August 11, 2021
Our 204th year | Vol. 204, No. 32 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50
ABBY SOLTYS, ANGELO BRIZZI ARE 2021 HIGHLAND ATHLETES OF YEAR Pages 25, 26, 28
Waiting for the other COVID shoe to drop By Christopher Connell
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
This story is the first of a two-part series on how nonprofits are handling the latest phase of the pandemic. Part two will be published next week. Dread. But determination. As COVID-19 cases surge again, those thoughts are going through the minds of leaders of Fauquier County nonprofits and other organizations that address residents’ needs for food, for enlightenment, for the arts, for a roof over their heads and for spiritual guidance. Like everyone else, they follow the daily release of numbers that show the county’s high transmission rate as the Delta variant dashes hopes that the pandemic is behind us. They
wait anxiously for the latest guidance from Richmond and the CDC. But they also show grit and share a sense that having weathered the worst over the past 18 months, they can deal with what lies ahead. “We’re not scared,” said Piedmont Symphony Orchestra Music Director Glenn Quader. “Nothing can be worse than what we went through last year.” After “a year from hell,” Fauquier County Library Director Maria Del Rosso is eager to fill vacancies on her depleted staff so it can open on Sundays again and add weekday evening hours. She is also weighing whether it can safely restore in-person Story Hours for children and book discussion groups for adults. See COVID, page 4
Schools open, masks optional By Coy Ferrell and Robin Earl
See SCHOOLS, page 6
Neglected dogs find new homes Surrendered by their owners, dogs spent nearly 2 months recovering at FSPCA
Times Staff Writers
Fauquier County Public Schools will not require masks for students, staff members or visitors in any circumstances, according to a policy document presented at Monday evening’s school board meeting. More than a dozen citizens spoke during citizens’ time; most agreed with the school board’s decision. The fall semester begins Wednesday, with five days of in-person instruction per week offered for all students.
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/COY FERRELL
Sharon Ames is the executive director of Fauquier Community Food Bank and Thrift Store in Warrenton.
By Liam Bowman
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
“… I am very comfortable letting parents decide what works for their children.” DONNA GROVE Fauquier County School Board
On the afternoon of May 2, just a few minutes before closing time, a man pulled up to the Fauquier SPCA with a pair of sickly, emaciated dogs in the back of his truck. The dogs, he said, were strays that had been going through his trash. Alex Vacek, the shelter manager, said she was horrified by what she saw. The two dogs, a hound and a boxer, were dangerously malnourished, she remembered, and covered in sarcoptic mange — a skin disease “caused by parasitic mites that burrow just beneath the surface of the skin.” Both dogs were so weak that they had to be carried into the building, Vacek said. The boxer’s condition was especially worrisome, said Vacek. In her career work-
PHOTO BY LIAM BOWMAN/ PIEDMONT JOURNALISM FOUNDATION
Brenda Hottle teaches eighth-grade math at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast D.C. She met Milo while volunteering at the Fauquier SPCA shelter and immediately felt drawn to him. ing with animals, she had never seen a dog so emaciated. “For dogs who look like that,” she said, “it’s all hands-on-deck.” The SPCA staff got to work documenting the dogs’ injuries and beginning treatments. See SPCA, page 13
Bealeton woman charged with murder. See page 30. 9.44x2
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