December 24 - 30, 2015
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. XXV No. 44
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Simon Pushing for Student Loan Relief
Del. Marcus Simon has joined with State Sen. Janet Howell to sponsor legislation to address what they’ve called a “student debt crisis.” See News Briefs, page 8
Smiling OK Now for Virginia License Pics
The commissioner of the state Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week the official change of its policy in place since 2009 against showing pearly whites in its license mug shots.
Fairfax School Board Unanimous in Vote to OK School Name Changes Stage Now Set for Push to Rid Use of Pro-Slavery Names
by Drew Costley
Falls Church News-Press
don’t hang there all night or you’ll miss the music and fun. Attendees can catch a free ride on one of the shuttles, which will run every 30 minutes from the East Falls Church Metro station from 7 p.m. – 1 a.m. Barb Cram is the city volunteer extraordinaire and Watch Night chief organizer who has worked on the program every year since its beginning in 1998. She’s a big promoter of Sudden M Pac, a band whose leader, Andre
The Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously to revise its name changing policy at its school board meeting last Thursday, held at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church. The vote to change the school system’s naming policy, which now allows the school board to consider a change in the name of a school or facility where some other compelling need exists, was a necessary step in a concerted community effort to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School. There is a compelling need, according to many members of the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, to change the name of Stuart. The school was named after a Confederate general when it opened in 1959, some say as a last gasp effort to intimidate black students poised to integrate the school at the end of Virginia’s massive resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka. Several members of the local community who are organizing to get the school board to change the name of Stuart were present at the meeting, some of whom urged the school board to change its naming policy. Lidia Amanuel, a 17-year-old senior at Stuart and one of five students who founded the Students for Change organization to fight for a name change earlier this year, kicked off the public comment period of the meeting. “We’re all really excited,” Amanuel said moments after speaking to the school board.
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See News Briefs, page 8
Paul Krugman: The Donald & The Deciders
Almost six months have passed since Donald Trump overtook Jeb Bush in polls of Republican voters. At the time, most pundits dismissed the Trump phenomenon as a blip, predicting that voters would soon return to more conventional candidates. See page 14
Press Pass with Good for the Jews
Rob Tannenbaum of Good for the Jews and his bandmate David Fagin are coming through to Jammin’ Java in Vienna on Thursday, Dec. 24 for their annual pre-Christmas show. See page 25
FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS Dan Storck (left) and Sandy Evans listen to comments of one of the other school board members at the meeting on Thursday, Dec. 17. Evans made a motion that the school board consider changing its naming policy, which is a necessary step in the process of renaming J.E.B. Stuart High School. (Photo: Drew Costley/News-Press)
Watch Night on New Year’s Eve in F.C. Will Be Warmer
by Patricia Leslie
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.12-13 Comment......... 14-17 Calendar.........20-21 Business News....22
Food & Dining......23 Sports..................24 Classified Ads .....26 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
Get out your dancing shoes! It’s almost time to rock and roll on New Year’s Eve in Falls Church to the tunes of nine bands who’ll play everything from big band sounds to Motown and Marvin Gaye to Steely Dan and Crowded House. Puppeteers, balloon artists, obstacle courses, indoor and outdoor events, tours, karaoke, interactive activities, food trucks and lots more will fill four blocks
starting on the 100 block at West Broad Street from 7 p.m. – midnight in celebration of Little City’s Watch Night New Year’s Eve party. The best part: it’s all free. It’s also car free. And, to counter the cold weather (although the latest forecast is that it will be 56 degrees that day dropping to the upper 30s that night), there will be heat. Who needs heat, though, when there will be dancing? Strategically placed fireplaces and fire pits will dispense warmth, but