tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77761395990839591352024-03-05T14:55:57.056-08:00Kurt Wanfried Dispatch EditorKurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-59155043863704901492015-03-16T05:34:00.000-07:002015-03-16T05:34:46.981-07:00I took no joy in story about Oneida YMCA, Hank Leo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dispatch Staff Photo by JOHN HAEGER</div>
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Hank Leo poses in Allen Park with his childhood home in the background on Dec. 13, 2012 in Oneida.</div>
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There have been some critical comments on Facebook directed against The Oneida Daily Dispatch, and me in particular, for publishing Sunday’s story about the involvement of Oneida YMCA and two local men in the Syracuse University cheating scandal.</div>
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This comes as no surprise, people don’t like to read bad things about their friends and revered institutions.</div>
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I took no joy in that story, either.</div>
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While I don’t know Jeff Cornish, Hank Leo is a well-liked guy, a pillar of the community and the Y is an important local institution.</div>
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I don’t know how he feels about me right now, but I’ve always counted Leo as a friend.</div>
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Every week I read and edited his column, offering constructive criticism where I could.</div>
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When he was ready to publish his first book, “Home When The Streetlights Come On,” basically a collection of his Dispatch columns, he asked me to write a forward, which I did.</div>
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In fact, while his high school English teacher, Debra Longnecker is rightly credited for editing Leo’s book, I know my weekly edits and mentoring played a role in its final form, too.<span style="text-align: left;">And I enjoyed both working with him and providing publicity as he released this and subsequent books.</span></div>
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Leo’s been a speaker in The Dispatch’s Community Media Lab and a go-to guy to serve in organizations to benefit the city such at the chamber of commerce, hospital board and school board. As a sought-after emcee of local events, he’s appeared on the pages of The Dispatch many times.</div>
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So when the word got out about the involvement of the Y and my friend in the SU cheating scandal, I was as shocked as anyone.</div>
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Although it took me two days, I slogged through the entire densely-written 94-page NCAA report; I encourage everyone interested in any aspect of this situation to read it, too.</div>
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The report makes it clear others, closer to the athletic program, committed the greatest misdeeds, such as:</div>
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•Not following the school’s policy on illegal drug use; </div>
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•Keeping an athlete eligible to play by getting a grade changed more than a year after he took the course by apparently having someone else write an extra term paper for him.</div>
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•SU employees routinely completing assignments that athletes were handing in as their own work.</div>
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But it’s also clear that unless the NCAA is inventing everything out of whole cloth, the key allegation of academic fraud against Leo is true. The report says he was the internship supervisor of two athletes and told a professor they completed all their internship’s requirements, including 180 hours at the Y, when he didn’t know if that was true or not. </div>
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The report noted the prof gave the students grades based on Leo’s word. Later, SU investigated and determined that neither athlete completed the work and found both guilty of “academic integrity violations.”</div>
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No matter how you slice, the NCAA report is correct; all three committed academic fraud. </div>
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How severe was this misdeed? That’s for others to decide. </div>
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It’s a journalist’s job to present facts, even when they are unwelcome. However, everyone’s entitled to a say-so on what those facts mean.</div>
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You could say this sort of thing happens in major college sports all the time and it’s no big deal; Leo just had the bad luck to get caught. </div>
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Or you may view it more harshly and say it disqualifies him from continuing to serve on the school board.</div>
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The NCAA investigators say Leo told them that at the time that he was certifying the students’ internship work “he had just learned of…‘a big gigantic checking account,’ (with the YMCA tax number that Jeff Cornish was using to improperly pay athletes). The part-time tutor (Leo) became very ‘nervous’ and he admitted that he ‘did not want to hurt the student-athletes’ chances’ of receiving credit for the course,” the report says.</div>
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Once again this shows Leo’s a nice guy, but he broke an important rule.</div>
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Since I also have a right to an opinion, I’d like to think my friend fell under the influence of a bad crowd at the Carrier Dome, where winning is clearly more important than how you do it.</div>
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<b>Read the full report: </b></div>
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<a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20150316/full-ncaa-report-on-syracuse-university-infractions"><b>http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20150316/full-ncaa-report-on-syracuse-university-infractions</b></a></div>
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<b>Read our story from Sunday:</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20150314/oneida-ymca-2-local-men-figure-big-in-su-cheating-scandal"><b>http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20150314/oneida-ymca-2-local-men-figure-big-in-su-cheating-scandal</b></a></div>
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<b>Read other coverage</b></div>
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Syracuse.com:</div>
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<a href="http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/NCAA%2520investigation/posts.html/posts.html">http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/NCAA%20investigation/posts.html/posts.html</a></div>
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New York Times: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/sports/ncaabasketball/misdeeds-at-syracuse-are-traced-to-unlikely-place-ymca.html%3F_r%3D0">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/sports/ncaabasketball/misdeeds-at-syracuse-are-traced-to-unlikely-place-ymca.html?_r=0</a></div>
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Nonprofit Quarterly:</div>
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<a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/25749-syracuse-sports-scandal-envelops-the-oneida-ymca.html">https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/25749-syracuse-sports-scandal-envelops-the-oneida-ymca.html</a></div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-33088652356115147002015-01-23T12:40:00.001-08:002015-01-23T12:40:55.723-08:00Welcome to New York, land of corruption<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was looking through the AP photo archive, when I ran across this picture from Jan. 24 2006.</div>
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It shows a bill signing at the Capitol in Albany and includes then-leaders, who fashioned a budget reform bill. </div>
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It’s an interesting group, including:</div>
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(A) Speaker Sheldon Silver, charged bu federal authorities Thursday with receiving at least $5 million in bribes;</div>
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(B) Former Senate Minority leader Malcolm Smith, who’s now on trial in White Plains for bribery;</div>
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(C) Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who was convicted of two counts of corruption in 2009, then acquitted on those charges, not because he didn’t do what he was accused of, but because under the law he helped write, his unethical actions weren’t illegal. As a final insult, the taxpayers got stuck with paying Bruno’s $2.42 million legal bill.</div>
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(D) Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after it became known he was a regular customer of a $1,000-per-hour high-end prostitute. Investgator believe he spent mote that $80,000 on prostitutes whaile he was NY attorney general and governor.</div>
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(E) Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco who, while he’s no longer minority leader, has managed to keep his nose clean despite spending so much rime running with the rough crowd in Albany.</div>
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<i>When we posted about Sheldon Silver to Facebook, some readers offered comments. Here are some of them:</i></div>
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Just like dominoes, they all fall down</div>
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It’s almost spring and it’s time to clean house in Albany.</div>
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YUP spring cleaning</div>
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Ahhh NY state politics!</div>
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Do ya think that we, the taxpayers, might get a kick-back for this waste of our $$$? We will pay for attorney fees and court costs, plus other expenses.</div>
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It’s time to clean all of the state and counties to start with.</div>
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Now if they’d only arrest Cuomo...</div>
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Let’s hope his money and influence don’t get him off the hook!</div>
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And he will walk free, and maintain his position. If any of us get arrested, we would be fired from our job. He should be fired! Today!</div>
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If anyone thinks for a moment that he will go down alone think again, he is going to be singing like a songbird! Proving again why this is the most corrupt state in the nation.</div>
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May be first of many; it’s sure about time something might be done.</div>
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Shouldn’t most of them be arrested? I only trust a couple.</div>
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They should start at the local level!</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-40077004226901543572015-01-19T13:52:00.002-08:002015-01-19T13:52:19.612-08:00Falling through the ice is no fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When I heard about the snowmobilers falling through the ice on Oneida Lake, it brought back not-so-pleasant memories of the time I fell through ice on the Miles River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.</div>
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I was 13 or 14 years old, out hunting rabbits and squirrels with a .22 pump-action rifle handed down from my grandfather.</div>
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I was alone.</div>
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The wind was blowing; the temperature was somewhere around 20 degrees.</div>
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While the center of the brackish river was still flowing, all along the shoreline the water had frozen. The ice was pretty thick; we had just been ice skating on it the previous day.</div>
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In what could have been a much-more-fateful decision, I decided to take a short-cut across a frozen cove.</div>
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Big mistake.</div>
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When I got to the center of the cove, where the water flowed as the tide came in and out, the ice was thinner and I fell through.</div>
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Much of this cove was shallow, but not this part; the water was over my head and cold.</div>
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There was likely nobody for miles to rescue me. I was on my own.</div>
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As you can imagine, once you’ve fallen through ice, it isn’t easy to climb out. When you grab the edge of the hole, the ice breaks right off. I did this quite a few times.</div>
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I knew I was in trouble, and could feel myself beginning to panic. But then I remembered something from science class about distribution of weight. </div>
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I was still carrying the rifle. I slid it out on the ice about two feet from the edge of the hole. I pushed down hard on it and put my other hand on the ice, too, again as far out on the ice as I could reach. I finally managed to get one of my boot-covered feet out of the water and placed it as far from the hole as I could. Then I sort of rolled out of the hole, being careful not to push on the edge of the ice.</div>
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Amazingly, it worked the first time.</div>
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I still had a good hike home through the bitter wind, soaking wet, but I was one happy kid. I was alive and I had a good story to tell.</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-28234268977079302862014-11-03T12:42:00.001-08:002014-11-03T12:43:13.902-08:00Why I'll be voting against 4-year Oneida Common Council terms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was listening to First Ward Councilor Brahim Zogby on the radio a couple of days ago giving the reasons the Oneida Common Council is asking the voters if they should double the length of councilors’ terms, giving them 4-year terms instead of the current 2-year terms.<br />The thrust of his argument was that it takes a long time to learn enough about the workings of the city to be an effective councilor, especially since it’s a $5,720-per-year, part-time job. All the necessary studying and meetings must be done at the conclusion of their day jobs.<br />Two years is simply to short, Zogby said.<br />True enough, but there are lots of other factors to consider.<br />First, you’re only a freshman councilor once. At the end of the second term you would have the four years’ experience.<br />And for the most part, incumbents get re-elected; when they don’t, there’s probably a good reason.<br />If you were running a business, would you hire workers for four years so they would have ample time to learn everything about the job? Of course not.<br />We have a good group of hard-working, intelligent community-minded individuals serving on the council now. However, over the years some councilors have lacked some of these traits.<br />Some were lazy, picking up their information packets just before the meeting and quickly skimming them.<br />Some were over-extended; with lots going on in their professional and family lives, they didn’t have time to effectively serve.<br />Some simply didn’t have the skills necessary to make an effective contribution to city affairs.<br />I’m not naming names, that’s not what this is about. I’m just saying having an election every two years tends to weed out these sorts of people.<br />It also gives the councilors a reason to get out, knock on doors in their ward, and hear what a variety of people are thinking.<br />Without this, they tend to get most of their feedback from their family and friends.<br />While it might seem like an onerous chore to run every two years, that provision was put into the charter for a good reason -- to put the ultimate power in the hands of the voters, where it belongs.<br />City Prop. 2 (county Prop. 5) is a bad idea.<br />If getting up to speed on city government is a problem, perhaps it would be a good idea after each election, for each department head to hold a seminar on the workings of his or her department. Members of the public could attend and learn, too.<br />Public officials often complain too few people turn out for their meetings. Making it so the councilors have less reason to get out into the community will only add to this disconnect.<br />As for the mayor, while the same logic could hold, I might vote to increase that term to four years.<br />Unlike the councilors, he (or she) is the titular head of city government. It’s a bigger job, which is recognized by the job’s $27,000 per year salary. It takes more than two years to put together an administration and the programs and policies you promised the voters, especially since in year one, you’re working with a budget crafted by the last mayor and council.<br />Abrupt, frequent changes in leaders make it hard to get things done.<br />What do you think? Comment on this issue below or our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OneidaDispatch" target="_blank">OneidaDispatch page on Facebook</a>.</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-12378539181143945342014-07-31T13:31:00.003-07:002014-07-31T13:31:47.896-07:00Join us to record one week in the life of the Oneida area<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1">The Dispatch news staff works hard every day to cover the news in this area.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">But many things that are important never make the news, simply because they are not unusual. Yet, they are important parts of the fabric of everyday life: birthday parties, food shopping, trips to the hair salon or dentist, fishing, car-washing, swimming, golfing and families playing catch, canasta or conga drums.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It can be argued that these everyday activities say more about us as a community than the traditional news stories do.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The goal of this year’s edition of Oneida Proud is to document these key parts of our lives in photos.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We modeled (OK, stole) the idea from Rick Smolen’s series of “Day in the Life” photo books.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Here’s how it’s going to work: Every member of The Dispatch news staff will be out taking pictures during the week of Aug. 17 through 23.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We’ll be focusing on everyday life within the confines of the Oneida City School District. But it won’t be just us. We’re inviting everyone to participate. We’ll run as many photos as we can in the newspaper, but we can handle all publishable photos online. Please include:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">• The date the photo was taken (must be during the week of Aug. 17-23);</span></div>
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<span class="s1">• Where it was taken (must be within the Oneida City School District);</span></div>
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<span class="s1">• The names, correctly spelled, of the people in the photo (unless it’s a large group);</span></div>
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<span class="s1">• Any other relevant information.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">• A daytime phone number in case we have questions.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">If you have questions call me or Online Editor Leah McDonald.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">You can mail or drop the photos by The Dispatch office by Tuesday, Aug. 26, or email them to me. My email address is kwanfried@OneidaDispatch.com</span></div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-29134205104506229772014-03-25T10:42:00.000-07:002014-03-25T10:42:01.072-07:00Lots of changes at The Oneida Daily Dispatch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When we got our new website last fall, a few users told me they preferred our old one.</div>
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At the time I agreed.</div>
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The new website is an order of magnitude more complex on our end, but several orders of magnitude more powerful.</div>
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The truth is, when we launched we only had a rudimentary knowledge of how to operate our site; we could do the basics, but we were clearly in a hands-on learning experience.</div>
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We were one of the first in our company to adopt it. It was still a little rough around the edges. There have been major changes and upgrades since then.</div>
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This is why we’ve done little in the way of announcing our new website.</div>
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We’ve been spending a lot of time learning and providing feedback to the developers.</div>
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Plus, I knew that next week, next month the website will be better and better.</div>
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But while it’s still improving, in my opinion, it’s pretty darn good now.</div>
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I want to point out some of its features:</div>
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•New York News</div>
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www.oneidadispatch.com/new-york-oneida</div>
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On this page you’ll find a thorough AP news report, plus the most interesting stories, photos and videos from or sister news organizations in Kingston, Troy and Saratoga Springs. The page is completely redone with new stories early every morning and updated throughout the day and evening when news breaks.</div>
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•Sports News</div>
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http://www.oneidadispatch.com/sports</div>
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This page is a mix of local stories and major national sports news.</div>
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Across the top you’ll see “Oneida sports,” “VVS sports,” “Canastota sports,” “Cazenovia sports,” “Camden sports” and “Southern Madison County sports.”</div>
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In other words, each of these districts has its own page, where you can still find stories, in chronological order, months after they were published.</div>
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•Events</div>
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http://events.oneidadispatch.com</div>
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This is new. Partnering with a firm called Eventful, the site features local and regional events and allows people to add theirs, which will appear on our site and others. There’s no catch; this is free publicity.</div>
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•Nation and World news</div>
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http://dfm.oneidadispatch.com/nation</div>
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http://dfm.oneidadispatch.com/world</div>
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Our parent company, Digital First Media, is now the second-biggest local news organization in the U.S. We have a team focusing on World and National news for all our websites. The Dispatch now has excellent World and National pages that are constantly updated from a wide variety of sources, all the while freeing our editors here to focus on local and state news. Sweet.</div>
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There’s more, of course; many things are works in progress. But I hope you’ll agree it’s already a big improvement over our old website.</div>
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All this reminded me of our experience in February 2013, when we switched the newspaper to the new look and three-day printing schedule.</div>
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People said the type was too small, so we increased its size — twice. I hope people agree its lots more legible now.</div>
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This brings me to the real reason behind this blog.</div>
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It doesn’t matter what I think about our website, newspaper, app or Facebook page.</div>
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I can be replaced (don’t tell my boss). The Oneida Daily Dispatch got by for 100 years or so without me, but it can’t exist without readers.</div>
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The website and newspaper aren’t mine; they’re yours.</div>
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To that end, we are holding a pair of Community Media Lab events. One will focus on our digital efforts, the website, Facebook page, app, tweets and SMS. The other will focus on our newspaper.</div>
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There will be short demonstrations followed by question-and-answer sessions. The one-hour sessions will be held on successive Sundays.</div>
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•April 6, noon - 1 p.m.: The newspaper. I’ll demonstrate the nuts and bolts of how we put it together. I’ll explain the planning that went into the various pages and talk about how the three-day printing has affected it. There will be Dispatch people on hand to discuss delivery issues.</div>
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•April 13, noon - 1 p.m.: Digital. We’ll explore OneidaDispatch.com and show how stories, photos and videos are placed on it. We’ll take a look at our Facebook page and liveblogs. We’ll show our app and may have some information on our new one.</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-70457279947903735912013-08-30T11:06:00.003-07:002013-08-30T11:06:48.669-07:00Common Core uncommonly good idea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The world’s oldest profession isn’t what you think it is.</div>
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Think about it; the world oldest profession is teaching.</div>
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Teaching began when one cave dweller grunted and showed another where to find a tasty fruit. Teaching predates language, fire, money and certainly that other “oldest” profession.</div>
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It is through teaching that culture and knowledge grows and is passed on so each generation builds on what was learned by the previous ones.</div>
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You would think that over the tens of thousands of years education has been going on -- quite successfully, I might add -- there would be some basic agreement about best practices in how to accomplish it.</div>
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But no, at least not in America.</div>
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Every few years, a new concept takes hold, more or less saying we’ve been doing things all wrong and must adopt this new way of teaching.</div>
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Remember new math?</div>
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Remember phonics?</div>
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Remember No Child Left Behind?</div>
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The latest “new idea” to hit our schools is the Common Core curriculum. It would be tempting to pigeonhole it with these previous trends of varying value.</div>
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But Common Core is more than a fad, it’s a program that guarantees a child raised in California, Connecticut or Oneida, New York receives a comparable education in any of them. Students will have the opportunity to make themselves college-ready or job-ready anywhere. </div>
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When students move to another state, which often happens when parents change jobs, they will find they’re learning similar things at their grade level.</div>
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Another key aspect of Common Core is that it takes as a given our students need to learn more. The world is growing more complex and workers need to be able to use today’s technology and the skills to learn tomorrow’s.</div>
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Some may fear the federal government becoming more involved in local education, and it’s a legitimate fear. With the federal government, the state Education Department and the local school board having a hand in setting policies, we must always be sure nothing keeps talented teachers from using their skills to reach individual students.</div>
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This is more about focusing on understanding over memorization and specifying which years algebra, geometry and cursive writing are taught in the same way the government already specifies that there are 12 grades and kindergarten. </div>
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It will be a lot of work to bring our schools, curriculum in line with the challenging national Common Core standards, but our children are worth it.</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-44053277797154953202013-07-16T13:33:00.000-07:002013-07-16T14:12:57.303-07:00We've started a sports-only Facebook page<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the years I’ve been involved in local news a lot has changed. We have great new tools that help us bring in readers, even in the early stages of newsgathering.</div>
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Some things, though, never change.</div>
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Take sports.</div>
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Some readers love sports, but there are an awful lot who don’t give two hoots.</div>
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In the newspaper, we always handled it by printing sports in a different section.</div>
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Don’t like sports? Toss it away, or give it to the family member who loves sports.</div>
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He or she might not even read the news.</div>
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As they say, it takes all kinds and believe me, among our readers, there are all kinds.</div>
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This is why we’ve launched a new sports-only Facebook page.</div>
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No law and disorder, no tax increases, elections, abortion, wars, gun control or health care just sports.</div>
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There’s another thing I’ve learned about sports fans. They all want the same thing in their sports report - more.</div>
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That’s a little joke, because “more sports” means different things to different sports fans.</div>
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There are very few who like it all. </div>
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Some people like NASCAR, but hate golf. Some like high school football, are lukewarm about college games and can’t stand pro. Some follow evey stat in baseball, others find baseball boring and can’t wait for hoops season. </div>
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Some are runners, while others avoid even walking when they don’t have to.</div>
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The way to serve sports fans is to have as much as we can, so the readers can cherry-pick what they want.</div>
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But this approach doesn’t serve our non-sports fans very well. This is the reason we decided to establish a second Facebook page devoted to local sports.</div>
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What will appear on this new Facebook page?</div>
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OK, there will be links to our sports stories, tweets, touts and photos from local contests, usually as they’re happening.</div>
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But what else?</div>
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This is where you can play a big role.</div>
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It’s bare-bones now, but we want to link to other local facebook pages, a sort of a clearing house for all sporting things local. Beyond that, we want to be the area’s man source for sports information in print and online, delivering wahat readers whats when and where they want it.</div>
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If you have a suggestion, please stop by ad like our Facebook page ot or email me or the Sports Depatment at: Sports@OneidaDispatch.com</div>
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Our Facebook pages. If you click “Like” you will receive our news on your news feed:</div>
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<b>Main</b>: Facebook.com/OneidaDispatch</div>
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<b>Sports</b>: Facebook.com/OneidaDispatchSports</div>
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<i>Kurt Wanfried, a Penn State graduate, has been editor of the Oneida Daily Dispatch for 12 years. Visit his blog at kurtwanfried.blogspot.com follow him @OneidaEditor on Twitter or email him: kwanfried@OneidaDispatch.com</i></div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-79412516771390665252013-06-04T06:18:00.003-07:002013-06-04T12:08:17.184-07:00SU disses Penn State, Syracuse fans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've made no secret about my love for my alma mater, Penn State.<br />
I've written about the terrible goings on there in the past.<br />
But now I want to talk about how the schedule-makers are messing with Penn State.<br />
When the Big 10 went to 12 teams, they divided themselves into two divisions the comically-named "Legend" and "Leaders." The plan was to pay all six teams in your division and the best team in one division plays the best tem in the other for the Big 10 crown. This set-up has brought excitement and big bucks to other conferences.<br />
In addition to these games, each team would play one team, the same team, each year in the same division to develop a rivalry. Penn State's rival was to be Nebraska. Sounds cool, huh?<br />
Nebraska's a traditional football powerhouse. The game year after year figured to be an exciting series I grew excited.<br />
But wait, when the Big 10 added Maryland and Rutgers, growing to 14 teams, they shuffled the divisions again, making them more geographical and dropping the hokey names.<br />
But the second-worst thing is that the "rivalry" game with Nebraska was dropped, too.<br />
This year, it's third year, will be its last year.<br />
Some storied rivalry.<br />
But here's the worst thing about Penn State's schedule, and I can's blame the blame Big 10 for this one.<br />
Penn State opens this year against Syracuse.<br />
Yay, right? This should be welcomed by local Penn State fans and our friends who'll be wearing orange that day.<br />
No. Syracuse, has move the Aug. 31 game to to the Meadowlands. That's right, to New Jersey.<br />
This should make those wearing blue and white, and those wearing orange and blue, just blue.<br />
Syracuse, of late, has been billing itself as "New York's Team."<br />
It't a marketing slogan that would be fervently disputed at Colgate, Stony Brook and the University at Albany.<br />
I think it's obvious when SU professes to be "New York's Team," it really wants to be "NYC's Team." The heck with Central New York<br />
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<b>2013 Penn State Football Schedule</b></div>
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Aug. 31 vs. Syracuse (at New Meadowlands Stadium; East Rutherford, N.J.)<br />
Sept. 7 - EASTERN MICHIGAN<br />
Sept. 14 - CENTRAL FLORIDA<br />
Sept. 21 - KENT STATE<br />
Oct. 5 at Indiana<br />
Oct. 12 - MICHIGAN<br />
Oct. 26 at Ohio State<br />
Nov. 2 - ILLINOIS<br />
Nov. 9 at Minnesota<br />
Nov. 16 - PURDUE<br />
Nov. 23 - NEBRASKA<br />
Nov. 30 at Wisconsin</div>
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<span class="s1"><b>2014 Penn State Football Schedule</b></span><br />
Aug. 30 - TEMPLE<br />
Sept. 6 - AKRON<br />
Sept. 13 - *at Rutgers<br />
Sept. 20 - UMASS<br />
Sept. 27 - NORTHWESTERN<br />
Oct. 11 - *at Michigan<br />
Oct. 25 - *OHIO STATE<br />
Nov. 1 - *MARYLAND<br />
Nov. 8 - *at Indiana<br />
Nov. 22 - at Illinois<br />
Nov. 29 - *MICHIGAN STATE</div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-65176169904106025412013-05-23T03:50:00.002-07:002013-05-24T15:24:48.326-07:00Here's where I'll be Memorial Day weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I always like Memorial Day weekend.<br />
Not so much for the time off work, because I rarely get vey much, but because it's a holiday with a meaning.<br />
I think it's important that we, as a country, remember those who sacrificed so much for us.<br />
This weekend I have several plans.<br />
Friday I'll attend the Oneida Memorial Day Parade, where I've been invited to be a judge again this year.<br />
Monday I'll attend the opening of the new Town of Eaton Museum.<br />
And Sunday I'll teach my son, George, to use our new mower.<br />
Expect me to tweet under my handle, #OneidaEditor, from the first two.<br />
I don't think that will happen from the last. If I'm lucky, and the weather's favorable, maybe we'll play a little golf.<br />
And I'll be at work Monday.<br />
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-51023129655966414532013-05-14T04:37:00.001-07:002013-05-14T04:37:16.798-07:00Changes at Durhamville golf course great news<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's good news that the golf course in Durhamville (now called Old Erie) has new owners.<br />
It's especially good news that those new owners, Dave Nieman and John Stewart, have groundskeeping expertise, and a real bonus that they're local guys.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Foster+pond+golf+durhamville&aq=&sll=43.131119,-75.661962&sspn=0.006342,0.008379&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=Foster+pond+golf&hnear=Durhamville,+Verona,+Oneida,+New+York&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br /><small><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Foster+pond+golf+durhamville&aq=&sll=43.131119,-75.661962&sspn=0.006342,0.008379&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=Foster+pond+golf&hnear=Durhamville,+Verona,+Oneida,+New+York&z=14&iwloc=A" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small><br />
My son, George, and I enjoy that course and it deserves to be kept better, especially the greens.<br />
Like many, we started play there when it was called Brandy Brook. We played there often when George was on the OHS golf team, since it became the school's home course.<br />
We played there a few times in the last couple of years, but to be honest, it wasn't in as good shape as it used to be.<br />
So this comes as great news to me.<br />
It's the closest course to my house and it's relatively easy (I'm not very good). I need the exercise.<br />
George and I aren't members anywhere this year, so we plan to play all the local courses, Casolwood, Oneida Community, Pleasant Knolls, Rogues Roost, The Ridge, Valley View, Barker Brook and maybe Shenandoah.<br />
As long as Old Erie's prices stay affordable, I plan to play there multiple times.<br />
The owners have big plans for improvements and it all sounds great.<br />
It will be exciting to watch the new course take shape.<br />
Sports Editor Kyle Mennig interviewed one of the new owners read it here:<br />
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<a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2013/05/14/sports/doc518ecfcd4295e457124004.txt">http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2013/05/14/sports/doc518ecfcd4295e457124004.txt</a><br />
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-89822460869493774232013-04-16T13:01:00.000-07:002013-04-16T13:08:16.357-07:00'I’ve made a nameplate especially for you'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6Sky0ljdSvSQhN6tAX3x79-fIAy6mmiKBJ9-IBnn2afV_wXjbOEyYF1SMJbbS5tqwCrCaA-IyYGLsaPhj5xOLqIV7cySYmM3hyphenhyphenIgYDszoZt9rTmubHPl0PO-p3OXgd_Hn0R56DZtfM33/s1600/doc4ff398d9865cf885378880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6Sky0ljdSvSQhN6tAX3x79-fIAy6mmiKBJ9-IBnn2afV_wXjbOEyYF1SMJbbS5tqwCrCaA-IyYGLsaPhj5xOLqIV7cySYmM3hyphenhyphenIgYDszoZt9rTmubHPl0PO-p3OXgd_Hn0R56DZtfM33/s320/doc4ff398d9865cf885378880.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">John Haeger Photo</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Jerry Althouse, right, and </span><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Kevin Evans</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I used to see Jerry Althouse several times a week.<br />
<div class="p1">
It seems every time I entered Walmart he’d say, “I’ve saved a cart especially for you.”</div>
<div class="p1">
Now I know he told the same thing to every shopper, but it still was nice to hear. </div>
<div class="p1">
I’m no business expert. I’m sure Walmart’s managers know what they’re doing; they didn’t become the world’s No. 1 retailer by accident. But I miss the greeters, especially Jerry.</div>
<div class="p1">
But he didn’t go away, prop up his feet and start watching daytime TV. At 75 years old, Althouse began a new career in woodworking.</div>
<div class="p1">
He stopped in the office last summer wanting to put a letter to the editor in the paper bidding goodbye to all the people he met at Walmart and encourage them to keep donating empty bottles and cans to the Verona Food Pantry.</div>
<div class="p1">
We got to talking about the changes in his life, and I knew others would be interested, too. So I assigned the story to Jolene Cleaver and she wrote a heartwarming story about Althouse and his business partner, Kevin Evans.</div>
<div class="p1">
I thought nothing more about it until a couple of weeks ago when Althouse came into the office.</div>
<div class="p1">
He had a brown paper bag and a firm handshake.</div>
<div class="p1">
It seems the woodworking business is growing and he thinks The Dispatch was a key factor in that. In the bag he had a desk nameplate he made for me.</div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2eeEW53riCI2VhJrz2saqGdwZq9zo11QbiY1PEtZRLheI7y80-pfmRBV1ZIOVk7Uuhgxi2H_vbkXXIqIGDwUMB3ITGTuqJ3sw_i_Mrf3BR-1Z-jbpXUGVuSW46ys9wjawILkbkVGVi1h0/s1600/name.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2eeEW53riCI2VhJrz2saqGdwZq9zo11QbiY1PEtZRLheI7y80-pfmRBV1ZIOVk7Uuhgxi2H_vbkXXIqIGDwUMB3ITGTuqJ3sw_i_Mrf3BR-1Z-jbpXUGVuSW46ys9wjawILkbkVGVi1h0/s320/name.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
The front nameplate is in the foreground.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
On the iPad in the background is a photo of the back</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
that says "The Buck Stops Here!"</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the front it says “Kurt Wanfried, Editor.” And on the back it says “The Buck Stops Here!”</div>
<div class="p1">
I was stunned -- not just because my name was spelled correctly, and not because he used the dreaded exclamation point. And not even because he assumed I don’t have a boss. Everyone, even the president of the United States, has a boss (though the corporate honchos believe most decisions should be made at the local level).</div>
<div class="p1">
I was taken aback that someone would give me something that took such obvious effort and thoughtfulness -- and I was worried that I couldn’t accept it.</div>
<div class="p1">
In journalism school they always stress ethics; you’re not supposed to accept gifts from anyone who appears in stories anytime for any reason. </div>
<div class="p1">
And this gift violated this basic rule.</div>
<div class="p1">
What to do?</div>
<div class="p1">
To refuse it would be an insult to this nice man.</div>
<div class="p1">
When publishers send us review copies of books and CDs, I donate them to the library. I couldn’t do that with this. Who, except me, would want it?</div>
<div class="p1">
Besides, I love it; it’s great. It has real character.</div>
<div class="p1">
I’ve decided to keep it.</div>
<div class="p1">
But, full disclosure, I’ve decided to fess up in this blog. If readers want to castigate me for a lapse in ethics, go ahead. </div>
<div class="p1">
But in the meantime, I’ll just say, “Thank you, Jerry.”</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>Jolene Cleaver’s story about Jerry Althouse:</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/07/03/news/doc4ff398d9865cf885378880.txt">www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/07/03/news/doc4ff398d9865cf885378880.txt</a></div>
</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>Jerry Althouse’s letter to the editor:</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/06/18/opinion/doc4fdf68717479c833460525.txt">www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/06/18/opinion/doc4fdf68717479c833460525.txt</a></div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-30002354680477457892013-03-15T06:48:00.002-07:002013-03-15T08:29:43.222-07:00BYO cable modem and save $4 per month on your Time-Warner bill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_-v3kR6Mu55tSQhx0IAFVc80NeWuCMMdxggtXIS3g6ctB7bU39kwLn4ViIbjo8TiLPzVyCDUOQlHHxKPRkGH1AQwz3cUntNF5lbJ7YWnHkHwDh4nNf80z9wSyCEiBJBL1fw2Wt1ebpNf/s1600/Modem1-ready.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_-v3kR6Mu55tSQhx0IAFVc80NeWuCMMdxggtXIS3g6ctB7bU39kwLn4ViIbjo8TiLPzVyCDUOQlHHxKPRkGH1AQwz3cUntNF5lbJ7YWnHkHwDh4nNf80z9wSyCEiBJBL1fw2Wt1ebpNf/s320/Modem1-ready.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the left is Time-Warner's cable modem <br />
and on the right is the one I purchased <br />
for $20 on eBay. This was shot before <br />
the changeover and the "old" modem <br />
is still providing the Internet service.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When Time-Warner announced in the fall it would start charging $4 per month to lease me the modem that was already in my house, I decided to buy my own cable modem and stop paying this extra charge.<br />
It turns out there are quite a few units that will work on TWCNY's Roadrunner system.<br />
The modem that's installed in my house, a Motorola Surfboard SB5101N is a common model that's served me well, so that's what I shopped for.<br />
Amazon has new ones for about $47; it would pay for itself in a year.<br />
But what about a used one? I turned to eBay and snapped up an SB5101, which my research has shown is functionally the same, for $20 (I've since seen them for $14).<br />
At $4 per month, it won't take long to pay for itself.<br />
Hooking it up was easy.<br />
I plugged it in to an outlet and moved the cable and ethernet connections from the old box to the "new" box (be sure to screw in the cable connector snugly).<br />
At this point you'll lose Internet service.<br />
I made note of the modem's MAC address and called Time-Warner's helpline (I got through quickly for a change). I<br />
gave the technician the MAC address, she punched some computer keys on her end, and in a few minutes my Internet was back on using my modem.<br />
It seems as speedy as ever.<br />
Now all I have to do is drive to Rome and drop off Time-Warner's modem and my cable bill will go down $4 per month.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNMeq0N23cT7jvMl3JokjFmCbMyYpY-rrEveTIe3li9VLTQLpgtyXGyb8Puvlr1KgLoMXPivZThgjm2wLWoXXr-rn5k18hrfe0qyD6IZW-QwJh23WQlQmTbkrsuJfJuNunqh8WDTodOHY/s1600/Modem2-ready.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNMeq0N23cT7jvMl3JokjFmCbMyYpY-rrEveTIe3li9VLTQLpgtyXGyb8Puvlr1KgLoMXPivZThgjm2wLWoXXr-rn5k18hrfe0qyD6IZW-QwJh23WQlQmTbkrsuJfJuNunqh8WDTodOHY/s320/Modem2-ready.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've circled the MAC address found <br />
on the bottom of TWCNY's modem.<br />
The other MAC ID is for a USB port this<br />
particular model happens to have <br />
(my "new" modem doesn't have one, <br />
but I have no need for this feature).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b>Below are some links I used.</b><br />
Time-Warner's instructions on how to do this, including a lit of modems that have been tested:<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/TcYzLM">http://bit.ly/TcYzLM</a><br />
<br />
The Surfboard SB5101 on Amazon:<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/XNHzyB">http://amzn.to/XNHzyB</a><br />
<br />
The Surfboard SB5101 on eBay<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/140cHyD">http://bit.ly/140cHyD</a><br />
<br />
Please note the modem I bought was a DOCSIS 2.0 model, suitable for most typical home accounts. If you're shelling out the extra bucks for one of the high-end data Internet plans, you'll need a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, which will cost you at least twice as much.<br />
Since Time-Warner charges the same amount to lease one of these, and will replace it for free if it goes bad, leasing might not be such a bad deal if you need one of these.</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-12940707389993661262013-02-26T12:23:00.001-08:002013-02-26T12:23:25.403-08:0020 items means 20 items<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="p1">
<b>Don’t you just hate it when you’re standing in the grocery checkout line holding three or for items and the jerk in front of you clearly has more than he’s supposed to? </b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>I’m sad to say a couple of days ago, I was that jerk.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>It started innocently enough.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>It was Sunday afternoon; the store was crowded.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>As I went to check out, I scouted each lane. They all had at least two or three shoppers with overflowing carts waiting to unload, except the express lines.I hadn’t counted the items in my cart, but I knew it was close. Is a bag of four apples one item or four? </b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>When I’m waiting in the express line, I often count the items in the cart in front of me. But I didn’t want to count mine. There were now two people behind me, I figured the die was cast. I decided to offload a couple of items to an unrelated display near the checkout aisle to reduce my total.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>I never did count my items. When I stepped into the line, I figured I had about 22, but as I unloaded, it clearly closer to 30. To his credit, the guy behind me was a nice guy; we even shared some chit-chat about carbs.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>I checked out and paid as quickly as I could, feeling pretty guilty.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>But here’s the worst part; just as I was approaching the exit, clear on the other side of the store, the checkout clerk came running up to me; it seems I’d forgotten one of my bags.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Ouch!</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>So first I went through the express line with too many items, then I took the clerk away, so the next person had to wait even longer.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>I don’t even know why I’m admitting this; I should put it behind me and just not do it again. But it’s worth remembering it only takes one wrong move to turn a gentleman into a cad.</b></div>
</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-42692787573585914552013-02-13T04:07:00.002-08:002013-02-13T06:30:40.917-08:00Facebook headline contest was my bad idea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
I went too far on Facebook.<br />
In an effort to be more engaging, I invited Facebook readers to write a headline for a story about a man who, the county sheriff says, was caught smuggling pills into the county jail in a balloon stuffed into his rectum.<br />
I said there were no promises the headline would appear in the much more staid print edition.<br />
Facebook is has a different audience, a different tone than print. The rules are new, different and evolving.<br />
It's apparent I broke those rules and offended a segment of the community.<br />
That was not the goal.<br />
Here was my thinking, which I now know to be flawed:<br />
One of the most popular features in the Oneida Daily Dispatch and many other papers is the "Odd and Ends," short humorous stories, usually about somebody doing something stupid:<br />
- The burglar getting stuck trying to climb in through the chimney.<br />
- The Man getting arrested for DWI on a lawnmower.<br />
- The woman selling chunks of crumbled sheetrock as crack to naive drug users.<br />
- The political candidate getting arrested for DWI twice on the same night.<br />
Each of these stories was funny and made its way around the globe because of that. I feel no guilt in running them even though, if you scratched below the surface, you'd likely find someone's disease-grade problem with drugs of alcohol, which clearly isn't funny.<br />
But running the contest, even on Facebook, was wrong. While the goal was to be an engaging journalist, the reality was that I stepped over the line from journalist to not-so-funny comedian (even though I was soliciting the jokes from others).<br />
For the record, I understand alcohol and drug dependence is a disease; my dad was an abusive alcoholic. But my opinion is that adults must accept responsibility for their actions.<br />
These aren't the kinds of diseases one catches by touching a wrong doorknob or breathing the wrong air. You catch these diseases by sustained, repeated actions that everyone knows are bad choices.<br />
And family members have often been dismayed by what they read about their loved ones, but we can't stop publishing facts.<br />
But we can stop publishing ridicule.<br />
The news business is changing; there are no models of how local news should be as we learn to use these new media.<br />
We'll continue to experiment, especially with our online efforts to find the right balance; I do believe our Facebook presence should be lighter and more informal than the print newspaper has traditionally been.<br />
I'm labeling this experiment a failure; too many were offended to say it was anything else.<br />
I'll fulfill my promise. Mike Hennagir wrote the most clever headline; it's not the one we used on today's story. But he'll receive his gift certificate.<br />
But please note, that unlike the moderated comment feature on our website, we have no control over Facebook comments.<br />
While this contest was my mistake, I'm sure people will continue to post observations that are stupid, clever, hurtful, supportive, liberal, conservative and everything in-between; that's How Facebook rolls.<br />
<br />
Here what some people said:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Courtney Bennett</b> -- What's the difference between actual print and Facebook? Offensive is still offensive regardless of the medium in which it was published. Just because this is not a "real tragedy" to you, it is for him and his family. Making light of someone with a disease (i.e. addiction) is never OK. Whoever hit the "submit button" on the initial post is a true disgrace to this community.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Angel Morales</b> -- I'm sorry but addiction is not a disease. How can it be a disease when you have to first make a choice to do the drugs? Why should we have pity on someone who endangers their life, their family or any other human who chooses to do the right thing? You say pity them I say pity us as we are the ones who are paying for people to be in jail where they are kept warm and fed and relatively take it easy all while people can't afford to heat their homes, buy food or put gas in their cars. If they take a humorous approach and were to put it in the paper then kudos to them because the ones reading it spent their money buying the paper instead of buying drugs.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Kalenna Maire</b> -- Well if he was not stupid enough to get caught maybe people would not overreact. It's so sad and funny at the same time. Don't feel sorry for him at all… Only people I feel sorry for are the decent people in his family that have to say they are related.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Robin Collins </b>-- Yeah, I have to agree, this was a bad idea! Poor judgement on someone's part. It's a drug problem; it's not funny.</i><br />
<br />
If you visit our Facebook page, you'll see the opinion is pretty split. I'll assume that the many who offered headlines were not offended, and the poll has gone both ways, but remained close.<br />
But what matters most to me, is how this sits on my conscience, and it's not well. We often publish news items that are distressing; that's our job and I can live with that.<br />
I took people's reactions to heart. I wasn't wrong to publish the story, and even give it prominence.<br />
I was wrong to encourage ridicule and apologize to those who were offended.</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-6748392588080435302013-02-04T06:36:00.002-08:002013-02-05T07:19:58.875-08:00Reactions to the new Oneida Daily Dispatch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">We produced our first Sunday paper on Saturday. </span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">It wasn't perfect, but we did get it completed on time. I expect each edition will be better than the last.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">A group of people came into the office on Sunday and shared their opinion about the three-day printing schedule, the bold new design, some errors we overlooked and at least one awful mistake that hits you in the face.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Yes, I'm talking about the unreadable first page of out new Sunday comics section.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">The only thing to do about that is to re-run it. You'll find it on page B5 of today's edition.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sorry. The people who handle that page have figured out what went so horribly wrong and are changing their procedures to ensure it never happens again.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">From talking with readers on the phone and those who came out to Sunday's Community Media Lab event, many readers have some similar objections:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">• They want the paper to continue being printed and delivered six days a week. In earlier columns and blog entries, I explained why this decision was made and how 6-day delivery would be unaffordable for us and for our subscribers . I know many people, especially older people, like newspapers printed on paper. I'm one of them. I liked newspapers so much, I chose producing them for my career. But it's clear that younger people prefer their news on their computers, tablets and smartphones. If we are going to survive another 163 years, we must provide what these readers want, too.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">• The story type is too small; the photos and headlines are too big. I agree. While there are many aspects of the bold, modern redesign I love, ultimately it's about the reader. Since many newspaper readers tend to be older, the type should be larger and easier to read. This is a corporate-wide look the Journal Register newspapers are adopting, and we're one of the first. I'll emphatically pass on the feedback, I'm sure they will listen. I wish I could just wave my hand and fix it, but it will take time.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">I've been talking to a lot of readers, and I don't want make it sound like all I'm hearing are gripes.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">People are noticing that there's more local news.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Some people love the new design (these people have good eyes).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Since we're pledging to provide more content, we've received some excellent suggestions we're already working on.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Some people said the new design looks too much like a big-city paper; we've lost our small-town neighborly feel. I smiled at this one; it's the same thing people were saying almost 12 years ago, the last time this newspaper installed a new computer system and took on a new look. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Over the coming weeks, we'll get better at using this new equipment and format; I know readers will get used to finding the new spots for their favorite features.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">The news staff will work hard to gather more local news and I'll do my best to lobby for some tweaks in the new design.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Meanwhile, look for more frequent updates to our website, Facebook page and even this blog as we begin to master these powerful tools.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;">It's your newspaper; we only work here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Read my earlier blog about the 3-day decision: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7776139599083959135#editor/target=post;postID=3274458841749805219</span></div>
</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-32744588417498052192013-01-21T12:14:00.002-08:002013-01-21T17:08:12.965-08:00Why The Oneida Daily Dispatch is switching to thrice-weekly print publication<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="p1">
We made the big announcement last week.</div>
<div class="p1">
We told the world that beginning Feb. 3:</div>
<div class="p1">
• We’re starting a Sunday print edition;</div>
<div class="p1">
• The schedule for our print edition will be thee times per week instead of the current six;</div>
<div class="p1">
• There will be no layoffs from this change;</div>
<div class="p1">
• We’re installing a state-of-the art computer system which will allow us to share national and international news and sports with other Digital First Media newsrooms, freeing our staff to spend more time on local news.</div>
<div class="p1">
This is a big change for us, one that hasn’t made all our readers happy. I thought I’d share some background.</div>
<div class="p1">
If the Feb. 3 date sounds familiar, it should; it’s the same day the Syracuse Post Standard is also going to three-days-per week publication.</div>
<div class="p1">
It’s no secret the Post Standard provides our printing and delivery services.</div>
<div class="p1">
But those services are now only available on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.</div>
<div class="p1">
When Syracuse announced their changes (we had about 15 minutes’ advance notice) we examined our options. Here’s what we came up with:</div>
<div class="p1">
• We could find somewhere else to print our paper (relatively easy) and assemble a carrier force and set up routes (not so easy, and frighteningly expensive). On the one hand, we could probably pick up some subscribers who’d leave Syracuse because of their 3-day publication; on the other hand we’d have to jack up our prices to pay for it all. I don’t think that would work out so well.</div>
<div class="p1">
• We could stop printing altogether and become an Internet-only publication, but although our website is growing quickly, print still represents more than half our business.</div>
<div class="p1">
• We could go with the flow and publish our print edition on the same day Syracuse does.</div>
<div class="p1">
We chose the third option; it was the only logical choice.</div>
<div class="p1">
We were reluctant to make this move. I know a lot of people like newspapers and want them delivered at the same time every day.</div>
<div class="p1">
And not everybody uses the Internet.</div>
<div class="p1">
But there are big advantages to this plan.</div>
<div class="p1">
It’s expensive to print a newspaper and expensive to drive to thousands of locations to deliver it; the costs of both of these are only going to rise.</div>
<div class="p1">
By printing and delivering half as many days, we can afford to provide at least twice as many pages of local news each of those days.</div>
<div class="p1">
And all the local news (and daily features, puzzles and comics) will be in those three newspapers.</div>
<div class="p1">
In other words, our newspaper readers won’t miss out on anything, except a few weekly visits from their carrier. </div>
<div class="p1">
We didn’t take this decision lightly. Hey, I’m a newspaper reader, too.</div>
<div class="p1">
But anyone who’s been following current events at all knows it’s tough these days for the newspaper business. </div>
<div class="p1">
And we are a business. Yes, we serve the public, but we need to make a profit doing it.</div>
<div class="p1">
We think this 3-day model will allow us to keep doing it for a long time.</div>
<div class="p1">
Meanwhile, we will use our new digital tools to continually improve our online offerings.</div>
<div class="p1">
We will give people the news faster and better on home computers, smartphones and tablets.</div>
<div class="p1">
We’ll use video, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, live-streaming and any new tools that hold promise.</div>
<div class="p1">
While I’m a bit wistful about the end of our 6-day newspaper publication, I’m excited about what we’re going to be able to do online.</div>
<div class="p1">
The newspaper will have all the features of the old one (and more), plus will have a modern new look.</div>
<div class="p1">
I ask that you give it a chance. Read it, kick the tires, get to know it.</div>
<div class="p1">
I’m holding a pair of 1-hour Community Media Lab events in The Dispatch offices on the days the first two editions come out. I’m hoping people attend, in person or via an Internet live-stream, and share their observations and suggestions.</div>
<div class="p1">
The sessions are:</div>
<div class="p1">
• Sunday, Feb. 3, noon to 1 p.m.</div>
<div class="p1">
• Tuesday, Feb. 5, 7-8 p.m.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-15820029735183695542012-12-10T12:59:00.001-08:002012-12-10T13:32:13.009-08:00We have big problems with democracy in New York<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I came here from Carlisle, Pa. a little more than 10 years ago, I had a lot to learn.<br />
I understood Pennsylvania government pretty well; I knew New York would be different, but I had no idea how different.<br />
After a decade, I can tell you that government is much worse in Central New York. It suffers from structural problems that don’t exist (or are less severe) in Central Pennsylvania. And the problems are all interrelated; each of them makes the other ones worse. <br />
While each of these merits exploration, here are some of them in a nutshell:<br />
<b>• Too many governments</b>: Who taxes you? The answer is the state, the county, the school district, the city and maybe the library. If you don’t live in the city, substitute the town and perhaps the village. Who plows your road? It could be any of the above, except the school district and the library. This is inefficient and wasteful and adds many unnecessary layers of administration. When I came here I was amazed some people were taxed both by a village and a township for essentially the same thing. I always thought Maryland had the right idea; the county runs everything, even the schools.<br />
<b>• Too many elections:</b> They’re run by different levels of government in different places at different times. It’s not surprising voter turnout here is abysmal; just the way incumbent politicians like it. In Pennsylvania there are two elections per year, period: a spring primary and a fall general election. All elections are run by the county and turnout, though still lower than it should be, is far better than here. And there’s no “making a primary.” There’s always a primary, even if there’s only one name on the ballot. Voters can write in a name if they don’t like the sole candidate.<br />
<b>• Too many taxes:</b> In Pennsylvania, the state portion of school funding is smaller, making the state tax burden lower. As Albany does a poorer and poorer job of fulfilling its funding responsibilities, our local school taxes remain high or grow, our schools don’t get the money they need and our state taxes don’t go down. We all lose.<br />
<b>• Too much politics:</b> Three men in a room, four men in a room, whatever. Forget what you learned in civics class about how a bill becomes law. In New York it’s all done in back-room deals for reasons the rest of us will never know. Most lawmakers sit in their leather-covered seats like overpaid bumps on a log until told by their party bosses how to vote... or else. Sadly, New York was ahead of the curve in this area; this seems to be the system of government the U.S. Congress has now adopted.<br />
None of this is set in stone. It only exists because the citizens let it exist.<br />
Politicians promise us reform, but we don’t hold their feet to the fire when they don’t deliver it. We accept their excuses and return them to office.<br />
Most of us only bother to vote every four years... if that.<br />
You could say we’re getting what we deserve: Government of the politicians, by the politicians and for the politicians.</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-660913678176736062012-11-18T07:48:00.000-08:002012-11-18T10:36:14.237-08:00I should not have published column by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Over there near my name it says "editor."<br />
Some people have told me it should say "censor" or even "Nazi," when I've decided a letter or comment shouldn't be published.<br />
I often work with the people, especially letter-writers, and help them re-do their letters into something that can run, and still convey their meaning.<br />
The most basic rule is they can't accuse anyone of being stupid or evil, but they can say the people are doing stupid or evil things.<br />
We also publish syndicated columns and cartoons. And we subscribe to more than we need, so I can choose a good mix of liberal and conservative voices for the Opinion Page.<br />
I usually allow commentary on national issues a bit more leeway. After all, saying harsh things about those who run our government is not only an American tradition, it's the reason our Founding Fathers drafted the First Amendment and made it No. 1.<br />
I do sometimes edit the columns, usually just for length, a misspelling or a grammar error. But we probably don't print even half of the columns we receive for many reasons.<br />
I let one through on Friday that many people complained about. Written by noted conservatives Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, the column set out to analyze the reasons Barack Obama did so well and Mitt Romney did so poorly in the recent presidential election.<br />
Much of what they said was interesting whether or not you agree:<br />
•"The Republican Party has truly become corporatist. The next Republican to win the presidency must be a populist."<br />
•"The GOP must stop coddling big business. Free trade is important, but it isn't so perfect as to be worshiped.<br />
•"The establishment elite of the GOP must stop the war against conservative and Christian candidates lower down the ticket. Christians are the heart of the GOP, and we are not amused."<br />
But the column also included a few statements several readers told me in no uncertain terms should never have appeared because they are disrespectful or are opinions presented as fact. I think this section is what they were talking about:<br />
"Barack Obama isn't a good man. He is evil and corrupt. Romney didn't have the guts to say it. He didn't want to talk about Obama's associations with communists and socialists.<br />
He didn't want to talk about Obama's associations with Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Romney never wanted to talk about Obama's sketchy past, his fictional birth story, and his possible ineligibility to serve as president. Romney didn't want to talk about Obama's receipt of corrupt and foreign election funds."<br />
"...What about Obama's support for infanticide? What about his support for death panels?"<br />
Whew! The Browns' column contained some strong stuff.<br />
It certainly appears I didn't read the piece as carefully as I should have.<br />
However, in my feeble defense, I will say some of that is opinion or spin.<br />
For example:<br />
•Obama supports abortion rights and many consider abortion to be infanticide.<br />
•There are people who believe there has been a grand coverup about where Obama was born (though since his mom was a U.S. citizen, that shouldn't even matter). There are also people who believe in ghosts, angels, yetis, a faked moon landing, secret flying saucers in New Mexico and a secret conspiracy to kill JFK (I might believe that one).<br />
• As president, Obama has attempted to restore, improve or establish U.S. relations with other countries around the world, including socialist, communist and Islamist nations. I suppose you could say he's had "associations" with them, even though that stretches the word in a most disingenuous way.<br />
• And as for death panels, we've always had them. The insurance companies decide who we'll spend a fortune on to keep alive and who we won't.<br />
<br />
So that leaves us with two statements:<br />
1. "He is evil and corrupt," which is name-calling and , as such, breaks one of my basic rules.<br />
2. "Obama's receipt of corrupt and foreign election funds." I didn't have a clue what that was about when I allowed it to be published, thus breaking another basic rule.<br />
I have subsequently learned some conservatives were complaining that the Obama campaign was making it too easy for foreigners to contribute via credit cards. They didn't prove it was actually happening. <br />
So, it's clear I should not have published the column. I apologize to those whose sensibilities were offended.<br />
I spoke to one reader who said she canceled her subscription and wouldn't restart it unless I could guarantee her that the Browns would never again appear on the pages of The Dispatch.<br />
She said she was a teacher and such disrespect for the president is a bad thing for children to see.<br />
I'm sorry but I won't make that promise.<br />
While I admit my error and vow to be more vigilant, the Browns and some of our other strong conservative (and liberal) columnists do speak for a point of view that exists among our neighbors.<br />
And I was frankly shocked this educated person would be willing to throw away all the important local news and opinion just because she disrespected the opinions expressed in one column. This is, in my opinion, a true case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.<br />
My goal is not to pick and choose columns that happen to agree with my personal worldview; I don't want The Dispatch to just be a mouthpiece of the left or right like Fox News or MSNBC.<br />
No reader should agree or disagree with everything he or she sees in our Opinion section. I include lots of things that are far from my personal point of view; this was one of them.<br />
I want The Dispatch to be a place where all hav a voice and show respect for their neighbors when they disagree.<br />
The better we understand each other's points of view, the more likely were are to come together to achieve solutions.<br />
<br />
The column in question: http://bit.ly/RHGTGA<br />
The letter rules: http://bit.ly/Pes27p<br />
More about Floyd Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Brown<br />
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-74943181872257030352012-11-05T08:24:00.001-08:002012-11-05T08:24:11.399-08:00I'm glad the presidential election campaign is over<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I know I’m not alone in being glad the election season’s finally over.<br />It’s ironic, because a presidential election used to be something I looked forward to every four years -- sort of a political Olympics.<br />It’s my job to pay attention to national news and issues that will affect the local area; during the election season, it’s exciting that so many others are paying attention, too.<br />But showing interest is one thing, the rancor and ill will of this go-round is something different altogether.<br />This has been particularly noticeable on Facebook, where people I consider friends, have been posting mean-spirited, party-line propaganda day after day after day. I confess I began to lose respect for some people I considered more than just Facebook friends.<br />But sometimes, problems caused by Facebook, can also be solved by Facebook. I changed my settings to ignore those who were most annoying; others I simply unfriended. <br />Three other things are bugging me this year.<br />First, because of the way the Electoral College works, our presidential votes in New York won’t count. This is a blue state; Barack Obama will get our 29 electoral votes no matter which box you or I check. We do also face choices in the state Assembly and U.S. Congress, so don’t let this prevent you from voting<br />Second, the presidential years are usually the high-water marks for voting. In local elections, where each vote counts vitally, the turnout is usually mush lower.<br />And lastly, I find it hard to believe anyone who’s been paying attention, even a little bit, can still be undecided. These two presidential candidates present such a stark difference. It’s scary that the whole contest will apparently be won on the effect of some negative campaign ads on a few undecided voters in a few swing states.<br />If you haven’t yet seen the Saturday Night Live fake commercial about undecided voters, have a look; it’s hilarious and too true:<br />
<br />
<iframe width="512" height="288" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=nlg_ios3tutcfrhatkiaow&et=112&st=0&it=i57" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-60006547997926071582012-10-17T13:52:00.000-07:002012-10-17T13:52:50.283-07:00Help me fact-check this letter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Below is a letter to the editor I received a few days ago.<br />While it's impossible, to fully fact-check every letter we publish, and people can often disagree on the interpretation of true facts, this letter makes some bold statements of outrageous conduct if they are true.<br />I told the writer I'll be happy to print it if I can be shown that the statements are factual. While you should always take everything you read with at least a grain of salt, you should also have some confidence in what you read in a "mainstream media" publication.<br />I'd like some help.<br />Can anyone show a credible source proving or disproving any of these statements?<br />To get us started, I found a listing on Snopes.com about No. 5. that shows it was a policy -- quickly rewritten -- not of the Army, but of the hospital. Wounded veterans were complaining that they were getting unwanted visits from persistent evangelists, so the hospital brass wrote some poorly-crafted guidelines.<br />Most of us would these soldiers deserve some protection whilere they're healing in a hospial bed.<br />There may be good reasons to oppose President Obama, but No. 5 isn't one of them.<br /><br /><br />To The Editor:<br /><br />Four years ago President Obama said he wanted to change America. He certainly has -- little by little -- he denies our Christian heritage and curtails our religious freedom.<br />
For example:<br /><br />1. April 2009 — He ordered a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered while speaking at Georgetown University.<br />2. April 2010 — He disinvited Franklin Graham from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer because of complaints from the Muslim community.<br />3. October 2010 — He begins to omit the phrase “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence.<br />4. June 2011 — The Dept. of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.<br />5. September 2011— The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center “No religious items (Bibles, reading materials) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”<br />6. November 2011 — The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child because the program is run by a Christian charity.<br /><br />These are only a few of the times President Obama has shown hostility to people of the Christian faith; there are actually many other examples. <br />This information is taken from the August issue of the American Family Association Journal.<br /><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
- A reader</div>
(I'm withholding the name until the letter is published)<br /><br />The following comes from the Army Times via Snopes.com:<br />The policy in question was established after receiving complaints from Warriors and their families at both Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center who were approached by unsolicited faith-based groups visiting the inpatient wards. Patients and families reported that these groups were proselytizing and making disparaging remarks about Warrior’s service, sometimes using threatening and condemning language. According to the patients, some visits were persistent and repeated.<br />The WRNMMC policy was not intended to nor did it ever have the effect of limiting religious expression of patients. The policy as written was incorrect and should have been more thoroughly reviewed before its release. It has been rescinded. <br />Family members have been and will always be allowed to bring religious materials and texts. Subsequently, the new “Patient Visitation Policy” WRNATMILMEDCEN INSTRUCTION 5720.4D was reissued on 24 January 2012 with all incorrect verbiage and implications removed.walterreed.asp#2kd8ZTxDF2Cvq6AF.99<br /><br />The full listing: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/walterreed.asp<br /></div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-85284706775684495342012-09-30T05:36:00.001-07:002012-09-30T08:24:04.171-07:00Come visit The Dispatch at Community Day today <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZ8gxg_TkgERDLJ7P9nMSTo-hwqhx_s_vgQ9is_4lUKsj9Ds8Xb_QZvf1GhfJn0yPF_B7Jw_A1RoqBvcFhMAoyWDrdYNulJEaq_vX5Pjas3VRwUC-L2vVVuqMVqTOEm_rrlRQ5N1fBAyz/s1600/VVS-booth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZ8gxg_TkgERDLJ7P9nMSTo-hwqhx_s_vgQ9is_4lUKsj9Ds8Xb_QZvf1GhfJn0yPF_B7Jw_A1RoqBvcFhMAoyWDrdYNulJEaq_vX5Pjas3VRwUC-L2vVVuqMVqTOEm_rrlRQ5N1fBAyz/s320/VVS-booth.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General Manager Karen Alvord, left, and Circulation Supervisor Sabrina Sharkey (wo)man The Dispatch booth at VVS.</td></tr>
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If you've never been to a VVS Community Day, you owe it to yourself to check out this excellent event.<br />
When you do, stop by The Dispatch booth outside the auditorium. Several of us will be there throughout the day.<br />
We'll be happy to answer any news-realed question and demonstrate live blogging, tweeting, facebooking and show you how we post stuff on our website.<br />
<br />
You can read more about VVS Community Day here: <a href="http://bit.ly/SWCtJm">http://bit.ly/SWCtJm</a></div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-37974535377145252872012-09-18T10:04:00.000-07:002012-09-18T15:54:47.859-07:00Madison County Hop Tour was great<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I love learning about history; I also enjoy good food and drink.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So Sunday was quite a treat.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Along
with my beautiful wife, Linda, and 29 other local people, I spent Sunday
on Madison County Historical Society’s Hop Heritage Tour. It was hosted by Dot
Willsey and Carl Stearns, a preservation architect who’s studied Madison
County’s hop houses and draft kilns. Both are interesting,
knowledgeable and care a lot about preserving local history.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It was a full day traipsing all over southern Madison County. It began at 9 a.m. and we finished at 7 p.m.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I’m
not going to go into great detail; suffice it to say the hop industry played a major
role in the history of Madison County. And while much of it has slipped
away, much still remains if you know where to look and what to look for.</div>
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I’m including some photos.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN57jrlYCvH7EoFvEE4T6HRkX96h0Stg90BLNUzdl4L0S_VlQ6Njbo4D-Eb3AEjSBf5m35ClCYBZvKhoqzdXTNERjlj-pQihqdHVbq4fs9GzKDqU_m7EY7eJOKHSqDg1uaDYUeMNI5Cj3Y/s1600/xoast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN57jrlYCvH7EoFvEE4T6HRkX96h0Stg90BLNUzdl4L0S_VlQ6Njbo4D-Eb3AEjSBf5m35ClCYBZvKhoqzdXTNERjlj-pQihqdHVbq4fs9GzKDqU_m7EY7eJOKHSqDg1uaDYUeMNI5Cj3Y/s320/xoast.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The group visits the Marshall Oast House on Valley Mills Road in the Town of Stockbridge. This English-style round stone kiln was built in 1867 and used until hop framing became unprofitable in 1911. Ron and Holly Marshall keep the structure in good repair.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcaBF9tmwR-2KASSgL8O_L7Th1mykcIgjwZaliuQL7Znw2rnymGCnFdshkBY9-YWs5vjGqlno-8W2LDFXvGe2BBFbDbk0A90C_YCIB_cFSj7_nYERhs1dABTy2ZSh86PtkR_z63ZW_LCY/s1600/xoast2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcaBF9tmwR-2KASSgL8O_L7Th1mykcIgjwZaliuQL7Znw2rnymGCnFdshkBY9-YWs5vjGqlno-8W2LDFXvGe2BBFbDbk0A90C_YCIB_cFSj7_nYERhs1dABTy2ZSh86PtkR_z63ZW_LCY/s320/xoast2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carl Stearns points out the ways stone was laid for the Marshall Oast House hop kiln.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5NAPQYwB5aSwKu9-BG4kIfRpI8D7sHm0EPNJ0wlA6H5LNykr9wyWafaRi1wCTYW_yYbXeDog-LGsE01dbGHH1bO9LuUT0IH8O5nGBJL1XXTRxJE-Whf3CofWa1MObHyNaReXUtyOLWCv/s1600/xattic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5NAPQYwB5aSwKu9-BG4kIfRpI8D7sHm0EPNJ0wlA6H5LNykr9wyWafaRi1wCTYW_yYbXeDog-LGsE01dbGHH1bO9LuUT0IH8O5nGBJL1XXTRxJE-Whf3CofWa1MObHyNaReXUtyOLWCv/s320/xattic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carl Stearns points out a feature in the store room of the Marshall Oast House.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lath-and-plaster conical ceiling of the Marshall Oast House hop kiln.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Z5qfTEXasCpe59HuWsdhaEcKIEdkZK3r-cnChOKw4yVuyplWn2T9bwKeNjGdtTou1Qu3HyeON1Kf6UCcXYJ03EAHTnGL3XclG8ukujcwms2P4o-IfOjmZF_A7uhekp_xotp0BbFX0cqa/s1600/xfloor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Z5qfTEXasCpe59HuWsdhaEcKIEdkZK3r-cnChOKw4yVuyplWn2T9bwKeNjGdtTou1Qu3HyeON1Kf6UCcXYJ03EAHTnGL3XclG8ukujcwms2P4o-IfOjmZF_A7uhekp_xotp0BbFX0cqa/s320/xfloor.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The slotted dry room floor of the Marshall Oast House hop kiln. A stove in the room below would provide heat and the hop cones would be spread out a foot deep on the floor, which would be covered with fabric.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3K4X90Lb94tRmqVRfgPQPnWsKpjlBZO3FrzgdzuxWY1XdvesZ47_X0ceAmiU5AgRHLT_i0lngFDf46btdo2cIymsW-D163nH9JPpy-3BDNt15iOump7J6HqPY5fMBctcrR_I0cRVRBcu/s1600/xbrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3K4X90Lb94tRmqVRfgPQPnWsKpjlBZO3FrzgdzuxWY1XdvesZ47_X0ceAmiU5AgRHLT_i0lngFDf46btdo2cIymsW-D163nH9JPpy-3BDNt15iOump7J6HqPY5fMBctcrR_I0cRVRBcu/s320/xbrew.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brewer Matt Walen explains the process he uses to make beer at Good Nature Brewing in Hamilton. Walen makes a variety of beers and ales using "98 percent" Madison County hops.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklEUd8p3VFecfNchs9bGLVxEbtAHxUexuRVNO-FUrWDqqjOtA7kOTl_9NqFR6_vadeBa4E9ltIuODkbxg1z8n1V-LngRC3GeiWrzmtRKmlK9v5An6CXIbPvlg7epo3aise8VUbqt7pYsl/s1600/xpoles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklEUd8p3VFecfNchs9bGLVxEbtAHxUexuRVNO-FUrWDqqjOtA7kOTl_9NqFR6_vadeBa4E9ltIuODkbxg1z8n1V-LngRC3GeiWrzmtRKmlK9v5An6CXIbPvlg7epo3aise8VUbqt7pYsl/s320/xpoles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourists visit Madison County's newest hop yard at Mosher Farms on Fargo Road In Bouckville.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltGXcgONx5TUwz8pC41W2xvUeqShM8lj8VLqMi8Bglzh24OoFRXg49ubEvoaUPherDVoLZgOQuSIpQVsZxKTuRnEHkulTc-mLG61Bylqo_XeIF2FgngM05j39Xw-l_YmCF0VcgdE2bFdJ/s1600/xMachine-fixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltGXcgONx5TUwz8pC41W2xvUeqShM8lj8VLqMi8Bglzh24OoFRXg49ubEvoaUPherDVoLZgOQuSIpQVsZxKTuRnEHkulTc-mLG61Bylqo_XeIF2FgngM05j39Xw-l_YmCF0VcgdE2bFdJ/s320/xMachine-fixed.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larry Fisher demonstrates the hop picker he built at Foothill Hops on Bear Path Road in Munnsville.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5X_nAKExShzire76ty4GVGizv182ETrtCXGisPB9m_F6yp_Toy7YWiH70tTWCbdetF8n3Cc9Xr0nhbTHAFDF3Cc_BmIkt8MZLRissHsCah6FfbHl1ugXXJKyBA4P4bgphz2y4ZaMBBixH/s1600/xpole-fixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5X_nAKExShzire76ty4GVGizv182ETrtCXGisPB9m_F6yp_Toy7YWiH70tTWCbdetF8n3Cc9Xr0nhbTHAFDF3Cc_BmIkt8MZLRissHsCah6FfbHl1ugXXJKyBA4P4bgphz2y4ZaMBBixH/s320/xpole-fixed.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kate Fisher talks about growing hops at Foothill Hops on Bear Path Road in Munnsville.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
However
there are no photos of what was certainly the tastiest part -- the
wonderful six-course dinner at Morrisville State College’s Copper Turret
restaurant.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Chef Kerry Beadle has reason to be proud. I’ll bet my favorite TV chef, Gordon Ramsay, would give it high marks.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Indeed, you couldn’t buy a meal that good at any price. And here’s why.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1.
As part of the college, the chefs are teaching the students to do
things the right way (people only start cutting corners when they get
out in the real world).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
2. Unlike a normal restaurant service, there were just six items on the menu, each prepared to be consumed at a designated time.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
3. They used all local ingredients, even making their own pastrami and mustard from scratch.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Here was the menu:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 1: House-made pastrami with pumpernickel crostini and roasted fennel accompanied with pilsner-sage mustard. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 2: Crispy JD farms roasted pork belly served with pale ale cornichons gastrique. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 3: Goat-cheese-filled raviolis finished with a hop infused pesto. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 4: Stout mole beef short rib served on a sweet potato cake with crispy plantains.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 5: Crabmeat tossed with local sweet creamed corn, heirloom tomatoes and cheddar cheese served on beer flat bread.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Course 6: Hop ice cream garnished with mint leaves.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
These weren’t just little samples. Each was a full plate of food accompanied with three-quarters of a glass of a paired beer.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The food kept the beer from having its full intoxicating effect (I hope).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And it’s only fair to mention, there was another meal, a picnic lunch catered by the Poolville Country Store; it was excellent. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Linda and I will definitely return to the Poolville Country Store and to The Copper Turret for dinner.<br />
<br />
Learn more about the Madison County Hop Heritage Trail (complete with a map) at: <a href="http://www.madisontourism.com/">www.madisontourism.com</a><br />
Learn more about Madison County Historical Society at: <a href="http://www.mchs1900.org/">www.mchs1900.org</a><br />
Foothill Hops: <a href="http://www.foothillhops.com/">www.foothillhops.com</a><br />
Morrisville State's Copper Turret: <a href="http://bit.ly/Sy1dYh">http://bit.ly/Sy1dYh</a><br />
Good Nature Brewing: <a href="http://www.goodnaturebrewing.com/">www.goodnaturebrewing.com</a><br />
The Poolville Country Store: <a href="http://www.poolvillecountrystore.com/">www.poolvillecountrystore.com</a><br />
Read Dispatch coverage of Hop Fest:<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/Qj3qXL">http://bit.ly/Qj3qXL</a><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/PgFLq4">http://bit.ly/PgFLq4</a> <br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-7584550525798112072012-09-11T11:59:00.003-07:002012-09-11T11:59:48.476-07:00Go to Hop Fest in Oneida this weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9HZxzj2uyFLPHCvaPrelaqRFUQXSSdgWDxtbvDOTPRcrKPQXNDDK2uWJbfuXqyFrfJboGzyoyESPtdXEeIwtlqo-nhpVPUp7vtxdP-8lcskT7k8haxBa8_2na-4IlL0K-yAloXkUdAFv/s1600/hop4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9HZxzj2uyFLPHCvaPrelaqRFUQXSSdgWDxtbvDOTPRcrKPQXNDDK2uWJbfuXqyFrfJboGzyoyESPtdXEeIwtlqo-nhpVPUp7vtxdP-8lcskT7k8haxBa8_2na-4IlL0K-yAloXkUdAFv/s320/hop4.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You can see the holes in the leavers where the bugs munched on our hop plant.</span></b></td></tr>
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If you like beer or history and have never been to Madison County Historical Society's Hop Fest, you owe it to yourself to go.<br />There are events all through the weekend.<br />
There's lots to learn about this important chapter in local history. Plus, you can sample many types of good beer.<br />During a previous Hop Fest, Linda and I bought a small hop plant from Norm Dann and planted it beside our front porch. It came up in the spring and grew to about 7 feet the first year. At the end of the season we cut it back and composted the old leaves, vines and hop flowers (the part they used in beer brewing).<br />The second year it nearly covered the porch, a healthy, vibrant plant.<br />This year, I think because of the odd weather, the plant drew bugs that ate many of the hop leaves. Nevertheless it bounced back and ended up pretty nice.<br />I'm mentioning this because I've heard Dann will be at Hop Fest again this year and you can pick up your own plant.<br />Learn more about Hop Fest:<br /><a href="http://www.mchs1900.org/hopfest">www.mchs1900.org/hopfest</a><a href="http://www.mchs1900.org/hopfest" target="_blank">www.mchs1900.org/hopfest</a></div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776139599083959135.post-27750277901174058642012-08-30T08:23:00.004-07:002012-09-06T04:28:46.600-07:00Oneida Route 5 project has poor cost/benefit ratio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpn5KJbcuHOaEWDVlClb2IjWhPPbB1akIGvtcx-v7D5FBeL9S30msNi7wAc3eBz4ehRf_Dz_35azTGNXjU82u8V8G1So9jUFgj6YSbVCenheFbAxAB7XWQ4Bjk1XxL0se3KSjvfE6EB5i/s1600/sidewalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpn5KJbcuHOaEWDVlClb2IjWhPPbB1akIGvtcx-v7D5FBeL9S30msNi7wAc3eBz4ehRf_Dz_35azTGNXjU82u8V8G1So9jUFgj6YSbVCenheFbAxAB7XWQ4Bjk1XxL0se3KSjvfE6EB5i/s320/sidewalk.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new sidewalk passes through the place NAPA's been using for parking.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oneida Mayor Don Hudson’s <a href="http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/08/30/opinion/doc503bfb1c75a3d818385578.txt" target="_blank">guest column</a> in Tuesday’s edition made an important point.<br />
<br />
He
noted how the construction has made it difficult for businesses along
Route 5 and suggested we all make a point to stop in and patronize them.<br />
<br />
Hear, hear; the man makes sense.<br />
<br />
But he’s also a politician, and left out some other facts that deserve saying:<br />
<br />
The state’s Route 5 project was poorly conceived and will do little to improve the flow of traffic through Oneida.<br />
<br />
Construction
signs often say, “Temporary inconvenience; permanent improvement.” In
this case, the inconvenience has been too long and the improvement,
while permanent, is negligible.<br />
<br />
How many of us used to travel along Route 5 and say, “What a wonderful stretch of road this would be if it only had sidewalks.”<br />
<br />
There were lots of problems with that road, and the lack of sidewalks wouldn’t have made most people’s top five.<br />
<br />
A couple of weeks ago I was traveling on the road to the auto parts store in the Glenwood Shopping Plaza.<br />
<br />
My
Jeep was hard to start on damp mornings, so I figured I’d replace the
distributor cap and perhaps the ignition wires in an attempt to cure the
problem.<br />
<br />
I don’t do much mechanical work, so I rarely patronize
any auto parts store. But I shopped at the Advance Auto Parts store
before; I received good service, so I was returning.<br />
<br />
But here I
was, stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic through the construction zone
and noticed there was the NAPA auto parts store to my left. I quickly
left Route 5 and pulled into a parking space at the NAPA store.<br />
<br />
As
I climbed out of my Jeep, I noticed something odd. I’d parked in one of
the store’s clearly marked spaces, but I was also parked across the new
sidewalk.<br />
<br />
The state built the new sidewalk right through the
store’s prime parking spaces; a pedestrian walking along the sidewalk
would have to walk around my Jeep.<br />
<br />
In case you’re interesested.
NAPA did have what I needed, and it appears replacing the distributor
cap (and the rotor) may have cured my problem. I haven’t decided whether
or not to replace the wires.<br />
<br />
Which (at last) brings us back to the mayor’s message.<br />
<br />
The Route 5 businesses have been through a tough time. I’m sure many of us will make a point of shopping there when we can.<br />
<br />
But what about the city?<br />
<br />
I
assume the city will work with the business owners as they reconfigure
their parking areas. After all, the wonderful new sidewalks weren’t
there when the buildings’ site plans were drawn.<br />
<br />
The real
question is: Will the city police be ticketing our vehicles for driving
on the sidewalk or parking on the sidewalk when we do stop at these
businesses?<br />
<br />
There are many who say “the law is the law,” and
oppose ever bending the rules. Others believe government should use
discretion and sometimes strictly following the rules is the wrong
course of action.<br />
<br />
What do you think?<br />
<br />
Should the Oneida City Police strictly enforce the parking laws in this area or tend to let things slide?</div>
Kurt Wanfriedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00551384923757054742noreply@blogger.com0