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Markow concludes time as selectman
Nov 19, 2025
Jennifer Markow receives a farewell vase during the Cornwall Board of Selectman meeting Nov. 4. Markow did not seek re-election, while fellow board members Gordon Ridgway, center, and Rocco Botto were each elected to another term.
Photo from Zoom meeting
CORNWALL — Jennifer Hurlburt Markow was honored with flowers and a ceramic vase during her final meeting as a member of the Cornwall Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Markow, who served one term on the board, said she plans to remain involved in the community in other ways. “It’s been a good experience being selectman,” she said. “Now I can focus on different areas.”
Markow remains an active member of the Parks and Recreation team and helps at Cornwall Consolidated School.
Looking back on her time with the Board, she said the role “kind of gives you a totally different view of the town. I definitely recommend everybody be a selectman at least once.”
“It’s an acquired taste,” responded First Selectman Gordon Ridgway, who was elected to his 18th term on the board that day. “Thank you for your continued service.”
“It’s been really great serving on the Board with you,” said Selectman Rocco Botto, who was also re-elected. “We had a great team.”
John Brown was elected to fill Markow’s seat. It will be his first term as a selectman.
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Babs Perkins, right and the Hunt Library’s Meg Sher prepare cheese sample plates for an overflow audience at the library Saturday, Nov. 15.
Patrick L. Sullivan
FALLS VILLAGE — Photographer and cheese researcher Babs Perkins gave an unusual presentation at The David M. Hunt Library Saturday, Nov. 15.
There was a slide show, and plenty of information, as per usual.
What made it unusual was the samples of cheese — not just any cheese, but a rare cheese made by a few people in the former Yugoslavia.
“In Search of the Whey: Tracking down a Balkan cheese on the verge of extinction and why it matters to us in Northwest Connecticut” featured photographs taken by Perkins in what she described as “10 years in the field,” tracking down the makers of traditional cheeses in the Balkans.
The cheese in question is called “Sir iz Mijeha.” There are variations on this name, depending on where you are in the Balkans and who you are talking to.
Perkins explained that the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia are defined by religious, ethnic and political divisions that are difficult for outsiders to penetrate.
Economic and demographic forces are combining in the region in such a way that traditional cheeses “are on the verge of extinction.”
When Yugoslavia ceased to function as a Communist federation in 1989, and the country broke into its constituent republics, there followed a 10-year period of civil wars based on ethnic and religious differences.
Perkins said one big problem for the traditional cheese industry is that the civil war period killed a lot of men. She pointed out that women outnumbered men in her photos, and that almost everyone involved was elderly.
The reason the cheeses are going extinct is because of the loss of generational knowledge, teaching and tradition, or “intangible cultural heritage” (as opposed to tangible cultural heritage, such as archaeological sites).
Perkins took the audience through a visual tour, in both video and still photographs, of the cheese being made in stone buildings, with wood-fired stoves, in remote, high-elevation settings.
Then it was time for the taste test. Everybody got a small plate with four pieces of cheese and a couple of pieces of bread as a palate cleanser. A mark in the upper left-hand corner of the plate indicated where to start.
Some of the cheeses were made from cow’s milk, some from sheep’s milk, and some were a combination. Perkins said cows produce much more milk than sheep, so if a cheese maker is aiming at volume, a cow is more efficient.
The taste test was very popular with the audience.
Perkins said that despite the economic and demographic headwinds, there are signs that the traditional cheese industry is making a comeback.
She told the story of one youngish man who left the farm, went to university and earned two master’s degrees, yet could not find a job.
So he returned to the farm to make a go of it.
This is what Perkins is most interested in.
“For me, the intangible cultural heritage is the bedrock of the culture. It’s a tool for social cohesion, community building, peace building.”
How does this translate to Northwest Connecticut?
Perkins said if Connecticut consumers make the effort to find the local farmers who are growing heritage tomatoes (for instance), they will be using the same process of maintaining intangible cultural heritage elements as the Balkan cheese makers.
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SHARON — After more than two decades in business, Shear Illusions in Sharon will close its doors in late December. Owner Rebecca Welsh will be cutting hair at Kent Hair Studio going forward.
“I’m sorry to be closing the doors, I just feel like it’s time for a change,” Welsh said.
Shear Illusions opened in May 2005 in the Sharon Plaza, where it operated for 12 years. Welsh moved the business into its current location on West Main Street in 2017.
Welsh has been cutting hair for 35 years. After getting her cosmetician license in Poughkeepsie, New York, Welsh’s first haircutting job was in Millerton at Main Street Hair. Following subsequent employment in Millbrook, Welsh moved to California where she continued her career.
After a few years, Welsh returned to the area and worked at Kent Hair Studio before purchasing Shear Illusions.
Now, she will be returning to Kent Hair Studio, currently run by Debbie Row.
“It’s bittersweet, but I just feel like it’s time to move forward, and putting in 20 years… that’s a lot.” Welsh said. “I hope you all join me at Kent Hair Studio.”
Although she is only moving one town over, Welsh was thankful for her time in Sharon and was hopeful that any clients who still want her services would know where to find her going forward.
Welsh can be reached in Sharon at 860-364-5111 until the end of the year. The number for Kent Hair Studio is 860-927-3342.
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Kellogg welcomes new principal
Nov 19, 2025
Andrew Deacon
Provided
FALLS VILLAGE — Andrew Deacon has been appointed principal of Lee H. Kellogg School, effective Dec. 1. He succeeds Stacey Calo, who resigned earlier in the school year and stepped down last month.
Deacon was at a meet and greet with the Kellogg community Monday afternoon, Nov. 17 in the school library.
He said he was encouraged by his warm reception in his initial meetings with students, parents and school staff. When he takes over next month, “there will be a lot of listening and learning”
“And I’ll be building relationships.”
Deacon currently serves as a literacy interventionist and instructional coach at Sharon Center School. His previous experience includes roles as supervisor of student development and academic success for grades Pre-K–12 in the Milford Public Schools, as well as director of academics and intervention support for grades K–5, assistant principal, literacy and numeracy specialist, and fourth-grade teacher in the Torrington Public Schools.
Deacon holds a bachelor’s in art history from Manhattanville College, a master’s in elementary education and a sixth-year certificate in reading and language arts from the University of Bridgeport, a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Bridgeport, and a Superintendent of Schools Certificate from Sacred Heart University.
Region One Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley said in a Nov. 7 email that she will be working out of Kellogg throughout November.
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