PINE PLAINS — Keeping their faith strong during a time of crisis and confusion, local religious leaders reached out to worshipers virtually to celebrate Holy Week and Easter, when the coronavirus is keeping everyone shuttered indoors.
As part of the Christian faith, Holy Week represents the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. Beginning with the story of Jesus Christ’s arrival into Jerusalem, parishioners commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection (formally known as the Passion of Christ) during Holy Week, while the day of Christ’s resurrection is honored on Easter. This year, Holy Week was celebrated on Sunday, April 5, through Saturday, April 11, while Easter fell on Sunday, April 12.
Though the doors to town churches were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Father Steve Schunk from the Church of the Regeneration and Pastor Ryan Larkin from the First United Presbyterian Church of Pine Plains reached out to assure parishioners that they can still turn to church in this unprecedented time — if only through a different, digital, portal. Both churches, along with many others in the area, have now shifted their services from physical gatherings to Zoom meetings to maintain social distancing and protect the safety and wellbeing of all.
“While it doesn’t replace the physical, in-person gatherings, it’s the most acceptable second best,” Schunk said, adding that the Church of the Regeneration also has a telephone dial-in option for its new services.
Though unable to gather in person, Schunk’s congregation celebrated the holidays via Zoom; they observed the Washing of the Feet and the Last Supper (formally known as Maundy Thursday) on Thursday, April 9. At noon on Friday, April 10, the congregation witnessed a virtual Good Friday service, which was followed by a virtual Easter Sunday service on April 12.
As he strives to make sure the church’s services are accessible to everyone both online and over the phone, Larkin said the past week has been the most active week leading up to Easter that he can remember. Since the church temporarily closed its doors last month, Larkin said the church has improved its website to provide more information to parishioners. Though they’ve never been considered “an online church” before, he said they plan on continuing Sunday services via Zoom at 11 a.m. weekly, until they can gather all together once more.
“One of the things we’re really trying to do is, even as abnormal as all of this is, we find joys in the things we can do differently,” Larkin said. “I always try to do as best I can to fulfill the remote needs of remote worship. There’s a comfort in hearing some of the same rhythms, even over Zoom.”
Tuning in for the Palm Sunday service on April 5, patrons young and old learned how to make palm branches at home in lieu of the branches they would normally be handed at church during the service.
Meanwhile, Larkin preached to his congregation from the backyard of a Pine Plains family’s home. Noticing the family had chickens that made a home of their own in the backyard, Larkin said he decided to connect his observations and his call to worship during the service. With a laugh, he mentioned that just as he was reading a passage aloud about opening gates, the chickens came flying out of their coop.
A celebration of Maundy Thursday was live streamed online on the evening of April 9. Larkin held a candlelit liturgy on the evening of April 10, in honor of Good Friday, followed by a Prayer Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening, April 11.
Under ordinary circumstances, parishioners of Larkin’s church typically take a trip up Winchell Mountain early Easter morning to watch the sunrise together from the cemetery, a tradition followed by a service held at the church. This year, Larkin made the journey up Winchell Mountain alone. Yet, the pastor said he felt the presence of his congregation as he live streamed the sunrise ritual via Zoom. Following his return from the mountain, he carried out the first of two Easter worship services, both of which were streamed on Zoom.
Videos of the First United Presbyterian Church’s Holy Week celebrations can be found on www.youtube.com. Rev. Larkin can be reached at 518-398-7117, or go online, to www.pineplainspresbyterianchurch.com.
The Pine Plains Regeneration Church’s website is www.pineplainsepiscopal.org or call Father Schunk at 845-475-8897.
This article has been updated to correct the telephone number of the Pine Plains Presbyterian Church.
Graham Corrigan
The site of the proposed grocery store sits along Main Street in Pine Plains.
PINE PLAINS — Plans for a grocery store, ice cream shop and cannabis dispensary on a large downtown property moved a step closer to reality after the Zoning Board of Appeals signaled support for the project at a meeting Tuesday, May 26.
However, no final approval can be given until an environmental review is complete.
The proposal involves a property at 7723 South Main St., where owners are seeking to redevelop the site with three retail uses: a grocery store, an ice cream shop and a cannabis dispensary. The plans also call for the renovation of a historic weigh station already located on the property.
The project originally centered on the cannabis dispensary. However, architect Kristina Dousharm appeared before the Planning Board on April 8 with revised plans that added two new structures housing a grocery store and ice cream shop.
While the property owners had discussed those uses in earlier conceptual plans, the new proposal significantly expanded the scope of the project.
At the time, Dousharm argued their previously existing environmental approval — which covers the cannabis shop — was sufficient. But the board disagreed, with Town Attorney Warren Replansky claiming the changes were significant enough to require another review.
The grocery store would span 8,989 square feet. Anything over 6,000 square feet requires an area variance, and on May 26, representatives from the property appeared before the board to gauge whether to proceed with the full environmental review before proceeding with a variance application. “We didn’t want the applicant to waste their time if the variance was not a possibility,” said ZBA chairman Scott Chase.
No major opposition emerged. Some residential neighbors expressed concern about the noise and lighting of construction, but residents and board members alike expressed support of moving the project forward.
The public was reassured, Chase said, by the fact that the new structures will actually be smaller than those currently on the property. The current buildings cover upwards of 12,000 square feet, and date back to the early 1900’s — well before Pine Plains enacted zoning laws in 2009. The property is adjacent to former railroad tracks, and was first developed in the 1870s.
The next step will be completion of the SEQR review, which will be conducted by the Planning Board. The review will evaluate the project’s potential environmental, social and economic impacts.
If the review is completed successfully, the applicants could then seek final approval for the required area variance before construction begins.
Nathan Miller
Eddie Collins Memorial Park on Route 22 in Millerton has seen major renovations in recent years. The next phase of renovations will see a pool and poolhouse that will double as a community gathering space.
MILLERTON — The new pool at Eddie Collins Memorial Park is moving forward after village trustees approved the first construction bid for the project.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept a bid from Key Construction totalling $6.1 million for site work and general construction on Tuesday, May 26.
Millerton Mayor Jenn Najdek said construction is expected to begin in August.
“Aug. 1 is the go day,” Najdek said. “That’s when we’re planning.”
That work will include constructing the 5-lane Olympic-sized pool, poolhouse structure and preparing the site for other elements of the build including electrical installation, plumbing and HVAC. Complete electrical wiring, plumbing and HVAC will need to be completed by different contractors under separate contracts due to New York State requirements.
New York State’s Wicks Law requires municipal projects totalling over $500,000 in cost to create separate contracts for each of general construction, electrical wiring, HVAC and plumbing and gas fitting.
Millerton had received bids for the other necessary contracts, but decided to reject all of them and reopen the bidding period on the recommendation of engineering firm LaBella Associates. LaBella engineers designed the pool and poolhouse and provided consultation services in selecting contractors.
Millerton’s effort to build a new pool at the park started to materialize in 2024 when the village received more than $6 million as part of the New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming grant program, commonly known as NY SWIMS.
Trustees accepted a final design for the pool in March and opened bidding for construction in April.
The Tuesday meeting also featured a whirlwind of resolutions, including entering into a full contract with property restoration company BELFOR for work at the site of the former water department building and village garage.
Millerton’s Department of Public Works building located on Route 22 near Eddie Collins Memorial Park caught fire in February 2025, destroying the structure and all of the equipment inside.
Since then, the village’s Department of Public Works has been using the Town of North East’s old highway garage on South Center Street as a temporary home.
The contract approval on Tuesday represents a more formal and complete contract with BELFOR as the village moves forward with constructing a new building for Water Department operations and to house the village’s municipal well.
A construction timeline has not yet been established.
Leila Hawken
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the 14-member Smithfield Chamber Orchestra presented “Our American Composers,”a Spring Pops Concert at the Smithfield Church on Saturday, May 30. Part of the Bang Family Concert Series, the sixth annual pops concert played to a full house under the direction of Michelle Demko, serving her first year as Music Director.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Leila Hawken
AMENIA — The Planning Board moved closer to completing the environmental review of the proposed Cascade Creek subdivision during its regular meeting on Wednesday, May 27, agreeing to consider a formal environmental determination at its June meeting.
The discussion centered on completion of the Environmental Assessment Form, a key component of the project’s review under New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act.
“First you have to decide the impact,” board engineer John Andrews said, explaining the process.
While no decision was made, board members agreed to review a draft negative declaration, a finding that would certify the project is not expected to have a significant adverse impact on the environment. If adopted, the declaration would satisfy SEQRA requirements and allow the project to move forward to the site-plan review stage.
The Cascade Creek proposal, first submitted in 2024 by the nonprofit Hudson River Housing of Poughkeepsie, calls for a 28-lot affordable housing subdivision on 24.13 acres. According to project plans, approximately 59% of the property would remain conserved open space.
Since the application was filed, engineers and planners have worked through the conservation review process while the Planning Board has conducted public hearings and meetings to gather community input. Project plans have been revised in response to concerns raised by residents and board members.
Addressing a previous request from the board for updated traffic information and guidance from the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT), Senior Planner Peter Sander reported that the project’s access plan has been revised to include a single entrance and exit on Route 22 directly across from the Old North Road intersection.
Andrews added that the DOT determined neither a traffic signal nor a dedicated left-turn lane would be necessary at the intersection. The agency suggested a marked crosswalk could be beneficial and noted that existing pull-off lanes provide adequate space for pedestrians along the highway.
Board member John Stefanopoulos asked about reducing the speed limit in the area.
Questions about groundwater and well capacity generated significant discussion.
Andrews said that once the environmental review is completed and the project enters the design phase, developers will be required to conduct detailed analyses of well construction and groundwater availability.
“Those results have to be acceptable to the Department of Health,” Andrews said, noting that until that approval is received, the water issue remains open.
Planning Board member James Walsh observed that some residents along Cascade Road have needed to drill their wells deeper over the years.
Board member Ken Topolsky referenced a letter from residents who argued that groundwater testing conducted to date had been inadequate. Topolsky added his continuing concern about stormwater drainage plans and the potential for flooding downstream in an area with a history of flooding.
Topolsky also expressed concern that the development’s housing designs could appear too uniform and may not reflect the town’s character.
But Sander disagreed.
“We’ve added variety, landscaping and buffers,” Sander said, adding that the actual design drawings will illustrate diverse design decisions. He reminded the board that the development will bring people to the town.
“It’s people and families,” Sander said.
Asked about next steps in the process, Andrews explained that if the board adopts a “negative declaration,” the SEQRA review would be complete and the application could advance to site-plan review. A “positive declaration” would require additional environmental analysis before the project could proceed.
Millerton News
SHARON — Yerger Johnstone, former managing director in the mergers and acquisitions department at Morgan Stanley and a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, died on April 19, 2026, in Chelmsford, England. He was 86.
Born in Mobile, Alabama, on March 7, 1940, Mr. Johnstone was the son of architect Henry Inge Johnstone, architect, and Kathleen Yerger Johnstone, the noted nature writer and civic leader after whom Alabama’s state seashell, Johnstone’s Junonia, is named. He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in 1958, received his bachelor’s degree from the University of the South at Sewanee in 1962, and earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1964.
Following his M.B.A., he was commissioned through Officer Candidate School before serving in the United States Marine Corps from 1966 to 1968, rising from First Lieutenant to Captain. Stationed principally at Da Nang, Vietnam, he served as an intelligence officer and was awarded the Bronze Star with combat “V” for meritorious service.
Yerger married Eve Chamberlain, also of Mobile, Alabama in 1963 and they resided in North Carolina during this USMC training. Later moving to Brooklyn, New York, where his first child, Bartley, was born in 1968.
After his discharge, Mr. Johnstone joined Morgan Stanley, working in both Paris and New York City, where he became one of the firm’s first forty partners and served as deputy director of the Mergers and Acquisitions department under Robert Greenhill, at the very dawn of the M&A boom. He later worked in M&A at Blackstone and UBS Warburg Dillon Read. He also served on the boards of Hampshire College and Indian Mountain School at different times in his life.
Yerger was an accomplished sailor, having grown up on boating excursions for shell hunting with his parents in areas of Alabama and Florida, later on receiving certifications in sailing trips around Corsica while working in Paris. While working in banking in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s he spent evenings and weekends reading sailing training manuals, autobiographies of sailors and geographies of various archipelagos, further advancing his skills with a month of yacht chartering each summer in Greece.
Yerger first became enchanted with Litchfield County, when he and his second wife, Marguerite, found their dream weekend escape in Ellsworth in Sharon, Connecticut in the mid 1970’s. A one time builder of hot rod cars in his teens, he enjoyed spirited late night drives from NYC in a friends loaned Ferrari. In Ellsworth the newly weds and then young family (when his second daughter Katherine was born) enjoyed many weekends, hiking, bird watching, star gazing, cross country skiing, growing fresh herbs and gardening and barbecuing Yerger’s famous steaks for guests. Yerger enjoyed exploring the back roads of the area on his BMW motorcycle and the Housatonic River as an avid fly fisherman.
Upon leaving Morgan Stanley, he and his wife Marguerite whom he married in 1975, built the 67-foot ketch Asteroid in Aalsmeer, Holland. They conducted sea trials in Norway, Scotland, Ireland, & England before sailing her around the world, a near 6 year circumnavigation, passing via Suez and Panama canals, spending majority of the time in Pacific Ocean isles from Marquesas to Fiji, New Zealand (where his son Rule was born in 1986) and Micronesia. Encounters with storms, pirates, technical difficulties in remote islands and simply the rigors of daily yachting life were all met with courage, confidence and enthusiasm by Yerger. It became one of the defining adventures of his life.
Returning to America at the end of the sailing trip in 1990, the family settled in Falls Village, Connecticut, where they lived and built a house until Yerger was transferred to London, England
Yerger lived between Salisbury, Connecticut, and the UK for several years before permanently relocating to live between the Cotswolds in the UK and Tuscany in Italy with his third wife, Pamela. They enjoyed an active retirement with regular travels in Asia, New Zealand and Greece. In his final years, he was mainly in his homes in Italy and UK, with short trips in France, with his second daughter. In Trequanda, Italy he enjoyed cycling, feasting at home and throughout Tuscan villages with his and Pamela’s many friends, and soaking up the Tuscan sun. In his home village of Stebbing, UK, he headed the local pond fishing club and took short trips to London to hear his daughter Katherine sing in her many choirs.
Mr. Johnstone is survived by his wife, Pamela Johnstone; his daughters, Bartley Inge and Katherine Inge; his granddaughter, Evie Inge Scofield; his son, Rule; his former wife, Marguerite; his brother, Justice Douglas Inge Johnstone. He is predeceased by his first wife, Eve Chamberlain Purdy.
Cremation took place May 18, 2026, at Dunmow Crematorium, Blatches Farm, Stebbing CM 6 3AL England.
There will be a Requiem Mass said on June 7th, at St George’s Aubrey Walk, W8 7JG England.
Millerton News
WEST CORNWALL — Richard R. Stover, 82, of West Cornwall, died peacefully at Noble Horizons on May 26, 2026.
Son of the late Robert and Leona (Heinbockel) Stover, Rick was born Feb. 6, 1944 in Edina, Minnesota. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Economics and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
After graduation, Rick began a long career as a financial and pharmaceutical analyst working at Mitchell Hutchins, Smith Barney, Alex Brown & Sons, Pfizer, and Arnold and S. Bleichroeder. He was then President and CEO of PeriCor Therapeutics, a bio tech company he founded in Manhattan.
Rick was an avid golfer and skier, and he liked nothing better than wrestling with the wilderness. After he and Marnell bought their home in West Cornwall, he enjoyed clearing brush, felling trees, and splitting logs. He was the proud owner of every tool and machine necessary for landscape maintenance.Rick was a parishioner at St. Bridget Church where he worked on the building and grounds committee and served as Chairman of the Finance Council.
Rick is survived by his wife Marnell (Bukovac) and his four daughters and their families; Shaw (Christofer) Ruder and Beckett, Elliot, and Hattie; Sara Stover (Chris Sherwin); Christian Stover (Jeffrey Knutsen); Anne (Andrew) Ruder and William, Charlie, and Sadie. He is also survived by his stepchildren and their families: Mary Brunelli (Christopher Edgar) and Alexander and Catherine; and Michael (Ellen) Brunelli.
Rick was preceded in death by his sister Barbara McCurdy.
A Mass of Christian burial was held at St. Bridget Church (St. Kateri Parish) 7 River Road, Cornwall Bridge, on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 11:00. Burial followed at St. Bridget Cemetery.
Contributions in Rick’s name may be made to St. Kateri Parish (St. Bridget Church), PO Box 186, 90 Cobble Road, Kent, CT 06757.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
