LAKEVILLE — Attorney General William Tong knows first hand about the plight of immigrants.
He spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at Trinity Lime Rock Church March 6, which together with those on Zoom totaled 225. The event was hosted by Vecinos Seguros 2, a grassroots organization that works to make sure those without legal status know their rights.
Tong has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and is part of a group of attorneys general around the country who are banding together to take legal action against his actions.
He stirred the audience with his personal story. Growing up in West Hartford, where he remembered kids showing up at his school from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam after he was the first Asian student enrolled, he thought “they were refugees and I was the son of immigrants. I thought I was better than them. In fullness of time, I realized what we were all doing here. My parents and grandparents ran for their lives in China. I am nothing but the son of refugees. There was no daylight between those kids and the immigrants showing up today.”
Tong related how his parents met while both were working in a restaurant in Hartford. One day, in the 1970s, a representative from the Immigration and Naturalization Service showed up and because his father was undocumented, was threatened with deportation. After much thought, the senior Tong was resigned to the fact he would have to leave. But shortly before the deadline, while driving along the Berlin Turnpike, he decided to make a last-ditch effort. He went home and wrote a six-page handwritten letter to then-President Richard Nixon explaining his case. The INS agent returned later and said the president had read the letter and sent the message that the country welcomed him and urged him to stay.
Tong said he’s often asked what brings him hope during these times. “In one generation, I went from that Chinese restaurant to attorney general of this state. There are kids out there now; families living with that dream. We need to help them keep it.”
The attorney general said that when Trump talks about denaturalizing citizens and then about anchor babies, he is talking about him. “Banning birthright citizens is utterly and brazenly unconstitutional.” Audience members, as they did several times during the presentation, applauded loudly.
Speaking on the importance of immigration for moral and economic structural reasons, Tong noted, “America runs on Dunkin’ and immigrant workers. There would be no economy without immigrants.” Half of all farm workers are undocumented, as are half of those working in the meat packing industry he said.
It was standing-room only for Attorney General William Tong’s talk on immigration at Trinity Church Lime Rock Thursday, March 7. Photo by Ruth Epstein
Touching on Connecticut’s Trust Act that was passed in 2013, Tong explained that it limits how local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration officials to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants. He called efforts to repeal the act “ridiculous,” saying “the federal government does its job and we here do ours.” He said if anyone tries to get rid of the act, he will fight it and believes he’ll win, emphasizing several times that Connecticut is a sovereign state. The federal government has a lot of power, but can’t come to Connecticut to tell its citizens what to do.
When asked what people can do to help those without legal status, Tong advised not to put anyone at risk and make sure they have a plan if ICE shows up. Agents must have a judicial warrant to come on private property. He also recommended they seek people who will provide pro-bono legal advice. He said those holding green cards have legal status and should be respected by ICE. He also recommended not using the word “sanctuary” since it has no legal meaning and can be inflammatory. He was also forthright in saying not everyone can be protected from deportation.
He added there is no evidence to support the claims that immigrants create crime more than American citizens and stressed the Trust Act does not protect violent criminals.
At the outset, Tong said he and his colleagues had sued the federal government when Trump and the Office of Policy and Management tried to freeze all federal funding for a variety of grants, especially those dealing with medical research. “We now have an injunction to stop him from breaking the law. Remembering we have checks and balances, we’re serving as the only check since there is so much disinformation out there.”
Coming to the end of his message, Tong’s tone was foreboding. “We’re not on the precipice of a constitutional crisis, we’re in one. Trump is already not in compliance with federal court orders. If he doesn’t follow Supreme Court rulings, we’re in a dark place. We all have the responsibility to take to the streets and speak out.”
Wes Allyn breaks away from the St. Paul defense for a reception touchdown Wednesday, Nov. 26.
The Yellowjacket defense played lights out, holding St. Paul’s offense to 73 total yards and forcing three turnovers. Owen Riemer and Tyler Roberts each caught an interception and Jacob Robles recovered a fumble.
GNH congratulates Tyler Roberts on an interception late in the Turkey Bowl.Photo by Riley Klein
QB Trevor Campbell threw for three touchdowns: one to Wes Allyn, one to Cole Linnen and one to Esten Ryan. GNH scored twice on the ground with rushing touchdowns from Linnen and Riemer.
The game concluded in some confusion. A late run by Linnen ended when he was tackled near the end zone. The ball was spotted at the one-yard line and GNH took a knee to end the fourth quarter with the scoreboard reading 28-0. After the game, Linnen’s run was reassessed as a touchdown, and the final score was adjusted to 34-0.
Esten Ryan runs into the end zone for a GNH touchdown Wednesday, Nov. 26.Photo by Riley Klein
Coach Scott Salius was thankful that his team went out on a high note. “We’re one of the few teams in the state that will finish with a win.” He commented on the “chippiness” of this year’s Thanksgiving matchup. “We have started a true rivalry.”
GNH won four of the last five games and ended with a record of 5-5.
“Battling back from 1-4, huge turnaround. I couldn’t be happier,” said GNH captain Wes Allyn after the win. “Out of the four years I’ve been playing, undefeated on Thanksgiving. No one will ever take that away from me.”
The GNH defense held St. Paul to 73 total yards in the 2025 Turkey Bowl.
Looking back on his final varsity season, Nick Crodelle said he will remember “practice, complaining about practice, and getting ready for the games. Game day was a lot of fun.”
Hunter Conklin said ending on a win “feels great” and appreciated his time on the field with his teammates. “There’s no one else I’d rather do it with.”
“I’m so thankful to have these guys in my life,” said Riemer. “It’s emotional.”
It was the last varsity football game for eight Housatonic Valley Regional High School seniors.Photo by Riley Klein
“Once Upon a Time in America” features ten portraits by artist Katro Storm.
Part of what became a capstone project for Wolgemuth, she left behind a comprehensive guide to help future student interns manage the gallery effectively. “Everything from who we should contact, the steps to take for everything, our donors,” Wilbur said. “It’s really extensive and it’s been a huge help.”
Art teacher Lilly Rand Barnett first met Storm a few years ago through his ICEHOUSE Project Space exhibition in Sharon, “Will It Grow in Sharon?” in which he planted cotton and tobacco as part of an exploration of ancestral heritage.
“And the plants did grow,” said Barnett. She asked Storm if her students could use them, and the resulting work became a project for that year’s Troutbeck Symposium, the annual student-led event in Amenia that uncovers little-known or under-told histories of marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC histories.
Last spring, Rand emailed to ask if Storm would consider a solo show at HVRHS. He agreed.
And just a few weeks ago, he arrived — paints, brushes and canvases in tow.
“When Katro came to start hanging everything, he took up a mini art residency in Ms. Rand’s room,” Wilbur said. “All her students were able to see his process and talk to him. It was great working with him.”
Perhaps more unexpected was his openness. “He really trusted us as curators and visionaries,” Wilbur said. “He said, ‘Do with it what you will.’”
Artist Katro StormNatalia Zukerman
Storm’s artistic training began at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts. His talent earned him a full scholarship to the Arts Institute of Boston, then Boston’s Museum School, where he painted seven oversized portraits of influential Black figures — in seven days — for his final project. Those works became the backbone of his early exhibitions, including at Howard University’s National Council for the Arts.
Storm has created several community murals like the 2009 READ Mural featuring local heroes, and several literacy and wellness murals at the Stetson Branch Library in New Haven. Today, he teaches and works, he said, “wherever I set up shop. Sometimes I go outside. Sometimes I’m on top of roofs. Wherever it is, I get the job done.”
His deep ties to education made a high school gallery an especially meaningful stop. “No one really knew who these people were except maybe John Lennon,” Storm said of the portraits in the show. “It’s really important for them to know James Baldwin and Shirley Chisholm. And now they do.”
The exhibition includes a wide list of subjects: James Baldwin, Shirley Chisholm, Redd Foxx, Jasper Johns, Marilyn Manson, William F. Buckley, Harold Hunter, John Lennon, as well as two deeply personal works — a portrait of Tracy Sherrod (“She’s a friend of mine… She had an interesting hairdo”) and a tribute to his late friend Nes Rivera. “Most of the time I choose my subjects because there are things I want to see,” Storm said.
Storm’s paintings, which he describes as “full frontal figuratism,” rely on drips, tonal shifts, and what feels like emerging depth. His process moves quickly. “It depends on how fast it needs to get done,” he said. “Sometimes I like to take the long way up the mountain. Instead of doing an outline, I just start coloring, blocking things off with light and dark until it starts to take shape.”
He’s currently in a black-and-white phase. “Right now, I’m inspired by black and white, the way I can really get contrast and depth.”
Work happens on multiple canvases at once. “Sometimes I’ll have five paintings going on at one time because I go through different moods, and then there’s the way the light hits,” he said. “It’s kind of like cooking. You’ve got a couple things going at once, a couple things cooking, and you just try to reach that deadline.”
For Wilbur, who has studied studio arts “ever since I was really young” and recently applied early decision to Vassar, the experience has been transformative. For Storm — an artist who built an early career painting seven portraits in seven days and has turned New York’s subway corridors into a makeshift museum — it has been another chance to merge artmaking with education, and to pass a torch to a new generation of curators.
Le Petit Ranch offers animal-assisted therapy and learning programs for children and seniors in Sheffield.
Le Petit Ranch operates out of two small structures next to the family’s home: a one-room schoolhouse for animal-assisted learning sessions and a compact stable for the three miniature horses, Mini Mac, Rocket and Miso. Other partner animals include two rescued Spanish greyhounds, Yayi and Ronya; four guinea pigs and a flock of chickens.
Borreda offers programs at the Scoville Library in Salisbury, at Salisbury Central School and surrounding towns to support those who benefit from non-traditional learning environments.
“Animal-assisted education partners with animals to support learning in math, reading, writing, language and physical education,” she said. One activity, equimotricité, has children lead miniature horses through obstacle courses to build autonomy, confidence and motor skills.
Child working with a miniature horse at Le Petit RanchMarjorie Borreda
She also brings her greyhounds into schools for a “min vet clinic,” a workshop that turns lessons on dog biology and measuring skills into hands-on, movement-based learning. A separate dog-bite prevention workshop teaches children how to read canine body language and respond calmly.
Parents and teachers report strong results. More than 90% of parents observed greater empathy, reduced anxiety, increased self-confidence and improved communication and cooperation in their children, and every parent said animal-assisted education made school more enjoyable — with many calling it “the highlight of their week.”
Weekly small-group sessions with seniors at Le Petit Ranch stimulates cognitive function and improves motor skills.Marjorie Borreda
Le Petit Ranch also serves seniors, including nursing home residents experiencing depression, social withdrawal or reduced physical activity. Weekly small-group sessions with animals can stimulate cognitive function and improve motor skills, balance and mobility.
Families can visit Le Petit Ranch for animal- assisted afterschool sessions, Frech immersion or family walks. She also offers programs for schools, libraries, community centers, churches, senior centers and nursing homes.
For more information, email info@lepetitranch.com, visit lepetitranch.com, follow @le.petit.ranch on Instagram or call 413-200-8081.
