Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) visits People’s State Forest to celebrate two decades of the federal Highlands Conservation Act. Seated from left to right are DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, FWS Reg. Dept. Director Kyla Hastie, and HVA Conservation Director Tim Abbott.
BARKHAMSTED — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), visited the People’s State Forest in Barkhamsted Thursday, June 27, to celebrate 20 years of the federal Highlands Conservation Act, one of the most important sources of public funding for land protection in northwest Connecticut. The event was hosted by Housatonic Valley Association.
Designed to support thousands of local jobs, preserve historic sites, and protect clean water supply for 20 million people, The Highlands Conservation Act allows states to access matching federal funding for projects to promote conservation, tourism, and recreation in the region.
The Highlands Region of the Northeastern United States consists of forested mountains and hills stretching from Connecticut, through New York and New Jersey, to Pennsylvania. It also gives these four states resources to conserve land and natural resources, in particular a clean water supply essential for serving more than 20 million people.
Other speakers at the Barkhamsted event included USFWS Deputy Regional Director Kyla Hastie and the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection or her designee. Tim Abbott, Conservation Director at the Housatonic Valley Association, welcomed guests and moderated the event.
“$105 million in Highlands grant funding has been administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which has protected 16,226 acres. Connecticut has led the way, with 5,893 acres conserved to date, leveraging the federal investment with state, municipal and private funding,” Abbott explained.
Highlands transactions in Connecticut typically combine Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition grants from DEEP to land trusts and municipalities with easements partially funded with a Highlands grant requiring a 1:1 non-federal match. Many land trusts and several towns in northwestern Connecticut have received as much as 90% of the funding needed to purchase and conserve important places in their communities.
“Senator Murphy has been a strong supporter of the Highlands Conservation Act, both in his role on the Senate Appropriations Committee which has helped fully fund the Highlands grant program since through multiple sessions of Congress, and as the Senate Sponsor of the successful reauthorization of the Highlands Conservation Act through FY28,” Abbott stated.
“The reauthorization helps expand Highlands’ eligibility to other communities beyond the current 26 Town Highlands Region in Connecticut, and eleven more have formally expressed their desire to be included. The act also allows public entities at the county or municipal level to receive Highlands funds directly to hold conservation interest, rather than just DEEP,” Abbott added.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) administers the Highlands program, in close partnership with the Housatonic Valley Association which is represented with DEEP on the four-state Highlands Steering Committee. HVA provides maps, data, staff and transaction support to DEEP and our land trust partners to successfully secure and deploy Highlands funding in our region.
“Two very large Highlands projects totaling nearly 1,800 acres are scheduled to close this summer in Colebrook and Winchester, and others are anticipated in Salisbury, Sharon, and Warren, Connecticut among other communities in the coming year,” Abbott explained.
Bunny McGuire, at center holding the big scissors, surrounded by her family as she cuts the ribbon to the park that now bears her name in North Canaan on Saturday, June 7.
NORTH CANAAN — The park on Main Street in North Canaan was officially renamed Bunny McGuire Park at a ceremony beneath the pavilion Saturday, June 7.
Clementine “Bunny” McGuire was recognized for her lifelong commitment to volunteerism in town. Her civil contributions include work with the Beautification Committee, the Douglas Library, the historical society, a poll worker, an employee of North Canaan Elementary and Housatonic Valley Regional High Schools and a volunteer at her church.
“People like Bunny are the lifeblood of small towns and we should all be grateful for the bountiful benefits we have derived from having this vital and generous force in our midst,” said Kathryn Boughton, town historian.
First Selectman Brian Ohler described McGuire as, “A person whose name is truly synonymous with service, kindness, civility and generosity.”
First Selectman Brian Ohler praised McGuire for her impact on the town. "Bunny, you are so, so loved," Ohler said. "The outpouring of suppourt is not a surprise."Photo by Riley Klein
Ohler noted the impact McGuire has had on the town, as evidenced by the nearly 100 guests in attendance and the long list of donors who contributed to updating the facilities at the park.
“Bunny, you are so, so loved. The outpouring of support is not a surprise,” said Ohler.
Among the recent improvements include a new dog park fenced area, basketball hoops, updated playground, parking lot pavement, landscaping, new signage, paint and lighting for the pavilion.
“Everyone says I have done so much for the town, but this town has done so much for me,” said McGuire. “Just look around you, what we have,” she said tearfully. “A big thank you to all of you. I love you.”
SHARON — Angela Derrick Carabine, 74, died May 16, 2025, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the wife of Michael Carabine and mother of Caitlin Carabine McLean.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on June 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Katri (St Bernards Church) Church. Burial will follow at St. Bernards Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found on the website of the Kenny Funeral home kennyfuneralhomes.com.
Sam Waterston
On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.
The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.
“This came out of the blue,” Waterston said of the Triplex invitation, “but I love the town, I love this area. We raised our kids here in the Northwest Corner and it’s been good for them and good for us.”
Waterston hasn’t seen the film in decades but its impact has always remained present.
“It was a major event in my life at the time,” Waterston said of filming “The Killing Fields,” “and it had a big influence on me and my life ever after.” He remembers the shoot vividly. “My adrenaline was running high and the part of Sydney Schanberg was so complicated, so interesting.”
Waterston lobbied for the role of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for years, tracing his early interest to a serendipitous connection while filming in England. Even before Joffé’s production was greenlit, he had his sights set on playing the role. “I knew I wanted the part for years even before it was a movie that was being produced.”
What followed was not just critical acclaim, but also a political awakening. “The film gave all of us an intimate acquaintance with refugees, what it is to be a refugee, how the world forgets them and what a terrible crime that is.”
In Boston, at a press stop for the film, two women asked Waterston a pointed question: now that he knew what he knew, what was he going to do about it? “I said, ‘Well, you know, I’m an actor, so I thought I’d go on acting.’ And they said, ‘No, that’s not what you need to do. You need to join Refugees International.’” And join he did, serving on the organization’s board for 25 years.
Both Schanberg and Dith Pran, whose life the film also chronicles, were “cooperative and helpful … in a million ways,” Waterston said. Upon first meeting Pran, Waterston recalled, “He came up to me, made a fist, and pounded on my chest really hard and said, ‘You must understand that Sydney is very strong here.’ He was trying to plant something in me.”
There were more tender gestures, too. Schanberg used the New York Times wire to relay that Waterston’s wife had just given birth while he was filming in Thailand, adding to the personal and emotional connection to the production.
Though “The Killing Fields” is a historical document, its truths still resonate deeply today. “Corruption is a real thing,” Waterston warned. “Journalism is an absolutely essential part of our democracy that is as under siege today as it was then. It’s different now but it’s the same thing of ‘Don’t tell the stories we don’t want heard.’ Without journalists, we are dust in the wind.” Waterston added, “Democracy is built on the consent of the governed but the other thing it’s built on is participation of the governed and without full participation, democracy really doesn’t stand much of a chance. It’s kind of a dead man walking.”
When asked what he hopes the audience will take away from the screening, Waterston didn’t hesitate. “This is the story that puts the victims of war at the center of the story and breaks your heart. I think that does people a world of good to have their hearts broken about something that’s true. So, I hope that’s what the impact will be now.”
Tickets for the benefit screening are available at www.thetriplex.org. Proceeds support Triplex Cinema, a nonprofit home for film and community programming in the Berkshires.
