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Charity ride down Route 44 to benefit Millerton child with kidney disease
Nathan Miller
Aug 05, 2026
The Slater family, from left to right: 9-year-old Madeline, 3-year-old Levi, mother Cassidy, 7-year-old Clayton, father Derek and 5-year-old Crew.
Photo provided
MILLERTON — Community members are organizing a charity motorcycle cruise later this month to help a Millerton family whose 5-year-old son is preparing for a kidney transplant after years of surgeries and treatment for congenital kidney disease.
Crew Slater, a 5-year-old Millerton resident, was born with chronic kidney disease and is currently in need of a kidney transplant. Community members are planning a motorcycle cruise from Millerton’s Firehouse on Century Boulevard to Mahoney’s Irish Pub in Poughkeepsie, New York, on Aug. 29 as a fundraiser for Slater and his family as they struggle to afford medication and treatment for the young Millertonian.
Registration for the community cruise will begin at 10 a.m. that day at the Millerton Firehouse. Organizers are asking for $25 per rider and $15 per passenger to participate in the ride, with proceeds going to Slater’s family. Riders will depart from the firehouse at noon and drive down Route 44 in a group to Mahoney’s Irish Pub in Poughkeepsie, where registration fees will provide one free drink.
Cassidy Slater, Crew’s mother, said he has been struggling with multiple congenital issues since birth, including improperly functioning kidneys, bladder and colon, which requires the need for a colostomy bag.
Crew underwent his first surgery at just days old in August 2020. In the nearly six years since, he has endured countless visits to hospitals in Albany and Boston and multiple surgeries to treat his medical conditions.
“It’s just been hospitals, surgeries, routine visits, blood work,” Cassidy said. “All of the above ever since he was born.”
The years of medical visits have strained the family, Cassidy said, but it hasn’t broken their resolve. Despite his health struggles, Crew faces life with excitement and happiness, she said, enjoying time outside with his three siblings at the Slater family’s two-acre property in Millerton.
Crew is currently undergoing treatment to prepare him for a desperately needed kidney transplant. Cassidy said he has reached stage 4 kidney disease, currently functioning at just 20% capacity of a set of healthy kidneys. Stage 5 of the disease is total kidney failure.
Rob Decker of Pine Plains organized the charity cruise set for the end of August to help the family afford mounting costs. Flyers for the event also contain a QR code for an anonymous questionnaire to screen potential donors.
Cassidy praised Decker for getting involved and helping to organize the event. She said Decker and others have created T-shirts and bracelets to sell as fundraisers in addition to the planned cruise later this month. And Decker did all of this without even knowing the family personally.
“He’s just gone above and beyond,” Cassidy said. “For a stranger to want to meet us and do all this stuff for us — there’s still good people out there.”
Crew isn’t the only Slater child to face a troubling diagnosis — his older brother, 7-year-old Clayton, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of five and requires regular insulin shots. Insurance coverage shortfalls have caused the family to pay for some of Clayton’s diabetic care supplies out of pocket, further straining their finances.
Despite the hardships, Cassidy said she and her husband work to provide stability and fun for their children. She said her kids spend ample time outside at their two-acre property, and the family takes frequent hiking and camping trips. The couple have four children — 9-year-old Madeline, 7-year-old Clayton, 5-year-old Crew and 3-year-old Levi.
“They’re not scared of what’s thrown at them,” Cassidy said. “They’re going to go through whatever’s thrown at them just like us.”
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Elizabeth Hewitt named chair of Cary Institute Board of Trustees
Eloise Pickering
Aug 05, 2026
Scott Ulm, left, and Elizabeth Hewitt stand together on Cary’s grounds in Millbrook.
Photo provided
MILLBROOK — Elizabeth Hewitt, longtime trustee of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, has been named Chair of the research institute’s Board of Trustees. She plans for long-term financial stability and scientific expansion during her tenure.
Hewitt began her tenure in the midst of a six-week recovery from a riding incident when she was bucked from her horse. She suffered numerous broken ribs and a punctured lung. Despite her injuries, Hewitt has begun working in her new role.
The Cary Institute Board of Trustees is volunteer-based, and members do not receive compensation.
She comes to the position with nonprofit experience in financial management and asset allocation. Hewitt was chair of the investment committee with Cary before serving as co-vice chair of the Board of Trustees. She was named chair in June.
Hewitt currently works as the Chief Investment Officer at Miras Investments, an institutional family-owned business. She also serves on the board of the Dana Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on neuroscience. Previously, Hewitt has served on the boards of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and The Madeira School, and was the chief investment officer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a science-based nonprofit.
“Cary and its work expands our understanding of how ecosystems work, and it helps communities and decision makers and land managers make better decisions,” Hewitt said. “It’s a real honor to help steward an organization with that kind of mission.”
Hewitt was drawn to Cary Institute in part because of its work with the Hubbard Brook Research Forest, which first documented acid rain in North America in 1963.
“I always remember Cary as this incredible institute that did world class ecological studies and independent ecological science with a real practical impact,” Hewitt said.
Cary Institute President Josh Ginsberg has worked with two board chairs prior to Hewitt, and says each chair brings a unique skill set to the institute.
“Elizabeth’s skills as a nonprofit financial manager will be especially important,” Ginsberg said.
The Cary Institute has faced recent federal funding cuts, with Hewitt describing the federal funding environment as posing a challenge for science.
“She is going to be a remarkable leader in managing the uncertainty of these times for science-based institutions,” Ginsberg said.
In recent years, the Cary Institute has focused on long-term financial stability, a goal that Hewitt continues to work toward.
“Our role as a board is to create the conditions where great science can thrive,” Hewitt said. “It’s about supporting the institute and helping to expand the reach and impact that Cary science and their scientists can have.”
Hewitt hopes to support the scientific missions of the institute.
“While we’re rooted in the Hudson Valley, we have a much broader national and global impact. I think that’s a really important part of what makes Cary unique,” she said.
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First cannabis dispensary opens in Pine Plains
Graham Corrigan
Aug 05, 2026
Manager Benjamin Abrahams working behind the counter of Pine Plains’ first cannabis dispensary.
Photo by Graham Corrigan
PINE PLAINS — The first cannabis dispensary in Pine Plains opened for business last week.
The store is still unnamed, but it’s built on the former site of a weigh station — and has retained some key elements of the building’s past.
The dispensary is the first step in a larger plan to breathe new life into the former Deuel’s Home Center property at 7723 Main Street. There are two other buildings on the property that the owners plan to convert to a grocery store and ice cream shop.
But the dispensary comes first. It’s the brainchild of Christopher Gumprecht, Benjamin Abrahams and Brian Seiler. Seiler and Abrahams have managed one cannabis store already — Upstate Pines in Red Hook. Gumprecht bought the Main Street property in 2020, and approached the two about managing a Pine Plains location.
But the trio faced a number of hurdles in order to open the Pine Plains store. First, there was opposition from the Pine Plains Hose Company, which argued the building’s location violated a rule prohibiting cannabis sales within 300 feet of a public service. A waiver was eventually granted in December 2025.
Arguments over an accessibility ramp delayed the project a further seven months. The Planning Board voted in July to allow the business to open without a ramp, and obtain a certificate of occupancy.
The building is freshly painted and two signs flap in the wind outside; there’s little to indicate that the storefront sells cannabis.
Inside, the showroom is bright. On one wall, rows of magnified cannabis buds sit ready for inspection in glass orbs. Edibles are on display in a case below the counter. An old scale, original to the building, has a place of honor near the back.
But the dispensary has not won over everyone. A homemade sign that reads “Say No To Drugs” sits propped on a neighbor’s fence, facing the dispensary.
Abrahams is unfazed. “We’re pioneers,” he said with a grin.
There has been a recent surge in dispensaries, with New York legalizing the sale of recreational cannabis in 2021. Millerton’s first dispensary, Blackrabbit Farms, is slated to open on Main Street later this year.
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New state law allows medically assisted suicide
Graham Corrigan
Aug 05, 2026
New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, which allows terminally ill adults to obtain self-administered medication to end their lives, took effect Aug. 5.
In order to qualify for the prescription, New York residents must be at least 18 years of age, and have a medically confirmed terminal illness that is incurable and irreversible and will likely cause death within 6 months, whether or not treatment is provided.
“People should have autonomy over how they live, but also how they die,” said Keavy Bedell, co-founder of the end-of-life facility East Mountain House, which is based in Lakeville. “If one has reached the point where quality of life is no longer there, and they don’t want to go through the suffering, I firmly stand in the corner of MAID being an option.”
The option is not available in Connecticut. But New York joins 13 other states that offer MAID, including a host of other nations. New York residents must receive approval from two physicians and are subject to a five-day waiting period.
Furthermore, “no person shall qualify for Medical Aid in Dying solely because of age or disability,” the law states.
Bedell hopes Connecticut will join its neighbor in approving similar legislation. “The end of life is a very challenging time for the family and friends,” she said. “MAID is anti-suffering, and it’s a compassionate choice.”
The process works as follows: patients must submit both a spoken and written request, with the oral request captured on audio or video and stored in their medical record. The written request requires two witnesses who are not relatives, caregivers, or otherwise positioned to benefit financially from the patient’s death.
Then comes sign-off from two physicians, along with a separate mental health evaluation by a psychiatrist, psychologist or neurologist. If that evaluator determines the patient lacks decision-making capacity, the process ends there. Patients may change their mind and rescind their request at any time. However, if they move forward with it, they will be prescribed pills.
MAID still faces opposition, even as it goes into effect. Two lawsuits are currently in New York courts to block the legislation — one objects on grounds of religious freedom, the other over disability rights. The former, filed by over a dozen Catholic groups, claims that even though participation is ostensibly voluntary, providers and facilities are forced to inform terminally ill patients about the option or provide referrals, forcing an unconstitutional conflict with their faith.
Disability rights advocates, meanwhile, point to the fact that individuals with disabilities face severe gaps in care or reductions in supportive services, putting them at risk of being steered toward medical aid in dying instead of receiving proper treatment. The group of plaintiffs includes the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley.
No injunction has been ordered to prevent the legislation from going into effect.
Under the law, using the prescription does not constitute suicide for legal purposes, and death certificates will list the patient’s underlying illness, not the medication, as the cause of death. Life insurance payouts cannot be withheld as a result, though the state’s Medicaid program will not cover prescription costs.
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After two decades, Millbrook Antiques Mall owners ready to pass the torch
Eloise Pickering
Aug 05, 2026
MILLBROOK — After two decades of ownership, Jeff and Thelma Zwirn are selling the Millbrook Antiques Mall as they look to retire and focus on spending time with their family.
The couple purchased the Franklin Avenue antique mall in 2005 after deciding to leave New York City in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, they have listed the business and its three-story, 5,000-square-foot building for $1,495,000 and are looking for a buyer who will continue operating it as an antique mall.
Established in 1979, the Millbrook Antiques Mall is home to more than 20 vendors spread across 40 rooms. The business generates revenue through vendor rentals, sales commissions, consignments and the owners’ own antique booth. The mall also serves as a retail outlet for Made In Cookware products.
According to Jeff Zwirn, the couple is already in advanced discussions with a prospective buyer.
“We have a few interested buyers, and one is pretty far along,” he said. “He has a vision for growing the business while keeping it an antique mall.”
Jeff Zwirn describes himself as the passive investor, while Thelma has overseen the day-to-day operation of the business from the beginning.
“My wife is on site several times during the week, so she manages the shop. She provides guidance to the dealers, she interacts with the customers. She’s just a wonderful CEO,” Jeff Zwirn said.
Their decision to leave New York City and purchase the business was shaped by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.Jeff Zwirn worked for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, an investment banking firm whose offices occupied the 88th and 89th floors of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The firm lost 67 employees in the terrorist attacks.“After attending so many funerals, we decided to shuffle the deck regarding our goals and objectives,” Jeff Zwirn said.
Looking for a slower pace of life, the couple relocated to Millbrook and purchased the Millbrook Antiques Mall. Before the move, Thelma Zwirn worked in New York City as an artist and teacher.
Wendy Maitland, founder of Atelier and the property’s listing broker, said the Zwirns have carefully maintained both the building and the business during their ownership.
“We have a very special property and owners who have a high level of pride of ownership and have taken incredible care of this building throughout their stewardship,” Maitland said. “I feel very lucky to be representing this property and these particular owners.”
Maitland said preserving the business itself will be just as important as selling the real estate.
“The property is most valuable to someone who will continue their legacy because they’ve built up a tremendous following, great reputation and tremendous goodwill throughout the community and beyond,” Maitland said.
As they prepare for retirement, the Zwirns said they are looking forward to spending more time with their children and grandchildren.
“This is the right time for us to focus on other priorities, including more time with the family, the grandchildren, with our own kids,” Jeff Zwirn said.
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Let's hear it — August 6, 2026
Millerton News
Aug 05, 2026
This Week
New York has approved legislation for the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which will allow certain terminally ill adults to request medication to end their lives. Supporters say it offers dignity and relief from suffering, while opponents worry about moral concerns and protections for vulnerable people.
What are your thoughts on the law and why?
Send your responses to social@lakevillejournal.com by Monday, Aug. 10 at 10 a.m. or comment on Facebook or Instagram.
We’ll publish a selection in next week’s paper.
Last Week
What’s your favorite hidden gem in our community, and why should others check it out?
“Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, NY. You can walk around the lake at your own pace, enjoy a picnic, or relax in the chairs.”
— Darryl Gangloff, Millerton
“The lattes at Tri Corner and the seed library at NorthEast-Millerton Library! (They also have tons of resources you can use with a library card and others you don’t need a library card for)”
— KT McClune
“The Oakhurst for starters, food never disappoints. Then I’d head to The Elephants Tusk across the street because they have great consignment finds. And I get my nails done at Amore nails by Herringtons, Grace and Alex are amazing humans and deserve your support!!”
— Susie Q’s Homemade Sourdough Co.
“Rosemary Rose Finery on Main Street!! It’s a magical shop filled with one of a kind jewelry, from breathtaking estate pieces to turquoise and silver pieces sourced directly from the Southwest and cool funky treasures like brooches and earrings from decades past! You can also find herbal and local goods alike! Both the space and the owner are beautiful, warm and welcoming. It’s a place you have to stop in, you never know what treasures you will find @rosemaryrosefinery!”
— Danidogsjm
“Speaking strictly of commercial “hidden gems” I’d have to say it is in my opinion that the absolute best baker in the *entire* region can be found at the Millerton Farmer’s Market. The Baker’s Wife has a lot of strong competition against their breads but none top them. As for non commercial hidden gems there are multitudes, but I’d be loath to divulge them as they would cease to be hidden gems then wouldn’t they?”
— Andres Vialpando, Millerton
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