Falls Church News-PressOct 16

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Following Tuesday’s court decision to dismiss the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s case against the breakaway Truro Church, supporters of the “Continuing Episcopalians” in the City of Falls Church told the News-Press that they remain hopeful, given the major historical and judicial differences between The Falls Church case

and Truro, that the court will rule differently for them. Robin Fetsch, a member of The Falls Church Continuing Episcopalians, which does not recognize the decision of many Falls Church congregants to leave the Episcopal Diocese and join the Anglican Church of Nigeria, said that if the presiding judge, Randy Bellows, does not decide in favor of the diocese, they will appeal. Judge Bellows convened

the court session at 10 a.m. Wednesday to hear the opening arguments and initial testimonies from The Falls Church Anglicans and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. In the latest courtroom battle, the diocese said that The Falls Church Anglican trustees do not have rights to the church property. Attorneys for the diocese argued that there is a deed

It was scene unlike no other in memory for the City of Falls Church. On a pleasant fall day yesterday, approaching the Community Center at 10 a.m., swarms of people were seen streaming out of City Hall and walking over to the center. Others were moving from the parking lot. For the taxpaying citizens of Falls Church, these 200 people represented the planning, zoning, inspection, finance, street maintenance, water utility, arborist and many other functions that make the City’s 2.2 square miles work every day. With City Hall officially shut down for an hour, they gathered on folding chairs on the cushioned gym floor of the Community Center, and were quiet and attentive as City Manager Wyatt Shields stood to greet them all. Never before had the entire workforce of the City been pulled together like this, apart from a celebration, to hear some sobering words about where the City is heading in the face of the continued, cascading economic crisis gripping the region, nation and globe. The morning’s headlines in the Washington Post reported that neighboring Fairfax County is planning, facing a $43 million revenue shortfall in the current year, a one-day furlough of all county employees. Another headline reported that Prince George’s County in Maryland is planning furloughs of two weeks for its employees. Shields opened his remarks by saying there is good news. “There will be no reductions in force or pay cuts this year,” he

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Falls Church News-PressOct 16 by Falls Church News-Press - Issuu