It was a year in which our readers were affected by both a Supreme Court and a women's college decision. We endured lousy water, topless women, and school district bickering. These stories stood out as The Citizen's biggest news events of the past year.
The Citizen file photo
Brothers Lloyd and Ted O'Hara were among many local landowners delighted to learn of the Supreme Court decision.
Brothers Lloyd and Ted O'Hara were among many local landowners delighted to learn of the Supreme Court decision.
1. COUNTY LANDOWNERS SUPREME-LY HAPPY
After 25 years of litigation that brought a long string of court victories for the Indian tribes in the land claim battle, 2005 brought a pair of court rulings that reversed previous rulings and stunned nearly everyone involved.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a dispute between the Oneida Indian Nation and the city of Sherrill that the tribe did not automatically gain sovereignty by purchasing properties on the open market in their ancestral lands. At the heart of the court decision was a determination that the tribe had waited too long to make such a claim, and as a result, it could not escape paying taxes and abiding by local laws.
Parties in the Indian land claim in Cayuga and Seneca counties watched the Sherrill case closely because it involved the same core issues. A few months after the Supreme Court ruling, a federal circuit court effectively invalidated the land claim made on Cayuga and Seneca county lands by the Cayuga Indian Nation and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.
The rulings rendered moot land claim settlements the tribes had reached with the state but had not yet finalized. Those settlements, among other things, would have allowed the tribes to build casinos in the Catskills.
Now the two tribes are using new strategies. The Cayugas have applied to have their land put in trust by the federal government, a process that would allow them to establish sovereignty. The Seneca-Cayugas, meanwhile, are attempting to work out an agreement with local, state and federal officials to build a massive casino and resort in Sennett.
2. HONEY, THE WATER DOESN'T TASTE SO GOOD
Tens of thousands of Cayuga County residents gained a new appreciation for water during the summer when they suddenly found themselves unable to use it - at least without boiling first.
A combination of events, including the failure of a water plant filter at a time of peak demand, led to a boil water advisory that affected the city of Auburn and the towns of Aurelius, Sennett, Brutus, Montezuma, Weedsport and Port Byron.
Officials told the public to avoid using tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth or washing dishes unless is was boiled first. The easiest solution for most people was to stock up on bottled water.
But that proved not to be so easy, after all. Residents scrambled to find bottled water. Retailers struggled to keep up with demand. A handful of eateries shut down or limited beverage offerings because they could not use tap water.
Fortunately, the Cayuga County Health Department reported no illnesses as a result of the compromised water system.
The boil order was lifted four days later in Auburn and two days after that in the outlying communities.
“We hope this is a once-in-our-lifetime episode,” said Frank DeOrio, Auburn's director of municipal utilities.
3. ONE OF THE COUNTY'S DEADLIEST YEARS ON RECORD
“If you're thinking this is a lot, you're right. We're far ahead of what's recognizable as a homicide rate for our community.”
Those words from Cayuga County Sheriff Robert Outhouse came in late July, following the stabbing death of Anthony Agee in the city of Auburn. Police charged 17-year-old Joshua Nervina in Agee's killing. His case is pending.
Agee's death was the third, but not the final, homicide of 2005. A couple of weeks later, Jolynn D. Wilson entered a not-guilty plea on the charges of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in the death of her infant son.
Earlier in the year, authorities said an Aurelius resident killed his wife in their home before committing suicide in April. And Auburn 17-year-old Bradley Laning admitted fatally stabbing his girlfriend of the same age in March on the nature trail adjacent to Cayuga Community College.
The homicides in 2005 followed two homicides in late December 2004, bringing the total amount of violent deaths at the hands of another human being to six in roughly a year.
Prior to that, the county had seen just one homicide per year for three years and none in 2000.
4. MEN ON CAMPUS, WELLS WOMEN ADJUST
Ten months after Wells College was the scene of massive protests by students who did not want the school to begin enrolling male students, the first men arrived on the Aurora campus in August for the new semester.
The college followed through with the decision by its board of trustees to become a coeducational institution, largely so it could attract more students and improve its financial stability. The decision ended the 137-year-old tradition of all-women classes at the liberal arts college on the banks of Cayuga Lake.
The opposition to the move diminished slowly over the course of the year. By the first day of classes for the class of 2009, the anger had been replaced by a reluctant acceptance.
The first-year men found themselves treated like the first-year women - which included the humbling rituals forced upon them by the older students.
“Today marks a historic beginning for Wells,” said Ruth A.B. Bradley at the opening convocation on Aug. 25. “We should be thankful for the days and the years that have gone by before, and hopeful for the days and years ahead of us.”
5. CROWS FAIRLY UNIMPRESSED BY USDA
Independence Day came early - and often - in Auburn this year, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The federal agency last winter sent a team of specialists to the Prison City to harass its most famous residents - the crows.
With a little less than $14,000 from the city, the USDA conducted a crow hazing program over the course of several weeks, beginning Jan. 10. Using lasers, pyrotechnics and noise-makers, the hazing team strategically moved about the city under the cover of darkness.
Their activities brought curious residents out of their homes to see what all the noise was about, especially the first few nights of the program.
The results were noticeable, but the job proved a lot tougher than the experts originally forecast. The USDA's lead crow hazer said he had never taken on a roost the size of this one. The USDA spent well over the $14,000 allotted by the city, but the agency agreed to absorb the cost overrun.
By the time it was done, they agency reported moving all but about 800 birds out of the downtown Auburn area, with about 28,000 lingering citywide. The original roost size was about 63,800 birds.
As any city resident will tell you, the crows have returned this year. City officials are working to bring the hazing program back, and they hope to get city workers trained on the fine art of moving crow roosts.
6. TENSIONS HIGH IN SOUTHERN CAYUGA
The tension within the Southern Cayuga Central School District had been building for a few years, but 2005 proved to be the breaking point for many of the internal conflicts that had plagued the district and its board of education.
The district effectively fired its high school principal, demoted its superintendent and unsuccessfully tried to undo the principal's ouster. All of this came after the public voted in two new school board members who had been outspoken critics of the previous board and administration.
The biggest change probably came in early October, when the board reached an agreement with superintendent Peter Cardamone for him to step down and take a different job in the district. Cardamone had battled the teachers' union for years, and he worked for more than a full year after the teachers had overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in him.
During his last months, Cardamone decided against recommending tenure for popular high school principal Dennis Farnsworth. Despite vehement opposition to such a move, Cardamone refused to reverse his stand, but he would not give details of his reasoning.
Then, after Cardamone had stepped down and the board was on the verge of reinstating Farnsworth, the public learned that Farnsworth had plagiarized a graduation speech. At an emotional board meeting in mid-October, the district decided to uphold Cardamone's decision.
The district has made progress since that day.
With an interim superintendent guiding the ship, the board has reached a contract agreement with its teachers, and the search for a new superintendent is fully under way.
7. FOUR DROWN IN AREA WATERS
This year brought tragedy to the county's popular waters four times, and authorities said each could have been prevented with some common sense.
Four men lost their lives while enjoying one of the county's lakes or ponds, and officials said drinking was a factor in each death.
The string of drownings started June 30, when Moises Zacarias Ramirez, 18, of Guatemala, died after diving into a pond at Willet Dairy in Genoa. Robert D. McDonald, 21, of Bird Cemetery Road, Locke, was found July 4 in Summerhill's Lake Como, two days after he had attended a gathering of family and friends at the Lake Como Inn.
A week later, Mark Sanders, 47, of Fleming Street, Auburn, drowned in Owasco Lake after slipping while getting on a personal watercraft. On Oct. 17, authorities recovered the body of John C. Carmody III, 23, of West Lake Road, Scipio, two days after his canoe had capsized in Owasco Lake.
The drownings put a strain on emergency responders, who were frustrated by the circumstances.
“Alcohol on the water is a fast ticket to disaster,” Cayuga County Sheriff Rob Outhouse said.
8. BICKERING IN BOCES COMES TO AN END
Depending on the perspective, the efforts to build a new campus for the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES cleared a final hurdle this year after more than one, six or 14 years of work.
The last obstacle was a lawsuit filed by the Skaneateles Central School District over how the $43.5 million project was being financed. Skaneateles felt the cost-sharing arrangement agreed to by the other eight BOCES districts was unfair - that they were being charged too much money based on their use of BOCES services - so it challenged the project in court.
That court battle played out for roughly a year, but all sides reached a settlement this fall that reduced the Skaneateles burden and increased the cost the other districts will pick up.
The project, though, has been a top priority for BOCES Superintendent Gary Gilchrist since he took over the job more than six years ago. He has long complained about the shoddy condition of the existing BOCES campus in Fleming.
And the project has been on the minds of many education officials for much longer than that. In 1991, voters rejected a proposed building project.
Now work has started on the building site in Aurelius, and construction is expected to start in the spring.
9. D-DAYS COME CLOSE TO TITLE
About halfway through the 2005 Auburn Doubledays' season, no one would have predicted this year's team would wind up being manager Dennis Holmberg's most successful bunch.
Holmberg has made reaching the playoffs a foregone conclusion for Auburn fans, usually with teams that sprint out of the gate and dominate. But this year's team had a 20-21 record on Aug. 2, and its play hardly resembled a championship contender.
That's when a new version of these Doubledays appeared. The team went on a tear, winning 25 of its final 34 games and making the playoffs. The Doubledays then won the first-round series against Oneonta, propelling Holmberg into the finals for the first time as an Auburn manager.
The team came up short in the championship round, losing to the Staten Island Yankees, but the consensus among fans, players and the manager was that 2005 was a special season.
“I'll remember how these guys fought and gutted out wins,” Holmberg said.
10. TOPLESS IN MORAVIA: INSERT JOKE HERE
The normally quiet village of Moravia was thrust into the central New York spotlight this summer, thanks to four out-of-town women who took stroll downtown - without anything covering their breasts.
The Moravia topless case started Aug. 11 when the four women took their famous walk and officially ended about three months later with the dismissal of charges against them. In between, the case was the talk of the community.
Carol Clarke, 54, of Branchport; Barbara Crumb, 61, of Branchport; Claudia Kellersch, 40, of La Jolla, Calif.; and Madeline McPherson, 40, of Rochester, had been in town for Moravia's Empire Haven Nudist Resort and Campground's annual convention.
They had been charged with negatively affecting commerce by going topless, but authorities did not have enough evidence to move the case forward.
A 1992 state Court of Appeals ruling said women can remove their tops in public places where men can do the same thing, as long as it's not for commercial purposes.
How that ruling - and last summer's case - affects life in downtown Moravia during the nudist convention next summer remains to be seen.
After 25 years of litigation that brought a long string of court victories for the Indian tribes in the land claim battle, 2005 brought a pair of court rulings that reversed previous rulings and stunned nearly everyone involved.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a dispute between the Oneida Indian Nation and the city of Sherrill that the tribe did not automatically gain sovereignty by purchasing properties on the open market in their ancestral lands. At the heart of the court decision was a determination that the tribe had waited too long to make such a claim, and as a result, it could not escape paying taxes and abiding by local laws.
Parties in the Indian land claim in Cayuga and Seneca counties watched the Sherrill case closely because it involved the same core issues. A few months after the Supreme Court ruling, a federal circuit court effectively invalidated the land claim made on Cayuga and Seneca county lands by the Cayuga Indian Nation and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.
The rulings rendered moot land claim settlements the tribes had reached with the state but had not yet finalized. Those settlements, among other things, would have allowed the tribes to build casinos in the Catskills.
Now the two tribes are using new strategies. The Cayugas have applied to have their land put in trust by the federal government, a process that would allow them to establish sovereignty. The Seneca-Cayugas, meanwhile, are attempting to work out an agreement with local, state and federal officials to build a massive casino and resort in Sennett.
2. HONEY, THE WATER DOESN'T TASTE SO GOOD
Tens of thousands of Cayuga County residents gained a new appreciation for water during the summer when they suddenly found themselves unable to use it - at least without boiling first.
A combination of events, including the failure of a water plant filter at a time of peak demand, led to a boil water advisory that affected the city of Auburn and the towns of Aurelius, Sennett, Brutus, Montezuma, Weedsport and Port Byron.
Officials told the public to avoid using tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth or washing dishes unless is was boiled first. The easiest solution for most people was to stock up on bottled water.
But that proved not to be so easy, after all. Residents scrambled to find bottled water. Retailers struggled to keep up with demand. A handful of eateries shut down or limited beverage offerings because they could not use tap water.
Fortunately, the Cayuga County Health Department reported no illnesses as a result of the compromised water system.
The boil order was lifted four days later in Auburn and two days after that in the outlying communities.
“We hope this is a once-in-our-lifetime episode,” said Frank DeOrio, Auburn's director of municipal utilities.
3. ONE OF THE COUNTY'S DEADLIEST YEARS ON RECORD
“If you're thinking this is a lot, you're right. We're far ahead of what's recognizable as a homicide rate for our community.”
Those words from Cayuga County Sheriff Robert Outhouse came in late July, following the stabbing death of Anthony Agee in the city of Auburn. Police charged 17-year-old Joshua Nervina in Agee's killing. His case is pending.
Agee's death was the third, but not the final, homicide of 2005. A couple of weeks later, Jolynn D. Wilson entered a not-guilty plea on the charges of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in the death of her infant son.
Earlier in the year, authorities said an Aurelius resident killed his wife in their home before committing suicide in April. And Auburn 17-year-old Bradley Laning admitted fatally stabbing his girlfriend of the same age in March on the nature trail adjacent to Cayuga Community College.
The homicides in 2005 followed two homicides in late December 2004, bringing the total amount of violent deaths at the hands of another human being to six in roughly a year.
Prior to that, the county had seen just one homicide per year for three years and none in 2000.
4. MEN ON CAMPUS, WELLS WOMEN ADJUST
Ten months after Wells College was the scene of massive protests by students who did not want the school to begin enrolling male students, the first men arrived on the Aurora campus in August for the new semester.
The college followed through with the decision by its board of trustees to become a coeducational institution, largely so it could attract more students and improve its financial stability. The decision ended the 137-year-old tradition of all-women classes at the liberal arts college on the banks of Cayuga Lake.
The opposition to the move diminished slowly over the course of the year. By the first day of classes for the class of 2009, the anger had been replaced by a reluctant acceptance.
The first-year men found themselves treated like the first-year women - which included the humbling rituals forced upon them by the older students.
“Today marks a historic beginning for Wells,” said Ruth A.B. Bradley at the opening convocation on Aug. 25. “We should be thankful for the days and the years that have gone by before, and hopeful for the days and years ahead of us.”
5. CROWS FAIRLY UNIMPRESSED BY USDA
Independence Day came early - and often - in Auburn this year, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The federal agency last winter sent a team of specialists to the Prison City to harass its most famous residents - the crows.
With a little less than $14,000 from the city, the USDA conducted a crow hazing program over the course of several weeks, beginning Jan. 10. Using lasers, pyrotechnics and noise-makers, the hazing team strategically moved about the city under the cover of darkness.
Their activities brought curious residents out of their homes to see what all the noise was about, especially the first few nights of the program.
The results were noticeable, but the job proved a lot tougher than the experts originally forecast. The USDA's lead crow hazer said he had never taken on a roost the size of this one. The USDA spent well over the $14,000 allotted by the city, but the agency agreed to absorb the cost overrun.
By the time it was done, they agency reported moving all but about 800 birds out of the downtown Auburn area, with about 28,000 lingering citywide. The original roost size was about 63,800 birds.
As any city resident will tell you, the crows have returned this year. City officials are working to bring the hazing program back, and they hope to get city workers trained on the fine art of moving crow roosts.
6. TENSIONS HIGH IN SOUTHERN CAYUGA
The tension within the Southern Cayuga Central School District had been building for a few years, but 2005 proved to be the breaking point for many of the internal conflicts that had plagued the district and its board of education.
The district effectively fired its high school principal, demoted its superintendent and unsuccessfully tried to undo the principal's ouster. All of this came after the public voted in two new school board members who had been outspoken critics of the previous board and administration.
The biggest change probably came in early October, when the board reached an agreement with superintendent Peter Cardamone for him to step down and take a different job in the district. Cardamone had battled the teachers' union for years, and he worked for more than a full year after the teachers had overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in him.
During his last months, Cardamone decided against recommending tenure for popular high school principal Dennis Farnsworth. Despite vehement opposition to such a move, Cardamone refused to reverse his stand, but he would not give details of his reasoning.
Then, after Cardamone had stepped down and the board was on the verge of reinstating Farnsworth, the public learned that Farnsworth had plagiarized a graduation speech. At an emotional board meeting in mid-October, the district decided to uphold Cardamone's decision.
The district has made progress since that day.
With an interim superintendent guiding the ship, the board has reached a contract agreement with its teachers, and the search for a new superintendent is fully under way.
7. FOUR DROWN IN AREA WATERS
This year brought tragedy to the county's popular waters four times, and authorities said each could have been prevented with some common sense.
Four men lost their lives while enjoying one of the county's lakes or ponds, and officials said drinking was a factor in each death.
The string of drownings started June 30, when Moises Zacarias Ramirez, 18, of Guatemala, died after diving into a pond at Willet Dairy in Genoa. Robert D. McDonald, 21, of Bird Cemetery Road, Locke, was found July 4 in Summerhill's Lake Como, two days after he had attended a gathering of family and friends at the Lake Como Inn.
A week later, Mark Sanders, 47, of Fleming Street, Auburn, drowned in Owasco Lake after slipping while getting on a personal watercraft. On Oct. 17, authorities recovered the body of John C. Carmody III, 23, of West Lake Road, Scipio, two days after his canoe had capsized in Owasco Lake.
The drownings put a strain on emergency responders, who were frustrated by the circumstances.
“Alcohol on the water is a fast ticket to disaster,” Cayuga County Sheriff Rob Outhouse said.
8. BICKERING IN BOCES COMES TO AN END
Depending on the perspective, the efforts to build a new campus for the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES cleared a final hurdle this year after more than one, six or 14 years of work.
The last obstacle was a lawsuit filed by the Skaneateles Central School District over how the $43.5 million project was being financed. Skaneateles felt the cost-sharing arrangement agreed to by the other eight BOCES districts was unfair - that they were being charged too much money based on their use of BOCES services - so it challenged the project in court.
That court battle played out for roughly a year, but all sides reached a settlement this fall that reduced the Skaneateles burden and increased the cost the other districts will pick up.
The project, though, has been a top priority for BOCES Superintendent Gary Gilchrist since he took over the job more than six years ago. He has long complained about the shoddy condition of the existing BOCES campus in Fleming.
And the project has been on the minds of many education officials for much longer than that. In 1991, voters rejected a proposed building project.
Now work has started on the building site in Aurelius, and construction is expected to start in the spring.
9. D-DAYS COME CLOSE TO TITLE
About halfway through the 2005 Auburn Doubledays' season, no one would have predicted this year's team would wind up being manager Dennis Holmberg's most successful bunch.
Holmberg has made reaching the playoffs a foregone conclusion for Auburn fans, usually with teams that sprint out of the gate and dominate. But this year's team had a 20-21 record on Aug. 2, and its play hardly resembled a championship contender.
That's when a new version of these Doubledays appeared. The team went on a tear, winning 25 of its final 34 games and making the playoffs. The Doubledays then won the first-round series against Oneonta, propelling Holmberg into the finals for the first time as an Auburn manager.
The team came up short in the championship round, losing to the Staten Island Yankees, but the consensus among fans, players and the manager was that 2005 was a special season.
“I'll remember how these guys fought and gutted out wins,” Holmberg said.
10. TOPLESS IN MORAVIA: INSERT JOKE HERE
The normally quiet village of Moravia was thrust into the central New York spotlight this summer, thanks to four out-of-town women who took stroll downtown - without anything covering their breasts.
The Moravia topless case started Aug. 11 when the four women took their famous walk and officially ended about three months later with the dismissal of charges against them. In between, the case was the talk of the community.
Carol Clarke, 54, of Branchport; Barbara Crumb, 61, of Branchport; Claudia Kellersch, 40, of La Jolla, Calif.; and Madeline McPherson, 40, of Rochester, had been in town for Moravia's Empire Haven Nudist Resort and Campground's annual convention.
They had been charged with negatively affecting commerce by going topless, but authorities did not have enough evidence to move the case forward.
A 1992 state Court of Appeals ruling said women can remove their tops in public places where men can do the same thing, as long as it's not for commercial purposes.
How that ruling - and last summer's case - affects life in downtown Moravia during the nudist convention next summer remains to be seen.