By the community, for the community

When Robert and Mary Lou Estabrook purchased The Lakeville Journal in 1970 and The Millerton News in 1972, they set out to “publish the best newspaper of which [they] were capable.” They taught us that the role of the newspaper wasn’t just to report on the day-to-day, but to hold up a mirror, provide a record, and to help our community understand itself. But beyond that, Bob and Mary Lou took that sense of community responsibility and personally lived it.

This past weekend at the Jubilee Country Luncheon, we at The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News presented the inaugural Estabrook Community Leadership Award to The Harney Family, a family that has given so much to the Northwest Corner of Connecticut and Eastern Dutchess County in New York (see story and photos here). The award, named for Bob and Mary Lou Estabrook, recognizes an individual, family or organization for community leadership and the nurturing of community spirit.

The Harneys, too, embody that sense of responsibility. They are champions of local institutions, not just as employers and businesspeople, but as active and prominent supporters of a wide range of community organizations that provide essential services throughout the region.

This weekend, Elyse Harney reminded us to get involved. If you can give your time, money, or talents to a local organization working for a cause important to you, do it. If such an organization doesn’t exist, start it — and it doesn’t take much to begin.

The Jubilee was also an occasion to celebrate and support The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News, now a nonprofit news organization. In an era when local news — news of your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your communities — is dwindling, we are grateful to be not only surviving but thriving. And that is only thanks to you ... our readers, our donors, and our advertisers.

Covering the goings-on of the region week-in and week-out is a duty we perform with great pride. After all, your community is our community.

Thank you.

Latest News

Millerton’s Presbyterian church sold in May

Habitat for Humanity assisted in the construction and sale of this house at 14 Rudd Pond Road for $392,000.

Christine Bates

MILLERTON — Official Dutchess County property transfers for the four months ending in May are fascinating from the sale of the former Presbyterian Church on Main Street for $420,000 to the $300,000 sale of 8.3 acres of the historic Perotti farm for $300,000 where major barn restoration is now underway.

Actively listed properties at the end of July include 14 parcels of land ranging in price from $60,000 for a five-acre lot to six parcels over a million dollars. 15 single family homes are on the market including an $11,750,000 estate on Moadock Road and four village homes for under $500,000.

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