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Five years of nonprofit local news
Millerton News
Sep 22, 2026
Five years ago this September, our communities made a bet that strong, independent local reporting was worth preserving – and that a nonprofit model could help preserve it.
It was a new model for sustaining newspapers that had served this region for generations – The Lakeville Journal since 1897 and The Millerton News since 1932.
Five years of expanded, independent, local reporting supported by readers, advertisers, and donors is worth noting – and celebrating, especially as so many local news outlets are disappearing.
Our reporters are covering the important stories that affect you: the changing landscape of local health care; the spread and containment of hydrilla in Twin Lakes; the growing cost of emergency medical services; debates over housing, schools and major development projects; and, through our recent “Pockets of Poverty” series, the financial hardship that too often goes unseen in our communities.
We also record the shared life of our communities – anniversaries and festivals, school milestones, performances, traditions, achievements and the people who make our towns such interesting places to live.
People turn to The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News not only to understand the issues affecting their communities, but to feel connected to them.
Covering the difficult questions matters; so does helping people see themselves, their neighbors and the life of their towns reflected in these pages.
Your support has also helped us invest beyond the printed newspaper. We have expanded our journalism education efforts, both with our paid summer internships, and with the new student-produced newspaper at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Expansion plans are underway.
Your support has also strengthened the tools and systems behind our reporting, with upgrades to our websites and the creation of an audience development position focused on helping more people find, use and engage with our coverage – in print, online, through newsletters and across other digital platforms.
And, with your continuing support, we are continuing to build.
In the months ahead, readers will see redesigned newspapers, shaped in part by reader feedback, and a deeper focus on answering the questions our communities are asking – not simply reporting what happened, but helping readers understand what it means, why it matters and what comes next. We’ll also be creating more opportunities for readers to tell us what they want to know and where our coverage can be most useful.
This work has been sustained by donors and foundations, advertisers and subscribers, readers and community partners – all helping make strong local news possible.
Your support has been an important part of that. Because of you, we are still here, still reporting, still improving and still looking ahead.
Thank you for believing in this work and for helping make it possible.
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Letters to the editor — Thursday, September 24, 2026
Millerton News
Sep 22, 2026
Twenty-five years later things have changed
I too went to see that terrific production of “Come From Away” at Sharon Playhouse.
Twenty-five years later, my memories of 9/11 have not faded. Many things have changed in that time, but most vivid is the change in our relationship with the rest of the world. The international response to the attack was immediate, full of love, and offered unqualified support.
Our response was to invade Iraq (tho the terrorists were all Saudi) with the full force of our powerful military and stay there for 2 decades without really impacting the politics of the region. We pursued alleged “weapons of mass destruction” that were never found or even confirmed, eventually captured Osama Bin Laden, lost a large number of young American men & women (not to mention the civilians killed) at a cost to taxpayers of $3,000,000,000,000.
Candidate Trump promised to never again get us into an “endless war” but did so in Iran. (In fairness, he also promised to bring gas & food prices down).
He has thoughtlessly destroyed the democratic alliance built since WW2 (not just NATO) with childish insults, tariffs, and threatened invasions. Our eternal friend Canada is applying to the EU as a trading partner, since America is no longer considered trustworthy. Our military is roiled by a purge of experienced leadership, basic troop needs ignored, and a lack of weapons (all the missiles spent on this one operation). The only beneficiaries are Russia, China & arms makers. America has been weakened & made less safe by an incompetent leader and a complicit congress. In a few years they’ve managed to frighten & anger our citizens to the point we are unable to talk to each other. Very sad.
Leo Blackman
Wassaic
Thanks to Brian Kenny
My daughter, husband and I had a flat tire right behind the firehouse in Sharon. No one was around and out of nowhere appeared Brian Kenny of Kenny Funeral Home. He asked if he could help and offered to drive us to our home in Ancram which I knew was way out of his way. He drove our adult daughter and then came back to see if there was anything more to do to help. He didn’t know us, we didn’t know him and all he did was help when help was needed. This isn’t an advertisement for his funeral home but if this is the way he treats strangers then he is the best of funeral directors anywhere.
Lorraine Coyle and Oliver Koppell
Ancram
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Let's hear it — September 24, 2026
Millerton News
Sep 22, 2026
This Week
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a temporary statewide ban on new data center construction earlier this summer, while communities in neighboring Connecticut are considering more permanent bans on data center development.
Should our towns consider permanent restrictions on new data centers?
Send your responses to social@lakevillejournal.com by Monday, Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. or comment on Facebook or Instagram.
We’ll publish a selection in next week’s paper.
Last Week’s Question
What fall activities are you most looking forward to this season?
“The Salisbury Fall Festival”
— Larissa Vreeland
“Litchfield Highland Games!”
— Lime Rock Park
“Hot drinks!! Teas, coffees, lattes, hot chocolates! All wonderful!”
— Honey Tuttle Griffin
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Kidnapping, aging, bomb scare, 9/11 response
Millerton News
Sep 22, 2026
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
September 26, 1935
Girl, 15, Held Captive At West Copake
Accused of holding a fifteen-year-old girl captive for ten days on a West Copake farm, Anthony Castaldo, 52, Brooklyn photographer, was held in $25,000 bail last week on a charge of kidnaping by Magistrate Bernard A. Kozicke in Gates Avenue Court, Brooklyn.
September 23, 1976
County, Church Stalled On Aged Center Plan
The County Office for the Aging and the United Methodist Church on Main Street in Millerton have not yet come to terms on the amount to be charged the Office for running a nutrition and social activities center for senior citizens in the Church, according to County Nutrition Services Coordinator Mary Lou Yeager.
Bomb Scare Hits Millerton Super
A storeful of shoppers at the Millerton Super were evacuated from the building for about an hour Saturday when a bomb scare was telephoned in by an unknown male caller.
According to N.Y. State Police Sgt. Richard Fairchild, “Somebody” called the supermarket at approximately 2:45 p.m. and said a bomb was planted in the store.
September 20, 2001
Terrorist Attacks: Area Responds to Relief Efforts
In the wake of the terrorist attacks, communities, groups and individuals came together in an effort to give a helping hand to their neighbors to the south.
Organizations from the Cub Scouts to individuals rallied together to gather clothes and other supplies needed by rescue workers in New York City.
Cub Scout Pack 43 from Millerton and Pack 39 in Dover combined their efforts to collect badly need clothing for the rescue effort.
School Dance to Help
Webutuck High School seniors are sponsoring a “Red, White and Blue” dance this Friday and Saturday night.
Friday a dance for sixth through eighth graders will be held at the Webutuck Middle School from 7 p.m. to 10:30p.m. WQQQ disc jockey Bill Simmons will donate his services.
Saturday a dance for high school students will be held at the Middle School The $5 admission will be donated to the disaster relief effort.
Banks Chip In
Governor George Pataki announced that concerned individuals can make a donation to the newly-created New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund via the state’s Web site www.state.ny.us or at area M&T banks
Foundation Fund
A Sept. 11 Fund has been established by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation to provide relief for the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The purpose of the fund is to mobilize financial resources to respond to the pressing needs of the victims and their families affected by the tragedy.
Mural Honors Victims: Saperstein’s Mural Dedicated
MILLERTON — Six weeks after work began, the mural at Saperstein’s is complete. In a ceremony Saturday afternoon, store owner Lew Saperstein dedicated the artwork to his dad and the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks.
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Pull out the stops
Leila Hawken
Sep 22, 2026
Performing his 14th annual organ concert at the historic Smithfield Church on Sunday, Sept. 20, renowned New York Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle put the church’s 1893 two-manual, seven-stop tracker organ through its paces with a repertoire spanning five centuries. The concert was to benefit the New York Oratorio Society where Tritle serves as Music Director.
Photo by Leila Hawken
Performing his 14th annual organ concert at the historic Smithfield Church on Sunday, Sept. 20, renowned New York Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle put the church’s 1893 two-manual, seven-stop tracker organ through its paces with a repertoire spanning five centuries. The concert was to benefit the New York Oratorio Society where Tritle serves as Music Director.
Amenia opens bids for stalled sidewalk project
Leila Hawken
Sep 22, 2026
AMENIA — Town officials are moving forward with the bidding process for a long-delayed project to install new sidewalks along Route 44 to Beekman Park.
The Town Board unanimously approved a resolution allowing officials to begin the bidding process at its regular meeting Thursday, Sept. 17.
Work on the sidewalk project was halted last winter after the former contractor, Southern Industries, failed to complete the project in a timely manner, leading the town to terminate the contract.
Preparing new bid specifications will be the first step toward hiring a contractor to complete the project.
Town officials expressed hope that the bidding process can be completed in time for work to resume this year, but acknowledged that much of the work will need to be redone.
Marriage officer appointed
In other business, the Town Board voted unanimously to appoint Town Clerk Dawn Klingner as the town’s marriage officer. The position is unpaid, but the marriage officer may charge a $75 fee to officiate a wedding.
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