Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 21: May 22-28, 2019

The Mountain Times • May 22-28, 2019 NEWS BRIEFS • 17
Agriculture:
continued from page 8
managing their ecosystems
and stewarding their land in
the face of climate change.
More agriculture
education, whole milk
in schools and a campaign
that focuses on
how important dairy is
to Vermont’s economy
is another priority for
farmers. The Agency will
be working with a host of
partners on these issues.
Meeting the challenge
To lead the effort, dairy
farmers asked us to create
a dairy advisory panel to
facilitate the conversation
on their suggestions and
challenges. We will do so.
Farmers also told us to
keep working with Washington
on dairy policy and
prices. The Vermont Milk
Commission has proposed
a growth management
plan. We heard from farmers
they want the Agency
to pursue this important,
nationwide discussion
with Congress.
These are just a few
outcomes of the Dairy
Summit. Like Vermont’s
farmers, we are open to
new ideas, change and a
commitment to improve
the backbone of Vermont:
Agriculture.
Anson Tebbetts
Submitted
Pictured (l-r) Claudio Fort from Rutland Regional Medical Center, artist Don Ramey,
Rutland City Alderman Lisa Ryan, and Steve Costello from Green Mountain Power celebrate
the unveiling of the new 54th Regiment sculpture in downtown Rutland.
Sculpture:
Fifth sculpture unveiled
continued from page 4
equal rights campaigners, I became more at ease with depicting them in battle,” Ramey
said. “These were men fighting and dying not for some abstract political concept, but for
their own real freedom, and the actual physical freedom of their fellow men and women
still held in bondage. It’s a privilege to be able to honor the extraordinary valor of ordinary
local citizens. Rutland’s current residents can be rightly proud of their legacy.”
The regiment was credited with demonstrating incredible bravery, changing military
views of African Americans common at the time, and exhibiting tremendous leadership
in rejecting military pay until their demands for equal pay were met. Lisa Ryan, a charter
member of the Rutland NAACP and member of the Rutland City Board of Aldermen, said as
an African American woman, she is proud of the sculpture.
“This sculpture is not only a representation of a significant moment in history for African
Americans, but it is an opportunity to welcome and celebrate diversity in our community,”
Ryan said. “I feel proud that the Rutland community is making a meaningful connection to
education and inclusion.”
The Rev. Arnold Thomas, a former board member of Vermont Partnership for Fairness
and Diversity and supporter of the Vermont African American Heritage Trail, said the
artwork would be added to the trail later this year, and would inspire students and visitors
alike. “While Vermont is one of the whitest states in the Union, it has a rich African American
history of national significance, with Rutland playing a key role,” Thomas said.
GMP Vice President Steve Costello said the 20 men averaged 27 years of age. One,
George Hart, was born into slavery in Louisiana, but came to Vermont with Captain Edmund
Morse of the 7th Vermont Regiment. The men included a barber, a mason, laborers,
and farmers. They included two sets of brothers, a father and son, and two brothers in law.
Several are buried in Rutland, including William Scott, who enlisted at the age of 42.
“He was wounded in the head during the Battle of Olustee in February 1864,” Costello
said. “He was discharged for disability in May 1865, and returned to Rutland, where he
died in March 1873. His grave in West Street Cemetery includes one of the most poignant
epitaphs in the cemetery: ‘I have fought my last battle, I have gone to rest.’”
Mayor Dave Allaire and MKF Properties President Mark Foley Jr. unveiled the artwork
near the corner of Center Street and Merchants Row, as CSSC Executive Director Carol
Driscoll unveiled an accompanying bronze plaque. “It’s a tremendous piece of art honoring
bravery and service,” Driscoll said. Added Foley, who owns the building: “I am honored
to be able to celebrate this important piece of Rutland history, and share it with locals and
visitors alike.”
The Rutland Sculpture Trail is a collaboration of the CSSC, Green Mountain Power, MKF
Properties, and Vermont Quarries. Other sculptures in the series include:
• “Stone Legacy,” a tribute to the region’s stone industry funded by GMP and MKF, in
Marketplace Park.
• A tribute to Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” which stands outside Phoenix Books,
which underwrote it.
• A piece honoring Olympic skier Andrea Mead Lawrence, funded by John and Sue
Casella.
• A sculpture of Revolutionary War hero Ann Story and her son Solomon, funded by the
extended Costello family, which stands at the corner of West and Cottage streets.
• A tribute to Rutland native Martin Henry Freeman, the country’s first African American
college president, funded by Dr. Fred and Jennifer Bagley, the Wakefield family, Donald
Billings and Sara Pratt. It is expected to be completed late this summer.
• A piece honoring “Bill W.,” a Dorset native raised in Rutland who co-founded Alcoholics
Anonymous, also expected to be created this summer. It is funded by three anonymous
donors.
Organizers continue work on plans and fundraising for other sculptures. The series is
intended to honor important local people and history, create community pride, beautify
downtown Rutland, and draw locals and tourists into the city center.
Proctor market:
continued from page 3
New owners for Market on West Street
AUNT GAIL CALLED
THE COUPLE “TWICE IN
ONE WEEK BEFORE THE
AUCTION,” JENN SAID, TO
URGE THEM TO VIEW THE
STORE AND BID ON IT.
Chris’s parents, John and Helena
(Pietryka) Curtis, were born and raised
in Proctor and Florence, respectively;
after high school John took a highway
engineering job with the state of Connecticut,
where Chris was born and
grew up.
When Chris told Jenn his dream was
to open a general store in Vermont, she
was equally enthusiastic. Long before
the auction Jenn and Chris had visited
Proctor and stopped at the empty store
to look around.
The Proctor store had been vacant
almost a year and the tax sale was held
May 18, 2018.
Aunt Gail and Uncle Albert Curtis
live in town. When the store was put on
the auction block, Aunt Gail called the
couple “twice in
one week before
the auction,”
Jenn said, to urge
them to view the
store and bid
on it.
Jenn said she
had one bid left
at the auction
and wasn’t going
above a certain figure. She bid against
the only other bidder, and he stopped.
“It seemed meant to be. If it wasn’t
for her urging, we would not be here.
But it feels right and we’re going to give
it everything we have,” Jenn told the
Mountain Times.
Jenn was born and raised in Windsor,
Connecticut and worked as a nurse. The
couple bought a run-down farm in Connecticut.
Chris, a landscaper of 34 years’
experience, turned the farm around.
They sold it to come to Vermont.
The Curtises closed on the building
in May and drove back and forth, gutted
the store and worked on it, sold the
farm, and moved above the store, where
they now live, Dec. 22.
The only original object is the butcher
block from Frank LaPenna, Chris Curtis’
second cousin, who ran the store from
the late ‘80s-early‘90s.
“Everybody loved him,” Jenn said.
“We loved this, my husband planed it
out, we stained it and put it on this sewing
machine base.”
Another original feature is the walkin
cooler behind the kitchen area. It
is lined with varnished matchstick
paneling, the doors have the original
heavy hardware, and it still operates off
a compressor in the basement.
The Market On West Street will carry
cigarettes, displayed on an antique metal
cigarette display, CBD products and
lottery tickets, but no vape products.
There will be a refrigerated grab-andgo
for take-home meals, an ice cream
chest and a candy counter – and an ATM
machine for those last-minute cash
needs.
Jenn calls Chris a “soup guy” who
makes soups from scratch using
recipes from Grandmother Curtis. Jenn
prepares daily specials from scratch,
including pastries and sub rolls.
They plan to sell
mostly fresh, locally-sourced
goods,
organic when they
can but “you pay
a lot more. We will
be going to the
farmers’ market
sometimes but
I do want to try
to utilize local
farmers,” Jenn said. The produce will be
unsprayed but not necessarily certified
organic.
The Market On West Street will be
open six days a week, and the Curtises
will man the store themselves.
The Curtises have done most of the
work themselves, along with Chris’s
brother Jeff, hiring local tradesmen for
plumbing and electrical work. Jenn’s
nephew is a certified mechanic who
set up the surveillance cameras and
the POS register, which will also keep
inventory.
Jenn also feels she has roots in Proctor.
A new enterprise energizes the
whole town, she said. “I want the town
to be happier and more active. This is
the turnaround.”
The Curtises are appreciative of the
warm welcome they have received in
town. Town Manager Stan Wilbur stops
in every day and orders for a sandwich,
which is yet to be made.
“We don’t want the town to want a
market, we want the town to have a market,”
Chris added.