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Students wore black at Housatonic Valley Regional High School Friday, Jan. 30, while recognizing a day of silence to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mia Dirocco
FALLS VILLAGE — In the wake of two fatal shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota, students across the country have organized demonstrations to protest the federal agency. While some teens have staged school walkouts or public protests, students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School chose a quieter approach.
On Friday, Jan. 30, a group of HVRHS students organized a voluntary “day of silence,” encouraging participants to wear black as a form of peaceful protest without disrupting classes.
The idea was spearheaded by junior Sophia Fitz, who said she wanted a way for students to express their concerns while remaining in school.
“What really inspired me was that I was feeling very helpless with these issues,” Fitz said. “Staying educated with what’s going on in not only our country but globally can be very stressful as a teenager. Kids right now are feeling very hopeless and want to do something, but don’t know how.”
Teachers Peter Verymilyea and Damon Osora were on board with the idea early on, describing it as a peaceful and respectful way for students to express their beliefs.
Assistant Principal Steven Schibi also backed the effort, emphasizing the importance of student participation.“I think it’s important for us to listen to students,” he said. “And they have to learn how to have a voice in such a way that it’s not disruptive.”
After discussions with Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley and Principal Ian Strever, school administrators agreed that participation would be optional and that students could choose whether to wear black or not.
Schibi, along with several staff members, participated in the movement by wearing black themselves. Math department chair Kara Jones was among the participating teachers. “Everybody deserves their voice, so I’d rather do the day of silence than everybody stay home,” she said.
Among HVRHS students who supported the protest, at least one cited concern for friends affected by immigration enforcement.
Sophomore Peyton Bushnell said he felt anxious, fearing for the safety of friends and acquaintances. “I think it’s all really messed up,” Bushnell said. “I have a lot of Hispanic friends, and I worry if there’s ICE in Great Barrington, if they came here [and] deported my friends. I can’t even imagine.”
Bushnell said Fitz’s initiative encouraged him to speak more openly about the issue.
Senior Molly Ford echoed that sentiment. “I think it’s a peaceful way to protest and I think it’s the best way to do so,” Ford said.
Many students wore black to show support, and senior Victoria Brooks shared her thoughts on what it meant to her. “It means following along in a form of advocacy alongside other students,” Brooks said.
Some students declined to comment when asked about the protest. Others said they were unaware the protest was taking place. Three seniors interviewed during lunch said they would have participated had they known, calling it a “neat idea.”
Not all students were convinced of the protest’s impact. A group of juniors questioned whether it would make a difference.
“I think that it is good that we’re trying to do something,” one student said. “But I’m not sure how much the silence aspect of it will help, but I think that it’s good that we’re trying.”
Some students questioned the efficacy of the protests, including a group of seniors who offered their opinions. They expressed the belief that the protests were “pointless,” and that President Donald Trump probably didn’t even know that HVRHS existed.
“I just don’t think it’s the best way to go about it. Like, what is us being silent and wearing black gonna do,” one of the seniors said.
Senior Cohen Cecchinato voiced his opposition to the protests in another interview.
“The staying silent, I think, is for the lives that were lost, which I agree with,” Cecchinato said. “But I think that wearing black, like the movement that it’s behind, the people that are putting it into place in our school are doing it because it’s like the ‘F ICE’ movement or the abolish ICE movement, which I think is just wrong.”
Other students said they believed political protests don’t belong in school.
“I just don’t think we should bring politics into school,” one senior said. Another added, “I think it’s causing … a really big divide and people are using it to be advantageous to themselves and their own beliefs.”
However, one senior expressed a sharply critical view of the protest. Senior Ashton Osborne dismissed students who chose to wear black or participate in the demonstration and criticized organizer Sophia Fitz. He also said he strongly supported the federal immigration agency and added that if he were old enough, he would want to work for ICE.
The comments reflected a minority viewpoint among students.
Mia DiRocco, Hannah Johnson and Peter Austin are seniors at Housatonic Valley Regional High School and participants in The Lakeville Journal’s student journalism program, which produces HVRHS Today.
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Walter Earle DeMelle, Jr.
Feb 04, 2026
LAKEVILLE — Walter Earle DeMelle Jr., 82, of Lakeville, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Feb. 1, 2026.
He met his loving wife of 57 years, Susan Sullivan DeMelle, in middle school and they were married in Aug. 1968.
Born June 3, 1943, in Worcester, Massachusetts to Walter and Lucille DeMelle, he graduated from Natick High School in 1961 and Hobart & William Smith Colleges in 1965. He taught English at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island in the 1960s and earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science at Rutgers University.
He served as Director of the Edsel Ford Memorial Library at The Hotchkiss School from 1970 to 2012, where he vastly expanded the collection, welcomed the surrounding community, and led the school in technological advancement and information literacy. He oversaw a six-fold increase in the library’s capacity, several major renovations, and the recovery from a devastating middle-of-the-night sprinkler system malfunction which had him running like never before (or since) to save as many books as possible. He purchased one of the first Apple computers in the Northwest corner in the early 1980s, and pioneered the expansion of the library’s audiovisual collections, offering music, films and documentaries to the campus and local community.
Walter’s kindness, encouragement and reassurance helped countless students adapt to the rigors of life at Hotchkiss. He co-created the School’s Human Relations and Sexuality program in the 1970s, and taught public speaking. He was an honorary member of the Class of 1976, which created the first endowed fund established by a Hotchkiss class in order to support the development of the resources of the Edsel Ford Library. He was instrumental in developing the School’s Archives, and led an Oral History Project in which he interviewed many of the School’s prominent alumni from the 20th century.
Throughout his career, he served as a consultant to libraries across the United States and globally to guide their renovations and digital transitions from the Dewey Decimal system.
He loved to travel, both professionally and with family, visiting China, Turkey, Europe and the United Kingdom extensively.
Survived by his wife Susan, sons Jeffrey and Brendan, sister Susan Kerrissey, sisters-in-law Nancy Sullivan and Pamela DeMelle, daughter-in-law Christine Rose DeMelle, grandson Luca, best friend Ron Carlson, and extended family. Predeceased by his brother Arthur DeMelle, father Walter and mother Lucille DeMelle.
A Celebration of Life is planned for Summer 2026.
In honor of his life, please consider a donation to East Mountain House, the non-profit end-of-life care home in Lakeville. https://eastmountainhouse.org/donate/
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Raymond Emanuel Wheeler
Feb 04, 2026
AMENIA — Raymond Emanuel Wheeler, Jr., 72, a lifelong area resident died Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Connecticut. Ray worked for the Town of Amenia Highway Department for twenty-three years and for the New York State Department of Transportation in Wassaic, for ten years prior to his retirement in 2010. Ray also assisted in running the family business in Wassaic for over thirty years.
Born Nov. 6, 1953, in Sharon, he was the son of the late Raymond E. and Helen C. (Chase) Wheeler, Sr. He was educated in Amenia,schools and served his community for decades as a member of the Wassaic Fire Company and The Sharon Fire Department in Connecticut. He was an avid turkey and deer hunter throughout his life and he enjoyed socializing with his many friends and taking car rides throughout the valley regularly. Ray also enjoyed spending time with his family and watching the races at Lebanon Valley Speedway. He will be deeply missed by his loving family and many friends.
Ray is survived by his companion of twenty years, Karen Ellis of Amenia; four sons, Raymond E. Wheeler of Spring Hill, Florida, Michael R. Wheeler and his wife Justine, also of Spring Hill, Thomas E. Wheeler and his wife Alicia of Wassaic and Christopher Ellis; his grandchildren, Branden Wheeler, Zachary Wheeler and his wife Katie, Kaden Wheeler, Michael Wheeler, Jr. and his wife Michele, Alyssa Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler and his girlfriend Kenzie Milton and Kaylee Wheeler and her boyfriend Nick; four great grandchildren, Mason, Layton, Michael III and Cole Wheeler; his siblings, Emily Tarbox and her husband Carl, Rachel Wheeler, Sharon McEathron and her husband Daryl and Helen Murphy and her husband William and several nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his wife, Ruth Ann (Ammerman) Wheeler, three sisters, Hattie Butts, Juanita Donaldson and Patricia Wilson and his grandson, Hunter Wheeler.
A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 1 p.m. at the Wassaic Fire House, 27 Firehouse Rd., Wassaic, New York 12592.
Burial will take place privately at Valley View Cemetery in Dover Plains. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546. To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Ray’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
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Crews work on a broken water main on the town Green in Sharon on Sunday, Feb. 1.
Ruth Epstein
SHARON — A geyser erupted on the town Green Friday afternoon, Jan. 30, alerting officials to a water main break in the adjacent roadway. Repair crews remained on site through the weekend to fix the damaged line.
About 15 nearby homes lost water service Friday while crews made repairs. Water was restored by Sunday afternoon. The water system is overseen by the town’s Sewer and Water Commission.
With temperatures dipping to the single digits Sunday afternoon, Williston Case of W.B. Case Plumbing & Heating of Sharon oversaw the repairs. He explained that two pipes run side by side — one dating back to 1941 and the other significantly older. After searching for the source of the leak, crews determined the newer pipe had cracked, causing water to bubble out of the ground.
Case said crews were on site Friday night, but it wasn’t until Saturday that the leak was located. The road had to be excavated to a depth of about four to five feet. His crew worked throughout Saturday, and on Sunday, Gallagher Construction of Brewster, New York, joined the effort.
Company owner Chuck Gallagher said his firm specializes in water mains and often assists other contractors with difficult breaks.
“This pipe is an odd size,” Gallagher said, adding that the repair was complicated further by a large rock above the pipe that had to be blasted.
The initial plan was to wrap a sleeve around the damaged pipe, but the unusual pipe size made that approach unworkable.
First Selectman Casey Flanagan said that of the 15 affected dwellings, one was an apartment building with multiple units. On Upper Main Street, the outage extended from the road by the Green to Sharon Methodist Church. On Main Street, it stretched from near West Main Street to the cemetery.
Flanagan said water was delivered to affected households by members of the Sharon Volunteer Fire Department. Residents were also able to refill containers at the firehouse and were offered access to showers at the firehouse, Sharon Hospital and a building owned by the Sharon Playhouse.
Steve Szalewicz, chairman of the Sewer and Water Commission and an affected homeowner, said about 30 of the commission’s 380 customers were impacted. Water testing confirmed there was no contamination.
“The town came together,” Szalewicz said, noting gestures of assistance from various organizations. “It’s a 150-year-old system, so some things break. But we haven’t had a major break in 15 years.”
When water service was restored Sunday afternoon, Flanagan thanked the plumbing companies, the fire department, the Sewer and Water Commission, and Mark Sweeny of V.R.I. Environmental Services for working through harsh conditions, as well as residents “for their patience.”
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