![Regional leaders explore membership in waste management coalition](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/eager-eyes-watch-as-regional-leaders-discuss-municipal-solid-waste-solutions-for-the-northwest-corner.jpg?id=52822823&width=1200&height=2215)
Eager eyes watch as regional leaders discuss municipal solid waste solutions for the Northwest Corner.
Jennifer Almquist
Eager eyes watch as regional leaders discuss municipal solid waste solutions for the Northwest Corner.
The Northwest Hills Council of Governments (COG) has put municipal solid waste management solutions on the front burner.
State contracts for refuse hauling are due to expire in 2027, by which time Connecticut towns need to have alternative providers in place. Some COG towns have signed contracts with USA Waste & Recycling, but 11 have not.
A subcommittee of the COG has been exploring options throughout 2024. Creating a regional waste authority and purchasing Torrington Transfer Station to be used as a central hub has been proposed as an option. A permanent destination for the solid waste is still up in the air.
At the July 11 monthly COG meeting, Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority, shared information on the regional model used for the group’s 14 member towns.
HRRA covers towns from Kent to Ridgefield and has created a model that allows municipalities to continue normal operations at no additional cost. Local transfer stations collect waste as they always have, the waste gets short-hauled to a central hub (ie. Torrington Transfer Station), and then HRRA picks it up for processing.
Most garbage gets sent to the waste-to-energy facility in Bridgeport for burning. Bulky waste and construction debris is railed from Danbury to out-of-state landfills. Recyclables are processed at Oak Ridge Material Recovery Facility in Shelton, Connecticut. Scrap metal and other large recyclables are repurposed in-state.
“Our members do not pay a fee to be part of this authority. There is no financial obligation.” Heaton-Jones said. “Our revenue essentially comes from our hauler registration fees, our permits, and our program fees.”
Heaton-Jones offered a way for the 11 COG towns without a solution in place to join the HRRA. Those towns are Barkhamsted, Canaan/Falls Village, Colebrook, Cornwall, Goshen, New Hartford, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon and Winsted.
She said the growth would put a strain on HRRA’s small team in the transition. The group would need to hire more staff, so a $250 per town, per year fee, plus $2 per ton of MSW and $5 per ton of recycling, would likely need to be implemented on the new towns.
Heaton-Jones said these fees would end once the registration and permit revenues catch up to costs: “When the HRRA started in the late 80s, we had membership fees. That went away once the program fees were put in place and solid.”
COG seemed receptive to the suggestion and entered a private executive session to review the proposal. No action was taken in the session and the idea will be discussed further in the August meeting.
The toppling of King George III’s statue will be the topic a CT250 event.ct250.org
America’s 250th
Connecticut is gearing up for numerous events in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Rachel Gonzalez, the Administrative Assistant of CT Humanities informed the COG on community programming surrounding the occasion.
CT Humanities is coordinating activities and providing grants for 250th-related projects. They’ve awarded nearly $160,000 for 13 projects and over $2 million for capital improvements through their Good to Great fund.
Local communities are encouraged to form their own planning committees and submit events to include on the official CT 250 website calendar. “We do hope that organizations will work to tell inclusive stories that will enable Connecticut residents and visitors to see themselves in the nation’s narrative. Hopefully trying to broaden the view of the story of the Declaration of Independence,” said Gonzalez.
The commission is striving to create a celebration that reflects the nation’s founding ideals. It has outlined four key themes: telling inclusive stories, considering the power of place, encouraging civic engagement, and “Doing History” or grounding events in an accurate historical context.
MILLERTON — Linda Kaplan, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, sister-in-law, cousin and friend, passed away Sept. 3, 2024. Linda will be remembered as a deeply kind woman guided by faith, family and love.
Linda was born to Francis Crawford and Lydia Johnson (nee Snyder) in Sharon, on Sept. 14, 1942. She attended Webutuck High School in Millerton, and then started her career in banking, where she worked until her retirement as a Vice President. Linda was a loving mother who raised her two sons and instilled in them her love of faith and family.
Linda met her future husband, Sanford (Sam) Kaplan, at a dance in Millerton, and they were blessed with 30 years of marriage during which they enjoyed their time on Simmons Street. Here, Linda enjoyed tending to her garden where she could be found picking green beans and tomatoes. She also enjoyed solving the daily crossword puzzle, knitting, and listening to Sam play his guitar. Together, Linda and Sam enjoyed hosting their family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Passover celebrations. They especially enjoyed annual summer visits by their granddaughters which always included visits to their farm where they rode ATVs. Linda and Sam’s interest in dairy farming led them to travel to Europe where they toured dairy farms; a trip they fondly recounted to their family for years.
Linda’s faith was evident, not only through her family, but also through her involvement with the Millerton Presbyterian Church. She enjoyed community outreach, singing in the choir, working with children, teaching ESL classes, and helping to develop and implement programs.
Linda is predeceased by her husband, Sam Kaplan, her mother, father, and brother Thomas Crawford. She is survived by her two sons; Lorin Stapleton and his wife Mary Stapleton of Brewster, New York, and Brian Stapleton of Sandisfield, Massachusettds; her two granddaughters, Bridget Stapleton of Jersey City, New Jersey and Colleen Stapleton of Boston, Massachusetts; her sister-in-law, Susan Crawford; nephew David Keys and his wife Barbara; niece Susan Jenkins and her husband Rick Herring.
Calling hours will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546. A Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. at St. Martin of Tours Church of St. Mary in Lakeville, CT. Rev. Dennis Arambasick will officiate. Burial will follow at Irondale Cemetery in Millerton, NY. To send an online condolence to the family, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
David Colbert with one of his sculptures on the sculpture walk he has created over 35 years.
The Cornwall Open Studio took place on Saturday, Aug. 31. It is a Cornwall tradition and has been taking place for eighteen years.
It is a day when Cornwall artists invite the public into their studios to see what they are working on and how they do it. The artists work in various media, including painting, sculpture, photography and artistic shoes.
To participate, prospective tourists go to cornwallct.org/event/cornwall-open-studio-2024/ where a map and a list of the artists is available to download and print. The event is free, there is no registration, and so armed with the map, those taking the tour are set to explore not only artists’ studios, but the beautiful drive through Cornwall.
David Colbert, sculptor, is the initiator of the event. He said of his work, “I was smitten by the geometry and eventually the geometry led me to art.” Behind his studio in Cornwall Bridge he has a quarter mile sculpture path which he has been building for the past thirty-five years. Those on the tour could meander down the path and enjoy the beauty of the geometrically derived works.
Asked if there were any special artists and studios that should not be missed, he said, “I can’t help but mention Tim Prentice, whose shop, barn and whole place is pretty amazing.” At Prentice’s studio in West Cornwall, an old barn, mobiles, and other kinetic works of art hang from walls and ceilings and populate the surrounding fields. Across the road, another barn holds larger sculptures.
At 93, Prentice still works most days in the studio beside his house. He said he works on “small things.” He struggles with fading eyesight due to macular degeneration. He will be in a film by The Vision and Art Project, which seeks to bring awareness of macular degeneration by featuring artists like Tim Prentice. The film will be shown at the Cornwall Library sometime in the coming months.
In spite of his failing eye sight, he enjoys getting out to the studio and working and was welcoming visitors on the tour.
Another interesting studio is that of Lauren Brinkers Shoes in Cornwall Bridge. The shoes are hand painted and “one of a kind.” “I studied in London and went to shoe making school there,” Brinkers said. “I studied traditional men’s shoe making and transitioned into women’s.” She wanted to bring “more color and expression into shoes.” She learned how to work with leather dyes and paints the shoes to accomplish this goal.
A display of Lauren Brinkers handmade, one of a kind , hand paintied shoes on display at her Cornwall studio.Robin Roraback
Next to Lauren Brinkers’ studio is that of Stephan Sagmiller, who shows with his photographs that “The world is worth looking at closely. You’ve got to look at them up close. That’s my ethos as an artist.” His photos are large and colorful and invite you to do just that — look up close.
In West Cornwall, the abstract landscapes of Suzan Scott were on display at the Souterrain Gallery. Scott says of her work, “I’ve always had a strong connection with nature. I see everything, every blade of grass.” It was overwhelming for her. She began to paint still lives thinking they’d be easier, but in doing so she realized that still lives are similar to landscapes in that she could break down the parts as she did for still lives. “Why not go out and do landscapes and simplify them — abstract them?”
Her process is to layer tinted glazes, sometimes as many as thirty. She will work on a painting, let it rest, go back to it, work some more, and continue this until the painting is finished, which can take a week or months.
Scott paints scenes from the northwest corner and has “favorite spots” that she revisits. “The more I see it, the more I can interpret it, and it becomes mine.”
These are just a few of the artists on the tour. There were also Curt Hanson’s beautiful landscapes and the looser, colorful paintings of Magaly Ohika, Katherine Freygang and Sally Van Doren. Photographers Nick Jacobs and Bela Selendy also opened their studios. They use their cameras to explore life and nature.
If you missed the tour this year, be sure to keep an eye out for it next Labor Day Weekend. It is a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. To contact these artists or find out more about their work, go to: cornwallct.org/history-culture/arts-artists/ or go to the tour website to find links to their websites.
Fresh donuts by Hanna Rybolt at ILSE Coffee.
Something scrumptious is cooking beneath Colonial Theatre.
Pastries by Hanna was established in February of 2024 at 27 Railroad St. in North Canaan. The owner, Hanna Rybolt, is a resident of Canaan who studied in the pastry program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Her interest in baking is rooted in fond memories with her family. The baked goods and pastry products are sold locally at ILSE Coffee just next door, as well as the Great Barrington farmer’s market. Her pastry kitchen is located below Colonial Theatre.
Rybolt aims to ensure the goods are produced with locally grown products and sold in community businesses. Pastries by Hanna’s best-selling product is brioche-style donuts.
The business is solely owned and operated by Rybolt, who stated she is looking forward to what the future will bring for the bakery and is hoping to collaborate with more companies in the area.
Customers can custom order goods online at pastriesbyhanna.com or check out her Instagram page @PastriesbyHanna.