Fundraising efforts ramp up after Kemmerer Farm fire
Fire on July 18 claimed crops, barns and all equipment at the Kemmerer Farm in Stanfordville.
Emily Hay Kemmerer
Smoke lingered in the air at the Kemmerer Farm in Stanfordville after the firefighters responded to the blaze that claimed barns and equipment. A GoFundMe campaign has started and a fundraiser is planned for September.Emily Hay Kemmerer
Emily Hay Kemmerer
Scenes of wreckage following the July 18 fire at Kemmerer Farm in Stanfordville. The farm was named one of two Century Farms at the New York State Agricultural Society’s annual meeting in January 2023.Emily Hay Kemmerer
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Sharon man, 81, arrested twice after postal dispute involving dog
Aly Morrissey
May 06, 2026
Bill Cowie poses with his dog, Rosie, at his Sharon Mountain Road home amid legal battles stemming from a dispute with the Sharon post office.
Aly Morrissey
SHARON — A dispute between an 81-year-old Sharon resident and the United States Postal Service over an alleged dog bite escalated into two separate arrests in April and the suspension of package delivery to his Sharon Mountain Road home.
William “Bill” Cowie, who has lived in Sharon for 40 years, said the bite did not occur, and he described the disruption of his deliveries as “government overreach.”
Cowie said the conflict began early last month when his dog, Rosie, jumped on a mail carrier delivering packages to his home. According to Cowie, the carrier told him he had been bitten, an allegation Cowie disputes.
“I was there,” Cowie said. “I did see Rosie jump up, yes,” he continued, but said he did not see a bite occur. Cowie said he apologized to the carrier and offered him $20 in case Rosie got any mud on his jeans.
“He took the money and went off,” he said.
In Cowie’s mind, the incident was over. Then, his packages stopped arriving.
During an April 23 visit to address the issue with the Sharon postmaster, Richard Ellis, Cowie learned that a hold had been placed on his deliveries because of the incident with Rosie.
“My dog did nothing wrong,” Cowie said. “You can’t just say someone did something and then punish them for it without proof.”
Cowie and his wife adopted Rosie about two years ago, just one day before she was scheduled to be put to sleep. He describes Rosie – a Black Mouth Cur – as a loving dog whose only threat is licking too much.
Cowie said the loss of package delivery has been particularly difficult because his wife, Mollie, is unable to operate a vehicle. He expressed disappointment after repeated attempts to obtain proof of the alleged bite and restore his delivery service were unsuccessful. He said the situation raises questions about how such decisions are made and what recourse citizens have.
The USPS, however, has an explicit policy regarding dogs that does not require evidence.
“The Postal Service places the safety of its employees as a top priority,” said Amy Gibbs, a strategic communications specialist for the USPS who responded to inquiries directed to Sharon’s post office. “It is postal policy that if a carrier feels threatened by a dog, the owner may be asked to pick up mail at a Post Office until the carrier is assured the pet has been restrained.”
Gibbs said curbside delivery to Cowie’s home – meaning items that fit inside his mailbox – has not been disrupted, though larger packages are being held at the post office.
Cowie said the conversation with the postmaster on April 23 at the Low Road post office grew heated and led to his arrest for disorderly conduct. According to a police report, Trooper Robert Flanigan of Troop B responded to a call about an “irate customer” who was “yelling all sorts of profanities” while inside the post office. Cowie was then banned from the property.
He returned to the post office on April 29 and was eventually arrested, handcuffed and fingerprinted for new trespassing charges. According to a police report, Trooper Jared Tuers of Troop B responded to the scene for an “active disturbance” with an individual who was not allowed on the property. Cowie said he spent about three hours at the police station in North Canaan and his car had been impounded.
Though Cowie has been banned from the Low Road post office following his arrests, USPS officials said he is allowed to designate another person to collect any undeliverable mail and packages – those too large to fit in a mailbox – at the post office.
Cowie said he does not regret his behavior or anything he said during the altercations, adding that he was defending his dog, whom he views as a family member, and pushing back against the “overreach of authority.”
“It was the arbitrary, unilateral power exercised by the local postmaster that irked me the most,” Cowie said. “There’s an erosion of civil liberties, and it has to be reversed.”
Cowie argues that the disruption of his packages mirrors authoritative tactics modeled by the current administration.
If he can afford it, Cowie said, he will take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court for what he deems as “overreaching government power.” Asked what justice looks like, Cowie said, “investigation of any government allegation before actions are taken.”
Cowie is scheduled to appear in court in Torrington on May 7 and 13.
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Richard J. Campeglio
Lakeville Journal
May 06, 2026
GREAT BARRINGTON — Richard J. Campeglio Jr., 60, of Great Barrington, died suddenly on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. He was born in Great Barrington on Jan. 9, 1965, son of the late Richard Campeglio Sr. and Mary (Curtis) Logerwell.
Richard worked for many years as a laborer for the Sheffield Highway Department and as a caretaker. He loved hunting, golfing, fishing, and spending time with his daughter Cassie.
Richard is survived by his daughter, Cassie Campeglio of Sheffield; his mother Mary Logerwell of Fort Walton Beach, Florida; his sister Lynda Turow and her husband Bob Turow of Clearwater, Florida; his nephew Cory List of Clearwater, and his niece Kelsey List and her son Jameson Green of Gainesville, Florida.
Richard was predeceased by his father Richard Campeglio Sr. and his brother William Breen.
A service will be held at Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, on May 16 at 11 a.m., followed by a celebration of life at the American Legion Hall in Sheffield from 12 to 2 p.m.
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Gerald Richard Hardy
Lakeville Journal
May 06, 2026
SALISBURY — Gerald Richard Hardy, 87, passed away peacefully on April 14, 2026, at Noble Horizons in Salisbury.
Born in Chicago on Sept. 19, 1938, to English immigrant parents Harry and Antoinette, he had two older brothers, Harry and Elmer. Elmer was shot down over France in WWII when Gerald was 6 years old, and his parents would not receive confirmation of his brother’s death until some 10 years later. Deeply affected by the loss of his brother, Gerald found solace in drawing. He would ride the Chicago el and buses to sketch the everyday life of the city and its people. He eventually attended the renowned Art Institute of Chicago, where he excelled in drawing, painting, etching, and metal sculpture.
In the summer of 1968, Gerald attended the prestigious Oxbow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan where he met his wife, Marilyn Davis. The two were married in Oct. of 1968 and exhibited and traveled throughout the U.S. and the world. Settling in Falls Village, ConnecticutGerald was drawn to the dramatic landscape of the falls and the surrounding area.
They had two children, David and Jordan, who often traveled with them for exhibitions in New England and Florida. Gerald and Marilyn continued to exhibit well into their 80s, traveling up and down the eastern seaboard and creating original paintings and prints of local sites under their business name “Favorite Places.”
Gerald made the land and home in Connecticut a wonderland, with a 40’ diameter carousel with 18 antique wooden horses, a flower farm with over 100 varieties of daylilies and hosta, and giant boulders he excavated by hand with a manual jack.
Gerald’s work was shown in over 300 one-man shows in many states. His paintings are in such collections as the Mint Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, the Ford Motor Company, and the Interchurch Center in New York City. He was featured in Arts Magazine, Art in America, and was art editor of Christian Art Magazine.
Gerald is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Marilyn; his two children, David Hardy and his wife Abbey Williams; Jordan Hardy and his wife Lia Tjandra; and his 3 grandchildren, Monty Hardy by his son David, and Kai and Brennan Hardy by his son Jordan, along with nephews Guy, Brian, and Dean Hardy.
Family and friends are invited to share memories and offer condolences on his birthday, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2026, at The Lakeville Grove.
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Huntington Williams
Lakeville Journal
May 06, 2026
CORNWALL — Beloved and greatly respected Cornwall resident, Huntington (“Hunt”) Williams, surrounded by family, died April 10, the result of an injury sustained from a fall. He was 95 years old and had lived in Cornwall, a town he loved deeply, for the last 45 years.
Born in 1930 in Hartford, Hunt was raised in rural Glastonbury, a town where his family had lived for several generations and where his great grandfather started a shaving soap business, the J.B. Williams Company. His father, Percy Williams, worked for the Aetna Life Insurance Company in Hartford, and his mother, Gertrude, was a homemaker. Hunt had one older sister, Sarah, who predeceased him.
Hunt attended Glastonbury public schools, and it was in high school that he developed an interest in and lifelong passion for farming. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1953 with a degree in animal husbandry. The Korean War was going on during his college years but Hunt was granted an educational deferment. After a summer working in Wyoming, he went on to California where he was drafted and sent to Korea. Fortunately, the cease fire went into effect in July, 1953, and his military service ended in Oct. 1955.
His deep interest in agriculture and the environment was a constant through the jobs he held and communities he lived in, starting with work for a feed company in New York State, followed by seven years with the Cornell Cooperative Extension providing education in dairy farming in New York’s Herkimer and Essex counties, then on to Tenneco, a large conglomerate with an agricultural chemical branch, and a move to the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality where, among other projects, he worked on regulations regarding the development rights for farms and farmland.
During this period, he married Nancy Lewis of West Hartford. They had three sons, Peter, David and Philip.
In 1976 Hunt and his family moved to Lakeville, Connecticut, where he began a job as an adult ed teacher in the vocational agricultural department at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, a position he held for ten years. It was during this time, that Hunt and Nancy divorced, and Hunt moved to a house on Cream Hill Road in Cornwall. He met and eventually married Rebecca (Becky) Gold West. They built a house on a portion of Cream Hill Farm – a peaceful tract of land with beautiful views – where they lived with their combined families, Becky’s two sons and Hunt’s three sons. Hunt’s last fulltime job was working for his brother-in-law Ralph Gold who had a John Deere business in Bantam.
After Becky’s death in 1994, Hunt joined the fire department as an EMT, a commitment he regarded as an opportunity to give back to Cornwall. He will long be remembered for his support of John Welles who, when he decided he was too sick to continue living, took his own life in June 2004. Hunt’s years of service in Cornwall include being on the Zoning Board of Appeals for 20 years and chairman for half that time. He was the Civil Preparedness Director of Cornwall for ten years. He served as a Cornwall Conservation Trust director, drove for FISH, and for five years was a “friendly visitor” to a retired teacher of Hotchkiss. He served on numerous committees, including the Agriculture Advisory Commission.
During these last 30 years Hunt also shared his life and house with another Cornwall neighbor, Honora (“Nora”) Horan, and first their Airedale Lulu and more recently their Welsh terrier Maggie. He thoroughly enjoyed his retirement: he joyfully cut and split countless cords of wood to heat the house; in late February he would tap 25 maple trees along Cream Hill Road, collect the sap bucket by bucket and carefully boil the sap until he had perfect maple syrup. He listened to opera while making apple pie or, later, baked apples. He traveled extensively: to New Zealand, Hawaii and the Adirondacks with his dear friend Denny Frost; and multiple trips to Europe with Nora, including one following the places in France where his father had fought in World War I. He reveled in having nearby family and watched with wonder and delight as granddaughters grew from newborns to young women. And through it all he continued to make improvements to his house, a never ending “work in progress.”
Hunt is survived by his three sons, Peter and his daughter Francesca (Colorado), David (Cornwall, Connecticut), and Philip and his wife Keirsten and their two daughters Amelia and Natalie (Colebrook, Connecticut); also by his two stepsons Phillip West, his wife Kathy and daughters Thea and Andra (Cornwall, Connecticut), and Charles, his wife Michele and sons Woody and Clark (Bozeman, Montana); by his niece Anne Krauss and her husband Stephen (Jefferson, Maine); by his loving and beloved significant other/partner Nora Horan and their terrier Maggie; and by the countless friends and neighbors who treasured their friendship with Hunt.
Donations in Hunt’s memory may be made to his favorite charity, Heifer International (Heifer.org), or The Cornwall Fire Department (cornwallfire.org), the Cornwall Conservation Trust (cornwallconservationtrust.org) or the Connecticut Farmland Trust (ctfarmland.org).
A memorial service will be held Sunday, May 31. Details to be announced.
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Paula Louise Pelosi
Lakeville Journal
May 06, 2026
AMENIA — Paula Louise Pelosi, of Amenia and Brooklyn, New York, died on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
Paula was born on Aug. 6, 1949, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Rose and Louis Pelosi. She graduated from the [Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, and received her financial planning certification from New York University.
After graduating from college, Paula found herself working in a not particularly engaging job doing copyright title searches in the days when you had to go through endless card catalog drawers to research each application.
One night, while out drinking, Paula and a stranger decided to swap jobs and see if anyone would notice.The next day, Paula showed up at the Knoedler gallery on East 70 Street in Manhattan, New York. This happened to be the day Armand Hammer acquired the gallery, and amid the disruption and transition that followed, no one noticed that Paula did not really work there until after she had become indispensable.
From that serendipitous beginning, she went on to be indispensable to some of the most extraordinary figures in the contemporary art world, including Gala and Salvador Dali, Sally Ganz, Agnes Gund, Phyllis Hattis, Annalee Newman, and Louise Reinhardt Smith.
Paula’s longest and most significant professional relationship was working with the artist Frank Stella, both in his studio work and at his horse farm. Paula also became beautifully entwined with four generations of Frank’s family.
In addition to art, travel was another through line of Paula’s life: from adventures with her parents and an early job with Amtrak, to treasured trips with close friends, and even solo expeditions. Antarctica and Sri Lanka were favorite destinations in recent years.
More than anything, Paula made deep and lasting friendships everywhere she went and in everything she did, across generations and geographies. In addition to the multitudes of friends, godchildren, and honorary nieces and nephews she leaves behind, Paula was also the human companion of Angus, Dizzy (who predeceased her), and Nemo.
A memorial will be planned for this summer in Amenia, New York.
Donations in Paula’s memory may be made to the Animal Farm Foundation in Bangall, NY.
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Celebration of life: Irving Robbins
Lakeville Journal
May 06, 2026
Please join us to celebrate the life of Irving Robbins on Saturday, May 30, from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Sharon Center School (80 Hilltop Road, Sharon CT 06069). Refreshments will be served. For easier accessibility and a stair-free walk, please use the lower road to the school where limited parking is available.
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