Letters to the Editor 8/1

Thanking community for support of NECC

On behalf of the whole North East Community Center, its staff, volunteers, and board of directors, I would like to personally thank our local community for the incredible support we have received over this past weekend. Our 2024 Chef and Farmer Brunch at Mountain View in Pine Plains was a huge success thanks to those who gathered to celebrate our work and the vital programming we provide.

NECC would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to those who attended this year’s event as well as those who chose to support us in other ways. We are humbled by our community’s generosity and by the difference this community’s sustaining support makes in the lives of our friends and neighbors. Though donations are still being counted, we are beyond gratified to report that thus far, our community has helped us raise over $500,000 for our essential programs and services! These contributions are a testament to the area’s resolve for community betterment and the trust our supporters have in NECC’s work.

We would especially like to thank the volunteers and local businesses who participated in this critical fundraiser. Without the support of individuals, vendors, sponsors, chefs, farmers, and artisans we would not have been able to celebrate in such style! We encourage our neighbors to remember the businesses that reinvest in their community whenever shopping locally. Visit our website to see a list of sponsors and photos of this incredible event: neccmillerton.org/chef-farmer-brunch.

Thank you all for helping us celebrate the work of our vital programs! As always, we are moved by your generosity and dedication to making our community a better place for all to live.

Christine Sergent

Executive Director of North East Community Center

Millerton


Project 2025 critique criticized

The recent opinion piece (July 25) by Peter Riva regarding Project 2025 is irresponsible, over the top, and fear mongering in the extreme. Have we not learned anything from recent events about how inflamed rhetoric can result in aggressive and destructive behavior, as in what occurred on July 13? The obsessive use of the words “dictatorship” and “fascists” and “MAGA” are used to threaten readers into thinking that our world is going to end in fire and brimstone. Project 2025 is a conservative platform put forth by the Heritage Foundation. Anyone can and should look at their website and draw conclusions on their own rather than relying on Mr. Riva’s outrageous rhetoric. Shame on The Millerton News for printing it. What useful purpose does it serve to dedicate nearly half a page to this type of screed?

Margaret O’Brien

Amenia

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Millerton News and The News does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

Amanda Cannon
Amanda Cannon
Amanda Cannon

SALISBURY — Amanda Cannon, age 100, passed away Oct. 15, 2025, at Noble Horizons. She was the wife of the late Jeremiah Cannon.

Amanda was born Aug. 20, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York the daughter of the late Karl and Ella Husslein.

Keep ReadingShow less
Celebrating agriculture
Photo by Nathan Miller

PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains FFA Ag Fair brought a crowd to the high school on Church Street Saturday, Oct. 11.

Kicking off the day was the annual tractor pull, attracting a dedicated crowd that sat in bleachers and folding chairs for hours watching Allison-Chalmers, International Harvesters and John Deeres compete to pull the heaviest weights.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rev. AJ Stack of St. Thomas announces resignation

The Rev. AJ Stack, center right, blessing a chicken at the pet blessing event at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Amenia on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Photo by Aly Morrissey

AMENIA — After serving more than five years as Priest-in-Charge of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Amenia, the Rev. AJ Stack announced Tuesday, Oct. 7, that he will resign from the church and Food of Life/Comida de Vida pantry. His last day at his current post will be Sunday, Nov. 2, the conclusion of the Feast of All Saints.

The news was shared in two emails from Stack — one to Food of Life pantry subscribers and volunteers, and another to parish members.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local and County candidates to hold forum Oct. 24

MILLERTON — Ten candidates for office in the Nov. 4 election will answer questions from Dutchess County voters at a candidate forum on Friday, Oct. 24, at the Annex at the NorthEast-Millerton Library located at 28 Century Blvd.

The forum, which is sponsored by the library, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Keep ReadingShow less