Police show true colors

The village of Millbrook will remain in blue, and keep local police coverage now and in the future, as it has had for so many years in the past.The issue was raised at a recent Village Board meeting just as it’s been raised during countless conversations among village residents throughout the years. At the root of those discussions are two questions — whether Millbrook needs to keep its own force and if it’s legally required to do so.Last week Millbrook Mayor Laura Hurley cleared up any confusion regarding the matter, after conferring with Village Attorney Rebecca Valk.“One of the things I have tried to do over the past year is to clarify urban legends,” Hurley said. “The opinion of our attorney is that, no, we don’t have to have a police department.”That said, Hurley emphasized, doesn’t mean Millbrook doesn’t need a police department. The mayor went through a litany of reasons why having a police force is so positive for the roughly 1,500 residents, not to mention business owners and tourists, living and visiting the scenic, bucolic village.There was the bout of vandalism that spread through the village last year and reappears every so often, then there are thefts and burglaries that continue to be problematic, speeding and illegal parking seem to forever plague village streets and then there are larger problems and more serious crimes, like domestic violence, that demand police attention.Currently there are seven part-time police officers working on a $100,000 budget, not bad in light of the 2 percent state tax cap that is looming ahead. And while the village would not be under any obligation to contract out to another agency, like the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office or the New York State Police (Troop K headquarters is conveniently close on Route 44), if it didn’t have its own force, that is likely what it would do, because it would need some type of law enforcement. Those contracts don’t come cheap.Having a local force seems smarter and, simply, preferable. Since the Millbrook Police Department provides 55 hours per week, it’s available when needed, to a large extent. It provides both foot and vehicle patrols. According to Hurley, the police force is there when she needs it; the same holds true for the public, she said.Yes, county deputies’ cars still patrol the area, but far less frequently than in years past, and their response time is often delayed, according to one police representative.The bottom line? Local officers can be on-hand quickly and they know their surroundings, as well as the people in their community. They have a sense of what’s going on, whose been causing trouble, dangerous situations and dangerous locations — vital knowledge that could save a life.It all adds up to the immeasurable value of a good, local police force, one the village of Millbrook is wise to keep.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less