Hometown Heroes

H O M EHT OW N

HER ES Oneonta Police Chief

Describes Police Work as Teamwork

Fire Chief Shares Three Moments When His Team Saved Lives Volunteer Paramedic Highlights Great Need for Volunteers Otego Hometown Heroes Banner Program

Complimentary Copy Courtesy of The Daily Star

H O M EHT OW N

HER ES EDITOR’S CORNER “Heroes” is a term that means many things to many people.

For some, a hero may be someone who has done something exceptional in the face of danger or taken action in an emergency to save others from injury or death. For others, a hero might be someone who, by the example of his or her life, has become a role model whose life lessons live on in those he or she influenced.

For yet others, it’s someone such as a soldier or police officer, who steps in the way of potential harm every day.

Some think of sports figures or entertainers as heroes because they say or do things that bring happiness to their audiences.

Whatever one’s definition of hero might be, it’s good to remember that heroes live in our midst. They’re not always famous people doing monumental things. They’re friends and neighbors, making a difference in the lives of those around them.

In this inaugural issue, we feature four Hometown Heroes whose work makes the lives of other people better. Like most of the real-life heroes we hear of, they are hesitant to take credit, preferring to share the spotlight with others.

We hope you enjoy their stories.

Robert Cairns Editor

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COVER PHOTO: City of Oneonta firefighters Erik Johnson, left, and Chris Froh unfurl a new flag to place on The Daily Star building on Chestnut Street in Oneonta.

A Special Edition of

CONTENTS 4 Oneonta Police Chief Describes Police Work as Teamwork 10 Fire Chief Shares Three Moments When His Team Saved Lives 22 Volunteer Paramedic Highlights Great Need for Volunteers 26 Office for the Aging Director Calls Her Team the Heroes Otego Hometown Heroes Banner Program Pages 6-9, 12-15, 17-20, 24-25, 29-30 Otego Hometown Heroes Background Image by Freepik

Hometown Heroes is published by: The Daily Star, 102 Chestnut St., Oneonta, NY 13820 © 2023 - All rights reserved.

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“In our profession, we say the ‘heroes’ are the ones who lost their lives in the line of duty.”

Oneonta Police Chief

Describes Police Work as Teamwork

By Monica Calzolari

O

neonta Police Chief Christopher Witzenburg has been a member of the city’s police force for more than 25 years.

He worked his way up from police officer to patrol sergeant to detective sergeant to lieutenant. He has been the chief since 2021. He had special assignments as a narcotics detective and a Special Response Team member early in his career.

He said, “I’d like to think of police work as a calling.”

He was born and raised on Long Island and came to SUNY Oneonta at age 25 as an older, non-traditional student. He joined the fire department initially and switched to police work.

Witzenburg described some of the heroic duties his team has performed saying, “My officers have cut people down from hanging themselves and pulled people from car wrecks, including burning vehicles.”

There are 800,000 police officers in the United States according to Witzenburg. He

He said he has gone to at least 25 funerals of fellow police officers. He said, “In our profession, we say the ‘heroes’ are the ones who lost their lives in the line of duty.”

Witzenburg finds satisfaction in helping turn people’s lives around. He said, “I made a lot of DWI (driving while intoxicated) arrests in my first nine years on the force.”

He said, “It is hard to quantify how many other people’s lives we may have saved when we arrest someone for DWI.”

City of Oneonta Police Chief Christopher Witzenburg is shown in his in his office. | Monica Calzolari

said, “This gives us long reach. When someone reported that their son ran away from home, we were able to locate the young man in Colorado aboard a bus and stop the bus with the cooperation of law enforcement there.”

Witzenburg described police work as “demanding on every level, not just emotionally.”

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“I’ve had people thank me for arresting them after they sobered up and turned their life around. I remember one woman who was a bad heroin addict who was only 85 pounds. … Later, she got married, moved away from the area and now owns a business.”

According to Witzenburg, turnarounds have happened quite a few times in his career. “We can have an enormous impact. It is more than just a job. It is not just about cops and criminals.”

Witzenburg explained some of the legalities and complicating factors when he spoke to Oneonta business owners on Oct. 17 at the request of Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek.

He said, “Homelessness is not a crime. Substance abuse is not a crime and neither is mental illness.”

A new Common Council Safe Homes and Neighborhoods Committee has been formed to address those challenges. Since bail reform was passed, he said, there have been unintended consequences.

Witzenburg said, “I have seen a lot more people in court with skin lesions who are malnourished and in greater need of medical care and mental health services. There may be fewer people in the jails, but there are more people on our streets that need help.”

He ended his talk to Oneonta business owners by quoting the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Witzenburg said, “There are a lot of things outside our control. We have no influence over the courts. We only have control over how we conduct ourselves and manage the approach to complicated issues.”

“One of the things I am most proud of is bringing in service providers like Mobile Crisis Assessment and others. One of my officers just found housing the other day for a homeless man.” Catholic Charities’ new Warming Center will house ten homeless people this winter.

“Most people are law-abiding citizens. Then you have the serial offenders. Those are the people we need to focus on and we must catch them in the act,” Witzenburg said.

He used the Town House Inn as an example of “frequent flyers.” “We made 67 arrests at this property involving 37 people, but when we analyzed crimes in the city of Oneonta, we find that those same 37 people produced 1,300 calls for service and 300 arrests

“I am humbled by my role as police chief. We have a great department and one to be proud of. It is a testament to the officers that give so much of themselves day in and day out.” in other parts of the city.”

“I am an optimist, but also a pragmatist,” he said, “When bad stuff happens, that is when I am at my best. I am good at solving problems.”

He has a cartoon on his bulletin board labeled 2021 with a fire burning. That’s the year he became chief of police during the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalls, “It was a challenging year.”

With 4.36 square miles of Oneonta to patrol every day, it is not easy to catch someone in the act.

As chief, Witzenburg’s job is to be strategic and see patterns and solve complex, systemic problems.

He currently oversees a staff of 21 officers and five civilians.

Looking back on his 25 years on the police force, he said, “The town/gown relationship has improved.

The police department used to have a zero-tolerance approach which leads to distrust and resentment. We changed our approach with the understanding that students came here to learn. Now we try to educate them about what behavior is acceptable and we have seen better rates of compliance.

“Underage drinking in the city used to be a bigger problem when there were more bars in Oneonta. We shut down three bars that were allowing large scale underage drinking and use of fake IDs. This shed light on the bars’ responsibility to police itself, which led to better outcomes. Students have been wonderful for the past couple of years,” he said.

Witzenburg said, “I am humbled by my role as police chief. We have a great department and one to be proud of. It is a testament to the officers that give so much of themselves day in and day out.”

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Fire Chief

Shares Three Moments When His Team Saved Lives “I

By Monica Calzolari

t’s the best job in the world. Someone can be having the worst day of their life, be on death’s door, and their life is saved. There’s no better feeling than that,” said city of Oneonta Fire Chief Brian Knapp.

Knapp is a fourth-generation firefighter, born and raised in Schenevus. His great-grandfather, grandfather and father were all volunteer firefighters. He started as a volunteer firefighter himself in 1998.

He later completed the fire program at Onondaga

Community College, took and passed the civil service exam and became a career firefighter. Two years ago, he became Oneonta’s chief.

The City of Oneonta Fire Department is a busy, all-response agency that receives more than 3,600 calls for help per year, an average of 10 calls each day. Over the past 10 months ( Jan. 1 to Oct. 31), fewer than one-quarter of the calls were fire related. The other 77% were for emergency medical services, according to Knapp’s analysis.

From left to right: Fire Chief Brian Knapp, Jason Hassick, David Dirig, Darren Johnstone, Cody Losie, Andrew Turner and Assistant Chief Timothy Foster. | Monica Calzolari 10 | H HOMETOWN HEROES H December 2023

“It’s not just firefighting anymore. It is an all-hazards department. We’re the last line of defense. When we go to a patient’s home, we arrive with life-saving equipment and skills.”

The department is staffed by 26 city employees: the chief, an assistant chief, four captains and 20 firefighters.

It is budgeted for a team of 30, but not all positions are filled.

Knapp recalled three particular incidents that occurred during his tenure that made him proud of the work his team does every day. “In all three cases, everyone survived,” he said.

• One recent New Year’s Eve, a person drove a vehicle onto the ice-covered pond in Neahwa Park, apparently thinking it was a parking lot. The ice gave way and the car sank quickly. An observer on shore called 911 and the fire department responded immediately. The water rescue team suited up in water rescue suits, then had to crack the ice around the car to rescue the driver. Inside, the water was up to the roof and the driver was experiencing hypothermia. Firefighters forced the door open, then removed and transported the driver to the hospital.

• The driver of a pickup truck heading east on Interstate 88 at a high rate of speed, lost control of the vehicle coming down the exit ramp, crossed Main Street, ripped through the guardrail and landed in the Susquehanna River. The driver was apparently experiencing a medical emergency. The fire department rescued a passenger who was hanging out of the passenger window. Then, using the newly-purchased Jaws of Life device, freed the driver from the partially-submerged vehicle. The driver was placed in a rescue basket and, using their ropes training, firefighters hoisted him up the steep embankment and loaded him into a waiting ambulance. Firefighters also mitigated the truck leaking fluids into the river using their hazardous materials training.

• In September 2022, the department responded to a mutual aid call for help from Cherry Valley, where a person fell off a waterfall and had to be rescued. Using ropes and rigging equipment, the patient was pulled from the ravine in a rescue basket, then was transported to a hospital by helicopter.

Knapp said, “We never trained for something that advanced. Our firefighters had to travel 250 feet down into the gorge to reach the injured individual.”

“Getting the patient to safety is our first priority,” he said. “I am very proud of my team. Their training made the difference in that person’s life.”

Training is a huge part of the job. Firefighters need to be ready for anything. Knapp fought for an increased training budget when he became chief, he said.

In addition to completing a minimum of 680 hours for firefighter training, all of Oneonta’s firefighters have completed at least 140 hours of training as emergency medical technicians.

Twelve of the 26-member team are EMT/paramedics, which means they progressed beyond the basic EMT qualifications and completed 500 hours of classroom training, 500 hours of labs and 500 hours of internships or field training. Other members are now in the midst of that training.

On Oneonta’s ambulances, the lettering says Fire Rescue. “It’s not just firefighting anymore. It is an all-hazards department. We’re the last line of defense,” Knapp said. “When we go to a patient’s home, we arrive with life-saving equipment and skills.”

When necessary, they assist neighboring departments when they have significant emergencies.

Oneonta firefighters work 24-hour shifts with 72 hours off. All are on call at any time for response when needed. Four teams of six staff the crews. A captain and five firefighters report for duty each shift.

Knapp said, “I think the world of my staff. They are worth every penny. They deserve the pay of star athletes.

We save people’s lives.” What Knapp likes best about his job, he said, is “working with everyone here. It is a giant family.”

Knapp said he hopes this article will help with recruitment of new firefighters. He said, “When you join the fire service, you become part of the brotherhood and sisterhood of thousands of other firefighters around the globe.” He also said he hopes for a better understanding in the community of what his department does.

Knapp expressed gratitude that the Common Council, City Administrator Gregg Mattice and Mayor Mark Drnek granted his request for financing, training and equipment, including a new Jaws of Life which cost $24,625.

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Paramedic Joseph Malecki volunteers as emergency squad captain for the Laurens Fire Department and as the second assistant chief for the Mt. Vision Fire Department. | Monica Calzolari

Volunteer Paramedic

Highlights Great Need for Volunteers

By Monica Calzolari

“I

started volunteering for the Mt. Vision Fire Department when I was 16. I’ve been hooked ever since,” said Joseph Malecki, 29, who is better known by locals as Joey.

“My cousin got me into it. My uncle was a volunteer firefighter in Laurens. My grandfather used to be an assistant fire chief in West Laurens. My grandfather gave me a bunch of his old training manuals when I was growing up.”

“I decided to become a paramedic because I heard the

22 | H HOMETOWN HEROES H December 2023

calls keep going off when I was volunteering in the fire station. When I turned 18, I joined the ambulance squad as a volunteer. I am a person that enjoys emergency services,” Malecki said. ”My mom was a nurse and I am fortunate to have family that believes in helping others.”

Laurens has one ambulance and an all-volunteer team.

Volunteers do not get paid for their service to the community.

“The biggest thing that drives me is the need for emergency services.”

Malecki said, “If my pager goes off at 2 a.m. and we transport a person to the hospital, it is usually a 2.5hour time commitment from the time we are called until the time we get home. If it is a structure fire, it can be much longer, sometimes six hours.”

“I am fortunate that I work for two agencies as a paid paramedic. I have a full-time job with the Town of Hancock Ambulance Service and a part-time job as a paramedic for Vestal Ambulance.”

Malecki works a 36-hour shift in Hancock. He wakes up by 5 a.m., leaves before 6 a.m. and works from 7 a.m. Sunday until Monday night at 7. Then he drives home to Mt. Vision.

He is an on-call volunteer paramedic squad captain for Laurens and volunteers as the second assistant chief for the Mt. Vision Fire Department on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

He also works a 24-hour shift in Vestal on Thursday and is back to Hancock on Friday for a 12-hour shift.

“The biggest thing that drives me is the need for emergency services,” he said.

Malecki grew up in Otego, but moved to Laurens in the first grade.

His grandparents are Art and Betty Robbins, who owned The Robbins Nest (now Roadhouse 23) in West Laurens before they retired.

Malecki graduated from Broome Community College as a paramedic after two intensive years of train-

ing in 2016. There were not many paramedic jobs available locally back then, so he accepted jobs in Hancock and Vestal.

Out of the 20 students in his graduating high school class, from Laurens, Malecki said, “I am the only one who volunteers.”

Malecki is married and is expecting his first child in April 2024. He said he will not be able to continue to volunteer so many hours once the baby arrives.

He is hoping to recruit more volunteers by making readers aware of the great need in this area for volunteer firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

He said, “We have a job for everyone. At the volunteer level, we have some members who are drivers only.

Another one of our volunteers loves to do traffic control. We accept volunteers who are 16 years old through retirement.”

Malecki has been a volunteer with the Mt. Vision Fire Department since 2011. He has been in emergency medical services for 11 years, at least an emergency medical technician since 2013 and a paid paramedic for seven years since 2016.

During those 18 years in EMS, Malecki has delivered only one baby. He described the experience as “beautiful, disgusting and scary.”

He was in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital when the pregnant woman said “I cannot hold it anymore. I need to push,” he said.

Malecki said “I’ll never forget that experience. I jumped in the ambulance just in time to catch her baby.

Childbirth scared the crap out of me. It is my one Achilles heel. I felt a rollercoaster of emotions.”

“Laurens is fortunate enough to have three volunteer fire departments, one in Laurens, one in West Laurens and one in Mt. Vision, plus the Laurens Emergency Squad. It’s definitely a team effort,” he said.

Examples of emergency calls he has responded to include: • Trees down • Basement flooded • Overdoses • Elderly who fall down and need help getting up (known as lift assist) “The highest volume of types of calls we receive are from our elderly population who have health issues and do not have a support system.

Many live alone. One elderly woman fell. She had a lot of (chronic) wounds. She did not want to go to the hospital. We got in touch with the Office of Aging,” Malecki said.

When Malecki leaves the homes of patients in this condition, he often asks himself, “How do I help these people?” He said, “There are not enough home services for our elderly.”

One promising solution he has heard is being piloted by Union Ambulance in Binghamton is the concept of “Community Paramedicine.” Union is inviting certified nursing assistants to become part of the volunteer team.

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Office for the Aging Director

Calls Her Team the Heroes

By Monica Calzolari

B

orn and raised in Walton, Tamie Reed has been directing the Otsego County Office for the Aging (OFA) for the past six years.

She oversees a staff of 12 full-time and five part-time people and divides her time between the Oneonta office and the Meadows Office Complex in Cooperstown.

Tonya Rowe, aging service specialist with OFA, nominated Reed as a Hometown Hero. Reed insisted that her whole team deserves the recognition. She said, “I have a very hard-working staff.”

Office for the Aging has been able to provide more than 57,000 meals and nearly 13,000 hours of home care and respite to some of the most vulnerable older adults in the community in the last year.

The county agency receives 90% of its $1.9 million budget from state and federal grants. It provides services that promote independence and quality of life for residents age 60 and older.

More than 28% of the county’s population is over the age of 60 according to the U.S. Census and that percentage is expected to grow by 2030.

Otsego County has a population of 58,952 and 16,784 are over the age of 60. OFA has served the needs of 2,748 older adults this past year.

Reed said, “Our pinnacle service is NYConnects which serves as our point of entry to help individuals and families navigate the confusing and often complicated service system.”

Eleven of the 15 full-time staff members from the Otsego County Office for the Aging gathered in the courtyard at the Meadows Office Complex in Cooperstown. From Left to right they are: Alicia Chase, Sue Barnhart, Mona Edson, Sarah Loveland, Christy Harasimowicz, Director Tamie Reed (in blue trousers), Mandy Rogers, Mieko Rowley, Abby Waters, Cody Pope, Glenn Linsenbardt. Missing from photo: Tonya Rowe, John Nicotera, Joy Gray, Paul Kehoe & John Moylan. | Monica Calzolari

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“Most people don’t understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, who covers what and what one qualifies for. When you’re returning home from the hospital or are no longer able to drive, that degree of new dependency is overwhelming. It helps to have an experienced person to guide you through the options.”

NYConnects staff help link people to long-term services and supports such as • In-home services: personal care, light housekeeping and meal preparation • Home-delivered meals: 5 to 8 frozen meals delivered once a week • Medicare counseling • Non-emergency medical transportation • Respite care for family caregivers • Legal services • Health and wellness programs • Referrals to Veteran Affairs or Medicaid Reed said, “Most people don’t understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, who covers what and what one qualifies for. When you’re returning home from the hospital or are no longer able to drive, that degree of new dependency is overwhelming. It helps to have an experienced person to guide you through the options.”

NYConnects also serves anyone of any age with a disability.

Office for the Aging maintains a comprehensive resource directory of long-term services and supports, as well as an active Facebook page to share the many services and activities offered by local organizations.

Reed said, “Community collaboration is critical for us to accomplish what we do. We see our office as a hub of a wheel, connecting people to various supports

or ‘spokes,’ so it’s important that we are engaged and informed about the services throughout the community.”

Office for the Aging is the lead for the county’s Long Term Care Council, which identifies and addresses gaps in long-term care services in the community. Challenges include workforce shortages in critical sectors like home care and nursing homes, and the lack of socialization opportunities for older adults.

She said, “Social isolation has significant impact to our health, much like a poor diet or sedentary lifestyle.”

In fact, the National Institute on Aging found that the health risks of prolonged isolation are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

“We know how isolating a rural community can be already. Add a pandemic or the inability to drive or reduced mobility to that and you can understand why older adults are at such high risk,” Reed said.

Recently, Office for the Aging has introduced new technology such as a voice operated care companion called ElliQ and animatronic pets that help to address isolation and loneliness. These are provided at no cost to individuals who qualify.

Connections at Clark Sports Center and The Gathering Place in Oneonta are both focused on bringing older adults together in person for exercise, arts, education and socialization opportunities.

Reed said, “We are very fortunate to have champions in our community like Carole Lachance and Kim Witkowski who saw this need and immediately responded.”

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Reed’s desire to work with older adults all started when she took a Psychology of Aging course during her junior year at SUNY Cortland.

Reed said, “After two internships at Cortland, I knew I wanted to focus my career on community-based services for older adults. We have a strong rural culture here that is often characterized by independence and self-reliance and most people want to age in their own home if possible.”

She earned her master’s degree in gerontological studies at Miami University in Ohio and worked in Florida and Nevada for 15 years before returning to this area.

Otsego County Office for the Aging was created in February 1974 by the Otsego County Board of Representatives. Otsego County is one of 59 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) in New York state. Every county in

3 Railroad Street New Berlin, NY 13411 Phone: 607-847-6173 Fax: 607-847-8421

the United States has an Office of Aging. There are more than 600 across the country.

Reed said, “We are the best kept secret in town. …

However, we do want people to know we are here when they need us, to help make this process a bit easier.”

Reed said, “We have many veteran staff who understand the system and regardless of someone’s income, situation or experience, we can get them on the right path.

Sometimes that includes services we provide directly through our office or referring them to partner organizations, and sometimes it’s helping them understand their benefits through another system such as Veteran Affairs, Medicaid or a long term care insurance policy.”

For more information about the Office for the Aging, contact 607-547-4232, visit www.otsegocounty.com or Facebook page at OtsegocountyOFA.

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30 | H HOMETOWN HEROES H December 2023

READY FOR YOUR ARRIVAL Relax in Montgomery’s only rooftop pool and spa. Escape to the elegance of Mobile’s historic Battle House Hotel. Come experience Alabama’s top hotels, resorts, and courses along the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Stay in eight luxury hotels and play 26 world-class courses from the Tennessee River to Mobile Bay. Laugh, play, explore, and relax in picturesque settings. Pamper yourself in luxury spas. Tee off with family and friends. Walk to area attractions. Enjoy farm-to-table cuisine. It’s time to plan your next trip to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

To learn more, visit rtjgolf.com or call 800.949.4444. We will be here awaiting your arrival.

ANNISTON/GADSDEN » AUBURN/OPELIKA » BIRMINGHAM/HOOVER » DOTHAN » FLORENCE/MUSCLE SHOALS GREENVILLE » HUNTSVILLE » MONTGOMERY/PRATTVILLE » MOBILE » POINT CLEAR

BETTER GOLF IT’S TIME TO PLAY

The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail boasts 468 holes on 26 exquisite courses throughout the beautiful state of Alabama, and right now, you can save big with remarkable prices on what The New York Times calls “some of the best public golf on earth.” Now that’s better golf!

CUSTOM PACKAGES AVAILABLE » To learn more, visit rtjgolf.com or call 800.949.4444.

RTJ GOLF TRAIL AT CAPITOL HILL // JUDGE COURSE #6