The owner of New Richmond's Green Kayak Grille & Pub loved the online idea of making a snake out of winding painted rocks. After the deaths of the Doerman boys, Rebecca Vaske decided now would be the time to do it. It could serve as a healing process and be a safe place for kids to be kids.
As Vaske watches and listens to the kids painting the rocks for "Ricky the River Rock Snake," she finds "some just wanted to paint the rocks; they just wanted to hang out with their friends and paint happy faces, rainbows and ladybugs. We have quite a variety of everything. This is literally for all the kids in the village just to be kids and keep their minds happy and try to have a normal summer."
Authorities say the three Clermont County brothers — Clayton Doerman, 7, Hunter Doerman, 4, and Chase Doerman, 3 — were executed by their father June 15 in the front yard of their home in Monroe Township. Chad Doerman has been indicted on 21 counts of murder, kidnapping and felonious assault after confessing to the crime. He has pleaded not guilty.
Every Wednesday the restaurant hosts painting tables from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
During an interview with WVXU, Vaske walks around the outside of her restaurant and discovers the snake is already more than halfway the length of the building.
"I'm walking around right now just to see what all we've got — lots more baseballs, lots more memorials; 'stick together;' there's multiple [rocks] that look like they were painted together with the thin blue line in support of our police officers as well. It's super cool to see where their minds and their hearts are."
Other rocks have handprints and say "Be kind to one another."
Vaske says the snake doesn't necessarily only have to do with the boys. She has hopes for its future. "It'll bring the kids together, allow them to be kids, laugh, smile, hang out together and kind of forget any sadness that they may be currently experiencing with all the events that have happened," she says.
