Hometown Oneonta 1-06-17

ONEOPOLY? IT RAISED $6,000 FOR JAYCEES IN 1980s/B1 onta Audi One

HOMETOWN ONEONTA

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Volume 9, No. 13

City of The Hills

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Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, January 6, 2017

CLARK, CARSON VYING TO CHAIR COUNTY BOARD

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t the Wednesday, Jan. 4, reorganizational meeting of the county Board of Representatives, county Reps. Kathy Clark, ROtego, the incumbent, and Len Carson, ROneonta, were seeking their colleagues’ support for the chairmanship. For outcome, check

AllOTSEGO.com

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Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Barbara Chestnut, mother of Oneonta’s BJ the Clown, shares a dance with Chee Chee the Clown during First Night festivities New Year’s Eve at Foothills. See slide show at

AllOTSEGO.com

& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch Complimentary

VETERAN NAMED ACTING CITY POLICE CHIEF

Lieutenant Brenner Steps Up Oneonta Mayor David Brenner, was named acting police chief Tuesday, Jan. 3, by Common Couny mom always tells the cil. He will succeed Chief Dennis same story about me Nayor, who is leaving Jan. 20 to from when I was a kid,” accept a position of director of said Lt. Douglas Brenner. “We went research, development and training down to the Oneonta Police station with the state Association of Chiefs – what’s now the county office – and of Police in Schenectady. I looked up and said, ‘Someday I’m “When I started in 1998, Dennis going to walk thought these doors as had already been there three years,” an Oneonta Police officer’.” said Brenner, “and we worked Brenner, son of Lois and former Please See BRENNER, A2 Acting Chief Brenner By LIBBY CUDMORE

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As New Year Dawns, Rare County Murder

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Search For City Manager Gets Formal

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he search for Oneonta’s next city manager will formally begin on Friday, Jan. 6, when City Hall’s consultant Catherine Tuck Parrish begins reviewing applications. Her top candidates will be invited to Oneonta Feb. 6-7 for an interview with the search committee, including Council members Melissa Nicosia, Russ Southard, David Rissberger and John Rafter, retired SUNY Oneonta President Alan Donovan, businessman Alan Cleinman and outgoing Police Chief Dennis Nayor. DEPUTY AGAIN: Common Council member Russ Southard, Sixth Ward, was again named acting mayor by his colleagues at the Tuesday, Jan. 3, meeting, meaning he will fill in at the helm when Mayor Gary Herzig is out of town. JOIN ENSEMBLE: The Little Delaware Youth Ensemble plans an open rehearsal 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at Foothills. LOTSA PLASTIC: The OCCA, with farmers and homeowners, has recycled over 20 tons of agricultural plastic over the years.

Oneonta Police Officers Lindsay Rumenapp and Edmund Donley enter 229 Main St., where the body of Mark J. Morrison, 52, was found dead on New Year’s morning.

Suspect Phones Oneonta Police, Reports On Body In Apartment By LIBBY CUDMORE

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t 3:27 a.m. on New Year’s Day, a call came into the Otsego County 911 Center. “I’ve done something bad and I don’t want to run,” the caller, who identified himself as Joshua Underwood, 25, told the dispatcher.

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA

With National Uncertainty, Bassett Sticking With Strategy Of Growth By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN

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assett Healthcare’s latest possible linkage – with Oneida Healthcare, after a two-

year study – is part of the Cooperstown-based network’s strategy of growth through “adding partners.” “It’s our top strategic issue moving forward,” said Bassett President/CEO Vance Brown. Please See BASSETT, A5

Oneonta Police were quickly dispatched to the scene, and at 3:44 a.m. Sgt. Eric Berger, with several officers in tow, pulled up at the Mirabito on Southside, where the call had originated. Underwood “stepped out of the building and dropped to his knees with his hands in the air,” said Lt. Doug Brenner. “He said he believed he had killed his friend and he wanted to turn himself in.”

Joshua Underwood

The suspect was taken to the station, where he made “spontaneous utterances” – “I think I killed my friend” – before being formally

interviewed by detectives, Brenner said. Meanwhile, officers were dispatched to 229 Main St. – the former Java Island building – where they found Mark J. Morrison, 52, dead in his bed. He had been bludgeoned multiple times with a bodybuilding weight, police said. “We classified the homicide as ‘domestic related’ because we believe they had a Please See DEATH, A3

Airbnb, Uber, Even Airpnp Touted Seward, 3 Assemblymen, 2 Mayors Brief State Of State Breakfast By LIBBY CUDMORE

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irbnb, Uber and… Airpnp? “We’re really behind the eight ball in the sharing economy,” said Sen. Jim Seward. “In some states, people even rent out their bathrooms if they live

near a stadium or busy downtown.” Opening Otsego County to such innovative sharing arose at the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the State Breakfast Tuesday, Jan. 3, at SUNY Oneonta’s Morris Hall. Alongside Seward on the dais were Please See BREAKFAST, A5

HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD