PINE PLAINS — It was just last fall that internationally acclaimed choreographer, Pine Plains native and current NYC and Ancram resident, Mark DeGarmo, returned home and charmed the community by gathering volunteers for a community dance in the Pine Plains FFA’s Fall Agricultural Fair’s traditional parade.
Now, with people on the lookout for creative ways to stay active and connected during the coronavirus health crisis, DeGarmo has again invited community members — far and wide — to take part in “the dance party of the year” as his Virtual Dance for Dance program is broadcast live on Thursday, April 30.
Under normal circumstances, DeGarmo’s annual Dance for Dance party is run as a social gathering that raises about a third of the annual income for his organization, Mark DeGarmo Dance. However, with the pandemic prompting people to exercise social distancing and avoid large gatherings, DeGarmo and his team had to adapt their annual program to a digital platform.
“Six weeks ago, we never envisioned we would be needing to pivot 180 degrees immediately” said his niece, Hannah DeGarmo, also marketing, operations and archival analyst for Mark DeGarmo Dance. “We needed to learn new technology as fast as possible. We needed to script, perform and videotape remotely our program we would have delivered in a live in-person event. We needed to imagine how people might participate in order to achieve our fundraising goals using an untested way of doing so… So we had no time to lose.”
Yet in spite of the initial challenges, DeGarmo and his team were able to successfully move this year’s event and dance party to both Facebook Live and Zoom. Hannah said her uncle wants to “create a global Dance Circle across the Earth’s 24 Time Zones,” adding that, because this year’s event will be hosted online, he hopes to reach 100,000 people minimum versus the 200 people who have traditionally attended over the last decade. Along with reaching their fundraising goal as they did last year, she said Mark hopes this year’s dance party “will connect our communities and those most affected by the COVID-19 environment and crisis.
“We hope to provide dance as healing, community-building and as a safe space for creative expression, laughter and joy for people across the Earth’s 24 time zones,” Hannah said. “[Mark] believes that taking time to celebrate, to not miss a year in holding this celebration, is very important during this time, when so many people need an uplifting community gathering and affirmation of our humanity, commonality and purpose in providing hope and leadership for our children and all community members across New York City and state, the USA and the Earth.”
Starting at 6:30 p.m., the virtual Dance for Dance will be broadcast on the “Mark DeGarmo Dance” Facebook page as well as on the “Mark DeGarmo Dance” YouTube channel. A Shout Out Auction will begin at 6:50 p.m., followed by a Dance Party on Zoom.
Participants can register at any time for the event as well as for its silent auction, or donate funds, by texting “d4d2020” to 76278 or by going to www.d4d2020.givesmart.com. Donations can also be made via Venmo at Mark-DeGarmo-2 or via PayPal at paypal.me/markdegarmodance. For details, go to www.markdegarmodance.org.
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.
