the freeman's journal 1-20-12

COOPERSTOWNAND AROUND

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD

Volume 204, No. 3 Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, January 19, 2012

RICHFIELD SPRINGS • CHERRY VALLEY • HARTWICK • FLY CREEK • MILFORD • SPRINGFIELD • MIDDLEFIELD

Cooperstown’s Newspaper • F

OUNDED

IN 18

08 B

Y JUDGE WILLIAM

CO

OP

ER

For 202 Years

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DETAILS, B1

Economic Development‘Art,’ But Can Be DoneMathes: Invest Upfront, ‘Get Dirt Ready’

SEWARD: GREENE COUNTY BEST IN 51ST

As SUNY Food Services Director,Kathy Clark Thought ‘Out of Box’

Family friend Anya Sloth, 10, poses with Kathy Clark and her husband Bob.

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s Journal

Greene County IDA ex-ecutive director Alex-ander “Sandy” Mathes made “every deal” in two business parks.

Jim Kevlin/The Freeman’s JournalKalkberg Commerce Park is just north of the Greene County Business & Technology Park along Route 9W just north of Coxsackie and just south of Thruway Exit 21B. In the background are a Serta mattress, left, and Empire Merchants North, a mega liquor distributorship owned by the Charmer-Sunbelt Group, which has national reach.

By JIM KEVLIN

COXSACKIE

As Sandy Mathes tells it, it’s all about “get-ting dirt ready.”

In 2002, the Greene County Industrial Develop-ment Agency – Mathes was longtime IDA executive

director until last summer – began getting dirt ready, and since:

• In 2004, Save-A-Lot, a national discount grocery store opened a $16 million distribution center. 130 jobs.

• Also in 2004, National Bedding Co. completed a $11.25 million Serta mat-tress factory. 100 jobs.

• In 2009, Ducommun AeroStructures Inc., after buying the local DynaBil Industries, opened a new plant to supply parts and materials for the aerospace

industry. 200-250 jobs.• In 2010, Empire Mer-

chants North, an Ulster County-based alcohol dis-tributor, completed a $27.5 million, 250,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and distribution center. 320 jobs.

This happened, and is still happening, on two sites, the Greene County

Business & Technology Park and the Kalkberg

Please See GREENE, A7

TO LEARN MORE about Greene County’s economic development efforts, visit

www.greenebusiness.com

First Woman Otsego County Board Chair Also First With MPA

By JIM KEVLIN

When she was SUNY Oneonta’s di-rector of residential dining services, par-ents dropping off their students would sample the dininghall menu and rave.

They’d tell Kathy Clark: How can

our kids complain about this?“Everybody always complains about

the food,” said Clark, who calls herself “a realist.” “If you ate at your favorite restaurant every night for three months, you’d find something to complain about, too.”

Please See CHAIR, A9

Consensus:CommerceNeeds BoostReps, Execs Concur

By LIBBY CUDMORE

There was agreement when nine of the Ot-sego County Board

of Representatives met with the pro-business Citizens’ Voices group: A more busi-ness-friendly atmosphere is needed here.

“We’re trying to bring everyone together, not drive us apart,” said Oneonta Block president Bob Har-lem, who hosted the third meeting of businesspeople, newly christened Citizens’ Voices, at the Carriage

Please See BOOST, A6

RICHFIELD SPRINGS

The newly elected Richfield Town Board Monday, Jan. 16,

approved a host agreement with Ridgeline Energy to erect six 500-foot-tall wind turbines near Monticello on the town’s east end.

The town must still over-come an Article 78 action residents filed to block the project.

MUCH COMMENT: 40,000 comments had been received by the time the DEC’s comment period on proposed fracking regula-tions closed Jan. 11.

ON CV BOARD: Cherry Valley attorney Tracy Dono-van-Loughlin has been appointed to fill the vacancy on the Cherry Valley Town Board created by the depar-ture of Tim Horvath.

LION VISITS: Lions Club District Governor Joe DeFina was scheduled to meet with the Cooperstown club Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Town BoardIn RichfieldOKs Turbines

The Freeman’s JournalPlatoon Leader Stepha-nie Proffitt, who is join-ing the Deposit Police Department, leads the Otsego County Law Enforcement Class into SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater Sat-urday, Jan. 14. (More photos, A2)

A-2 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

LOCALS

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Cooperstown’s Newspaper • F

OUNDED

IN18

08BY

JUDGEWILL

IAM

COOPER

For 203 Years

GENESEE HONOREES: Five students from Cooper-stown – Amy Bishop, Ryan Davine, Scott Evans, Peter Kearns and Paul Kennedy -- are on the Dean’s List at SUNY Geneseo for the fall semester. Also, Ryan Ya-worski of Richfield Springs and Alexandra Finch of Milford.

DEAN’S LIST: Joelle Lachance of Fly Creek is on the Nazareth College Dean’s List for the fall 2011 semes-ter.

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s Journal“They are a class of only eight and that’s the smallest class ever to graduate, but they are the best qualified ever,” said Cooperstown Police Chief Diana Nicols, who is retiring on disability. She was keynoter at the 2012 Otsego County Law Enforcement Academy commencement Saturday, Jan. 14, at SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theater. None of the graduates were from the county.

AT POLICE ACADEMY GRADUATION

Betty Bergleitner, Stamford, the 2011 Otsego-Delaware Realtor of the Year, accepts her award from Tom Tilla-paugh, 2011 president of the Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors. Betty is the third member of her family to receive this honor, in addition to her husband, George Bergleitner and son, Michael Bergleitner. The award is based on Bergleitner’s involvement in boards of realtors on the local, state and national levels, civic activity, Re-altor spirit and high principles. She will be honored at the Mid-Winter New York State Association of Real-tors Inaugural Dinner.

Janice Corrie pins the Investigator Rick Parisian Award for Most Outstanding Cadet on Stephanie Proffitt, who is joining the Deposit Police Depart-ment. Janice, Parisian’s sister, and her husband David, as well as Rick’s brother Steve, represent-ed the family at the ceremony.

BETTY BERGLEITNER REALTOR OF YEAR

The Bassett Cancer Institute has received STAR Program® Certification, where the staff that works with cancer patients have been trained in the latest oncology rehabilitation that personalize care to optimize healing. Staffers so certified include, seated from left, Jessica Hart, Julie Bush, Laurie Conover and Kathleen Smith. Back row, from left, Dr. Sara Grethlein, Brenda Flowers, Joyce Key, Kathleen Leonardo, Holly Hobbie-Begeal, Phillip Schultes, Sherry Looman, Amy Taggart, Debra Walz, Patricia Cleary, Margaret Celebi, Brandon Partenza and Michael Hanft.

BASSETT CANCER STAFF RECEIVE CERTIFICATION

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-3 THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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Sign up for a FReetennis lesson for yourself or group! No obligation. To reserve time, contact

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Kim’s Kut & Style

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The City of Oneonta is accepting applications for the position of

Laborer in Public Service Department. Application should be submitted by

February 10, 2012. Applications and job description are available at the Personnel

Office, 258 Main St., Oneonta or download from our website at www.oneonta.ny.us

EOE

COOPERSTOWN

Frank and Ann Capozza have an-nounced the sale of their business, Cooperstown Event Rentals, to Tim

and Deb Dolan of Cooperstown“It was very important to us that the

fine reputation we have worked so hard to build be maintained by the new owners of Cooperstown Event Rentals,” said Frank Capozza. “After a year-long search for an exceptionally suitable fit, we are certain that we have found the perfect new owner in Tim Dolan.”

The Capozzas and Dolans will work closely together during the entire 2012 season to ensure a seamless transition in all aspects of operations and services for all upcoming events.

“My family and I are committed to con-tinuing to provide the exceptional level of quality and attention to detail that Cooper-stown Event Rental customers have come to expect” said Tim Dolan.

Cooperstown Event Rentals offers quality rentals and personalized services for wed-

dings, reunions, parties, galas, corporate meetings and gatherings of all types. The company’s consultants have designed hun-dreds of events, and will use that expertise to guide customers.

For reservations, call 267-6442 or e-mail [email protected]

The Freeman’s JournalTim Dolan, right, and his wife Deb have acquired Cooperstown Event Rentals from Frank Capozza, left, and his wife Ann.

Dolans Purchase Cooperstown Event Rentals

GOOD LAUGHS, GOOD FOOD, GOOD CAUSE

Paul Donnelly photoMark Rathbun, former CCS board president and retired teacher brought his dad, Leon, 94, a retired industrial arts teacher who lives at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home, to the Grilled Cheese for a Good Cause benefit Sunday, Jan. 15, at Brewery Ommegang. Chefs from restaurants through-out Cooperstown cooked up gourmet cheese dishes to benefit the Town of Middlefield’s fund in the court fight to preserve Home Rule. The town is being sued by natural-gas interests to overturn its anti-fracking ordinance.

Cooperstown native Melissa Raddatz finished the Houston

Marathon Sunday, Jan. 15, in 2:50:41, a new personal record, and was 11th woman out of 2,798 and 115th finisher overall in a field of 7,637 runners.

She is the daughter of Don and Cathy Raddatz of Cooperstown.

BOBCAT SPOTTED: Carie Carrey of Cooper-stown reports that, to her surprise, a bobcat dashed across route 28 by Otesgo Manor as she was driving home at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17.

CooperstownNative 11th InHouston Race

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

PerspectivesA-4 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

SUCCESSOR PUBLICATION TOThe Cherry Valley Gazette • The Hartwick Review

The Milford Tidings • The Morris Chronicle • Oneonta Press The Otsego Farmer • The Richfield Springs Mercury

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Otsego County • Town of Cherry Valley • Town of MiddlefieldCooperstown Central School District

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Judge Cooper’s portrait, by Gilbert Stuart, is in The Fenimore Art Museum

James C. Kevlin Mary Joan Kevlin Editor & Publisher Associate Publisher

Tara Barnwell Amanda Hoepker Advertising Director Office Manager Jamie Smith, Luisa Fuentes Tom Heitz Sales Associates Consultant

Libby Cudmore Ian Austin Reporter Photographer

Graphics: Andrée Baillargeon, Stacy Oines, Scott Buchanan

Cooperstown’s Newspaper

• FOUNDED IN

1808 BY JUDGE WILLIA

M C

OO

PER

For 203 Years

EDITORIAL

Editor’s Note: Here is an excerpt from Hearing Officer Thomas N. Rinaldo’s detailed examination of police-brutality allegations against Oneonta Police Officer Michael Breen, who has since been fired. Mayor Miller and Common Coun-cil’s determined, methodical and transparent response to the OPD scandal, which culminated in Rinaldo’s report, could be a model to follow for the Cooperstown Central School Board, which is faced with an equally troubling hazing/bullying situation.

A more troubling consideration for the Hearing Officer,

however, is the allegation under Charge I that Re-spondent’s (Breen’s) use of “excessive force” extended to “inflicting repeated blows to his (complainant Bradley Shanks’) head with your closed fist.” This consid-eration is troubling to the Hearing Officer because he finds that Respondent did not offer credible testimony as to his use of physical force when he struck Shanks in the head with a closed fist.

The Hearing Officer finds that the credible evidence in the record, which largely comes in the form of the tes-timony of the three civilian eyewitnesses, is that Shanks, while running from the Of-ficers, tripped or stumbled over the snowbank, slipped on the pavement, and fell to the pavement, with the Respondent, as the lead Officer, immediately on Shanks at that point in time. Respondent was quickly joined by (Officers) Kruser and Cetnar as Shanks lay on the pavement.

Thus, the Hearing Of-

ficer notes the testimony of eyewitness (name redacted) who was approximately 10 to 15 feet from the spot where Shanks fell, that Respondent and the other Officers were “on top of him instantly.” Eyewitness (second name redacted), who was approximately 20 feet from the area where Shanks fell, the Hearing Officer notes, observed that, after Shanks hit the ground, Respondent “was right on top of him.” Eyewitness (third name redacted), the Hearing Officer notes, who was at approximately the same distance from the area where Shanks, testified that the Officers “tackled” Shanks and then “were on top of him.”

The Hearing Officer finds that the three eyewitnesses had no motivation to bring any falsehood to the tribu-nal, and their testimony is otherwise not lacking in credibility regarding the fact that Shanks took no action against Respondent or any of the other Officers before falling to the pavement where the Officers were “instantly” on him.

...To the extent that the testimony of Officers Kruser and Cetnar seems to support

Respondent’s testimony that Shanks shoved Respondent, the Hearing Officer would state his finding that he re-jects the credibility of their testimony to this extent. The Hearing Officer finds that the three Officers elected to give inaccurate testimony on this point, consistent perhaps with their testimony that Shanks ‘’turned a blind eye” on them as he fled from the scene.

In any event, the Hear-ing Officer would observe that Respondent’s claim that his use of force by striking Shanks with his fist to the head is based on false tes-timony, and it follows that the testimony offered by Respondent’s force expert is not persuasive because it was based on assumptions that flowed from this false testimony.

The credible evidence, again essentially based on the testimony of the three civilian eyewitnesses, is that, once on top of Shanks, the Respondent struck repeated blows to Shanks head, which likely caused the injuries to the right side of Shanks face. Unlike Respondent’s use of a head-lock on Shanks, his repeated blows with a closed fist to

Shanks’ head cannot pass muster under the standard for the justifiable use of physical force.

The City’s expert – and the Hearing Officer finds that he was an expert – Lieutenant Dennis Nayor offered credible testimony that striking someone to the head is “considered lethal” and would not have been justifiable even if Respon-dent had been shoved back-wards. There is no reason for the Hearing Officer to resolve any dispute as to the justifiable use of physical force had Respondent been shoved backwards, based on the expert opinion of (his lawyer) Marrow on Respon-dent’s behalf, because there is obviously no justification, even under the more liberal “reasonableness” standard, for an Officer to strike an individual in the head with a closed fist several times when that individual, as was Shanks, is essentially face down on the pavement with three Officers on him.

Respondent’s use of physical force, based on the credible evidence in the record, was therefore clearly “excessive.” To that extent, the City has established Respondent’s misconduct under Charge I, Specifica-tion 1, which alleges the excessive force, and Specifi-cation 2, which alleges that the excessive force in the form of “repeated blows” to Shanks’ head violated the cited Departmental Rules.

The Hearing Officer finds that Respondent and Of-ficers Kruser and Cetnar gave testimony that strains credulity when they took great pains to emphasize how Shanks fell on his face without breaking his fall, which Respondent claimed happened twice.

Hearing Officer Uncovered Lies In OPD Case;CCS Should Embark On Similar Truth-Seeking

2 SCANDALS, DIFFERENT OUTCOMES

Image from WKTV.comOPD ex-officer Michael Breen after his firing.

LETTERS

Cooperstown Superintendent of Schools C.J. Hebert better take a deep breath.

His indignation at the press is not going to stop the questions. The questions will stop when it is all over.

“It” is an ongoing and vile aberration at Cooperstown Central High School, where senior football players hold down first-year play-ers and “teabag” them, an assault that involves rubbing testicles in a victim’s face. Or the older boys seize the younger boys by the genitals and insert fingers in their rectums. This – and who knows what else? – can happen repeat-edly. The first-year boys, when seniors, then perform the initiation on the younger boys, an ugly cycle of victim becoming victimizer.

Hebert’s indignation is mis-placed. This isn’t something the press made up. Details emerged only after High School Principal Mike Cring and Athletic Director Jay Baldo sent a Nov. 10 letter to football players’ parents on “a matter of extreme concern.”

“Through interviews with play-ers, information has been revealed that confirms acts of hazing have occurred between players this past season, as well as in past years,” the letter said.

Cring and Baldo called it hazing. But, as pointed out in this space before, if the football players did this to girls it would be called rape. If they did it to District Attorney John Muehl or county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin,

Jr., who have tried to brush off the matter, it would certainly be assault. (Also, the FBI has just widened the definition of rape.)

Of course, Hebert, who is in the middle of his second year, didn’t know this was going on when he took the job in the summer of 2010, but he knows now. If school board members were in denial before – Tony Scalici, chair; and David Borgstrom, Paula Greene, Mary Leonard, Theresa Russo, Elizabeth Schifano and Mikal Sky-Shrewsbury – they can’t be now.

If this manifests itself again, and it will unless pulled out stem and root, they may very well be personally liable – and they should be. Certainly, for Hebert, it would be a career ender.

So far, the response is not reassuring. Two of the football players charged are playing varsity basketball, and Hebert won’t say what, if anything, is being done to protect the younger boys on that team. He would say that revisions to the coach’s manual haven’t been completed yet. In other words, business as usual, more of the stonewalling that has become routine since the matter became public.

If anything requires indignation, it is that.

•Let’s draw a few contrasts with

another local scandal that was handled much differently.

In the summer of 2009, Oneonta Police Department officers were implicated in engaging in improp-

er sexual relations with underage girls while on duty; three officers eventually resigned. No sooner had Mayor Dick Miller taken office on Jan.1, 2010, then allega-tions were made that an officer had engaged in police brutality during a marijuana arrest.

Those two incidents suggested something was wrong at OPD.

Miller had a conversation with then-Chief Joseph Redmond, who then abruptly retired. The mayor and Common Council brought in an outside investigator. The mayor also resisted pressure to promote an internal OPD candi-date to chief, instead bringing in a seasoned and widely respected senior officer from out of town to lead and assess the department shortterm.

The suspected marijuana seller sued the city and others for $24 million; Miller was able to get the matter settled for $135,000, mostly covered by insurance.

The investigation led to a hear-ing, and the hearing led to the fir-ing of the police officer, who had been on administrative leave. The investigative report was released to the public – it is excerpted on this page – and it answered any question that may have remained in the public’s mind.

The public pays the bills. The public is the boss. The public deserves to know. This is how responsive government works, and it’s a model the CCS leadership should study and follow.

In Cooperstown, education law is being used as the refuge from responsibility and a shield from public scrutiny. In Oneonta, Miller no doubt could have used the equally obtuse laws protect-ing police officers as an excuse to stonewall, but he had the clear vision that is lacking at CCS.

The Oneonta outcome is every-thing any citizen might wish. In contrast, the CCS administrator and school board have offered no details – none, zero – of what’s been going on, seemingly for years, on the football team, and what steps are being taken to fix it for good.

•The adults among us know

what’s been revealed at CCS is not normal.

And, kids, as you look to the fu-

ture, be assured this isn’t business as usual everywhere. Adolescence has its particular challenges, but physical abuse, institutionalized, accepted by a portion of the com-munity – most of our Cooperstown neighbors, we have to believe, are disgusted and alarmed – doesn’t have to be part of it and in most places isn’t.

As the superintendent continues in denial and the school board flails, what’s a CCS parent to do? Well, take a look at Brookwood School, the private alternative in Toddsville, or other public high schools in the area. If you’re unwilling to speak out publicly, let Hebert and individual school board members know your views privately; they need the support of right-thinking people.

Parents, discourage your sons from playing football until this is resolved. Fans, boycott games, starting now with varsity basket-ball, where Coach Dave Bertram allows two of the accused to flout their shamelessness.

What happened in Oneonta demonstrated leadership. And it shows what can be done at CCS.

Let’s bring in an outside expert to investigate. (Are we afraid to?) Let’s determine the extent of the problem. Let’s cut loose anyone who did know or should have known what was going on. Finally, let’s identify best prac-tices to prevent hazing/bullying of students – or systematic rape and assault, to be more precise – from happening ever again.

The Freeman’s JournalCooperstown School Super-intendent C.J. Hebert, left, might be wise to seek guid-ance from Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller on how to dig down to the roots of a public scandal, respond firmly and share the outcome with the public.

Determination, Not Stonewalling, Resolves Troubling Issues

To the Editor:My main reason for

putting pen to paper is the fact that my dear friends and neighbors of 22 years, Summers End Orchards, will be put out of business if fracking is allowed in New York State.

The following is a quote from Joe Holtz, general manager, Park Slope Food Coop Inc., of Brooklyn: “I want to alert you to a less obvious effect that hydro-fracking will have on us and on the needs of our shoppers. If hydrofracking is allowed to go forward, our shoppers are certain to be asking us if the fruits, vegetables, dairy products

eggs and meats from New York State are produced in areas where hydrofracking is taking place. It will not take many inquiries for us to start researching alterna-tives to New York State products.”

Here is the million-dollar question: Why will Sum-mers End Orchard and other New York State farmers in Chenango & Otsego coun-ties not be allowed to bring their products to Buffalo or New York City’s markets?

Answer: We live outside the protected Syracuse and New York City watersheds!

TAMMY REISSButternuts

(Chenango County native)

Will Fracking Scare AwayConsumers Of Our Crops?

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-5

BOUND VOLUMESCompiled by Tom HeiTz from Freeman’s Journal archives, courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library

50 YEARS AGO

January 17, 1962

200 YEARS AGOCongress, it will seem, have agreed to

raise 25,000 men. This looks like a certainty of war; but whether we have peace or war, it is an event in which all must rejoice, that within the walls of Congress there never was greater harmony than at present pre-vails. All seem to be convinced that the time has arrived when our national forces ought to be increased both by sea and land, so as to combine strength with dignity, and to hold forth to foreign powers the certainty that aggressions will hereafter be resisted with the spirit that becomes freemen. If such be the motives of our rulers, they need not fear that the nation will support them at all hazards.

January 18, 1812 175 YEARS AGO

Education of Common School Teachers – The efforts of the Regents of the Univer-sity to prepare a body of men for commu-nicating instruction, under a plan adopted by them, establishes a department for that purpose in one academy in each senate district. These departments have now been in operation about 18 months. By the last annual report of the Regents it appears that 108 individuals were in a course of prepara-tion for teaching. Four of the eight depart-ments, having been put in operation but a short time before, reported no students. The department established at Erasmus Hall in the first senate district, not having suc-ceeded by reason of its vicinity to the city of New York and the consequent expenses of living, it was transferred at the request of the trustees of that academy to another in-stitution. The transfer was made last spring to Cambridge in Washington County, and it is understood that the department has above 20 pupils in training.

January 16, 1837

150 YEARS AGORelief for the sick and wounded – We

are requested by the committee having in charge the receiving and forwarding of articles for the benefit of our Soldiers in the

hospitals, to state, that the second box will be sent during the ensuing week. Those per-sons who have taken yarn for the purpose of knitting will please send in the completed work as soon as possible, as the season is now far advanced when such articles are most needed. Further contributions are solicited from the liberally and charitably inclined. Materials for drawers and comfort-able, if sent in immediately, will be made up and forwarded. Let not our energies slacked. The demand will be urgent and never ceas-ing while the war lasts.

January 17, 1862

125 YEARS AGO“Fire!” was the fearful cry which broke upon the ears of our villagers soon after 9 o’clock last Monday evening, when the wind was blowing a gale, and which natu-rally created much alarm. Smoke was seen issuing from the basement of the Phinney block on Pioneer Street, under the harness shop of Leopold Lewus, indicating the presence of a smoldering fire. Before the flames could burst forth, Winning Hose Co. had a stream on it, followed by Nelson and Phinney; and soon, what might have proved a serious fire, had the alarm been given two or three hours later, was extinguished. The damage to the building and to Mr. Lewis’ stock, was small, and covered by insurance. The cause of the fire is a matter of doubt and speculation, and a thorough examina-tion should be made.

January 22, 1887

100 YEARS AGOTown Topics – About 50 Belgian hares

were received by Waldo C. Johnston, super-intendent of Iroquois Farm, last week. They came direct from Belgium.

Will Carlton, the poet, who was adver-tised to recite his “Over the hills to the Poorhouse” and other poems in the Vil-lage Hall last Thursday evening, failed to connect, and it was said he had missed a train in Albany. Mr. Carlton seems to have hard luck in reaching Cooperstown. Several years ago his trolley car went off the track and he walked into town, mud covered, and arrived about 11 o’clock on the night he was to entertain here.

January 17, 1912

75 YEARS AGODr. George Roemmert will present “The

Micro-Vivarium” at the Knox School on Saturday evening, January 23, at 8:30 p.m. The lecture promises to be one of the out-standing events of the season. Without the use of films or slides, but through a single microscope, Dr. Roemmert shows to his audience the invisible world of a drop of

water, teeming with life and made gigantic before their eyes. Dr. Roemmert’s special method of micro-projection enables the ob-server to look directly into the microscopic world. The actual specimens of micro-or-ganisms are magnified and thrown upon a screen just as they would be seen by the individual observer at the microscope.

January 20, 1937

25 YEARS AGOCooperstown may see the return of one of

its old transportation mediums and allevi-ate some of the village’s parking problems at the same time. Trustee Pam Washburn’s proposal to the board of trustees last week would transport visitors to the village from parking lots outside the village by means of a trackless trolley system. The trolleys would be provided by the Molly Trolley Company of Maine. Two of the trolleys would be used during peak summer months and the $13,000 cost to the village would be covered with income from advertising displays on the trolleys, purchased by area businesses. Rider fees of 25 to 50 cents would be collected by the company. Each trolley carries 32 seated passengers and 16 standees.

January 21, 1987

10 YEARS AGOAccording to NYS tax figures, total visi-

tor spending in Otsego County in 1999-2000 was more than $137 million. The tour-ism industry directly employs nearly 3,000 Otsego County residents. An estimated 2,000 others work indirectly through other businesses serving tourists. Otsego County Tourism Director Deb Taylor estimates the total tourism payroll comes in at just over $34 million. A survey of businesses shows what Taylor describes as a trickle-down ef-fect to the local economy. Taylor’s agency, which operates on a budget of $217,380, generates $20 in occupancy and sales tax revenues for every county dollar.

January 18, 2002

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BOOST/From A1House on Southside Oneon-ta on Monday, Jan. 16. “This is a community that needs to work together.”

“Seeing how Otsego County treats other busi-nesses will bring new busi-ness to Otsego County,” said county Rep. John Kosmer, Fly Creek, newly elected to represent District 8.

“We need to look at opportunities that create business investments,” said county Economic Developer Carolyn Lewis. “We’re try-ing to foster a culture where people can start a busi-ness, employ local people and train them to work in our area. We want com-munities, people to fix up dilapidated houses and sell them at affordable prices to people who move here for the work, families who will send their kids to our schools.”

Christine Amos, Bank of Cooperstown vice president, echoed the sentiment. “We don’t want to push busi-nesses out. We don’t want to force our young people

to leave this area to find jobs. We don’t want Otsego County to die off – but that’s what could happen.”

The “unanticipated conse-quences” of the anti-frack-ing fight was on the agenda

of the businesspeople’s first two meetings, in Decem-ber and earlier this month with state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, but fracking was purposely kept off the agenda.

“I took it as a positive,” Harlem said after the meet-ing. “There is definite com-mon ground that we are all concerned with and should be able to rally around. The area needs to work together,

to be more positive. We are going to sit down again and try to have more engage-ment.”

Developing Oneonta’s downtown was a major concern among attendees, and several wanted to know what was going to be done to reduce costs to local busi-ness owners.

Another concern was that Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta are us-ing tax-exempt land. John Higgins, Oneonta, sug-gested that the colleges be asked to “pay their way” for water, sewer, fire and police services.

“If we make the col-leges make payments to the city, it would come out of their pockets,” Mayor Dick Miller responded. “Those universities are vital to the health of the city, and they’ve got their own finan-cial problems.”

When pressed about sell-ing off unused portions of tax-exempt land, Miller add-ed, “I would love to sell off the Armory and the airport – we have to stop moving

the money around and start bringing in new money by leveraging the assets that we have.”

But as the meeting drew to a close, there wasn’t a plan in place. “It’s impor-tant that we develop a road map,” said county Rep. Beth Rosenthal, Roseboom, newly elected from District 7. “We need to have a five-year plan, a 10-year plan, so that when new people join this board, we’re not start-ing over every two years.”

“Now is the time to start making partnerships,” Lewis added. “But what we don’t have is a list of priorities for this area.”

And although the meet-ing closed without a clear direction, there was hope for a stronger economic future for Otsego County.

From the audience, NBT Bank Vice President Ja-mie Reynolds had the last words: “Each of you needs to be advocates for econom-ic development. We need this area to grow. We’re in this together.”

FOCUS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

County Reps, Businesspeople Agree On Economic-Development Need

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s JournalCounty Economic Developer Carolyn Lewis fields questions during with a Monday, Jan. 16, meeting with the newly christened Citizens’ Voices group. Behind her are, from left, County Reps. Keith McCarty (partially hidden), John Kosmer, Jim Powers, Beth Rosenthal, Rich Murphy and Kathy Clark, chair. Organizer Bob Harlem is leaning against the door.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, JANUARY 19-20, 2012 A-7

Greene/From A1Commerce Park, which straddle the town lines of Coxsackie and New Balti-more near the state Thru-way’s Exit 21B, 20 miles south of Albany.

The lean, modern build-ings along Route 61 are ev-erything you might imagine. In fact, squint a bit on your way home, and it isn’t hard to envision them along I-88 at Worcester, at Schenevus, at Unadilla.

But these job- and prop-erty-tax-generating mirages – pinch yourself, Tintin, they aren’t mirages; they’re real – didn’t just happen, and since Mathes got caught in a political crossfire over bonuses, there’s no guar-antee they will continue to happen.

Along the way, Mathes’ IDA helped preserve Stiefel Laboratories’ 200 jobs in Oak Hill, west of Catskill, after it was purchased by GlaxoSmithKline. And ne-gotiations are near comple-tion to locate a Great Wolf Waterpark and 400-room hotel to the north of the Kalkberg park.

The Bank of Greene County built a saltbox-like headquarters in synch with colonial-style design stan-dards for buildings in retail space between the business parks’ white front fence and Route 9W.

Economic development, as Mathes and everyone else most everywhere will tell you, is never easy. In New York State, Mathes avers, it’s “a miracle,” although he proved it’s not impossible. And that’s good news for Otsego County, where lead-ers are looking to reenergize economic development.

At the end of two meet-ings, one in December, one in January, with more than 100 businesspeople, orga-nized by Oneonta Block president Bob Harlem Jr. and Tom Armao, County Club Automotive co-owner, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, was prompted to say Otsego County is lagging.

He is organizing an Eco-nomic-Development Sum-mit in the next few weeks to begin injecting new ideas into the mix.

Asked which of the seven counties in Seward’s 51st District is doing the best, Seward aide Jeff Bishop suggested Greene, and the senator concurred, saying, “You’ll see several large employers on what was Greene fields only a decade ago.”

One indication of Ot-sego’s second-rate status is that it came out the worst among the 51st’s counties in the first round of grants through Governor Cuomo’s system of 10 Economic Development Commissions, prompting Seward to call the county’s applications “anemic.”

Even Schoharie County, with 31,000 people, half of Otsego’s population,

received $5.5 million for “a major project,” a sewer line from Cobleskill to expand-ing Howe’s Cavern, which will open up the corridor in between for economic de-velopment, the senator said.

A Greene County na-tive, Mathes had become an aide to the late state Sen. Charles Cook, R-Delhi, in the 1970s and learned the ways of Albany. (When he returned home in the 1980s, future senator Seward replaced him on Cook’s staff.) By the late ‘90s, Mathes was serving on the Greene County Legislature, determined to see economic development happen.

The first break came with the New Athens Generating Co., which in 2004 complet-ed an electricity-generating plant next to TransCanada’s Iroquois pipeline, built to transport natural gas from Canada to New York City. The Greene IDA negotiated a deal whereby New Athens paid fees sufficient to cover the IDA’s staff and office. Step one.

During the ‘90s, county governments had been running surpluses, and the county legislature, recogniz-ing the need for economic development, put all of it – about $3 million, much of it money from the state’s tobacco settlement – into a revolving fund for economic development. This allowed the IDA to begin develop-ing the Greene Business & Technology Park. Step two.

Step three? “We just started getting dirt ready,” Mathes repeated. “And when the dirt got ready, we at least could compete.”

Many counties, Otsego with its Pony Farm Com-merce Park among them, have land that’s permitted for commercial use. But Mathes took it a step further. “We would do EVERY-THING,” he said.

In 2006, the Greene County Comprehensive Master Plan for Economic Development would codify what happened, but Mathes didn’t wait. He got out into the communities to find out what people wanted and where they wanted it. They wanted jobs, and it was pretty clear that the flatlands along the Thruway was the logical place to put them.

Mathes then began working with the towns to develop comprehensive master plans and zoning

codes – good companies want the protection zoning provides, he said – to make land available if and when companies came along looking for sites. On the 15 acres in the first industrial park, the IDA mapped out lots, ran in water and sewer lines, and most important – most important, he em-phasized – completed the environmental clearances.

That last part, SEQRA (the state Environmental Quality Review Act require-ments) is not only the most important, he said, but meet-ing the requirements is the most time-consuming part of development and the most likely to shut down any undertaking at the last minute.

Mathes’ interim succes-sor, Rene VanSchaack, then director of the county Soil & Water Conservation Service, remembers being called one morning and asked for help on the Save-A-Lot project, the first catch for the Busi-ness & Technology Park.

He drove up to Cox-

sackie-Athens Central School that night to find the parking lot and all the side streets parked up. The burly, bearded 50-something former Army medic (and death row medic in the Vir-ginia penal system) turned horticulturist, he had been running a backhoe that day and was covered with mud. So he sat in the back of the room and listened to speaker after speaker protest.

The future Greene County Business & Technology Park, it turned out, was on a flyway of two endangered species, the northern harrier and the short-eared owl, and a Article 78 action, the way to legally challenge a SEQRA decision, had been brought. Opponents who spoke that evening included such experts as Rich Guth-rie, a retired DEC conser-vation officer and host of NPR’s “Catbird Seat.”

At a debriefing the next day with the IDA, Van-Schaack said the oppo-nents couldn’t be ignored. He proposed an advisory

committee, “and it’s got to include the guys that are suing you.”

The resulting conversa-tions led to the creation of the Greene Land Trust, which – funded by the IDA – assures the protection of the grasslands section of the commerce parks for 20 years, during which a trust is accruing an endowment that will protect the bird habitat for decades to come.

“We have two acres of land preserved for every one acre used,” said Van-Schaack. In most commer-cial developments, the ratio is one to one.

Meanwhile, 10 miles down Route 9W in Catskill, the county seat, economic development was proceed-ing on parallel tracks. (A first step, the county leg-islature had consciously located the new three-story county office building on Main Street, aiming to bring people downtown. In the spring, a new Tourism Center opened at Thursday Exit 21.)

The county’s planning, economic-development and tourism offices – counter-parts of Terry Bliss, Carolyn Lewis and Deb Taylor’s Ot-sego County responsibilities – had been combined into one office, headed by War-ren Hart, a Capital Region native who had returned home after graduating from the University of Buffalo and working in planning in Seattle.

Hart is administering a $4-6 million revolving loan fund for small business, which 80 “micro-enterpris-es” have taken advantage of, and four Empire Zones. Promoting Hunter Mountain and other Catskill ski resorts is a big part of his portfolio. Main Street revitalization programs are underway in all of the town centers. One of the less-exotic initiatives is making sure water-treat-ment plants are sufficient to the task.

The blueprint for all this activity was the county Comprehensive Economic Development Master Plan, with a consulting firm from Miami with expertise in community planning, Mo-ran, Stahl & Boyer, taking the lead. (The comprehen-sive plan and supporting studies may be viewed at www.Greenebusiness.com)

The planning included a steering committee, and

tourism and infrastructure subcommittees, and pub-lic meetings in the towns. County legislators, who were involved in all aspect of the process, emerged with a thorough understanding of the challenges at hand and the investments required to meet them.

“It really helped to articulate what kinds of development and types of development the communi-ties would support,” said Hart, adding that he and Mathes, and now he and VanSchaack, are in daily contact.

Mathes, while supportive of the county’s initiatives, was blunt: “You can’t have planners do economic development. Planners plan. You need doers to do economic development. Any areas that do public economic development will not be successful.”

Economic development requires private-sector leadership from “positive people who believe in what they can do.” And it can be expensive: “If you can’t attract talent to the job you aren’t going to be success-ful,” said Mathes, who re-signed after a public outcry over a $125,000 bonus he received for attracting Em-pire Merchants North.

And success requires an independent IDA, as not just Greene, but the state’s two other most successful rural counties – Saratoga and Genesee – underscore, directed by an independent executive, not a county de-partment head, as is the case in Otsego.

Even in the best econo-mies and the best of circum-stances, he repeated. “It’s all hard. None of this is easy.”

And yet, the Sandy Mathes formula worked. He returns to Greene County’s secret: “getting dirt ready,” really ready.

“There’s an art to getting a deal done,” he said. “The miracle was, we were doing it in New York. We would do everything. We would do everything.”

He continued, “I did every deal in these parks, and we were never Number One on a company’s list. We always got the deal done at the end, when everyone showed their cards” and only Greene County had a truly construction-ready locale.

Companies don’t plan fa-cilities five years ahead, said VanSchaack; when the need becomes evident, they want to get started right away. “Everything’s about time,” he said. “The only way you control time is you control risk and uncertainty.”

In Greene County, the IDA controlled risk and uncertainty and got the proj-ects. Through ironing out approvals in advance, Van-Schaack said, the Empire Merchants North project got through the town planning board in 35 days.

FOCUS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Since 2004, the Greene County Industry Development Agency has developed two state-of-the-art commerce parks – the Greene County Business & Technology Park, left, and the adjacent Kalkberg Commerce Park, right, on Route 9W paralleling the state Thruway at Coxsackie. Four major employers, from a Serta mattress factory to a Save-A-Lot distribution center, have been attracted there. The key, said former IDA executive director Sandy Mathes, is installing all the infrastructure and getting all permit approvals – most important, the environmental ones – before a company even comes shopping.

Is Greene County A Model For Otsego County?

HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s JournalRene VanSchaack, former director of the Greene County Soil & Water Conservation Service, was called in by the IDA to develop a working rela-tionship with environmentalists opposing the Save-A-Lot distribution center.

In downtown Catskill, the county seat, Warren Hart, director of the county Planning & Economic Development Office, reviews the Comprehen-sive Economic Development Plan that bolstered Mathes’ efforts.

The Bank of Greene County’s new headquarters, set on a strip designated for retail in front of the Greene and Kalkberg commerce parks, was built to conform with the IDA’s colonial-style design cri-teria, exemplified in the drawing at left. Mathes said quality companies want appropriate regulation: It helps protect their investment.

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FLY CREEK – Eileen Ma-rie Sinnott, 57, who edited the county Health Depart-ment’s Healthy Otsego newsletter, passed away after a battle with cancer Jan. 10, 2012, at Otsego Manor .

Sinnott was born Jan. 5, 1955, and raised in the Flat-bush section of Brooklyn, to Victor and Anne (Col-lopy) Sinnott. In 1966, she moved to Fly Creek to be near her parents and two of her five siblings.

At the health department, she also authored an article on lead poisoning preven-tion and created Web pages, including the one on child passenger safety seats.

Survivors include her parents; brother Daniel Sin-nott and his wife, Cathie, of Thompson, Pa; sister Patricia Sinnott of Toddsville; sister Kathy and her husband, Paul Gardner of Middlefield; brother John Sinnott and his wife, Zhayde, of Long Island, and sister Maureen Heffernan and her husband, Frank, of Pennsylvania, nieces and nephews, and an aunt, Roberta Wood of Middlefield.

The funeral service was Sunday, Jan. 15, at the Con-nell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home with the Rev. Stephen Fournier, of Milford Center Community Bible Church, officiating. Burial will be at a later date in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Index.

Memorial contributions may be made to Fly Creek Volunteer Fire Company, P.O. Box 218, Fly Creek, NY 13337.

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HARTWICK – Duane C. Hotaling, well-known in the arena of tractor pulling, died Monday evening, January 9, 2012, at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown. He was 66.

Born Dec. 6, 1945, in Cooperstown, he was the son of the late Howard and Margaret (Sullivan) Ho-taling. After graduating from Cherry Valley Central School, he attended the Milwaukee Institute of Tech-nology, then stayed in the Milwaukee area and worked for Allis-Chalmers. He later moved back to Westville to run the family farm and his own construction company.

After moving to a farm in Mount Vision, he met Donna L. Phillips. They married Oct. 18, 1986, and made their home in Hartwick.

Throughout his life Duane loved tractors and retired from farming to spend more time tractor pulling throughout the northeast, New England and Canada, won many awards, and was New York State Fair un-defeated champion for 10 years. His Northern Eagle Pulling Team was sponsored by Lou Hager and Bud-weiser.

He retired again to spend more time with family and working in his machine shop, Hemlock Hill Repair, building racing engines.

Duane was active in many organizations, including Hartwick Fire Department Company No. 1, Hartwick Rod and Gun Club and the Hartwick United Methodist Church. Also, the Westville Grange No. 540 and the New York Tractor Pulling Association.

An avid fan of NASCAR, Duane enjoyed riding snow-mobiles and four wheelers with his kids and grandkids.

In addition to his wife of 25 years, survivors include his son, David Hotaling of Kortright and his children, Cody and Kyle Hotaling; his daughter, Christine Watson and her husband Rodney of Mount Vision and their children Brandon, Kaitlyn and Connor Watson; a step-son, David Sellick and his wife Katie of Hartwick and their children David and McKenna Sellick; and one sister Judy Harris and her friend Lew of New Berlin and children Heather, John and David. Also, his mother and father-in-law, Ina and Donald C. Phillips of Hart-wick.

The funeral was Saturday, Jan .14, at the Hartwick United Methodist Church with the Rev. Fred Albrecht, pastor, officiating.

Arrangements entrusted to Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.

Duane C. Hotaling, 66;Tractor-Pulling Champ

Eileen M. Sinnott,57; Edited HealthyOtsego Newsletter

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL A-9THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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• LIQUIDATION SALE • LIQUIDATION SALE • LIQUIDATION SALE •

• LIQUIDATION SALE • LIQUIDATION SALE • LIQUIDATION SALE •

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CHAIR/From A1But Clark, who returned

to her alma mater for a two-decade career (she took the Sodexo buyout in 2000 when the operation was privatized) considers herself an “out-of-the-box thinker.”

If she couldn’t eliminate complaints, she was deter-mined to minimize them.

“The college didn’t have the money to redesign,” she said, “so I decided I would redesign it myself.”

She deployed cheerful, friendly staffers out from behind the serving line, creating more intimate sit-down diningrooms where food was made-to-order and the servers could get to know the students one-on-one.

When the deli-counter line snaked out the door, she would assign a staffer to take orders from the queued-up students. When they reached the counter, their sandwiches were made and ready to go.

When students called from their dorm rooms to order takeout, they would be alerted to the length of the wait so they wouldn’t fret.

And she worked on the food itself, and all these years still gets satisfaction from remembering: In an anonymous taste-test, students – complain as they might – picked dining-services pizza over all the downtown competitors.

“Fair,” “consistent” and “independent” are words that have been popping up to describe Kathy Clark, the county rep from District 3, Laurens and Otego, who on Wednesday, Jan. 4, was elected chairman of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, a surprise that many welcomed.

And you can see how her experience managing the SUNY dining halls, trying this, experimenting with that, adjusting, testing, would result in outcomes that people would character-ize that way.

Born and raised in East Northport, L.I., Kathleen Clark came Upstate to at-tend SUNY Oneonta, where she studied dietetic admin-istration in the Department of Human Ecology. She also played softball – she still does; ask her about the cut lip that disappeared just in time for son Ryan’s wedding this past October – and field hockey.

After graduating in the mid-1970s, she returned to Long Island and joined General Mills, managing Red Lobster restaurants that were opening at that time. She jumped at the chance to oversee a Red Lobster in Vestal, for the challenge, but also to get back in the vicin-ity of her Oneonta pals.

They included Tom Kelly, the esteemed state trooper who, now retired, is Hartwick College’s director

of campus security. Tom grew up with Kathy’s future husband, Bob, and talked him into moving up and taking a job with Conrail in Binghamton.

Soon, Kathy and Bob, the Kellys and other newlywed college friends were all renting apartments at what was then Campus Heights, on the hill above the base-ball field. When a dining-hall position surfaced in 1979, Kathy stepped right in.

In addition to Ryan, 27, who works in Manhat-tan, Kathy and Bob have two daughters: Caitlin, 24, who is in sports and events management (and recently returned from the Sugar Bowl), and Kelly, 21, a senior at St. Bonaventure. Ryan and Caitlin are both living in Fairfield County.

They followed in their mom’s athletic footsteps. Ryan was a three-letter athlete at Unatego, and the girls both played soccer.

Soon moving up to dining services director, Kathy had 10 managers and “hundreds of students” working for her, and she developed an investigative management style: “You hear some stuff. You go by and observe. When people get comfort-able with you, they say stuff.” That approach may be of use to her in her new role.

In the late ‘90s, Clark began studying at SUNY Albany for a master’s in public administration, and is the first county board chairman – she plans to use the title “chair” – with

that relevant degree. At the time, she was coaching travel teams back home and driving back and forth to East Northport to tend for her ailing mother, study-ing into the wee hours after putting her mother to bed. “I was multi-tasking,” she recalls.

After leaving SUNY Oneonta in 2000, it wasn’t long before she was ap-proached by local Repub-licans to challenge the Democratic incumbent, Ron Feldstein, then county board vice chair. In 2005, she re-sisted; her girls were still at home. In 2007 she thought, why not? “I had a business background; I thought I might do some good.”

She was elected again in 2009 and again in 2001, (and promptly departed af-

ter Election Day for a well-earned vacation in Ireland. “Clark” was originally “O’Cleriq” – a mystified immigration officer angli-cized it when her family originally came over from the Old Sod.)

Interviewed at Oneonta’s Latte Lounge a few days after her elevation to chair, she was still shaking her head.

At its Jan. 4 reorgani-zation, the county board was deadlocked on chair. Sequentially, veteran county reps Jim Powers, Rich Mur-phy and Don Lindberg were nominated and failed to gain a majority. The votes were repeated, and still deadlock.

An Oneonta Democrat, Linda Rowinski, then looked over at Clark ques-tioningly. Whatever Clark

was thinking, Rowinski interpreted it as a go-ahead, and placed her colleague’s name in nomination.

Powers seconded, and Rowinski and county Rep. Kay Stuligross, D-Oneonta, joined with the Republicans to put Clark at the helm.

“I didn’t know how many votes I was going to get,” she said, shaking her head.

When Bob called at mid-morning to touch bases, he asked, “Is Jim (Powers) the chairman?”

“No, you’re speaking with the chairman,” Clark told her surprised husband.

Looking ahead, the new chair sees extracting the county from MOSA, com-pleting the microwave com-munication tower project, and partnering the sheriff’s department with the state police to fill enforcement gaps as three challenges for her first year. But she’s open to hearing her col-leagues’ priorities.

A couple of times she said, “I’d like to see the business community more involved,” and, “I’d like to see more businesspeople on the board because they know about the bottom line.” She may get her wish, given businessmen Bob Harlem and Tom Armao’s efforts to see the county energize its econom-ic development efforts.

“I don’t have an ego thing,” she continued. “I’m only as strong as the weak-est link in the chain.”

Still, as chair, she does hope to “channel the ener-gies in a positive direction. There have been some ten-sions. But everybody’s got something to bring to the table. All the people on my side of the aisle and on the other side of the aisle are there to do good.”

Clark To Use Skills Learned At SUNY

Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s JournalThen one of 14 county reps, Kathy Clark, R-District 3, takes in a briefing on natural-gas drilling from a local town manager in Bradford County, Pa., during a May 1 tour. She was elected board chair on Jan. 4.

the freeman's journal 1-20-12

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