February 16 – 22, 2017
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. 52
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. Assessments Up 3.6% Overall
Single family home values grew by an average of 3.2 percent in the last year, but townhouses by only 1.43 and residential condos by only 0.93 percent, the City of Falls Church announced Tuesday. See News Briefs, page 9
School Board Delays Final Budget
With explosive enrollment growth this year, the School Board is confronted with asking for significantly more than its $1.7 million constraint, and it put off until next Tuesday its final decisions on what its ask to the general government will be.
F.C. Council Resolves to Form New Economic Group for Campus Site Role: Finding How to Maximize $ to Offset New School Costs
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
See page 5
Frank Bruni: Trump Deserves Flynn
Michael Flynn’s fall was foreordained, predictable by anyone with the time, patience and fundamental seriousness to take an unblinking look at his past, brimming as it was with accusations of shoddy stewardship and instances of rashness. See page 14
Mustang Girls Win Conference 35 Title
The George Mason High School girls basketball teams claimed its second consecutive Conference 35 crown, the first time the school has pulled that off since winning five straight from 2009-2013. See Sports, page 19
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters................6, 8 News & Notes.10–11 Comment........ 14–17 Sports..................19 Calendar........20–21
Food & Dining......23 Classified Ads......27 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner.......30
A NEW PLAQUE honoring the role slaves played in building the historic Falls Church Episcopal church was unveiled last Saturday, Feb. 11, during a dedication ceremony. (Photo: Shaun van Steyn)
Historic Falls Church Honors ‘Enslaved People’ With Plaque
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
In a solemn ceremony held in the context of Black History Month in Falls Church Saturday afternoon, scores of citizens and church members participated in the dedication of a new plaque embedded into the brick walkway at the entrance to the historic Falls Church Episcopal honoring “enslaved persons.” The plaque’s words, “With gratitude and repentance we honor the enslaved people whose skill and labor helped build The Falls Church,” summed up the combined themes of recognition and
repentance for the role of the slaves who did the manual labor to build the historic brick building in the mid-1700s. The Rev. John Ohmer led a brief dedication ceremony. His prayer intoned, “Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done, remembering especially on this day the evil of slavery: for our past and current blindness to human need and suffering, our indifference to injustice and cruelty, our exploitation of other people, our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us: for those things done and left undone.” His dedication was preceded
by remarks from Falls Church’s Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation founders Nikki Graves and Edwin B. Henderson, and an oral history presentation with members of the foundation and others dressed in the garb of the 18th century and Civil War telling the story of the founding of the church (George Washington was a vestryman of the Alexandria church which built the Falls Church as a mission extension) and of John Read, who was buried on the church grounds after being singled out for execution by Confederate forces for his role in educating slaves in the waning days of the Civil War.
The Falls Church City Council was able to move beyond some apparently stubborn differences on what kind and extent of economic development should be on the 39-acre George Mason High School campus site when it voted unanimously Monday night to adopt a resolution to create a working group to explore the subject. Mayor David Tarter was the most adamant among his colleagues in insisting that no artificial parameters be set around options for economic development if and when the new working group elicits ideas from the development community on the highest and best uses they can devise for the site. He ran afoul of some colleagues by suggesting the 10 acres of the site not be limited to the conversations to date placing them at the intersection of W. Broad and Haycock Road. “The question of location (of the economic development part) bears discussion,” he said, noting that developer interests would be the best to explore the question of “what is the most advantageous location.” Others on the Council, such as Karen Oliver, protested, saying that insofar as all the deliberations to date on how to proceed on the site have assumed the W. Broad and Haycock corner for the development component, it should remain that way going forward. But Tarter persisted, in the context of emphatic comments by Councilman Phil Duncan, who
Continued on Page 11