November 2 – 8, 2017
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOUN D ED 1991 • VOL. X X V I I NO. 37
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The City of Falls Church is currently renovating the Cherry Hill Park playground and intends to re-open the site right in time for the winter holiday season this December. New features will serve older and younger children SEE PAGE 8
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Frantic Final Weekend Before Nov. 7 Election Looms Statewide & in F.C. H�������� �� ��� L����� C���
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Former secretary of state and Democratic party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be at the Barnes & Noble at Seven Corners shopping center tomorrow to sign copies of her memoir about the 2016 presidential election, titled, What Happened
was a sweet resolution. “I’m very glad the school board made the right choice and they were finally able to come to a real compromise,” Nebal Maysaud, a 2013 Stuart alumnus, said. “People can embody ideas and the [motion] was specific in that this is an idea shared among Louis Mendez, Justice Thurgood Marshall and Barbara Rose Johns.” Stephen Spitz, an advocate for the name change and the ear-
There’s one final, frenetic weekend to go before the most important election in the U.S. this year. All Virginians, including residents of the City of Falls Church, are being called to weigh in at ballot boxes next Tuesday for the first time since the presidential election of a year ago. Virginia and New Jersey are the only states in the U.S. with elections next week, and Virginia’s is the only one involving serious challenges – for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The whole nation will be watching to see how voter sentiment has been impacted in the year since the election of Donald Trump. While that impact will be reflected mostly in the statewide races, there are races for state delegate seats all around the commonwealth, and the one indicator already established is that there have never been so many contested elections, due mostly to an upsurge in candidates qualifying to run as Democrats all over historically and predominantly Republican rural areas of the state. This election also hits right in the lap of Falls Church, not just in terms of the statewide races, but for majorities on both its City Council and School Board, and perhaps as the most impactful item, a school bond referendum that will either pass or fail with a “Yes” or a “No” vote. A final debate of F.C. School Board members was slated to after press time last night, and in an 11th hour development, F.C. Mayor David Tarter and School Board vicechair Phil Reitinger issued a joint statement urging a “Yes” vote on
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SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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When politics is used as a cure for spiritual and social loneliness, it’s harder to win people over with policy or philosophical arguments. Everything is shaped on a deeper level, through the parables, fables and myths that our most fundamental groups use to define themselves. SEE PAGE 14
M���� F������� L���� F����� S������� G��� George Mason Mustang football lost for the fourth consecutive week to powerhouse Clarke County High School, 42-7, bringing their record to 5-4. SEE SPORTS, PAGE 17
INDEX
Editorial................... 6 Letters..................... 6 News & Notes 10–11 Comment ...........12-14 Calendar ......... 18–19
Sports .................17 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........21 Business News ...22 Critter Corner......22 Classified Ads .....23
School Referendum Endorsement Issued By Tarter, Reitinger
A PLETHORA of Trick-or-Treaters blanketed Falls Church Tuesday night, with costumes ranging from playful to downright scary. Generous City residents deserve kudos, but the parents enduring late-night sugar highs are clearly the real heroes. (P����: N���-P����)
School Board Decides on ‘Justice High’ as J.E.B. Stuart’s New Name BY MATT DELANEY
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
The Fairfax County School Board concluded the two and a half year name change process of J.E.B Stuart High School on Oct. 26 when the board voted 7-4 in favor of renaming Stuart to Justice High School by no later than the start of the 2019-20 school year. The motion looks to get the ball rolling soon by prompting Superintendent Dr. Scott Brabrand to implement a name-change plan by Dec. 14.
Mason district representative Sandy Evans, who authored the motion, suggested the name “Justice” as a catch-all term that would honor the efforts of civil rights activist Barbara Rose Johns, renowned attorney Justice Thurgood Marshall and local war hero Col. Louis G. Mendez, Jr., who received the second, third and fifth most votes, respectively, in a community poll conducted in September. For a small, but dedicated crowd that hung around during the nearly fivehour agenda item, the victory