Staff Writer

ONEONTA —An Oneonta man accused of threatening a black man with a baseball bat was arraigned in town court on Tuesday in the first hate-crime case in Oneonta to come before a court.

Ralph S. May, 49, is charged with second-degree menacing, upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony because it meets the definition of a hate crime, according to state police at Oneonta.

May is alleged to have walked toward Jason M. Slater, 24, of Oneonta with a baseball bat in his hand, saying "I'll show you," and calling Slater profanities, including the word "nigger," court documents state.

The incident took place at about 12:30 a.m. April 21 in the vicinity of May's residence on Oneida Street, according to court documents.

In a deposition, Slater said May called him racial slurs, yelled and acted in a "threatening manner" on previous occasions as well.

Slater was dropping off Paul Stevens after work Sunday night, he said in the deposition, when May — who was standing on the porch — started to walk toward the car with a baseball bat in his hand, saying "I'll show you," and calling him slurs. Stevens told him to leave, Slater stated, so he drove away.

Troopers said they arrested May the afternoon of April 22 and issued a ticket to appear in Oneonta Town Court.

Slater could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and May did not return phone messages left on Tuesday.

Oneonta Town Justice June Sheehan appointed attorney Gar Gozigian to represent May, who is scheduled to return to court at 9 a.m. May 29.

Gozigian said he was not in a position to comment on the case Tuesday night.

Court records show this is the first hate-crime case to appear in town court since Gov. George Pataki signed hate-crime legislation into law in July 2000, according to Victoria Robbins, senior court clerk for the town of Oneonta.

City police told The Daily Star last month that an alleged assault of an openly gay woman in Huntington Park was the first hate-crime case they had investigated. The case, which is still open, is not being actively investigated as there are no leads, Police Chief John Donadio said earlier this month.

Regina Betts, a Community Awareness Taskforce co-chairwoman and the Oneonta NAACP Political Action chair, said as far as she is aware, this was the first alleged hate crime to come before a judge in Otsego County.

"It took a long time to have the hate crimes bill passed in the state," Betts said. "We'd like to make sure the law is obeyed."

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Melissa Scram can be reached at mscram@thedailystar.com or (607) 441-7213.