The suicide rate for Americans under the age of 20 climbed by 18 percent from 2003 to 2004. It increased by 50 percent for kids between the ages of 10 and 14 from 1981 to 2007. In 2007, 4,410 children between the ages of 15 and 24 took their own lives. These are shocking statistics. Just as sobering is the realization that each life lost is someone’s child.I sat through a day-long seminar on teenage suicide sponsored for clinicians and school personnel and offered by Astor Services for Children and Families. Astor, which is funded in part by county dollars, is the leading county service agency to youth and families in a myriad of areas including mental health and early intervention.Last year I teamed up with Astor for a series of community forums on children’s mental health services in Dutchess County for which in October I published a 45-page policy paper addressing areas and suggestions for improvement. Last week I was Astor’s guest for an eye-opening training session by a national expert on suicide, Dr. David Rudd of the University of Utah.I learned, for instance, that the use of firearms is the leading cause of teenage suicides (45 percent), with overdosing on medicine, hanging and drinking antifreeze among the other primary causes. I was surprised to hear that typing “how to hang myself” into an Internet search engine will bring up a video that shows technology-savvy teens step by step how to kill oneself. I wondered how many parents had considered placing parental blocks on the Internet to such sites, not to mention locking up medications and using gun-locks.The Internet is also a source of suggesting death by antifreeze as the coolant chemical has a sweet-taste to it, making it easy to drink. Some states have sought to mandate the bittering of antifreeze to discourage suicide as well as the accidental death of pets; New York is not one of them.Youth are especially vulnerable to suicide because their identities and mind are still developing. They are prone to impulsiveness, seeking an immediate end to crises. They also crave the need for social connectedness and peer relations, finding it tough to integrate socially. Once found and then lost, as in a relationship break-up, they can slip easily into despair. The suicide rate is also high among teens who suffer from bulimia or anorexia, are subjected to bullying or who feel shame or guilt for low grades or in letting their parents down.Parents and those who work with children should be trained to look for the warning signs and work to build hope in young people. Help is always available in the community as well as at the national hotline, 800-273-TALK, or in Dutchess County on the Helpline, 877-485-9700.Suicide robs us, families and societies, of the potential of our youth. It also costs us in emergency room care and police investigations. The national cost for suicide deaths in 2005 was $16 million. Michael Kelsey represents Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and Millbrook in the Dutchess County Legislature. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.
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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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