"I ask that every member of this community join forces with this administration and the school board to combat this ever-growing menace to our children and our citizens."
It was Wednesday night, March 1, 1972, and these words came from then Mayor James Lettis, commenting during a joint meeting of the Common Council and Oneonta Board of Education.
The menace the mayor referred to was a growing drug abuse problem.
During that meeting, held at the Oneonta High School library, police Chief Joseph DeSalvatore painted a grim picture of what his department was dealing with, as reported in The Oneonta Star.
"A 15-year-old Oneonta girl has a 'speed' kit -- complete with spoon and cotton."
"Another has made a hash pipe out of a lipstick case."
"An Oneonta boy uses a strip of rawhide as a tourniquet before shooting drugs."
"A local boy bought a coke downtown. Someone adds an LSD Tablet."
DeSalvatore told those in attendance that drug use in Oneonta had increased by about 47 percent in recent years.
The chief said the city's first drug arrest came in 1968.
In 1971, 25 arrests were made.
DeSalvatore asked for money so that brochures could be distributed to Oneonta residents. "Involvement by the total community is the right step," he said.
Frederick Bardsley, then superintendent of schools, said the key to the problem is getting parents together with their children.
He said parents need to know where their children are and who they are with.
He asked for an enlightened, concerned and responsible public.
DeSalvatore confided there was more of a drug problem in the junior high school than in the senior high.
He added that several burglaries were caused by youths supporting a drug habit.
DeSalvatore added that it was well known that when pushers at the colleges cannot sell on campus, "the goods are brought into the local community and schools."
That first meeting spurred action.
Some 200 parents gathered at the Junior High School cafeteria on Academy Street on Tuesday, March 13, and were essentially told by a staff of school personnel to "be parents."
Another "cross section of concerned citizens" met at St. James' Episcopal Church on Thursday, April 27, to organize an effort to battle drug abuse. Oneonta had already lined up professional assistance to create an educational program.
From May 12 to 14, a weekend of information on drugs with several discussions were held at Oneonta High School and Oneonta Armory, planned by the newly formed Oneonta Drug Task Force Committee.
The initial session had a guest speaker from Broome County, which had a drug abuse program in place.
Proposed during that weekend was a program patterned after the Broome County Narcotic Guidance Council, with a "drop-in" center open to anyone, with any problem and any age level. The program would be completely on a volunteer basis.
The first drop-in center opened the week of July 3 in the Puritan Building, 172 Main St.
It operated on weekends only at that time.
The effort had begun to battle what Lettis had called the "menace."
While this effort to battle drug abuse began, another had begun a bit more quietly in 1970. That was the year "Project 85" opened at the large house at 85 Chestnut St.
Eighty-five was opened, according to the Star, "by a group of concerned clergy, the Campus Ministry Committee."
In the first years it was open, Project 85 addressed the need for drug abuse help, but gradually shifted their counseling to other problems, such as financial aid, shelter, legal referral, abuse, rape, runaways, suicide or depression.
It should be noted that Project 85 helped train the volunteers at the new drop-in center on methods used in answering and handling phone calls.
During its years in Oneonta, Project 85 was funded by a variety of sources. Later known as The Otsego Area Consortium, then found at 259 Chestnut St., the agency closed in late 1987.
This weekend: As our days get closer to spring, we'll explore some local news briefs from the winter of 1912.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Mark Simonson
Battling drug problems reaches 40 years in Oneonta
- Mark Simonson
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
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Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
You know an issue is divisive when a vote to resolve it is quite close. In Oneonta during the early 1930s there were probably plenty of discussions or arguments at the family dinner table or sermons from the pulpits on Sunday mornings, regarding whether or should be able to see a movie in Oneonta on Sunday.
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Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
Area residents mulled over the idea of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as their next President of the United States. New fitness opportunities emerged for all ages. One area landmark was saved while another was razed. It was only a part of our life and times in May 1968.
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Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
In the economy that was the Great Depression, there were times people would do what it took to try to earn some money.
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Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
I realize I've got the wrong month in mind when I say "May came in like a lion." However, that's what happened in 1983 as a number of twisters moved through our region, leaving plenty of damage behind in their trails. Add some melting snow and heavy rain, and scenes of cleanups were widespread 30 years ago this month.
- Saturday, May 4, 2013
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Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
- Monday, April 29, 2013
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Job opportunities abounded in area 45 years ago
If you were looking for a job in April 1968 in our area, or perhaps looking to change your employment situation in the near future, opportunities were pointing in your favor.
- Saturday, April 27, 2013
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Oneonta greeted an aviation giant in 1928
An early aviation superstar came to Oneonta in 1928.
- Monday, April 22, 2013
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Area saw its own armed standoffs 30 years ago
This past Friday, we watched how the Boston area went into a lockdown during a tense search for the last suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Had I still been living and working in that area, as I was in the early 1990s, I would have had a day off from work Friday, as police scoured the city of Waltham.
- Saturday, April 20, 2013
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U.S.S. Maine explosion, war drew much local sentiment
For most people in our area in early 1898, a growing conflict between two distant nations probably didn't get much attention, other than some glances at the newspaper. When a young Oneonta man was one of many injured or killed in an explosion of a battleship he was aboard, the local attention increased markedly to what was soon to become the Spanish-American War.
- Monday, April 15, 2013
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Oneonta river walking path came from a surveyor's daydream
Leon Kalmus of Oneonta spent a lot of time surveying land near the Susquehanna River in the early 1970s around the time Interstate 88 was being planned and built in this area. What he saw along the shores of the river, he called “pristine,� and soon had an idea for some kind of walking or hiking pathway along the shores of the river in the town of Oneonta.
- Saturday, April 13, 2013
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Decline of Prohibition led to return of beer in April 1933
“I think this would be a good time for a beer,� remarked President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he signed the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 22, 1933. This marked the beginning of the end for Prohibition that year.
- Monday, April 8, 2013
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Dietz Street shifted from residential to commercial through the years
By taking a walk along Dietz Street today, heading north to Walnut Street, one can see a lot of businesses and the recently refurbished parking lot on the east side of the street. It would take some imagination to see this street lined with houses and a church, but prior to the late 1940s, that’s what was there.
- Saturday, April 6, 2013
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Oneontans voted for a 'dry' city in 1918
- Monday, April 1, 2013
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Future city historian kept family busy for Easter and April 1958
- Saturday, March 30, 2013
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Colliscroft became new Oneonta landmark in 1902
If the Oneonta building trade sector of the economy could have awarded a plaque to a most valuable individual customer of 1902, it would have nearly been a shoo-in. That was Edward H. Pardee, who was listed in the Oneonta Directory around that time as a farmer, on Southside.
- Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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Historic Cooperstown cottage got a new address in 1988
To unknowing tourists seeking information from the tourism information center at 31 Chestnut St. in Cooperstown, they would probably believe that the mid-19th century cottage had always been on that site. It blends in well with some of the grand old houses along that street, and the same tourists might think it has an interesting history behind it.
- Saturday, March 23, 2013
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Free mail delivery began in Oneonta 125 years ago
- Monday, March 18, 2013
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Oneonta enacted first building code 60 years ago
There will be no parade, fireworks display or commemorative coins minted for the occasion.
- Saturday, March 16, 2013
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Area isolated during historic March 1888 snowstorm
Earlier in the week, we recalled the "Blizzard of 1993," which was one containing historic snowfall that fell on our region on Saturday, March 13. It was the largest recorded in a single local snowfall in the 20th century, and ever since another storm dating back 105 years. The latter snowfall was worse than the 1993 storm, falling overnight into Tuesday, March 13, 1888. It was commonly referred to as the "Blizzard of 1888."
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