
After further investigation, Sheila Petnuch Fields, a Hudson Valley freelance writer, found the rooster she first heard crowing on Saturday, Oct. 17, on Bantam Way in Amenia. Photo by Sheila Petnuch Fields
AMENIA — Apart from the sounds of passing cars, distant train whistles and the occasional community gathering, those who visit the town of Amenia are likely to find peace and quiet most weekends. However, a few people were surprised to hear crowing in the town earlier this month as a rogue rooster was spotted walking around the business district, making his presence known with a loud “cock-a-doodle-do.”
As one of the first people to report the rooster’s crow, Sheila Petnuch Fields, a Hudson Valley freelance writer and founder of www.AwakenedWoman.me, said she first heard the rooster on Saturday, Oct. 17. She could hear his incessant crowing around the Main Street area, and thought it strange as she had would not have expected to hear a rooster in the mixed commercial and residential area.
“It sounded like he was sending out an SOS, like ‘E.T. wants to go home,’” Fields said, adding that his crowing tugged on her heartstrings.
The following day, Sunday, Oct. 18, Fields said she was again walking in the area and happened to notice a rooster in the yard of a house in the area. The gentleman who lived there, she said, happened to be in the yard and they began chatting, though she soon found out that the rooster she had heard the day before was not the same as the one in the gentleman’s yard. Continuing her walk around the neighborhood, Fields kept her eyes open in case she saw the rooster she was looking for before she eventually ended back on Main Street.
Popping into Yellow Submarine Used Books, located on Route 343, Fields chatted with the store’s owner, Mary Thompson, and eventually turned the conversation to hearing the rooster. It was then that Thompson revealed that she and her husband, Robert, had seen what she believed was the same rooster crossing traffic on Route 343.
Thompson said that she had seen the rooster in question on Friday night, Oct. 16, when a neighbor living above the bookshop had called her attention to him. Giving a description of the reddish rooster, she said, “He looks quite ornamental, he’s very colored, so I’m hoping he wasn’t a fighting rooster or [that] somebody had him for poor reasons.”
Thompson told Fields that she and her husband thought the rooster may have gotten hit by a vehicle when Robert later saw feathers on the side of the road. A customer at Yellow Submarine Used Books mentioned that the rooster looked like he had a wing hanging down when they saw him. Thompson noted that a neighbor said a hen had found the rooster and was hanging around him on Sunday.
While Thompson doesn’t know whether or not the rooster and hen are a pair, she voiced her concern about their safety as “nobody seems to be looking for them.”
After hearing about a sighting of the rooster, Fields decided to continue her pursuit. There, she came across the tell-tale rooster and snapped a photograph of the feathered fowl.
Recalling her encounter, Fields said, “He allowed me to get fairly close and talk to him. He seemed a bit lethargic, which led me to believe he had been clipped, and he was resting. Typically, when you see a rooster or a hen, they’re walking around pecking, but this little guy was all settled in.”
When asked whether she had reached out to someone about the rooster, Fields said she was going to call the town’s animal control officer on Monday morning, Oct. 19. Come Monday, she said she didn’t hear any reports that the rooster was crowing and assumed that either someone had taken him to a veterinarian or that he had passed away.
“I would be curious to find out where he came from,” Fields mused. “Where did him come from and where has he gone?”
If any readers of The Millerton News know what has become of this rogue rooster, email kaitlinl@millertonnews.com, and the paper will try to run a follow-up article in the future. We hope there will be good news to share.
Jan. 27 marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. I traveled to Poland as part of a delegation for the commemoration and spent a few days before the event with my father and sister learning, remembering and gathering information.
My dad’s parents, Miriam and Yehuda, of blessed memory, were deported to Auschwitz -Birkenau from the Lódz Ghetto. They both had families that perished and met each other after the camp was liberated.
The gate at Auschwitz. Natalia Zukerman
I put my feet in the train tracks where they would have arrived, ran my hands across the walls of the horrible gas chambers, the broken wood of the crowded bunks, gathered dirt in my shoes where they would have walked, and made sure to touch the trunks of the trees along the path—innocent witnesses.
My father’s parents survived. How did they do it? Miriam was quickly sent to a work camp on the Czech border, and Yehuda played violin in the Auschwitz orchestra (aka the Death Orchestra). Music saved him. A million miracles saved them both.
Many members of our extended family did not survive.
Suitcases taken from prisoners at Auschwitz.Natalia Zukerman
Cuikerman was the original Polish spelling of our name. We poured over page after page of our name in the Book of Names. I can’t explain it, but as I read the names—aloud and quietly—I felt some of their spirits finally release.
Innocent witnesses.
I never wanted to come to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. It was part of our dark story. From the time I was very little, I saw all the images, watched the movies, read the books. I’ve had nightmares my whole life. I remember the tattoo on my grandmother’s forearm. This was enough.
But until you stand in the field the size of a city and look out at the expanse of crematoria, gas chambers, bunkers, the enormity and scale is just a story, words on a page. Now I have metabolized it in a different way. Now it is part of my DNA on a deeper level. Now I am changed.
A crematorium at Auschwitz.Natalia Zukerman
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, world leaders from fifty countries—including King Charles, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and so many more— gathered with survivors and their families, musicians, friends and patrons of the organization in an enormous tent at the entrance to Birkenau. A freight train stood in front of the main gate. The car, from Germany, honors the 420,000 Hungarian Jews deported in 1944. Its conservation was funded by Frank Lowy, whose father, Hugo, was killed in the camp.
It radiated with horror in almost theatrical lighting, its now silenced whistle audible in the memories of all who gathered.
I listened to survivor after survivor speak. I watched as each world leader lit candles in remembrance. I said Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) with the several thousand people present.
But I only heard one person, 99-year-old Polish-born Swedish-Jewish doctor Leon Weintraub, utter any words that made sense to me, to my very fragile and shaken heart. He became a doctor after the war and told the group gathered the one absolute truth: there is only one race—the human race. He talked about the fact that under the skin, we are the same, words that were beyond powerful. In the very place where the most evil “experiments” were conducted to prove the supremacy of the Aryan race, this man stood there in all his beautiful bravery and told the truth. He was able, for a moment, to remove a hierarchy of care and replace it with an expansive, human appeal. He brought the memory of all the people killed, not just the Jews when he said, “be sensitive to all manifestations of intolerance and dislike of those who differ in terms of skin color, religion or sexual orientation.” He widened the conversation, lest we also forget the Romani, queer, disabled, dissidents and more that were also victims of the Nazis. Lest we forget the lesson of Gandhi when he said, “intolerance itself is a form of violence.”
Weintraub ended by saying, “allowing the memory of millions of innocent victims to fade would be equivalent to robbing them of their lives a second time.”
Shoes taken from prisoners.Natalia Zukerman
There are multiple genocides on planet earth right now. There are humans in actual concentration camps as I write this. There are whole populations being murdered.
After this experience, more than ever, I vow to speak the truth as loudly and as often as I can.
Speaking up, questioning and protesting is not only not antisemitism, it defines the core principles of what it means to be Jewish.
A beautiful Jewish human named Albert Einstein said, “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
This must and will be my task. Nothing else makes any sense.
Prisoners slept four to a bunk at Birkenau.Natalia Zukerman
Dina La Fonte
The “sober curious” movement has gained momentum in recent years, encouraging individuals to explore life without alcohol—whether for health reasons, personal growth, or simple curiosity. Dina La Fonte, a certified recovery coach, is theSenior Business Affairs Associate at Mountainside, an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center with a holistic approach to wellness that has several locations, including the one in Canaan, Connecticut. With nearly five years of sobriety, La Fonte blends professional expertise with lived experience, making her a powerful advocate for recovery.
Like many, La Fonte’s path to recovery was not just about removing alcohol; it was about rediscovering herself. “Once you get sober from a substance, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling or what have you, emotional aspects of change come into place,” she explained. “It’s not a hard stop; it’s a continued process of integration and struggle.” Her own journey has led her to a career in recovery coaching, allowing her to help others find their own path.
“What I love about my work at Mountainside is that it allows me to be who I am without forcing me into a mold,” she said. “In recovery, we identify our authentic voice, establish boundaries, and clarify what we truly want.”
La Fonte explained that the rise of the “sober curious” movement may reflect a cultural shift in how we approach alcohol and self-care. La Fonte attributes this change to open conversations that break down stigma. “Even five or six years ago, admitting you had a problem came with embarrassment,” she said. “Now, the more we discuss it, the more people realize they’re not alone.” This newfound openness has perhaps made it easier for some individuals to explore sobriety and even do so without the pressure of a lifelong commitment.
Beyond emotional well-being, La Fonte also noted the physical benefits of sobriety. “It wasn’t immediate, but after a year, I noticed my skin clearing up, my energy improving, and my confidence growing,” she recalled. “Casual drinking dehydrates the skin, affects sleep, and contributes to inflammation. When people realize how much better they feel without alcohol, they want to hold onto that.”
In her role at Mountainside, La Fonte has expanded beyond coaching to influence organization-wide initiatives. “I still work directly with clients, but now I also help evolve how we support them,” she said. “Mountainside takes a holistic approach—integrating yoga, grief therapy, sound baths, and more. It’s not about pushing people through a system; it’s about meeting them where they are.”
La Fonte uses her social media platform as a “micro-influencer” to promote sober living and wellness. “I focus on positivity in sobriety—whether it’s skincare, self-care, or mental health. I test vegan and cruelty-free products, but I only promote what aligns with my values.”
For those exploring sobriety, La Fonte’s message is simple: “I’m not here to judge. I’m here to help.” She encourages open conversations and meeting people where they are. “If you’re curious about sobriety, let’s talk. I don’t need to know you to be proud of you. I don’t need to know you to love you. I already love you.Just reaching out is a huge step.”
With voices like La Fonte’s leading the conversation, perhaps the sober curious movement is more than a trend—it’s a cultural shift redefining what it means to live fully and authentically.
To contact Dina La Fonte, email her at dina.lafonte@mountainside.com, explore the Mountainside website at mountainside.com, or follow La Fonte on Instagram @dinalafonte