AT SOME POINT, BUYING TEAM JUST MADE SENSE TO GARY LAING/B1
HOMETOWN ONEONTA E!
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, March 1, 2013
Volume 5, No. 23
City of The Hills
$3.8M PROJECT TO BEGIN IN DAYS
With Intuit CEO’s Gift, Hartwick Union Reborn converting Dewar’s Stack Lounge into a campus “livingroom,� and adding a 7,300-square-foot Campbell he Coach of the Silicon Fitness Center. Ribbon-cutting is Valley,� Intuit Chairman planned for November. Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA of the Board Bill Camp“Because our students wanted it, it Oneonta City School bell, has put Hartwick College in was our top priority,� said President Board member Jamie scoring position. Not at Wright Margaret Drugovich of Hartwick’s Reynolds voices his Stadium, where the Hawks comlargest project since $12 million concerns to state Sens. pete each fall, but at the Dewar Campbell Golisano Hall opened in 2008. James Seward, R-MilUnion, 200 feet to the south. While there is a fitness center at ford, and John FlanaBeginning in the next few days, $3.8 the Binder Facility, it is at the north end of gan, who chairs the million in construction will begin there, Please See PROJECT, A3 Education Committee, By JIM KEVLIN
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during a forum Seward organized Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the high school. Behind Reynolds are School Board President Grace Larkin, left, and board member Sue Kurkowski.
Lady Jackets Face Seton In Class B Finals
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he Lady Yellowjackets will take on longtime rivals Seton Catholic Central at the Section Four Class B final on at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Broome County Arena, Binghamton. For results, photos check www.allotsego.com FIRST TOURNAMENT: RoboKronos, the Otsego 4-H FIRST Robotics Team, will compete at the Finger Lakes Regional Robotics Competition on Feb 28 and March 1-2, at RIT.
Artist’s renderings show the exterior and interior of Hartwick College’s Campbell Fitness Center. Work will begin within days on the $3.8 million undertaking, the largest since Hartwick’s Golisano Hall opened in 2008. The associated renovation of Dewar Union’s adjacent Stack Lounge into a student “livingroom� is planned for completion by November.
Sustainable Otsego Bid To Halt Backing For Mayor Fizzles
PASTA FEAST: Holiday Inn Southside is again hostBy JIM KEVLIN ing (and donating) an annual pasta dinner to benefit Catholic Charities, 5-8 p.m. COOPERSTOWN Wednesday, March 6. Three ustainable Otsego’s drive to delay types of pastas; all you can permission for Oneonta Mayor eat. $10 for adults, $5 12 and Dick Miller to run for reelection on under; free 5 and under. the Democratic line in November fizzled Tuesday evening, Feb. 26. LET’S DANCE: Dances At the end of an hour-long committee from Spain and Italy will be featured Friday, March 8, as meeting in the county Board of Representatives’ chambers, county Chairman the Oneonta Concert AsRichard Abbate called for a voice vote sociation present Chatham Baroque at the Oneonta The- that resoundingly gave approval for Miller atre. 10:30 a.m. preview, $3; to circulate petitions to run on the Democratic ballot line in November’s election. 7:30 p.m. performance $20 Before a rare attendance of 40 people, general $6 for students. Please See MILLER, A5
Staff Flexibility Can Save $3 Million, Keep Otsego Manor Publicly Owned Marchi: Painful, But Privatization Would Be Moreso By JIM KEVLIN
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INDEX
B HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Manor director Ed Marchi looks over the numbers.
ack in the Golden Days of the welfare state – the 1970s – counties were reimbursed, dollar for dollar, for running nursing homes like The Meadows, forerunner of Otsego Manor. During those happy days, The Meadows’ workers negotiated a “step and grade� contract: 3 percent a year, plus 3 percent on their
anniversaries. Compounded, every $100 in salary grew to $134.39 over five years, $175.35 over 10. That “step and grade� continues today. Even though Otsego Manor workers have been without a contract since 2011, they have continued to receive 3 percent a year, plus 3 percent on their anniversaries. From the entry of “step and grade� through the 1980s, “reimbursements were cost-based,� Ed Marchi, Otsego Manor director, said in a broad-ranging interPlease See MARCHI, A7
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A-2 HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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Emily Bradenburg, Jackson Winn, Jamarcus Ripp, Owen Merkel and Dominack Cody show off their brand-new winter coats to Cindy Struckle and Chad Smith, co-chairs of the Oneonta Rotary “Operation Warm,” which distributed 48 coats to children in the area.
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The Howard Hand Collection Part III
That’s right! It’s all just for laughs as three nationally touring female comics rock The Otesaga comedy stage for another hilarious night of laughs!
Headliner Mary Dimino
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, speaks to a standing-room only crowd at the Oneonta Elks Club on Tuesday, Feb. 19, expressing opposition to SAFE, the state’s new gun-control law. Other panelists were: Buzz Hesse, owner of Hesse Galleries, Otego; Mike Zagata, West Davenport, former DEC Commissioner, and Harold Palmer, president of the Otsego County Farm Bureau and past president of the state Conservation Council. The program was organized by Citizen Voices.
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RENOVATIONS AT HARTWICK
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013
HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-3
Friendship Of 2 ‘Can-Do Guys’ Culminates In Gift To Hartwick By JIM KEVLIN
I
n the early 1960s, Jim Elting was studying medicine at Columbia. Bill Campbell was earning his MBA. The two met on the Columbia Rugby Club team, and hit it off. In the spring of 1963, Elting and Campbell were among the players who spun off the Old Blue Rugby Club, which developed into one of the nation’s foremost such organizations. (Elting’s wife, Karen, has been invited to attend this fall.) Elting served an internship at Bassett Hospital in 1966-68, served in the Navy, then returned to practice in Oneonta, first affiliated with Fox and later Bassett. Over the years, Elting developed an affection for Hartwick College, serving it in many roles. At the time of his death last August, he was chairman of the Hartwick trustees. Meanwhile, Campbell became an assistant football
coach at Boston College (his recruitment area included many small towns in Jim Elting Upstate New York), then Columbia’s football coach (1974-79). He joined J. Walter Thompson, then Kodak, then entered high-tech as Apple’s VP/marketing. He left Apple, but when Steve Jobs returned in 1997 he was placed on Apple’s board. He was CEO of Intuit from 1994-98; (the company’s Web arm is www.homestead.com, a tribute to Campbell’s hometown, Homestead, Pa.) Through all this, the two men “always kept in touch,” said Campbell in a telephone interview from the West Coast. “He was an amazing guy. A very affable, fun, upbeat guy,
a can-do guy. There was nothing about him you didn’t like.” At the annual Old Blue reunions, the two would catch up, beers on Friday nights, dinner on Saturdays. Campbell would ask about Oneonta, and Elting would say, “when are you going to get up to see me?” In 2010, Elting gave Campbell a compelling reason: a Doctor of Laws degree, which was conferred on “The Coach of the Silicon Valley” in May of that year. As Campbell recounts it, it was a memorable weekend. “We had just a wonderful reception at Jim’s home. We had a lot of fun. The next day, I put on my cap and gown and went through the ceremony. It was my first honorary degree. I thought how wonderful that was. “I think I was kind of surprised,” Campbell, who chairs the Columbia University trustees, said of Hartwick. “It was such an upbeat visit. The college
President Drugovich, left, discusses improvements planned for Stack Lounge, which will soon look like the artist’s rendering on the right.
‘Livingroom’ Will Enhance Hartwick Appeal PROJECT/From A1 campus and shared by athletes and non-athletes. While there are sitting rooms in various buildings, they are smaller. This is “a student center in the center of the campus,” Drugovich said. Said Cody Fiduccia, ‘12, a former Student Senate vice president who served on the Campbell Center Committee, “Students did not have an identifiable space on campus that was there for recreational or down-time use, where students came to relax and interact. It was addressed in a way that is very positive; the administration was very responsive.” In Stack Lounge, now dim, largely empty and used on formal occasions, new lights will be installed and the walls painted white with red squares. The windows in the corner tower will be lengthened and a glassblock wall replaced, opening the views to the south. “There are fun areas by the windows, for gaming, socializing,” said Megan Fallon, Dewar Union & Campus Activities director who chaired the Campbell
committee. “There are new walls to allow electrical outlets, Internet access. And a small study space, over by the small stage.” “Students will come to this space because they want to do so,” said Meg Nowak, vice president for student affairs. The Campbell facility will be built below Stack Lounge, jutting out to the south; (its flat roof will serve as a terrace for the gathering place above.) On the east end is the 3,000-square-foot fitness center, with rowing machines, elliptical trainers, free-standing weights and the like. To the west is a 1,000-square-foot multipurpose room, for dance classes, yoga and spinner bikes. In between are restrooms, showers and an elevator, making the multistory Dewar complex ADA compliant. The idea is that faculty will also take advantage of the new facility. Not only will it help retention, said Fallon, it should help faculty and students communicate informally, and thus more productively, outside a classroom setting.
Campbell’s contribution made the fitness center possible; a longtime friend of the late Dr. Jim Elting, former chairman of the Hartwick trustees, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2010. Trustee Debra Fischer French, ‘80, North Andover, Mass., and the Dewar Foundation, a consistent supporter of the college from the 1976 bequest of Jessie Dewar, also contributed to the project. Among other things, said Drugovich, the new facility will help attract students to Hartwick. Not just education, but “fitness,” she said, “is becoming an expectation” of students and their parents. Fiduccia, who is studying for his MBA at SUNY Binghamton, agreed, “Students going through the construction process are going to be talking about this with their families and their friends. That’s good press for the college. I’m proud Hartwick is striving to improve. It’s not just about Hartwick; it’s about the greater Hartwick community.”
itself, I loved the layout, and campus and the facility. The energy!” While Columbia – a major research institution – has 30,000 students, and Hartwick – an undergraduate liberal arts collage – a relatively modest 1,600, Campbell felt an affinity. “When you get down to it,” he said, “it’s all about people,” and he called Hartwick’s trustees “a very fun, upbeat, manageable group,” the kind of entity he strived to develop by centralizing the responsibilities of Columbia’s board. He asked, “How do you fall in love with a campus on just one visit?” He also hit if off with Hartwick’s president, Margaret Drugovich, who since has stopped by Campbell’s Silicon Valley office from
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Bill Campbell is congratulated by President Drugovich on receiving his honorary degree in 2010.
time to time when visiting alumni groups in California, and she eventually asked him to contribute to the Campbell Fitness Center, part of a $3.8 million redo of the Dewar Student
Union. He sounded flattered to be asked. “What appeals to me was Margaret asking me for this specific project. I get to vote whether I say yes or no, but not what.” Work on the project, which includes the renovation of Stack Lounge into a campus “livingroom,” is due to begin in the next several days, to be completed by November. Campbell can’t make it to the ribbon-cutting, but Oyaron Hill will be fondly in his thoughts, as will his old rugby pal, Jim Elting. “I think Margaret Drugovich is fantastic, just fantastic,” he said. “Her biggest problem going forward is she’s just lost one of the greatest guys in the world. He was one of her biggest champions.”
HOMETOWN Views
A-4 HOMETOWN ONEONTA EDITORIAL
Keep Adding New Money, And We Can Snub Noses At Sequester
A
3-percent bump annually and on your anniversary of employment, a little more than 6 percent a year. Affordable medical benefits. A pension. Doesn’t it make you nostalgic? Now, of course, all that seems like pie in the sky. But in the 1970s, when Otsego Manor employees – they were then employees of The Meadows – extracted those concessions from the county, such largesse wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary. Remember the pundits of a half-century ago reflecting how, in decades ahead (leading up to today) people would be working few hours and enjoying 5-6 weeks of vacation a year? Of course, just the opposite happened. According to the Center for American Progress, 85.8 percent of men and 66.5 percent of women work more than 40 hours per week, 40 hours being considered the standard a half-century ago. In virtually all measures – benefits, vacations, wages – the American worker is worse off now than then. The only measure that has gone up is productivity – paid-less Americans are producing more. You can argue why that happened. Here’s one theory. The money didn’t disap-
pear. As the progressive tax code was dismantled, it allowed more of that money to be captured by the one percent, a theory Occupy Wall Street convincingly presented a year or so ago. • We can look – and wish, and pray, or whatever – for Congress to solve this, but given the impasse on sequestration, the across-theboard cuts that were due to go into effect Friday, March 1 – gentlemen and ladies of Congress, give us a break! – let’s not hold our breaths. (A side note: Reading up on Collis Huntington of Oneonta’s adventures in building the first transcontinental railroad, it emerges that Southern members of Congress through the 1850s kept blocking the Central Pacific’s plans for an Omaha-to-Sacramento route; they wanted a NewOrleans-to-Los-Angeles route. But that would have extended slavery across the Continent, and Northern legislators blocked that. (Good news: Eventually the northern route was built. Bad news: It took a Civil War.) The good news today is that, in Otsego County, we are benefiting from decisions made decades ago to pursue a college- and hospital-based economy. Our unemployment rate has run a half-point to a point below
That’s a sunrise, not a sunset. Check it out at www.superbwallpapers.com
the national, and many things have been surfacing that will pay dividends going forward. (Regrettably, our salaries still lag 14 percent behind the nation.) • The latest good news is Hartwick College’s announcement of a $3.8 million renovation of Stack Lounge and a new 7,000square-foot Campbell Fitness Center. Apply the 2.5 multiplier, and that means some $10 million will be entering the local economy as the money passes from hand to hand and store to store. A large piece of that is a donation from Bill Campbell, chairman of the board of Intuit, based in the Silicon Valley. That’s new money. Donations from Hartwick Trustee Debra French of North Andover, Mass., and the mainstay Dewar Foundation will inject the rest.
Think of Fox Hospital’s $10 million “Gold Standard of Patient Care” fund drive. Add the multiplier, that’s $25 million entering the local economy. The $8.7 million state grant (multiplied, $18.1 million) is new money. The Cooperstown and Oneonta chambers of commerce – collaborating, yet! Kudos to Pat Szarpa and Barbara Ann Heegan – will be launching “Local First!” May 1, promoting local businesses through marketing and advertising, (which businesses should be doing for themselves, but too few do.) “Local First!” is not a flash in the pan, but a two- or three-year campaign that will seek to measure outcomes. While our participation in the Mohawk Valley Economic Development Council is disappointing generally, the NYSHA/ D’Ambrosio-Glimmerglass/
Zambello-Hyde Hall/Maney collaboration on “Romanticism & The American Landscape” is exciting. The $100,000 grant – new money – multiplies into a modest $250,000, but it’s likely worth a lot more to the local economy, given that it’s aimed at the high-end tourist. Plus, collaboration with Olana, the National Historic Landmark on the Hudson, is potentially a low-cost, highbenefit initiative. (Incidentally, The Glimmerglass Festival, after a few years of struggling, again made its $6 million budget last year; multiplied, $15 million, much of it new money from opera fans elsewhere.) In all, the Mohawk Valley EDC program will inject $1.4 million (multiplied to $3.2 million) into the local economy, not a lot, given it’s the state’s premier economic-development effort, and tiny compare to just the Fox initiative, but that relatively paltry new money is better than nothing. • Then there’s the biggest new-money cache of all. Even though the Constitution Pipeline’s Alternate M through Otsego County has been ruled out (for now; FERC can decide otherwise), meaning $3-5 million in property-tax revenues will go to Delaware County instead of us, let’s keep our eye on that ball, too.
The Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research has determined the Constitution will invest $188 million directly into the five-county region – locally, Delaware, Chenango and Schoharie – during its 2014-15 construction. Pressing question: How much of that can we capture here in Otsego County, in jobs, construction materials, trucks and equipment, temporary housing and meals, entertainment, etc., etc.? Clearly, our governmental and economic-development leaders – County Economic Developer Carolyn Lewis, Oneonta City Manager Mike Long, Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller, County Board Chair Kathy Clark, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, OCDC President Doug Gulotty and the rest – should be focusing laser-like on what will mean a bonanza for the most alert. To get the conversation going, community leaders should call Chris Staffel, Constitution’s outreach manager, at (570) 205-1654. She can advise the effort. Let’s get her phone lines burning with calls from Otsego County. • Maybe Congress, if it gets around to it, can hit home runs. But, locally, baseball fans, if we can continue to hit singles, doubles and an occasional triple, we can win this game.
letters
All Praise Our Constitution To the Editor: I was appalled on a recent “Sunday Morning,” which is the name of the television show I was watching. As I watched the show unfold, the inference of the U.S. Constitution as being obsolete was put out there. How un-American and unpatriotic an idea is that? Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in freedom of speech, but to bash our ideology of what has made this country great is very disturbing. To start an anarchist state, you first need to trample the fundamental basis of what we believe in. The Second Amendment was under discussion with the new assault-rifle ban that is being proposed by President Obama and Governor Cuomo. After this past week, with the inauguration behind us, let us remember our president’s oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully executive the office of President of the United States of America and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” These words are recited by the president and governor and elected officials.
These very words of the Constitution were constructed by men of great intelligence and foresight for which many gave their lives. Especially at this point in our history, we need these ideals to come forth unscathed from the evils that confront us every day from all sides. Is freedom an illusion? Do we trust in God for our fate? If we could ask the men and women who gave their lives for our great nation, they would say, “Stand strong and protect our ideals.” In these troubling times, when the Patriot Act was enacted to help root out the evils from terrorist organizations, we must know we gave up freedoms we so freely took for granted. At this time more than ever, we must stand strong together as our ancestors did to protect our beliefs. I do know it is a wish for all who believe in this great nation to see our children and grandchildren enjoy the freedoms this great nation has to offer. Read your Constitution and amendments to know your rights. God bless us all. JOHN PLAKIS Oneonta
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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Randy & Connie Vélez OTHER VOICES
Save Manor’s ‘Beautiful, Nurturing Environment’
R
unning for public office seems simple enough, especially at the local level. You pledge allegiance to the principles of your party in order to gain financing and initial support. You talk publicly and write about local and national issues, and you highlight your pet causes. You debate your opponent to convince the listeners that you are the better choice. You talk in broad generalities about your political beliefs and what you would to do if you were elected. You seek endorsements of newspapers and others who influence public opinion. Then, if the gods of small-town politics smile on you, you are elected. Mission accomplished! Now you can participate in making decisions that will affect the lives of everyone in our community often at the most human level. It is here that the disconnect between our elected officials and we the people begins. The machinations of local government seem to treat as abstractions serious issues, having real consequences on real people. The controversy over Otsego Manor is a case in point. The facts are not in dispute. Otsego Manor depends on a substantial and growing subsidy from Otsego County to continue to function. The subsidy grows for a number of reasons. The federal and state rates of reimbursement for services (Medicare and Medicaid) continue to be scaled back. Operating costs continue to rise and The Manor’s management has not been able to control them adequately. As the subsidy continues to grow, other county services are feeling the strain. Something has to give, and Kathleen Clark, James Powers and others have the simplistic answer, sell The Manor. According to them, all of the County’s financial issues would disappear. The county would pocket the proceeds of the sale and it could redirect some of the money toward other more important county services. The county would be in great shape if the Manor were sold.
exclusive healthcare facility for those who can afford to pay top dollar, or it would degenerate into a second-rate nursing home meeting only minimal standards. Lest the average reader and our county representatives think we do not know of what we speak, actually we do. My wife and I have been in ministry to the elderly for 25 years. We lived in southern Westchester and have visited dozens of nursing homes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Rockland County and Westchester. While some Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA were considered to be quite exclusive, Otsego Manor resident Dorothy most were not. All had one thing in Fisk of Oneonta makes her views common: They were privately owned known during an October protest and for-profit. And very depressing. against plans to privatize the When the time came that we could county’s nursing home in Index. no longer continue to care for my wife’s mother at home, we were Really? The fact that Clark, Powincredibly grateful that she was able ers, et al believe this is a testament to live her final 15 months in such a to how poorly our political process beautiful, nurturing environment. Do functions in producing real leaders. They believe that the problem is about our elderly and infirmed deserve anything less? balancing the budget. Despite the sarcastic and insulting Real leadership begins with undercomment made by county Rep. Kay standing the real problem. The reason Stuligross, the constituents of County Otsego Manor exists is that we the Rep. John Kosmer do “read the people of Otsego County took responpapers” and do understand the finansibility for providing excellent resicial difficulties faced by the County. dential healthcare for all of us, includHence, we need to explore his proposing our poor and elderly. Throughout als and look for alternative methods of this debate, no one has repudiated that subsidizing Otsego Manor. decision. It still stands. So the real It is a large enough facility that issue is: How do we continue to meet some seemingly small measures could this obligation going forward? yield significant results. For example, Selling the Manor is not a solution. steps could be taken to conserve The purchaser would be in all likelielectricity now, while we look into hood a “for profit” corporation. If the alternative sources of energy, as the new owner were to continue to run County has already installed at the jail. The Manor as the county has, it would The technological resources exist right encounter the same financial impedihere in Otsego County and the location ments. So how would it turn a profit of The Manor in such an open area for its stockholders? makes it a prime candidate for either Only three choices come to mind. solar or wind power. They could cut back on the quality of We need to take a lesson from our care (e.g. staff, activities, food quality, neighbors in Delaware County. We medical care, etc.). They could forgo have a moral imperative to care for the limited government reimbursements weak and vulnerable among us. They and charge much higher rates directly are our parents and grandparents and to the residents. Or they could do the “Greatest Generation”. And they both. are us. In the end, Otsego Manor would cease to be what we the people of the Randy Vélez is deacon at St. Joseph county intended. It would become an The Worker Church, Richfield Springs
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WELCOME • E-MAIL THEM TO info@allotsego.com
HOMETOWN ONEONTA A-5
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013
HOMETOWN
History
Compiled by Tom Heitz with resources courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library
100 Years Ago
Resident Manager Roberts of the Oneonta Theatre has closed a contract with C.C. Miller for a thorough rewiring of the theatre and the removal of all the lighting fixtures now in use in that playhouse, and the installation in replacement of complete and modern equipment that will be up to the minute. The new wiring will conform to the highest standards of safety and of the underwriters and will make the house doubly secure from danger from the wires. There will be placed in position new chandeliers and drop lights of the most approved pattern and design. The exits will be plainly marked with illuminated signs “EXIT,” which will be plainly visible at all times. The new installation will represent an outlay of fully $3,000 when completed and will make the theatre even more popular as a place of amusement. March 1913
80 Years Ago
“The 19th century made this world of ours a neighborhood, but it is the work of the 20th century to make it a brotherhood,” said Rev. George H. Phillips, D.D., pastor of the First Methodist Church at the second annual banquet of the Hartwick Class of 1935 held at the Elk’s Club last Thursday. Dr. Phillips’ subject was “The Shrinking Planet of Ours.” “In your life time the greatest war of all history was fought. We have seen a planet shrink so man is more dependent on one another than any time in history. When you were born no Bleriot had flown the English Channel or a Charles Lindbergh the Atlantic Ocean. It is a different planet with different problems than your fathers and mothers ever dealt with years ago. Today, in England, the prime minister sits down and takes up his telephone and talks 11,000 miles to that great colony of Australia. A liner leaving New York City tonight carries apparatus that picks up facsimiles of a newspaper page out there in the ocean so a football game played by Hartwick College can be picked up by that liner going across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Science has come into our homes and revolutionized them. Edison said before he died that the next age would be an age of buttons. You will just touch a button and the breakfast will be going.” March 1933
60 Years Ago
Mrs. Catherine Donlin, 345 Chestnut Street, yesterday received a Bronze Star with a “V” for heroic achievement
125 Years Ago
tion, our best efforts will not prevent increased crime rates, turbulent inmate populations, and a general public distrust of our system of criminal justice,” she said. March 1973
30 Years Ago
The fast action and know-how of a Hartwick College freshman stopped a fellow student from choking Sunday afternoon in the school’s cafeteria. Salvatore J. Pepe, Jr., 18, used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a particle of food from the throat of Paul T. Leon, a Hartwick junior. “I was in shock when I went to help him and I realized he could have died in my arms,” said Pepe, a member of the college basketball team. “I was trembling, but I guess I just reacted.” “I blacked out. I don’t remember what happened March 1888 at all,” said Leon, 21. “It was pretty hairy. My friends told me I was without oxygen and I started turning blue,” Leon and a presidential citation telling how her son, Sergeant said. “I’m just grateful there were people there to help.” First Class John F. “Brud” Donlin, lost his life in wiping Pepe acted only after efforts by two other students to aid out a Communist bunker in Korea. The presentation was Leon had failed. Pepe said he learned the Heimlich techmade in American Legion Home by Major John Michie, nique in high school. Binghamton. The action occurred near Utkkaemugi during March 1983 a raid on Hill 200, held by the enemy. The citation reads: “The elements of the attacking unit fought their way up the hill until heavy enemy fire became so intense that a withdrawal was imperative. When he saw that one bunker in Friday’s bombing at the World Trade Center in New particular was extremely harassing to the friendly withYork City could be just the beginning of a new trend in drawal, Sergeant Donlin, crawling and running charged urban violence for the 1990s in the United States. The toward this enemy stronghold. Upon reaching his objective, blast that rocked the 110-story twin towers killed five and he jumped to his feet and hurled two white phosphorus gre- injured thousands. Explosives may as well be added to the nades into the bunker, destroying it completely. However, weapons list in urban America, said John Lindell, a Politiin exposing himself to do this, Sergeant Donlin was fatally cal Science Professor at Hartwick College. “Our urban viowounded by an enemy burp gun. His action in destroying lence had been hand guns. Bombs add a new dimension,” the bunker allowed friendly troops to withdraw with far Lindell said. “Maybe, it’s our turn. Maybe urban bombing fewer casualties than otherwise would have been sustained. will be the new terrorism for the 90s – at least in the U.S.” Sergeant Donlin’s heroism and selfless devotion to duty March 1993 reflect great credit on himself and the military service.” March 1953
20 Years Ago
10 Years Ago
40 Years Ago
One face in the crowd of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Otsego County Sheriff is that of Ms. Jan Hageman, 30, of 34 Cherry Street, Oneonta. She is believed to be the first woman ever to seek the sheriff’s post in Otsego County. Hageman is a criminologist teaching in the Hartwick College sociology department. “The investigating and apprehending functions of the sheriff’s office are important, but without considering other issues such as crime prevention, courts and corrections, or rehabilita-
With standouts Mike Konstanty and Geoff Bean combining for 35 points and 24 rebounds, and a highly effective 3-2 zone defense, the Oneonta Yellowjackets won the Section Four, Class B title game 51-36, over top-seeded Corning West at the Broome County Arena. The Yellowjackets trailed 7-0 after three possessions when OHS coach Jerry Mackey switched from man-to-man to the zone defense. March 2003
Sustainable Otsego Effort To Keep Democratic Backing From Miller Falls Short accomplishments, Democrat,” adding, “I suprunning against county Rep. you’ve accomplished in numerous steps to improve MILLER/From A1 Jim Powers, R-Butternuts including achieving port Dick because he has the city,” he said, although energy efficiency in line Abbate then asked – said “ditto” to Rosenthal’s he encouraged Miller, an with the Oneonta 2030 plan, voter approval of a this way of making things for a show of hands, new City Charter work.” remarks. independent, to register and planted 200 trees in the a sea of ayes shot up. and zoning code, While fracking and the Former county chairDemocratic. downtown. He asked for nays, his Housing Task pipeline are issues that man Leon Kalmus, Town In his remarks, Miller He ran in the first place, and less than a handof Oneonta, recalled that he Force, the Bresee’s brought her into public life, pointed out that, under his he pointed out, with Nader ful could be seen. sale and stabilizHuntsman said, elected offi- was the sole vote objectadministration, the city and Muller’s support. Allowing Miller to ing the Foothills cials need to make decisions ing to Miller running as a banned fracking, filed an He said he has also asked run as a Democrat, to run on the Republican on a wide range of matters. Democrat four years ago. “I amicus brief in support of as he had when first HOMETOWN ONEONTA Performing Arts Center. Teresa Winchester – it have since come to admire the Town of Middlefield’s line and expects a decision elected in 2009, was Miller adCounty Rep. on that in April. was announced she is again you very much and what fracking ban, has taken challenged when dresses Gary Koutnik, the party’s execuDemocratic Oneonta, said tive committee met committee. while he disagrees in January in West with Miller on the pipeline, Oneonta. Miller opposed “I am very wary of litmus fracking in Otsego County tests.” as an environmental threat, That theme was picked but supported the Constitution Pipeline as a non-threat up by county Rep. Beth Rosenthal, Roseboom, and and an economic boon, and Otsego Town Board member the Sustainable Otsego eleJulie Huntsman, who have ment objected to the pipebeen active in Sustainable line support. Otsego. Rosenthal said she Committee members embraced the “big tent” said Adrian Kuzminski, approach: That’s what Fly Creek, had lobbied the Door Prizes! Democratic to withhold sup- makes me proud to be a Contact Patty Dresser: PDresser@shopshouthsidemall.com port for Miller’s bid, but he was not present at Tuesday’s session. In January, county Rep. John Kosmer, Fly Creek, F argued that because fracking FOr YOuTh deveLOpMenT is such a “volatile” issue, FOR HEALTHY LIVING FOr heALThY Living the Democrats should keep FOr sOCiAL respOnsibiLiTY FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY their options open until the election nears; commitSOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY YOUTH DEVELOPMENT HEALTHY LIVING tee vice chair, he did not speak Tuesday night. But • Red Cross Community CPR & • Wellness Land Classes • Swim Lessons Keith Schue, Cherry Valley, AED Recert. Feb. 12 Zumba picked up that theme, saying • Synchronized Swim Lessons • Waterfront Lifeguard he was “baffled” by the rush Functional Variety • Homeschool Swim Lessons call for dates and times to act. Calorie Crushing Circuit • Aqua Play Group (6 mos. - 5 yrs.) Abbate, however, said his YMCA Taste of Life Fundraiser Spinning intent – not just with Miller, • Zumbatomic Featuring Local Band but across the board – was Yoga • Gymnastics Just Throw Money to clear the way for candiSilver Sneakers MSRM March 9, 2013 6-9:30 pm dates willing to run, so they • School’s Out Program (K-6th grade) ... and more at The Carriage House on Old Southside Drive could plan their November February 18-22 $30 per person campaigns with confidence. March 25-29 • Wellness Water Classes Oneonta was well rep-
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resented in the room, with former mayor John Nader saying Miller has served the city “ably and admirably,” and that his administration has been “truly superlative.” Nader’s predecessor, Kim Muller, vice chair of the state Democratic committee, praised Miller’s success “on a broad spectrum of critical issues.” Council member Dave Rissberger ticked off Miller
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FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013
A-6 HOMETOWN ONEONTA
State Cuts May Cause Oneonta To Merge Junior High, High School By LIBBY CUDMORE
A
s President Obama called for more AP classes, universal preschool and preparing high school grads for technology jobs in his State of the Union Tuesday, Feb. 12, schools in Otsego County were facing building closures, program losses and staffing cuts. “Oneonta has a $1.5 million deficit,” said Oneonta Interim Superintendent David Rowley. “We’re going to be facing a loss of staff and programming.” Though there are no specifics in place, Rowley says one of the plans on the table is to move sixth grade into the middle school. “Most school districts in Central New York have sixth-, seventhand eighth-grade middle schools – there are very few seventh- and eighth-grade ‘junior high’ models
anymore.” Much of the deficit, said Rowley, comes from the increase in retirement contributions, totaling $700,000. “We’re looking at a lot of different things to make up that deficit – cutting programs, staffing, athletics, extracurricular activities. We’ve just started crunching numbers.” In Unatego, the district is facing a very similar crisis as Oneonta last year, one which may force them to close the Otego elementary school. “We’ve cut all the staff we can cut,” said Wilhemina Guest of Unatego United, a parents group. “Some of the possible options to save more money are IF YOU GO: Unatego United is planning a forum on school funding 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Otego Elementary. Public welcome.
to close Otego Elementary, cut AP classes, sports and extracurricular programs – our students have earned and deserve these programs.” Unatego United formed last year to protest cuts and raise awareness of the plight of small school districts. In 2012, Unadilla and Otego combined classes so that Otego Elementary had classrooms for K-2 and Unadilla Elementary held classes for 3-5. Five teachers and several aides were laid off. If the cuts continue, as many fear, Otego Elementary itself will be shuttered, forcing students now able to walk to their neighboring school to have to ride the bus for nearly an hour. “We’re all running out of programs and people to cut,” said Rowley. “It’s a huge financial crisis for many school districts in New York.”
At Unatego, as happened with Center Street School in Oneonta, the student body is rallying especially hard to show its support for the schools by joining in a letter-writing campaign and making posters. Some students are reaching out to celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres in hopes of bringing national attention to the plight of small schools. And others still are taking the fight directly to Albany. One student, who recently wrote a letter to Senator Seward, got a personal response back. “He’s taking a personal interest in this,” said Guest. Unatego is reaching out to other schools in hopes that they might be able to offer some support. “Last year Oneonta was concerned about losing Center Street,” said, a member of Unatego United. “They joined us at our Save Our Schools rally.” “We’re not alone in this fight,”
said Guest. “We’re trying to get Albany to change the way they distribute state aid.” Unatego’s budget is still in the beginning stages, and state aid won’t be announced until late March. The budget will be voted on at the end of May. The Oneonta School Board meets on March 6, and a new Unatego United rally is being planned at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, at Otego Elementary. “If it’s going to hit that close to home, then that’s where we’re going to rally,” she said. State Sens. James Seward, John Bonacic and David Valesky, and Assemblymen Pete Lopez, Bill Magee and Claudia Tenney plan to attend and brief the gathering on where things stand in Albany. “It’s going to be a very difficult budget,” said Rowley. “Every year has been more difficult, and next year will be even more so.”
Former Campers Mourn Loss Of Ethical Culture Artifact On Hyde Bay LIBBY CUDMORE HYDE BAY
J
ust a short time ago, Peter Rutkoff sat on former county Rep. Jim Johnson’s porch, discussing how he might buy Dower Hall, former site of Society for Ethical Culture’s camp on Hyde Bay where he – and so many others – enjoyed summers. The experience was so formative that Rutkoff wrote a memoir, “Cooperstown Chronicles: Love and Other Camp
Games.” “I was 10-years-old, a chubby kid trying to play softball,” he reminisced “One of the counselors came up to me and said, ‘You’re pretty good with that glove.’ He made me believe that, and that’s what that camp was about.” A few days ago, he got a shocking call: A piece of Cooperstown history – his personal history – has been razed. “It was in such disrepair,” said Dave LaDuke, a neighbor. “Kids got into it in the winter, broke the windows. The fixtures were gone, the plumbing was gone. You’d need to have
deep pockets to fix the place up.” Vacant since 1971, Dower Hall, given as a wedding present to Anna Maria Gregory when she married a George Clarke of the Hyde Hall Clarkes, was torn down over the Feb. 22-23 weekend. “The vandalism stopped pretty recently; probably wasn’t anything left to steal,” said Richard Vovcsko, the third generation familiar with the camp. His grandfather and his father were maintenance workers; his grandmother head dietician. His mother worked in the
infirmary for a few years. “But for it’s age and for 40 years of neglect, it was still in remarkable shape.” On Aug. 6, 1891, The Freeman’s Journal reported “Work has been commenced on Mrs. George Clarke’s summer home near the head of the lake, facing Hyde Bay.” She summered at Dower Hall for 25 years until her death in 1914. In the 1920s, the property was sold to the Society of Ethical Culture, “a religion based on ethics, not theology” that Nick Vovcsko in 2008 in front of dates back to 1920, as its web Dower Hall. site has it.
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Home of the Week Think Summer 2013 — OTSegO Lake COTTage Co-exclusively offered at the new price: $269,000 This is a perfect three season cottage! New construction in 2004; it is all up to code. Open floor plan with two bedrooms on the first level. Doors lead out to a large deck. Large second story loft with private deck. 1.5 baths. This cottage overlooking Otsego Lake will be sold with all the contents. Be Ready for a Beautiful Summer on the Lake!
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THURSDAY-FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1, 2013
A-7
Marchi: By Accepting Compromise, Manor Staff May Save Some Benefits MARCHI/From A1 view the other day. “We were paid whatever we spent the year before.” Dollar paid for dollar spent, as you might imagine, evolved into wide disparities in what different nursing homes in different counties were being paid for the same services, divergences that by the 1990s could be easily identified with the rise of computerization. So the cost-based reimbursement was replaced with a PPS – prospective payment system. It based reimbursement on average expenses, computed regionally – we are in the Binghamton region – and more expensive institutions saw the reimbursement gap widen. “That’s really when the problem started,” said Marchi. The combination of “step and grade,” marching ever upward, and PPS, forcing reimbursements down to declining average, created the financial crunch Otsego Manor is in today, a crunch that caused the Otsego County Board of Representatives to vote, 13-1, last Sept. 6, to sell The Manor to a private company. (That vote was found to violate the state’s Open Meetings Law, and must be retaken at the board’s March meeting on the 6th.) In the many months leading up to that vote, Marchi had done a number of analyses. One, “How New York State Regional Pricing Works,” shows that Otsego Manor salaries are well above the regional range in most categories. (The analyses may be viewed at www.otsegocounty.com) A separate breakout shows four categories – certified nursing assistants, occupational therapy assistants, physical therapy aides and home health assistants – being paid 14 percent more than the top of
the regional range. Of 30 job categories, only six are within the regional ranges. Since Otsego Manor opened in 2004, the county has contributed about $2.5 million a year to the now $22 million budget. That started rising over $3 million in 2010. And a spread sheet put together by county Treasurer Dan Crowell (also on the web site) predicted it would continue to rise to $5 million by 2016. The experience has been worse than that, said Marchi. An anticipated $3.2 million deficit in 2012 turned into $4 million. This year, a $5 million deficit will probably get worse, he said, particularly given Governor Cuomo’s announcement Thursday, Feb. 21, that an unexpected change in the federal Medicaid reimbursement rate has created a $500 million gap in his proposed budget and must be recaptured. While this was coming into focus, The Manor learned that – given the stock market was essentially flat during the first decade of this century – its annual contribution to the state pension fund would rise from $900,000 to $1.2 million. And, separately, that its health insurance premiums would rise 14 percent. “The convergence of all of that was a perfect storm,” said Marchi, who concluded, “The Manor is in danger. We were looking at a $5 million hole. We were pushing the panic button.” In the fall of 2011, Marchi put together a PowerPoint, “Share The Pain,” to alert employees to the impending crisis. But he soon heard from the CSEA – the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents Manor employees – that he was being alarmist and, if he didn’t stop, a grievance would be filed. The subsequent back and
forth culminated in a Dec. 8, 2011 letter from Marchi to John Imperato, CSEA Local 1000 president, asking for an MOU (memorandum of understanding) to “narrow the margin” by $235,881, to “demonstrate to the board and community that we are interested in developing win-win strategies for the future financial health of Otsego Manor.” The Marchi letter asked for givebacks: Staff who worked on one of 12 paid holidays receive time and a half, plus an extra day; he asked for a surrender of that extra day. He asked that five personal days be reduced to two, and that employees give up requiring the county to buy back unused personal days. To consider these steps, the CSEA asked for a guarantee that The Manor would remain in county hands. Said Marchi, “You can never guarantee anything.” And the conversation ended. For a few months in the first half of 2012, Marchi and the county board were pursuing what at first seemed like a promising option: a partnership with another local institution to enable a Medicaid assistedliving facility in one of The Manor’s wings. There, residents who do not need skilled nursing care – about 38 of the 144 – could be cared for less intensely, and thus, considerably less expensively. That idea fell apart when it was discovered that The Manor’s food services, which would be required under the status quo, are too expensive for that model to work. So on Wednesday, Sept. 6, the county board voted, 13-1, on what it perceived to be the only option. In addition to the revote, the board at its March 6 meeting will vote on naming a consultant, the Rochester-based Center
for Government Research, to guide the selection of a “high-quality” – the RFP (request for proposals) had been amended to require quality – private entity to take over The Manor; that would probably take a year to accomplish. Even now, however, Marchi believes a path exists to shrink The Manor’s deficit by $3 million a year to the historic $2.5 million range. It would require the CSEA: • To agree to “realign” salaries with the upper end of his “Regional Pricing Reimbursement Methodology” analysis. The category most affected would be CNAs, certified nursing assistants, where the regional range is $10.89-$13.06 compared to The Manor’s range of $14.390-$16.88. CNAs make up 70 of The Manor’s 270 employees. • To contract out foodservice, housekeeping and laundry functions, which would mean the loss of 70 county jobs. • To accept 12-hour shifts.
y a p We SH! CA t s e h g i H rices p aid p
During the day, 18 CNAs are required to staff the 7 a.m.-3 p.m. shift, and then the 3-11 p.m. shift. Secondshift workers regularly take personal days, requiring the busy 3-9 p.m. period to be covered at time and a half. 7-7 shifts would reduce that expensive overtime requirement. • To accept the adjustments outlined in Marchi’s December 2010 letter to Imperato. (Right now, The Manor pays the county $600,000 a year for groundskeeping and janitorial services. If it were allowed to contract out, The Manor would save another $300,000, Marchi estimates, reducing the gap further.) This would require The Manor employees to negotiate a separate contract; right now, they are covered under the CSEA’s overall contract with the county, (which lapsed in 2011 and has not been successfully renegotiated.) However, by avoiding privatization, Manor em-
ployees would remain in the state retirement system, a significant benefit. And while, to use the CNA example, new hires’ pay would drop to $10.89 an hour, that’s significantly higher than the $8 that a private company would likely pay. In recent weeks, an option proposed by county Rep. John Kosmer, D-Fly Creek, has been in the news, (and was closely rejected, 8-6, at the county board’s February meeting.) It calls for a .25 percentile increase in the county’s 8.25 percent sales tax to help cover The Manor’s budget gap. However, it would require the CSEA to reopen the contract, which the union has declined to do before the .25 percentile increase is approved by the state Legislature. (State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, has declined to introduce the necessary bill.) If the CSEA won’t act on Kosmer’s less-demanding measure, Marchi has little hope it will do so on his.
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IN MEMORIAM Terry Kirkey, 62; Generous To Many Youth Organizations ONEONTA – Terry Kirkey, 62, who donated time and talent to many Oneonta organizations, died on Feb. 18, 2013, at Otsego Manor, as a result of complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Born on July 30, 1950, in Malone, Terry was the son of Patricia (Lincoln) and Lloyd Kirkey. After graduating from Liverpool H.S., he attended SUNY Oneonta, where he met his future wife, Carol Kiehn Kirkey. They were married on Aug. 13, 1977. Much of Terry’s career was spent at Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association and Wilber
National Bank. Prior to his banking career, he was the proprietor of Kirk’s Carpet Service. Generous by nature, he donated his time and talent to numerous community organizations including Oneonta Little League, Oneonta Youth Soccer League, Oneonta Jaycees, Family Services Association, Oneonta Dollars for Scholars, and the Alzheimer’s Association of Northeast New York. He is remembered by his wife of 35 years, Carol; sister, Constance Davis and her husband, Robert; sister Deborah Vickery and
her husband, Terry and son Ryan; sister-in-law, Janet Kiehn; brother-in-law, Richard Kiehn his wife, Margery and children, Kathryn and Matthew; brother-in-law, David Kiehn, his wife, Deborah and son, Brady. Also surviving are his godchildren, Cathy Yatko Hubbard and Adam Torrey; and special “almost daughter” Erica Torrey Slonaker. Terry has made arrangements for brain donation to the Harvard Brain Bank at Maclean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. Visiting hours are from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Monday, March 4 at Les-
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ter R. Grummons Funeral Home, 14 Grand St., Oneonta. A funeral will be held at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5 at St. Mary’s Church, 39 Walnut St., Oneonta. Arrangements are entrusted to Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, Oneonta.
Rev. Alan Harch, 82; Former Pastor At Otego Baptist OTEGO – The Rev Alan C. Hatch, 82, pastor of Otego Baptist Church for 25 years, passed away Feb. 18, 2013, in Zephyr Hills, Fla. He was born April 18, 1930, in Camden, Maine. Alan became a Christian in 1965 and a minister in 1972. In addition to Otego Baptist, Rev. Hatch served in several churches in Florida and attended Charity Baptist Church. He is survived by his wife, Betty Hatch of Zephyrhills; two children, Curt and Cindy Hatch of Orlando, Fla., and Candace and Rob Millwood of South Carolina; four grandchildren, Stacey, Andrew (Lisa), Kathryn and Daniel; and three greatgrandchildren, Zoe, Ailey and Colby. Services were held Saturday, Feb. 23, at Charity Baptist Church. The Whitfield Funeral Home, Zephyrhills, Fla., is in charge of arrangements.
Services Pending For Byron Sheeley Jr. ONEONTA – Byron E. Sheesley Jr., 64, of Oneonta, passed away Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, at the Valley View Nursing Home, Norwich. Funeral arrangements are pending with the Bookhout Funeral Home.
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MLS#85578 – Location, seclusion and views make this solid contemporary build ideal. In Cooperstown area, close to Dreams Park, Otsego Lake and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sub-dividable with driveway and well on County Rte 33. NOW ONLY $229,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633
MLS#87096 - Move-in ready 4 BR, 2 bath Cape on over 8 acres. Open floorplan w/kitchen, full bath and 2 BRs on 1st floor. Kitchen w/slate floors, family room, office, laundry room,deck, pool and jacuzzi. Cooperstown School District. $249,900 Call Kristi Ough @ 607-434-3026
MLS#87457 – 3 BR, 2 bath home on 4.25 acres w/2½-car garage, partially finished basement, large deck, perennial gardens, and beautiful pond. A great deal! $224,000 Call Lynn Lesperence @ 607-434-1061
MLS#84136 - 3 BR, 2 bath ranch features hardwood floors, spacious kitchen, and sun/family room. Newer windows, appliances, furnace and water heater. Dry basement, 2-car garage. Master BR suite is being used as an efficiency apt. $129,900 Call Tom Platt @ 607-435-2068
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New Listing MLS#87635 - Great location, close to Chobani and NYCM, this 3 BR ranch is also close to great trout fishing and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. $149,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633
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MLS#81749 - Cape chalet set on almost 70 acres of prime hunting property w/creek and ATV trails. Cathedral ceilings, loft BR and family room. Woodstove heat with Co-op Electric baseboard as backup. $219,900 Call Tom @ 607-435-2068
MLS#86175 - New 4 BR, 2 bath home w/3 bay garage and workshop on oversized lot. Wood fireplace in LR. Lots of new: kitchen w/stainless steel appliances, ceramic tile floors and island, all flooring, sheetrocked walls and ceilings, electric, plumbing and much more. $149,900 Call Tom Platt @ 607-435-2068
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MLS#85130 - 5 BR Greek Revival on 2.25 acres w/many original features. Eat-in kitchen, formal DR and spacious LR w/fireplace. Unique barn. Includes parcel 116-1-6.37. $79,000 Call Michelle Curran @ 518-469-5603
MLS#84430 - Includes 4 other parcels to be sold together. Close to Oneonta and Cooperstown. Enough road frontage for 10 building lots. Includes 276.00.-1-39.00, 276.00-237.00 and 276.00-2-36.00. All offers considered. $214,999 Call Linda @ 607-434-2125
MLS#86367 - Charming late 1800s farmhouse with original details. 3 barns, 2 ponds, pastures, fields, and horse stalls on 79 acres with amazing views of the Otsdawa Valley! $289,000 Call Lynn Lesperence @ 607-434-1061
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MLS#86474 - Charming 4 BR, 2½ bath Cooperstown village home offers updated kitchen with granite countertops, newer appliances. Large private yard and garage. $220,000 Call Kristi Ough @ 607-434-3026
MLS#87807 - Everything is new: roof/interior/refrigerator/ dishwasher/stove/all flooring/doors/bathtub/shower and more. Roomy LR w/lrg windows, 2 BRs, large kitchen w/dining area. 5.52 acres w/stream. Cherry Valley schools. $83,000 Call Rod and Barb @ 315-520-6512
MLS#87819 - Great starter home, empty nester or income home. Quiet street in Richfield Springs. Close to school, church, shopping. Large yard. Property can be purchased separately or w/Richfield Car Wash MLS #87821 (above). $64,900 Call Rod and Barb @ 315-520-6512
MLS#84612 – Location, seclusion, views on 10.8 acres! Close to Oneonta and Delhi, this secluded location is convenient to schools, hospitals and shopping. $199,000 Call Adam Karns @ 607-244-9633
MLS#87103 – 3 BR, 1 ½ baths, 2-story home. 7 miles to Cooperstown. Cooperstown Schools. $69,000 Call Frank @ 607-435-1389
for complete listings visit us at realtyusa . com
Lovely Ranch Home!
Great income producer! Main Street, Cooperstown $789,900 MLS#86596
Locally owned and operated Single and multi-family homes Commercial property and land
FEATURED PROPERTY Beautiful well maintained home with 3 bedrooms and two full baths. Master bedroom has a large master bath with jet tub. Open floorplan with kitchen island, new skylights and a large living room. This home also features a solar-heated pool with decking all around. Large yard with stream. Roof and skylights NEW in 2011. $129,900 MLS #88007
99 Main Street, Oneonta office 607.441.7312 fax 607.432.7580 www.oneontarealty.com
This 3 BR, 2 bath Oneonta ranch is in a neighborhood close to colleges, schools, parks and downtown. Living room, dining room and hall have hardwood floors. Open and bright rooms with private deck off the living room. Two-car garage under home for easy access to the first floor. $159,900—MLS#81617
Lizabeth Rose, Broker/Owner Cricket Keto, Lic. Assoc. Broker
John Mitchell Real Estate
John Mitchell, Lic. Assoc. Broker Stephen Baker, Lic. Assoc. Broker Peter D. Clark, Consultant
HUBBELL’S REAL ESTATE (607) 547-5740 • (607) 547-6000 (fax) 157 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326
E-Mail Address: info@hubbellsrealestate.com Visit Our Web Site at www.hubbellsrealestate.com
sensatiOnaL ViLLage hOme
CanadaragO Lake On 8.6 aCres
(7655) Beautiful 5 BR/2 bath 1880 Greek Revival w/lake access. Custom kitchen opens to sunroom eating area which leads to deck. LR w/gas fireplace, den/studio, newer windows and roof, 2-car attached garage, plus fully remodeled 4 BR/2 bath private cottage w/history of summer rentals. Shared 250' lake frontage. Richfield Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$539,000
truLy endearing FarmhOuse
(7675) Superbly kept 4 BR/2+ bath Cooperstown residence has desirable amenities including natural woodwork, den, modern kitchen, cozy LR w/ fireplace and stained glass window, hardwood floors, formal DR w/bay window, 2-car garage, new front porch. Cooperstown Schools. It’s a jewel! Hubbell’s Exclusive—$299,000
(7589) Superbly kept 3 BR home w/many extras: formal DR, hardwood floors, modern kitchen,garage, rocking-chair front porch. Near shops, lake, and golf course. Will capture your fancy! Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$285,000
(6447) Business block on Main Street. Four 2 BR apts, 2 commercial spaces w/total of 2,500 sq ft. New windows and hot water furnace. Storage space in cellar. Well-kept stone and brick building. Income producer. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$495,900
OtsegO Lake LOt in COOperstOwn
(7407) Choice building site with excellent lake views. Lake access and beach are directly in front of property. Level lot, easy to build on. Hubbell’s Exclusive $249,000
216 Main Street, Cooperstown • 607-547-8551 • 607-547-1029 (fax) www.johnmitchellrealestate.com • info@johnmitchellrealestate.com Dave LaDuke, broker 607-435-2405 Mike Winslow, broker 607-435-0183 Mike Swatling 607-547-8551
Joe Valette 607-437-5745 Laura Coleman 607-437-4881 John LaDuke 607-267-8617
Location, location, location!
Exclusively offered at $339,000 Situated a corner lot overlooking the golf course, house updates include stainless steel appliances, soapstonecounters,newlypainted kitchen cupboards, gas kitchen range and mechanicals. Mudroom entry from attached garage. Good natural light, wood-burning fireplaces in LR and DR. Two baths have been totally redone. Private backyard with patio. Convenient one floor living with a big house feel!
Right place, right house, and right price!
(7644) This 3 BR/2+ bath 1850s remodeled home features large LR, eat-in kitchen, den, newer windows, master suite with sitting room, formal DR, laundry room, garage, workshop, newer roof, large porch. Minutes North of Cooperstown. Richfield Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive—$164,500
main street COOperstOwn
COOperstOwn ViLLage COmFOrt
This outstanding property is in the center of Cooperstown’s Business District within a few feet of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It brings 6 guaranteed parking spaces and ground floor retail space of 1600 sq. ft. Known as the Iron Clad Building, it is a landmarked building, built in 1862 by James Bogardus, who took out a patent for cast-iron architecture in 1850.
OtsegO LakeFrOnt year-rOund (7546) 3 BR/2 bath with 50' of lakefront and enchanting features including hand-hewn beamed ceilings, custom kitchen with oak cabinets, large deck w/hot tub, lake shed, 2 boat lifts, dock for 9 boats. Welcoming 1 BR Gothic guest house. Cooperstown Schools. Hubbell’s Exclusive $625,000
AllOTSEGO.homes ADVERTISE IN
THE REGION’S LARGEST REAL-ESTATE SECTION! CALL 607-547-6103
Exclusively offered at $139,000 Recently renovated, this 3 BR home is ready for immediate occupancy. On a quiet country road, 2½ miles from the village, w/new front deck for sitting and enjoying the sounds of summer! Newly redone full bath; ½ bath on first floor. LR, DR, and den on first floor. New appliances. Move-in ready home.
Affordable, spacious family home in a nice country setting Exclusively offered at $199,500 Great location close to Cooperstown. This 3 BR, 2 bath home is move-in ready. Quiet neighborhood, 1-floor living,low-maintenance home. Back and side yards are perfect for children and pets. Full basement could be finished. Large garage. Kitchen/dining area has sliders to a private rear deck overlooking the backyard. Direct TV/Internet w/Clarity Connect. For reliable, honest answers to any of your real estate questions, Don Olin Realty at 607.547.5622 or visit our website www.donlinrealty.com For Appointment Only Call: M. Margaret Savoie – Broker/Owner – 547-5334 Marion King – Associate Broker – 547-5332 Don Olin – Associate Broker – 547-8782 Eric Hill – Associate Broker – 547-5557 Don DuBois – Associate Broker – 547-5105 Tim Donahue – Associate Broker – 293-8874 Cathy Raddatz – Sales Associate – 547-8958 Jacqueline Savoie -Sales Associate -547-4141 Carol Hall - Sales Associate -544-4144
Don Olin REALTY
Make yourself at home on our website, www.donolinrealty.com, for listings and information on unique and interesting properties.We'll bring you home! 37 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 http://www.donolinrealty.com for listings and information on unique and interesting properties. We'll bring you Home!