Charlie Brown comes to town

Cast members each get to shine in the production at the Sharon Playhouse, running until Sept. 29.
Matthew Kreta

Cast members each get to shine in the production at the Sharon Playhouse, running until Sept. 29.
The Sharon Playhouse opened the final production of their main season, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” on Friday, Sept 20. The show will be open until Sept 29 and has a run time of one hour and forty minutes.
The popular “Peanuts” comic strip upon which the show is based lends an inspiration far beyond the characters and their likenesses. The vast majority of the play flows quickly from scene to scene. Most scenes are structured like a four panel comic strip and no central plot point in the show stays for more than a few minutes. These quick changes are intermingled with delightful musical numbers that cover a number of different styles in nearly every song, from opera, slow ballads, dream ballets and high energy showstoppers. Ultimately, this heavily works in the musical adventure’s favor. This snappy, ever shifting approach to the show gives the audience plenty of different vignettes to see these iconic characters interact in. There are plenty of laughs and a full range of antics to enjoy.
Every minute of the show is absolutely packed with charm, thanks in no small part to the Sharon Playhouse’s efforts by its cast and crew. The set is stylized with bright colors and sharp shadowing like a cartoon, and the iconic costumes of the “Peanuts” gang keep each cast member distinct and really make them show against the backdrop. Charlie Brown’s striped shirt finds its way into several layers of the set design as well, contributing to the angles of the set as well as some clever lighting.
The members of the six person show each have a few moments where they really get to shine, and the simple charm of the show has clearly rubbed off on them as much as it had the audience. Daniel Plimpton (Charlie Brown), Nicolas Alan Fernandez (Snoopy), Courtney Balan (Lucy), Sammy Pignalosa (Linus), Jason Williams (Schroeder) and Hayley Podschun (Sally) each bring their all to the performance and won the hearts of the opening night crowd thoroughly. Some musical standouts include “Suppertime”, “My Blanket and Me”, “T-E-A-M” and the absolutely incredible end of Act I, “The Book Report”. Despite the hall being only about half full, the laughter and applause bouncing off the walls felt like a full house.
Lakeville Journal
Support local food access during Tri Corner FEED’s second annual Nourish Neighbors, May 11–17, by dining and shopping at 18 participating businesses across the Northwest Corner and eastern Dutchess County, with donations benefiting the organization’s Food Sovereignty Fund. For a list of participating restaurants and businesses, visit tricornerfeed.org/nourishneighbors
Riley Klein
WINSTED – Northwestern Regional High School’s girls tennis team hosted Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Monday, April 27.
The series of singles and doubles matches unfolded beneath ideal tennis conditions: clear skies and a comfortable 62 degrees.
HVRHS came out on top with a team score of 4-3.
In the first singles match, Northwestern’s Keria Mann defeated Housatonic’s Victoria Brooks 6-1, 6-3.
Housatonic’s Eliana Lang won the second singles match 6-4, 6-3 against Northwestern’s Lauren Kacmarcik.

Housatonic’s Mia DiRocco won the third singles match 6-4, 1-6, 10-4 against Northwestern’s Willow Byrne.
Housatonic’s Mia Belter won the fourth singles match 6-4, 6-3 against Northwestern’s Mia Zuccaro.
In the first doubles match, Northwestern’s Ava Burrell and Jailyn Rosado defeated Housatonic’s Abby
Perotti and Kate Money 6-3,6-0.
Northwestern’s Hannah Burgo and Allison Cravanzola won the second doubles match 6-1, 6-1 against Housatonic’s Noell Laurry and Lydia Fleming.
Housatonic’s Tess Churchill and Lily McCabe won the third doubles match 6-2, 6-0 over Northwestern’sHarmini Thomas and Kylee Quach.
Riley Klein
Travis Barber swings.
WINSTED – Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s junior varsity baseball team took on Northwestern Regional High School in Winsted Monday, April 27.
The Highlanders won 25-5 on their home field. Despite the lop-sided score, the Mountaineers remained positive through to the end.
HVRHS started strong. TJ Coon and August Olson reached home in the first inning to give the Mountaineers a 2-0 lead. Northwestern responded with eight runs in the bottom of the first.
The Highlanders consistently extended their lead in the second, third and fourth innings.

Trailing by a wide margin late in the game, sophomore Nate Young continued to encourage his teammates.
“Let’s get these bats going, boys,” Young said in the dugout before the fifth inning. “We need 23 runs.”
The Mountaineers came out swinging and quickly loaded up the bases. Young, Travis Barber and Ian Thomen crossed the plate before the inning was out to add to HVRHS’s score.
“We almost came back,” Young remarked after the game ended.
Occurring at the same time in Falls Village, the varsity squads for HVRHS and Northwestern were playing. The Highlanders won that game as well, 5-1.

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Lans Christensen
Animal Control Officer Lee Sohl and her puppy, Gavin, read to a visitor at the Kent Library, May 2.
KENT – Animal Control Officer Lee Sohl read puppy stories with her dog, Gavin, during a children’s program at the Kent Memorial Library, Saturday, May 2. The ongoing popular event gives kids a chance to hear stories and interact with a live puppy. Gavin was delighted to be there for stories and petting, Sohl said.
Patrick L. Sullivan
The former Lakeville Train Station on Ethan Allen Street will be moved back about 16 feet.
SALISBURY — Longawaited plans to move the former train station building in Lakeville are advancing, First Selectman Curtis Rand told the Salisbury Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Monday, May 4.
With the project out to bid, contractors are now reviewing materials, Rand said.
The plan is to move the entire building back about 16 feet from its current location on Ethan Allen Street in Lakeville. The unmarked pavement narrows by the station, which has caused problems like panel trucks clipping the roof. Rand also said the building’s brick foundation has been covered up by years of repaving the street.
The street, which is home to three restaurants and a laundromat, continues to the Grove and also intersects with Holley Street toward Route 44.
Just west of the train station is Salisbury’s newest electric vehicle charger, installed last week on town property. The rate is 43 cents per kilowatt hour.

Rand also reported that Duke Besozzi of New England Naval Timbers in Cornwall delivered 10 six-inch white oak trees to the Grove on Monday, May 4 for planting. Besozzi’s company supplies timber for use in restorations and replicas of wooden sailing ships. White oak is highly water-resistant and sought after for such uses.
Katie Begley is Salisbury’s new resident trooper, and was scheduled to be introduced at the meeting. Something came up, however, and she wasn’t able to attend.
Rand said he was hopeful that the trooper would stick around. “We’ve had three in one year,” he said.
The discussion redirected to speeding. Kiefer said she often receives comments from residents about the issue, and joked that she considered standing out on Route 44 holding a hair dryer like a radar gun to try to slow drivers down.
Rand said he recently noticed a 20 mile per hour speed limit on a state road in Cornwall. He said when he suggested the same speed limit to the state Department of Transportation, he was told it couldn’t be done.
The selectmen agreed to keep the pressure on the DOT, with an emphasis on median islands on Route 44 heading west out of Lakeville.
Alec Linden
A pair of turkeys walk across a private driveway in South Kent.
KENT – It may be months from Thanksgiving, but Connecticut’s spring turkey hunting season is now underway, running from April 29 through May 30.
Hunters are permitted up to five male turkeys during the season, known as “toms” for adults or “jakes” for juveniles, which are marked by their distinctive “beards” – protrusions of hair-like feathers that extend from their necks. Shotguns and bows are the only weapons allowed for turkey hunting in the state.
A new law passed last year allows hunting on Sundays on private land with the proper permitting. Previously, hunting wasn’t allowed on Sundays in Connecticut.
Local hunter and electrical contractor Chris Harrington, who lives in Kent, said rural residents shouldn’t be alarmed if they hear gunfire over the next month. “Most of the time in Northwestern Connecticut, when you hear a gunshot, it’s somebody hunting or recreational shooting,” he said.
He also urged outdoor recreators to dress to stand out when in the woods during any active hunting season.
“You should always be wearing bright colors when you’re hiking,” he said.
Harrington said he’s been hunting turkeys since it became legal in the 1980s. While once plentiful in the state, colonists hunted the birds to near elimination in New England before reintroduction efforts began to restore a stable population.
“When I was a kid, there were no turkeys in the state,” said Harrington, who grew up in Kent.
Today, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) estimates the turkey population at over 30,000.
“Wild turkeys are a conservation success story, with populations rebounding over the past few decades,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes in a statement announcing the start of the season.
Harrington said he hunts for food, and to carry on a family tradition, having been taught by his grandfather.
“Deer hunting and turkey hunting and rabbits and small game and fishing was a big part of their food,” he said of his grandparents.
Now, occasionally bringing his own sons along, he said he won’t kill anything he won’t eat.
After the spring season ends, turkey hunters have other opportunities later in the year. A short firearm season runs Oct. 3 through Oct. 31 and allows hunters up to three birds of either sex, and a fall bow season allows hunting on state-owned designated bowhunting areas and private property from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31, with a cap of two birds of either sex.

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