MILLERTON — On Oct. 12, American Legion Post 178 held its second Town Hall meeting to introduce the candidates running for the position of Dutchess County executive.During the Town Hall meeting, New York Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro spoke to a crowd of roughly two dozen people to explain his stance on several issues that are important to local residents.Molinaro’s opponent is Dan French, who participated in a Town Hall event at the Legion on Oct. 3. French and Molinaro will face off in the election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The position of Dutchess County executive is currently held by William Steinhaus, who has held the role for 19 years.Molinaro began by giving the audience an overview of his political career, which he began at the age of 18. A year later, he became mayor of Tivoli, earning the title of the youngest mayor ever elected in the United States.He was elected as a New York State Assemblyman in 2006. He currently has 17 years of experience as an elected official.While serving as assemblyman, Molinaro co-sponsored the “Government Consolidation and Citizen Empowerment Act,” which pledges to do just as its name implies: consolidate government offices to improve efficiency and effectiveness and empower citizens to take part in their government.“I believe public service is a dignified duty,” he said while describing the piece of legislation. “We have an obligation to give back.”The themes of that piece of legislation infiltrated the responses he gave for questions asked by the audience.He said that if he becomes the county executive, he would work with the local governments to create a medium for dialogue so that the county and the municipalities can work together as partners to consolidate their efforts and services.He said that he will personally visit town hall meetings to better understand how and why the municipalities make their decisions.He believes that it is the perfect time to realign the government and ask the public what they expect from each level of government. Then it will be possible to evaluate what each part of the government does well and what it does not do well so that plans can be put in place to increase government efficiency and effectiveness while cutting out unnecessary practices.He said the government and the public need to engage in thoughtful dialogue about how things can be done better, even if the answer is walking away from some projects.“Elected officials have the responsibility to create the community that people want,” he said.Molinaro said the government isn’t always the answer for some services. He said that in some cases, charities and nonprofit organizations are better able to provide necessities that government programs like Medicaid, which he believes traps people within its rigid and ineffective system.Since Medicaid is over-burdening the government, Molinaro wants to create a system that let nonprofits pool their resources and contacts to save money and create a more efficient method to get services to those who need them.The other burden on taxpayers that Molinaro discussed was the MTA Payroll Tax, which he described as “a fiscal hostage-taking.”Molinaro stated that he believes it was wrong for the payroll tax to be instated in the first place, but acknowledged that it will be hard to walk away from that income.He said there are several ways to approach the MTA taxes. One way involves renegotiating with Connecticut to make the burden more equal. The other is phasing out the tax over five years.He also stated that an audit and restructuring of the entire MTA system are necessary.On the topic of local job creation, Molinaro said it is important to attract the big companies while also supporting the small and mid-sized companies.“Growing jobs is one thing, but sustaining those jobs over a number of years is completely different,” he said.He wants to find where growth can be sustained, then make the changes to the zoning to allow for it.To help this plan, he wants to use the Chamber of Commerce to help with economic development and ensure that people are ready to enter the workforce once the jobs are created.One of the current hot topics in Dutchess County is the outsourcing of prisoners to other counties who have more room available in their prisons.Molinaro explained that although Dutchess County is the leader in the state for Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) programs, if the well-behaved criminals are shipped out of the county, those programs are not reaching as many people as they could and are therefore not as effective as they could be.Molinaro said that retrofitting existing facilities is an option for solving the space issue, but the retrofitting will still cost a lot of money.He said that negotiating regional overflow with other counties is also a possibility, but will be very difficult to attain since the negotiations will reduce the revenue that is taken in by other counties.The audience did not ask Molinaro any questions about his stance on the Resource Recovery Agency or disposing of garbage through burning, which are hot political topics.Molinaro briefly addressed why he has chosen to move from the position of assemblyman on the state level to the position of executive on the county level instead of moving on to the senate. He said that while he enjoys being a legislator, that role is not as satisfying because it is more difficult to see the fruits of the labor. He believes that serving as county executive will give him the opportunity to put into practice all that he has learned throughout his political career.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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