
Woodcarver Rick Liegl speaks with Joan Orzech of the Merryall section of New Milford at the Historic Trades Day at the Eric Sloane Museum June 8.
Lynn Mellis Worthington
Woodcarver Rick Liegl speaks with Joan Orzech of the Merryall section of New Milford at the Historic Trades Day at the Eric Sloane Museum June 8.
KENT — When master woodworker Rick Liegl puts together his displays for a day demonstrating at the Eric Sloane Museum he likes to bring whatever he’s working on at the time.
“I love it here with all the old tools. This is our place in Connecticut,” Liegl said Saturday, June 8 as one of the participants in the Historic Trades Day.
Liegl was demonstrating his favorite style of carving for visitors—Early Connecticut and Massachusetts joinery carving that was done from the 1680s to 1700s.
As he made intricate patterns in a flat piece of Black Walnut wood, he explained what he was doing for those passing by his tent set up in front of the museum. Among the visitors were Tom and Joan Orzech of the Merryall section of New Milford.
“There is something special about having something locally made,” Liegl said. He has educated himself about the historic techniques by visiting museums such as the Wadsworth and Yale to see the early pieces. “This is my favorite style of carving.”
Other demonstrators were fiber artists Margaret Liljedahl of Hartford, who was weaving on her rigid heddle loom, and Jo Mellis of Kent, who was spinning wool on her spinning wheel. Both were inside the Noah Blake Cabin and had samples of their work available for people to look at and touch.
Outside the cabin was Gabor Ruzsan of Sparrow Bush, NY, a leather and wood craftsman with a wide assortment of items from leather belts to wood chairs from his company Garny & Co. Blacksmith Ian McCarthy was also demonstrating his skills on a portable forge.
There were many other activities happening at the museum and nearby, including a tool swap hosted by Antique Tools and Trades in Connecticut (ATTIC) with many vendors circling the back of the museum.
Shoppers look through the gems and minerals offered for sale by the the Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science during its mineral, gem and jewelry show.Lynn Mellis Worthington
As visitors walked next to the tables, it led to the path to the Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science located on the grounds of the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA). The museum was hosting a mineral, gem and jewelry show that featured 30 different vendors selling a wide variety of items from unpolished specimens by the pound to highly polished gems.
Down in the field next to the Housatonic River, CAMA’s antique tractor pull attracted many contestants from area towns. Coordinator Justin Downs of Sharon was watching closely as competitors pulled 8,400 pounds of cement blocks on a sled just past the midday.
As to how high a weight would be pulled, it was undetermined.
“It all depends. Some days with big tractors they could go up to 11,500 pounds,” he said. This is the second year for the tractor pull at the CAMA property. He said many competitors use multiple tractors at the competition.
Downs said he has a “fleet of tractors,” saying he was up to 10 at this point.
“It is just a fun hobby,” Downs said. He started with a pedal tractor at age 3 and then moved onto a garden tractor at age 7. While the equipment is important, there is a technique to a good pull.
“A lot of it depends on the tractor and learning how to work your tractor, get the throttle and brakes right. Where you back in sometimes makes a difference,” Downs said.
It is hard to say what is the “best” order for drivers to go, he commented.
“Sometimes later in line is better,” he said.
CAMA and the Eric Sloane Museum coordinate their events to make it enjoyable for visitors.
The front wheels of a tractor owned by Cody Butts of New Milford lift off the ground as he pulls during the Tractor Pull June 8 on the CAMA grounds.Lynn Mellis Worthington
February was a slow month for real estate most everywhere in the Northwest Corner with no transfers reported in Falls Village or Cornwall.
Together, Kent and Goshen reported only four modest sales, each under $500,000, between them.
There are signs that the spring selling season is beginning. In Goshen, of the 20 properties of all types, five were new listings. Eight residences are available with six under $1 million. In Kent, 28 properties were listed for sale with eight new listings.
Kent transfers
196 Kent Cornwall Road — 4 bedroom/4 bath home on 2.77 acres sold by Jean C. and Kurt T. Speck Jr. to Dylan Balfore for $440,000.
16 Elizabeth St. — 2 bedroom/1.5 bath remodeled condo with garage sold by Carole Ann Godfrey to John and Tracey Suess and Lawrence Reinhardt for $285,500.
Goshen transfers
Beach Street, Lot 10 — Five acres of vacant land sold by Terry L. Smith Trustee to Shady Lawn Farm LLC for $172,750.
354 Sharon Turnpike — 3 bedroom/2 bath Cape Cod built in 1869 sold by Mary R. Grimes to Rebecca A. Hajosy for $185,250.
*Town of Kent and Goshen real estate transfers recorded as sold between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28, 2025, provided by the Kent and Goshen Town Clerks. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market listings from Smart MLS. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in CT and NY.
Dr. Sarah Humphreys became chief medical officer in March.
TORRINGTON — Community Health & Wellness Center has appointed Sarah Humphreys MD, MPH, as its new chief medical officer.
“I feel deeply connected to this community, and it was that connection that drew me to work at the Community Health and Wellness Center,” stated Dr. Humphreys in a March 26 press release.
Dr. Humphreys is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.
She earned her BA from Brown University before completing a Master of Public Health at Yale University. She then obtained her medical degree from Ben Gurion University in Israel, followed by residency in Internal Medicine at New York University and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Prior to joining CHWC, Dr. Humphreys served as an Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she provided outpatient and inpatient Infectious Disease consultations, HIV primary care and conducted clinical trials research.
Dr. Humphreys has spent time in the Northwest Corner since she was born.She is excited to be moving back to the area full-time to further strengthen her roots in the community.
Passionate about public health, patient care and medical education, she is committed to expanding the reach and impact of CHWC.
Outside of work, Dr, Humphreys enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, daughter, and their two beloved dogs, Oliver and Romeo.
The following information was provided by the Connecticut State Police at Troop B. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Car theft arrest
On March 24, Richard Andre Castaldi, 19, of Torrington was arrested for the theft of a vehicle that occurred on Feb. 10 on West Greenwoods Road in Norfolk. Castaldi was processed and charged with Larceny of a Motor Vehicle. Castaldi was released on $1,500 non-surety bond, and is scheduled to appear at Torrington Superior Court on April 7.
Stop sign fender-bender
Abdul Moro Buri, 32, of Salisbury was driving with Samuel Graham, 80, of Louisville, Kentucky, when he approached the intersection of Route 41 with Route 361 in Sharon. Moro Buri came to a complete stop, then initiated a left turn onto Main Street in a Honda CRV. Shirley Yohalem, 78, of Mill River, Massachusetts, was traveling northbound on Route 41 and failed to come to a complete stop at the intersection, causing her Lexus NX200 to collide with the front bumper of the CRV. Both vehicles sustained minor damage, but were able to be driven from the scene. There were no injuries reported. Yohalem was issued a written warning for Failure to Obey Stop Sign.
A Volvo sits upside-down after colliding with a tree alongside Route 44 in Salisbury on Saturday, March 29.Provided
Car strikes tree, flips
Just before 4 p.m. on March 29, John Casadei, 54, of Litchfield was driving his Volvo XC60 westbound on Route 44 in Salisbury when he exited the roadway and struck a tree. The vehicle rolled to a stop in the westbound lane of Route 44, sustaining significant damage in the accident. Casadei was uninjured, but an inspection of the vehicle yielded that it was meant to be installed with an ignition interlock device, but that it was not. Casadei was issued a misdemeanor summons for Avoidance of, Tampering with, or Failure to Install Ignition Interlock Device, as well as Failure to Drive in Proper Lane.
The Lakeville Journal will publish the outcome of police charges. Contact us by mail at P.O. Box 1688, Lakeville, CT 06039, Attn: Police Blotter, or send an email, with “police blotter” in the subject line, to johnc@lakevillejournal.com
The group — minus Garrick Dinneen, who’s taking the photo — stops for a mid-run rest.
CORNWALL — This past winter, an intergenerational group of Mohawk Mountain skiers took their hard-earned East Coast skills to the towering peaks of interior British Columbia for a ski trip that went beyond just pursuing the steep and deep.
“As fun as the skiing was, the lift rides and even just going home and cooking dinner together and talking was a pretty cool part of it,” said 24-year-old Cornwall native Dean Saccardi of the nearly 20-day voyage. “To have that age range of people who had grown up in Cornwall, went to [Cornwall Consolidated School], and had all their stories about the school, about the ski program, about the community … it definitely made the trip.”
Jim Terrall, who runs a building company in Cornwall, grew up skiing at Mohawk about 50 years before Saccardi got his start through the after-school CCS ski program, which lets students out at noon on Fridays to go skiing during a stretch of the winter. Terrall grew up going to Mohawk the same way, and estimated that the group on the trip spanned 1960-2017 of the CCS ski program.
“My winters were spent at Mohawk” said Terrall, “as were my kids’ winters.”
He said Mohawk Mountain and the CCS ski program have had an outsized impact on building a unique love for downhill snow sports in the town: “A lot of Cornwall kids are skiers because of the program,” which continues to this day — minus the included season pass of years past.
After graduating from Colorado College, Terrall moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the intention of working a ski season or two, and ended up staying for 15 years.
Terrall’s son Keaton, who also joined the trip, is now a student at Montana State University in Bozeman and is as passionate about skiing as his father.
While a veteran of Western skiing, the elder Terrall said part of the fun of the trip was introducing Saccardi and his brother-in-law Garrick Dinneen, who had never skied outside of the Northeast, to bigger and steeper terrain.
Saccardi said the difference was immediately apparent. At the group’s first stop at Schweitzer Mountain in northern Idaho, “you could barely see the tips of your skis, it was so foggy,” Saccardi recalled. Even then, though, “you quickly appreciate how steep it is.”
Saccardi said that despite the initial adjustments, he and Dinneen were able to keep up well with the seasoned and skilled group. “It’s a testament to Mohawk Mountain and that program … Despite it being a little mountain, it does prepare you with the basics and everything you need to know.”
Josh Tyson, from the CCS class of 1981, who now runs a Cornwall excavating company, said that watching Saccardi and Dinneen get to experience Western skiing was a highlight of the trip for him.
“They became such better skiers in like a day,” he said. “Just the exposure to really steep and mogully trees — it’s not eastern skiing, you know, and they just figured it out right away and were great.”
Tyson’s son Ian joined too and the final member of the cohort was Andy Peterson, who grew up skiing with Terrall at Mohawk in the 1960s and now lives in Colorado, but still spends a few months in Cornwall every summer. As a group of seven, the skiers resort-hopped across southern British Columbia on an itinerary that would make even the most seasoned skier rage in jealousy.
Flying round trip to Missoula, Montana, the group hopped in a few cars and first stopped at Schweitzer in Idaho for a day of foggy skiing, before bouncing to Red Mountain just across the border, where they spent three full days, including the sole powder day of the trip — which was a blast, Tyson said. After that, the crew visited Whitewater, Kimberly, Panorama, and finally, famed powder-mecca Revelstoke, which was unfortunately mostly powder-free during their stay.
Their visit, which spanned the final week of February and first week of March, was uncharacteristically warm for the Canadian mountains.
“We skied in all types of weather, from dense fog to 18 inches of fresh snow to spring skiing,” said Tyson. Despite the variable conditions, “I didn’t hear one complaint the whole time,” said Terrall, reflecting fondly on the group’s positive attitude.
The Terralls and Peterson capped off the trip with a few days of heli-skiing in the mountains surrounding Revelstoke, where “you never cross another ski track” — including your own — said the elder Terrall.
Plans for another trip are already in the works for next year. The group is thinking a return to B.C. is in order, but with an emphasis on mountains they missed this round — Fernie, Kicking Horse, and maybe some more Revelstoke for good measure.
The community feeling remains, however, as those who still call Cornwall home settle back into Northwest Corner life.
Tyson said that since both he and Terrall are in the contracting business, they often run into each other on job sites alongside Dinneen, who is an electrician in town. Ian works for his father’s company, and Saccardi works for Terrall, further tightening the bond.
In his free time, Saccardi stays busy by serving on Cornwall’s Board of Education, a position he picked up after graduating high school and has held for nearly four years.
When asked about how he decided to take up a town service role at such a young age, he was quick to attribute it to Cornwall’s intrinsic community benevolence: “I think the town itself sort of has that culture.”