A severe and unusual October snowstorm clobbered the Tri-state region Saturday, Oct. 29, leaving the six towns of the Region One School District and some parts of nearby Dutchess County without power or reliable communications.By the time the power went out for good in Lakeville, at 11 p.m., reports online indicated that most of the area was already in the dark. Lakeville was one of the last places in the area to lose power.As Housatonic Valley Regional High School played a football game against Avon, the snow began to fall. By game’s end (about 2 p.m.) the field was covered with snow. (To add insult to injury, HVRHS lost in overtime, 17-14.) The Hotchkiss School also had a game in the snow. One spectator said the players could barely see the ball or each other.Trick-or-treating on Monday night was a key concern for many area residents.One Connecticut first selectman said he got more calls from worried parents asking about Halloween arrangements than calls asking for information on when power would be restored.In most towns, streets were blocked off, just in case. And children came in their costumes seeking treats, perhaps finding the cold weather and dark streets even more conducive to spooky holiday fun.Cell phones provided iffy coverage. The AT&T tower in Salisbury didn’t work at all, and many residents who rely on Comcast for cable television, Internet and home telephone service were stuck. Millerton lost numerous trees but managed to keep power, Internet and cell service in the center of town. On Sunday morning the gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores, the CVS pharmacy, Grand Union supermarket and McDonald’s were jammed with customers, many of them from out of town.Town road crews cleared major streets quickly, but side streets and back roads remained problematic, with tree limbs brought down by the combination of heavy, wet snow, or limbs still covered with leaves.It took longer to deal with the debris — the leaf-laden limbs hanging from the trees weighed down power lines in the village, creating potentially dangerous situations.“It’s nuts, it was raining limbs all night,” said Millerton resident Jennifer Roussel, adding some limbs were so low on Route 112 they were brushing her car as she drove.It was more of the same throughout Millerton, where century-old trees have split and fallen, leaving once-lush landscapes and leafy village streets barren and plain.“We’re so sad about all the trees hammered by the storm. We’re getting a tree guy to see what can be saved,” said Townscape President Chris Kennan. “We’re also going to do an effort to replace trees that were lost. We very much want to get the village back to what it was looking like before the storm.”In Amenia and Wassaic, residents were in the dark for days after the storm. Power there is provided through New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG). Amenia has 12,030 customers; as of Tuesday morning 348 were still without power. Wassaic has 653 customers; as of Tuesday morning 89 were without power. By Monday night, power had been restored throughout most of the town. NYSEG estimated that by Wednesday it would have 90 percent of its customers restored to power.The storm brought with it its own dangers — downed power lines included — like one sparking wire that smouldered for days behind the Roundtuit restaurant in Millerton and another that crossed both lanes of traffic on Route 22 in Wassaic, near Furnace Bank Road.“Someone is going to get killed if they don’t do something,” said Roundtuit owner Dale Culver.Also in Wassaic there was a storm-related house fire. According to town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard it was reportedly caused when a cat knocked over a candle and set the house ablaze. The home, which was located next door to Cousins Mini Mart and gas station on Route 22 in Wassaic, was a total loss.The town of Washington and village of Millbrook also suffered greatly from the storm — roads were closed due to downed power lines and trees. According to Washington Highway Superintendent James Brownell, the timing of the storm — and the fact that there was still a lot of foliage on the trees — really made a difference.“At the height of the storm eight roads were closed because trees and wires were down that we were not supposed to touch,” he said. It was nothing like the October storm of 1987 thank goodness, but there’s more of a mess and it will take quite a while cleaning up. It’s too bad it wasn’t a normal snow event. It was the trees and wires that made it really challenging.”Washington town Supervisor Florence Prisco said while it’s tough to predict Mother Nature, she, Brownell and Millbrook Mayor Laura Hurley, did the best they could.“I think we were very well equipped, as a matter of fact,” she said. “You’re never prepared for this kind of thing, truly, but we were as prepared as you can be.”
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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