Top 10 News Stories of 2010 (Plus 2)

RFH 2010, Cover Stories, News

Mon, Dec 27, 2010

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens could have spent 2010 in the Greater Hamilton Metroplex instead of London and Paris during the French Revolution. The top news stories of the past year bear witness to that.

2010 is likely to be remembered locally for a variety of headlines; some good, some bad. This was a year of real change and of changes to come. It was a year that youth received its due and when there were many passings of folks who had long been part of the fabric of the community.

And, all of this was superimposed on a year of economic melancholy, political anger and environmental peril.

How was 2010 for you? Optimistic about 2011? Take our polls.

Locally, the top stories of the year included:

1. Town of Hamilton's Financial Train Wreck

Record keeping problems that started in 2003 came home to roost in 2010 when the state Office of the Comptroller issued a damning report that showed the Town of Hamilton did not keep proper track of its finances but still had a $1.2 million surplus. While the audit showed no wrong doing, the sloppy record keeping did create some considerable divisiveness about what to do with the extra money. Some was applied to the 2011 budget, but most still sits in the town piggy bank.

2. Colgate's New Arrivals

At the same time Colgate installed a new president, it also welcome its second largest class in the history of the university.

Jeffrey Herbst became Colgate's 16th president in July. He was officially installed in October, and during his remarks sent strong signals to the campus and the community that mutual prosperity was near the top of his "to do" list. He has had a busy travel schedule since the new semester began, and has started the ball rolling toward making Colgate a busier place during the summer. Herbst came to Colgate from Miami University in Ohio.
The Class of 2014 that arrived in late August is the second largest in Colgate's history. It's 858 members makes the Class of 2014 the second largest in the history of the university. Many of the arriving first year students are living in a refurbished DKE fraternity house the university bought.

3. Passings

The list of obituaries for prominent local residents included many people who, in one way or another, led this community over the years. Several lost difficult battles with one for or another of cancer. One died in a head-on collision.

Ann Cochran: civic leader and long-time professor at Morrisville State College.
John Hubbard: writer, photographer and most recently director of development and public relations at Community Memorial Hospital.
Robert Palmiter: former mayor and supervisor
Robert Paul: businessman, former mayor and supervisor and for many years, the one-time dean of Madison County Republicans;
Paul Rose: former Colgate and Morrisville State College lacrosse coach;
Dale Soderberg: retired HCS English and drama teacher who directed many student productions.

4. HCS Sports Successes

It was a great year to be a Knight, and for good reason. Hamilton teams and one individual had outstanding success.

Sage Hurta Wins State Cross Country Title: A slight, smiling seventh grade girl with amazing poise made her mark on the sports history of Hamilton and New York State this fall. Running cross country for HCS, 12-year-old Sage Hurta won race after race on her way to a Class D state championship. And, as November waned, she finished 85th out of 298 runners at the Federation invitational.
Boys Soccer Team Reaches State Finals: A fluke goal five minutes into a second sudden death overtime ended the Emerald Knights quest for another Class D state title. They lost to Chazy 1-0 in the state finals at Middletown High School. They ended the season 19-2-1 overall.
Girls Basketball Team Wins Sectional Title: In the 2008-2009 season, first-year girls basketball Coach Jessica Poole led her team to a near-perfect season that ended with a loss in the Section III Class D finals. In 2009-2010, the Lady Emerald Knights ended the year 14-8 but won the Section III Class D title.
But, HCS also found out what it was like to go without football. Not enough players came out for the sport, so several players went elsewhere and the modified team joined forces with the one at Morrisville-Eaton. As the year winds down, HCS players could find themselves playing for Morrisville-Eaton as talks between the two schools continue.

5. New Police Chief.

After a long interview process, the village board hired veteran DeWitt police officer and Cazenovia native Rick Gifford as the new chief of the Hamilton Poice Department. He had served many years under William Ferguson, who today is the director of Campus Safety at Colgate. Gifford inherited a department that suffered a major embarrassment in 2010 when one of its officers was charged with DWAI following an early morning accident on Hamilton Road. Dan Furner was also a campus safety officer and was dismissed from both posts. Gifford replaced Gary Mlasgar who had served as officer in charge after Jim Tilbe retired. But, Mlasgar did not pass the civil service exam for the chief's position.

6. Armed Standoff on Campus

On Aug. 10 a troubled young man with a gun parked his car on the Oak Drive turnout and threatened to kill himself. For several hours that day, access to campus was closed off, Colgate was on lockdown and police from several agencies massed at the Broad Street entrance. Several hours later, David Bennet was taken into custody.

7. Inn-side Stories

As the village's landmark hospitality property prepared for a face-lift, another was circling the drain and, for a while closed. But, as the new year appraoches, the Colgate Inn is closed for major renovations while the man who operates it, Ben Eberhardt, rescued the Hamilton Inn, a former competitor on East Lake Road. In reaching an agreement to operate the Hamilton Inn, Eberhardt saved about 16 jobs and kept open a favorite dining spot and numerous rooms for out of town guests. The Colgate Inn is supposed to reopen in February or March while more work continues.

8. Coye Mural Stays Put

James Metz, the man who closed his Hamilton Inn in a dispute with his manager and employees, also stirred civic concern this year when he suggested he might sell the Lee Brown Coye mural that had been on loan to the vilage since 1995. A hurriedly assembled task force did some fast-paced fund raising and came up with $36,000 to purchase the mural that depicts the early days of Hamilton.

9. Foyle Retires from NBA

Adonal Foyle, who brought basketball glory to both HCS and Colgate before a 13-year career in the NBA, finally hung up his sneakers in 2010. Foyle made his professional mark with the Golden State Warriors before being traded to the Orlando Magic. In recent years he played sparingly but became a mentor to young players. He joined the front office of the Magic and continues to operate several charities. he was inducted into the HCS hall of honor this past July.

10. Elections

Voters in the Greater Hamilton Metroplex this year proved to be an unpredictable lot. While they returned several incumbents, they dumped some as well, including -- and surprisingly -- long-time Village Justice Arnold Fisher. The biggest turnover came when voters gave the Hamilton Town Board a radical makeover, returning former Supervisor Bob Kuiper to office and adding two new Democrat faces -- Peter Darby and Carolyn Todd -- to the board. In November's midterm elections, local voters proved Hamilton to be solidly Democrat.

11. Five-Way Intersection.

A great deal of the time of local officials and some business owners was consumed this year with the discussion of what -- if anything -- should be done about the five-way intersection at the center of downtown. The Partnership for Community Development

12. Gas Pains

Faded "Stop NYRI" signs were replaced by ones reading "No Fracking" in 2010. The gold rush to drill for the natural gas under the Hamilton area and beyond pitted those interested in signing lucrative leases against those worried about the environment, especially the rural water supply. The process of using millions of gallons of water and some chemicals to fracture the underground shale and release the gas remains at the center of this controversy.

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Comments(1):

"Piggy bank"??

Monday, December 27, 2010 Wanda Warren

Anyone who bothered to attend the Town of Hamilton Board meeting on Dec. 21 would know how inappropriate it is to talk casually about money in the Town's "piggy bank." The term "fund balance" in the controller's report does not mean surplus funds. A large portion of the fabled $1.2 million is the capital reserve fund, which is needed when major equipment must be purchased. In addition, the current Town Board is struggling to find out whether certain funds actually were designated by earlier Boards only for certain uses. Once all of that is clarified, and after $100,000 was spent to reduce taxes for 2011, we will be lucky if there is even half of the million-plus dollars people have thought was a surplus fund. Wanda Warren Berry

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