PINE PLAINS — State Police Captain Scott Brown gave high marks to the Pine Plains Central School District in a report summarizing a safety and security audit of the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School.The safety audit followed a highly publicized incident in November 2009 in which a man entered the school building with a shotgun and held the middle school principal at gunpoint for several hours. Members from both the New York State Police as well as the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office conducted a security assessment of the building at the school district’s request.“A lot of schools have come to us asking for assessments,” Brown said, “but 10 times as many have not.”The assessment involved three main areas: interviews with teachers, staff and students; policy and procedure development; and the physical security of the building.The schools’ policies and procedures presented “absolutely no problems” in Brown’s view. He said that the building’s single-point entry policy, implemented after the events of Nov. 9 was a “great idea.”He also said certain programs and steps taken toward addressing bullying and violence were to be commended as well.As far as the physical security of the structure, Brown said that he made several rounds of the building. During those excursions he said he never found a door unlocked or a security breach.Several small suggestions Brown recommended included “mixing up” security drill tests conducted during the year, issuing substitute teachers identification cards, putting hallway monitors on duty during random hours and possibly installing an exterior PA system. But, Brown qualified, these suggestions were not mandates and enacting them was purely up to the district’s discretion. There was only one instance in which Brown pointed out that improvement was needed. There is a gap of time between when the front doors are unlocked in the morning and when the greeter arrives. There is also a gap between when school is let out in the afternoon and when the doors are locked for the night. During those times Brown said there is inadequate monitoring of who goes in and out of the building.Brown said that the issue had been brought up multiple times during interviews with staff and students. Approximately 30 people were interviewed during the security assessment.“I think you folks are ahead of the curve,” he told the board and administration. “But there is always room for improvement and the greeter’s hours I think need attention.”
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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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