A Penny for Your Thoughts News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

Veronica Prince was recently named by the City of Falls Church as the 2021 City Employee of the Year. On her recent honor, Prince stated: “I’m so grateful to the Employee Review Board for selecting me for this honor. I was chosen for my work to make the City’s public meetings more accessible to the community during the pandemic. Social distancing made it a necessity to develop solutions for virtual public meetings that could be recorded and made available to all. This was accomplished through teamwork with so many of my wonderful coworkers, the City Council, the board and commission members, and many community members.” ( Photo: Veronica

Prince)

To nominate someone for Faces please email us at Ktoland@fcnp.com. To be considered for Faces someone must be a member of the community and have done something you feel they should be recoginozed for. Falls Church News-Press reserves the right to use it’s discretion when it comes to who will be featured.

When children leave home, their “stuff” often stays, sometimes in their childhood bedrooms, sometimes in the basement and, sometimes, both! Exploring our adult daughter’s bookshelves recently, I discovered her favorite authors, like Judy Blume, E.B. White, Beverly Cleary, Lois Lowry, Roald Dahl, and sadly realized that some classic authors have been under attack in recent years. My college librarian mother would have been horrified by the concerted efforts to restrict access to books today, and the attempts, by others, to edit and rewrite the authors’ original publications under the guise of not wishing to offend readers. Perhaps the larger offense is not giving young readers the opportunity to interpret the plots, characters, and themes themselves, ask questions, and broaden their horizons, which is what reading is supposed to encourage.

One of the little books I discovered on the bedroom shelf was “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” a charming list of 511 bits of advice by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., to his son when he left home to attend college. Some of the 1991 advice is dated – email, computers, and cell phones were not ubiquitous as they are today — but much of Brown’s fatherly advice stands the test of time. He begins with simple things – develop a firm handshake, look others in the eye, say “please” and “thank you” a lot. Other advice was more profound: read the Bill of Rights, for example. These days, there are lots of references to the First and Second Amendments, and recently to the Fifth Amendment (former President Trump famously “took the Fifth” more than 400 times in a recent probe). The Bill of Rights, authored by Fairfax County’s own George Mason, is a fairly simple document, and often misinterpreted, so it deserves a re-reading beyond what you may remember from civics class.

Brown also advised his son to “be punctual and insist on it in others.” He probably was thinking of classes, meals, and dates where tardiness might affect a few. In today’s virtual world, lack of punctuality can affect dozens of individuals, so a five-minute delay could add up to an hour of wasted time, time that you never get back! Another bon mot was “Don’t discuss business in elevators. You never know who might overhear you.” Elevators aren’t the problem these days; cell phones are. On the street, in the grocery store, and just about everywhere else, private business is being discussed via speakerphone, seemingly without a care as to anyone in earshot. Too much information, to be sure!

“Praise in public; criticize in private” might work for family and close friends, but not for public figures. In her newsletter reports from the Virginia General Assembly, Delegate Kaye Kory states that “Fairfax County has refused to install ‘Stop for Pedestrian’ signs” on county roadways, and she has cosponsored legislation that authorizes localities to install such signs. This is a favorable safety measure to protect pedestrians, and I hope the legislation is enacted. Certainly, safety of pedestrians and cyclists is a concern I share with Delegate Kory, but county staff confirm that Fairfax County has not refused to install the signs; the Virginia Department of Transportation, the state agency that maintains most roadways in Fairfax County, currently prohibits the county from placing those signs on the streets. Let’s be clear: it’s not refusal by the county, it’s prohibition by the Commonwealth that’s the culprit. Although parts of the original 1991 edition of Brown’s handy list are dated, there is no need to rewrite it. I imagine, though, that many parents could write their own little instruction book for their children, college-bound or not. Brown’s final instruction was “call your mother.” That might be a good place to begin!

 Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Larceny, S Maple Ave, February 13, 9:54 AM, unknown suspect(s) removed a red Salsa Vaya bicycle with accessories, including a lock, from a secured garage. Bike last seen September 30, 2022.

Trespass, S Maple Ave, February 15, 5:43 AM, a male, 43, of no fixed address, was issued a summons for trespass

Larceny from Building/Fraud, W Broad St, February 15,

2:19 PM, unknown suspects entered a business, stole items of value belonging to an employee, and proceeded to use them fraudulently. Suspects described as: a male wearing a black jacket and light colored pants and a female wearing a black sweater and dark colored leather pants.

Trespass, W Broad St, February 15, 4:16 PM, a male, 31, of no fixed address, was issued a summons for trespass.

Trespass, W Broad St, February 15, 6:47 PM, a male, 65, of no fixed address, was issued a summons for trespass.

Trespass, Wilson Blvd, February 17, 5:44 PM, a female, 37, of no fixed address, was arrested for trespass.