Ranta has said that while she caters to many out of towners, she wants locals in Piscataquis County to feel just as comfortable coming in - even if it’s just for tea and dessert. Now, her restaurant has been honored with a prestigious national culinary award. Not long after that, she was approached by the Libra Foundation, which has invested millions into Monson, about opening a fine dining restaurant in town - something Ranta said she’d dreamed about for years but never thought would actually happen. Her second husband, Billy, was an army paratrooper and Monson native, and they moved to his hometown more than 20 years ago.Īfter running an Asian food stand at the Monson General Store and working at the Blair Hill Inn in Greenville, she got her degree from EMCC. Air Force member and moved to the United States. Ranta, the youngest of 12 children, at age 16 left her small town on the island of Mindanao to move to Manila, and soon after married a U.S. Nezinscot Farm in Turner, Maine’s first organic dairy farm and a long-running shop, cafe and bakery, was announced as the Northeast Region America’s Classic winner earlier this spring. Ranta graduated from the Eastern Maine Community College culinary arts program in 2016, making her the first graduate of a Maine culinary school to win a James Beard Award.Īnother Maine establishment was also honored with a James Beard America’s Classic award this year, given to family-owned restaurants and food producers that have operated for at least a decade. The Quarry, which opened in 2018, offers classic American fine dining with a Filipino twist, honoring Ranta’s home country of the Philippines. I have my restaurant in the boonies, and Mr. “I never in my wildest dreams would believe I would be standing here. And now we have 671,” she said, pointing to her medal.
“Now people know where my town of 670 residents is. “What we have, I believe, is an opportunity to strengthen a policy and awareness while continuing to focus on the important work of the office rather than on a personal, consensual relationship that has found its way into the public eye for reasons only known by a disgruntled family,” she said.During her brief acceptance speech, a visibly elated Ranta thanked her husband, and expressed immense pride over her little Maine town being honored with such an award. “I believe AG Frey described the recent events best when he admonished himself as having made an ‘error in judgment’,” Whitworth said.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS EVENTS SERIES
Her report concludes after a long series of interviews with OAG employees that the office is a “great place to work, replete with a work environment that is generally very positive.”
Whitworth praised the OAG for their cooperation, candor and sense of urgency in providing her with information. Whitworth explains in her report that the absence of a report on the internal investigation was “not only understandable, but justified, as there was simply no need for a formal investigation to take place based on the third-party complaint.” However, Whitworth found that no formal written report from Chief Deputy AG Chris Taub’s internal investigation was available. Whitworth and HR Studio group were brought in at the request of Democratic leaders in the Legislature to conduct an independent review of the AGO’s investigation. Whitworth’s report states that the original OAG investigation found “no wrongdoing” due to the subordinate no longer reporting directly to Frey and the fact that it was a consensual relationship, which is omitted in the office’s harassment policy.Īn investigation by the Bangor Daily News found that Frey made this change only after reporters from the newspaper began inquiring about the relationship. The report came from Deborah Whitworth of HR Studio Group, the third-party human resources consulting group hired in April to investigate Frey’s relationship, which at the time Frey called an “error in judgment”-an error he did not disclose for eight months. An independent report released Friday afternoon regarding Maine Attorney General (AG) Aaron Frey’s relationship with a subordinate employee found no significant issues with how the AG office handled the situation.
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