NORFOLK — When a motorcycle collided with a vehicle on Route 44 in Norfolk on July 5, 2023, passersby called 911 and attended to the injured motorcyclist as he lay bleeding in the hot sun until first responders — the Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance, EMT’s, and a Norfolk firetruck — arrived.
Eight months earlier to the day, a nightmare scenario unfolded on the stretch of Route 44 that passes through the town center. Early on Saturday morning, Nov. 5, a gasoline tanker truck traveling west flipped on its side near Botelle Elementary School, spilling 8,200 gallons of gasoline and causing extensive environmental damage. First Selectman Matt Riiska said it will take years, and millions of dollars, to mitigate the effects of the tanker spill.
Norfolk residents for years have asked state officials to lower the speed limit on the section of state road that passes through Norfolk village, especially near the Town Green and elementary school. Their pleas have yet to be met.
Data on motor vehicle accidents in the Route 44 corridor extending from Winsted through Canaan provide evidence of a sustained rate of accidents. According to the UConn Connecticut Crash Data Repository, from January 2020 to April 2023, there were 278 crashes involving 502 vehicles and 657 people on the section of Route 44 that also serves as Main Street in Winsted, Norfolk, and Canaan. Of those, 215 of did not involve injuries, 35 had multiple injuries, and three involved fatalities.
After the tanker truck crash, 400 concerned citizens, spearheaded by residents Michael Selleck, Larry Hannafin and Sally Carr, signed and sent a petition to Gov. Ned Lamont and the Commissioner of the State Department of Transportation (DOT) on March 29, formally requesting that the Route 44 speed limit be lowered as it passes through Norfolk village — especially near the school and its playground close to the road.
“We propose that the speed limit, which is now 40 mph as it passes the school, be reduced to 25 mph from the intersection of Route 44 and Laurel Way continuing to the intersection of Route 44 and Blackberry Road,” the petition said.
Selleck, who lives alongside Route 44, has written numerous letters to the DOT requesting that the speed limit through town be set at 35 mph. He also requested “School Zone Ahead” signs to slow traffic as it descends a hill by the school.
DOT Commissioner Garrett T. Eucalitto, who grew up in Torrington and drove on Route 44 when he worked summers at Tobey Pond in Norfolk, responded to the petition May 5, promising a meeting with the petitioners. It has yet to be scheduled.
Commissioner Eucalitto, who suggested mitigation such as flashing lights near the school, also promised to send an investigative committee to Norfolk, which has not yet happened.
Meanwhile, Norfolk is investigating other options to address safety issues in a town that eliminated its Resident State Trooper Program in 2015, reducing enforcement capabilities.
A new state law that took effect Oct. 1 allows municipalities to purchase remote speed and red-light cameras that record license plates, driving speeds, and compliance with red lights. Speeding violations documented by the cameras would be treated like traffic tickets. Placement of the cameras would be left to local officials pending approval by the Office of State Traffic Administration (OSTA).
“The Town of Norfolk would like to work with the State of Connecticut to install the speed cameras on Route 44 in the area of Botelle School,” said Norfolk First Selectman Matt Riiska.
“We have tried numerous times to work with the Connecticut DOT to install signage to slow traffic with little effect,” Riiska explained.
“If cameras can be used to record speeders this is an option, we are open to trying,” he said.
Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand has also been trying for years to have the speed limit on Route 44/Main Street lowered. The Town of Salisbury requested reviews that were done in 2005, 2010, 2017, and 2021. Rand has received numerous letters of denial from the CTDOT in response to his letters. Recently, Rand has reached out to Norfolk resident Selleck and Norfolk Selectman Riiska to express his shared frustration.
“The problem is that Route 44 is designated an arterial road and as such is harder to regulate,” said Rand in a recent interview. He continued, “While I don’t have a problem with our local District 4 DOT, as the local traffic authority of Salisbury I would like to have a more respectful response from the CTDOT. I would like to meet and discuss the latest solutions for speed mitigation and safety such as roundabouts, median islands, speed cameras, and flashing beacons. I believe that if we join forces with other area towns that share our concerns, we stand a better chance of success. We all want our children to be safe.”
“It’s tragic and unacceptable that Connecticut’s pedestrian deaths are at a 40-year high. It’s not enough to ask drivers to slow down – we know the best way to prevent these tragedies is to start building safety features into our streets, like raised sidewalks or narrower traffic lanes,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-5th District).
“Last year was Connecticut’s deadliest year on the roads — with more than 300 driver, passenger, and pedestrian deaths,” added U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1).
Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.
