There’s never really a good time to talk about nuclear war’s aftermath, or a threat against the President of the United States.
More would tend to like to talk about a new picnic pavilion, or new life for an old downtown building. Happier things.
All of these topics were making news in our area during November 1983.
PREPARING FOR FALLOUT
Readers of The Daily Star of Nov. 17 found out, “These days before ‘The Day After’ have thousands of teachers and parents across the nation preparing for the fallout from a TV movie about nuclear war that they say could trigger nightmares, depression and hopelessness in young children.
“The film, to be telecast…Sunday on ABC, depicts in graphic detail what might happen on the days before, during and after a nuclear strike in Kansas City, Mo. In one scene, a class of grade school children is irradiated, their bodies turning into glowing skeletons.”
That movie was “The Day After,” viewed by an estimated 100 million people. No doubt there were several of those viewers in the Oneonta area.
As The Star of Nov. 22 reported, “The threat of nuclear war hit home for Dawn Minette of Oneonta and her 12-year-old son, Michael, on Sunday night.
“Prior to the start of the highly publicized and much protested made for television movie the effects of a nuclear holocaust, Mrs. Minette, a fourth-grade teacher at Greater Plains School, said she was proceeding with caution in allowing her son to watch the film in its entirety. She said, however, she believes that is important for youngsters to be aware of the dangers posed by nuclear war.
“‘It will be their generation that will hopefully find a solution,’ Mrs. Minette said. ‘I think they should be informed — I don’t think they should always see something as spectacular as this, but their basic knowledge could be expanded.’
“The Rev. Stephen Ayres, a leader of the Nuclear Freeze Campaign both locally and statewide, said he found the movie to be ‘emotional, very moving, and frightening,’ but that compared to films depicting what actually happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the television movie was mild.
THREAT AGAINST PRESIDENT PROBED
“The U.S. Secret Service served a federal subpoena on a Huntington Memorial Library official Wednesday as part of an investigation of a death threat against president Ronald Reagan,” Star readers learned on Nov. 17.
“According to U.S. government sources, the investigation started last week after library officials discovered threat on Reagan’s life hand-written across the text of a library book. The subpoena seeks library circulation records in an attempt to identify the author of the threat.”
After a brief hesitation in releasing the circulation records, Huntington Library officials surrendered the information to the Secret Service. Within hours, police arrested Thomas G. Currie of Oneonta, who was later charged in Federal Court in Syracuse with threatening the president’s life.
KIWANIS MARKED A MILESTONE
On a happier note that November, the Oneonta Kiwanis Club marked its 60th year in service to the community.
One of their on-going projects at the time was the improvement to the city’s park facilities. It may have been too late that season for a picnic, but there would be many in decades to come, as Kiwanians dedicated a pavilion built in the lower level of Wilber Park, not far from the pool.
Kiwanis service to the community continued for 35 more years, finally disbanding in 2018, due to a dwindling membership.
A STEP FORWARD AND A STEP BACK FOR FORD BLOCK
These days we watch with interest the progress being made in the upper floors of the Ford Block in downtown Oneonta, as Springbrook turns that part of the building into new housing.
Forty years ago, that block was having some setbacks, following some progress.
As some may recall, the Ford Block was almost torn down as part of Oneonta’s urban renewal program of the 1960s and ‘70s. In short, the Ford Block was saved, but had been abandoned because of the likely demise of the block.
In November 1983 a group of developers were trying to put life back into the block, especially on the street level.
The Star of Nov. 30 reported, “Citizens Developers of Oneonta President Gary O. Knapp said he is still working to land a major tenant for the Ford Block redevelopment project…before a 90-day countdown period ends and the city repossesses the property.
“But Knapp said he now will shun the publicity he believes contributed to his failure to obtain Key Bank as a Ford Block anchor tenant.
“‘Obviously we’re continuing our activities to complete the project, but we won’t make the mistake of discussing it in public again.’”
It wasn’t long before Key Bank did become the first tenant of the block.
This weekend, the late fall life and tines around Cooperstown in 1923.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. 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 oneontanyhistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.