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Letter to the Editor - January 26, 2026
Lakeville Journal
Feb 25, 2026
Opposition is not a governing program
The guest commentary in the Feb. 19 Journal, an absolute anti-Trump screed, had me wondering just how far one person can expand the gulf between what they believe and have opinions on and a connection to actual facts.
Really, Trump is worse than Capone? I’m surprised Hitler escaped the article. Trump is blowing up a bunch of lowlife drug smugglers who are purportedly just innocent civilians. It’s a battle in a war against a declared terrorist cartel. I contend that the drug deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans deserve some aggressive countermeasures. And in that regard, look what’s happening with cartels in Mexico as I write this.
Furthermore, I ask, is withholding taxpayer money from institutions which allowed violent antisemitic takeovers actually an illegal shakedown?
Having said the above, I really laughed over the supposed conversion of the Department of Justice into an instrument of personal retribution by Trump. Ever heard of Jack Smith and the dismissed cases against Trump? In my opinion, THAT was a misuse of the DoJ.
After 10+ years of Trump Derangement Syndrome, I am sincerely asking if hating Trump is the extent of the governing program by the anti-Trump side.
Here are a few governing ideas to consider. How about: lowering taxes, no tax on overtime, tips and social security, securing the border, negotiating fair trade agreement around the world, trying to achieve peace through projecting strength in a dangerous world, and adopting simple voter ID laws? By the way, voter ID laws exist in all European, African and South American countries.
When the Democrats champion these policies, I’ll be with them, but no, they voted against them all. Oh right, it’s Trump who is doing or already did these things. It’s the policies that sway me, not the personalities. But let’s just hate on Trump. That’s the ticket — to nowhere!
Richard Shanley
Lakeville
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Turning Back the Pages - February 26, 2026
Norma Bosworth
Feb 25, 2026
125 years ago —
February 1901
Mr. G.E. Frink began placing steam heating apparatus in his Pharmacy in the Reed block Monday.
FALLS VILLAGE — First Selectman Kellogg has been engaged the past week in raising the large iron safe from the cellar of the Savings Bank, in order to get at the town records which are in the safe.
LIME ROCK — The roads are beginning to get into shape again. The town gang has scalped a few deep snow drifts and wagons can be used now.
The Connecticut Western News says that representatives from the New York Condensed Milk Co. have been in Canaan feeling the pulse of the farmers in regard to establishing a creamery in that place.
Master Francis Smith has taken a position at the Journal office. Master James Ellis who has been the printer’s devil the past year, will take a course in the Lakeville High Grade school and will also work for E.A. Eldridge.
100 years ago —
February 1926
Miss Harriet Fenton has accepted a position with the Connecticut Power Company in Canaan.
State Policemen Donald J. Geddes and Sergeant Brandt of the Canaan Barracks, acting on a bench warrant, raided The Arch Inn at Falls Village Thursday morning and confiscated a large quantity of liquor and arrested the proprietor, Edward J. House, whose establishment was raided earlier last week
50 years ago —
February 1976
Catherine E. Carlson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Carlson of Kent, is valedictorian of the class of 1976, Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The salutatorian, Sheryl L. Stair, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan Schafer of Salisbury.
Lakeville firemen wearing masks and breathing apparatus put out a stubborn fire Saturday afternoon in a store room in the main building at The Hotchkiss School. The fire sent acrid smoke through the east wing of the administration building. As one fireman put it, the smoke was so dense that you needed radar to get though it.
In spite of the rain, the Salisbury Winter Sports Association cleared roughly $3,500 during the ski jump weekend, from the proceeds of the gate, dance, food booth and ads in the program.
FALLS VILLAGE — Two Dutch World War II comrades have been reunited in Falls Village after a separation of 31 years. Theodore Daalhuyzen of Main Street and Arie vanBommel of Undermountain Road and New York City met recently after vanBommel read a story about Daalhuyzen and his war experiences in The Lakeville Journal.
The North Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps has found new quarters in the old firehouse on Main Street in Canaan.
A new play by Cornwall playwright Lonnie Carter will be performed at the Walker Auditorium of The Hotchkiss School at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Sunday of this week. “Iz She Izzy or Is He Ain’tzy or Iz They Both,” a comedy, will be presented by the Hotchkiss Drama Department under the direction of Jennifer Barrows.
25 years ago —
February 2001
CORNWALL — After the Florida voting and election fiasco, it’s no wonder the whole country is looking a little more closely at the voting process. The Board of Selectmen’s meeting Tuesday morning started with a discussion about a communication the board received from the secretary of the state. The letter explains the possibility of new voting machines which will hopefully be utilized in all future elections. However, sometimes trying to fix something that isn’t broken is a bad idea. “Basically the whole board thinks it’s a mistake [to fund these new machines],” First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said, feeling they are unnecessary. “Even though our voting machines are old, they’re still working,” he said.
Reggie the Robot rolled down the main hallway at Housatonic Valley Regional High School last Friday. The six-week-old creation of students in David Lindsay’s robotics club is headed to Hartford, where it will compete in the 2001 FIRST Robotics Competition. This is the 10th year the contest has been held, but the first time that students from HVRHS will compete.
These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.
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Cornwall secures land for future sewer plant
Riley Klein
Feb 25, 2026
Cornwall Town Hall
Riley Klein
WEST CORNWALL — The future site of the wastewater plant in West Cornwall was officially determined by the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, Feb. 17.
The site is located on Route 128 between the post office and the design studio. The town has long planned to use this grassy plot for the sewer facility, and a signed option to lease the land from property owner Eric Tietz made it official.
The land was assessed at $94,000, which will be paid to Tietz out of the Housing and Urban Development grant that is funding most of the wastewater project. Moving forward, the town will pay $800 per month for the life of the 50-year lease.
With the land secured, Cornwall can move forward with the permitting approval process, which could take more than a year. A firm is already under contract to build the facility once the permits are finalized.
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Student artists shine
Lakeville Journal
Feb 25, 2026
Lynn Kearcher
Ella Sun of Kent School won Best of Show at the 31st annual Kent Art Association Student Show Feb.15. The show exhibited art by 60 area students.
Kent selectmen oppose Schaghticoke Tribal Nation recognition effort
Patrick L. Sullivan
Feb 25, 2026
Kent Town Hall
Leila Hawken
KENT — The Kent Board of Selectmen has formally joined opposition to a renewed effort by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation (STN) to gain federal recognition.
The selectmen discussed the topic in executive session Tuesday, Feb. 17. In the regular meeting that followed, First Selectman Eric Epstein made a motion to approve a “common interest agreement” with the State of Connecticut and the Kent School to oppose federal recognition of STN. The motion passed unanimously.
STN is distinct from the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe (SIT), which recently received a positive review from the Office of Federal Acknowledgment. The tribe split into two factions — SIT and STN — roughly 40 years ago. STN is currently in the re-petition process for federal acknowledgment as well.
STN sued the state in 2016 seeking $610 million in damages for selling tribal land. The case was dismissed in 2019. Originally, STN aimed to leverage its land claims in Kent to build a casino in Bridgeport.
In other business, the board voted unanimously to recommend to the Board of Finance an alternative paving bid connected to Kent Center School. The town school board, working through Region One, has already gone out to bid for a repaving project at Kent Center School, for $494,477.
Attached to the bid package was the option of repaving Judd Avenue and Elizabeth Street south of the intersection of the two roads and adjacent to KCS, for an additional $97,010.
The selectmen heard from Kent resident Gregoire Pye, owner of the Crepe Royale food truck, who would like to operate in Kent.
The status quo is that food trucks are not allowed on public property in the town, but are allowed on private property. Gregoire noted the presence of a hot dog vendor in the summer, and wondered why he couldn’t get a similar exemption. The selectmen said the hot dog vendor was grandfathered in. Epstein said the Planning and Zoning Commission does not have a regulation about food trucks. The matter was tabled and will be addressed next month.
The board tinkered with a resolution governing the recording of public meetings. The change would allow a board or commission to close a meeting if audio recording fails and 30 minutes of troubleshooting is unsuccessful.
The selectmen accepted Matt Frasher’s resignation as chair of the USA 250 subcommittee and appointed Sarah Chase as a replacement.
Epstein reported that work is ongoing on a request for proposals for work at Emery Park pool. He said the town has $100,000 in federal COVID relief funds that need to be spent by the end of the year.
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Millerton News cartoonist shares tips at Scoville library
Patrick L. Sullivan
Feb 25, 2026
Natalia Zukerman explains the art of cartooning to a group at Scoville Memorial Library Sunday, Feb. 22.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — Cartoonist Natalia Zukerman gave practical advice on her craft at the Scoville Memorial Library Sunday morning, Feb. 22.
Zukerman has been the regular cartoonist for The Millerton News for about three years. She said her approach is to use a single panel rendered in black and white.
She gave several practical tips. “I don’t use a pencil sharpener. I use an Xacto knife.”
She held up the blade.
“It’s nerdy but you get the best point.”
She doesn’t use an eraser either. “I like to keep the history” of the cartoon in place, she said.
Besides, thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, blemishes and goofs can be fixed later in the process.
Among her tips was a stern instruction to use no more than 20 lines in trying to adapt one of three faces shown on the big screen in the library’s Wardell Room.
Face number one was a shocked face, with raised eyebrows and a round, open mouth.
Face number two was an angry face with furrowed brows and bared teeth.
Face number three belonged to a cat looking very pleased with itself.
As far as subject matter, she gave some examples of cartoons that literally illustrate common expressions, such as “silly goose” or “burning the candle at both ends.”
Karen Vrotsos of the library opened the proceedings with a quick overview of the history of political and/or satirical cartooning, starting with William Hogarth’s 1721 (published in 1724) “Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme,” which deals with the fallout from the failure of the British South Sea Company, which caused a serious financial disruption.
The first American political or satirical cartoon published widely is probably Benjamin Franklin’s “Join or Die,” depicting the then American colonies as sections of a rattlesnake. Because the cartoon dates from 1754, it refers to the colonies uniting with the British to fight the French and Indian War.
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