Editor’s Note: What follows are snippets from some of the top stories that appeared in The Evening Sun throughout 2016.

Norwich children show compassion in NYC

When Stephanie Meek returned home from a trip to New York City a few weeks ago, she was troubled by the sight of the many homeless people struggling around the city. She voiced these concerns to her husband at the dinner table that night, and unbeknownst to them at the time, it struck a chord with their children, Evan and Brynn.
“A couple days later, they came downstairs and said ‘We have an idea. We want to help those people you talked about in New York City. We want to make them lunch and bring it to them.’”
Evan and Brynn Meek are just 10-years-old and 6-years-old respectively, but what they lack in age they make up for in spirit. On Saturday, August 6, the Meek kids travelled down to New York City. Over the course of eight hours, they handed out 220 bagged lunches to homeless people around Manhattan.

NPD officer to take position in Syracuse, eight years of serving Chenango highlighted

An eight year veteran with the Norwich Police Department has accepted a position with the Syracuse Police Department and is to be sworn in this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 10.
Thomas Miller was first sworn in with the NPD Oct. 26, 2008. Prior to his career with the NPD, Miller worked with the New Berlin Police Department. For a time, he worked both departments.
“I have enjoyed working with the Norwich community so much,” said Miller Wednesday morning. “I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had to work for the Norwich Police, and for the support I have had from Chief Rodney Marsh.”
Throughout his tenure in the community, Miller and his K9 Nitro hosted dozens of community events, hospital visits and demonstrations for children.
‘Nitro Day’ took place in 2015, when Miller and Nitro visited Houndstooth Bakery and Boutique in Sidney for an event to give back to the community. The bakery has donated all of Nitro’s food.
Miller bought Nitro as a puppy and took her to a private obedience, agility, and protection trainer in Schuyler, N.Y. For several months when she was young. After that, Miller took Nitro to the Southern Tier Canine Association in Endicott to get her certified. This is also where Nitro has to go for her yearly maintenance training. “I paid for all of it originally,” said Miller, her food included. When Vance offered to supply Nitro's sustenance, Miller was appreciative of the gesture. “I was very thankful to her,” said Miller. “And so is the department and the community.”

Woman who allegedly tortured and neglected dog granted $750 bail

A woman sits in the Chenango County Correctional Facility charged with torturing, injuring and neglecting a dog.
Tracy A. Price, 31, of Norwich, was arrested on Tuesday, Aug. 16, on an active arrest warrant for torturing/injuring animals.
Authorities from the Norwich Police Department said that Price allegedly tied a dog to a stove for multiple days with a leather shoelace. When they arrived on the scene, the dog allegedly had a laceration to its neck, and was covered in urine and feces.
Price was arraigned in Norwich City Court, and remanded to the custody of the CCCF, in lieu of $750 cash bail, or $1,500 bond. She is scheduled to reappear in court on Thursday, Aug. 18, at 10 a.m.



Sheriff's Office considers $60,000 improvement to communications system

The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office is exploring upgrades to its communications system used to transfer information between the public safety building to other county government buildings in the Norwich area.
According to Chenango County Sheriff Ernest Cutting, 911 call times are being affected by slow-moving data between the Sheriff’s Office on Upper Ravine Road in Norwich to other government buildings within the City of Norwich.
The Sheriff says upgrades would allow quicker communication between emergency personnel at the sheriff’s office, located in the Town of Norwich, and the county’s fire training center, the backup emergency management center, and the county office building which are all located within the City of Norwich.
“The problem we have is that it’s taking so long for downloads,” Cutting told members of the county’s Safety and Rules Committee on Wednesday. It can take up to 30 minutes to transfer larger files from the Sheriff’s Office to other emergency management personnel in different locations, he added. And in an emergency situation, quick communication is critical
“There’s a real need in the county to upgrade the speed. We’re transferring a tremendous amount of data, and it’s taking us a long time,” Cutting said.

Pharmacy thief said he told cashier 'Don't be a hero'

The man accused of robbing prescription narcotics from a local pharmacy in the City of Norwich back in April, 2016, will be spending the next two and a half to five years behind bars after he was sentenced in Chenango County Court on Friday, Aug. 19.
Jeffrey S. Cabral, 27, originally from Rhode Island, but with an address in the Town of South New Berlin, appeared back in court on Friday for a plea and sentencing arrangement. Cabral stood charged with one count of robbery in the third degree, a class D felony; and one count of petit larceny, a class A misdemeanor.
These charges stem from an alleged incident that occurred on Apr. 4, 2016. On that date, the Norwich Police Department received a call from the Chenango County Sheriff's Office 911 Center at approximately 11:10 a.m. It was reported that a subject was demanding prescription narcotics from a pharmacy in Norwich. According to police, as NPD officers were being dispatched, the 911 Center received several more calls reporting the same incident. It was initially reported the suspect may have been armed with a handgun, but this was later determined not to be true.
It was alleged that Cabral entered the establishment, passed a threatening note to the cashier and demanded the prescription narcotics. After Cabral received the narcotics, he attempted to flee the scene.

City ponders city-wide reassessment

Norwich officials have revived discussions of a possible city-wide re-evaluation of property assessments that would change the tax bill for most homeowners.
Members of the Norwich Joint Committees addressed the issue at their monthly meeting Tuesday. The prospect of a city-wide re-evaluation was first bought up in the fall of 2014, but was pigeonholed by the Common Council last year.
According to City Assessor Brian Fitts, a re-assessment is overdue; and while there’s no law stipulating when a municipality should conduct a re-evaluation, he said assessments only become more lopsided with time.
The city hasn’t conducted a city-wide reassessment in 28 years. And since homeowners are taxed according the value of their property, inequity in the city’s assessment role means property owners who are over-assessed are shouldering the tax burden for those who are under-assessed.
Fitts explained the issue to the Joint Committees on Tuesday.
“A majority of the assessments were set 28 years ago. Over the course of time, the market has changed. Different pockets of the city have changed in value, so the assessments have changed,” he said. “A [re-assessment] is about equity ... In my daily work in the assessor’s office, I see massive inequities in the roll, and that’s no one’s fault. That’s just a result of time.”
Currently, the city’s equalization rate hovers 66 percent. The goal is to get that figure close to 100 percent by re-assessing every property in the city, be it residential, business or nonprofit. The intent, said Fitts, isn’t to increase revenue for the city, but to make sure that every taxpayer is paying their fair slice of the pie.

The Chobani Foundation aids Louisiana flood victims

Over the weekend of Aug. 27 and 28, the Chobani Foundation extended a helping hand to flood victims in Louisiana after what the American Red Cross is calling “the worst U.S. disaster since Hurricane Sandy.”
Four Chobani employees from Norwich, as well as several volunteers from Chobani’s southern states sales teams handed out 6,000 cases – an entire tractor-trailer full of yogurt – over the course of the weekend at the Sam’s Club Disaster Relief Parking Lot event in Denham Springs, LA.
Chobani Corporate Communications Senior Manager Jeff Genung was one of the four Norwich employees who made the trip. Genung said, “We look to help in our hometown communities, and the communities that need us, whenever we can. It was a small act of kindness as the area looks to rebuild and recover.”
Chobani participated alongside several other local and national volunteer groups handing out water, ice, hot meals, laundry services, and other much needed supplies to thousands of visitors over the course of the weekend.
At the end of the weekend, the Chobani Foundation arranged to donate the remaining 10 pallets of yogurt to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Funding delays stall Norwich airport project

Federal funding delays are holding up a tree removal project that would make the landing strip of the Lt. Warren Eaton airport more visible to incoming pilots.
Trees on private properties surrounding the county-owned airport in Norwich have grown so tall that they obstruct pilots’ view and, in accordance with FAA regulations, are limmiting runway use to daytime hours.
The county has contracted with Clough Harbour, an Albany-based engineering and consulting firm, to work on the project. According to Clough Harbour representatives, any hope of improving the airport in the future starts with compliance of FAA regulations. This means cutting trees that are blocking pilots’ approach to the runway and are limiting nighttime use.
The present challenge, said Clough Harbour engineer Paul McDonnell, is that Congress hasn’t released 2016 federal funding yet, and that’s stalling plans locally.
“Because of that, we have not put plans together until we know what’s going to happen,” he said.
The entire project is being funded through a combination of federal, state and local resources. Federal funding will make up 90 percent the cost of the project while 5 percent will be covered by state funds, and another 5 percent by local funds.
McDonnell presented the issue to the county’s Planning and Economic Development Committee last week. County officials have been discussing the project since May.
Until funding is released, McDonnell said his company is negotiating deals with private property owners to allow crews to cut trees on their properties. The properties of biggest concern include Norwich Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the cemetery, and the Chobani corporate offices.


NPD sergeant terminated from post—still no details six months later

Ten-year veteran of the Norwich Police Department Sergeant Justin Carpenter was terminated Tuesday, due to an ongoing investigation. While the reason for termination was not yet made public, the resolution to terminate Carpenter followed an executive session at a City Council meeting. All Aldermen were in favor of the resolution to terminate, and the motion was carried. When contacted by The Evening Sun, Police Chief Rodney Marsh said there would be no comment from his office, and to date there hasn't been. Mayor Christine Carnike was contacted and said she could not comment further on the details of the investigation or what it entails.
Due to the lack of comments by the Norwich Police Chief and the Norwich Mayor, it is unclear when details regarding the reasoning behind the termination will be released. The Evening Sun has FOIL’ed for information regarding the circumstances and records for the officer’s termination but such documents have not yet been provided.