encouraging that community support. When her husband Fred won the national bowling title for singles in 1963, Nancy re-membered Mary running up to her door. “She wanted to make sure we could go with him,” she said. “I had the children, and the team was going to Mexico, but we just couldn’t afford it.”

Joe and Mary stepped up to help their neighbors. “Fred was on the cover of a bowling magazine, so they sold copies for $2 each so that I could go with him. That’s just the kind of people they were.”

Sonny Russo, one of the charter members of the club, had fond memories of building the fast-pitch softball field. “Me, Joey, Al and Frank all hand-sifted the dirt on that field,” he said. “That’s how invested we were. And I’m happy to see that the Sixth Ward is still doing good things.”

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-3 THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2012

TITANIC/From A1Wednesday evening, the family was aboard the Titanic, hurrying home from Paris aboard the fastest ship in the world. A week after her son’s death, her husband was lost and she and three of her chil-dren – including Clarke’s grand-mother – Emily like her mother – were aboard Lifeboat #4 in the mid-Atlantic, awaiting rescue.

Independently wealthy, Arthur Ryerson Sr.’s widow eventually remarried, to Forsythe Sherfesee, whom she met in Peking, and the two travelled widely, eventually settling in an apartment in Paris and building a villa on the Riv-iera’s Cape Ferrat, next to “their dear friend” Somerset Maugham. She died on a trip to Uruguay in 1939, age 76.

With her children and grand-children in the U.S., “the centered-ness of family around her dissipat-ed,” said the great-grandson, who lives in Old Greenwich, Conn., but still summers at a family home on the grounds of the Otsego Golf Course.

It’s also personal for Ron Jex, who – like Clarke – was aware of the family’s connection to one of the greatest shipping disasters of all time as long as he can remem-ber.

Jex’s grandmother’s brother, William Alexander, was aboard the Titanic on his first trip to the U.S., hoping to surprise his sister at her new home in western New York, where she had moved with her husband and family five years before from Great Yarmouth, England.

The grandmother, Gertrude Jex, raising her family in Lockport, was surprised, but it was by a tele-gram informing her of William’s death, news that left her “deadly sick for four months.” She was so stricken that when a second telegram arrived, she was unable to travel to Nova Scotia to identify the contents of body bag #298, so the family is still unsure if Wil-liam’s remains are among the 150 victims buried in Halifax.

The story was a central part of Jex family lore “as long as I can remember talking,” said Ron, gen-eral manager of the Cooperstown General Store. His aunt, Freda Johnston, kept the family’s story alive; she owned coals from the Titanic, and would give presen-tations on the Titanic at senior centers throughout her life.

But fascination with the mighty ship – more than 1,500 people died that night, from able sea-men to such captains of industry as John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim and Ryerson himself,

who inherited his father’s Ryerson Steel Co. – ranges beyond descen-dants, although perhaps stoked here by the local connections.

“The Titanic represented man’s conquest of nature,” said Fred Lemister the other day as he was about decorate the front window of his Rudy’s Liquor Store on a Titanic theme, as he’s done for years now. “That conquest took two hours to sink.”

It was “A Night To Remember,” Walter Lord’s 1955 book, fol-lowed by a movie in 1957, that originally captured the young Lemister’s imagination. (Jack Ryerson, 13 when he escaped a watery death, was silent through his life about that night, except in advising Lord’s research. After that, he’d say, “I told Walter Lord all I know. And I don’t want to talk about it any more.”)

“The irony of this ship of dreams ending up to be a ship of nightmares,” Lemister reflected as he surveyed a cache of memora-bilia – a White Star Line plate, a program of the 1997 play that ran for 800 performances at Broad-way’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and much more – in Rudy’s basement.

He recalls Maury Yeston’s play vividly. The stage was divided into three tiers, first class above, the engine room below. As the audience waited for the play to begin, a crow’s nest was quietly lowered from above the seats. “Iceberg, dead ahead,” the lookout called out, startling the spectators, and the play began.

Lemister’s interest – he reports that God, Coca-Cola and Titanic are the three most recognizable words in the English language, in that order – has made him some-thing of a student of trans-Atlantic shipping.

“There had not been a loss of life in the Atlantic for more than 40 years,” he recounted. “So we got a little cocky.” The previous disaster involved the White Star Line’s Atlantic, which sank on April 1, 1873, off Nova Scotia; 535 died and 371 survived, com-pared to the Titanic’s 1,514 and 700 four decades later.

The Ryersons’ connection to Hyde Hall – the Ryersons’ daugh-ter, Emily, 18 when on the Titanic, later married George Hyde – is also inspiring “Titanic! Emily Ryerson Clarke’s Ill-Fated Voy-age,” an exhibit scheduled to open Saturday, June 2.

The opening will feature a dra-matic reading by Cooperstown’s Flis Blum of a deposition Mrs.

Arthur Ryerson Sr. gave in Coo-perstown, describing her family’s experience. Items on exhibit will include a trunk bearing a White Star Line sticker, a White Star Line plate from first class, and photos of the family, including Emily and George’s 1915 wed-ding, headlined “Titanic Survivor Weds George Hyde Clarke.” It was hard to shake the connection.

The exhibit includes a letter dated May 9, 1912, from Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, to her parents: “The Ryerson family … were wonderfully calm & said they did not feel cold at Titanic wreck, & both girls had to row & bail out the boat, because only one able seaman was aboard their life boat. Susanne (sic), who is as strong as a man, threw off her fur coat & got into the icy water to help boost up one man who was too cold to get in. They saved 19 men & two died after they got them in their life boat.”

In recent days, the NYSHA Library also unveiled an exhibit of Titanic memorabilia from its collection.

Still, the most dramatic local memorial to the tragedy is a sim-ple Celtic cross set in a sheltered hillside in Cooperstown’s Lake-wood Cemetery and surrounded by wild rhododendron. In front of it is slate panel – a cenotaph,

literally “empty tomb” – 6 foot by 4, memorializing Arthur Ryerson Sr., “lost on the Titanic April 15, 1912, giving his life for others.” Arthur Ryerson Jr., whose death set the subsequent family tragedy in motion, is buried there.

Suzette, 21 on April 15, 1912, died in 1921, age 30, from appen-dicitis or heart failure – reports conflict. Emily Ryerson, then 18, died in 1960 at age 66. Jack Ryerson, then 13, died in 1986 at age 87.

Victorine Chaudanson, the French maid who accompanied the family, died in Pennsylvania in 1962 at 86. The children’s governess, Grace Scott Bowen, went on to become principal of the Knox School for Girls, which used to occupy The Otesaga during winter months.

Ellen, 17 in 1912, was a stu-dent at St. Timothy’s, a boarding school in Maryland, so missed her family’s European tour that ended in tragedy; she later married Victor Salvatore, who sculpted the James Fenimore Cooper statue in Cooper Park. Their son, Victor Salvatore Jr. – Arthur Ryerson Sr.’s great-grandson – recently turned 90 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

He would have known his great-grandmother, the Titanic survivor, and may be the last family mem-ber who would have. Ellen had seven children with George Hyde Clark, and the final two – Victor Salvatore’s first cousins – passed away just recently: Anne Lo-gan, 85, Cooperstown, Aug. 5, 2010, and – just a few months ago – Arthur Clarke Sr., 85, on Oct. 19 at his son’s home in Old Greenwich.

All of this continues to inspire people like Peter Deysenroth, the Cooperstown funeral director, who after seeing James Cameron’s “Titanic” in 1997, joined the Titanic Historical Society. In the late 1990s, he and his wife, Maria, were among 830,000 people who attended a landmark exhibit on the Titanic at the Florida International Museum, as did Fred Lemister and wife Karen.

Standing at the Ryerson ceno-taph the other afternoon, Deysen-roth recalled one feature of the ex-hibit in particular: A ship’s railing had been set up in a room as cold as it had been on the Titanic that

night. Holding onto the railing, a cold wind blew in their faces at the same strength it blew in the faces of Mrs. Ryerson and her three children that night.

Deysenroth paused, then he said of the continuing fascination: “It was about the rich, and the poor, and everyone in between. It taught everyone a lesson, in the most brutal way, that we are not invincible.”

It was one tragedy that led to another.

Arthur Ryerson Jr., 21, a Yale student, was killed at 11 p.m. Monday, April 8, after the car he was driving hit a rock on a road in Bryn Mawr, Pa., went out of control and sheared off a “Danger, Blow Your Horn,” sign. The classmate he was visiting, John L. Hoffman, also died from injuries.

His family – father Arthur Ryerson Sr., mother Emily Borie Ryerson, and siblings, Suzette, 21, Emily, 18, Jack, 13. (Ellen, 17, was attend-ing St. Timothy’s, a board-ing school in Maryland, and missed the trip) – had been

touring Europe since Febru-ary, along with a French maid and Grace Scott Bowen of Cooperstown, the children’s tutor.

This account comes mostly from a detailed article by Phyllis Ryerse in the summer 1990 edition of The Official Journal of the Titanic Historical Society.

The family received the news in Paris the next morning, Tuesday, April 9, and immediately made arrangements to return to New York. “Normally a strong and capable woman,” Ryerse wrote of Arthur Jr.’s mother, “she moved now as though stunned by a physi-

cal blow.”Wednesday the 10th, they

went by rail to Cherbourg, At 5:30, they boarded the tender Nomadic, which fer-ried them across the English Channel to the Titanic, “the largest moving object ever created by man,” docked off Southampton, which departed that night.

The voyage was unevent-ful. Arthur Sr. engaged in conversation in the smok-ing room with a friend, Archie Butt, President Taft’s military aide, and others of his social set from Phila-delphia’s Main Line and Chicago. Emily, dressed in mourning, remained in

the cabin, except evenings, when her husband insisted she take in fresh air and walk around the deck. Jack frequented the gym. Emily and Suzette played shuffle-board or deck quoits.

Sunday, April 14, was the fateful day. At 2 p.m., the S.S. Baltic cabled reports of “icebergs and large quanti-ties of field ice” 250 miles ahead. At 11:40, lookout Frederick Fleet, in the crow’s nest, rang the bridge: “Iceberg right ahead.” And the ship’s hull was soon tore with a sound some likened to a thousand rolling marbles. A little after mid-night on the 15th – a hun-

dred years ago this Sunday – women and children were ordered to the lifeboats.

In a famous episode, Sec-ond Officer Lightoller tried to block Jack – according to some accounts, he had been promoted from the knickers boys then wore to long pants on the death of his brother – from entering a lifeboat. But Arthur Sr. was insistent. “Momentarily intimidated by the intensity of the reply, Lightoller let the boy pass,” Ryerse reported.

The men who remained on the ship expected to be rescued by passing ships and to rejoin their families; Emily and Suzette smiled

and waved to their father. But at 2:20 a.m., as the lifeboat pulled away, “the stern began to rise out of the water until it stood almost straight up, and everything loose inside the ship began to thunder forward ... Those in the boat could hear the explosions within the ships. They could hear dishes shattering and the screams of people sliding down the decks into the freezing ocean water.”

The lifeboat was rescued by the Carpathia at 8 a.m., but Arthur Ryerson Sr.’s body was never recovered.

– Jim Kevlin

A Week Of Anguish, Mourning For Cooperstown’s Ryerson Family

Titanic’s Legacy of Tragedy Lives On Here

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s JournalFamily portraits show Arthur Ryerson Sr., who was lost on the Titanic, and his wife Em-ily Borie Ryerson and their son, Jack, both of whom left the ship on lifeboat #4 and were picked up by the Carpathia at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 15, 1912.

The death of Arthur Ryerson Jr., 21, left, in a car crash in Bryn Mawr, Pa., on April 8, 1912, caused the family to rush home from Europe – on the Titanic. Arthur Clarke Jr., right, is Arthur Ryerson Sr.’s great-grandson – grandson of Arthur Jr.’s sister Emily – and a member of the latest generation to recount the family’s story.

Fred Lemister, with memorabilia that will be displayed this week at Rudy’s Liquor Store, Main Street, Cooperstown, has been enraptured by the Titanic story since Walter Lord’s “Night to Remember” in 1955.

Wayne Wright, associate director of the NYSHA Library, straightens a portrait of Emily Borie Ryerson in an exhibit that went on display in recent days.

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012A-4 HOMETOWN ONEONTA

HOMETOWN Views

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HOMETOWN ONEONTA& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch

EDITORIAL

ALBANY

Did you see “The King’s Speech”? I loved that movie,

which told how King George, the present Queen Elizabeth’s father, overcame a stutter by going to an ec-centric speech pathologist. It was touching, moving and made you like every-one.

I understand that there may be a sequel in the offing: “The New York Governor’s Speech.”

We all know that An-drew Cuomo is one of the shrewdest and most am-bitious politicians in the country. Cuomo will hold grudges, big-time, but he doesn’t take things person-ally. If he makes a peace offering to anyone who is standing in his way and if that offer is accepted (with all that entails in terms of future fealty) past unhappi-ness will be forgotten.

I know one reporter for a New York tabloid who did more to destroy Mario Cuomo’s career than any-one else. In fact, it might be said that this guy was largely responsible for the

senior Cuomo’s relatively narrow defeat.

Nevertheless, from the moment Papa Cuomo lost and Andrew’s star was in the ascendency, a deal was struck with that very reporter who had politi-cally murdered the father. This story is illustrative of Andrew’s apparent convic-tion that political bed fel-lows change and people can usually be won over.

Most people who know the score will tell you that Andrew is a lot less compli-cated than Mario. Andrew knows what he wants and will do what he has to in order to get there. You just don’t want to get in his way or, as one of Andrew’s top staff people once said, “We have two speeds here – get along and kill.” That

Please See CHARTOCK, A8

As went George, so goes Andrew?

‘The Governor’s Speech,’ At Moviehouse Near You

ALAN CHARTOCKCAPITOL CONNECTION

This editorial had been written and the page sent electronically to

our printer when the word arrived Tuesday evening, April 10, that the Oneonta Town Board had unani-mously voted to create a town-only study group to look into the facts of a pos-sible merger with the City of Oneonta.

That’s a gutsy first step and the absolutely right one for the future of the town, of the city and of Otsego County as a whole.

Town Supervisor Bob Wood and Councilmembers Scott Gravelin, Janet Hur-ley-Quackenbush, David Jones and Bill Mirabito are no push-overs. They are battle-hardened. They are experienced. And they’ve put the potential long-term benefit of their fellow citi-zens above the temporary discomfort of inevitable criticism from some voters.

JFK’s “Profiles In Cour-age” comes to mind, that slender 1955 Pulitzer-win-ning volume. Slender, because it’s rare that elected officials, consensus-seekers by nature, willingly choose short-term pain for them-selves, and some electoral risk, over long-term gain for all.

City Mayor Dick Miller was seeking a 10-person, town-city-county panel when he appeared before the Town Board that eve-ning, but no doubt he was delighted by the outcome. It should also be noted that state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, had written letter to the Town Board suggesting such a sensible first step is warranted, and it is.

Bravo. Well done. Yes, indeed, let the facts decide.

•Let’s go back to the

original editorial, and see if it still makes sense.

In colonial times, we were saying, New England

towns were drawn to be about 10 miles wide, to accommodate worshipers at the local Congregational church on a central green. It was estimated farm families could comfortably walk a maximum of five miles to church and five miles back on a Sunday.

When you think about Ot-sego County, that holds. It’s eight miles from Cooper-stown to Milford, another nine or 10 to Colliersville, 10 miles from Otego to Unadilla, another seven or eight to Sidney.

As town centers devel-oped, in Otsego County as elsewhere, each had a mill,

a general store, eventually a bank, a power company and so on. But over the course of the 20th century, as com-munication and transporta-tion advanced, those com-mercial entities centralized, realizing efficiencies and competitive advantages.

Only the municipalities remained mired in colonial times, and Otsego County is no exception, with 24 towns and nine villages and 12 school districts serving the same number of 60,000 people served during the horse-and-buggy days of the Civil War.

•So Mayor Miller has

– let’s make that had – been paddling against the flow in his efforts to move that town and city of the same name into looking at, then acting on, merger into a single City of Greater Oneonta.

Merging the two munici-palities would make a lot of sense to the city and the town, too. Currently, the Town of Oneonta produces at least 25 percent of the sales tax collected in Otsego County, yet receives only 1.76 percent of that total. A combined entity could ac-cess the full 25 percent.

An opinion from the state

Attorney General’s Office found Greater Oneonta would be able to have two taxing districts – one for areas receiving municipal services, another for rural areas that receive few such services. This may allow property taxes to be almost eliminated in those rural ar-eas, and removes one major obstacle to consolidation.

But a fully thriving Oneonta would serve the in-terests of Otsego County as a whole in many ways. For one, it’s clear that a clean environment is a central val-ue for many of our citizens; yet, per capita income in Otsego County is 13 percent below the national average in an area more expensive than the national average. Today, environmentalism means continued poverty, but that doesn’t have to be.

Greater Oneonta solves that problem. To even more of a degree than today, the city, fully infrastructured, proximate to I-88, can be the county’s hub of business and light industry. Imagine the old D&H yards as a commerce park, downtown as a vibrant housing center, Southside as ever more powerful retail magnet.

Even more than now, people working in Greater

Oneonta could choose to commute to our charm-ing villages and hamlets, with disposable incomes to improve their properties and support additional retail in compact downtowns. Con-versely, people now living in the country towns would have more employment op-tions in the larger city.

•Mayor Miller is pursuing

the lowest-hanging fruit, but it reflects a way of thinking – logical, futuristic, vision-ary – that could be applied in exciting ways in the years ahead.

We in Otsego County are blessed with many advan-tages – scenic beauty, pure water aplenty, proximity to East Coast markets, two col-leges with growing reputa-tions, and a highway runs through it. But, as Senator Seward pointed out in open-ing remarks at his summit, we’ve been under-achievers.

The Oneonta town fathers (and one mother) have now embrace the future. Let hope the study confirms merger would be good for their town, great for ev-eryone, and would begin shifting our county from, frankly, stagnation, to an ex-citing and promising course.

Again, bravo! BRAVO!

The private sector has centralized and gained ef-ficiencies through modern communications and transportation, but local government, in Otsego County and many other places, still lives in a horse-and-buggy age.

This popular copy of 19th-century map shows, lo and behold, one Oneonta.

Editor’s Note: This is the text of Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller’s Tuesday, April 10, speech to the Oneonta Town Board, encouraging a study of merger’s possible benefits.

First, let me thank you for the opportunity to address you on discus-

sion of the possibility of a city/town merger or consoli-dation. I am well aware of the negative view and pas-sion on this subject on the part of large segments of the population of both the town and the city. If the result of the discussions proposed was to be a mutual decision to go forward, it would be subject to voter approval and probably could not come in the form of separate referendums before the fall of 2014. I am confident that such a referendum would fail in the town today and probably would fail in the city as well, but I am here despite that.

The discussion I have proposed is not a new idea. Let me digress and say that because of the obvious implications of some sort of merger in the county, I believe that any discussion group should include rep-resentatives of the county administration and board.

In 1996, a study was conducted by the SUNY Oneonta Center for Eco-nomic & Community De-velopment. That study was funded by Francis Rowe Trust, Wilber National bank, City of Oneonta, Key Bank, Future for Oneonta Founda-tion, Otsego Redi-Mix, and Dr. Michael MacDowell and

David W. Brenner, Duncan S. Davie, David Martindale, Cheryl Shackelton, and John Insetta provided support to it. Members of the commis-sion that oversaw it included Paul Adamo, Robert Bard, Joseph Bernier, Charles Burnsworth, Jim Catella, Sr., Tim Catella, Frank Gal-lucci, Huemac Garcia, Mi-chael Getman, Robert Har-lem, Jr., Hugh Henderson, Larry Hilts, Susan Hughson, Leon Kalmus, Marie Lusins, Michael MacDowell, Mar-gery Merzig, Robert Moyer, Benjamin Nesbitt, Alda Peinkofer, Virginia Pence, Joe Raymond, Paul Scheele, Kay Stuligross, Bruce Ward, Donald Webster and Robert Wood. One of its recom-mendations specifically was “given the promise that the preemption option offers, the task force recommends that a nine-member joint commission be formed to study the possibility of con-solidation. Two members of this joint commission must

be the mayor of Oneonta and the supervisor of the Town of Oneonta.” I know of no formal decisions made by either the city or town governments to not imple-ment that recommendation.

Completely indepen-dently, the Center for Governmental Research conducted a study for the state Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness in 2008 of the communities of Cort-land, Norwich and Oneonta. In 2010, I asked for the original 1996 study to be updated by the state univer-sity center. The facts of all studies are outlined in the “facts about consolidation for subsequent confirmation and discussion” document that I distributed to you on March 28.

I had help preparing that document from Dan Crow-ell, Bob Wood and Tim Hayes. The most important words in it are “for sub-sequent confirmation and

discussion.”It has been suggested

that I view consolidation as a way of “bailing out the city.” Certainly, there could be positive financial consequences for the city, just as there could be for the town, but no such bailout will be necessary. The city has been well managed for a number of years and has per capita greater financial reserves and less debt than any similar city we know of in Upstate New York. We have challenges and we will get through them. Given the fact that all municipalities in the state are in much more serious trouble than Oneon-ta leads one to conclude that Albany will have to address this situation and the city will be a beneficiary when actions are taken.

Certainly it bothers me that we don’t take advantage of opportunities for shared services, as in the asses-sor’s functions, and

Please See SPEECH, A7

ISSUE & DEBATE

County Who’s Who Helped FundOneonta’s Original Merger Study

Oneonta Town Board Takes Gutsy Step To Study Consolidation

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WELCOME • E-MAIL THEM TO [email protected]

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012 HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5

HOMETOWN HistoryCompiled by Tom HeiTz with resources courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library

80 Years ago125 Years agoMaud, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Fairchild and

wife of Merton roney, died at her home in oneonta at nine o’clock on saturday morning. It has been but a few months since there was a modest wedding in oneonta. The bride was fair and the picture of youthful health. But it was not many weeks before the withering touch of disease fell upon the young wife, and gradually she faded from those who loved her and who vainly sought to stay the progress of the malady which was taking her away. on saturday, after hav-ing borne without a murmur weeks of suffering and pain, she kissed again and again the mother who had cared for her so constantly and so tenderly; and then, ready to go, fell quietly asleep. on Monday, shrouded in her wedding gown, the body was laid in riverside. she was 20 years and six months old.

April 1887

100 Years agoFor several years the theatre-going public of oneonta has

hoped that Frances starr, the great Belasco actress whose earlier years were spent in this city, would be heard and seen in the oneonta theatre. owing however, to the phe-nomenal success of the plays in which she has appeared and to the bookings being made months ahead, it has not been possible to secure her company in oneonta until the present. Now she returns to the county of her nativity, and despite the better inducements elsewhere offered, will appear on saturday of this week at the oneonta Theatre in “The Case of Becky,” her latest and best play. Nobody was more surprised than the theatre management when the advance sale opened on Tuesday morning. Mr. roberts had looked for a brisk demand, but certainly not for the crowd which was waiting long before the opening hour, and which scarcely decreased until noon, when practically all the seats in the house had been sold. There were hundreds still wait-ing for seats, and to meet the demand Mr. roberts promptly got in touch by wire with the Belasco management and arranged for a matinee performance. (ed. Note: Frances starr was born June 6, 1886 in oneonta. By 1912, she was a leading actress on the american stage in plays produced by David Belasco)

April 1912

60 Years agoScores of hardy fishermen will ignore hand-numbing

cold weather and water this morning (april 12, 1952) as the long-awaited trout season opens in the otsego-Delaware-schoharie area. The 1952 Fish and game syllabus does not offer the clearest reading in the world, and there is some

mistaken information being passed around concerning the daily limit and hours of fishing. In this area, the minimum length is seven inches. The daily limit is ten fish and there are no hourly restrictions. Anglers can fish for trout the clock around until the season ends september 7. More than 8,000,000 brook, brown and rainbow trout and landlocked salmon weighing 441,000 pounds were stocked by state hatcheries during the year ending april 1.

April 1952

40 Years agosixteen Hartwick College students left Wednesday for six

and a half weeks in russia – a trip they hope will be capped off by a visit with President Nixon. The Hartwick College contingent, led y Dr. and Mrs. Boris svrakov, will be in Moscow for the first three days of President Nixon’s visit there in late May. arthur ashton, director of public relations at the college, is trying to get word to the White House about the over-lapping visits in the hope the President will take time out from his sure-to-be-crowded schedule to meet the collegians. Yesterday, the Hartwick students flew from New York to amsterdam, where they were to transfer to a Polish airline for the flight to Moscow via Warsaw. In Len-ingrad, they will participate in a 12-day seminar with soviet

teachers studying russian culture and civilization from its beginnings to modern times.

April 1972 30 Years ago

The oneonta Police Department has been without a chief since former Police Chief Joseph Desalvatore retired De-cember 31. Since then, Lieutenant Gerald C. Platt is head-ing the department until a new chief is found. The oneonta Common Council has been conducting the search for a new chief and six candidates are currently under consideration. “It’s a temporary situation I’m operating under,” Platt said. “a permanent chief would have certain powers to go ahead and make changes. While I feel I already do have those powers, I’m reluctant to use them because a new chief could come along in a month and reverse those changes,” he added. at a recent oneonta Common Council meet-ing, seventh Ward alderman Charles Burnsworth called for a policy governing police car chases in the commu-nity. Burnsworth’s comments referred to an early morning March 14th chase by Patrolman Joseph H. redmond in which redmond pursued a car through Wilber Park. During the chase, the police car struck a fence resulting in $160 damage.

April 1982

20 Years agoThree Oneonta residents who immigration officials claim

are illegal aliens were arrested Friday and may face depor-tation. Irena Morawska, 43, Marek Kazikowski, 45, and Nezir Boljeviq, 28, will appear in immigration court in Buf-falo at a later date. Morawska and Boljeviq were released on their own recognizance and Kazikowski was released on $500 bail. Morawska and Kazikowski are from Poland and have been residing at 125 oneida street. Boljeviq, of 10 academy street is from Yugoslavia.

April 1992

10 Years agoeach pack of cigarettes sold in the United states costs the

nation $7 in medical care and lost productivity according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). The study puts the nation’s total cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or $157.7 billion. Health experts had previously estimated $96 billion. americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annual-ly. The CDC study is the first to establish a per pack cost to the nation. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in 1999 was $2.92. There’s a big difference in the cost to society and what society is getting back in tax.

April 2002

April 1932

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STUDY/From A1mittee, comprised of Town Board members and town residents, without city, county or the college’s rep-resentation. “Let’s get the figures and find out if this will be beneficial to us.”

Town Board Member Bill Mirabito added, “I can support this scenario be-cause it’s in the best interest of the town.”

The Town Board voted in the face of some vehement opposition during a pub-lic-input session that was extended to allow everyone to have his or her say.

“I would actually con-sider leaving the town in the event of a merger,” declared Dan DeThomas.

“Why are we even still talking about this?” asked Angie Van Bramer to thun-derous applause. “The town residents have spoken, and we don’t want this.”

But that sentiment was not unanimous, and many who spoke called for a stronger investigation of the benefits and detriments of consolidation before a decision is made. In the end, that sentiment carried

the day.In his remarks, Miller

traced the discussion of con-solidation to the mid-’90s, when a committee under the auspices of SUNY Oneon-ta’s Center for Economic & Community Development looked into the matter, came to a positive conclusion and recommended a second panel to take the process further.

Nothing happened, but a 2008 study for then-gov-ernor Eliot Spitzer’s state Commission on Local Government Efficiency &

Competitiveness identi-fied Cortland, Norwich and Oneonta as three cities most likely to benefit from con-solidation with surrounding towns.

When Miller ran for may-or in 2009, he made merger one of the main planks of his platform, and has been nudging the discussion forward since taking office at the start of 2010.

He shared a breakthrough at his annual retreat with Common Council in March: An opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office stated two taxing district could be created in a new City of Greater Oneonta, one for sections receiving city services, and another for rural areas receiving less.

Depending on the num-bers, the rural areas might end up paying no property taxes at all, the mayor said.

Town Agrees To Study Merger Issues – On Its Own

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTACity Mayor Dick Miller asks the Oneonta Town Board to consider studying consolidation. Fac-ing him, from left, are Town Board Members Scott Gravelin and David Jones (partly hidden), Town Clerk Cheryl Shackelton, Town Supervisor Robert Wood, Town Attorney Richard Harlem, and Town Board Members William Mirabito and Janet Hur-ley-Quackenbush.

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SPEECH/From A4that city taxpayers bear the cost of the Oneonta Police Department providing “first responder” services to the town about three times a month without compensa-

tion. But none of the above is the overriding driver for me on this subject.

Simply stated, what drives me is that I see an opportunity to strengthen our community, improve its

economy and protect and le-verage our significant assets for Oneonta to be a greater force in the region and state.

Whether you live in the city or town, as a member of the Oneonta community, I

believe we all want:• Enhancement of our

pristine environmentally sensitive surroundings

• A food market in the West End

• Success of Foothills and

completion of the Bresee’s project

• The enhanced future of our two colleges and Fox Hospital

• Improvements to the roads, safety, infrastructure, and attractiveness of South-side

• Support of growing businesses like Ioxus and Corning

• Attractiveness, vibrancy and safety of downtown

• Development of the rai-lyards, and renewed contri-bution of the playing fields at the National Soccer Hall of Fame

• The ability of young people to buy homes, par-ticularly in center city

• A school system in which we can continue to take pride

The list could go on.I believe that our history

and the incredibly beauti-ful environment in which we live can be honored and protected more effectively if we address them together as a community.

I do not believe in protecting the status quo. Evidence of decline of the status quo is in our aging population and decreasing disposable income. Declin-ing school age population is a result of our not creat-ing enough decent paying jobs here. Southside jobs are great, but in the extreme they are at minimum wage levels and the average big box employee only stays for two years. Big Box retail owners don’t live here and don’t reinvest their profits in the community in the ways of locally owned businesses.

I believe we have to change and act affirmatively to drive our community’s future. I don’t believe that we should “just let the fu-ture happen.”

Under the discussions I propose, we may be able to achieve the benefits of

acting as one community without merging. Benefits are the objective. Merger is a vehicle, but may not be the only one.

If you believe the better future of the community is something we, as elected officials, have a responsibil-ity for, than we should work together to that end.

If you are prepared to vote yes on the discussions I propose recalling that they were proposed by a very distinguished group of individuals 16 years ago, I urge you to do so, so that together we can get about forming a group and design-ing a process.

If you are inclined to vote no tonight, I urge you to table the subject and appoint one or two individuals to work with representatives of the city and the county to more clearly define the makeup of a potential group and the process that it would follow so that the subject could be brought back to you for action in a month’s time.

Despite my short period of time here, in relative terms in the context of others in this room, I love the Oneonta community. I don’t love the city or the town. How can anyone love a government? I love the Oneonta community

None of us here will live long enough to realize all the benefits of acting more assertively to share our future with or without merg-ing as a community, but certainly we will see signs of progress.

I see us playing offense not defense to change the status quo in positive ways, given the assets we have, and move ahead while the rest of Upstate New York hangs on by its fingernails. We have a chance to dif-ferentiate ourselves and gain competitive advantage over the rest of Upstate. We can be the next Ithaca or Sara-toga.

Discussing that promise can hardly be a bad idea. In my judgment, it is the responsibility of elected of-ficials to do so. I hope that you will join with me to that end.

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CHARTOCK/From A4staffer is now gone, perhaps because he described the real Andrew Cuomo a bit too vividly.

If Andrew sees an oppor-tunity to change something that stands in his way, he will do what he must. And when a move to Pennsylva-nia Avenue is in the offing, that’s where the king’s (or governor’s) speech comes in.

Many of us don’t know what we sound like. An-drew has a distinct Queens accent. Lots of folks tell me that he sounds exactly like his father. I have always maintained that he doesn’t sound like Mario, but that his style of speaking comes more from his lovely mother, Matilda. That makes sense; Matilda raised Andrew and his siblings while Papa was out doing politics.

In the case of Andrew’s speech, the governor has a defined liability. In New York, Andrew’s speech is, well, acceptable. I was recently talking to Times Union editor Rex Smith, who originally hails from South Dakota. He told me that George McGovern was so conscious of his accent that he took speech lessons.

I believe Andrew’s accent will be a turn off for most of this country. In fact, I suspect that George McGov-ern’s speech problems would be far less insulting to the ears of Manhattan dwellers than Andrew’s thick Queens brogue would be to the folks in South Dakota.

This is where Andrew’s self-knowledge becomes so important. Clearly, he has enough insight to get it. I have been listening to Andrew’s public utterances and he is beginning to sound more and more like King George. I suspect, but can-not prove, that he is getting speech coaching. He’s still dropping consonants at the end of words, but his words are coming out softer.

Of course, we don’t know who is helping Andrew with his speech. He may be prac-ticing in front of a mirror. Maybe his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, is helping him, or it could be his brother, Chris, the TV news guy. Maybe it’s one of the actors or direc-tors with whom the Cuomo’s hobnob at the 21 Club. We’ll just have to wait for the movie release to find out.

This could be the start of something big. I wonder if Shelly Silver will be next. I hope not, I love his accent.

Alan Chartock is president of WAMC, which broad-

casts locally on 99.3 FM in Oneonta and 97.3 FM in

Cooperstown.

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A-9THURSDAY-FRIDAY, APRIL 12-13, 2012

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SERVICE • KNOWLEDGE • SELECTION FINANCING • DELIVERY

You’re Invited To Our

OPEN HOUSEApril 14, 2012

8am - 3pm Fun • Food

Factory Reps

AllOTSEGO.life B-9THURSDAY-FRIDAY, APRIL 12-13, 2012

AllOTSEGO.auto

Steve Scoville Jim Meno

Family of DealershipsOwego • Bainbridge • Sidney • Oneonta

* Payments based upon 3.9% for 72 months with $1,500 downpayment.

MSRP $29,775auto, cruisesapphire, power sliding doors

S-M PRICE$26,999

$439*per mos.

2012 Chrysler T & C Touring

MSRP $37,775sagebrush pearl,remote start,bedliner,bighorn package

S-M PRICE$32,999

$549*per mos.

2012 RAM Quad Cab SLT

MSRP $27,910stock # p2009tungsten grey,3.6L V6

S-M PRICE$24,999

2012 Dodge Charger

2012 Chrysler 200 SMSRP $28,405

Lthr heated seats,sunroof, Black

S-M PRICE$24,499

$399*per mos.

2012 Dodge Caliber SXTMSRP $19,840

stock # c2006auto

S-M PRICE$17,999

$289*per mos.

2009 Chrysler T&C Touring-Lstock #2573A

Certified Pre-Owned,

Lthr. Sts., DVD,Pwr. Liftgate

ONLY$19,999

$319*per mos.

2007 Jeep WranglerJUST ARRIVED!

stock # 25RACertified

Pre-Owned,14k miles, auto,

soft top

ONLY$18,999

$299*per mos.D

rivingSmarter...There’smoneytobesavedat

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loyalty where applicable - must own ‘99 or newer Chrysler product. Must qualify for payments - $1,500 down plus tax and tag fees.

18 Union St. • Sidney • NY607-561-7500

100’s of PRE-OWNED VEHICLES TO CHOOSE FROM!COME SEE US, WE’RE HERE TO HELP!

taxes & fees extra • facility #7073344

COME & SEE OUR SALES & LEASING PROFESSIONALS TODAY!www.scovillemenohonda.com

OPEN FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: mon. thues. & thurs. 9am-7:30pm • wed. & fri. 9am-5:30pm • sat. 9am-5pmwww.scovillemeno.com

KevinJones

AnthonyGrigoli

KenLorenz

Service Manager

BobHaywood

COME & SEE OUR SALES & LEASING PROFESSIONALS TODAY!lease signing, tax and tags extra. All traditional finance payments based upon $1500 down for 72 months.

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Steve Scoville Jim Meno

65 Oneida St. • Oneonta • NY607-433-1251

100’s of PRE-OWNED VEHICLES TO CHOOSE FROM!COME SEE US, WE’RE HERE TO HELP!

taxes & fees extra • facility #7073344

COME & SEE OUR SALES & LEASING PROFESSIONALS TODAY!www.scovillemenohonda.com

OPEN FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: mon. tues. & thurs. 9am-7:30pm • wed. & fri. 9am-5:30pm • sat. 9am-5pm

HondaFamily of Dealerships

Owego • Bainbridge • Sidney • Oneonta

39 MPG HWY**

$239*per mos.

36 mos, 36k miles

Lease For:

2012 Honda Civic LX SEDAN

0% Due At Lease SigningFirst PaymentIncluded!

8% Sales TaxIncluded!

Estimated License, Registration, and Acquisition fees

Included!Security Deposit

Waived!MSRP $22,950stock # 12151auto, pwr. eqp., cruise,CD Player

34 MPG HWY**

$249*per mos.

36 mos, 36k miles

Lease For:

2012 Honda Accord LX Sedan

MSRP $29,035stock # 12160auto, 7 pass.,cd player

27 MPG HWY**

$339*per mos.

36 mos, 36k miles

Lease For:

2012 Honda Odyssey LXALL MODELS IN STOCK NOW!

ALL NEW 2012 Honda CRV

MSRP $19,425stock # 12271auto, cruisepwr. eqp.CD Player

READY FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY!

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0.9% up to 36 months

1.9% from 37 to 60 monthsfor all qualifying buyers on Civics, Accords, Crosstours, Odysseys, Pilots and Ridgelines

**Based on 2012 EPA mileage estimates. Use for comparison purposes only. Do not compare to models before 2008. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle

dignity • tradition • continuityTillapaugh Funeral home

(607) 547-257128 pioneer St., CooperStown

Serving AreAFAmilieS Since 1888

George M. Tillapaugh (1888-1913) • Revo & Anna Tillapaugh (1913-1958)

Our new chapelcomfortably seats over 200

Our historic Family room provides additional seating

George G. & Marjorie Tillapaugh (1935-1988) • Martin H. Tillapaugh (1988-Present)

Proud To be Oneonta’s OnlyFamily Owned Funeral Home

~ 51 Dietz Street, Oneonta 607-432-1511 ~ www.lhpfuneralhome.com

“Our family is committed to providing you with a personal as well as professional level of service, and still maintain affordability”

-John & Kathleen Pietrobono

OBITUARIES

ONEONTA – Elise Y. Fortin, 94, who with her husband sold what would become Fortin Park to the Town of Oneonta, died Wednesday, April 4, 2012, of congestive heart failure in the home where she was born.

Elise was born on July 26, 1917, the daughter of Vyrle A. and Lois (Fennell) Young. She married her second husband, Albert J. Fortin, Jr. on Nov. 10, 1951; he predeceased her on Feb. 8, 2003.

She graduated from Oneonta High School, and lived here most of her life.

Until six years ago, Elise was a member of Sue McDonough’s “Young at Heart Dance Group,” part of the team that did recitals and visited various sites to perform routines.

Elise painted as a hobby, and many of her works of art were on display at her

home.She and her

husband were the owners of the former F&F Airpark, and they and their son, James, were licensed pi-lots. They ran

the Airpark as a professional but fun place to learn to fly in a family atmosphere. They sold the property to the Town of Oneonta with the stipulation it remained as a park.

In later years, Elise loved to travel through the park on her golf cart, her trusty dog Rip in the passenger seat. She loved all the activity in the park, including cross-country runners passing her home. Taz, Wyatt, Buford, Muzzy and many other dogs came to her house to visit Rip, and received a treat from Elise.

In earlier year, Elise sought out edible mush-rooms and could identify multiple wildflowers. She travelled states from Florida to California, and toured Spain with friends.

Survivors include her daughter-in-law, Joyce Catella Pattengill, and two grandchildren, Vikki Patten-gill Cates and Eric J. Patten-gill. She was predeceased by her husband and, in 1978, by her son.

A service to celebrate her life will be held later at the grove in Fortin Park.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Susque-hanna SPCA, 4841 State Hwy 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326, Bassett Home Health Care, 25 Elm St., Oneonta, NY 13820, or the Catskill Area Hospice, 1 Birchwood Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.

Elise Fortin

Elise Y. Fortin, 94; Oneonta Town ParkBuilt On Her Family’s Former Airfield

ONEONTA – George C. “Wheels” Wheeler, 52, a cook, and baseball and racing fan, died Wednesday, April 4, 2012, after a long illness.

He was born Feb. 13, 1960, in Oneonta, the son of Francis and Eleanor (Up-right) Wheeler.

He was a cook for many local restaurants and organi-zations, most recently SUNY Oneonta.

His biggest passions were rooting for the Yankees and being a DJ at the annual ARC Christmas party. He also was an avid sportsman and president of his family’s NASCAR fantasy league, Wheels Racing League.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; his son, Barry and wife, Bonnie and their daughter, Bayli, his son, Bryan, and his son, Brandon and wife, Leslie and their daughters, Laila and Jaiden; his mother, Eleanor Wheeler; his brother, Bruce and wife, Linda, his sister, Susan and husband, Steve Monte-murro, his sister, Connie and husband, Bob Kisner, his brother, Bob and wife, Ma-rie; many nieces and neph-ews, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

A memorial service with military honors was Wednes-day, April 10, at Lewis, Hur-ley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, with the Rev. Keith VanDewerker officiating.

In lieu of flowers, a trust account will be set up for his granddaughters. For more in-formation contact the funeral home or a family member.

‘Wheels’ Wheeler,52; Chef; Baseball,Racing Enthusiast

A-10 THURSDAY-FRIDAY, APRIL 12-13, 2012

Advertise in AllOTSEGO.

homes CALL AMAndA At 547-6103 the region’s

LArgest reAL-estAte

seCtion.

AllOTSEGO.homes

4914 St. Hwy 28, CooperStown (607) 547-593328 oneida Street, oneonta (607) 433-1020 Available exclusively by RealtyUSA.com

Through The Rain Day Foundation H.E.L.P Program

MLS#83229 - Business opportunity to own piece of Cooperstown. Your very own motel only minutes to the National

Baseball Hall of Fame, Fenimore Art Museum, Farmers Museum, or Dreams Park. Nine renovated & fully furnished units featuring flat screen tv’s, newer carpeting, beds, & bedding. Newer roof, windows and paint as well. Seperate office & laundry room with a complete water filtration system. Great investment potential.

Come take a look. $299,000 Call Chris @ (607) 376-1201

MLS#82430 - Charming Greek Revival home featuring 4 bedrms & 2 ba. This home is located in the Hamlet of Westville. Lrg wood stove located in the den. Gorgeous views from the front

or side porch. Owner is motivated to sell & the furnishings can be negotiated. Beautiful Historic Greek Revival w/lots of rm for

growth. $138,000 Call Jim Vrooman @ (603) 247-0506

MLS#83632 - CLASSIC SEASONAL CAMP...FURNISHED. Knotty pine walls, fieldstone fireplace, lg covered porch overlooking

Canadarago Lake with 15’ right of way. $149,000 Call Rod & Barb @ (315) 520-6512

NEW LISTING-MLS#83535 - A great starter home. New carpeting, beautiful hardwood floors, & newly painted. A lovely sloping back yard that leads to Oaks Creek. What a great place to raise your family. Move your furniture in & take the family on

a picnic right in your own back yard, perfect! $159,900 Call Donna @ 607-267-3232

MLS#83178 - Amazing investment! Over $150k of updates and renovations. Income potential galore! Make your appointment

today! Call David at 607-435-4800 for more information.MLS#83687 - CANADARAGO LAKE RIGHTS, VIEWS & 2+ acres

of peace and tranquility. 2,000sq ft modular home with fireplaces, party barn and lg detached garage. $245,000

Call Rod & Barb @ (315) 520-6512

MLS#83628 - BEAUTIFUL RAISED RANCH WITH CURB APPEAL! CORIAN Countertop, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. $179,000

Call CAROL OLSEN @ 607-434-7436

MLS#83523 - Year round Lakefront living at a fantastic price! A UNIQUE PROPERTY on Goodyear Lake! 5 acres plus, zoned residential & commercial. This very spacious home has many recent updates & has been tastefully renovated. A great year

round home or a wonderful family retreat. $189,900.00 Call Donna @ 607-267-3232

MLS#81221 - Beautifully maintained 3 bed 2 bath home in beautiful Fly Creek. Full finished walk out lower level, oversized garage with work shop and walk up loft for crafts or hobbies all

on almost 2 acres with a stream out back. $199,000 Call Chris @ (607) 376-1201

MLS #83328 - Location is Everything! 3br,2full baths, hrdwd floors, lrg dining, kitchen. Roof 6 mos old, deck, enclosed porch.

Near both colleges. Make appt. now. $148,000.00 Call Linda (607) 434-2125

MLS#82983 - PRICED TO SELL! 3 bedroom, 2 bath RANCH HOME IS MOVE-IN READY. CLOSE TO ONEONTA, SIDNEY AND HAS IT ALL. $159,900 CALL CAROL OLSEN @ 607-434-7436

MLS#81815 - ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES in beautiful Bovina! 3-bed, 2-bath farmhouse and an historic 3500 square foot,

two-story storefront building - all on over eight acres in a charming hamlet of Delaware County. Call David at

607-435-4800 for more information.

MLS#81458 - Fantastic location for Schools, Parks and Downtown. This cozy three bedroom features new paint and hardwood floors. Easy to maintain Priced right at $124,900

Call Adam Karns 607-244-9633

MLS#79845 - Country Bliss perfect for hunting, recreational use or farmette. Move-in condition 4 bedrm 1 ½ bath home located only 6 miles from

Cooperstown. Home offers a lrg layout downstairs including a grand family rm, an eat-in kitchen w/dining area & a formal dining rm. Warm up & relax in

the living rm w/nice corner wood fireplace. Upstairs a lrg inviting hallway w/3 bedrms a ½ bath. Outside gorgeous views of the pond & apple orchard from a nice sized back deck. Lrg barn for animals or storage. Come view this gorgeous country home on nearly 20 acres. Additional 32+/- acres available across road.

Ask agent for details. $198,000 Call Kristi Ough @ (607) 376-1201

NEW LISTING-MLS#83519 - Home offers privacy of ½ mile road frontage. 4 bedrm, 2 bath home features: lrg kitchen, formal

dining, cozy living rm w/fireplace, bay window & beautiful hardwood flrs throughout. Upstairs 4 bedrms, 1 bedrm has private upstairs play area. Master bedrm w/private balcony

overlooking the inground pool & pond. Bluestone walkway leads to back deck & private fenced in ground pool w/pool house &

½ bath. A picture perfect dollhouse for the kids w/upstairs loft & grapevined gazebo. Pond w/koi fish. Lrg barn offers rm for

animals or storage. $269,900 Call Kristi Ough @ (607) 434-3026

MLS#82197 - Beautiful country setting for relaxed living. Owner financing available, close to Stamford and near Oneonta.

$74,000 Call Adam Karns 607-244-9633

MLS#82720 - Location! 3br, close to school, shopping. Situated on a nice corner lot and with some TLC would make a

great starter home. Owner needs to find suitable housing. Come take a look! $90,000 Call Linda @ (607) 434-2125

MLS#83326 - Located in the center of Schuyler Lake this warm & inviting home has passed the test of time. W/3 bedrms & 2 baths

this well maintained home is in move in condition. The home sits on a lrg level lot w/a 16x30 carriage house & a 42x34 barn. Enjoy your

evening on the lrg covered porch. $139,900 Call Jim Vrooman @ (603) 247-0506

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for complete listings visit us at realtyusa.com

Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner Cricket Keto, Lic. Assoc.BrokerJohn Mitchell, Lic. Assoc. Broker Stephen Baker,Lic. Assoc. BrokerPeter D. Clark, Consultant

locally owned & operatedsingle & multi-family homes, commercial property & land

oneontarealty.com

office 441.7312 • fax 432.758099 Main St Oneonta • oneontarealty.com

4-BR, 2-BATH village charmer with new roof, thermal windows, pellet stove, enclosed front porch, large yard, more!! $98,900 #83342

MUST SEE!! Well maintained home in city of Oneonta close to schools downtown and parks. This home has 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths with family room, den and room for an office plus the dining and living room. $99,000 #83736

Union Street!

Attractive Oneonta, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath Tudor with lots of living space. The first floor offers formal

living & dining rooms, a sunroom/den & a wonderful kitchen open to the family room. The kitchen has oak

cabinets & corian counters. First floor laundry & a 1/2 bath. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms & 2 baths including the large master bedroom suite with

walk-in closet and full bath. The basement level has a family room & office. Outside there is a private

patio area & level yard. $179,000. MLS#83650

(607) 547-5740 • (607) 547-6000 (fax)157 Main Street,

Cooperstown, NY 13326E-Mail Address: [email protected]

Visit Our Web Site at www.hubbellsrealestate.com

OtsegO Lake Views On 16+ acres(7564) Settle serenely in this secluded 4BR/2BA

Ranch-style with a lake view on property. Touches in this comfortable residence include main-level master

bedroom, modern kitchen with oak cabinets, Light and airy floorplan, private den, vaulted ceilings. Skylight,

hardwood flooring, laundry room, perennial and vegetable gardens. Many charms to cherish!

Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive. $150,000

OtsegO LakefrOnt Year-rOund!

HUBBELL’S REAL ESTATE

Cooperstown Otsego Lake Lot (7184) Lake View vistas! Last of the lake lots in the Village with 138’ of private lake frontage. Village

water & sewer hook-ups. Good road access. Once in a lifetime opportunity to build the house

of your dreams. Cooperstown Schools.Hubbell’s Exclusive $600,000

(7546) Nearly-new 3BR/2BA with 50’ of lakefront and wide-span views. Enchanting features, including butternut flooring, hand hewn beamed ceilings, ceramic tile baths.

Custom kitchen with oak cabinets, Fireside benefits. Welcoming 1 bedroom separate guest house, Large view deck w/ hot tub, Boat house w/ elec., 300 gal fuel tank, 2 boat lifts, dock for 9 boats, concrete pier. parking for 4 cars. Cooperstown Schools. A gracious setting and so

much more! Hubbell’s Exclusive $675,000

1799 federaL Brick estate(7447) Historic Center Hall Federal brick residence only

6 miles from Cooperstown. Nestled on 16 acres with spectacular valley views. Extensive gardens and small spring fed pond surround this 3-4BR home. Original

smokehouse and carriage barn. Spacious Living room w/ Fireplace and Dining room with built-ins, updated country kitchen, newer furnace, Newer roof. A total

of 3 fireplaces, Library nook, wine cellar, and original millwork complete this unique country estate.

Hubbell’s Exclusive. $499,000

charming near cOOperstOwn(7550) Live comfortably in this well-maintained

4BR/3BA Ranch-type featuring country scenery on 1.80 acres. Offering cathedral beamed ceilings, great

room, finished basement. Spacious floorplan, main-level master bedroom w/jacuzzi. Eat-in Kitchen w/oak cabinets, laundry room. Energy efficient, Two-car

garage, 12x24 workshop, decks. Tiered deck. Be sure to see this delightful home just 2 1/2 miles from

Cooperstown! Cooperstown Schools Hubbell’s Exclusive. $225,000

cOOperstOwn ViLLage hOme(7504) A delightful discovery near Clark Sports Center, shops, & schools. Make a great move to this spotless, tastefully remodeled 3BR/2+BA home. Ideal features

include walk-up attic suite, oak flooring and ceramic tile baths. Secluded den, newer windows, newer kitchen with oak cabinets and cork flooring. Formal dining room. Nice private yard, Newer siding, Deck, Front porch. Reflecting

pride of place! Hubbell’s Exclusive. $299,900

Main Street Cooperstown(6447) Business block on Main Street. Four 2 BR apartments. 2 commercial spaces. 2,500 sq ft total commercial space. New windows, new hot water

furnace. Storage space in cellar. Well-kept stone and brick building. Good income producer.

Hubbell’s Exclusive $595,000

Welcome to Deerfoot Farm! Situated on 96 acres, this colonial farmhouse has the charm of yesteryear with the convenience of today. Two ponds,

stream, open fields and a view from the front patio of Otsego Lake; there

is a second stone patio in the rear of the house. The house features a

generous entry, large living room with a fireplace and a bow window with a window seat that overlooks the lake.

A formal dining room, large kitchen, office space, full bath and a large den with a

woodstove and a wet bar complete the first floor. Upstairs, lovely MBR with full bath,

dressing area, walk-in closets. There is also a one bedroom suite with a

full bath and a second bedroom. Wide pine floors throughout the house. Nestled snugly

in the woods is a writer’s cottage. There is also large, renovated barn with silo and a three car attached garage. Two ponds, fields, woods and views in all directions

complete the picture. The house is located very near to Glimmerglass Opera, the

Cooperstown Theater festival and Route 20. The Village of Cooperstown is but a short drive along the scenic Lake Road. This property is definitely a must see!

Don Olin37 Chestnut st., Cooperstown • phone: 607-547-5622 • Fax: 607-547-5653

www.donolinrealty.com PARKING IS NEVER A PROBLEM

Make yourself at home on our website, www.donolinrealty.com, for listings and information on unique and interesting properties.We'll bring you home!

For Appointment Only Call:M. Margaret Savoie – Broker/Owner – 547-5334Marion King – Associate Broker – 547-5332Don Olin – Associate Broker – 547-8782Eric Hill – Associate Broker – 547-5557Don DuBois – Associate Broker – 547-5105Tim Donahue – Associate Broker – 293-8874Cathy Raddatz – Sales Associate – 547-8958Jacqueline Savoie -Sales Associate -547-4141Carol Hall - Sales Associate -544-4144

Don OlinREALTY

Make yourself at Home on our website http://www.donolinrealty.com for listings and information on unique and interesting properties. We'll bring you Home!

CHOOSE A SKILLED NEGOTIATOROne of the ways in which a real estate professional can help

you in the sale of your home is in handling the delicate negotiations that usually occur when homes change hands. Even more than in other forms of real estate transactions,

personalities can play an important part. Your agent is accustomed to working out the details of negotiations,

serving as a “go-between” in areas that might be difficult for the principals in the transactions to discuss. You are spared from myriad details

which can be time-consuming and confusing. Negotiation is a skill acquired with patience and training; the right agent will have both.

Deerfoot FarmExclusively offered at $875,000.

Real Estate Corner: A Weekly Message

For reliable, honest answers to any of your real estatequestions, Don Olin Realty at 607.547.5622or visit our website www.donlinrealty.com

AUTO • HOME • LIFEBUSINESS

Since 1947, our personal service has

always beenthere when you need

it most. With comprehensive

coverage for all your

insurance needs.

Hours: M-F 8am-5pm Phone: 607-432-2022

22-26 Watkins Ave, Oneonta, NY 13820

KevinKurKowsKi

31 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown(directly next door to Stagecoach Coffee)

Registered Mortgage Broker Matt Schuermann NYS Banking Dept.Loans arranged by a 3rd party lender.

[email protected] www.leatherstockingmortgage.com

607-547-5007 (Office) 800-547-7948 (Toll Free)

New Purchases and refinances • Debt Consolidation Free Pre-Qualification • Fast Approvals • Low Rates

Thinking of Remodeling?Think of Refinancing!