Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 2

Thurs. A.pr .24. 1975 PRESS. Binghamton, N.Y. 3-A Case Is Cleared of Intimidation Charge at Oneonta fTV "I'M A TAXPAYER, too," Molinari declared.

"I'm going to throw this out." Molinari also said that he could not agree with Gozigian that the Safety Board should be prevented from hearing the charge of bringing discredit on the department. "I think it should be left open," he said. 'TU go along ALLEN W. i CASE JOHN INSETTA with you on the other chargesilt seems to me they've been i a Ts 4 ft-" I disposed of." By PETE DOBINSKY ONEONTA Police Sgt. Allen W.

Case, 35, awaiting imposition of penalty on one charge, has been cleared of a separate charge of intimidating a municipal employe at City Hall in Oneonta. The determination of innocent was disclosed yesterday by the Board of Public Safety, which conducted a private hearing last March 25. COMPLAINANT in the case, based on a March 10 incident in or near the office of City Clerk Michael W. Lisa, was John Insetta, city personnel technician. At the time, Insetta was slated to testify in private before the Safety Board on one of four charges previously brought against the sergeant by Chief of Police Joseph F.

DeSalvatore. He complained that when he encountered Case, the sergeant said to him, 'Have you ever been shot and you like to In their determination, Chairman Margaret Hathaway and Commissioners Edward J. Griffin and Charles C. Burn-sworth listed these findings of fact: Case willingly admitted that he made the remarks. you ever been shot and 'Would you like to to Insetta on March 10.

The term 'being shot at' is a figure of speech commonly used within the Oneonta Police Department to ex: press a feeling of being "picked or misused. Case was facing a disciplinary hearing on four charges at the time that he made the remarks to Insetta, and felt that he was "a target" and "was being shot at from many angles." Case's remarks were an effort to communicate these feelings to Insetta. IN CONCLUSION, the board said it believed its findings Baldo said he would be willing to consent to dismissal of the revolver and overtime charges against the sergeant. At the same time, however, he said the Safety Board could consider the prior record of Case, good and bad, in deciding on a penalty. Molinari continued the stay of proceedings by the Safety Board until memos of law are filed by attorneys for the sergeant and the City of Oneonta.

"I'M SICK AND tired of these police matters," the judge declared. "They cost the taxpayers a lot of money." "When I was police attorney (in Oneonta), we held classes for police," Molinari continued. "They listened to us. And they weren't arrogant. This disturbs me." Mrs.

Hathaway subsequently said the Safety Board would prefer to conclude hearings on all charges before imposing a penalty on Case. ''If the board decides that we can't have a hearing on the other three charges, then a penalty will be imposed," she said. On the charges by the chief, Case was suspended without pay last Feb. 28, but the suspension was lifted and he returned to duty March 20. His penalty could range from a reprimand to loss of job.

were not sufficient to constitute violations of three articles of the duties, rules and regulations of, the Police Department. The board said it believed the statement admitted by Case "employed a very poor choice of words," but found no reason to believe that the sergeant intended any harassment or threat to Insetta. "Based on the above findings of fact, we find Sergeant Case not guilty of this charge," was the determination reached last April 16. The decision was not made public until Case, a policeman for the last seven years, had been formally notified by the board. Last March 25, the sergeant was informed by the board that he had been found guilty of failure to make a proper and timely report of an accident involving a prowl car he was driving.

The charge was one of the four brought by the chief of police. OTHER CHARGES BY DeSalvatore involve improper claims for overtime, accidental discharge of his revolver in police headquarters, arid bringing discredit on the department. Edward Gozigian of Cooperstown, attorney for Case, sought a court order banning the board from hearing the last three charges against the sergeant. Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Molinari of Oneonta reserved decision last April 2, after hearing arguments by Gozigian and City Attorney Albert A.

Baldo. Gozigian, alluding to what could be double jeopardy Case had been penalized and disciplined by DeSalvatore last fall in connection with the revolver and overtime incidents. Molinari said it appeared to him that there had been "prior punishment" on the two The judge asked Baldo whether he thought that the revolver incident, for which Case was suspended for three days without pay, "should be hashed all over again at the expense of taxpayers?" kuu 4'-vH- 4' 'S- fM'4 4 Oneonta Board Reports Teacher Pay Bid Called Outrageous Insect's Food Value Cited WASHINGTON (AP) The National Agricultural Chemicals Association is alarmed over a Stanford University professor's observation that insects could provide nutritious food for Americans if they weren't so fussy. In its current newsletter, the association said the professor's remarks "will no doubt get more publicity" than they deserve. The newsletter said that among his observations the professor said fried termites have three times the protein content of eggs and that smoked caterpillars have six times the protein in eggs.

Should these benefits be added to the OTA salary de mands, they would raise total compensation of an average teacher to more than $18,000 annually, she said. KUNTZ, APoughkeepsie attorney retained to conduct negotiations for the district, pointed out that the average per capita income in Otsego County is $4,421 annually. "The teachers are simply going to have to realize that the taxpayers won't stand for another whopping big increase like the one they received last year," he said. Kuntz contended that with unemployment in Otsego PHOTO BY ANNE DOBINSKY ONEONTA School officials have labeled "outrageous" a demand by teachers for a salary increase of more than annually in the Consolidated School District of Greater Oneonta. As negotiations continue, demands by the Oneonta Teachers' Association (OTA) were made public last night by Eloise 0.

Ellis, president of the Board of Education. RAYMOND G. KUNTZ, chief school negotiator, termed the association demands "outrageous" and contended that teachers are "showing little regard for the taxpayer." He said the district would not agree to OTA demands and emphasized that "the school, district is not going to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy to satisfy unreasonable salary demands." In a press release, Mrs. Ellis said the association also is demanding over $12,000 in Spring Launching on Lagoon at Neahwa Park in Oneonta Look What Turned Up! 12 PRE-OWNED CLEARANCE $500,000 Tag 'vt On Building ONEONTA The Board of Education is asking $500,000 for the sprawling Junior High School complex in the Consolidated School District of Greater BOOKKEEPING SERVICE Complete payroll bookkeeping service at a price the small businessman can afford. UNIVERSAL BOOKKEEPING SERVICE 106 lAUREl AVE.

BINGHAMTON 723-91 SS With Purchase. HHVRQ 7Z Oneonta. In establishing the price last night, the board also agreed to give the City of Oneonta first refusal on the property. Involved are all buildings, playgrounds and parking areas bounded by Academy Street, Watkins Avenue, Grove Street and Fairview Street. On a motion by member Al ELOISE O.

ELLIS increases for extra curricular and summer school salaries. "Such demands, if granted, would bring the cost of the average teacher's salary to over $15,000 per year," she declared. Mrs. Ellis said demands of the OTA do not take into account the 30 per cent pension and benefit package which teachers already are receiving from the district. bert S.

Nader, the board de-. cided to have negotiations for sale of the complex conducted by school attorney John K. Dunn and a committee of the board. The Junior High School is scheduled to be abandoned in June of 1976, some three months before planned opening of an expanded Junior-Senior High School off upper East Street. Joanne Brown, president; Deborah Brienza, vice-president; Karen Mertz, secretary, and Mary Bassler, treasurer.

Mrs. Ruth W. Rabeler, director-coordinator of the school, will present candidates for capping by. Mrs. William Ackerson, an instructor.

Lighting of lamps will be by Mrs. Geraldine Goodrich, who was president of the Gass of 1974. Graduates of practical nursing who will be ushering are, Versa Smith, 1963; Ruth Cur-ran, 1966; Norine Blanchard Elderkin, 1968, and Joyce Tripp Schaffer, 1970. Delhi Tech Reunion On Weekend DELHI A program of activities has been planned for the 1975 annual reunion of Delhi Tech Alumni tomorrow and Saturday. A Ken Anderson Western round and square dancing workshop will be held tomorrow evening in Farrell Hall gymnasium.

Alumni who are in club plus and intermediate levels are invited to be guests for the evening. Camping is available, without charge, for alumni tomorrow and Saturday at the Valley Campus Farm Center. Alumni registration will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Bush Hall Lobby, continuing up to dinner time in the MacDonald Hall Lobby.

The new officers for the year will be presented at the 5:30 p.m. dinner following the President'si Reception at 4:30 p.m. in MacDonald Hall. I Following the Alumni Asso; ciation meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday on the top floor of Bush Hall, class meetings will be held, with special attention given to classes ending in and "5." Special activities for the children's section include baby-sitting during the day, supervised by the Delta Zeta Tau sorority, with recreational play for older children in the Farrell Hall gymnasium.

Arrangements may be made on an individual basis for babysitters during the evening programs. The Little National Dairy Show, a fitting and showmanship contest for college sut-dents, welcomes alumni from II a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Golfing is available on a regu lar greens-fee basis.

More than 400 alumni took part in last year's program at Delhi Tech. The committee for this year's observance includes Brian Mitteer, alumni president, Robert Hillebrand, alumni faculty representative, and Louise Hisman, alumni secretary. County at a 35-year high, taxpayers cannot afford such salaries, and good public policy demands that such increases be resisted to the utmost." Mrs. Ellis handed the release to reporters after a school board meeting in the cafeteria of the Junior High School. Some 10 minutes after convening the meeting, the board went into executive session for some 50 minutes, presumably to discuss a request by the Citizens School Committee to cancel a referendum scheduled for May 6.

THE PROPOSITION on the ballot in the annual school election involves raising constitutional tax limit of the district from 1.5 to 1.75 per cent. William Swain, chairman, said the committee wanted the referendum cancelled until Financial needs of the district for 1975-76 become known. "The committee wishes to make it clear that, at this point, it is neutral to the issue of an increase in the tax limit," he wrote the board, in part. "Following the limited study, the members have made of the problems, hampered by the lack of information publi-cally available, we had little basis for making a decision," Swain continued. "It is felt that the citizens of the Oneonta district are in the same quandary.

"WE THEREFORE urge that the refendum be cancelled and a new one scheduled if the financial needs of the school district require additional revenue," he concluded. After reviewing the impend-' ing state aid picture and mentioning the teachers' salary demand, Mrs. Ellis said "the board is obligated to place this critical issue (constitutional tax limit before the people and to be guided by their voice." Albert S. Nader, a member of the board, said he hopes the proposition is approved, "but I'm not optimistic about its passing." "I think it should be submitted to the people," he declared. Another board member, Dr.

Samuel A. Pondolfino, said he believes it is imperative that elected officials "go back to (Continued on Page 5A) fe I Ljsl IIMI 1 iNi W-S -7 GOOD PRICES Tiir. ARE JUST THE BEGINNING! 2o Different 1 1 I Models of famous MtfC kI reg.sn65 Make Organs 1 ff I cJL All Under s995' UP To 41000 UWl DON'T DELAY! Buy With Confidence PRICES WILL NEVER 1 From the Area's Largest and BE THIS LOW AGAIN. 1 Oldest Musical Dept. Store GET THE BEST Since 1865 PRICE TODAY.

Satisfaction Guaranteed ORGAN 34 Convenient Xredit Terms HE. sA thRhy l5 1 1 I Gapping Program For PN Class of '75 ONEONTA Capping ceremonies for the Otsego Area School of Practical Nursing Class of 1975 will be at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Senior High School in Oneonta. Speaker will be Margaret Preston, a registered nurse who was the first director of the school, which conducts its classes at Fox Memorial Hospital. In the Class of 1975 are, Esther Bagnardi, Mary Basslet, Scott Benedict, Dorothy Ben-I nett, Deborah Brienza, Joanne Brown, Lesley Deleski, Patricia Frascatore, Colleen Hughes, Doris Light, Joanne Manee, Karen Mertz, Michelle Moore, Georgia Ritton, Kathleen Robinson, Phyllis Vickie Van Dyke, and Linda Van Valkenberg.

Officers of the class are Weeks 4) Dickinson Chenango St. 7242481 Binghamton Free Parking Sale Enrk 7 VICII IIIUIJ. Ill I.