MILLERTON — The Village Board has passed a resolution on the usage of 2,000 gallons of water per day by the proposed supermarket planned for a 10-plus acre site behind Thompson Plaza off Route 44 in the town of North East (see story, page A1). Southern Realty Development LLC (SRD) is the developer.The issue passed 3 to 1 at the meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, after considerable discussion among Village Board members, Town Engineer Ray Jurkowski and the public.Public commentPlanning Board member Peter Greenough made several comments during the meeting. He said to this reporter, and to the general assembly, that he was not speaking in an official capacity as a member of the Village Planning Board, something he did not make clear the previous week while at a town of North East Planning Board meeting.“I’m speaking privately, personally, not in any official function,” he said.Greenough then spoke to the Village Board.“You’re going to make a deal, and you have no deal points. You have no agreement in writing and you’re going to approve this? This has major implications for the village,” he said. “If the water goes out there, I think we know that other people will build out there. You need to study what the implications are of taking water out there, because other people will then want to attach.”Trustee Marty Markonic clarified that the resolution they were looking to pass was strictly for the usage of water.“All we’re approving is 2,000 gallons a day. So anybody else who needs water would have to do the same thing, and then another study would have to be done,” Markonic said.“That also takes into consideration if the district extension were to go through in the future,” Jurkowski said. “Then the town would have to come back to the village and say ‘OK, now we are interested in potentially doing a district extension.’ ”Markonic then clarified that the resolution being discussed was very limited.Greenough insisted the board keep future growth in mind.“You should plan for future growth, future usage and so on,” he said.“That’s what the town will be doing,” Markonic said. “Why wouldn’t we want future growth? I don’t understand.”Greenough voiced further concerns.“I got myself in trouble because I was speaking privately and was accused of speaking officially because I was asking questions about this. This is a major extension of the water system. It has impacts upon water pressure, water reserves, future growth and so on,” he said.Markonic, growing frustrated, asked Greenough what exactly he would like done.“The process is broken. We’ve heard here tonight that we weren’t advised. We were not advised. The SEQRA State Environmental Quality Review Act process is broken. I don’t oppose this project, I don’t favor it. All I want is a good, clear, appropriate process,” Greenough said.The engineer has spokenMayor John Scutieri asked, “You don’t feel like for the last 30 minutes that we were advised?” referring to the previous board discussion with Jurkowski in which Jurkowski presented his findings from the water study.The usage of 2,000 gallons a day by the SRD supermarket project was found to have “no anticipated adverse effects,” according to Jurkowski.“No,” Greenough said, answering Scutieri’s question. “You know that the town Planning Board did not advise us as an interested party. The process is broken. They’re going to use our water and you’re going to approve it and you have no deal points. Nobody does business like that.”Markonic, having to raise his voice over Greenough to be heard, asked for clarification on Greenough’s talking points.“What deal points are you talking about? All we’re doing is agreeing that we can supply them 2,000 gallons of water per day. That’s it. Now it’s the town’s job to actually go through with the planning process,” he said.Greenough answered Markonic by referencing his own experience in water planning.“I used to do water planning for Citibank overseas, OK? Really big systems. What I would want to know if I were sitting in your place is how do you know that they will only take 800 gallons a day?” he asked, mistakenly quoting the amount, which is projected to be 2,000 gallons a day. “What’s to limit them from taking more?”Markonic answered, “Nothing. What’s to limit me from taking 25,000 gallons a day at my house?”Greenough, also growing frustrated, pointed out that the resolution was being approved based on that number, making an overage a relevant issue.Markonic saw the question as an unnecessary one.“You’re just saying, ‘what if?’ You can say ‘what if’ forever and nothing will ever get built or done,” he said.Greenough said that the figure presented by the proposed supermarket project should be under closer scrutiny.“I’d like to see, if I were you, the dimensioning of how they got to 2,000 gallons a day. This is a big supermarket; 35,000 square feet. Each employee, how many employees will be working there, how many times do they go to the bathroom each day, how many times do they wash their hands, which they’re required to do by law, how do you get to those and still have water to clean the floors and all that?” Maximum usageJurkowski stated that the studies that were done did not figure what a maximum usage would be.Greenough said that more information was needed.“How can you guarantee you’ll only use 2,000 gallons? You need to get that in writing,” he said.Markonic tried to steer the discussion back to the specifics of the resolution.“If it’s not going to affect our water system adversely and we’re getting, at no cost to the village or town, a line put in, extended, I don’t understand. All our job is, is to approve the fact that yes, they can run a line, and we will supply 2,000 gallons. It is not our job to decide if they should or not, because we don’t want them to,” he said.Greenough continued to object, but Markonic formally made the motion to put an end to the discussion, which he said was wandering off topic.After an addendum by board member Jay Reynolds to include that all costs incurred are at the responsibility of the applicant, the motion passed.
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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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