Earthquake Over The Border

November 12th, 2007 · 8 Comments · Local

No, we’re not talking the San Andreas Fault, but there’s a chasm near us!

There’s been a lot of chatter about our elections here in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner, where there were too few challengers and where almost all the incumbents were returned to office. But if you want to see a town where politics is lively and where incumbents beware, look no farther than our neighbor to the wild, wild west.

When I worked at The Millerton News from 1996 to 2001, I covered the town of Amenia, N.Y. I went to virtually every town council meeting and most planning board meetings. I got to know the movers and shakers in a town has been divided ever since the 1970s, at least.

All of our local towns go through quiet and noisy phases. Falls Village, for example, which has been described (by me) as “the Amenia of the Northwest Corner,” is currently in a quiet phase after years of noisiness during the administration of former First Selectman Gabriel Seymour in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And Salisbury, Sharon and North Canaan do perk up from time to time.

But if there’s one political constant in these parts, it’s that Amenia is a fascinating place where deep divisions rear their ugly heads at every turn and where major-office incumbents almost never go unchallenged. Last week’s elections are a case in point.

When I covered the town and spent a lot of time there, I observed the divisions — and, from what I can tell, they don’t seem to have changed much since 2001. Distilled to their essence, they are:

1) The conservatives (both Dems and GOPers) who have lived in Amenia all or most of their lives and who resent the cultural and political intrusion of NYC weekenders, most of whom bring with them an affinity for planning and zoning, beautification and open space preservation. The conservatives see the part-timers as a threat to a relatively simple way of life that prizes individual rights over communitarianism.

2) The comparatively wealthy moderates-to-liberals (some of whom are natives, but most of whom are from outside the region) love the rural charm of Amenia and want to protect property values, but don’t care for some of the town’s warts — such as gravel mining, strip malls, trailer parks and the Amenia natives who resent the newcomers. Oh, and the moderates/liberals really don’t like gravel mining … did I forget to mention that?

Both sides are determined to fight for their rights and every two years they put up serious candidates for town supervisor and town council. And it’s anybody’s guess as to who will win. This year, led by supervisor candidate Wayne Euvrard, the conservative Republicans took two of three open seats on the town council and booted out of office retired Webutuck teacher, town supervisor and Amenia native Janet Reagon.

Like their counterparts next door in Kent, Euvrard and zoning board member Norm Cayea ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility. But unlike the Kent GOP candidates, who were easily thwarted by Democratic First Selectman Ruth Epstein and her running mate Bruce Adams, the Amenia Republicans prevailed in a night that nonetheless saw the GOP lose its hold on the Dutchess County legislature for the first time in 30 years.

I’m told this kind of idealogical fickleness has been going on for decades in Amenia. Shortly before I started covering the town, incumbent conservative Supervisor Ralph Vinchiarello (a Dem, BTW) was defeated in 1995 by progressive GOPer Arlene Iuliano, who brought with her the liberal Democrat Gerry Reese. Together, she and Reese were able to stop a rezoning request by the legendary sand and gravel man, John Segalla, for a stone quarry on Rattlesnake Mountain.

Iuliano managed to survive for six years and three terms (a lifetime by modern Amenia standards) until she was defeated by conservative Tom LeJeune, who lost two years later to progressive Millerton hairstylist Bonnie Hundt. When Hundt proved a poor manager after only one term, voters turned to Reagon, who in turn was thrown out only two years later by Euvrard, an ally of the wily and parsimonious Vinchiarello.

It’s quite a place, that Amenia. The name of the town is derived from the Latin “amoena,” meaning “pleasing to the eye.” Well, there are portions of the town that are not pleasing to the eye. And I suppose you could say that about almost any town. But for a local political reporter, it is a journalistic feast. Now, if we could only get such a robust debate going in laid-back Salisbury …

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8 responses so far ↓

1 Geoff Brown // Nov 12, 2007 at 9:45 pm

Well, the history of Amenia, as a kind of escape valve from Connecticut to “the West” — meaning New York State — probably has a little bit to do with the contentious politics that remain.

I guess it must have to do mostly with geography, but for some reason, lots of the people who chose (or who had their choices made for them) to leave Connecticut back from the late 1700s seem to have passed through Amenia.

This population included second and subsequent sons who had inherited nothing, people who had been on the “wrong” side in the Revolution, people whose religion was not quite in synch with the then-current flavor of New England Congregationalism, people who were leaving untenable situations (financial, marital, legal) back home, and those who simply saw the frontier of the day as worth taking a shot at. In other words, the future of America.

It seems like Amenia since its founding has been a fluid place in terms of who lived there, and who ran things. Sometimes that’s a good thing.
2 Marshall // Nov 13, 2007 at 9:13 am

Amenia…comes from the Slovack term…AMENIAAAA,
and translates into endless evolution, revolution, and a stern constitution…
3 fred // Nov 13, 2007 at 11:51 am

I live in Amenia…when election time comes around, it’s all facinating stuff.

if anyone is interested (as amenia’s webmaster) http://www.ameniany.com has minutes from board meetings as far back as 2004.
4 Steve Barlow // Nov 14, 2007 at 1:17 am

Terry:

One thing that always made Amenia so entertaining was your descriptive reporting and nose for news. While I worked with you at Millerton, my father, who had never set foot in Amenia in his life, became enthralled with the latest eruptions from there and would eagerly look forward to each edition of the newspaper. He’s never been a fan of soap operas, but this became his weekly “guilty pleasure.” Even after I’d left the News, he’d ask me from time to time if I’d heard any news from you about the latest goings-on in Amenia.
5 Terry // Nov 14, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Marshall,

Geoff seems to think Amenia is less like Slovakia than Australia. I’ve never heard that, Geoff. But if true, it would explain a lot of things.

Steve,

Thanks for your kind words. Amenia as soap opera? Sometimes it read a little like a Gothic novel. Those stories practically wrote themselves. It’s a town that cries out for coverage. I’m glad your father enjoyed it.

Fred,

Thanks for the native’s perspective (even if you were born in Penn., was it?). Is the town hall still in the firehouse?
6 fred // Nov 15, 2007 at 4:50 pm

I was born in Baltimore (Go Orioles) but resided most of my life in PA and have now been in this part of the world for about 7 years.

The town hall is still in the same building as the Amenia firehouse… though there were talks about relocating the town hall a couple years ago..i think that died out
7 Wayne Euvrard // Nov 18, 2007 at 4:18 pm

Terry, I always enjoyed your articles in the Millerton News. Now I will have to follow your blog. Amenia politics is “different” but we have people deeply involved and we all care about our wonderful town. The voters come out, in the last two elections, Amenia has had the highest percentage turnout in Dutchess County.

One of my goals is to heal the wounds, have everyone work together for a common good for all our citizens and have smart controlled growth. Please let me know if I become “Wily and parsimonious”. Thanks, Wayne
8 Terry // Nov 19, 2007 at 2:48 pm

Wayne,

Nice to hear from you. I wish you the best of luck in taking the reins of a town that always seemed to be ungovernable. Sort of like herding cats …

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