FALLS VILLAGE — The Region One Board of Education addressed school security during the regular monthly meeting Monday, Jan. 7, at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS).Board Chairman Phil Hart of Cornwall opened the meeting by praising Region One administrators and staff for their work immediately after the Dec.14 shootings in Newtown, Conn.“I was very confident that things were happening here that needed to happen,” Hart said.HVRHS Principal Matt Harnett read a letter to the board from six of the seven school principals in Region One (the high school and all the elementary schools except Lee H. Kellogg in Falls Village).The letter states that Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain’s response was prompt and effective. “From the first moments of media coverage, Ms. Chamberlain phoned schools to advise, offer support and reassurance and answer questions.”The principals note that the decision was made to keep school open and a “message of calm and reassurance was communicated to parents through the region’s alert system.”The letter goes on to describe (as Chamberlain did later in the meeting in her report) how Region One administrators met with the selectmen and emergency management directors in each of the six Region One towns.Region One received assistance from Kyle Harris, “a U.S. Army soldier who communicated with a second-grade class at North Canaan while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan,” the letter continues.Harris, now assigned to the federal Department of Homeland Security, arrived from Virginia on Dec. 17 to review school safety plans and offer advice.Chamberlain, in her report, said that emergency response plans for all seven schools in Region One have been reviewed and in some cases adjusted. “We’re in the process of assessing school vulnerabilities, strengths and weaknesses.”She also said that Region One will be addressing the larger questions of violence and mental health.The meeting agenda had an executive session on school security as the last item. Mike Flint of Salisbury (filling in for Scooter Tedder) asked Chamberlain if there was a timeline for security reviews.Chamberlain said that was up to each town school board. Flint said he was concerned about perimeter and building security.“We need a plan that secures all our kids at all times. These nutjobs don’t care when they assault.”He was skeptical about the need for and effectiveness of an executive session on security, and said that for parents an executive session is not enough.He urged the board and administration “to set benchmarks” for school security improvements and not get bogged down in studying the problem.“Building security is not something we can afford to lose time on.”He also suggested a public forum for parents, with as many details as possible.Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick said that he and Chamberlain had attended a meeting on school security in Southington earlier that day, and that the question of security and public input and information was a major topic.He said the consensus was to get public input but to be careful about disclosing specifics on school security.“We are now in a different world and we have to treat the schools differently,” he said.During the first public comment period, Marshall Miles suggested using the high school as a central location for a public forum on gun safety. He said such an event, with experts on the subject, would help “put people at ease.”“This is an area where people hunt and have guns.” Note: Housatonic junior Henry Yuliano wrote a song about the Newtown shootings and performed it in that town last month. The song can be found via a link on the high school’s website, www.hvrhs.org.
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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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