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Committees, Leo Club, housing, Arnoff
Millerton News
Oct 13, 2026
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
October 17, 1935
Committees Announced By Auxiliary
Committee appointments for the year were announced at the regular meeting of the Millerton American Legion Auxiliary last Wednesday night. They were: Membership, Mrs. Bessie Mathews; rehabilitation, Mrs. Marie Loan; welfare, Mrs. Agnes Diegnan: Americanism, Mrs. Florence Wood; national defense, Mrs. Josephine Best; Fidac (note from library: Fidac is Fédération Interalliée Des Anciens Combattants, English: The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations) , Mrs. W. E. Parks; legislation, Mrs. Jessie Sprague.
October 21, 1976
Lions Form Club For North East Teenagers
The Millerton Lions Club is forming a “Leo Club” for boys and girls ages 12 to 20 who live in the Town of North East.
At the first meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 13, the following were elected Leo officers: Keith Bradley, president; Bruce Valentine, vice-president; Laura Shoifet, secretary; and Bob Cuddeback, treasurer. The 13 teenagers attending designated the first and third Mondays of the month as meeting nights. The time will be 7 p.m.
Millerton Lions Kevin Smith and Edwin McGhee will serve as the club’s advisors.
October 18, 2001
NE/Village Officials Mull Housing Project
MILLERTON — The North East Housing Committee and the Rural Preservation Company of Dutchess County have been approached by one of the leading not-for-profit builders in the northeastern portion of the United States about a possible project in Millerton.
Village of Millerton officials along with their counterparts from the town of North East are excited but cautious about the potential housing project, which would require a significant amount of federal and state aid to be constructed.
Community Builders, a not-for-profit developer which is constructing a similar project in Kent, is considering a project for the Millerton area.
The project was made public at a meeting of the North East Housing committee Monday.
The meeting was designed to continue work on a housing survey which will soon be circulated to the community.
Town and village officials said they are excited because Community Builders has been able to gain federal and state approval for many other projects, attracting the financing necessary to make the projects become a reality.
“They have an outstanding track record, particularly when it comes to applying for grants,” said Pat Sassaman, the executive director of Rural Preservation Co. of Dutchess County (RPCDC), who is also a member of the housing committee.
Community Developers is considering a 24-unit housing project for Millerton, which if constructed, would be the largest public housing project in the history of the town.
The construction firm would ideally like a three acre tract of land to build such a project. However, a representative told the committee they could construct on as little as two acres of land
Town of NorthEast Supervisor Dave Sherman called the potential of such a project “very exciting.” But he said, “It will require a great deal more thought and much more work before we move forward.”
Arnoff Looks To Millerton
MILLERTON - The village of Millerton Board heard a proposal from a moving company for a possible new site in the village last night. Arnoff Moving and Storage based in Poughkeepsie shared its plans in a meeting with the Village Board.
Arnoff is considering a three-acre site on Route 22 near the red light in the village. The location is the site of the former Village Auto and prior to that it served as the site for Stateline Chevrolet, before that car dealer went bankrupt several times in the mid-1990s.
Peter Levy, a representative of Arnoff, briefed the board on his company’s plan for the site in Millerton. Arnoff operates a storage and moving facility in Lakeville, 4 miles east of the village.
In other business last night, the Village Board was to consider a temporary curfew of 9 p.m. for Halloween night.
“This was the last meeting before Halloween so we needed to have the curfew in place,” Mayor Mariley Najdek said.
The meeting took place after our press time.
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Let's hear it — October 15, 2026
Millerton News
Oct 13, 2026
This Week
Cold Spring Early Learning Center in Stanford is set to close, with nearly 150 pre-K through first-grade students moving to Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center in Pine Plains for the 2027–2028 school year.
What are your thoughts on the closure of Cold Spring Early Learning Center? How do you think it will affect students, families and the community?
Send your responses to social@lakevillejournal.com by Monday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. or comment on Facebook or Instagram.
We’ll publish a selection in next week’s paper.
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Letters to the editor — Thursday, October 15, 2026
Millerton News
Oct 13, 2026
Roush will bring collaborative leadership
I write in support of Trevor Roush for Pine Plains Supervisor.Trevor, a busy farmer and businessman, wants to make our Town government work more effectively and democratically.His campaign literature points out that our Town Board should work as a team, and that he wants “to bring collaborative leadership to Town Hall, improve communication, and make sure every voice in our community is heard.”
Trevor’s push to improve communication and increase collaboration among Town Board members reflects the shocking lack of communication and collaboration that resulted in Brian Walsh, our current Supervisor, agreeing to a provisional arrangement (and planned expanded contract) with Flock Safety to install cameras in various places in our town.Brian Walsh’s high-handed and dishonest conduct in the Flock affair is now well-known by Pine Plains residents; it resulted in numerous calls for Walsh’s resignation – calls he did not heed.Forcing Walsh out of office would have been a time-consuming process, dragging Town government down even further than his behavior had brought it.Walsh nevertheless seems to think that he deserves to be re-elected.
As Trevor’s campaign material suggests, the Flock affair was the result of Walsh’s refusal to work collaboratively or even to communicate with the rest of the Board.Walsh’s lack of commitment to doing his job conscientiously is also reflected in his failure to attend any, or almost any, County-wide meetings of Supervisors.To make this failure worse, Walsh neglects to inform the other Board members of these meetings, so that no other Board member can attend in his place; our Town goes unrepresented.On many occasions, Walsh even fails to respond to other Board members’ emails seeking information.
I think it is clear that we need a new Town Supervisor --someone who will take seriously his responsibilities to work cooperatively with other Board members and to communicate with Pine Plains residents.Trevor has stated his intention to, if elected, not only increase communication and transparency, but also to “[h]old regular office hours and monthly workshop meetings . . . [and to] bring people together for community projects . . . “Trevor also plans, if elected, to create a town map highlighting local businesses, and to use vacant town property for a temporary community park.
In short, Trevor Roush has enthusiasm for doing the job and doing it with integrity and commitment to improving life for Pine Plains residents.Let’s do ourselves a favor and elect him Pine Plains Town Supervisor.
Amy Rothstein
Pine Plains
Affordable housing crisis needs a fighter
We face many issues in upstate New York, but one of the most significant is the lack of affordable housing. The housing crunch creates a whole range of problems for residents as well as for the health of the local economy.
Young people are leaving the area for other parts of the U.S because they can’t afford to rent or buy a house here. That is leading to a major brain drain of talented and often highly educated residents.
An entire generation is missing out on building home ownership equity – a key source of savings for all income groups.
Local companies and other employers are having trouble luring prospective employees to work here, which makes it tougher for them to stay in business much less expand.
That’s why I was heartened to learn that our congressman, Rep. Josh Riley, is a strong advocate of rural and affordable housing. He helped pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in July, a bi-partisan law that promotes home construction by lowering costs, cutting red tape in housing programs, protecting housing in rural communities and restricting large institutional investors from buying up affordable single-family homes. The law also requires major federal agencies to coordinate environmental reviews regarding housing construction, increases housing density in government Opportunity Zones, and expands a rental- assistance program.
And more, Congressman Riley sponsored the Veterans Housing Promise Act, which remains pending.
While this isn’t going to end the housing crisis, it shows that Riley is fighting what to ease the crisis.
That is why I plan to vote to re-elect him on November 3.
Ellen G. Levy
Co-Chair
Hillsdale Housing Committee
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Playing koi
Leila Hawken
Oct 13, 2026
Fish selected during the koi harvest at Broccoli Hall Farm on Saturday, Oct. 10, are transferred to a holding tank by Liam Dugan, who assisted John Clark of Northeastern Aquatics of Rhinebeck, New York. The annual event at the home of Maxine Paetro sorts the fish to further her goal over the past twenty years to genetically encourage the “Elusive Kishusui” koi. In Japanese, “shusui” translates to “Autumn Sunset” and “ki” means “yellow,” a desirable coloration trait being pursued by Paetro.
Photo by Leila Hawken
Fish selected during the koi harvest at Broccoli Hall Farm on Saturday, Oct. 10, are transferred to a holding tank by Liam Dugan, who assisted John Clark of Northeastern Aquatics of Rhinebeck, New York. The annual event at the home of Maxine Paetro sorts the fish to further her goal over the past twenty years to genetically encourage the “Elusive Kishusui” koi. In Japanese, “shusui” translates to “Autumn Sunset” and “ki” means “yellow,” a desirable coloration trait being pursued by Paetro.
Judge calls for denial of Shepherd’s Run permit
John Coston
Oct 13, 2026
COPAKE — Two administrative law judges weighing the merits of Hecate Energy LLC’s plans for a more than 700-acre solar project in this rural hamlet have recommended that the state deny the Chicago-based company’s application.
Following an adjudicatory hearing held last month that was attended by more than 100 residents, the judges wrote: “Based on the evidence … adduced during the adjudicatory hearing process, we recommend denial of the siting permit based upon Hecate’s failure to demonstrate compliance with applicable wetlands laws and regulations.”
The judges noted that Hecate failed to meet “substantive provisions of New York’s wetlands laws and regulations.” They also recommended a permit denial citing evidence that Hecate also failed to “demonstrate compliance with Chapter 135,” a local town law that implements a federally approved program on wetlands regulations.
Maureen F. Leary and Dawn MacKillop-Soller, administrative law judges at the New York State Department of Public Service’s ORES office, also noted that in their Oct. 5 hearing report and recommended decision that since Hecate submitted its application for a 42-megawatt solar farm near the intersection of Routes 23 and 7 in Craryville there have been 1,173 public comments received about the project.
Noting that 164 acres of the 723-acre property is classified as regulated wetlands and includes a large wetland complex adjacent to Taghkanic Creek and its tributaries, the judges wrote: “Finally, we find that … additional wetlands are on the project site that have not been properly characterized and classified … and justify further investigation.”
In a criticism of Hecate, the judges wrote, “Hecate’s actions during the adjudicatory phase were not in good faith, particularly with respect to its failure to timely and adequately respond to the Town’s discovery requests and provide unimpeded access to the site.
“Hecate imposed unreasonable conditions to the Town’s access, including limiting access only to areas where wetlands had already been delineated. Moreover, access to the site was not provided until the day before the hearing (Sunday, Sept. 13) and was limited to only certain areas of the site.”
The ultimate decision to grant or deny a final permit will be made by state ORES’ interim executive director Jason Zehr, who was appointed in April.
Because of a time clock on the project, ORES has until Oct. 19 to grant a site permit or deny Hecate. If the application moves ahead, Hecate will then have to come to the town to get a permit before construction can begin.
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Haunted Barn and Monster’s Ball return to Wassaic Project
Graham Corrigan
Oct 13, 2026
WASSAIC — Every October, when the summer sun has set and the leaves start to fall, the Wassaic Project gets spooky. Its annual haunted house is a highlight of local Halloween celebrations, and this year, it gets a new home: the Luther Barn. It’s a weekend-long event, with a panoply of talented artists putting their skills to spine-chilling use on Friday, Oct. 23.
This year’s haunts include a mood swing by Judy K. Suh, a monster candy feast by Walker Mettling, a fairy tale forest by Rachael McArthur, a walking-themed shadow puppet show by Theodora Skipitares, a puppet installation and performance by Jane Catherine Shaw and students from the Wassaic Project Junior Varsity Art Club, a robot escape video installation by Chris Golub and Anna Yiaxi Savvidou, a giant moth installation made of Rorschach tests by Erin Perrazzelli, a dancing clown installation and performance around a fire by Brian Whiteley, a haunted petting zoo made of recycled materials by Isabella Schubert-Jones, a giant inflatable puppet created by Nicole Banowetz and Devin Reilly, an alien robot workshop by Jeffrey Repko, and a “coin-operated” haunted music box interactive installation and performance by WHOOP DEE DOO and students from the Wassaic Project Varsity Art Club.
And while some of the installations might be frightening for some, the Haunted Barn is a family affair. Rather than designed to be scary, the work on view is simply inspired by the season. “We’re letting the artists take the lead and make these amazing, never-before-seen pieces,” said Kasssandra Gonzalez of the Wassaic Project. “We really try to make all of the installations focused on children and their experience — but not so dumbed-down that adults can’t enjoy it.”
The event also celebrates public artworks by Liz Nielsen and Akeylah Wellington. Liz Nielsen’s installation in the Gridley Chapel takes the form of stained glass windows, while Wellington’s massive beaded tapestries are inspired by supernova, gas rings, and globular star clusters.
Since its inception, the Monster’s Ball has been an opportunity for the artistically-inclined to channel their creativity into Halloween costumes. Partygoers should take into account mobility, however — the DJ sets and dance floor are the stuff of legend.
Saturday Haunted Barn tickets are $10 for individuals and $20 for families. Friday and Sunday tickets are $8 for individuals, $15 for families. The barn operates on a timed-entry system, and Saturday afternoon is usually the busiest slot.
On Saturday, October 24 at 7 p.m., the action moves down the street to The Lantern, Wassaic’s most sinister bar and restaurant. In The Lantern’s garden, the Monster’s Ball will summon creative spirits for a raucous dance party and costume contest. Tickets are required in advance, and every attendee must wear a costume, lest they wish to be banished at the threshold. The Monster’s Ball has sold out ahead of the event every year, so prospective ghouls and goblins are encouraged to reserve a place before it’s too late.
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