Many familiar aspects of life came to a conclusion in our area, along with one aspect’s start, which is still around today, during March of 2006.
One end of the line item came in the news from The Daily Star on March 8 as, “Inadequate enrollments and financial concerns have led St. Mary’s School in Oneonta to eliminate its two upper grades for next year, officials said.
“In a letter dated Tuesday, parents with students at the Catholic school were notified the school had received approval from the Albany Diocese to eliminate seventh and eighth grades for the 2006-2007 school year.
“‘I’m deeply saddened,’ said Davenport resident Rebecca Adams, who has a daughter in seventh grade, after getting the news. ‘The sense of community and the dedicated teachers will be missed,’ she said.
“There should be 15 students in each grade, (Principal John Burkhart) said, and there are eight students in seventh grade and five in eighth, with a school enrollment of 172.” St. Mary’s School closed completely in 2011.
For health concerns at health care facilities, Star readers of March 11 learned, “Employees, patients and visitors to two area hospitals won’t be able to simply step outside to have a cigarette starting July 1, according to media releases issued Friday.
“Both Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown and A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital and the Foxcare network in Oneonta will ban smoking at their properties on that date, officials said.
“‘We are sensitive to the challenges a smoke-free environment presents to employees and patients that smoke,’ said Chief Operating Officer Bertine McKenna in a release.
“For them, Bassett has offered several support programs and made nicotine replacement therapy available to comply with the policy, which has been in development for more than a year, Bassett spokeswoman Karen Huxtable said.
“At Fox, spokeswoman Maggie Barnes said that with the trend in health care, it made sense for the two providers to announce this together.”
It was “time” for a regional legislator to call it a career.
With a dateline of Utica, The Star of March 18 reported, “Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, will retire at the end of this year, his 24th serving in Congress.
“In a speech delivered Friday afternoon at Union Station in Utica, the 69-yer-old legislator said he had been wrestling with whether to seek a 13th term. He said his decision to retire was influenced by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
“‘In January 2005,’ Boehlert said, ‘I sent a personal note to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, which said, ‘Please, please, please resist the temptation and stay. We need you now more than ever.’ A couple of weeks later he sent me his reply…’It’s time,’ he wrote.
“‘Today, I am announcing I will not be a candidate for re-election,’ Boehlert said. ‘It’s time.’
“After retiring, he said, he said he hopes to spend more time with friends and family, especially his wife, Marianne, who was at his side Friday.” Republican Boehlert was succeeded by Democrat Michael Arcuri.
One local aspect of Oneonta’s local life began that month, as The Star of March 21 reported, “The Common Council will consider approving plans at tonight’s meeting for a downtown festival organized by local colleges for April 29.
“Organizers, including students at the State University College at Oneonta and Hartwick College, have been met with some aldermen about plans for OH-Fest to be held on Main Street downtown.” This would be in the afternoon, with an evening event to follow.
“The plans include a fireworks display, and (Mayor John Nader) said a concert in Neahwa park will appeal to listeners of different generations. Having the students downtown and involved with the community is great, Nader said, and the event ‘will be a nice thing for the community.’
Plans were approved and students got to work, as The Star of March 22 reported, “Blues Traveler and Robert Randolph and the Family Band will perform in the city April 29, students organizing the concert and other OH-Fest events said Tuesday.”
The festival continues today, although renamed in recent years to simply O-Fest, planned primarily by SUNY Oneonta students.
On Saturday, the “winter blahs” engulfed Sidney in March 1926.