Collin Olenik strikes a clay bird in the trap shooting range at 110 Rod & Gun Club on Wednesday, Sept. 17, during a weekly meeting of the Dutchess County Long Rifle club.
VERBANK, N.Y. — At the end of a narrow, winding forest lane off of Route 82 south of Millbrook is the secluded 110 Rod & Gun Club, where Bob Jenks and his crew of volunteers were running their weekly meeting of the Dutchess County Long Rifles youth shooting sports club last Wednesday.
“There’s about 75 kids that come and shoot,” Jenks said, participating in air-rifle, air-pistol, target shooting with handguns and rifles and shotgun sports like trap and skeet shooting. The goal, Jenks said, is always safety first. He hauls a trailer to every weekly practice stocked with safety equipment, firearms, ammunition and targets — all owned by American Legion Post 178 in Millerton.
The mobile gun range, as Jenks calls it, allows the Long Rifle club to travel anywhere and set up a temporary gun range wherever shooting sports might be permitted.
The group meets at a different range every week, and the trailer allows them to participate in competitions and exhibitions, like last Saturday’s Game Fair at Orvis Sandanona in Millbrook.
Jenks sets up as many different activities as the space allows, and carries equipment for sports ranging from air pistol to archery to long rifles.
Jennifer LaPorte and her daughter Margot help Jenks run the archery range. Margot has been shooting since she was 9 years old when she got started at the Dutchess County Fair. She and her mother affirmed the club’s commitment to safety and education.
“If you know a little bit more, you have no fear,” Jennifer said. She and Margot trained to be archery instructors after being involved with shooting sports for years. Now they’re the qualified archery leaders, though it’s not Margot’s main sport.
Jenks and the volunteers instruct the kids in gun-handling and range procedures. Nobody moves up or down the range alone, and only when the chaperone instructs. Guns get put away when someone needs to go down the range. Safeties on. Things move slow, but the day goes on for three hours and everyone gets plenty of time, Jenks said.
The young sharpshooters displayed talents in air-rifle target shooting and trap shooting on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Jennifer explained the shape of 110 Rod & Gun Club restricted the variety of activities that could be offered that day.
Otherwise, the group would have set up as many different events as possible.
Millerton Police Chief Joseph Olenik was at 110 Rod & Gun Club with his son Collin. He said Collin had been shooting for years and loved the club.
“He wants to go to West Point,” Olenik said of his son.
Interested young shooting sports enthusiasts are welcome to join the club. Jenks can be contacted by email at dclongrifles@gmail.com or by phone at 518-672-1071. Membership costs $50 per year and $3 per meeting to help maintain a budget for food and snacks, Jenks said.
One of the entries in this year’s Community Day Scarecrow Contest, Ichabod Hiccup, at left, seems to be particularly enjoying the solo performance of Wil Greenstreet, whose strolling pop-up saxophone performances delighted visitors to the village on Saturday, Sept. 20. For more photos, turn to Page A8.
A popular feature of the Millbrook Library lawn area was a carpet of children’s books being given away for free. Appealing to little Julien Gulbrandsen, 3, of Pleasant Valley was the story of a pancake, being read by her mother Lauren Gulbrandsen. It is likely that the little book went home with them.Photo by Leila Hawken
Family fun and community were the order of the long-planned Community Day, on Saturday, Sept. 20, as village turned out to welcome visitors from throughout the region for a day of activities, contests, parades, displays, sales and the joy of being together.Photo by Leila Hawken
Top row, left to right, Caroline Kinsolving, Christopher McLinden, Dana Domenick, Reid Sinclair and Director Hunter Foster. Bottom row, left to right, Will Nash Broyles, Dick Terhune, Sandy York and Ricky Oliver in Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.”
Opening on Sept. 26, Agatha Christie’s legendary whodunit “The Mousetrap” brings suspense and intrigue to the Sharon Playhouse stage, as the theater wraps up its 2025 Mainstage Season with a bold new take on the world’s longest-running play.
Running from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5, “The Mousetrap” marks another milestone for the award-winning regional theater, bringing together an ensemble of exceptional local talent under the direction of Broadway’s Hunter Foster, who also directed last season’s production of “Rock of Ages." With a career that spans stage and screen, Foster brings a fresh and suspense-filled staging to Christie’s classic.
The Playhouse’s casting includes Dana Domenick of Falls Village who leads the cast as Mollie Ralston, the newlywed innkeeper with a secret. Reid Sinclair of Norfolk plays Giles, her husband and partner in hospitality — and maybe in something more sinister. Will Nash Broyles from Lakeville plays the eccentric and enigmatic Christopher Wren, and Sandy York of Sharon will play the role of the imperious Mrs. Boyle. Dick Terhune (Litchfield), Caroline Kinsolving (Salisbury), Ricky Oliver (Pawling), and Christopher McLinden (also Lakeville) round out the cast as the play’s increasingly suspicious guests — and one very determined detective.
As always, Sharon Playhouse has gathered a top-tier creative team to match its cast. The Swader brothers (Christopher and Justin) return with their signature scenic designs, while Kathleen DeAngelis’s costumes and Bobbie Zlotnik’s wigs promise to anchor us firmly in postwar England, even as the plot spirals into timeless psychological suspense. Lighting by Wheeler Moon and sound design by Graham Stone will help turn the cozy theater into a stage crackling with tension.
If you’ve never seen “The Mousetrap,” here’s what you need to know: it’s the murder mystery that truly defined the genre. Premiering in London’s West End in 1952 and still running strong over 30,000 performances later, Christie’s ingenious puzzle unfolds in a snowbound manor house where everyone has something to hide, and no one is safe from suspicion. Its final twist is famously kept secret by audiences — a tradition of theatrical discretion that only deepens the sense of shared experience.
“The enduring success of ‘The Mousetrap’ lies in its suspense, yes, but also in its structure,” said the Playhouse’s Artistic Director Carl Andress. “It’s a masterclass in storytelling. And with Hunter Foster leading this incredible cast of local artists, we know our audiences are in for an evening of mystery, laughter, and yes, plenty of gasps.”
Tickets are available now at SharonPlayhouse.org.
