HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 22, 2014

125 Years Ago
The Oneonta Street Railway Company was the only bidder on the 20th for the franchise to “construct, maintain, Operate, and extend” a street railroad in town. The franchise was sold for a one-hundredth part of one percent of the gross receipts of the company, to be paid annually into the corporation treasury. The company intends to commence the construction of the road the coming spring and will form a construction company from the stockholders, each stockholder obtaining thereby a benefit pro rata to the number of shares he holds. Consents of the property owners along Front Street have been obtained for the purpose of running a branch to the depot connecting with all passenger trains.
George W. Woodburn is perfecting an organization to be known as the Central Labor Union. It will be composed of one delegate from every trade’s union in Oneonta and surrounding town. The object of the organization will be the discussion of the status of each kind and branch of labor for the benefit of labor as a whole. Nearly every trade in town now has an organization of some sort.
February 1888

100 Years Ago
Until the time arrives when a police officer can be maintained at headquarters at night the department needs an electrical signal that will enable the telephone operators to summon a patrolman when one is required in any section of the city. Up to the present time the budget of the police commission has been insufficient to permit of this expense, but this year it has been decided to install police signals. The first such signal is being placed at the corner of Main and Broad streets. When a red light is displayed, it can plainly be seen by a patrolman on Broad or on Main Street between Maple and Grove streets. When a call comes for police assistance from any section of the city at night and no one is found at headquarters, the central operator can, by pressing a button, display the red light. Any patrolman seeing the light is expected to answer on the nearest available phone and the person calling in will then be put on the line with him.
February 1913

80 Years Ago
On Monday, the U.S. Congress proposed to the states that national prohibition, after its 13 years of turbulent trial, be done away with by repeal of the 18th amendment. The House, by a vote of 289 to 121, 15 more than necessary, approved the repeal resolution passed last week by the Senate. For the first time in American history, conventions of the people are to decide whether the states shall ratify or reject a change in the Constitution. Thirty-six of the forty-eight states must ratify to carve the 18th amendment out of the national charter and substitute for it a 21st amendment. By its terms, also, the ratifications must all occur within seven years from today. With repeal of the 18th amendment will come a specific prohibition of importation of intoxicating liquors into any states remaining dry. Legislative actions to ratify repeal have already begun in half a dozen states.
February 1933

60 Years Ago
Oneonta meat counters are now conspicuous by the absence of posted grades on beef. No longer are meat retailers required to mark the government grades on beef. The federal government ended its grading when it ended its price controls. A trip to the meat market now is just like it used to be before the war – only simpler. Before the war there frequently were some sort of improvised grades, usually devised by packers, to denote the variations in quality. These gradings were sometimes displayed with the beef cuts in the show cases, but such action was entirely optional with the butcher. Now that Uncle Sam has quit certifying the grades of beef, shoppers have nothing to go by except the old custom of cross-examining the clerk, or proprietor. “The customer has got to know his dealer,” one meat retailer said. The end of grading does not mean the end of government inspecting of meat, however.
February 1953

40 Years Ago
Oneonta Police Chief Joseph DeSalvatore will be suspended without pay for one month and the department’s second-in-command, Lt. Gerald Platt, will be formally reprimanded, Oneonta’s Public Safety Board ruled last night. The disciplinary action stems from public hearings in December and January on neglect of duty charges Police Sergeant Leland Higgins filed against the senior officers last summer. Stamford Attorney Elias Jacobs said he would seek a State Supreme Court review of the case and the decision. Jacobs also said he will seek a temporary stay of the penalties pending court review. Chief DeSalvatore expects to be fully vindicated in court and there is no thought to him leaving the department Jacobs said. The suspension is due to begin March 1. The Higgins charges generally involved the Chief’s handling of an anti-war sit-in on Dietz Street last May and his role in training and equipping the department for crowd control. The charges all deal with departmental procedures and are not, in any way, criminal in nature.
February 1973

30 Years Ago
Alcohol abuse is rampant among college students across the nation and officials at Oneonta’s two colleges say they are doing what they can to combat the problem. Spokespersons from Oneonta State College and Hartwick College agree that the college drinking problem is widespread and neither college is immune. But, they add, it’s difficult to help students beat alcohol addiction unless they come forward for assistance. “Alcohol treatment and student services are fringe benefits,” said William P. Vitous, a counselor at SUCO.
February 1983

20 Years Ago
Campus police at New York public and private colleges should be allowed to carry weapons to help ward off campus crime according to a legislative task force report. New York should also make the use of self-defense weapons such as Mace legal, and extend a federal law that requires higher education institutions to report crime statistics to prospective college students. The college setting often reflects the same criminal activity as the towns and cities that surround it, the report stated.
February 1993