MILLBROOK — In the throes of catastrophe, what can people do? Well, a number of things. In the beginning of the health crisis, many people were panic-driven, fearful of catching COVID-19. But then, some asked themselves, “How can I help make things better?” Different people came up with different solutions.
Millbrook resident Judith Muir was scrolling through social media one day asking herself that very question: “How can I help?” Something she saw on the news feed struck close to home: a request for urgently needed foster homes for kittens and cats that were rescued from a hoarder/abandonment situation.
An animal lover and former cat owner, Muir decided to foster a cat. She said she was a little surprised that she was not given a choice, but was handed a black and white cat named Percival. She took him home, prepared to foster him for as long as needed, but knew within 24 hours that Percival wasn’t going anywhere.
Foster homes and permanent homes for animals are especially needed right now because there is a lack of available volunteers to help out in animal shelters due to the health crisis, and, due to the economic toll of the pandemic, donations are also down. This leaves many animal rescuers and animal shelters in dire need of help.
Helping is part of Muir’s nature. She’s both a musician and an educator, having earned degrees while studying in the SUNY school system, the Manhattan School of Music and The Royal Academy. Aside from teaching private students, she is an instructor at The Fountains in Millbrook, where often she and some of her students volunteer to get seniors at The Fountains active through music and song. She finds great power in music and is herself a world-class clarinetist. The Fountains residents especially like older songs, ones that 100 years ago might have been sung in the parlor and sing-a-longs. That type of music promoted connectivity, Muir said, it soothed and healed, which is why she plays it today.
Trips to The Fountains have been postponed until further notice because of COVID-19, but Muir still teaches virtually and is offering free online sessions to the children of her students and first responders who may be in need of the healing sound of music.
“How do you explain to a child of 4 about quarantine?” she asked. “About illness and death?”
So Muir continues to reach out to those who love music, as she said it has the power to heal the soul. In times of great stress, she said, the arts can heal, whether it’s through painting or drawing, reading or writing, composing or playing music or simply appreciating the arts. Art is said to “soothe the wild beast.”
Percival, the rescue cat, agrees. Very often he sits and listens as his musical mother plays; he is now finally living the good life.
To learn more about local animal shelters in need of support, call the Hudson Valley Animal Rescue and Sanctuary in Poughkeepsie at 845-392-4849; the Dutchess County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DCSPCA) in Hyde Park at 845-452-7722; or Collaborative Cats in Ancramdale at 518-305-2910.
AMENIA — The first day of school on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Webutuck Elementary School went smoothly, with teachers enthusiastically greeting the eager young students disembarking from buses. Excitement was measurable, with only a few tears from parents, but school began anyway.
Ready for her first day of school on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Webutuck Elementary School, Liliana Cawley, 7, would soon join her second grade class, but first she posed for a photo to mark the occasion.Photo by Leila Hawken
Millerton Police Chief Joseph Olenik shows off the new gear. Brand new police cruisers arrived last week.
MILLERTON — The Millerton Police Department has received two new patrol cars to replace vehicles destroyed in the February 2025 fire at the Village Water and Highway Department.
The new Ford Interceptors are custom-built for law enforcement. “They’re more rugged than a Ford Explorer,” said Millerton Police Chief Joseph Olenik, noting the all-wheel drive, heavy-duty suspension and larger tires and engine. “They call it the ‘Police Package.’”
Olenik worked with The Cruiser’s Division in Mamaroneck, New York, to design the vehicles.
“We really want to thank the Pine Plains Police Department for their tremendous support,” Olenik said. After the fire, “they were the first ones to come forward and offer help.”
The new police cruisers are outfitted with lights with automatically adjusting brightness to best perform in ambient conditions.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Since February, Millerton officers have been borrowing a patrol car from Pine Plains. With the new vehicles now in service, Olenik said he plans to thank Pine Plains officers by treating them to dinner at Four Brothers in Amenia and having their car detailed
The main entrance to Kent Hollow Mine at 341 South Amenia Road in Amenia.
AMENIA — Amenia residents and a Wassaic business have filed suit against the Town Board and Kent Hollow Inc., alleging a settlement between the town and the mine amounts to illegal contract zoning that allows the circumvention of environmental review.
Petitioners Laurence Levin, Theodore Schiffman and Clark Hill LLC filed the suit on Aug. 22. Town officials were served with documents for the case last week and took first steps in organizing a response to the suit at the Town Board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 4.
The lawsuit is the latest in a multi-year long legal battle surrounding the mine on South Amenia Road. After Kent Hollow Inc. — a subsidiary of Bethel, Connecticut, based homebuilder Steiner Inc. — applied for a state mining permit in 2017, the Amenia code enforcement officer issued the business a notice of violation.
At the time, Kent Hollow Inc. did not possess a special permit to conduct mining operations as required by Amenia zoning code, and the property did not reside in the Special Mining Overlay district established as part of rezoning efforts coinciding with the 2007 adoption of the town’s comprehensive plan.
Kent Hollow Inc. appealed the violation, claiming the use of the property as a mine predates amendments to town and state regulations. The Zoning Board of Appeals denied the appeal citing insufficient evidence in 2019. That spurred Kent Hollow to file two lawsuits — one in the New York State Supreme Court and a federal civil rights lawsuit — challenging the town’s order.
In July 2025, those lawsuits were brought to a close when the Town Board voted at a special meeting to accept a settlement agreement allowing Kent Hollow to continue mining operations under limited hours and quantities.
The most recent suit alleges the 2025 settlement amounts to contract zoning that allows Kent Hollow Inc. to skirt environmental review and the scrutiny of the permitting and rezoning process. Court documents allege Kent Hollow did not adequately prove a continuous, legal nonconforming use.
Supporting the argument, petitioners have submitted the court documents and decision from the 2019 New York Supreme Court case against the town Zoning Board of Appeals, and the documents from the preceding ZBA appeals process including receipts and tax returns from Kent Hollow Inc. purporting to establish the nonconforming use.
Kent Hollow Inc. formed as a subsidiary of housing developer Steiner Inc. and purchased the property in 1971, according to state and county real estate records.
Millerton News reporting from 1971 Amenia planning board meetings detail Kent Hollow’s pursuit of a four-section, 40-unit apartment complex on the property.
The News reported Kent Hollow was granted tentative approval on July 6, 1971, to build eight units on the site with the expectation that more would be built later.
The additional units never came to fruition and Kent Hollow apparently abandoned the housing project, opting to use the property as a gravel mine.
Attorneys for the Town of Amenia or Kent Hollow Inc. have not filed responses to the lawsuit as of press time.
AMENIA — While the courage and perseverance of Revolutionary era patriots is well understood and celebrated, the stories of the fate of British loyalists in New York are not as clear.
Seen as the initial event in observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, the Amenia Historical Society will present a talk titled, “The Plight of a Loyalist in Revolutionary New York,” examining the journal of Cadwallader Colden, Jr., spanning the period of 1777-1779. The speaker will be noted author, genealogist and historian Jay Campbell.
The talk is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. at the Smithfield Presbyterian Church in Amenia. The handicapped-accessible church is located at 656 Smithfield Valley Road. Refreshments will be served.
Colden was the son of a New York Lieutenant Governor. He was a surveyor, farmer and mercantilist, serving as a judge in Ulster County. His fortunes changed dramatically with the dawn of the Revolutionary War when he remained loyal to the British Crown. His arrest came in 1776, just before the start of his journal.
Campbell is a historian specializing in Hudson Valley history, and the regional stories of Revolutionary era families.
