o ... To efforts by local officials and residents to develop, improve and maintain parks.

In the town of Oneonta, efforts to transform the former Hemstreet Park were completed and there’s a proposal to create a park at the Southside Dam.

The seven-acre park known as the Otego Creek Access Site was transferred to the town from the county in 2004.

Years of improvements were topped off this spring with the addition of picnic tables and grills. The site had been the scene of rowdy parties in the 1970s and 1980s but now is a convenient, accessible place to fish or canoe and have picnics and family outings.

Separately, a group of Lowe’s employees wants to spruce up the area around the Southside Dam access site on state Route 23 in the town of Oneonta.

Lowe’s manager John Burdick and employee Angela McCann recently presented a plan to the Oneonta Town Board to turn the undeveloped and overgrown lot abutting the dam into a park using money donated from the Lowe’s corporate office and the labor of local volunteers.

With retail development and planned road construction, on Southside having a place on Southside offering a nature-based retreat is a welcome idea. We look forward to seeing the proposal emerge.

o ... To the community support that continues to help the Keator family recover from a fire in May.

Jim and Teresa Keator lost a barn in the blaze, which killed about 20 Holsteins. Residents have held fundraising events, and the couple’s 70 Holsteins are being housed at a nearby farm at no charge. Local residents have shown neighborly spirit and reinforced a tradition of helping farmers through rough times.

"I’ve never seen a community as outstanding as this one," Jim Keator said. Residents and businesses in Delaware County have offered a variety of aid, including planting corn and hay, giving money and planning fundraising barbecues and other events.

We applaud the efforts to support the Keators as they work to re-establish their herd, build another barn and revive their farm.

o ... To the organizers and participants of the recent KeyBank/Bassett Invitational at The Otesaga Hotel’s Leatherstocking Golf Course.

The sold-out benefit netted more than $100,000, organizers said. Proceeds from the event were designated to the Friends of Bassett’s Annual Fund, which helps strengthen Bassett Healthcare’s regional initiatives across its eight-county service area.

o ... To two Oneonta city firefighters who graduated with honors in May from the New York State Academy of Fire Science in Montour Falls.

Firefighters Mark DeGraw and Brian Knapp completed a 10-week course that includes more than 400 hours of basic and advanced skill training.

DeGraw and Knapp, who were in a class of 22 firefighters from across the state, placed first and second in the Candidate Physical Ability Test.

Knapp earned the Academic Excellence Award for maintaining the highest academic grade-point-average throughout the basic firefighter training.

The two are "excellent examples of the caliber of firefighter" serving the Oneonta area, according to a media release from the Oneonta Fire Department.

On behalf of the community, we say congratulations and thank you for the hard work.