November 10 – 16, 2016
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d ed 1991 • Vol. X X V I No. 38
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Police Arrest Suspect in 2 F.C. Armed Robberies
A suspect in the armed robberies of a convenience store and a gas station in Falls Church was apprehended after a brief standoff at the Stratford Motor Lodge involving multiple police units including a SWAT team and helicopters last Friday. See page 5
In Trump Shocker Election, F.C. Voters Approve Library Bonds Beyer Re-Elected, Dems At F.C.’s State Theatre
Cheer Clinton’s Va. Win
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
into the City in time for a public referendum next fall, the decision was made to put the nitty-gritty work to a smaller group of two appointees each from each body with an alternate as well. The smaller group will meeting every week, or more often if needed, to advance the complicated process of figuring out what kind of renovation or replacement of George Mason High School should go onto the site, including an expansion of the adjacent Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School.
At 10 p.m. Tuesday night, with 400 Northern Virginia Democratic party faithful packed into Falls Church’s State Theatre, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe took the stage to announce that Virginia had gone for Hillary Clinton in the national presidential election. It allowed the crowd, sullen as Clinton’s rival Donald Trump began knocking off Democratic stronghold states, to explode, followed by one of McAuliffe’s trademark rousing speeches. “Virginia is the first battleground state to go blue,” he exclaimed, and promised “when the night is over, we will win it all.” While that promise continued to fade as more results from around the U.S. came in, it was not until 40 minutes later that CNN officially projected Virginia for Clinton and her running mate, Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. McAuliffe was joined by Falls Church Native Son Rep. Don Beyer, in an easy reelection, and follow re-elected congressmen Gerry Connolly of Fairfax and Bobby Scott of Norfolk. Not present but elected for the first time that night as another Virginia Democratic congressman was Donald McEachin from Richmond, (U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock in the nearby 10th District won over Democratic challenger LuAnn Bennett, 56 to 42 percent.) While the City of Falls Church was happy to host a rousing celebration of a statewide win for Clinton at its largest live music venue, it also had its own reasons to take solace in the election, as 85.38 percent of the City’s active
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Cafe Kindred Officially Debuts New Bar Friday
Cafe Kindred’s new bar-inside-acoffee-shop dubbed Townshend Bar will make its formal debut with a grand opening Friday at Northgate. See page 23
Frank Bruni: Trump’s Alarming Success
Just days ago I was in Ohio. I was talking to Republicans, and I kept hearing: Donald Trump is throwing this election away. See page 14
Press Pass with Big Head Blues Club
Big Head Blues Club, the spinoff blues project of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, recently released the second edition of its series of albums paying tribute to blues music and musicians. See page 25
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.12-13 Comment......... 14-17 Sports..................18 Calendar.........20-21
Food & Dining......23 Business News....27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
VOTERS CHECK-IN at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School on Tuesday, one of three polling locations in the City of Falls Church. (Photo: Drew Costley/News-Press)
Campus Land Task Force Assembles Needed Data by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Shoe-horned into a small conference room at the Falls Church School Board offices yesterday morning, the West End Campus Process Steering Committee convened for its first meeting of a very aggressive schedule. Jammed into the room were City Manager Wyatt Shields, Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones, three members of the City’s Planning Division, Link Strategic Partners’ Tim Wisniewski, the convener of the meeting, three
members of the City Council – Marybeth Connelly, Letty Hardi and Karen Oliver – two members of the School Board – Erin Gill and John Lawrence – and a couple people hooked up by phone including School Board chair Justin Castillo. The idea of the task force came out of last week’s joint Falls Church City Council and School Board meeting, all 14 members plus staff, when the group suffered through a second unwieldy and unproductive meeting. Given the pressure to design plans for the 39 acre site recently annexed