Back to business after the election

Northwest Corner municipal elections were, for the most part, quiet this year, with many offices uncontested. In Cornwall and Falls Village, all  three incumbent selectmen were returned to office.

In Falls Village, in fact, not a single office was contested. Nonetheless, some voters turned out, expressing their apparent satisfaction with the status quo.

Two petitioning candidates got their names on the ballot.Mike Flint in Salisbury entered the race in time to have his name officially inscribed on the forms. Newcomer Nicole Blass in North Canaan was a last-minute entry; voters had to write her name in. Nonetheless, she earned a respectable 73 votes.

Incumbent First Selectman Curtis Rand, a Democrat, defeated Flint in Salisbury by a  decisive margin (904 to 215). The town’s two incumbent selectmen (Democrat Jim Dresser and Republican Bob Riva) were also returned to the board.

All vote totals, as well as election coverage and selectmen photos, are on the town pages.

Kent had four party-sponsored candidates for the board.Incumbent Democratic Selectman Bruce Adams beat the GOP’s Karen Casey for the top spot (694-369).

Casey came in last among the four candidates for selectman, behind Democrat Karren Garrity (584 votes) and Republican George Jacobsen (464), who join Adams.

In Sharon, Republican Bob Loucks got by long-term Democratic Selectman Tom Bartram in a close race for first selectman. The vote was 552 to 513.

Sharon is the only town in the state where a candidate may run for first selectman only, so Bartram, with 16 years’ experience on the board, is out completely. Democrat Meg Szalewicz joins veteran Republican Selectman John Mathews on the board.

The 11th-hour write-in campaign of independent Blass for the North Canaan Board of Selectmen made for a bit of a race in that town, but Blass failed to win a seat. Incumbents Doug Humes and Susan Clayton were returned to the board; newcomer Charlie Perotti will join them.

In Cornwall, Gordon Ridgway was cross-endorsed by the Democratic and Republican parties. He was re-elected first selectman in Cornwall along with incumbent Selectmen K.C. Baird and Richard Bramley.

Jill Gibbons is Salisbury’s new representative on the Region One Board of Education, defeating Paul Henrici for the seat vacated by Amanda Halle. The other seats up for grabs on the regional board were North Canaan and  Canaan/Falls Village, where Laura Freund and Gale Toensing, respectively, ran unopposed.

The top vote-getters in all of the six towns in the Region One school district were Sharon’s Tina Pitcher, who had 1,011 votes for town treasurer in Sharon, and Salisbury’s Carl Williams, whose 1,006 fans put him back on the Board of Finance for two more years. The former longtime board chairman had retired but is now stepping in to fill a two-year vacancy left by the late Zenas Block.

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition
Mad Rose Gallery director Michael Flowers contributed to the gallery's "Assembled" exhibit with a series of collaged landscape photographs
Nathan Miller

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
books

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less