Bound Volumes, Hometown History
November 14, 2024
90 YEARS AGO
Brooding over the death of his parents a few years ago, and despondent because he was left with almost no near relatives, Ellery A. McGinnis, 28 years old, went to his mother’s grave in Glenwood cemetery yesterday afternoon and ended his life by putting a bullet from a .32 caliber revolver through his head. Dr. Norman W. Getman of Oneonta, Otsego County coroner, visited the scene and inspected the body. Dr. Getman concluded that the man “died by his own hand.” He issued a verdict of suicide and directed that the body be removed to the Bookhout Funeral Home. Authorities investigating the case searched the man’s clothes and found several bullets and a note that read: “To Whom It May Concern: You may think you know what is wrong, but you don’t. What I know I am taking with me.” Vincent Tobey, a Bennett taxi driver, was hired by McGinnis to take him to Glenwood cemetery. Upon reaching a point in the cemetery, Mr. McGinnis instructed Tobey to “Wait here for me as I will only be gone a few minutes.” As Tobey was cleaning his windshield, he heard a noise and saw McGinnis topple over. Tobey notified patrolman August Otto who was directing traffic at the East End school. Otto rushed to the scene but found McGinnis was dead.
November 1934
50 YEARS AGO
There will be no personnel cuts in the Oneonta School District for the remainder of the school year. The decision came at a sometimes stormy meeting of the Board of Education attended by an estimated 800 persons who packed the auditorium at the Junior High School. Observers said it was the largest crowd to attend a meeting of any governmental agency in Oneonta over the past 20 years. Upon the recommendation of Superintendent Dr. Frederick G. Beardsley, the board voted to continue using the present school budget “with such economies as can be developed” until April 1, 1975, when a determination would be made as to whether the board needed to float tax anticipation notes to finance the district for the remainder of the year. In addition, the board voted to ask the taxpayers this spring to increase the constitutional tax limit of the district from 1.50 to 1.75 percent.
November 1974
40 YEARS AGO
The hunting season for deer opens Monday in New York’s southern counties as the state takes aim at cutting its overpopulated, apple-chomping herd by as many as 250,000 animals by 1987. Before hunting season opened officials estimated 700,000 deer were feeding off this year’s bounty of acorns, hickory nuts and beechnuts – and raiding apple orchards. In season, each hunter is allowed one buck, but to further reduce the herd the state will issue permits allowing hunters in the south to take an extra deer of either sex.
November 1984
30 YEARS AGO
Have you ever heard of a “talking house?” Tune your car radio into 1610 while looking at the structure located in Morris at 34-36 Main Street. A mini radio station transmitter inside the building transmits a message that can be heard over a car radio. A sign in the yard indicates the building is a “talking house” and the transmitter broadcasts a 90-second recorded message with basic information about the property. The “talking house” equipment cost about $300 according to Jodi Paoletti and Jim Potter, real estate agents with the Century 21 Chesser Realty firm in Oneonta.
November 1994
20 YEARS AGO
Thomas Horvath, assistant professor of biology at SUCO has been awarded the 2004 Richard Siegfried Junior Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence. Horvath will receive $1,000 and present a lecture titled “Too Late for Not in My Backyard” on December 2 in the Craven Lounge of the Morris Conference Center.
November 2004