There was little to celebrate among the top local news stories of 2010, proving the grisly adage, "If it bleeds, it leads."
Some were predictable. The continuing struggle over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale first appeared in The Daily Star's top 10 stories list in 2008, and will no doubt be seen there for many years to come.
The demise of some longtime Oneonta institutions had been largely foreseen, but was still disappointing to many. The struggles of local arts organizations were not surprising, considering the economy.
Other stories were shocking. A shooting in Cooperstown, a state trooper killed in a car crash and a local soldier's death in Afghanistan took the area by surprise.
Here are the stories considered by The Daily Star's editorial staff to be among the most important of the year:
1. Good Friday shooting in Cooperstown
It's not uncommon for Cooperstown to draw national media attention.
Thousands flock there each summer to witness the National Baseball Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies.
But "America's Most Perfect Village" became the focus of a different type of attention April 2, when 16-year-old Anthony Pacherille allegedly shot classmate Wesley Lippitt with a .22 rifle and then aimed the gun at himself, firing into his chin.
The shooting immediately drew regional media coverage, as well as stories in The New York Times, the Huffington Post and The Associated Press.
"It's absolutely incredible something like this happening in Cooperstown," Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said April 2.
The question of a racial aspect of the shooting _ Pacherille is white, Lippitt black _ led to hate crime charges for Pacherille and prompted Cooperstown Central School to host discussion forums on diversity, tolerance and related topics.
In May, Pacherille pleaded not guilty to four charges: attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree attempted assault as a hate crime, second-degree assault as a hate crime and first-degree criminal use of a firearm. Pacherille is due to stand trial Jan. 31 before Otsego County Judge Brian Burns.
2. Natural gas drilling
Hydrofracking went from being a specter to a reality in 2010, as drilling at the vertical Ross 1 well in the town of Maryland proceeded in earnest. Gastem USA president Orville Cole called early results from the well "promising" in February, and a second fracking of the well in October spurred more uproar.
As the year went on, the pitch of the drilling debate seemed to get more feverish. A February program by drilling opponent Mayor Calvin Tillman of DISH, Texas, drew more than 100 people to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Oneonta. A special meeting of the Otsego County Board of Representatives in July brought rallies, a parade and heated exchanges among the standing-room-only crowd at the courthouse in Cooperstown. More than 300 protesters chanted, carried signs and spoke out in Delhi in September in response to the board's resolution in support of gas drilling. Hundreds more, including elected officials, activists and business people, descended on Binghamton for a series of public hearings conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"There are layers and layers of issues," then-Congressman Michael Arcuri said in July. "But this is our home. It is our responsibility to make sure that it's done in the proper fashion."
Throughout the debate, the name "Dimock" was often invoked as an example of the harm gas drilling can do to a community. The Daily Star's visit to the Pennsylvania town showed a community divided, with some benefiting from the economic gains brought by drilling and others concerned about water quality.
The year saw no visible progress on the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which the agency has been mulling since late 2009. Meanwhile, the state legislature battled for months over a moratorium on gas drilling, only to have its work vetoed by then-Gov. David Paterson in one of his final acts in office.
It remains to be seen if Gov. Andrew Cuomo will renew Paterson's executive order, which called on the DEC to conduct additional review and analysis. Regardless of his decision, the future of gas drilling in New York is far from decided.
3. Oneonta Tigers move to Connecticut
The 2008 sale of Oneonta's longtime minor league baseball team to a group headed by E. Miles Prentice III led to immediate speculation that the team might leave the city. The team hung on to play its 2009 season, but 2010 began with the news that one of the 14 New York-Penn League teams would be moving to Norwich, Conn.
On Jan. 27, the rumors were confirmed in a media conference: More than 50 years of NY-Penn baseball in Oneonta had come to an end. Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller did not hide his feelings about the team's departure in an e-mail sent to The Daily Star.
"The NY Penn League's lack of loyalty and consideration of this community, not to mention the long term former owners, is shocking and reprehensible," Miller wrote Jan. 27.
Beginning as an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, the team enjoyed some good years as a New York Yankees farm team from the late 1960s through 1999, when New York moved its NY-Penn team to Staten Island and Oneonta became an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The Oneonta Athletic Corp., led by Sam Nader and Sid Levine, who had been instrumental in bringing baseball to Oneonta, partnered with local businesses to provide free tickets, kept season ticket prices reasonable and resisted some of the tactics seen at other minor league parks, including selling alcohol to patrons.
Attendance bottomed out at 23,521 in 2009, the lowest for Damaschke Field since 1979. Plans to bring beer sales to town that season never came through. Higher ticket prices and the elimination of free tickets did not help.
"I'm a realist," Miller said Jan. 20. "I understand the future of minor league baseball in Oneonta is a limited one. I also understand that the community didn't really support the team as well as they might have hoped."
The mayor made it his mission to find another team to play at the ballpark, and he succeeded, inking a deal with the New York Collegiate Baseball League just weeks after the team announced it would leave.
The Oneonta Outlaws played their first season in 2010, bringing baseball back to town -- and beer along with it. Another NYCBL team, the Hawkeyes, set up shop in Cooperstown in 2010 but announced in the fall that it was leaving the league with several other teams.
The Outlaws finished second in their division and drew about a third more spectators on average than the '09 Tigers had, according to president of operations Steve Pindar.
"Ultimately, I think, both teams can survive, grow and make a little in the process," Otsego County Chamber President and CEO Rob Robinson said in November. "Next year will be positive on both sides."
4. Arcuri, Murphy voted out of office
The 2010 election was supposed to be a good one for Republicans, and the local area was no exception to the national trend.
In the race for the 24th Congressional District seat, Democratic Rep. Michael Arcuri of Utica faced a rematch against Republican Richard Hanna of Barneveld. Two years ago, Arcuri claimed a narrow victory over the retired contractor; this year, the tables turned.
Just as it had been in the candidates' first battle, the race was too close to call on election night, with Oneida County hanging in the balance as late as 11:30 p.m.
Local voters who picked Hanna echoed the sentiments of millions of other Americans who wanted to bring Republican values into a Congress struggling with rising national debt and unemployment, a tangled health insurance reform law and other unpopular issues.
"It's my money, and I think I ought to decide how to spend it," Rob Bohm of Fly Creek told The Daily Star on Election Day. "It's really a question of freedom, when you get down to it."
Pensive and frank during his campaign, Hanna spoke with humility about the need to compromise to accomplish his goals in the House of Representatives.
"I have a sense that I've just been given a large responsibility, and I'm grateful for it," he told The Daily Star in November. "I don't think people are that far apart in what they want. Everybody wants health care, everybody wants a job, everybody wants a good education and security. The question is how do you get there. And a bigger question is how do you get there sustainably?"
The area's other congressional race fell along the same lines, with Republican challenger Chris Gibson edging out incumbent Democrat Scott Murphy for the 20th Congressional District seat. This race, too, was too close to officially call on election night, but Gibson showed a strong lead in Delaware County, with almost 3,000 more votes than his opponent.
Delaware County Republican Committee Chairman Len Govern attributed Gibson's success, in part, to his strong campaign.
"Chris Gibson spent a lot of time here talking to people, and he was very well received," Govern said. "We are the most rural county in the 20th district, and we have unique concerns like the watershed and gas drilling."
Gibson recently announced he will follow in the footsteps of Murphy and Kirsten Gillibrand, serving on the Agricultural and Armed Services committees in the House of Representatives.
5. State police officer Jill Mattice killed in crash
The first female state police officer killed in the line of duty was driving down state Route 23 on a gray January afternoon when her patrol car drifted into the oncoming lane, sideswiping a tractor-trailer. Jill E. Mattice, 31, touched the lives of hundreds of children in her work as a school resource officer for Unadilla Valley and Unatego central schools.
State police officers from across the state and nation were among the thousands who traveled to the Cheektowaga area to pay respects at Mattice's funeral, where full honors were part of the service.
Those who knew her as a young woman described her as tough, unselfish, strong and friendly. Her colleagues called her sociable, gentle and happy-go-lucky. The people at the schools she served knew her as someone with pride in her work; one student described "Trooper Jill" as her hero.
Through the lives Mattice touched, and the efforts in her memory such as the Trooper Jill E. Mattice Memorial Scholarship Fund, Mattice's memory will live on in the local area for a very long time.
6. Fox Hospital becomes Bassett affiliate
The fifth-biggest news story of 2010 had been foretold before the previous year was over. In late December 2009, the governing boards of Bassett Healthcare and A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital signed paperwork making Fox an affiliate of Bassett.
Despite concerns about job losses and a lessening of choice for local patients, the transition made few apparent ripples in the area. Officials at Bassett and Fox spoke recently about how the affiliation has actually added services for patients in the Oneonta area, as Bassett has brought in services that weren't available from Fox.
Financially, it is unknown whether Fox could have continued to operate after continuing losses. The affiliation with Bassett allowed the hospital to take in more revenue.
"It's hard to find negatives about this," Bassett Healthcare Network president Dr. William Streck told The Daily Star in December. "The benefits are clearly mutual."
Though the transition began almost a year ago, more mergers remain. The Bassett Cancer Institute will provide cancer programs for both Fox and Bassett at FoxCare Center starting in early 2011. Efforts continue to integrate orthopedic programs and cardiac services between the various Fox and Bassett facilities.
For many patients who still see the same Fox or Bassett doctor they did a year ago, little has changed in practice. The growth of the Bassett Healthcare Network throughout the local area mirrors trends seen across the nation, as small health care providers struggle to cope with rising costs.
7. National Soccer Hall of Fame
Much like the departure of the Oneonta Tigers and the affiliation between A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital and Bassett Healthcare, the closure of the National Soccer Hall of Fame had been a long time coming. Although it was announced in the fall of 2009 that the museum would be closing, the shrine didn't actually let out its last breath until March, when its doors were shut for good.
The museum's demise was almost as lengthy as its growth. What started in a storefront grew into a multimillion-dollar campus with state-of-the-art playing fields. But the facility never lived up to its promise of being a mecca for a sport that was always about to become wildly popular -- and never did.
Financial difficulties plagued the hall, and its relationship with Major League Soccer was rocky. But induction ceremonies held at the hall did draw some tourists, and local and visiting coaches and players praised the playing fields.
By 2010, what had once been a point of pride for Oneonta had become almost a nonentity. Its closure drew little attention outside the local area, rating a passing mention by Sports Illustrated. But for local business and government officials, there was still much work ahead. A deal with the Otsego County Development Corp. ensured that local athletes would still be able to play on the Wright National Soccer Campus. And in mid-December, news came that Oneonta electronics manufacturer Ioxus was interested in leasing the facility to use as a factory.
8. Cpl. Uzenski killed in Afghanistan
Throughout the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, many local men and women have left the area for military service. Only a few have lost their lives serving their country. Marine Cpl. Nick Uzenski of Franklin was one of those few. The 2006 Franklin High School graduate was killed in combat in Afghanistan in January. A candlelight vigil held in Franklin days after the Marine's death drew hundreds, including many of his former classmates; not long afterward, Franklin residents began work to create a permanent war memorial bearing Uzenski's name and the name of other Franklin residents killed in combat.
When the war memorial was ready to be dedicated, shortly before Memorial Day, Franklin Mayor Joe Campbell said the pain of Uzenski's loss was still fresh for the community.
"You hear it every day, of men losing their lives. But this has really hit home," Campbell said.
9. UCCCA, Foothills struggle
The Foothills Performing Arts Center started its year on a sour note, with four employees losing their jobs and two more resigning in solidarity with their colleagues.
The shakeup made public the tension between the facility's employees and its board, and exposed financial challenges that only worsened as the year went on.
With millions already invested into the production center, a 624-seat theater sits unfinished, with more than $1 million needed to make it available for lease by local or visiting performers. In October, Foothills staffer Janet Hurley-Quackenbush called the unfinished theater "a black hole."
In early December, Oneonta mayor Dick Miller became interim chairman of the Foothills board of directors, and announced that while finishing the theater was still a goal, the facility needed money more urgently just to keep its doors open.
While Foothills struggled in the first few months of 2010, the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts seemed to be thriving. The 40-year-old arts organization hired 28-year-old Sara Hammonds as executive director in March. Hammonds took over from interim director Cheri Albrecht, who had stepped in when Kathleen Frascatore resigned in 2009.
At the time, Hammonds and her colleagues spoke positively about what the hire would bring to the organization. But only a few weeks later, Hammonds left, citing irreconcilable differences with UCCCA's board of directors.
In July, an interim director appointed to fill Hammond's seat resigned, and program coordinator Corrine Armstrong was downsized out of a job. A month later, the state Council on the Arts announced its 2011 contracts with UCCCA were in jeopardy because of the organization's fiscal and managerial issues. In November, the Chenango County Council of the Arts announced it would be administering state grant funding for artists in Otsego County -- something UCCCA had handled in past years.
While programming continued at UCCCA's Wilber Mansion through the fall, board president and CEO Linda MacKenzie-Ranc said in November that the agency's continued operation in 2011 will depend on volunteer and community support.
The mayor plans to host an arts summit Jan. 22 at the Foothills atrium to discuss the way forward during difficult economic times.
10. 'Life Enjoyed' brand unveiled
Long known as "The City of the Hills," Oneonta got a new identity in 2010: "Life Enjoyed."
As far back as 2008, civic, business and arts leaders had been working to promote and re-brand the region. In April, Otsego County Tourism director Deborah Taylor announced that The Glen Group of North Conway, N.H., had won the $20,000 contract to develop a brand for the Oneonta area.
The group worked with local stakeholders to develop the brand, which was unveiled Aug. 5 at the Oneonta Theatre. While Oneonta mayor Dick Miller pledged his support of the brand, public reaction was _ to say the least _ not all favorable. At a meeting in late August discussing the brand, some argued that the development process should have been more open to public input. The Daily Star received numerous letters criticizing the brand, and the money spent on generating it.
"I'm still a believer in 'Life Enjoyed.' I think it's going to have legs over the long run," Miller told The Daily Star recently. "In addition to the naysayers, there are a lot of people who like it."
