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

ComplimentaryVolume 4, No. 36 Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, May 25, 2012

FREE!

HOMETOWN ONEONTA& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch

City of The Hills

Iroquois IndianMuseum

Saturday and SundayMay 26 & 27 10am-5pmThe festival, on the shore of Otsego Lake, highlights select Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) artisans, storytellers, dancers, and more.Entry to the festival is included with paid museum admission.

Concert with Grammy-Winner

Joanne Shenandoah May 26 at 7pm

Tickets: $20

The festival is made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and a contribution from Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation.

To learn more, visit FenimoreArtMuseum.org MUSEUM�ADMISSION��

Adults and Juniors (13-64): $12.00; Seniors (65+): $10.50; Children (12 and under):Free; NYSHA members, active

military, and retired career military personnel: Free.

FENIMORE�ART�MUSEUM5798 State Route 80 Cooperstown, NY 607-547-1400

By JIM KEVLIN

As Plains at Parish Homestead mar-keting manager for three years, Bar-bara Ann Heegan has had to guide

people through one of life’s most sensitive transitions: leaving homes they have lived in for decades for a retirement community.

“They really have to be sure it’s the right fit,” said Heegan, who prior to that had been director of volunteers – more than 200 vol-unteers – for Bassett Healthcare.

As Otsego County Chamber executive director – her appointment was announced Thursday, May 17 – she perceives her role similarly, as she seeks to attract members to the chamber and businesses to the commu-nity.

“The chamber is a people business,” said Heegan, who has learned something about

Please See HEEGAN, A3

Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTABarbara Ann Heegan is applauded by Chamber President Roxanna Hurl-burt, right, and board member Caro-lyn Lewis.

Twelve students, the first class to complete Hartwick College’s

novel three-year degree program, will be graduating at this year’s commencement at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 26, on Elmore Field.

The intensive program, which allows undergrads to save 25 percent on their col-lege bills, was hailed nation-ally when it was announced four years ago.

Biotechnology execu-tive Kathy Ordoñez, Class of 1972, is commencement speaker.

3-Year GradsEarn DegreesAt Hartwick

Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTAUniversity Police Chief Barton Silverman receives a Chancellor’s Award and mantle from college President Nancy Kleniewski and Provost Maria Thompson.

IBM exec Janet Perna address-es grads.

English major Colleen Clune, Oneonta, blows kisses to wellwishers on receiving her degree.

OH, HAPPY DAY!123rd SUNY ONEONTA COMMENCEMENT

Valerie Jacoby of Afton sported the proud and relieved smile of a grad-uate’s parent – her daughter is Sabrina Niewiadomski – in the packed stands at the Dewar Arena. At right is husband John/MORE PHOTOS, A6-7

Democratopens HQin County

WinningestRacer BackFor Regatta

Tyner, SchreibmanVie In June Primary

Sewardprimary possible

By JIM KEVLIN

For the first time since his first state Senate race in 1986, Milford

Republican Jim Seward may be facing a GOP primary due to a disagree-ment over the Home Rule doctrine.

“We’re just very frustrat-ed with Home Rule,” said James Blake, a business-man living in the Town of Maryland since 2004. “It’s not really Home Rule; it’s a preemption bill he (Seward) put in allowing people to ban natural gas.”

Blake and a neighbor, Jeannie Bridger, asked for the county Republican

Please See GOP, A8

HOMETOWN ONEONTAJames Blake, right, at-tended state Sen. Jim Seward’s Economic Development Summit March 9 at The Ote-saga.

TEA PARTY CHALLENGE

By LIBBY CUDMORE

ONEONTA

‘I’ve been the under-dog five times,” said Joel Tyner, a five-

time Dutchess County legis-lator, who is running against Julian Schriberman in the June 26 Democratic primary for the 19th Congressional District. “And I’ve come out on top all five of them.”

In November, the winner of that will face off against U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, a Republican who spent May 10-11 in the Cooperstown area.

“We need a firecracker in every town,” Tyner said. “It’s all about the buzz.”

In Worcester, his cam-paign firecracker is Diane

Please See TYNER, A11

MemoraBle timeHAVE A...

ALL YOU NEED TO PLAN HOLIDAY WEEKEND, B3

After a seven-year hiatus, Serge Corbin, the unchallenged

king of the General Clinton Regatta returns to Otsego County on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, to again claim his title.

“I can’t just do it for fun,” said the 28-time winner and native of St. Boniface, Que., who will race down the Susquehanna from Coo-perstown, past Oneonta, to Bainbridge in the 50th

Please See RACE, A10

Serge Corbin is due back in the county.

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTAMark Davidson, a sur-geon who worked with Dr. Ken Stalter of Oneonta, who died in January, heads for a second-place finish at the first Rat Snake Triathlon held Saturday, May 19, at Gilbert Lake State Park in the late physician’s honor.

Getting to Know Chamber membersnew executive Heegan’s top priorityCROSS CULTURE: A

French-based tour and travel agency, Horizons du Monde, is seeking to place 12 French high school students, accom-panied by Audrey Moreau, who teaches English in France, July 3-30, in Otsego County. Details, contact Te-resa Winchester at 783.2064 or percyluna465@yahoo.com.

OUT OF GAS: Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has declared natural gas a “disaster” due to dropping prices and sold his shares in Chesapeake Energy, which had leases locally.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, MAY 24-25, 2012A-8

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GOP/From A1Committee’s endorsement when it met Thursday, May 17, at the county courthouse in Cooperstown.

The committee rebuffed the request, however, voting 68-2 to endorse Seward for a 13th term. County Clerk Kathy Sinnot Gardner made the nomination, which was seconded by county Rep. Jim Power, R-Butternuts, and others.

In an interview Tuesday, May 22, however, Blake said he will circulate peti-tions to get his name on the

ballot for the 51st Senate District nomination in the Sept. 13 Republican pri-mary.

He announced his candi-dacy Saturday, May 16, at the annual gathering of local Tea Party activists at Chuck Pinkey’s River Valley New Holland dealership in Otego, and said he received general support. He also attended the meeting of Citi-zens Voices, the pro-busi-ness group, the subsequent Tuesday.

Blake is also associ-ated with Marie Lusins, the

Town of Oneonta Republi-can, who is a partner with his wife, Uni, in Hometown Energy Group, which has been holding seminars lo-cally advising people on alternate energies.

“People will say, you’re the fracking guy,” said the candidate. “No, I’m for any safe energy that will get us off OPEC. Wind isn’t ready. Solar isn’t ready. Natural gas is.”

Reached at the state Capitol after the interview with Blake, Seward spokes-man Jeff Bishop said of his

boss, “Right now, he’s more focused on what’s going on in Albany.”

Regardless of whether the challenger gets on the primary ballot, Seward’s “always out on the cam-paign trail, whether he has a challenger or he doesn’t have a challenger. He’s always had strong support, and I think he will again this time,” said Bishop.

County GOP chair Sheila Ross, Fly Creek, who presided at the committee meeting, said, “I don’t know Mr. Blake. That was the first time I had any contact with him. He was not prepared. He wasn’t aware of what was involved. I was not impressed with Mr. Blake.”

Ross was skeptical about where the challenge might go. “If he sticks with it, if he passes the petitions and if the petitions are OK, it would force a primary,” she said.

For his part, Blake said he served on the GOP rules committee in Newt Gingrich’s former Georgia Congressional District, and was surprised when he ques-tioned the local county com-mittee that it was unclear on the regulations it was supposed to adhere to.

“I wasn’t allowed to speak,” he added.

Tony Casale of Cooper-stown, the retired assembly-

man from Herkimer who is currently executive direc-tor of the state Republican Committee, said, “I don’t know who this challenger is. I’ve never heard of the person. But I don’t dispar-age anyone’s right to run for office.”

But, he said, “In this particular instance, I’m go-ing to support Jim Seward. He’s been my friend and colleague for many years. He represents the area very well.”

The news of Blake’s candidacy was likewise a surprise to Democrats.

The Cooperstown Demo-cratic chair, Richie Abbate, who is also on the county Democratic Party’s ex-ecutive committee, said the county committee will prob-ably try to field a candidate against Seward this year, “but he’s a tough opponent. He’s very popular. I’m sur-prised he has a Republican challenger.”

Home Rule is an is-sue where the senator has found himself caught in the middle. Traditionally a con-servative doctrine to keep as much power at the local level as possible, Seward championed the idea that Otsego County towns, if they chose, could use the concept to ban hydrofrack-ing within their borders.

When the Town of

Middlefield, which adopted an anti-fracking moratori-um, was sued by natural-gas interests and faced signifi-cant legal defense bills, the senator introduced a bill in Albany that would affirm Home Rule, strengthening the towns’ cases.

However, that bill has languished. At its most recent meeting, Citizens Voices claimed credit for getting the bill bottled up in committee in Albany. Since the Middlefield ban and a similar one in the Town of Dryden have been affirmed in state Supreme Court, Bishop said Home Rule is “the law of the land” and, thus, the bill has less urgency.

Blake, however, called the Seward bill “the most horrible proposed legislation I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

In the interview, Blake said he was raised in north-ern Florida, attended college in Rome, Ga., and went into the insurance business, where he achieved some success. He later partnered with a brother-in-law in ex-porting Manila-stock paper to markets worldwide.

He moved to Rochester in 2001, where he participated in an Internet venture, and discovered Otsego County while driving through the area. He, his wife and five children moved in 2004.

Over Home Rule, Seward Faces First Primary In 26 Years