HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 28, 2014
125 Years Ago
The Local News – Will Fleming’s new brick residence on Cedar Street, just off Elm Street, is now completed and Mr. Fleming will move into it in a few days. It is supplied with every modern convenience, and possessing a fine location, is one of the pleasantest places in the village.
The Oneonta Fish and Game Protective Association will make it their special business to detect and prosecute all violations of the fish and game laws. They have a strong organization of over sixty members, attorneys and detectives, and the necessary funds to back them.
A knot of men were looking at the bright evening star Jupiter, in the west about 9 o’clock last evening. One of the men gravely informed a passerby that it was an electric light fastened to a balloon sent up by an Indian doctor who was holding forth over in Morris and that the balloon was four miles above the earth.
February 1889
100 Years Ago
Within the past few months many of the pool rooms, lunch rooms, cigar stores, candy stores, and public places of the like in Oneonta have been operating slot machines, candy cards, cigar boards and numerous other devices in which a man might get a whole lot for a nickel or a dime, but the majority of players would be more likely to get nothing. The operation of such devices is in direct violation of the law and, at various times, the police department have made efforts to eliminate them from the city but without complete success owing in a measure to a lack of interest on the part of the judiciary. Within the past few days all places in the city operating such devices have been visited by the police and their owners notified to remove the same and keep them removed, lest they be punished under the provisions of the law.
February 1914
80 Years Ago
Indian women who lived in the Susquehanna Valley before the days of the white settlers were as femininely interested in cosmetics as modern women, Frank M. Hill stated in a talk on “The Indians of Otsego County” given yesterday before members of the Travel Class of the Woman’s Club of Oneonta. Their powder was made of the common red stone ground very fine. In addition to this they used a preparation made of suet from the deep mixed with charcoal. This black mixture and the red powder, with a yellow colored paint they streaked across their faces. The more hideous they could make themselves appear, the more attractive they thought they were, Mr. Hill said. He displayed a small receptacle, apparently hollowed out of stone, the vanity case of the Indian woman, in which she carried her paints and cosmetics. The Indian man also carried his face paints with him, Mr. Hill said, but these were carried in a pouch hung from his shoulder.
February 1934
40 Years Ago
The neighborhood is still a cherished concept for Oneonta families whose children attend schools in the Oneonta School District. Superintendent of Schools Frederick Bardsley has been meeting recently with small groups of parents to discuss the district’s building needs. District officials are considering a number of proposals, one of which recommends closing the Junior High School and converting Riverside School into either a junior high or middle school. If this proposal is adopted Riverside students would be transferred to other city elementary schools. “The bussing issue came up continually during the meetings,” Bardsley said. “Many parents simply don’t want their kids bussed out of their areas.” Bardsley has found that interest in an addition to the senior high school is fairly strong. This option has not previously been discussed much because it would require expenditures that would exceed the district’s $1.3 million debt limit. To his surprise, Bardsley is finding that many parents are not opposed to the additional expense.
February 1974
30 Years Ago
An increase of more than 10 students in this fall’s Kindergarten enrollment would force the Oneonta School District to add another Kindergarten class, according to local teacher contract regulations. Currently, 165 students are enrolled in the seven Kindergarten classes at the district’s four elementary schools. According to the terms of the teachers’ contract, the size of Kindergarten and first-grade classes cannot exceed 25 students. Enrollment levels at the four elementary schools put all of the district’s Kindergarten classes at or near maximum capacity. School Superintendent Lowell Foland said district officials will have to wait to see how many youngsters officially register, and possibly how many students actually show up for classes this fall, before determining if an added class is required.
February 1984
20 Years Ago
Friends and family were shocked and saddened Friday to learn of the death of Oneonta Town Justice Donald J. Sheehan. Sheehan, 62, died in his home after a brief illness. Friends and colleagues remembered Sheehan, a former State University College at Oneonta education professor and a town justice since 1985, as a man who loved to laugh and loved his work. “Don had a big, broad smile,” recalled Frank O’Mara, a professor of speech communication and theater at SUCO. “It was an Eisenhower kind of smile, and it was on his face most of the time. He was just a plain, nice guy.”
February 1984
10 Years Ago
The New York State Senate has rejected a controversial Pataki administration plan to require periodic renewal of pistol licenses. Gov. Pataki’s budget would have required pistol owners to renew their licenses every five years and pay a fee of at least $100. The proposal angered many of Pataki’s fellow Republicans who saw it as both a new tax and an infringement on Second Amendment rights. “It really only impacted law-abiding gun owners, who are not the problem,” said Senator James Seward, (R. Milford). The Governor’s budget estimated that the fee would generate $31 million a year in revenue, with most of the money going to the state’s general fund. Administration officials argued that the revenue would allow state police to keep the database of handgun owners current.
February 2004
