Joseph Robert Meehan
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Diana Woolis, right, delivers criticism of Pine Plains Town Supervisor Brian Walsh during a regular meeting of the Town Board on Thursday, March 19. Woolis said she was saddened by recorded statements Walsh made where he suggested library budget funds could pay for surveillance cameras in the town.
Photo by Nathan Miller
Board members proposed and approved a resolution formally limiting license plate reading cameras and other "public safety" cameras without prior Town Board approval in response to the controversy. Town attorney Warren Replansky prepared the resolution prior to the meeting at the request of board members.
Critics said during public comment that Walsh's actions and statements in light of the recent revelations have eroded trust in his leadership. Walsh has faced scrutiny since Feb. 3 when Flock Safety representatives began marking locations for license-plate reading cameras at three locations across town. Those markings revealed an $80,000 contract with the Atlanta-based company signed by former Pine Plains Police Sergeant Michael Beliveau and Walsh's multiple emails and phone calls with representatives of the company.
Walsh said in statements to the New Pine Plains Herald after the markers for new cameras went up this February that he hadn't spoken to Flock Safety since June 2025. He said he was aware of a six-month trial that Beliveau had arranged with Flock Safety, and that the town was not engaged in a contract. Released records revealed Walsh had communicated with Flock Safety as recently as November 2025, and that the trial agreement that Beliveau signed would automatically roll into an $80,000, two-year contract with the surveillance company.
Public comment drew numerous calls for Walsh's resignation, alleging he lied about his involvement and awareness of the proposed trial and contract. Conservation Advisory Council Chair Gail Mellow issued a sharp rebuke of Walsh's actions.
She said Walsh repeatedly lied about his role in procuring the cameras and accused him of deflecting blame to Beliveau.
"Walsh lied to our community," Mellow said. "And I think, in doing so, smeared dirt on the honor of serving the town."
Residents fill\u00a0Town Hall on Route 199 in Pine Plains for the meeting on Thursday, March 19. Photo by Nathan Miller
"We have lost so much ground in four years," Nuccio said. She recalled working as a secretary for Walsh's predecessor, Darrah Cloud, saying the town government accomplished more under Cloud's leadership. "We were doing things in a progressive way."
Some called for sympathy for Walsh, describing his actions as a mistake that the community should move on from. Supporters included law enforcement personnel describing the benefits of license plate reading cameras in solving crimes and avoiding dangerous situations.
Town Board members gave their own statements prior to residents' public comments that centered around accountability and moving forward. Councilwoman Jeanine Sisco offered the first statement on the controversy of the night.
Sisco said the board found it difficult to get answers from Walsh and Flock Safety during the recent controversy, but it was clear that proper procedures were not followed. She said board members received emails and recorded telephone conversations between Walsh and Flock Safety on March 9 — over a month after the stakes brought the agreement to light.
"Information was withheld," she said. "There were serious missteps."
The councilwoman then clarified that the Town Board is prohibited from disciplining or dismissing an elected official under New York law. She said board members plan to move forward and work with Walsh to follow proper protocol.
"I hope you can appreciate how much time and energy has been spent trying to understand what has occurred," Sisco said. "Now it's time to move forward."
Councilman Kevin Walsh took a harder stance, calling out a lack of written confirmation from Flock Safety that all agreements had been cancelled and what he described as obfuscation from the Supervisor.
He said Brian Walsh misled the board and documents have come to light showing the Supervisor communicated with Flock Safety representatives on multiple occasions between November 2024 and July 2025 and again this February after the cameras came to light.
Kevin Walsh nonetheless acknowledged the board has no power to remove Brian Walsh from office.
"Some are calling for us to do things we are not in power to do," Kevin Walsh said. "We will continue to do our best to bring the situation which has caused much consternation to a conclusion."
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Melissa Gamwell, hand lettering with precision and care.
Kevin Greenberg
Each piece makes a gift, a note or even a Christmas tree seem more personal, more considered, and more connected to humanity. Since then, demand for her personalized, hand-lettered tags, ornaments and cards has only grown, appearing in mailboxes across the region and at shops like the Cornwall Whale and Marton & Davis in Chatham, New York. Her precision is remarkable, and to watch her create these one-of-a-kind pieces is an art all unto itself.
In recent months, we’ve seen a deluge of stories on digital replacement. Data managers, bankers and even therapists are being replaced by computer programs in mass waves of layoffs. But what many still find surprising about the proliferation of nonhuman competitors in the job market is how it’s affecting the arts. Illustrators, animators, photographers, musicians and even on-screen actors are being supplanted by bots touted as “artificial intelligence agents.”
But calligraphy — and handwriting in general — has been in the crosshairs of mechanical progress for centuries. There was a time, if you can believe it, when writing anything required ink, paper and sometimes even a living, breathing human scribe. No typewriters, no word processors, no voice-to-text programs.
Then came Gutenberg’s printing press. Sure, it changed the world for the better, ensuring a greater distribution of ideas, and helping spark some of the most important political movements in history. But it also marked one of the first moments when technology replaced the artistic work of the human hand. Over the centuries, printers, designers and technologists have continued to innovate. Today, with Photoshop or Illustrator, an entire universe of alphabets exists, from ornate and embellished to precise and futuristic — all designed to replace the human hand.
Melissa Gamwell, crafting custom Valentine’s Day cards in her office in Cornwall. Kevin Greenberg
Yet, despite this centuries-long assault from technology, Gamwell has found her own way to thrive. Largely self-taught, she combines her drawing and industrial design background with an old-school New England childhood in Maine that involved “very tangible, hands-on, creative problem-solving using many materials.” Raised by “parents who loved antiquarian books, often filled with hand-written dedications,” hers was the kind of upbringing in which “traditional practices were cherished and flaunted” — a time and place with “hand-painted lettering on churches, street signage, the stones in beautiful churchyard cemeteries, and log books.”
Those early impressions have stayed with her, heightening her appreciation of sometimes overlooked details.
“There’s so much ephemera floating around with traces of beautiful handwriting to see everywhere, even now in Connecticut,” she said.
Even in a digital age, she keeps technology at a distance.
“You will not find ChatGPT on my phone, and you will usually not find my phone on me,” she said. Instead, she opts for a notebook, a scrap of paper or the back of a receipt. Sometimes, she goes even further, gathering black walnuts from trees on her property to make the specialized ink for her practice.
Gamwell’s approach to her craft is also philosophical. “There is no better feeling than working through something with your own brain and your own hands, even if you find it less exemplary than you would hope. And it only uses the water you’re already consuming. Do you need to convey an idea? Draw it, however horrific or childish. Write it, even if you never learned proper grammar — because you’ve always had programs do it,” she said.
“Sometimes I think that everything I like is ‘historic’ but it’s really that I just find more value in the traditional methods, which are still alive and well, and desperately in need of stewards for the future.”
After nearly 400 years of pressure, it’s encouraging to see handwriting — an art form that once seemed destined for obsolescence — still thriving, one careful stroke at a time. And thanks to Gamwell, perhaps there’s a new generation of observers, collectors and future calligraphers ready to carry it forward.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his wife, artist Lane Arthur, in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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