THE SPORTS BEAT

IN THE HALL OF HEROES

Amanda Hoepker/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Bert Blyleven, who with Roberto Alomar will be one of two players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at the end of July, made his orientation visit to Cooperstown Tuesday, May 3, to get prepped for the event.  Walking through the Hall of Plaques gave him “goosebumps,” the former pitching standout said.  Born in the Netherlands, he will be the “first Dutchman” in the Hall.

Outlaw Manager Returns For Year 2
The Oneonta Outlaws (NYCBL) have announced manager Greg Zackrison will return to lead the team in 2011 after guiding the Outlaws to a second best league record of 26-16, including a league best 18-4 at home and playoffs in 2010.
Zackrison also coached the Saratoga Phillies to a third place finish and playoffs in 2009 before the team’s relocation to Oneonta. Greg is presently an assistant coach at Massasoit Community College in Brockton Massachusetts.
Outlaws Co-Owner and Managing Partner Keith Rogers said, “Greg’s a leader and has the rare ability to get the most out of his players while keeping a fun, loose clubhouse.’’
The season begins in June.

Second Hartwick Hill Race Is Here
The second annual Hartwick Hill Race will be Saturday, May 7.
The Family Resource Network and the Hartwick College Fellowship of Christian Athletes have organized the race for the second year. Registration begins at 11 a.m. in the parking lot of Saxton Hall and the race begins at noon.
The route is from the base of the Hartwick College campus to Elmore Field at the top, where the Hartwick College men’s and women’s soccer teams will be hosting the EDD Fund Soccer Clinic for individuals with disabilities from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 
Registration fee, $10. The fee for the Caterpillar Race (a team of four which runs the race tied together) is $40.  There are prizes for first, second and third place. There will also be a prize for the individual or team with the most spirit, inspired by last year’s Hobart Fire Department Bagpipers, who ran the race in their kilts.  An ice-cream social follows.
To pre-register, visit www.familyrn.org, call 432-0001 or e-mail familyrn@gmail.com.

Hamm SUNY Oneonta Athlete of Week
Edmeston graduate and Oneonta State freshman Kori Hamm was named the school’s Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 1.
Hamm placed second in the triple jump for the women’s track and field team at the Lion’s Invitational hosted by the College of New Jersey this past Saturday.
Her hop, skip and jump of 37.27 feet automatically qualifies her for SUNYAC’s, ECAC’s and the NCAA provisional list. It was also her personal best on the 2011 outdoor season.

E-mail items for The Sports Beat to Eric Ahlqvist at eahlqvist@hotmail.com

OHS’ O’Connor, Gollin Expected To Shine At Don Howard Invitational

By ERIC AHLQVIST - Sports Editor

With star power in Christie O’Connor and Beth Gollin, and balance throughout the team, head coach Dave Forbes and the Oneonta girls track team have their sights set on a second straight Don Howard Cooperstown Invitational title Saturday, May 7.
“Our goal is to win,” said Forbes. “I think we can balance our events well enough to score and win the title.”
The Yellowjackets boast two athletes who have posted section-best times this season in O’Connor and Gollin.
O’Connor’s 5-4 in the high jump is the area’s best, and Gollin, a five-year runner, has posted area-best times in both the 2,000 steeplechase and 3,000. Gollin has the area’s second-best time in the 400 hurdles.
Forbes said O’Connor suffered an injury in practice last week, but is expected to compete on Saturday. Cooperstown’s Lucy Ford (5-2) and Oneonta’s Brittnay Herrick (5-0) should give O’Connor competition. 
Gollin and O’Connor are two of just five seniors on the team of 35 this season.
Juniors Jenn Jelic (high hurdles, sprints) and Lauren Ward (400, sprints) are ones to watch, Forbes said, along with fellow junior Kim Scofield in the triple jump. Senior Kayleigh Ward is also a threat in the discus, Forbes said.
The Oneonta boys’ team lost 12 seniors to graduation, and most of this year’s team is comprised of freshman and sophomores, said fourth-year head coach Brady Cotter, a 1997 Milford graduate.
OHS senior Zach Rabeler and Cooperstown’s Will Reis could have the race of the day in the 800. Reis has recorded the best 800 time this season, but Rabeler is just one second behind.
“That should definitely be a race that should get the fans out of their seats,” said Cooperstown track coach Joe Kennedy.   
Cotter said junior Levi Anderson posted a personal best in the 1,600 at a meet last Friday, and freshmen Wendell lee and Mat Robinson “keep surprising him” in the sprint events.
The Yellowjackets are one of 11 teams scheduled to compete at the meet, which begins at 2 p.m. Host Cooperstown is the heavy favorite to win the title, paced by senior Alec Silvera, who won a gold medal in the 110 hurdles at last year’s state meet.
The Redskins won 12 of 17 events last season and amassed over 200 points in winning the title.
“It will be good for us to see that type of competition,” Cotter said. “This is when the season really gets going.”
Oneonta will host its own Invitational beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, May 6.

PEANUTS AND CRACKERS

Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Dylan Wade, Bradley Jacobs, Dayne Bissel-Smith, Ryan Miller, Logan Monroe and Reisen Sheldon of the 6th Ward Athletic Club sprint across Doc Knapp Field as their team was introduced on Saturday, May 2, during the opening day ceremonies.

Oneonta Little League teams line up on the third-base line at Doc Knapp Field as each team and its players are introduced to a crowd of families and fans Saturday, April 30, during opening day ceremonies.

Pals on the Royal Group team watch the festivities.  From left, they are Matt Searo, Jordan Goble, Brandon Gregory and Tyler Bruce of Oneonta.

Kiraki Gillespie (of the Police team) holds her sister Nolana Gillespie (of the Benson Agency team,  named after Nolan Ryan) after opening ceremonies.

For more pictures visit our facebook album -- Little League, 2011

Is Dog-Fight Ring Operating Locally?

To the Editor:
 My Rottweiler Titan has been missing for the last seven months from Davenport Center. Maybe you have seen the billboard on Roue 7 outside  Oneonta.
While searching for my dog, I discovered a nasty rumor in my town that he was stolen by someone who fights dogs.
At first I thought it was a mean joke of some kind. But I started asking anyone I spoke with if they had ever heard of anything and I believe there really is a dog-fighting ring operating in our area. There is really no way to find these people other than anonymous tips.
I would like your paper to do an article about dog fighting. How to notice the signs, why people should care and how to take action.
The Humane Society of the United States has some good information as do ASPCA reporters.
SUE SWART
Davenport Center

New Film Explores Drug Use

Director Plue Starts Filming In Oneonta

Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Since researching the movie, Joel Plue can recognize signs of drug dealing locally.

By JIM KEVLIN

Life may be just one thing after another, but for some people – Joel Plue, for instance – it’s even moreso.
He was born in the late 1980s in Oneonta.  His mom is Lori Kelly-Bailey.  His grandfather, Richard Kelly, founded Mold-A-Matic.
He suffered from juvenile arthritis, so his mother moved him down to Pleasantville, in Westchester County, to be near his specialist.
Soon, the National Arthritis Foundation had embraced him as its “national hero,” and he was doing promotional work.
At 9, his mom enrolled him in the American Comedy Institute, a boot camp in Manhattan for aspiring comics.
By age 11, he’d parlayed that into an audition at Caroline’s Comedy Club, and before long he was performing with the likes of Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg.
By 15, he’d tired of the fast lane and he and his mother moved back to Oneonta to finish school.
“I wanted to be a normal person for a little bit, which I regretted,” he said, sipping on an ice tea at the Latte Lounge the other week.
But he wasn’t there to talk about all that.
Since returning home, he sometimes works at Mold-A-Matic.  And other times, he makes movies.
Tuesday, April 26, Joel Plue began filming “The Cure,” which he intends to be an exploration of the heroin problem in, not just Oneonta, but towns like Oneonta, and how to overcome it.
In his late 20s, Plue nonetheless has credentials.
In 2001, he and his mother were co-producers of “Switchback,” starring Paul Sorvino and filmed in the Adirondack mining towns near Ticonderoga.  It was released as “Mineville,” and will be screened in the Oneonta Theater later this month to generate interest in the new venture.
In 2007, he collaborated with Jason Mewes on “Silent But Deadly.”
During this period, a cousin of his who lived in Oneonta, a college student, died of a heroin overdose, a family trauma.
“He only did it three times.  The last time was fatal,” said Plue.  “He was very good guy, always jovial and friendly. He wanted to be a doctor.”
About this time, he went to see “American Gangster,” Ridley Scott’s celebrated movie about Frank Lucas, a black gangster played by Denzel Washington who, collaborating with a GI cousin in Vietnam, was able to cut out the middleman in importing heroin from Southeast Asia.
A true story.  Lucas was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to 70 years in jail, but was released in 1991 and founded the Frank Lucas Foundation, dedicated to showing inner-city youth a better way.
Joel Plue tracked down Lucas, who is now wheel-chair bound, and convinced him to be interviewed for “The Cure.”
The first interview, however, conducted the other day, was with Korey Rowe, the Oneonta filmmaker – “Loose Change,” (2007) – who was charged in January with selling heroin locally.  Plue said Rowe has come to grips with his problem and has a positive outcome to talk about.
“It’s not about Oneonta,” Joel said of heroin. “It’s everywhere. It’s all over the world.”
Nonetheless, the director said he’s found local law-enforcement officials reluctant to talk about the problem here, which was highlighted in January by county Judge Brian Burns, when he was sworn in for a second term.
“There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of heroin here in Otsego County,” Burns told a surprised crowd that filled the Otsego County Courthouse’s main courtroom on New Year’s Day.
For his part, Plue said, since he’s become acquainted with the scene while researching this film, he can’t walk down Main Street without observing people he believes are selling the drug.
“We’re not going to take it,” he said of his film’s approach.  “We’re going to do something about it.”

IF YOU GO:  “Mineville,” starring Paul Sorvino, 7:30 p.m.  Saturday, May 14, Oneonta Theater, followed by Q&A with writer/director/producer Lori Kelly-Bailey and special guests.  Tickets $10.

City of The Hills

City Council Plans Zoning Law Hearing

Three years in the making, zoning law revisions will be presented at a public hearing  at 7:30, Tuesday, May 3, in Common Council chambers.
The revisions seek to simplify regulations on new businesses, to protect neighborhoods and to develop vacant land in the city.
The most controversial piece would loosen Hartwick College’s zoning to allow development of land above Sunset Ridge.

PLAY BALL!  Oneonta Little League opening day begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 30, with a parade down Main Street to Doc Knapp field.

MUSICA, MAESTRO!   The Oneonta Concert Association is offering five performances in the 2011-12 season.  (Details, A13)

HOST AN OUTLAW: A meeting for current and prospective host families for Oneonta Outlaws is at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at Christopher’s Restaurant, Southside.  For information, contact Carm Keyser at 434-6378 or lewandcarm@yahoo.com

HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Jenna Cartelli, 4, East Meredith, wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Easter Bunny offering her a treat Saturday, April 23.

NEW OFFICERS AT HABITAT

Dr. Karen Joest, center, SUNY Oneonta professor of human ecology, is the new president of Habitat for Humanity, Otsego County chapter.  Other officers are, clockwise from lower left, Peg Fowler, treasurer; Ann Morris, assistant treasurer, and Barbara Dauria, family support chair.  Seated at right is Eleanor Archibald, the newest homeowner.