The Wondrous Rain On Our Parade

Yes, it’s true. For the first time in over three decades, the annual Falls Church Memorial Day Parade and Festival, the biggest event of the year in the Little City, got rained upon, and heavily. As photos from the event by Gary Mester in this edition document, it wasn’t just a sprinkle. There were more than one heavy downpours that got everyone plenty wet. But, on the other hand, the temperature was mild, unlike some real roasters in the past, including just last year.

Folks can judge for themselves when the video of the parade gets edited and prepared for repeat showings on the Falls Church Cable Access channels (11 for Cox, 31 for Verizon and 2 for RCN). But trust us, Mother Nature, and not the South Jersey Shore Mermaid, Bolivian dancers or the Shriner putt-putts was the headliner item in this year’s parade. Mother Nature even eclipsed Harry Shovlin’s moving annual memorial service in front of the Community Center, as it was completed before the rains came around 2 p.m.

And so be it. The heavy rain did not diminish one iota of the amazing spectacle of this special day. If anything, it was made more memorable by the intervention from the heavens. Nobody drowned. Nobody melted.

For our soaked owner/editor, riding in the FCNP’s signature forest green Mustang convertible with managing editor Nick Gatz, his daughter, Emmy, and writer Charlie Clark, it was reminiscent of the summer of 1991. Only months into this newspaper’s first year, on the spur of the moment, he and Danny O’Brien decided on a quick road trip to Manhattan for one of the famous Concerts on the Lawn in Central Park featuring Luciano Pavarotti. After Pavarotti’s first song, there was a lightning and a great clap in the skies, and an unrelenting gushing thunderstorm proceeded to wash out the event, entirely. Thousands of folks who’d laid out picnics to watch had to flee the torrent, and after an hour the concert was called off. But to our heroes, the whole thing was a blast. They sat as others fled and only long after it was postponed did they make their way to the car with a long, wet, happy drive home.

For our team this year, including Kylee Toland, Brian Reach and intern Catherine Kane manning the FCNP booth, it was another wonderful occasion to happily interact directly with many of our readers, including tons of little ones probably a season or two from being able to read the paper for themselves.

We are reminded of the great hit song from the Woodstock festival of 1969, when Melanie Salka became an overnight star with her rendering of “Lay Down, Candles in the Rain,” a classic homage to the rain that not only ceased to deter that historic concert, but more, in fact, blessed it from on high as a great inflection point for peace and beautiful music in that, our nation’s troubled era.

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Editor, Sudan has experienced severe human rights abuses against civilians and conflict escalated again in February, leading to fighting with heavy weaponry in April. A beloved community member (and U.S. citizen) has been trying to get his family here from Sudan. His wife and three children had interviews in December resulting in visas for all but his seven-year-old. A group of community members has been trying to help rectify what may be an oversight, which is severely impacting this family enduring civil war, avoidable separation from their father, and increased expenses.

The most recent communication from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo (5/14) states: “Before issuing any visa, we must ensure that applicants do not pose a security risk to the United States...” The applicant in question is a seven-year-old boy and his father is a U.S. citizen. The response was to a congressional office, leaving us to wonder if the sender of this boilerplate message appreciated the fact that the inquiry is about a child.

Efforts with immigration lawyers and congressional offices have been unsuccessful, and we are in the 11th hour. If only the U.S. Embassy in Cairo would pick up the paper and approve this seven-year-old child so that he can join his family.

Immigration lawyers advise the mother to come to the U.S., get her passport stamped and return. But would any of us consider leaving our seven-yearold child in a war-torn country to travel halfway across the world?

Their visas expire the first week of June and it takes two days to reach Egypt and a flight to the United States. A seven-year-old is not a security risk and we can only assume that this is an oversight. If anyone in our community can help, please let us know: helpforsudan2023@gmail.com.

Sonia Bolanos, Kari Forsee & Samantha Fiddy

Editor,

Youngkin says, “Ronald Reagan changed lives.” But he forgets to mention Ronald Reagan also changed the national debt . . . in a bad way. He was the first President to boost the national debt to a trillion dollars, setting a precedent for big government spending for the next 40 years and landing us in the debt ceiling mess we are in today at 31 trillion dollars.

The Republican formula for killing America with an insurmountable debt is ever more defense spending. But why do we need more defense spending when we already spend more than the next ten countries combined? And we have the two largest oceans in the world to protect us against invaders?

Only Central and South America have invaded us lately, and not with guns. Republicans are getting rich on defense spending we don’t need, especially after revelations in the Wall Street Journal that Congresspersons and federal regulators are going wild on insider trading.

Virginians need to wake up to Youngkin.

Kimball Shinkoskey Editor,

I am writing to express my support for legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs). ADUs are small, independent living units that can be built on the lot of a single-family home. They can be used by homeowners to provide housing for family members, friends, or renters. ADUs are a key tool for addressing our housing crisis. They can help to increase the supply of affordable housing, reduce the cost of homeownership for families, and allow seniors to age in place. This is an important issue to me personally as my father is nearly 70 and currently lives in a single-family home. He is in good health, but he is starting to need some help with things like snow removal. He would like to downsize, but he can’t afford to move into a smaller home closer to me since the price of rowhomes and the like has gone up so much in the last decade. If Falls Church residents were legally allowed to build ADUs on their property my father would be able to live closer to me, age in place, and still keep his independence for years to come. I urge you to support ADUs and help to make our community a more affordable and fair place to live.

Joseph Schiarizzi