Andrew Corrigan shows how to keep a low profile on a brook trout stream.
Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
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A one level, legal two family 3,000 square foot house like this home at 111 Lamoree Road is an unusual find. It sold for $500,000 on 6 acres including a pole barn and horse trails.
Photo by Christine Bates
MILAN — In August the Town of Milan saw increased sales activity at the high end with two multi-million dollar sales on large acreage after a month of typical activity in July when five houses were sold all under $700,000. Milan is becoming known for its contemporary spec designs like the house on Becker Hill which sold for $5.75 million. Only two single family residences sold for under $1 million during the month of August, plus a two family house and two parcels of land.
At the beginning of October, 19 single family residences were listed for sale in Milan with two under $500,000 and nine over $1 million. The highest priced property on the market is Mirror Lake Retreat, an RV camping resort with 216 acres and an 18 acre lake priced at $11 million.
44 Mitchell Lane — 3 bedroom/1 bath home on 5.4 acres sold for $220,000.
111 Lamoree Road — two family, 4 bedroom/2 bath on 6 acres sold for $500,000.
94 Brooklyn Heights Road — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 19.3 acres sold for $1.75 million.
880 Salisbury Turnpike — contemporary 3 bedroom/3 bath house on 14.7 acres sold for $868,000.
285 Becker Hill — 6 bedroom/4.5 bath home on 23.5 acres with Catskill views sold for $5.75 million.
820 Cold Spring Road — 5.12 acre residential vacant land sold for $250,000.
Old Jackson Corners Road — 1.32 acre lot sold for $44,000.
* Town of Milan real estate sales recorded between August 1, 2024, and August 31, 2024, sourced from Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency. Information on active listings taken from First Key MLS which may understate available properties. Parcel numbers refer to parcel designation by Dutchess County and may be accessed on Dutchess Parcel Access. Only transfers with consideration are included. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in CT and NY.
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STANFORD — Landfills and incinerators in the United States process enough organic material annually to fill a line of fully-loaded 18-wheelers stretching from New York City to Los Angeles, 10 times, according to a report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
In response, the number of communities with composting programs nationwide has increased 65% in the last five years, and the town of Stanford is considering joining that movement.
The Stanfordville Climate Smart Communities (CSC) board is seeking feedback from residents via an online survey on their level of interest in participating in a composting program in their community if one were to be established.
Wendy Burton, Town of Stanford Supervisor, said there is a grant opportunity from Dutchess County for up to $20,000 to fund a composting project for the initial start-up costs for a food waste drop-off program.
Burton noted that the town Transfer Station is under consideration as the site for a municipal composting project.
“The survey is to test the waters on community interest, and we are also going to speak to our local restaurants and Big Rock,” as well as the local school district, to see if they would be interested in participating, the town supervisor said.
The brief survey asks residents to estimate how much compostable waste they think their household produces weekly, whether they would be interested in education about home composting, community composting, with potential drop off options around town, or a composting pick-up service, age range and number of people in the household.
The Dutchess County Division of Solid Waste Management recently launched the expanded grant program for municipalities and schools aimed at reducing food and organic waste through composting and at the same time provide convenient composting opportunities to residents.
Composting is a process where organic materials, like kitchen scraps and yard waste, are broken down naturally by microorganisms. These tiny creatures use oxygen, water and the carbon and nitrogen in the materials to create a nutrient-rich soil called compost, which is akin to turning trash into treasure for gardens.
The survey is currently being circulated via the Town of Stanford mailing list. For more information, email wburton@townofstanford.org.
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“The big problem is that there are no reliable treatments that have much impact on Long COVID.”
—Dr. James Shepherd,
Sharon infectious disease specialistSALISBURY — Kitty Kiefer couldn’t catch a break last winter. But what the Salisbury selectman did catch was COVID-19, influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and a nasty cold.
“The whole winter I went from one disease to the next,” recalled Kiefer, despite being current on her immunizations. Small children, she noted, “are walking Petri dishes.”
While she failed to dodge a mélange of misery, she is optimistic that her updated flu and COVID shots, and one-time RSV jab, might have lessened the severity of her illnesses. So Kiefer plans to roll up her sleeve again this fall for her annual flu shot and COVID booster.
Health officials are hoping more people will follow suit, as staying up to date with recommended vaccines reduces the risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, and even a syndrome known as Long COVID.
With a summer surge of coronavirus in the rearview mirror, at least temporarily, and the official arrival this month of the 2024/2025 respiratory virus season, state and local health officials expressed concern about lagging immunization rates and COVID fatigue heading into fall, winter and the holidays.
“We want to make everybody aware that the Respiratory Viral Disease Season is definitely upon us and this is the time to get yourself protected from COVID, flu and RSV,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH).
She noted that everyone ages six months and older is eligible to receive the COVID and flu vaccines.
“I encourage everyone to receive both updated shots this season,” including people who were infected with coronavirus this past summer. For those individuals, she recommended holding off on boosters until the end of October or early November.
The immunizations can all be administered at the same time. The RSV vaccine, however, is a one-time shot, she noted.
“For all older adults 75 and older it is now recommended that they get the RSV shot. If you are 60 and older, there are a set of comorbidities that will make you eligible for this vaccine,” said Juthani.
‘A bit of COVID fatigue’
October marked the start of the typical flu and RSV seasons, although the coronavirus remains a year-round threat.
“Unfortunately for COVID, as much as I have willed and wished for it to become a seasonal virus, it really has not completely done that. But what we can do is still protect ourselves to the best of our ability going through the rest of this respiratory viral disease season,” Juthani noted.
Health officials said they are concerned that while people tend to not hesitate when rolling up their sleeves for the seasonal flu vaccine, they nix COVID boosters.
Juthani said it could be due to “a bit of COVID fatigue.”
“People are used to getting their flu shot. They may feel they’ve had a lot of COVID shots over the last couple of years.” Others, said Juthani, report that they feel sick after receiving the booster.
In that scenario, she recommends that people try a different vaccine, as there are three on the market: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax.
“It is most important to get some sort of protection going into this season so don’t let side effects get in your way. Just try something,” advised the health commission. “At the end of the day we want you to boost your immunity so you will have the best chance of success.”
Some people believe that the flu vaccine causes the flu, which is a common misconception, according to Tamar Melin a nurse practitioner with Nuvance Primary Care. She advises everyone to get vaccinated for flu this season.
“It is a protection and decreases the severity of symptoms if ill with flu. The flu shot does not cause flu.”
COVID boosters lag behind flu shots
As of mid-October, about 156,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered, compared to 289,000 doses of the updated influenza shot, according to DPH.
“We’d like to try to get those numbers as close to each other as possible,” said Juthani. “COVID is a much more morbid and has a much higher mortality than flu does, but more people in our state are getting the flu vaccine.”
She also noted that fewer people are testing for COVID or seeking treatment for infections, a concerning trend that became evident last year.
During the 2023/2024 season, 70% of people who were hospitalized for COVID were age 65 and older, DPH statistics show.
“We know that one in 100 people age 75 and older ended up hospitalized for COVID, and 88% of hospitalized adults had not received the most updated COVID vaccine,” the state health commissioner explained.
She said statistics reveal that half of the people age 65 and older who became ill with the coronavirus did not seek medical treatment, which might have lessened their symptoms.
“It is our oldest age groups that are impacted the most, but everybody from 40 upward is where we see the burden of our disease,” said Juthani. “Age is the biggest risk factor.”
In terms of deaths, the highest number are in the 80-plus range, but also includes those in the 60-69 and 70-79 age groups, she noted. “There were many people who died this summer, and also since August, including one death in a Connecticut nursing home.
Recent spikes in COVID-19 cases have been largely driven by a new class of subvariants nicknamed FLiRT, which according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accounts for more than 80% of cases.
“For sure, the general interest in the new COVID variant booster shot is pretty low,” confirmed Dr. James Shepherd of Sharon, an infectious disease specialist at Yale School of Medicine.
What may people don’t realize is that even a mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to long-term health issues, known as Long COVID, which the epidemiologist described as a mixture of different syndromes with various and common symptoms of fatigue, inflammation, brain fog, dizziness, palpitations and other symptoms.
“An episode of COVID seems to trigger many of these, but other infections could probably trigger episodes too and Long COVID does not seem to require a severe infection to trigger the syndrome,” said Shepherd.
“The big problem is that there are no reliable treatments that have much impact on Long COVID. The only thing that helps in most people is time. As weeks and months go by they begin to feel better.”
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North East Town Hall
Photo by John Coston
MILLERTON — The Town of North East held a board meeting Thursday, Oct. 10, discussing a fire department request to use space in the new garage while they are resurfacing the floors in the firehouse.
The department originally asked to use the old highway garage on South Center Street, however, because the fire engines are too large they were unable to fit.
“The nice thing is that they fit beautifully in the new highway garage,” Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said. “I think this is one of the very good things that happens in this county, which is that towns can work together and share equipment that no town would need full time. And that’s about what you’ve got going on up there. It is good to see that the town is using one of its facilities to help out one of our local entities.”
The Community Revitalization Council passed a draft of neighboring towns about their housing opportunities, with opportunities that could come to the Town of North East.
“Hopefully we can share that in the very near future, but really positive opportunities that will be coming,” councilwoman Megan Winkler said. “We have an opportunity to as towns, joining together for a grant for the plus one grant program, which helps folks be able to build accessory dwelling units. So these are to renovate existing structures, or convert or build, and the grants go up to $175,000 so we as municipalities can put in a request to be able to be the administrators.”
A small survey was sent out to hear from residents and received positive interest. The survey was posted online and residents were notified by postcards, receiving feedback from about 50 people.
“There’s some buildings potentially going up right around us that will be apartments and townhouses for rent and for sale,” Winkler said, “We tried to do a survey of the town for people who had trouble getting on the internet…Many people have buildings with space in the building that is not being used, or they have a garage with which could have an apartment over it, and this could be income.”
The town has been in contact with the county to discuss the removal of snow and ice for some of the roads located in the Town of North East, but are considered Dutchess County roads.
“There are some roads in our town which are county roads, which are a long way for the county to come out and plow, and they have proposed a reimbursement to the town for us to take care of some of these roads,” Kennan said. “We have done this now for quite a number of years. I think from the standpoint of the town, it’s been a very beneficial arrangement.”
Kennan met with the county executive last week to discuss a handful of ideas, mainly including the emergency medical services and the ambulance contract.
“We learned a few days after that meeting that the commissioner of emergency response, Dan Smith, had resigned and so that’s too bad for what we are trying to do because that is the department which oversees emergency response.”
Northern Dutchess Paramedics have proposed an increase of over 70% for their EMS services. During their five-year contract the town paid about $376,000, with a new pitch of around $646,000.
“We have looked at ways this would create a really difficult and really unsupportable increase in taxes in the town and particularly in the village,” said Kennan. “We still are waiting to see what the county may be able to do to help us with this.”
“This is a burning EMS crisis around the county and around the state, we’re not in a unique situation,” Chris Drago, County Legislator, said, “The budget of the county is $601 million, a lot of money, and one of the things I see as my job is to be an advocate, for our towns and the district I represent…There’s been work done to really try to see where we can solve this critical issue.”
There will be a public hearing for the town’s budget on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Town Board members also heard new concerns about pipeline construction project.
Emily Skydell, Hudson Valley Senior Organizer for Food and Water Watch, attended the town board meeting via Zoom to share what she said were threats of methane emissions from the Iroquois pipeline Corp.
“The Iroquois pipeline corporation has proposed a dangerous project that they call expansion by compression and, if it’s approved, Iroquois will substantially increase in the risk of leakage in fires and explosions, while also increasing the pollution in communities that live near the compressors,” said Skydell, “Here in New York, we can stop the expansion of these pipelines and power plants and start to really invest in renewable energy and renewable energy sources.”
The Iroquois pipeline is planning on creating compressor stations so that gas is able to push through Long Island and New York City. The company is not proposing more gas to be delivered to the Northeast Dutchess County region.
“It’s a proposal that allows more gas to get pushed through an existing, 30-year-old pipeline,” Skydell said. Skydell said there are many risks associated with older pipelines, especially when trying to do an expansion.
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