November 1 – 7, 2018
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d e d 1991 • Vol. XXVIII No. 37
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Former F.C. Planner Needs Liver Transplant
Loren Bruce, for six years a planner working in the City of Falls Church’s Office of Planning, has been disabled since the first of the year by a failing liver, and is actively seeking a donor. See News Briefs, page 9
Urban Land Institute To Mull F.C.’s East End
In Election Tuesday, Democrats Look To Score Big in Virginia, Nationwide Women Candidates Competitive in Four Virginia House Runs
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
A “technical assistance panel” of the Urban Land Institute will convene in the City in two weeks to review the potential for the City’s east side, inclusive of the Eden Center. See page 5
Falls Church Coach is A ‘Hometown Hero’
Marshall High School’s Darrell General is one of five finalists in FloTrack’s second annual “Hometown Hero” competition among high school coaches for a chance at $25,000. See page 15
Mustangs Seek to End Season on High note
Six straight losses still leaves George Mason High School’s football team with a bad taste in its mouth despite an admirable effort in a 35-16 defeat to Clarke County High School last Friday. See Sports, page 16
Index
Editorial................ 6 Letters............6, 14 News & Notes.10–11 Crime Report.......12 Comment...... 12–13 Sports................ 16
Calendar...... 18–19 Classified Ads.... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword......... 21 Critter Corner..... 22 Business News.. 23
THE MAIN SANCTUARY at Falls Church’s Temple Rodef Shalom was packed, as were overflow rooms around it, at Tuesday’s service of remembrance and solidarity in the wake of the killing of 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue last weekend. (Photo: News-Press)
Overflow Crowd Fills Temple Rodef Shalom After 11 Slain in Pittsburgh by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Overflow spaces were overflowing throughout Falls Church’s large Temple Rodef Shalom Tuesday night, including the main sanctuary, in response to last Saturday’s hate-inspired deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the U.S. in Pittsburgh when 11 worshipers at a temple there were gunned down by yet another overtly antisemitic white male. The mood in Tuesday’s service was one of a profound
sadness, on the one hand, and solidarity of persons from all walks of life in this region, on the other. It was considered futile to estimate the crowd, but some put it at above 3,000. The temple’s chief rabbi, Amy Schwartzman, led a moving service for an amazing array of diversity and compassion, led by the region’s most influential political and religious leaders. There was U.S. Senator Mark Warner, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, Fairfax County board chair Sharon Bulova and board member John Foust,
State Del. Marcus Simon and legislative colleagues Adam Ebbin, Mark Levine and Eileen FillerCorn, there were Falls Church City Council members Letty Hardi and Marybeth Connelly. There were a powerful array of religious and moral leaders, representing Sikhs, Lutherans, Muslims, Unitarians, Presbyterians, Episcopalians (including the Rev. John Ohmer, rector of the Falls Church Episcopal Church), Baptists, Mormons, Baha’is, Moms Demand Action and the Anti-Defamation League.
“It’s been great travelling all over the region running into people like you from my 8th district in Northern Virginia out canvassing for Democrats in places likes Fredericksburg, Charlottesville and Loudoun County,” U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., whose district represents the City of Falls Church, said at an energetic rally Sunday night. Beyer referred to the vigorous campaigning for the Nov. 6 midterm election coming up in less than a week now. Beyer, and Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, both Democratic incumbents considered “safe” for re-election Tuesday, raised the enthusiasm level even higher Sunday, especially in the wake of the day’s horrible news of the murders at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Beyer described Kaine as the polar opposite of President Trump for his “character and goodness” and affirmation that “love is the fabric of the universe.” And Kaine was moved deeply, his emotions written on his face, as he spoke of the synagogue killings in Pittsburgh, linking them to the mass killings at Virginia Tech in 2007 when he was governor, and condemning those who “stoke division, anger and violence with trash talk.” “We have to be focused in this last week for the most important election of our lifetimes,” he said. “We need a Blue Wave of
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