Mark Grygiel, New Chamber Chairman, Hopes Political Action Will Define Term

 2-12-10

By JIM KEVLIN : EDMESTON

Wilber Bank President/CEO Doug Gulotty’s speech was a clarion call for Mark Grygiel.
At the Otsego County Chamber’s annual State of the State luncheon last month, Gulotty compared the state Capitol in Albany to Fort McHenry, where rockets glared red and bombs burst in air.
Otsego County’s state delegation needs to go forth to the Albany ramparts and do battle on behalf of local business, Gulotty declared.
Grygiel, New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Co.’s assistant vice president, was recently elevated to chairman of the Otsego Chamber board of directors, replacing Peter Livshin, Milford Central School superintendent.
Taking Gulotty’s rallying cry to heart, he plans to intensify the chamber’s efforts to make Albany more business-friendly by promoting political awareness back home.  (Second priority:  increasing chamber membership and revenues.)
“Every segment in the community, every business, has its own issues to work with,” Grygiel said, citing banking, health care and insurance. “...Unless we let them know how we stand on an issue, (Albany) is going to think we’re satisfied.”
Quoting Gulotty, he said the local delegation – state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, as well as state Reps. Bill Magee, Pete Lopez and Mark Butler – needs to “fire the cannons” for business.
Grygiel, an Oneonta native, graduated from OHS and Drew University in New Jersey, where he majored in economics and political science.
Three weeks later, he joined New York Central Mutual, and has been there since, working his way up to manager of the underwriting department and an officer in the company.
He and wife Michelle, an OHS English teacher, have a son, Zachary, 3.
The Edmeston-based insurance company has always been a strong supporter of the Otsego Chamber: President/CEO Dan Robinson was board chairman, and Senior Vice President John Holdort and Vice President Kathy Bell have served on the board.
So Grygiel stepped up three years ago to maintain the tradition.
In addition to political action, he hopes his one-year term will see a 10 percent increase in membership, from 650 to over 700.

Teaching wasn’t Coleen Lewis’ first choice.

2-5-10

Teaching wasn’t Coleen Lewis’ first choice.
A 1986 OHS grad, she studied hotel and restaurant managment at SUNY Delhi for two years, then business administration for another two.
Then, in 1993, she was teaching Sunday school at St. Mary’s and realized how much she enjoyed teaching children.
“Go back,” a colleague, Sue Nesbitt, told her.
She did, graduating from SUNY Oneonta in 1995 with her bachelor’s in elementary education, knowing from the start she wanted to work her way up the profession, perhaps to building principal.
She earned a master’s in library science from SUNY Albany in 2001, and a certificate in school administration at SUNY Cortland in 2008.
 “My goal never changed,” said Lewis, who Wednesday, Jan. 27, was appointed principal of Center Street School by the Oneonta City School Board, effective July 1.
Lewis has worked in the Oneonta district for 14 years, from student teacher at Riverside Elementary, to licensed teaching assistant, to sixth-grade teacher at Valleyview, to library media specialist at Greater Plains.
As district’s curriculum co-ordinator, she had been acting library media specialist at Valleyview this year and discovered “I missed being with kids.”
 “Kids keep you young, it’s so rewarding. It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had,” she said.
So when John Cook, longtime principal at Center Street School, announced his retirement in December, Lewis – she was then district curriculum coordinator – went straight to Superintendent Mike Shea and expressed her interest in the job.
The new principal feels lucky to have gotten the job, succeeding a man she considers a legend in Oneonta schools.
“I know I can’t fill Mr. Cook’s shoes, I would never try,” she said, adding, “I am honored to have the time with him to transition.”
Lewis plans to immerse herself in the Center Street community and its culture, getting to know the teachers, and the students and their families. 
 “It is a family oriented school and I want to get to know everybody and how things work,” she said.  “I want to support the teachers and set goals as a staff – it’s a team effort.”
She plans to be visible and approachable, so people feel comfortable walking in her door to talk to her.
Superintendent of Schools Mike Shea expressed satisfaction that what might have been a difficult transition is going so smoothly.
 “There’s no one is like John,” said his boss.  “But I know that Coleen’s objective is to just listen and learn and get to know folks, so I don’t see any drastic change there.”

Pizza

2-5-10

Two people, a 46-inch pizza, one hour, and the chance to win $200 and have your name on the wall.
A “Pizza Eating Challenge” is under way at Tino’s Pizza on Main Street; owner Tino Garufi said he was inspired by the Food Network’s “Man Vs. Food” show.
 “You always see this type of thing on TV, but not around town. I don’t know anyone who does this,” Garufi said. “I thought it would be fun, and seeing people try it would be great.”
The pizza is made up of 6 ½ pounds of dough, 40 ounces of sauce and a couple pounds of cheese, the equivalent ingredients to four of Tino’s large-size pizzas.
To take the challenge, deposit $40 and show up at the scheduled time with your co-pizza-eater.  Then, try to eat the whole pie, every last piece of crust, in under an hour. 
Succeed, you get your $40 back, plus the $200 prize, your name on a plaque, your picture on the wall – and bragging rights.
The plaque is being fashioned at Sport Tech, Tino’s Main Street neighbor.
The first to take the challenge were Adam Remillard and Richard McVinney, both of Oneonta, on Saturday, Jan. 9.
They sat in the front window.  A crowd started to form.  They only made it half way through.  With 19 minutes to go, they gave up.
For the three weeks since, Garufi has had signs in his windows promoting the challenge, but has had no serious contenders apply until this week. On some late nights, the bar crowd will come in and say they are interested in doing it, but forget about it, or change their minds by the next morning and never come in and sign up.
Two more – Tino only knew them as Dominic and Rick, who work at Aaron’s Rentals – tried again on Tuesday, Feb. 2, but gave up with 4 minutes and 2 ½ slices to go.
Garufi is hoping word of the challenge will spread about town and more people will give it a try. He thinks it would be fun to arrange some sort of challenge between local college fraternities or sororities. If it attracted the attention of the Food Network show, that would be even better, but not his ultimate intention.
“You always see this type of thing in Texas, but not Oneonta. It would be pretty cool if ‘Man vs. Food’ came to little Oneonta to try it,” Garufi said.
Tino’s Pizza has been back in Oneonta and located on Main Street since September, after spending six years in Cooperstown.
“It’s good to be back,” Garufi said about the move. 

Patrick N. Dwyer

2-5-10

Patrick N. Dwyer has been appointed as Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care’s first full-time medical director, as well as its chief medical officer.
He will oversee the medical aspects of patient care and serve as liaison with the local medical community.
Dr. Dwyer has been affiliated with hospice since 1989, when he became associate medical director and volunteered to attend interdisciplinary team meetings and perform patient consultations as needed.
Dr. Dwyer is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology.  A graduate of Notre Dame, he received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. 
He also trained as a clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health in the National Cancer Institute and completed fellowships in both medical oncology and hematology at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.  He was a hematologist-oncologist for 25 years at Bassett Healthcare.

locals:

2-5-10

ARC EMPLOYEE OF QUARTER: Cesily Secoolish, Community Job Coach, has been named The Arc Otsego Employee of the first quarter for 2010.  Secoolish has worked for The Arc Otsego for several years, first as a day habilitation site coordinator, now as a community job coach in the Community Employment Services Division. As community job coach, Cesily works with clients and employers to find jobs for people with disabilities and support them in their positions.

STILL THERE:  Bill Lelbach, identified as "former" artistic and managing director, Chenango River Theatre, in a recent article on the Foothills Performing Arts Center, is still in the position.

CITY OF THE HILLS:

2-5-10

MERGER STUDY:  Common Council Tuesday, Feb. 2, voted unanimously for an update of the 1996 study that recommended a merger of the city and town of Oneonta.  The town board considers the matter Tuesday, Feb. 9.  (Editorial, A-4)

BACKYARD BIRDS: The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, Feb. 12-15, asks everyone to count the highest number of each species they see at one time at one site on one of the days, and enter their tally on the web site  www.birdsource.org/gbbc. For more information, contact John Davis at davi7js4@hughes.net or 607-547-9688.

NEXT BROWN?  Time magazine has listed Republican Richard Hanna of Cooperstown and Barneveld, who is running again against U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, as one of its 10 best prospects for pulling another "Scott Brown," the upset in Massachusetts' Senate race.

COUNTY IN PHOTOS:  Photographer Richard Duncan will talk about his book, “Otsego  County: Its Towns & Treasures,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Greater Oneonta Historical  Society's History Center at 183 Main St. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Alderman Allayed On Bresee’s After Council Briefing

2-5-10

Alderman Rodger Moran expressed satisfaction after Common Council received a briefing on the Bresee project from County Economic Developer Carolyn Lewis at its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 2.
“The presentation was good,” said Moran, “but I still have concerns about the final piece of the puzzle” – where the developer will get the final $800,000 for the $8 million project.
Moran had expressed concern at a recent Common Council retreat that he and his colleagues had not been kept sufficiently in the loop.
He still is unhappy about the conversion of Wall Street into a park and parking lot.