HOMETOWN HISTORY, December 13, 2013

125 Years Ago
Maternal influence: Why do men mostly part their hair on the left side? – Because they are brought up to it from infancy. A mother facing her boy always holds the comb in her right hand, and it being easiest to comb the hair left to right, she parts it on the left. The boy, when he grows up and is able to comb his own hair, finds the part on that side, and follows the line marked out by his mother.
The wet snow of Saturday night weighted the wires to the extent that many were broken, and communications in nearly all directions cut off.
The colored folks’ ball on the evening of December 27 promises to be a great success. Many visitors from other towns are looked for.
The merchants of Oneonta are now displaying a fine assortment of goods for holiday presents. Never before was there so great a variety. It is a good plan to make selections early.
December 1888

80 Years Ago
Oneonta school pupils to the number of 1,000 will take part in the annual Christmas music festival at the Oneonta Theatre Friday morning at 10 o’clock under the direction of Mrs. Iva Shutts. Parents and friends will be welcome to attend. World friendship is the theme of the program. Carols and folk songs of other nations will be sung by groups from the various schools. Authentic translations of the carols are sung. Because the music is the primary interest, no costuming or dramatization is used.
Placed in a file on Mrs. Hazel Foster Brady’s desk in her office at the Community House is a stack of cards containing the names of persons for whom Christmas will be just another day unless some Oneontan helps to transform it into a “red letter occasion.” There are Oneontans, the executive secretary of the Family Welfare Association, believes, who are particularly anxious to aid persons less fortunate than themselves, but do not know whom to help, or how to spend their money for this purpose to the best advantage. If they will send their money, no matter how small an amount, to Mrs. Brady, she will be glad to use it to make Christmas happy for those whose names she has listed.
December 1933

60 Years Ago
The Yellowjackets of Oneonta High School got off to a good start in the Iroquois League last night, defeating Herkimer High School 76 to 53. Coach Hurley McLean’s boys were sharp in the first two periods, running the score up to 48 to 21. But, in the last two periods, they were hard-pressed to keep up and were outscored 32 to 28. In the first three minutes of the game, Pete Axhoj was put on Caution Street with four fouls and was taken out for a breather. Dick Vroman, who replaced Axhoj, heated up the hoop with eight baskets and did some fine rebounding. Dick Jacobs had 19 points and Lambros had 15. The Oneonta Jayvees, however, dropped a close one 44 to 40.
December 1953

40 Years Ago
The Oneonta Savings & Loan Association has moved into its new main offices in the remodeled building across Wall Street from its former offices. The new offices, in the building that formerly housed Montgomery Ward and S&H Stamps, opened for business Monday. The old building at 54 Chestnut Street will be demolished next year. The land, adjacent to Huntington Park, will be used to expand the Savings & Loan’s parking facilities. The new quarters have 11,000 square feet of floor space, about twice what the old building had.
December 1973
In a further effort to protect President Reagan and the White House from terrorism, the Secret Service has the ability to use ground-to-air missiles to shoot down suspicious aircraft flying near the White House without authorization, a source said Monday. The disclosure follows a series of steps to insulate the White House from terrorist attacks. The source said the Secret Service monitors aircraft flying into and out of nearby National Airport from a control center in the Old Executive Office Building across a driveway from the White House. The monitoring is done in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration. An attack on the U.S. Marine Headquarters in Beirut that killed 240 servicemen and an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait that killed four people have prompted steps to further protect the White House. Since the Beirut attack, the Secret Service has brought in dogs to sniff all incoming cars for explosives, even those of White House aides who park in the driveway.
December 1983

20 Years Ago
With less than a month of fundraising left, the United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties has raised $237,839, almost 82 percent of its $290,000 goal. “Certainly we have the potential to make goal but we still need folks to get their pledges in before the end of the year,” said Kathy Lindberg, the agency’s executive director. Employee campaigns, which make up 32 percent of the total campaign, have been very successful this year,” Lindberg said. All three of this year’s pace-setters – United Parcel Service, Deltown Specialties, and the 16 United Way membership agencies – met or exceeded their fund raising goals. Several employee campaigns, including Bassett Hospital, Fox Hospital, and Hartwick College, will be coming in this month, according to Lindberg.
December 1993

10 Years Ago
The efforts of an Oneonta third-grader to help those less fortunate have drawn the attention of State Senator James Seward, R-Milford. Eight-year-old Charlotte McKane wrote to the Senator last summer about the high cost of getting a tax-exempt number for purchases she was making with donated funds from friends and supporters to stock the hygiene closet at the Family Service Association in Oneonta. While Miss McKane worked that problem out on her own, the Senator recently arranged to visit with his young constituent to learn more about her project. Charlotte has been raising about $120 a month from family and friends to buy such items as shampoo and diapers for the association’s assistance program.
December 2003