Judith Marie Drury
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The case of Jacquier vs. Camardi is expected to continue at Torrington Superior Court the week of Sept. 15.
Photo by Riley Klein
NORTH CANAAN — A pair of Democratic Town Committee (DTC) candidates are seeking legal recourse to ensure they are included on the ballot this November despite errors on the party endorsement slate.
Plaintiffs Jean Jacquier and Carol Overby brought the case against defendant Marilisa Camardi to Torrington Superior Court, which held an evidentiary hearing Friday, Sept. 12. Testimony from both sides aimed to explain the situation to Judge Ann E. Lynch.
At the July 22 DTC caucus, Jacquier was endorsed as the party’s candidate for town clerk and Overby was endorsed to run for Board of Finance.
The next day, DTC chair and caucus secretary Chris Jacques filed the full endorsement slate and State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC) documents to Assistant Town Clerk Marilisa Camardi. But the slate was missing information: Jacquier and Overby were not assigned to a specific office or term.
"I am a rookie at this," Jacques said on the witness stand. "I suppose I just didn't look at it closely enough."
Jacquier testified that she was not wearing her glasses while filling out her information on the official endorsement slate and “made a clerical mistake.”
Overby was not called as a witness.
Camardi testified to noticing on July 24 that the form was missing information and, after cross referencing the accompanying SEEC documents, filled in the blanks herself. It was established during the hearing that making clerical corrections on forms is within proper protocol for a town clerk.
On Aug. 7, however, First Selectman Brian Ohler alerted the Secretary of the State’s (SOTS) office that the original document was incomplete. (Ohler was not present at the Sept. 12 hearing.)
SOTS Election Officer Heather Augeri reviewed the slate as it was originally submitted. Per the filing, she responded that the endorsements were not properly certified and therefore void. Augeri advised Camardi remove both nominees from the ballot.
Jacquier testified that since the Aug. 7 correspondence she has had several phone calls with Augeri, who she described as a friend. Jacquier said Augeri relayed the same message to her: “She said it’s not valid.”
Camardi is the acting town clerk in North Canaan, though she is technically Jacquier’s part-time assistant. Jacquier is the current, four-term elected town clerk but has not reported to work since February following a dispute between her and the first selectman. “I did not resign. I did not quit. I just left,” Jacquier testified. “I couldn’t stand the turmoil.”
Plaintiff attorney John Kennelly said the SOTS office has no statutory authority to rule on issues relating to municipal party endorsements. Kennelly claimed that as the acting town clerk, Camardi is the sole individual responsible for finalizing and certifying the town election ballot.
Kennelly asserted that if Camardi was informed through the SEEC documents of which offices Jacquier and Overby were endorsed for, then Augeri’s advice should be ignored and the two candidates should be eligible to run in November.
Camardi said she was waiting to finalize the ballot until the court makes its decision.
After nearly three hours of testimony, Judge Lynch referenced a similar case, Airey vs. Feliciano (2024), in which Connecticut Supreme Court ruled to reject an improperly signed petition sheet. Lynch requested briefs from each attorney by Monday, Sept. 15, and planned to continue the hearing that week.
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Wake Robin public hearing closes
Sep 10, 2025
Aradev LLC’s plans to redevelop Wake Robin Inn include four 2,000-square-foot cabins, an event space, a sit-down restaurant and fast-casual counter, a spa, library, lounge, gym and seasonal pool. If approved, guest room numbers would increase from 38 to 57.
Provided
LAKEVILLE — The public hearing for the redevelopment of Wake Robin Inn is over. Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission now has two months to make a decision.
The hearing closed on Tuesday, Sept. 9, after its seventh session.
Michael Klemens, chair of P&Z, had warned at the opening of the proceedings that “this might be a long night” due to a last-minute influx of material from experts hired by Wells Hill Road residents William and Angela Cruger to oppose the project, but this turned out not to be the case.
These 11th hour submissions set a sour tone to the start of the meeting, with commissioner Robert Riva stating that it was “not very professional to pull this stunt on this Commission.” Riva said he had diligently reviewed the already substantial documentation provided by both the applicant and the opposing experts, and was surprised to find a “dump” of additional information submitted just hours before the meeting’s start time at 6 p.m.
Tensions were quickly eased, however, when William Cruger offered his concise summation of his platform’s opposition to the expansion, which is the second iteration of the project after an earlier version was withdrawn late last year.
“It’s important for you all to hear from me that there was never any disrespect intended to the Commission, the commissioners, and to the process,” Cruger said. He defended the last-minute submissions as an effort on the part of the experts to be thorough in their analysis: “Our intention… has been and remains to do our best to get whatever we think will be helpful in your deliberations into the record.”
The Crugers formally entered the hearing process as intervenors for the first application from Aradev LLC, the applicant, in the fall of 2024, meaning they and their hired consultants had full party status in the hearing proceedings. During this cycle, however, they chose not to petition for intervenor status, yet during this round of hearings their role has been similar. Klemens described them as having “almost intervenor status — not quite.”
William Cruger summarized the consultant’s findings for Aradev’s revised application, noting they found it to be “virtually identical in scale to the previous proposal.”
“Our position is that the proposed expansion would absolutely negatively impact the usefulness, enjoyment and value of the surrounding properties,” he said.
Aradev’s attorney Joshua Mackey countered by saying that the special permit conditions would elevate the currently non-conforming hotel in the zone, describing it as a “community asset that is improved, regulated, and safeguarded for generations to come.” He characterized Aradev as “the next steward of this storied property.”
After Mackey and Aradev co-founder Steven Cohen concluded their remarks, Klemens closed the hearing with no public comment, which he had stated would be the case at last week’s hearing session on Thursday, Sept. 4. Klemens said that P&Z will begin deliberating the proposal in early October after the commissioners have had the chance to review the information in the record.
A total of 45 letters, including the Crugers’ experts’ testimony, were submitted since the Sept. 4 meeting alone, alongside hundreds of pages of application materials and additional testimony.
As the Commission deliberates and reviews, all of this information is available for public viewing on the “Meeting Documents” subpage under P&Z’s section on the town website, www.salisburyct.us.
The Commission must issue a decision on the application by Nov. 13, the end of the statutorily defined deliberation window.
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Jeremy Dakin
Sep 10, 2025
AMESVILLE — Jeremy Dakin, 78, passed away Aug. 31, 2025, at Vassar Brothers Medical Center after a long battle with COPD and other ailments.
Jeremy was a dear friend to many, and a fixture of the Amesville community. There will be a service in his memory at Trinity Lime Rock Episcopal Church on Sept. 27 at 11 a.m.
Below is the obituary Jeremy himself wrote:
Born July 20, 1947, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
A resident of Salisbury, Connecticut for over 75 years, he graduated from UVM in 1970, at which time he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a German translator (“It just seemed like a better idea than learning Vietnamese”), and served two years in West Berlin.
Returning to Vermont in 1973 he began a 16-year gig as a ski shop manager and a professional ski patroller, which led to a 30-year stint as an EMT.
A direct descendant of Rebecca Nurse (who was hanged as a witch in Salem in 1692), he is survived by a nephew, Robin Dakin, of Englewood, Ohio, his wife Amy, and a flock of grandnieces, all of whom seem to have inherited the family love of camping and canoeing.
The love of his life, Wren Smith, passed away in 2007 after a 10-year battle with breast cancer. By the time he was seventy, Jeremy’s physical activities were curtailed by COPD, due to a lifetime of smoking.
Rather than spend money on flowers, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society and/or the American Lung Association. But, for Pete’s sake, don’t smoke.
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Theodore R. Kneeland
Sep 10, 2025
MILLERTON — The world lost an exceptional educator and all-around good guy when Theodore (Ted) R. Kneeland passed away at the Sharon Center for Health and Rehabilitation on Sept. 5, 2025, following a three-decade-long battle with heart disease.
Born May 14, 1947, in Buffalo, New York, Ted always credited his parents, Eleanor Sengpiel Kneeland and Theodore R. Kneeland Sr., for sending him to Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, where as a scholar-athlete he played all the classic sports, was a member of the 1965 New England championship debating team, and learned to love learning and ideas.
Inspired by football superstar Jim Brown, Ted attended Syracuse University where “across a crowded room” of some 2,000 freshmen, he first spotted the love of his life, partner in all things, and adoring wife, Carol.
Following graduation in 1969, they married in a candlelight ceremony. The romance continued for one day short of 56 years with flowers, candy, mutual respect, a loving family, and a conversation that never ended.
The teacher whom students nicknamed “Zeus” spent three years teaching at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania before beginning a 29-year career at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, New York. There, frustrated by his inability to reach a few students whom he knew had potential, he followed the suggestion of Headmaster Philips Smith and Dean of Faculty John Lloyd Owen and began to search for answers to the problem.
The quest quickly resulted in his development of the innovative Language Retraining Program, designed to help bright dyslexic students reach their full potential as they learned to read, write, and think.
At a time when few believed those students could be taught, Ted followed his credo of “Just Take Care of the Kids,” freely sharing the program throughout the country and with educators who came to the school from as far away as Hong Kong and the British Isles.
Early on, an IBM executive grateful for the help Ted had given to his son, arranged for the school to receive one of the first six Local Area Networks in the country. Ted was designated an IBM fellow, brainstorming monthly with developers on ways in which computers could facilitate education and aid in reading and writing.
Zeus was polyonymously known as “Boomer,” as his prowess on the faculty softball team was as impressive as in the classroom. He loved mentoring young colleagues and believed that every encounter on campus was a teachable opportunity.
Bridging the Town/Gown Divide, Ted retired as coach of his New England championship golf team to volunteer for his son’s teams at Brewster’s Melrose School and in Pawling. During his summers on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shoreham, Vermont, he volunteered for Hook Kids on Golf, providing instruction and handmade clubs for area youngsters.
In his early 50s, Ted was diagnosed with potentially deadly heart problems. He was lucky enough to receive a newly developed treatment from Dr. Harvey Kramer of Southbury, Connecticut, who was and continues to be a firm believer in the importance of keeping up with the latest advances in the field.
Despite his challenges, Ted continued to teach, returning in 2001 to his family’s ancestral home in “hardscrabble Maine,” where he spent 11 years at Fryeburg Academy as Dean of Faculty and Director of Studies with his brother in education, Headmaster Daniel Lee. They cut the dropout rate to “nearly nothing,” raising the number of students who progressed to “the next level” to “nearly everyone,” with many students becoming the first in their families to attend college — most on scholarship.
Ted coordinated with faculty at the middle school in order to better prepare students for The Academy’s challenging program, which he strengthened with the addition of multiple Advanced Placement (AP) classes.
Again “Taking Care of the Kids,” this lifelong educator collaborated with Maine community colleges, actively promoted the idea of free tuition, and arranged for students to take courses and get a jumpstart on credits while still at The Academy.
His health declining, Ted was given a dire prognosis. But good fortune once again intervened, taking him to the Cleveland Clinic — the number one heart hospital in the world. There he was treated by top physicians Walid Saliba and Randall Starling.
Coincidentally, Starling helped author the lifesaving paper that prompted Dr. Kramer’s treatment many years earlier.
Against all odds, the cutting-edge treatments in Cleveland brought Ted two dozen more years as he courageously volunteered as a guinea pig for experimental procedures that have since helped others all over the world.
With all he did, Ted’s first priority was always his family. When Carol was incapacitated by a drunk driver, Ted expanded his Daddy Duties to include everything from gourmet PB & J’s to puddle-jumping lessons, forming an unbreakable bond with their toddler son, Douglas. For the next four years, Ted helped Carol navigated the then non-handicap-accessible world, ensuring that she could freely enjoy life and that they could continue teaching as a team.
When the two retired from Maine in 2012, they moved to Millerton to be close to their expanding family. There, Ted wrote the column “Bleacher Views” for The Millerton News and cheered on Hotchkiss teams coached by his beloved son, best friend, golf buddy and Latin mentor, Doug.
He treasured time with his deeply cherished grandsons, Teddy and Henry Kneeland, who brought a bright light to his world as he listened to their adventures, ate their Play Doh spaghetti, and watched proudly as they developed into thoughtful and loving young men. Helping Teddy to design a first baseman’s mitt as he moved into that legacy position and meeting the challenge of keeping up with Henry’s chess prowess gave him immeasurable joy.
Ted also loved and is survived by his dear sister-in-law, Karen Carson of Medina, Ohio; his niece Leslie Putnam of New York; his niece Holly and her husband Edward Tasz of Burgettstown, Pennsylvania; and his nephews, Eddie and Connor Tasz, also of Burgettstown.
He was predeceased by his parents, his brother, William Kneeland, and his brother-in-law and good friend, Curtis Carson.
Ted’s life will be among those celebrated at the Alumni Weekend Memorial Service on Oct. 4 at Trinity Pawling.
In all, Ted was grateful for a life well lived and for all of those who enriched and enabled it. Should you choose to, he would be delighted to know that you would, in whatever way possible, be “Taking Care of the Kids.”
Kenny Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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