OU NTA I N IMES M T Vol. 50, No. 25 I’m FREE - you can even bring me home to your parents! June 23-29, 2021 Parade of heroes, whoopie pies featured in downtown street party Rutland to celebrate reopening and honor its first responders A street party, fireworks, and free whoopie pandemic. Details on another celebration in pies will be part of a celebration of the end of the fall — the Rutland Whoopie Pie Festival — Covid-19 regulations — highlighted by a pa- will be announced after the parade. Both rade of health care and other essential-worker events aim to bring the community safely to- heroes in downtown Rutland. gether for celebration, connection and reflec- The Aug. 28 Parade of Heroes & Community tion after a long year, and to draw new visitors Celebration, from 3:30-9:30 p.m., will celebrate to experience Rutland’s historic downtown as all who helped the community get through the Street Parties > 6 BILLINGS FARM CELEBRATES 150 YEARS Saturday and Sunday Peppino’s sells to new owner Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock By Katy Savage celebrates its birthday. As the popular Peppino’s lockdowns and stay at home a week before the pandemic Page 21 Restaurant on Killington Road orders — though that wasn’t hit and Tondorf just opened closes, a new restaurant is necessarily her plan. her second Rivershed location coming to town. Tondorf signed the lease on in Braintree, Massachusetts, Peppino’s owner Lou Illia- a restaurant in Scituate, Mas- after a year of renovations. no, who opened his authentic sachusetts, called Salt Society, Peppino's > 6 Italian restaurant 30 years ago, sold the building in May. “It was just time for me to get out of the restaurant busi- ness,” Illiano said. Kara Tondorf, a restau- rateur from Massachusetts, just started renovations after buying the building for $550,000. She plans to bring By Ethan Weinstein her Massachusetts restaurant, Rivershed, to town by October. DOZENS RALLY IN While most restaurant RUTLAND AGAINST By Ethan Weinstein owners downsized in the CRITICAL RACE THEORY 'Fore!' Covid-19 global pandemic, Vermont State Top junior golfers compete Tuesday-Thursday at Green Moun- Tondorf did the opposite. Fairgrounds hosted tain National Golf Course for the 11th Killington Junior Golf This will be Tondorf ’s event last Wednesday. Championship. The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) fourth restaurant and one of By Polly Mikula Page 3 program is the same one Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson three restaurants she’ll have Lou Illiano sold Peppino's after 30 years of ownership; Kara played when they were in high school. See story on page 5. renovated and opened despite Tondorf plans to reopen it as a restaurant in October. Rutland kicks off Lt. Gov. Molly Gray’s Recover Stronger tour By Ethan Weinstein Lt. Gov. Molly Gray kicked off her Recover Stronger tour in Rutland on Wednesday, June 16. Her goal: learn what Vermonters learned from the pandemic, and what the state should do as it eases back to pre-pandemic life. Stopping at Rutland Intermediate School, RRMC, and the By Brooke Geery Village Snack Bar, Gray chatted with local residents to hear stories from the last 15 months. She will spend the summer OUTDOOR SUMMER traveling the state doing much the same. With $2.7 billion DINING DELIGHTS in federal funds allocated to Vermont from the American Enjoy fresh local food Rescue Plan Act, as well as the passage of the state’s $7.32 al fresco this summer! billion budget, Gray hopes to learn how working people want Page 26 Montpelier to spend that money. Arriving at Rutland Intermediate on the last day of school, Gray visited the fourth grade classes of teachers Sally Stacom and Phoebe Forman, both of which had participated in the virtual Lt. Gov. for a Day program this spring. Living “What did we learn from this pandemic?” asked Gray. “I’m here to actually listen to you and listen to your teacher. Listen ADE to your principal, and administrators to try to understand WHAT'S HAPPENING like, what are we going to do differently?” THIS WEEK? “We had to work together,” said one fourth grader. Over 200 local events! Some students praised the lack of sickness that came By Ethan Weinstein Page 14 Gray > 2 Lt. Gov. Molly Gray gives a student a fist bump at Rutland Intermediate School on June 16. 2 • LOCAL NEWS The Mountain Times • June 23-29, 2021 Rutland County facing shortage of foster homes By Emma Cotton/VTDigger RUTLAND — The pandemic has isolation brought by the pandemic may exacerbated an existing shortage of foster have contributed to kids’ mental health and homes in Rutland and throughout the behavioral challenges. state as an increased number of kids need “We’ve also seen the needs of those older a safe place to live. kids and teens increasing,” Fitzsimmons In Rutland County, 153 kids and teens said. “We’re seeing more substance use are in the foster care system, marking a or mental health challenges, self harming 39% increase from the yearly average of behaviors — just unhealthy ways to cope 110. Meanwhile, the number of foster with whatever abuse or neglect led them to parents has dwindled, possibly because being on our radar.” of the pandemic. Covid-19 may also be partially respon- “There’s a need going up, just because sible for the greater number of children who the stressors and the needs in the com- cannot remain in the care of their parents. munity have increased for all sorts of Lost jobs, isolation and illness added stress reasons, Covid-related and not,” said Me- to families that were already having trouble linda Humphrey, a Rutland City resident accessing food and housing. and former alderman who has fostered a “When the parents are overwhelmed and number of local kids. they don’t have coping skills, unfortunately, “At the same time,” she said, “I think peo- that can lead to abuse and neglect that we ple that may have otherwise been interested may not have experienced with that family in trying this out are backing away from it before,” Fitzsimmons said. because of being in a pandemic.” Courts have been backlogged during Rebecca Fitzsimmons, resource coordi- the pandemic, too, which has delayed chil- nator at the Dept. of Children and Families dren from returning home in some cases. office in Rutland, said she’s looking for With the goal of creating more fos- foster parents specifically to care for teens. ter homes in the state — as opposed to Children under 6 years old formerly repre- sending them to out-of-state residential By Ethan Weinstein sented a larger percentage of kids in the sys- facilities — the state recently rolled out a Joshua Ferguson enjoys a creemee with Lt. Gov. Molly Gray at the Village Snack Bar. tem’s care, but that dynamic has switched. program that offers higher pay and more “I think that’s where, statewide, we’ve training to foster parents who will eventu- Gray: Stops in Rutland first during Recover Stronger tour sort of come up against this kind of crisis ally be equipped to house kids who have from page 1 point where we have more youth than we acute behavioral needs. with masks. Others breathed a sigh of relief at the demise of masks. One shared his have homes who are open to caring for Fitzsimmons said about five families tried-and-true hand washing method. Most agreed that online learning in one form or youth,” Fitzsimmons said. are currently enrolled in that program another is here to stay. Most prospective foster parents, Fitzsim- from around Vermont, and they’ll receive According to fourth grade teacher Sally Stacom, the pandemic brought students mons said, hope to foster infants or very training on topics like de-escalation closer together. Students would arrive at school “early just so they can talk to each oth- young children. While there are still plenty and crisis communication. She said the er. So we got to use the Google Meet a little bit like that, where at the end of the meeting, of younger children who need care, more program will likely take place in phases as I would just stay. I would stay and observe and chat.” resources are available to them. interest grows. Lt. Gov. Gray encouraged students to dream big, but as far as careers, she stressed The pandemic brought new challenges Chynah Boise, a clinician with Rutland’s STEM and the trades. to foster parents. With a remote school- branch of the Community Care Network, “We really need young people “We really need young people to ing system, kids stayed at home more than provides mental health support to foster to stay in Vermont and stay con- usual. Some may have needed extra support parents — a one-of-a-kind program in the nected to Vermont, which is why stay in Vermont and stay connected with their classes. Parents may have worried state, as far as she knows. it’s super important for me to see about additional exposure to Covid-19, and Fostering > 17 you and for you to know you can to Vermont, which is why it’s super be lieutenant governor in this important for me to see you and for state. You can be an engineer, you can be electrician, you can you to know you can be lieutenant be a plumber, you can be an incredible teacher,” she said. governor," saiid Gray “Fortnite is not a career option” — though some in the audience corrected her that there are in fact professional YouTubers.