To events celebrating the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
More than 120 people attended the 2012 Birthday Celebration at the First Baptist Church at 71 Chestnut St. The event, presented by the local NAACP chapter and the city of Oneonta, was held Jan. 15, what would have been King's 83rd birthday.
Oneonta NAACP members presented the 17th annual Thurgood Marshall Unity Awards to Caridad Souza-Watkins, a lecturer at the State University College at Oneonta, and to Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller.
Miller was recognized in part for his handling of a police brutality case that ended with the settlement of a civil rights lawsuit and the firing of a police officer. Souza-Watkins was recognized for her dedication to civil and human rights, organizers said.
The event took on a focus captured in King's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: "I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits."
We applaud everyone who continues King's fight for equality.
To Diana Nicols for her years of service as a law enforcement official in Oneonta and Cooperstown.
Nicols, 40, received word earlier this month from the New York State and Local Retirement System that she is "permanently incapacitated for the performance of duties." The incapacitation is the result of a knee injury in 2008, which occurred during a training class for officers who will train other officers in self-defense.
Nicols began her career in law enforcement in 1994 in Oneonta. She was hired in 2000 by the village of Cooperstown, and five years later became chief when Mike Crippen retired.
"Cooperstown is my style of policing," she said. "It has been the most fulfilling job in my life."
Life had not been easy for Nicols, as "America's Most Perfect Village" has had its problems over the last couple of years. Nicols had butted heads on several occasions with Mayor Joe Booan, going as far as filing a civil rights lawsuit against him and the village. And the reverberations of the Good Friday shooting of 2010 are still felt.
We believe Nicols has worked in the best interest of the community, and wish her well in her retirement.
To two local high school basketball players who surpassed the 1,000-point mark in varsity play.
What makes this particularly remarkable is that both are sophomore girls.
Franklin's Jordan Beers scored her 1,000th varsity point in a 49-46 win over Morris on Dec. 16. Oneonta's Mariah Ruff hit that mark Friday in a 57-29 victory against Chenango Forks.
Girls games are generally lower scoring than boys games, so hitting 1,000 is quite an accomplishment. And that both still have two years to play makes us look forward to what those years will bring.
We congratulate Beers and Ruff on their accomplishments.
