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Candidate Profiles - Kent

This week, The Lakeville Journal offers profiles of candidates in each town for the boards of selectmen and the Region One Board of Education (except in Cornwall and Kent, where the representative is appointed). Information in the profiles was provided by the candidates, at the newspaper’s request. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

The municipal elections will be held Nov. 8. The Lakeville Journal goes to press on that afternoon, so results will be posted online at the company’s website, www.tricornernews.com, and will be published in the issue of Nov. 17.

Board of Selectmen

Bruce Adams, Democrat

Office being sought: First selectman

Age: 62

Number of years in town: Lived in town since 1988, worked in town since 1972

Profession:  Retired teacher, at present, first selectman

Up to five boards and/or commissions served on (and in what capacity) in the past five years: Kent Park and Recreation,Community House Renovation Committee, Kent Firehouse Building Committee, Kent Center School Standing Building Committee

If elected, what would you change and what would you keep the same? (Response limited to 300 words.) When elected(I am running unopposed) I hope to see the three sewer projects to completion, see our newly refurbished Community House become a much-used event venue and see taxes remain at an affordable level.

Tod Jones, Democrat

Office being sought: Selectman

Age: 49

Number of years in town: 28

Profession: Owner/operator of a cleaning business, Upkeep with the Joneses

Up to five boards and/or commissions served on (and in what capacity) in the past five years: Currently chairman of the Kent Democratic Town Committee, currently chairman of the Democratic Coalition of Northwest Connecticut, member of Democratic State Party for Pre-platform 2010, Democratic State Party, member of Permanent Committee for Platform 2010

If elected, what would you change and what would you keep the same? (Response limited to 300 words.) I intend to continue in the tradition of the careful stewardship of town resources and town infrastructure set by previous Democratic administrations, and currently carried out by our first selectman, Bruce Adams. I hope to assist as the Board of Selectmen continues forging strong regional ties with our neighboring towns in the Northwest Corner to find ways to benefit the economy of the entire region.

Mary Susi Williams, Republican

Office being sought: Selectman

Age: 72

Number of years in town: Lifelong resident of Kent

Profession: Retired vice president of J & J Log and Lumber, Dover Plains, N.Y.

Up to five boards and/or commissions served on (and in what capacity) in the past five years: Selectman 1993-1999; Planning & Zoning Commission; Zoning Board of Appeals; Board of Finance; tax collector; Board of Assessment Appeals; currently on Sewer Commission as alternate and running for seat as regular member; trustee, Kent Historical Society; Library Planning Committee; former director Kent Village Housing for the Elderly; vice president of TASK

If elected, what would you change and what would you keep the same? (Response limited to 300 words.) My historic hometown of Kent is very special to me. I have seen it evolve from a farming community with 62 dairy farms to a unique blend of weekenders, retirees, educators and young families, with a healthy dash of service businesses and entrepreneurs. There is not anything specific I would change at this time. As issues may arise, I would approach them conservatively and in the best interest of the public. I like the Chamber of Commerce’s invitation: Come [to Kent] and see how much — and how little — we have changed.

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

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Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

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Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

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Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

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Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

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Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

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