Farewell to 2012

The past year was a relatively quiet one, with no more than the usual“emergency fires” to put out, a year in which Northwest Corner residents had the leisure to make incremental advances in areas such as preservation and green energy.It was also a year when, without major struggles to cope with, there was a bit more quibbling among elected officials than is normally the case around here. Salisbury seemed to be most active on this front, with a new member of the board fighting hard and at great length with the other board members over issues such as whether town officials should say the Pledge of Allegiance before every meeting.Similarly, a minority of members of the Region One Board of Education devoted many hours to raising questions about the regional schools’ top administrators and whether they were behaving in a productive and transparent fashion. After many months of meetings devoted to emotional discussions about whether administrative staff had been rude to a board member or vice versa, board members were surprised to learn at the end of 2012 that an unusually high number of students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School had failed classes this school year. Meanwhile, voters last spring voted against the regional schools’ budget, saying among other things that they objected to the way the contracts for the top regional administrators were renewed annually. The budget passed the second time around, and the contract process was changed so that the three-year contracts are (logically) renewed every three years instead of annually. Voting in the November national elections was for the most part fairly quiet and predictable. One of the Northwest Corner’s most respected elected officials was defeated, however, when he sought national office. State Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) made a bid for the 5th District Congressional seat that Democrat Chris Murphy was giving up so he could pursue a U.S. Senate seat. Murphy defeated Republican Linda McMahon to take the Senate seat. But voters here chose a relative unknown, Democrat Elizabeth Esty, to represent them in the House of Representatives, over Roraback.The Twin OaksOne of the few big tragedies of the year — a relatively minor one when compared to, for example, the shooting in Newtown — was the loss of one of the great white oaks in the Sharon farm field known popularly as the Twin Oaks field.The two oaks had been there for more than two centuries. One of them received what tree experts described as a one-two punch from the storms of October 2011 and 2012. The 2011 storm damaged the tree; the 2012 storm split the tree in half. A new oak is being sought by the Sharon Land Trust, which owns the property. Its twin got a clean bill of health from arborist Jason Bresson, who said it should “outlive us all.”Famous namesThis was a year when severable notable area residents passed away. Among those who were well-known nationally were Priscilla Buckley (former managing editor of National Review); John Fitch (a world-famous race car driver and inventor of the yellow Fitch Barrels found on highways around the world); and The Lakeville Journal’s own Dr. Richard Gott, who was not only a beloved local physician but who was also the author of a very popular nationally syndicated health column.This was also a year when an unusually large number of famous and interesting people came here to give talks, notably as part of the Salisbury Forum series and the Kent Memorial Library Great Performances series. Some of the speakers included Calvin Trillin, Christopher Buckley (nephew of Priscilla, whom he famously referred to as Aunt Pitts), Edmund Morris, opera great Marilyn Horne, Meryl Streep, journalist James Hoge and cooking and food expert Mark Bittman. Vice President Joseph Biden also visited the area, for a pre-election rally held in Kent at the home of Anthony and Sally Zunino. Here on more of a pleasure-than-business visit was Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who did a “hot lap” around the track at Lime Rock Park as part of a campaign to promote Connecticut as a vacation destination. One of the most famous race car drivers in history, Sir Stirling Moss, also visited Lime Rock, for the annual vintage festival over Labor Day weekend.Greening of the NW CornerEnvironmental advances were made, especially by area independent schools. The private schools are often in fierce competition with each other, not just in sports but also in terms of facilities, as they seek to attract the best students in the world. One area in which they have been competing nationally is on “green” advances. The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville took a decided step forward with completion of its own biomass plant, at the edge of the golf course. This year was one where environmental concerns regionwide were fairly high, especially during a very dry summer; the Housatonic River was unusually low, making it less than ideal for the boaters who normally enjoy the waters in spring. Fly-fishermen, however, reported that it was a particularly good spring for fishing, with the trout fat, happy and abundant in the river. The fishing went south in July when it stopped raining, however. But the early season was spectacular, with the hatches all coming two or three weeks ahead of schedule.And although there were concerns about the relatively mild winter from 2011 into 2012, this was a pretty good year for maple syrup, which is collected in February when the days become warm and sunny but when nighttime temperatures fall below freezing.In something of a surprise turn of events, hunters presented a petition to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection saying that it was allowing hunters to kill too many deer each year. The hunters said they felt that they were seeing fewer baby deer than normal. The state captured and collared baby deer this spring to try and get a sense of what was actually happening with the deer population. So far, no changes have been made to the deer-hunting quotas.Fun, fun, funPeople found plenty of ways to enjoy life this year. A“flash mob” appeared at one elementary school promotion ceremony last spring; and a group put on a flash mob in the center of Kent on Halloween, with men and women dressed in zombie costumes and dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” While traditional celebrations such as Railroad Days in North Canaan and the Pumpkin Run in Kent continue to draw people from all across the region, several towns have introduced new townwide events that promise to grow and prosper well into the future. Among them are the adult soapbox derby, a fundraiser for the volunteer fire department in Sharon; and the vintage automobile parade from Lime Rock Park, through Salisbury, ending with a fair in the center of Falls Village.But, of course, tragediesSadly, there is never a year without a tragedy of one kind or another. A lowpoint of 2012 was the murder in August of 23-year-old Lucas Vitalis at his home in Sharon under mysterious circumstances. Vitalis was shot in front of his mother, who had been tied up but was not blindfolded. The killers have not yet been caught.Also contributing to a sense of unease for some area residents was a decision by the Connecticut State Police to save money by making some consolidations. While Troop B in North Canaan remains open, 911 calls are no longer answered there; they are sent instead to the larger Troop L in Litchfield. Business newsAlthough the economy could not be really described as robust in 2012, there were signs of recovery. Several area restaurants did close, including Belgique and Doc’s in Kent; and Cafe Giulia in Salisbury. Those restaurants closed because of personal circumstances more than economic issues (Cafe Giulia, for example, closed after beloved owner-chef Robert Willis died of a fast-moving cancer in June).The new Millstone Café and Bakery closed in Kent, as well. But new businesses have moved quickly into most of those spaces and are expected to open in early 2013.The Lakeville Journal Co. had some business changes of its own. The company lost two of its longtime investor/board members in 2011 with the deaths of Robert Estabrook and Whitney Ellsworth. Both are irreplaceable figures for members of The Lakeville Journal family.But new members were found this year, as Norman Dorsen of Cornwall, Keith Johnson of Sharon and John E. Baumgardner Jr. of Lakeville joined the company. There were also two notable anniversaries for area nonprofits this year, with Noble Horizons celebrating 40 years in Salisbury and the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation marking its 25th birthday. And a high point of this year was the completion of the Mahoney Hewat Science and Technology Center at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Although school community members and alumni from around the region all helped with fundraising and building the center, it will remind all who knew him of the late Jack Mahoney, a former principal at the high school who worked hard in his last years to see the center built.