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Robert Sommer Kennedy
Millerton News
Feb 18, 2026
KENT — Robert “Rob” Kennedy (71), of Kent, devoted son of Dr. John E. Kennedy and Olga Sommer Kennedy, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, at the home of his brother and sister-in-law in Kent. Rob was a long-time, well-loved member of the Kent community.
Born in Guam, Rob’s early years were spent traveling the globe with his family for his dad’s work as an MD in Micronesia, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, and Zaire. In 1962 the family of 9 settled in Kent, Rob attended the Devereux School and graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Rob worked at South Kent School, where he was known for his good humor, and kindness toward students and staff. For most of his working life he could be found at Davis IGA in Kent, greeting customers with the warmth and familiarity that made him a recognizable and welcoming face in town.
Known to many in town as “Coach Rob,” he spent countless hours volunteering with Kent Park & Recreation and at Kent School. His patience, enthusiasm, and genuine care for young people made him a beloved friend to generations of local kids.
Rob was also deeply connected to the community through his involvement with the Kent Volunteer Fire Department and St. Andrew’s Church, both of which were important parts of his life. Rob loved caring for animals. For many years he kept sheep and a donkey at the family homestead in North Kent. Neighborhood pets got daily walks while Rob lived in-town at Templeton Farms.
Rob is predeceased by his parents and infant brother, Michael. He is survived by 6 siblings; Kathleen Kennedy Enger (Filmore), John Kennedy (Kathleen), Karen Kennedy Wilson (Robert), Gretchen Kennedy, Clytie Kennedy, Jeffery Kennedy (Apple), 17 nieces and nephews, Uncle Donald Sommer, Nancy Sommer, and many friends who will miss him dearly.
A service is planned for May 9 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kent followed by a celebration of life at the Kent Fire House. In lieu of flowers, donations in Rob’s memory may be sent to the Kent Volunteer Fire Department or St. Andrew’s Church.
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Carolyn G. McCarthy
Millerton News
Feb 18, 2026
LAKEVILLE — Carolyn G. McCarthy, 88, a long time resident of Indian Mountain Road, passed away peacefully at home on Feb. 7, 2026.
She was born on Sept. 8, 1937, in Hollis, New York. She was the youngest daughter of the late William James and Ruth Anderson Gedge of Indian Mountain Road.
Carolyn’s first job out of high school was at the Time and Life building in Manhattan, New York. In 1956, she went on to work for Capital Airlines until they disbanded. She began banking in White Plains, New York, where she met her husband Edward James McCarthy. They started their family and relocated to Pleasant Valley, New York. She then returned to banking in Poughkeepsie, New York and later pursued real estate.
Carolyn was very creative and enjoyed home making, gardening, sewing, knitting, cooking and baking. Her Christmas cookies were always remarkable. She had a pioneer spirit and embraced the toil of yard chores. She was very independent and at 87 she still shoveled the driveway in the winter, mowed the grass, trimmed the bushes, raked the leaves and dragged the brush. She took pride in the manicure of the grounds where she resided.
Carolyn was a wonderful mother who had an enormous heart. She loved all animals, wild or tame. She will be dearly missed by her family and the people that knew her.
She is predeceased by her husband, Edward McCarthy Sr., her brother Dr. Stafford Gedge of Minnesota, nephews, William, James and Robert and niece Christine.
She is survived by her son, Edward (Anne) McCarthy of Greenfield, Massachusetts and grandsons James and Theodore, son Sean McCarthy of Oak Hill, New York, sister Nancy Dougherty of South Carolina, nieces Lynn Warner and Debra Phillips.
A private service will be held at a later date. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
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Letter to the Editor — Thursday, Feb. 18
Millerton News
Feb 18, 2026
Thanks from Fire Co.
On Sunday, February 15, the Amenia Fire Company sponsored our monthly Pancake Breakfast. We were pleased to have a nice crowd of 180 people in attendance for our monthly meal. We rely on the breakfasts to raise needed money for general operations and we always appreciate the support of the community. We thank everyone who attends our events and hope you will join us at our next breakfast on March 15 at the firehouse.
Andy Murphy,
on behalf of the Breakfast Committee, Amenia Fire Co. & Auxiliary
Amenia
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Ozempic, GLP-1 the money shifter
Peter Riva
Feb 18, 2026
The current best guess is that about one in ten Americans are now using Ozempic or a competitor weight-loss drug. It costs money and the injections are a pain (literally). So soon there’s a pill… and it still costs money, meaning usually only those with the means and not necessarily the medical reason are in that ten percent.
Some facts: The GLP-1 hormone derived from Anglerfish and the Gila monster venom (I am not kidding), this drug masks your ability to feel hungry. It stops craving. It does not stop your body’s need for protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals. If you eat less you lose weight like any starvation diet. If you eat less you get less of the necessary protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals to remain healthy. To deal with this, your body consumes stored goodness in your fat cells and, eventually, digesting that extra skin you no longer need. Of course, if the stored fat was crap from genetically modified corn (liposuction is often yellow corn sugar stored as fat ), that’s what your body will consume and process once again to stay viable. Toxicity is an issue here. What is also an issue is muscle tone and the body’s difficulty in dealing with sudden drastic weight change. Doctor’s advice is always, currently, needed along with a prescription and weight training to rebuild muscles.
But already generic GLP-1 hormone versions are on the market, available without prescription globally. It is likely that the 10% under treatment may quickly become more like 90% of the population desperate to look what the media says is “good” (this parallels Viagra’s track record of resetting sexual norms even for teens). And GLP-1’s effectiveness to reshape norms will upend the entire medical, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
Think I’m kidding? Weightwatchers is already doomed (and they are selling GLP-1 now too). Two CEOs have quit, taking their funding out (Oprah is one of them). Restaurants are already offering menus with “exotic bites,” “mindful experience meals,” and “GLP-Wonderful Menus.” The fast food industry has, for decades, claimed that snack food is nutritious based on a per-ounce calorie calculation. A bag of potato chips is 150 calories. But if you only eat two or three chips the small bag they sold you is salt and very few calories, hardly “healthy” anymore.
As GLP-1 goes global and generic, there is huge money to be made keeping the prices as high as possible. That money has to come from somewhere… that’s why the investors are switching from the traditional food industry to the drug companies. To keep profit share, companies like Coke are planning ½ sized cans, MacDonalds is planning tasters maybe called “McBites.” Will those reduced sized products cost the buyer less? A bit, but the profit margins built-in will have to be the same as before to keep the food industry viable, to keep the cattle association thriving, to keep dairy and produce farmers in business.
So, what started out as a medicinally beneficial drug for diabetes and grossly overweight patients, has quickly become the drug of choice for personal beauty and physical perfection ideals. And in that vanity-unleashed world, industries will change, adapt, and create a new norm of visual perfection, dealing with dietary imperfections, malnutrition, as well as increased medical (physical and mental) treatments. Look for money sprinting from the dietary programs, leveraging profit margins within food industries, growing the entire medical and pharmacy industries and, in the end, reshaping the ideals of beauty, so-called health, and cultural visuals of what humans are naturally supposed to look like.
GLP-1 is the harbinger of a whole new world driven first by real medical need, taken over by perhaps false ideals of beauty and health. Once set, it becomes impossible to undo such cultural norms. Like plastic surgery fads, we may never again enjoy the diversity and origin of the species as nature intended.
Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.
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Rails, traffic safety, NECC new director
Millerton News
Feb 18, 2026
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
Feb. 21, 1935
Oliver W. Valentines Parents of 8 1/4-Pound Boy
Mr. and Mrs. Oliver W. Valentine are the parents of a son born Monday at Vassar Hospital, Poughkeepsie. The baby, weighing 8 1/4 pounds, has been named Richard. Both mother and son are getting along nicely, it was reported at the hospital. Mr. Valentine is chief of the Millerton Fire Department.
About Millerton
William Pulver, who has been a patient in the infirmary at Hotchkiss School, has recovered from his illness.
Bill Vogt, noted fly fisherman, is visiting Arthur Terni.
Kenneth Brusie has resumed his duties as gate tender at the New York Central Railroad crossing after a week lay off because of illness.
John Brusie is ill at his home.
Mr. and Mrs. Wesley MacMaster attended the funeral of Mrs. Elia Nodine MacMaster on Monday at Amenia Union.
February 19, 1976
Penn Central Delays Rail Abandonment
Penn Central has postponed abandoning freight service on the Harlem Division for at least a month, a member of the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) said Tuesday.
Robert Colucci, a DOT transportation regulatory analyst, said that the date of Harlem Line’s transfer of ownership from Penn Central to the Consolidated Rail Corporation (ConRail) has been changed from March 1 to April 1, but added that it may occur as late as May 1.
Colucci said that the delay is due to President Gerald Ford’s late approval of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. The bill was not signed until this month and Colucci said that ConRail needed more time to conduct the rail line transfers.
The State DOT excluded the section of the Harlem Division north of Millerton to Chatham in its State Rail Plan released last December. This means that the Harlem Line will become a stub line ending at Millerton once the Penn Central-ConRail transfer is complete. The line is presently a through line that connects with the Boston and Albany line at Chatham.
The State plans to maintain the Harlem’s right-of-way north of Millerton until a connection is built at Dykeman’s in Putnam County, Jim Cartin, DOT principal rail specialist, said this, week. Dykeman’s marks the Harlem’s connection with the Maybrook Line. Freight service, the DOT has said, could be rerouted to or from the Hudson Line via the Maybrook Line. This, the State contended, would eliminate the need for the upper section of the Harlem Division north of Millerton.
State Nixes Light at Checkerboard
Because most accidents there occur in the daytime and most victims are out-of-towners, the State Transportation Department has refused to install a flashing beacon at the infamous checkerboard curve south of the village.
In a Jan. 9 letter to the North East Town Clerk, R.M. Gardeski, regional traffic engineer for the State, said: “A review of the accidents supplied by you shows that (1) they are all out-of-town drivers, (2) the accidents occurred during daylight hours. Therefore, we feel that the installation of a flashing beacon is not appropriate.”
Gardeski did admit in his letter, “your point that cars do not observe this curve far enough in advance is well taken.”
North East Town Clerk Barbara Wickwire read Gardeski’s letter to the Town Board at its Thursday, Feb. 12 meeting.
Gardeski explained that the State has raised the warning arrow already at the curve, added another arrow to the sign, and proposed the addition of yet another set of warning arrows.
Gardeski told The News this week that flashing beacons are usually placed in school speed zones, and in areas to warn motorists of approaching signals. Gardeski said, “If you use the beacons too often, drivers become conditioned to them and they lose their effect.”
Gardeski then got into some bureaucratic lingo. He said the checkerboard is what traffic experts call a “geometric change.” Before we could ask him what, exactly, a geometric change was, he said flashing beacons aren’t usually placed there. Oh.
Next, we wondered why the beacon request was turned down just because most of the people who get creamed on the curve are passing through from out-of-state during the day (We hazard a guess that after getting racked [sick] up on the curve, people are not likely to be too anxious to make a return visit to our Village).
February 15, 2001
New Director Wants to Make NECC ‘A Place For Everybody’
MILLERTON — “What I’d like to do is just throw open the doors,” said Jenny Hansell, the new director of the North East Community Center (NECC), referring to her desire to “reach out to the community and make the NECC a place for everybody.” Ms. Hansell said her first priority is to support and enrich the programs alredy in place at the center, and then “start from scratch” on new projects. And she is not without experience in program development.
A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Hansell has a long history of work in volunteer and philanthropic organizations.
Her focus has always been to educate children and teens while encouraging social activism. Ms. Hansell described several of her past assignments for an organization called Heaven, at which Ms. Hansell attempted to “make volunteering and philanthropy hip for young adults;” while at another job she “developed curriculum for teens to learn technology while volunteering.”
However, Ms. Hansell welcomes the change from working on-line to hands-on.
“Working on-line for three years has caused me to become a couple of steps removed,” said the new director. “I could reach millions of faceless people before, but it’s worth it if I can reach 10, face-to-face, now.”
One of the first steps Ms. Hansell plans to take is to revive teen involvement at the center, including developing and/or reinstating programs geared towards youth enrichment and environmental awareness. Also, she hopes to help the center to further incorporate the growing Hispanic community.
Riley’s Opens Online Showroom
MILLERTON - Riley’s Furniture has opened its online showroom on FurnitureFan.com.
Furniture shoppers may browse Riley’s Internet showroom 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
FurnitureFan.com is the largest-of-its-kind furniture search engine in the country, according to its sponsors. Its concept allows consumers to narrow their search for furniture online and then “see, feel and buy” it at a local store such as Riley’s Furniture.
Riley’s Furniture is located at 135 Main St., Millerton.
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