KENT, Conn.—Freedom of the press is never certain.
As early as 1798, only 10 years after the Constitution was ratified, Congress passed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, significantly restricting immigration, curtailing freedom of speech and the press, and increasing the power of the executive branch.
Those acts have since been either repealed, amended or allowed to fade away, but subsequent decades have brought renewed efforts by public officials to rid themselves of the “meddlesome priest” that the press can be.
Wartime censorship, surveillance, attempts at prior restraint, even physical violence have occurred and reoccur in an attempt to restrict this essential right.
Kent has a local champion of freedom of the press in Karen Chase, former reporter and editor of the Kent Good Times Dispatch and a founder of the current Kent Dispatch.
For the past 20 months, this revitalized nonprofit news site has brought information large and small to the community, fulfilling the Founding Fathers’ First Amendment pronouncement that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”
This is all weighty stuff, indeed, but this weekend Chase and her family are putting some “fun” into fundraising to support the Dispatch, holding an 80th birthday bash Saturday, June 28, from 4 to 8 p.m. for her at Kelly’s Creamery and Minigolf in Dover Plains, N.Y.
Cake, ice cream, drinks, food, and golfing are all included in the price of a ticket.
In addition, prizes for winners will be awarded, and a small raffle will be held.
In posting the announcement, Chase said, “I hope we have a great turn out to support our town newspaper and to have some fun. We have some fun things planned and prizes along with some good food and a beautiful ice cream cake to celebrate.”
Among the prizes will be Number 3 of three prints of a “White Narcissus” (Daffodil) taken by Chase at her Macedonia home in 2015.
The first print was sold to Susan Prince, on-air host at siriusxm, during Chase’s solo show, “Natural Touch” at the Kent Art Association in 2016. It was also part of the Fifth Annual Exposure Award Microphotography Collection honored at a private reception at the Louvre Museum, in Paris in 2015.
The second print was donated to St Andrew’s Church for its raffle.
Chase’s photography, which has appeared in the former Good Times Dispatch, the Litchfield County Times, the Lakeville Journal, the National Wildlife Federation’s magazine and the Kent Conservation Commissions publication, “Kent Trails: A Hikers Guide,” has garnered numerous awards over the years.
One of her photographs was also part of an exhibition on the largest Billboard in Times Square and at the “15th Annual Scope Art Show” in Miami Beach.
Tickets are $50 for adults, which includes one round of golf, one meal, a piece of ice cream cake and one raffle ticket, and $15 for children ages 12 and younger, which includes one round of golf, one kid’s meal, one piece of ice cream cake and one raffle ticket.
In addition, a Let’s Par-tee! $250 ticket is offered. This celebrates Chase with an extra donation towards sustaining local news in Kent. Each purchase includes two adult tickets.
To purchase tickets, click here. Every ticket sale will bring Kent News, Inc., the parent company of the Kent Dispatch, closer to achieving its fundraising goals for the end of its fiscal year.
