Falls Church News-Press 6-11-2020

June 11 – 17, 2020

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Protests Spur Pledge S��������� For Police Reform 3 Major Rallies In F.C. City Drive Council Action

BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

Following three powerful days where thousands of City of Falls Church residents and friends took to the streets of the Little City to join protests against police violence in cities large and small all across the U.S., the Falls Church City Council voted unanimously Monday night to authorize F.C. Mayor David Tarter to sign former President Barack Obama’s “Mayor’s Pledge,” which he did Tuesday.

A march down Park Avenue last Thursday was organized by two George Mason High School students, Sarah Ettinger and Ariana Hameed, and it drew well over 1,000. A rally in Cherry Hill Park Sunday afternoon drew over 500 organized by two former Mason High students, Tara Guido and Loreto Martinez, and featured remarks by F.C. Mayor David Tarter. Then at a rally hosted by the Tinner Hill Foundation at the Tinner Hill Monument on South Washington Street the unveiling of a black sign reading “Another Lynching Today,” featured U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. The Obama pledge adopted by the F.C. Council Monday calls for mayors, city councils and police oversight bodies all across the

U.S. to address police use of force policies.

“With the full support of our City Council and Police Chief, I am pleased to join mayors nationwide to review our police department’s use of force policies in an open and transparent manner with our community,” said Mayor Tarter in a statement Tuesday.

“The use of force is the most extreme and solemn power that any government has. It can never be taken lightly. Because of that we are moving to make sure that our community and elected officials have a greater say in, and oversight of, our procedures and policies to ensure that they are fairly and evenhandedly applied to all. We will be reaching out to the community to seek those interested in joining in this review.”

According to the Obama Pledge website, “The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the loss of far too many Black lives to list, have left our nation anguished and outraged. More than 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America, and Black people are three times more likely to be killed than White people. We can take steps and make reforms to combat police violence and

Continued on Page 4

A TRIFECTA OF PROTESTS came through Falls Church this past weekend. Check out the photo gallery on pages 16 & 17 for more scenes from the demonstrations. (P����: J. M������ W�����)

F.C. School Board Begins Talks On Possible Name Changes

BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

In the context of two weeks of unrelenting mass protests in cities big and small all across the U.S. in the wake of the video-taped mur-

der by a white uniformed police officer of the unarmed AfricanAmerican George Floyd, including three relatively large demonstrations in the City of Falls Church, the Falls Church City’s Public School Board is faced with

calls to change the names of one or both of its five schools that are currently named for men who were slaveholders at the time of the nation’s founding.

Petitions are currently swirling around the Little City, with claims of over 350 signatures presented at Tuesday night’s School Board meeting, and scores of public comments have been submitted to

Continued on Page 5

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Northam: N. Va. to Enter ‘Phase 2’ Tomorrow

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SEE OBITUARY, PAGE 4

SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9

SEE COLUMN, PAGE 15

In the family’s official obituary published this week for the longtime Falls Church City activist and volunteer, the Crams wish to express their gratitude to her friends in Falls Church for the outpouring of love shown to Barb during her illness and passing.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that Northern Virginia, including the City of Falls Church, and Richmond will enter ‘Phase 2’ of the plan for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic response this Friday, June 12.

It was a cinch to find parking at short-term Lot B and walk to the beautiful park that hosts the reconstructed ruins of Abingdon Plantation.

INDEX Editorial............................................... 6 Letters................................................. 6 News & Notes............................10–11 Comment ............................... 7,14–15 Crime Report .................................... 14 Calendar ........................................... 18 Business News ................................. 19 Classified Ads ................................... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 21 Critter Corner.................................... 22

PAGE 2 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

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PAGE 4 | JUNE 11 – 17, 2020

City Council

Continued from Page 1

systemic racism within law enforcement. Together, we can work to redefine public safety so that it recognizes the humanity and dignity of every person.

Mayors and other City Council officials are uniquely positioned to introduce common-sense limits on police use of force.”

The pledge includes a commitment to: 1. Review police use of force policies; 2. Engage communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in a review; 3. Report the findings of a review to the community and seek feedback; 4.

Reform the community’s police use of force policies.

At Monday’s Council meeting, Falls Church Police Chief Mary Gavin reiterated the extensive remarks she made before in internal City all-hands staff meeting last week where she called the death of Floyd “an intentional and barbaric act” and she said, “there is nothing more sacred in police work than the trust of the community in which we serve.”

That full statement was published in last week’s News-Press.

Gavin said she was heartened by the turnout at last weekend’s events in Falls Church, and said she was especially impressed by the strong turnout of young people at the events.

She said “they are our future and met with a group of George Mason High School students as well as a contingent from the American Civil Liberties Union in the course of the current wave of activism.

She recalled the opportunity that she had in 2014 to visit the White House where a group of law enforcement leaders met with President Obama for the unveiling of a report of Obama’s White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The task force was charged with developing recommendations on ways to build greater trust between law enforcement and citizens in the wake of the police killing incident in Ferguson, Missouri.

The co-author of that report, Gavin said, was a friend, a former City of Falls Church resident, in fact. Laurie O. Robinson, now of the Police Foundation, used to live on Hillwood Avenue and was co-chair of Obama’s task force.

Another seminal influence on Chief Gavin, she said, has been Falls Church’s Human Resources

ONE OF THE SPEAKERS talks to a crowd of over a hundred at Sunday’s demonstration in Cherry Hill Park. This gathering, as well as others that took place in and around the City of Falls Church, sprouted up in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis. (Photos: J. Michael Whalen)

Director Steve Mason who was also in the meeting Monday.

She said the department’s emphasis on “deescalation” and the development of trust may benefit from a citizen review board, and when asked about police in the F.C. department wearing body cameras, she said her department is in the process of revamping its system but is constrained by cost factors, although she affirmed that body cameras may be federally mandated in legislation coming out of Congress in the coming period.

The Council took under advisement the suggestion of citizen Josh Shokur, a member of the Housing Commission, who said that in his lifelong residency in the City he’s gotten to know almost no one with the police department. He suggested that ways for members of the community to meet and converse with members of the police department may be helpful.

Council member Letty Hardi said she “has the utmost respect for the professionalism and preventative approach” of the F.C. police department, suggesting policies to adopt could include a civilian review board, eschewing purchase of military surplus equipment (reportedly only $800 of City money has ever been spent this way), limited use of civil forfeitures, competitive City expenditures on police as a percentage of total costs numbers, and a clear mandate for officers to intervene in the event of excessive action by another officer.

Hardi emphasized that “with 400 years of inequality, it will be

a challenge to dismantle systemic racism.”

Mayor Tarter said he was “heartened to have the City’s leadership speaking with one voice” on the matter.

In his remarks at Sunday’s Cherry Hill Park rally, Tarter said the park was the site of a family home of William Blaisdell.

“In 1861, Mr. Blaisdell faced an agonizing decision. Like his neighbors and many other citizens around the state, he was asked to vote for or against secession from the Union. In an act of defiance, Blaisdell was one of the few who voted against secession.

It was a small act, maybe, but one worth remembering. In that environment, simply voting your conscience could have cost you your life.”

He went on to describe how, in the Jim Crow era of racist reaction, “Joseph Tinner, a local quarryman, and E. B. Henderson, a physical education teacher, founded the first rural branch of the N.A.A.C.P. in America.”

He added, “I welcome you to Cherry Hill Park which can be seen as a place of resistance, of moral courage and it is fitting that we are gathered here today to take a stand against more recent injustice.”

He concluded, “We’re all here to raise our voices and say this country belongs to us all, and there is no one in it more deserving of decency and justice than any other...Democracy is hard work, but it works, and the good news is we have an election in just a few months. If you are angry, vote in November.”

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Documenting the Life of Barb Cram, 1947-2020 Barbara Byron Cram of Falls Church passed away peacefully on June 2, 2020 surrounded by her family.

Our family wishes to express our profound gratitude to her friends in Falls Church for the outpouring of love shown to Barb during her illness and passing. She joins beloved departed: Father Harry, mother Jeanne, and brother Harry.

She is survived by: Husband Steve; children Matt, Stacy, Julie, Steve, and Buck; siblings Ron, Elizabeth, and Greg; and grandchildren Grant, Bryce, Loudon, Morgan, Samantha, Reagan, and McKay. Born February 21, 1947 in the Washington D.C. area, Barb moved to Falls Church in 1978.

Her most recognizable and endearing quality was that she invested herself so deeply in her family, her community, and her church.

Barb’s achievements include: a career in politics which she cherished and made lifetime friendships; building Greenscape, a successful Falls Church business that promoted beauty and creativity; contributing to numerous Falls Church civic organizations, including the FC Public Private Partnership, the Downtown Merchants Association, the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce, the Tricentennial Committee, the 400th Anniversary of America, the Watch Night Falls Church Celebration, and Falls Church Arts; Barb’s creativity was endless and her landscaping style won numerous awards. She also

BARBARA CRAM felt honored to have her garden included on The Historic Gardens of Virginia tour.

Barb’s recognitions include: “Pillar of the Community,” awarded by the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce; “Spirit of Falls Church,” awarded by the Village Preservation and Improvement Society; and “Grand Marshall,” Falls Church 2017 Memorial Day Parade.

To honor Barb’s memory, our family would ask that you live, as she has, to serve others, expecting nothing in return.

A private burial was held on June 5, 2020 at Oakwood Cemetery in Falls Church. In lieu of flowers, we’d ask that you volunteer, plant a tree, or make a contribution to the organization that meant so much to her — Falls Church Arts.

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Level of Interest in New School Names Subject of Upcoming Board Meeting Continued from Page 1

the board, all of which were read into the record at Tuesday’s meeting, reflecting the sustained national ferment calling for major reforms in policing and an end to systemic white supremacy.

The comments, triggered in part by a letter to the editor in last week’s News-Press and an outgrowth of the demonstrations here, took all sides of the issue of renaming George Mason High School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary.

The schools have gone by those names, both honoring Virginia-born Founding Fathers — Mason the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution and Jefferson the author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in the 1770s — since the founding of the independent Falls Church Public School System in the late 1940s.

While many of the comments

have advocated for changes, some for changing the names of both schools and others for changing only Mason, others critiqued the “well-meaning but misguided” endeavor, some citing the cost to the now financially besieged system (as impacted by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic).

The only possible alternative that came out in the public comments was Tinner, in recognition of the African-American family that was deeply involved with their Henderson family neighbors in the struggle for civil rights in the early 20th century.

Led by School Board chair Greg Anderson, the board in its online meeting Tuesday began at 10:20 p.m. to set its collective arms around the issue without coming to any decisions except that the matter would be brought up again at its scheduled work session next Tuesday.

As Trish Minson, the board’s legal counsel, reported Tuesday, there are provisions in the

School Board policy documents for selecting or changing the name of schools, in Regulation 4.26 for example, that were used when the board selected the name for its Jesse Thackrey Preschool and its Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in the last decade.

The process spelled out in that regulation calls for the board — if it chooses to move forward — to select a public committee that would be subject to all the constraints of a public body to make all its meetings public and to issue legal notices of its actions. That committee, or committees if it is determined to study the matter for two schools, would come up with a recommended five alternative names for the School Board to consider.

The board would not be required to limit its choices to those five recommendations, and only the School Board could make a final decision.

Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan told the board that the

process “could happen quickly, starting next week and possibly wrapped up by early September.”

That would be in time to present the completed new high school now under construction and slated to be completed by December, with its name, new or otherwise.

But fast tracking the idea didn’t sit well with some board members.

Board member Shawna Russell called the time table “extremely aggressive” and “not what we want” taking into account the need for community input. Board member Phil Reitinger also offered a strong resistance to the fast track, noting that, first of all, a committee would “be better at recommending what the name options may be than at whether changes should be made at all.”

He said he is troubled by the idea that an appointed committee could have such a strong influence in the matter, and said that a September decision date would have to take into account the need for public surveys on the subject that would have to have merit.

He said that two factors would have to be considered, first, a

JUNE 11 – 17, 2020 | PAGE 5

review of the contributions of or demerits attributed to Mason and Jefferson, and, second, an appreciation for how the Falls Church community feels about the matter, including students of the schools involved, themselves.

“We cannot relegate these questions to a committee,” he said.

School Board members Laura Downs and Susan Dimock both said that the financial implications of the matter have to be considered. “We have to go into this with our eyes wide open,” Downs said.

Board member Shannon Litton stressed that “student voices need to be heard” on the subject, and for that reason an outcome could not be ready

by September. Board member Lawrence Webb concurred.

Anderson said a decision on whether or not to move ahead may be sought at next week’s work session, which will also be burdened with by lengthy discussion of the details of options for a measured reopening of the schools for some summer activities and classes in the fall in line with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s guidelines laid out Tuesday.

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E D I TO R I A L

The Causes of Today’s Activism

America is entering into an era of unprecedented public ferment that we predict will not abate until there is a definite and wholesale personnel change at the White House. It is driven by four factors, at least.

First is the fact that the nation, now buoyed by the ubiquitous presence of cellphone video cameras and by a new and inspiring young generation of questioning and voting citizens, has had it “up to here” with the kinds of brutal police violence against persons of color that we all witnessed with the incredibly painful murder by a uniformed officer of George Floyd earlier this month. Systemic inequality and patterns of prejudice permeate our culture now, impacting the quality of healthcare, education and employment opportunities, much less how law enforcement is meted out.

Second is the novel coronavirus pandemic, Covid-19, that has already taken well over 100,000 lives of U.S. citizens this spring alone. Rushed efforts to undo a lot of the measures that were carefully taken to limit its spread are increasingly being ignored, threatening to cause another explosive outbreak and laying waste to all the preventative sacrifices made by the public in the last three months.

Third is the horrible and brutal performance of our president, getting worse, it seems, by the day. There seems no doubt that he has designs on a fascist dictatorship as everything about his body language, including the famous Bible incident, suggests. Now, with the aid of a complicit attorney general and key people in the congressional leadership, the threat of a major tampering with the November presidential election looms to the disenfranchisement of every American citizen, pro-Trump or not, because everyone’s right to chose will have been stripped.

Fourth is the onset of a great new depression caused in part by emergency measures taken to stem Covid-19, but guaranteed to deepen because the economy never really recovered from the Great Recession of 2008 and too many Americans were left living paycheck to paycheck (if they even have one), with half of the households unable to handle a sudden $400 expense if they had to. Along with systemic racism, systemic economic inequality threatens the future of the nation even as it is challenged to step up against growing rivalries around the globe.

Who knows what new crises may be added to this list. Surely there is global warming, one element more than others that could end life as we know it on this orb spinning through space. Weather catastrophes may loom, and the combined effect of a number of factors could lead to food shortages and famine, right here in the U.S.A. Finally, of course, there is the threat of war, a big war.

The remarkable thing about all this is that it no longer reads like some kind of apocalyptic science fiction scenario, but all these elements are really part of our “new normal.” So is today’s social ferment.

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Mason’s Worthy of School Name Due to Seminal Influence in U.S. Editor, I oppose any name change for George Mason High School. I graduated from GMHS in ‘67, my older brother in ‘65, my sister in ‘70, my youngest brother in ‘81, and my two daughters in ‘98 and in 2001.

As a history major, I find this talk of removing names of historical figures is starting to get way too politically correct. Use

this sole standard and George Washington’s name would need to be removed universally, since he was a slave owner, too. Seven other U.S. presidents were slaveholders. We recognize the accomplishments of many people, even though they had their shortcomings.

George Mason was a Virginia patriot. Once independence was declared in 1776, he was the

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principle architect of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights. In 1787, Mason, Washington, and James Madison (also a slave owner — later elected our 4th president) were Virginia delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There, Mason vigorously opposed the provision that allowed the slave trade to continue until 1808 (despite himself a slaveholder), referring to it as “disgraceful to mankind.” His further criticism of the rights given to the federal government over the people and states led to the adoption of the concepts in the Virginia’s Declaration of Rights

becoming our Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

I urge our school board to look at how George Mason University has handled the acknowledgement of George Mason as a slaveholder without going so far as to change the university’s name. It is well thought out and admirable.

Look at his full accomplishments, not just that one element of his person. It is misguided to condemn a man now for what was acceptable in his day though certainly unacceptable in ours. We learn from history, not erase it.

Letters Continued on Page 22

CO MME NT

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JUNE 11 – 17, 2020 | PAGE 7

G � � � � C � � � � � �� �� Senior Year Cut Short by Covid-19 Provides Perspective B� K��� R�������� � H���� M�����

To sum up the end of our senior year, one word comes to mind: anticlimactic.

We didn’t know on March 12 that we were living through our last day of high school, ever. We didn’t take the time to look around, to say goodbye to friends, to teachers, and to the memories that reside in the Mason halls. It was just a normal day. Our last day of virtual classes a few weeks ago was, likewise, just a normal day (at least, the new normal): Helen, for one, rolled out of bed half an hour before classes started; stared at low-resolution images of her teachers talking, with almost none of her classmates bothering to chime in, if they were “in class” at all; then closed her laptop on her high school career and went to walk the dog. There was no finality. The thought was there that her last ever high school class had just finished, but the feeling definitely wasn’t. An anticlimactic end to an anticlimactic second semester.

Our last term at Mason should have been anything but anticlimactic. It should have been the culmination of the good parts of our last 12 years in the school system, and the goodbye to the bad parts.

Even though so many of us normally love to complain how stressed school makes us or how much we dread certain classes, the reality is that Mason added a

myriad of positives to our lives that we took for granted. Our school gave us a community; we couldn’t help but bond with one another as we pulled each other out of the way of falling ceiling tiles in the hallways, or threw baby powder on each other at football games. Mason

“The struggle on our end has been �iguring out how to come to terms with the loss of our senior year.” also taught us to be ambitious and to go after our goals, whether those included the athletic titles, first places in robotics competitions, or accolades in the arts that our class brought home.

The struggle on our end has been figuring out how to come to terms with the loss of our senior year. It feels silly to be sad about losing experiences like a graduation or a soccer season when there are much more important, much more tragic, things happening in the world right now.

But there’s still that inescapable feeling of loss — of realizing that you’ll never get to spend one last free period bantering with

your computer science teacher, or looking around the sunny senior courtyard and edging away from the resident Mason geese.

But despite that feeling of loss, the reality is that the Class of 2020 is living through one of the most pivotal years in recent history. As the two of us were delivering our respective valedictory speeches a couple weeks ago, our messages were still centered on the Covid pandemic. The recent events regarding George Floyd’s death and police brutality, however, show how quickly global challenges can develop and how important it is to broaden our own perspectives. This year and past few weeks have taught us to actively pursue a broader, more inclusive understanding of the world.

The immense changes that our nation and our world are undergoing inspired Kate to write, in her speech, about the Class of 2020’s unique role: Pushing ourselves to reconsider what we know to be true of the world and dedicating ourselves to improving it once the dust of both pandemics settles. Though her speech was written prior the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, its message is still applicable. She invites the Class of 2020 to become “Helpers,” a term coined by Mr. Rogers for individuals who invoke positive change in times of crisis and tragedy. Kate insists that “[The Class of 2020] must find meaning and

purpose in our twisted version of events by helping others and putting democracy into action.”

Mason taught us to look at the world around us and recognize its problems, while teaching us the value of striving to be a “helper.” These lessons apply now more than ever, and the events occurring around us offer a unique opportunity to graduate from classroom learning about changemaking, to real-world experiential learning. Our class is learning, amidst the chaos, to be resilient through the negatives, and to take initiative and replace them with positives.

Kate reaches the core of her speech in saying “Whether it be issues of climate change, disenfranchisement of people of color, [or] predatory insurance and health care industry practices, … we all need to find a cause that sparks an epiphany and makes us think ‘Huh, I can do something about that.’” In the face of the losses we have experienced in the Little City, and the tragedies that those around the world have lived through, we must look forward and, as Kate said, “Push [ourselves] to consider the lives of others outside your community, race, sexuality, culture, religion, and gender identity,” and initiate the change that the times demand.

Kate Rasmussen and Helen Morris are George Mason High School’s valedictorians for the class of 2020

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Last Week’s Question: Will the mass protests cause a second spike in Covid-19 cases?

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

PAGE 8 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

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Fa l l s C h u r c h

NEWS BRIEFS Northam: N. Va. to Enter ‘Phase 2’ Tomorrow (Friday) Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that Northern Virginia, including the City of Falls Church, and Richmond will enter ‘Phase 2’ of the plan for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic response this Friday, June 12. In Phase 2, indoor dining at restaurants is permitted at 50 percent capacity, and gyms and fitness centers can be opened at 30 percent capacity. Numerous Falls Church restaurants, in anticipation of this announcement, have made preparations to open starting this Friday. The announcement comes as data shows the spread of the novel coronavirus appears to be slowing in the region. The rest of Virginia entered ‘Phase 2’ last week. Northam also announced a set of measures to allow for the reopening of schools this summer and fall that the Falls Church City School Board began to review at its meeting this Tuesday and will study in greater depth at its online work session next Tuesday.

Noonan: F.C. Schools Must Prepare for Student, Staff Reductions In a preliminary presentation of alternative scenarios for the reopening of the Falls Church City Public Schools over the summer and in the fall, Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan cautioned the F.C. School Board at its online meeting Tuesday night that the system must be prepared for up to a 20 to 30 percent dropoff in student enrollment and also significant drop offs in faculty and staff going into the fall. He said fears of the Covid-19 virus will compel students, parents and staff to stay back from in-person classes, even as detailed measures are implemented to ensure safety. The “stability of the workforce” is a major concern, he said, including given that half of the system’s school bus drivers are 65 years of age or older. He said student enrollment is, among other things, driven by a lack of trust with school officials among families where students are told “Don’t tell anyone there’s someone sick at home” for a variety of reasons, and gaining trust is an important challenge. He said the Falls Church schools are choosing to mandate temperature checks and masks for staff and students even though they are not state mandated. He said he has no idea yet of what school sports may look like in the fall, but decisions will be governed by the Virginia High School League in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Health and Department of Education.

A “deep dive” into alternative scenarios for the opening of the schools, including of summer programs, will occupy the School Board’s attention at next Tuesday’s online work session.

Bawa: F.C. Revenue Drop Approaches ‘Worst Case’ The City of Falls Church’s Chief Financial Officer Kiran Bawa reported to the F.C. City Council at its meeting Monday night that data on revenues from sales, food and transient taxes since the onset of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been sharper than predicted. Whereas, the City chose to adopt a model of a more measured drop in revenue in these and other categories for its planning purposes going forward, Bawa reported that sales tax revenues were down 25 percent in March and April, meals taxes were down 65 percent in April and transient taxes were down 90 percent, touching “worst case” projections for the period. City Manager Wyatt Shields also noted that funds set aside for emergency rental and food assistance will cover only the next few weeks and will run out as of July 1. The City’s remaining $1 million portion of federal Cares Act funds will be appropriated by the City following the observance of trends in July and August, Shields said.

Northam Extends Moratorium on Evictions Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Monday announced an extension of the temporary statewide moratorium on all eviction proceedings in Virginia. The Governor requested this moratorium in a letter sent to Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Lemons this weekend. The Chief Justice’s order issued today remains in effect through June 28 and modifies the Court’s earlier Declaration of Judicial Emergency in response to Covid-19. The temporary moratorium will halt all eviction proceedings for a period of nearly three weeks, as the Northam administration implements a comprehensive rent relief program for the thousands of Virginians facing housing insecurity in the midst of this public health crisis.

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PAGE 10 | JUNE 11 – 17, 2020

News-Press

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Community News & Notes

FORMER FALLS CHURCH CITY MAYOR Alan Brangman showed his support for the mass protests taking place in response to George Floyd’s death in police custody back in May. (Photo: Courtesy Patti Brangman)

Sandy Davis Fund Seeking Donations Ten years ago, Falls Church lost Shelton Davis, or Sandy to his friends and family. His wife Mary and children Rebecca and Peter, during their time of grief, asked the Maya Educational Foundation (MEF) if it could help them establish a fund in his honor. Since Sandy had done anthropological fieldwork in the western highland region of Guatemala, such a fund was to help Maya youth in that region with their education. As MEF already had a program underway in Todos Santos Cuchumatan, the idea became a

plan, the plan became action and reality.

Since 2010, promoting education for Maya children from poor economic backgrounds in that region has been the mission of the Shelton H. Davis Memorial Fund, also known as the Shelton H. Davis Scholarship Fund. In these past ten years, the Fund has allowed a continuous group of students to attend school, on average five students, now up to seven. Friends, colleagues and family have been the core group of support to this fund that has over this past decade raised just over 100,000 dollars. The scholarship students were children whose

THE WHITE COATS FOR BLACK LIVES MOVEMENT led by Drs. Jonas Wiltz, Leigh Boldt and Saleena Dakin, along with a group of physicians, nurses, clinical assistants and support staff at the Kaiser Permanente in Falls Church observed a moment of reflection on June 5. (Photo: Courtesy Saleena Dakin

families would not have sent them to higher levels of schooling had it not been for the scholarships they received.

At university level, costs for each student go up dramatically from what they were when the students were in elementary, middle or high school. The redefined thrust of the fund from 2020 on will be to provide university scholarships for students from the Santa Eulalia/Todos Santos region, with a fundraising target of $2,500 per year per student.

University level is much sought after in Guatemala and hard to obtain with most Mayas lacking the resources.

Anyone who would like to support this goal and want to make a 10th year anniversary donation to the Fund in Sandy’s honor, they can do so safely at mayaedufound. org and be sure to put Shelton Davis in the dedication line.

McLean High Counselor Named State’s Best Kathleen Otal, who serves as a school counselor at McLean High School, has been named the 2020 Virginia School Counselor Association (VSCA) Secondary Counselor of the Year. McLean High School is a Fairfax County public school.

Otal was recognized by VSCA for having a positive impact for students, their families, and their colleagues; for demonstrating innovation and leadership in counseling; and for providing exceptional service in the community.

Otal has served as a school counselor at McLean High School since 2015, where she has established programs for students in the free and reduced-price lunch program; founded Parent University to help parents support their teens in the college admissions process; sponsored a girls leadership committee; and served as co-leader of the School Equity Team and Collaborative Team.

Send Us Your News & Notes!

The News-Press is always on the lookout for photos & items for Community News & Notes, School News & Notes and other sections of the paper. If you graduate, get married, get engaged, get an award, start a club, eat a club, tie your shoes, have a birthday, have a party, host an event or anything else you think is worth being mentioned in the News-Press, write it up and send it to us! If you have a photo, even better! Because of the amount of submissions we receive, we cannot guarantee all submissions will be published, but we’ll try our best!

Community News & Notes: newsandnotes@fcnp.com | School News & Notes: schoolnews@fcnp.com Mail: News & Notes, Falls Church News-Press, 105 N. Virginia Ave #310, Falls Church, VA 22046

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

This performance will be made available via special access at three different times on three different dates: • Friday, June 12, 7 p.m. (accessible from 6:45 – 9 p.m.)

• Saturday, June 13, 7 p.m. (accessible from 6:45 – 9 p.m.)

• Sunday, June 14, 2 p.m. (accessible from 1:45 – 4 p.m.)

Each performance offers a twohour window in which to watch the show. For more information on how to reserve a space for this offering, visit providenceplayers. org.

2 McLean High Students Win Teen Character Awards

THE TRIBUTES to devoted Falls Church city activist and volunteer Barb Cram spread fast throughout the City of Falls Church after her death last Tuesday, with this homemade poster being found on the pig statues outside Beyer Automotive later that same day. (P����: N���-P����) McLean assistant principal Sean Rolon praised Otal for helping parents navigate the transition from high school to college, and for also providing support to new staff members. McLean director of student services Paul Stansbery said she’s a dedicated professional with a positive spirit.

To make students in need feel more connected to the school, Otal applied for a grant from the PTSA to purchase McLean gear, warm clothing for the winter, computers for those who could not afford them, and fees for senior dues, prom, and the all-night grad party.

To combat stress and anxiety, she advocates working with students

and families at a younger age.

Otal, who has worked as a school counselor since 1994, served at Brookfield Elementary School and in Loudoun County Public Schools and Texas before joining the staff at McLean. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary and a master’s in counselor education from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virtual Production ‘Opens’ At Providence Players The Providence Players of Fairfax will open a free, virtual

“pop-up production” on June 12 with their performance of one of the one-acts from “Mere Mortals,”

by David Ives.

In the play, it’s lunch time, on a girder 50 stories high over the streets and amidst the New York skyline.

Audience members will eavesdrop on three construction workers who share increasingly amazing secrets of their past and watch as the hilarious comedy proves to be one of Ives’ best.

This is a limited engagement, and will be made available to current patrons, donors, members and individuals who have signed up on the Providence Players email list.

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The McLean Citizens Association has selected four students as winners of its 2020 Teen Character Awards. Local Winners are Ryan Chou and Caroline Lucia.

Chou, a junior at McLean High, participated in EndCoronavirus. org efforts to help improve communication and develop a better general public understanding of the pandemic. He reviewed and edited guidelines for the public, including Essential Actions to #CrushtheCurve and guidelines for respiratory health, grocery shopping, and how to wear a mask. Chou also built and updated dashboards with critical coronavirus-related information, such as statistics relative to population, maps of implemented government measures, and testing center statistics. He also leads a Virginia outreach team to distribute educational materials to the general public.

Lucia, a junior at McLean High sewed hundreds of face masks in support of PPE needs. They were donated to hospitals in Maryland and the District of Columbia as well as for residents of Fairfax County’s homeless shelters. Lucia hosted multiple mask-making tutorials with the Quarantine

JUNE 11 – 17, 2020 | PAGE 11

Academy, a Ted Talk-like daily instructional presentation.

Local Students Selected to All-Virginia Music Groups One hundred seventy-six students from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) high schools have been named to the 2020 All-Virginia Band, Chorus, and Orchestra. These groups had been scheduled to perform on Saturday, April 25, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, but the performances were cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Students from throughout Virginia went through a rigorous audition process to compete for a spot in the band, chorus, or orchestra. Students selected for these ensembles were to have rehearsed with nationally recognized expert conductors to prepare for their performances.

FCPS students selected from local schools in 2020 are: Falls Church High School: Jack Child (Chorus); Dong Kim (Chorus) and Sophia WillsonQuayle (Chorus) Justice High School: Sophie Briscombe (Chorus); Andre Farkas (Band) and Darien Roby (Chorus) Marshall High School: Miles Devlin (Band); Teddy Dunn (Band); Elise Ebert (Chorus); Kian Mostaghim (Chorus); Becker Spear (Chorus) and Sofia Vergara (Chorus) McLean High School: Ella David (Orchestra); Alex Gamboa (Band); Steve Han (Orchestra); Chris Kang (Band); Catherine Kim (Band); Elena Klenk (Orchestra); Joshua Levy (Band); Sarah Levy (Band); Maxence Mourie (Orchestra); Emily Mortman (Band); Eshan Parkash (Orchestra); Hannah Sim (Band); Alex Swers (Band); Julia Tan (Band); Varun Veluri (Band) and Justin Winn (Orchestra)

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

PAGE 12 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

JUNE 11 - 17, 2020 | PAGE 13

Congratulations to the 2020 Senior Class of George Mason High School!

“Here’s to the places you’ve been...and the places you’ll go!”

- Mary Styles - Zinga!

- Community Ctr - Mt Daniel - Crossing Guards - Foxes - Doodle Hopper - Elevation Burger - TJ - Creative Cauldron - MEH - Z-Pizza – Farmers Market - Santa Fire Truck - George Mason Cherry Hill - Madison Park - Paneras - Victory Comics

Congratulations, Sophia!

We are so proud of you and excited for everything coming your way. And happy 18th birthday!

-- Your loving family

Congratulations Sammy!

Great job, Elizabeth!

All our love, Mom, Papa, Ruby, Hannah and Lily

2020 Graduation is just the COMMENCEMENT of many successes.

We are so proud of you. Follow your heart. Do good with your life. And good luck at Loyola!

We love you! Mom, Dad, Ryan, Grandmas PA and NJ

From: Mr. Pikrallidas (retired, and still-alive, teacher of GMHS)

Congratulations, Christopher!

We are so proud of you and wish you the best on your new adventure at Virginia Tech!

Lots of love, Your Family

Falls Church Education Foundation Congratulates the George Mason High School Class of 2020!

CONGRATULATIONS! George Mason High School Class of 2020

Congratulations Ethan!

Congratulations Corwin!

We are super proud of you!

We bless you on your next excellent adventure!

Love Mom, Dad, Duncan and Clary

Congratulations Catherine!

You worked hard to achieve your goals at Mason- bravo! We are so proud of your joyful, kind and adventurous spirit. Keep shooting for the moon!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Maya

George Mason High School Class of 2020 Graduate Parade held June 10th, 2020 in the City.

(Photo: FCNP)

We are so proud of you Gigi, Gubba, Gubs, Doodle, G, Gabriella.

(Ollie is too)

Wishing the Class of 2020 a lifetime of happiness and good health!

Maansi, Today is the first of Congratulations on an amazing four years, Jo! We are so proud of you.

Happy graduation!

Love you lots, Your family

many amazing moments - life has many more in store for you. Chase your dreams with hard work, passion, and... sacrifices. We can’t wait to see you accomplish everything your heart desires.

Mom, Dad, Sham, Viraj, Rohan

Don’t forget to check in with your doctor before you head off to your next opportunity!

Congratulations to Zoe and Sean, the two funniest

people we know! We’re so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you do next. Put a bird on it. Love, M&P

The student tributes on this page are all paid advertisements with a portion of the proceeds going to the Falls Church Education Foundation.

A complete list of all graduates of the George Mason High School Class of 2020 will appear in next week’s edition.

124A East Broad Street Falls Church, VA 22046 T 703-533-7555 F 703-533-7797 www.fmifc.com

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

PAGE 12 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

JUNE 11 - 17, 2020 | PAGE 13

Congratulations to the 2020 Senior Class of George Mason High School!

“Here’s to the places you’ve been...and the places you’ll go!”

- Mary Styles - Zinga!

- Community Ctr - Mt Daniel - Crossing Guards - Foxes - Doodle Hopper - Elevation Burger - TJ - Creative Cauldron - MEH - Z-Pizza – Farmers Market - Santa Fire Truck - George Mason Cherry Hill - Madison Park - Paneras - Victory Comics

Congratulations, Sophia!

We are so proud of you and excited for everything coming your way. And happy 18th birthday!

-- Your loving family

Congratulations Sammy!

Great job, Elizabeth!

All our love, Mom, Papa, Ruby, Hannah and Lily

2020 Graduation is just the COMMENCEMENT of many successes.

We are so proud of you. Follow your heart. Do good with your life. And good luck at Loyola!

We love you! Mom, Dad, Ryan, Grandmas PA and NJ

From: Mr. Pikrallidas (retired, and still-alive, teacher of GMHS)

Congratulations, Christopher!

We are so proud of you and wish you the best on your new adventure at Virginia Tech!

Lots of love, Your Family

Falls Church Education Foundation Congratulates the George Mason High School Class of 2020!

CONGRATULATIONS! George Mason High School Class of 2020

Congratulations Ethan!

Congratulations Corwin!

We are super proud of you!

We bless you on your next excellent adventure!

Love Mom, Dad, Duncan and Clary

Congratulations Catherine!

You worked hard to achieve your goals at Mason- bravo! We are so proud of your joyful, kind and adventurous spirit. Keep shooting for the moon!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Maya

George Mason High School Class of 2020 Graduate Parade held June 10th, 2020 in the City.

(Photo: FCNP)

We are so proud of you Gigi, Gubba, Gubs, Doodle, G, Gabriella.

(Ollie is too)

Wishing the Class of 2020 a lifetime of happiness and good health!

Maansi, Today is the first of Congratulations on an amazing four years, Jo! We are so proud of you.

Happy graduation!

Love you lots, Your family

many amazing moments - life has many more in store for you. Chase your dreams with hard work, passion, and... sacrifices. We can’t wait to see you accomplish everything your heart desires.

Mom, Dad, Sham, Viraj, Rohan

Don’t forget to check in with your doctor before you head off to your next opportunity!

Congratulations to Zoe and Sean, the two funniest

people we know! We’re so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you do next. Put a bird on it. Love, M&P

The student tributes on this page are all paid advertisements with a portion of the proceeds going to the Falls Church Education Foundation.

A complete list of all graduates of the George Mason High School Class of 2020 will appear in next week’s edition.

124A East Broad Street Falls Church, VA 22046 T 703-533-7555 F 703-533-7797 www.fmifc.com

CO MME NT

PAGE 14 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

From the Front Row: Kaye Kory’s

A Penny for Your Thoughts

News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

Public safety – police, fire and rescue, sheriff – is a basic service that local government provides.

These first responders operate in an atmosphere of potential danger at every call to 911, and work to make what may be someone’s “worst day” have a positive outcome. That’s the goal, not always achieved but, for the vast majority of calls, peace and safety prevail.

There are thousands of law enforcement agencies in this country. Many are small, serving residents in small towns and cities, with small salaries and basic equipment. Some are much larger, including in the National Capital Region, which has multiple federal law enforcement agencies in addition to local departments. Only 800 agencies nationwide have been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), which evaluates departments on compliance with prescribed standards. The rigorous evaluation takes months of examination and review of an agency, from top to bottom, by the independent Commission. Once accredited, an agency must be examined periodically to retain the ranking.

The CALEA rating is a big deal for any law enforcement agency, and in Fairfax County, it reflects a lot of work undertaken by the department and the community during the past several years.

In 2015, the Board of Supervisors established the Ad Hoc Police Practices and Review Commission to create a list of recommendations for policies and practices that the department could work to implement. There were 202 recommendations, many of which have been implemented, including changes to use of force, and de-escalation training. The Board also created a Police Civilian Review Panel and established an Independent Police Auditor, who reviews police investigations into allegations of abuse of authority or serious misconduct.

The Auditor’s reports and information about the Civilian Review Panel can be accessed on-line at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policeauditor/.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Each station commander in Fairfax County (there are eight police districts) conducts a monthly Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting. The Mason District Station meeting is on the first Tuesday of each month, beginning at 7 p.m., at the station. During the pandemic, in-person meetings are suspended, but station command staff have conducted occasional virtual meetings, which have been well-attended. Whether in-person or virtual, these meetings allow command staff to highlight recent events and trends in the area, as well as provide a sounding board for citizen questions and concerns.

Mason Station officers also participated in the pilot program for body-worn cameras, and Mason is one of three stations (the other two are Mount Vernon and Reston) that implemented the permanent program. Plans to expand the program, estimated at $8 million, were delayed because of to Covid-19 effects on the FY 2021 budget. However, at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Chairman McKay directed the County Executive to identify options to fund Phase 2 of the program, as well as develop a timeline and implantation plans for all future phases, and report back to the Board by June 30. A member of the Civilian Review Panel told the Board last year that the Panel was examining two citizen complaints, one that had body-worn camera video, and one that didn’t. The real-time video made the Panel’s investigation more succinct and objective, she said, since you could see exactly what was said and done during the call.

Body-worn cameras are a great example of investing in public safety, using technology, not force, to further protect the community.

Stay safe, and healthy.

 Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Richmond Report In these unsettling and crisisdriven times, we struggle to hear the divergent opinions and voices raised. The press of absorbing the moment-to-moment changes can be exhausting without even attending to the troubling subject matter: a lethal pandemic, an economic crash, black lives matter and ‘defund’ the police. How to respond? We need immediate economic assistance and immediate intervention to calm the police brutality being protested across the nation. We also need to make systemic changes to even begin to eliminate the racism embedded in so much of guidelines of daily life in our Commonwealth. The coronaivirus pandemic demands change and resources as well.

Can we respond quickly and effectively to these intertwined and mutually exacerbating multiple crisis? Can we build economic stability, protect the health and livelihood of our families, friends and communities, while rooting out systemic discrimination and ‘reopening’?

The answer is “I don’t know, but we have to try and try now!”

Like many of your elected representatives at all levels, I am developing proposed legislation and regulations in all these areas.

Also like all your elected representatives, I want to hear your recommendations for ways to begin the attack and create a foundation for a vastly better future.

To this end, I am hosting a Zoom townhall on June 18th at 7PM. I have invited guests representing many points of view and experiences to join me. We will all be responding to your questions, both those submitted ahead of time through the link on my facebook page and in my newsletter, as well as those asked during the townhall. The conversation will not be limited to one or two topics. The only limit will be the time available: 45 minutes. Please join me on the 18th.

If you cannot enter the meeting, email the questions you would like asked.

Right now, I am evaluating the police reform instituted in Camden, NJ, working with stakeholders to protect students with special needs as our schools reopen, considering what should be protected and expanded in our budget as preparation for the special session in early August, and advocating for your needs through the frustrating and confusing unemployment and CARES Act mire.

We have a lot of work to do today and tomorrow and tomorrow. I count on your support to represent you well. ► Delegate Kory represents the 38th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. She may be emailed at DelKKory@house. virginia.gov.

C i t y o f Fa l l s C h u r c h

CRIME REPORT Week of June 1 – 7, 2020 Contributing to Delinquency of a Minor, 300 blk W Broad St. June 3rd, 9:46 AM, a female, 38, of Annandale, VA, was served with two warrants charging contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Larceny from Building, 300 blk Little Falls St. Between June 2nd and June 3rd, unknown suspects(s) took an item of value from a storage shed.

Driving Under the Influence, 600 blk N Oak St. June 6th, 3:09 AM, a female, 28, of Oakdale, PA, was arrested for driving under the influence.

Driving Under the Influence/Drug Narcotic Violation, 700 blk W Broad St. June 7th, 1:51 AM, a female, 30, of Falls Church, VA, was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of marijuana.

Drunkenness (DIP), 200 blk S Washington St. June 7th, 2:49 PM, a male, 64, of Falls Church, VA, was arrested for appearing drunk in public.

Attempted Robbery, 400 blk W Broad St. June 7th, 2:46 PM, allegation of a male subject attempting to take property from another. The investigation is ongoing.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

The South’s ‘Foulest Crime in History’

“The foulest crime in history known in any land or age.”

That was how the great American poet Walt Whitman described the treasonous insurgency against the American republic in defense of slavery known as the Confederacy.

In one of his poems lamenting the assassintation of Abraham Lincoln written just a month after his death in May 1865, entitled, “This Dust Was Once a Man,” Whitman’s full phrase was “Against the foulest crime in history known in any land or age, was saved the Union of these states,” extolling Lincoln’s successful prosecution of the war to defeat of the heinous pro-slavery Confederate insurrection.

In the current arousal of the FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS American public against the videotaped murder at the knee of a police officer of a helpless George Floyd, the issue of America’s continuing condescension to advocates and institutions of white male supremacy has been raised in the general population to a new level of awareness and fierce opposition.

It presents us all with a terrific challenge and opportunity to shift some of the most intransigent and fundamental tenets of American culture, and it should not be missed. Many are asking what is the best way forward in this new environment to ensure that it does not flame out too soon.

To our advantage is the fact that we are only months away from perhaps the most consequential federal election in our history. It necessarily requires that a Herculean effort at driving home key points of a potential culture paradigm shift must occur.

Of course, the growing contrast between the morally and ethically degenerate President Trump and the fundamentally moral and competent former vice president Biden is helping set the stage.

But while the gaping contrast between the moral depravity (“depraved indifference” being the term used in the case of George Floyd’s murderer) of Trump and the powerful moral suasion of Biden is quite illustrative for all to see, there is more than just the personalities of these two candidates that needs to inform the American electorate this fall.

The ugly truths that need to be peeled away from the eyes of the American public involve the ways that, leading up to and since the Civil War, justifications for white male supremacy and the resulting grossest evils of racism have been systematically insinuated into our culture even to the present day.

The slaveholding Southern oligarchy who led the anti-American insurrection, the Civil War, in defense of slavery, and their European allies who benefited from their cotton fields, were pure evil, and that is no exaggeration. They were willing to sacrifice over 600,000 American lives in their effort to perpetuate the institutions of slavery.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, the Southern states that had been spoiling for a secessionist fight for decades (held off by the political genius of the “Great Compromiser” Henry Clay) forced the issue. They seceded and formed the Confederacy. They expected that would be it, but Lincoln and those who saw the primary value of the preservation of the Union as the world’s best chance at advancing democracy and eventually equality for all, couldn’t let that stand.

The armed conflict that ensued took its first worst turn in April 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee when the Confederacy threw 40,000 young men into an assault on General Grant’s Union forces, displaying for the first time the ferocity of the South and the willingness of its elitist leaders to subject their own people, non-elitist poor folks mostly, to a suicidal massacre of Biblical proportions.

Only with Union General Sherman’s successful siege of Atlanta ensuring the re-election of Lincoln to a second term in 1864 was the fate of the Southern insurrection sealed. The Union greatly benefited from the induction of 180,000 African-Americans, freed from slavery

by Lincoln’s January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, into their ranks.

But even before the war was over, a Southern apologetic excuse took words of their General R. E. Lee, “The Lost Cause,” to fabricate a lie that the insurrection was caused by Northern overreach into the state’s rights of the South, and not by a the South’s defense of slavery.

(To be continued)  Nicholas Benton may be emailed at nfbenton@fcnp.com.

CO MME NT

JUNE 11 – 17, 2020 | PAGE 15

Nicholas F. Benton

Our Man in Arlington

By Charlie Clark

Reagan National Airport is sparsely populated in these pandemic dog days. So it was a cinch to find parking at short-term Lot B and walk to the southward exit to the beautiful park that hosts the reconstructed ruins of Abingdon Plantation.

The house, built around 1746 and once Arlington’s oldest, commanded a spectacular view of the Potomac.

It saw 11 generations cross its threshold before it burned in 1930.

Those VIPs included several presidents, plus an array of historic characters I decided on this recent sunny Sunday to re-assemble in my mind’s eye.

Abingdon was constructed by Gerard Alexander (1712-1761), whose great-grandfather Capt.

John Alexander is the namesake for the City of Alexandria.

Gerard’s sons during the Revolutionary War sold the house to Jacky Custis, stepson of Commander of the Continental Army George Washington. (GW thought Jacky was naïve and warned it was a rip-off.) Jacky and his wife Eleanor begat Nelly Custis (whose birth there merits a plaque at modern Abingdon arranged by the airport authority).

Eleanor in 1781 gave birth across the river in Prince George’s County to our county’s primo citizen George Washington Parke Custis. (He would go on to inherit Alexander land for the building of Arlington House.) Those Washingtons and Custises were

steady visitors to Abingdon in the latter 18th century — George and Martha Washington favored a bedroom on the northeast corner.

After the widowed Eleanor remarried, she and husband and Federal City commissioner David Stuart occupied Abingdon before it reverted to the Alexanders in a lawsuit.

In came principal 19th-century owners, the Hunter family. “We lived on a splendid estate of 650 acres lying on the Potomac, between Alexandria and Washington,” reminisced Alexander Hunter in his 1904 Civil War memoir “Johnny Reb and Billy Yank.” The mansion’s “beams and rafters are of solid oak, two feet in diameter, and strong enough, as was proven, to bear the weight of two centuries.”

Hunter was a U.S. Marshal and received presidents Jackson, Tyler and Polk at Abingdon. His household included 22 enslaved persons, according to an 1850 inventory uncovered by Arlington attorney George Dodge. Aged 2-70 years, those workers bore names such as Daniel, Dinah, Hannah and Bushrod.

Listed along with livestock, they were valued at $5,035. After his fellow Confederates lost the war and the enslaved were freed, Hunter became a federal land clerk and noted author.

In the early 20th century, Abingdon was sold to a brickmaking company, which leased it to farmers. Those Arlingtonians included Vivian Thomas Ford (born there in 1912), profiled

as “Abingdon’s Last Surviving Resident” by Sherman Pratt in the Arlington Historical Magazine.

“We often had beautiful warm and sunny spring days at Abingdon with numerous blooms from fruit and other trees,” Ford recalled.

“The area was mostly quiet and peaceful, except for occasional trains” crossing the Potomac railroad bridge.

On that fateful March 5, 1930, Ford was a student at Hume School on Arlington Ridge Rd. She and classmates suddenly heard fire engines with motors grinding and bells clanging. Someone in her class shouted “Look! There’s a fire down below near the river!”

Vivian told the magazine she rushed to the window and saw columns of smoke a mile away.

She ran over to watch the flames engulf her childhood home of historic Abingdon.

Ford died in 2014 and is buried at Columbia Gardens. *** Arlington author-historian Garrett Peck gets to relay his own “where I was on 9/11” story in his newly published “A Decade of Disruption: America in the New Millennium” (Pegasus Books).

Amid a broader look at the war on terror, financial scandal and divisive politics of the years 2000-2010, Peck describes how he was working from his apartment three miles from the Pentagon on that day that dawned beautifully.

“Looking out the window, I saw a huge plume of black smoke rising,” Peck writes. After a CNN verification, he called his parents in California to report, “We’re under attack.”

PAGE 16 | JUNE 11 – 17, 2020

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Weekend Protests Sweep Through Falls Church

A SERIES OF DEMONSTRATIONS took place in and around the City of Falls Church over the weekend to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Saturday included a protest over George Mason High School’s name as well as one for Floyd. The Floyd protest started in Loehmanns Plaza and eventually gathered outside Fairfax County’s Adult Detention Center. Two Mason alumni organized and led the protest at Cherry Hill Park on Sunday afternoon, where F.C. Mayor David Tarter and Edwin Henderson, former president of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, were among the speakers. (Photos: J. Michael Whalen)

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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JUNE 11 – 17, 2020 | PAGE 17

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PAGE 18 | JUNE 11 – 17, 2020

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

FALLS CHURCHCALENDAR In response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic affecting the globe and policies enacted to avoid social gatherings, the News-Press will publish a list of virtual events weekly in lieu of its regular listings.

If you have a virtual event you’d like to see listed, please email calendar@fcnp.com.

Deadline is 5 p.m. Monday weekly.

CITYEVENTS SATURDAY, JUNE 13 Falls Church Farmers Market To Go. The Falls Church Farmers Market has converted to a preorder, to-go event. All orders must be placed in advance of Saturday’s market which will be open from 8 a.m. – noon for pre-order pickup only in front of City Hall (300 Park Ave.). A list of participating vendors and information on preordering can be found at fallsch-

urchva.gov/547/Farmers-MarketTo-Go.

VIRTUALEVENTS

THURSDAY, JUNE 11 Thursday Evening Book Group (Online). The Thursday Evening Book Discussion Group normally meets on the first Thursday evening of each month in the library’s conference room. This month’s book is “Exhalation: Stories” by Ted Chiang. This discussion will be held online. Visit fallschurchva. gov/LibraryAtHome for details. 7 – 8 p.m.

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 Grow a Traditional Medicinal Herb Garden. Interested participants can create their own traditional medicinal herb garden. This course will teach attendees how to bring the flavor, health, beauty and convenience of homegrown herbs to a garden. The simple DIY

techniques will show participants how to plant, care for and harvest herbs that thrive in the local area — in a garden or in containers — for bountiful herbs with a tradition of healthful benefits. Online class offered by Extension Master Gardeners. Free. RSVP at mgnv. org/events to receive a link to participate. 10 – 11:30 a.m.

December when only one meeting is held. These meetings are open to the public and are conducted to allow Council Members to discuss upcoming legislation and policy issues; the public is not generally invited to speak. 7:30 – 11 p.m.

Signing Story Time (Online). The theme of this meeting is “Little Hands Signing: Summer Signs.”

Interested participants can sing, sign and play together with this hands-on, online storytime for the whole family, presented by Kathy MacMillan, author of the Little Hands Signing series. 11 – 11:30 a.m.

Creative Cauldron Online Classes.

The City of Falls Church theater company Creative Cauldron is now offering a variety of interactive classes and activities for children taught by the theater’s artists. Kids will be moving, creating and socializing during the activities. Those who are interested can enroll online at creativecauldron. org/workshops.htm or email the theater at info@creativecauldron. org to get started. There are classes for adults as well.

MONDAY, JUNE 15 City Council Work Session (Virtual). City Council work sessions are held the first and third Monday of the month, with the exception of August and

DAILY

Lunch Doodles with children’s author Mo Willems. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and

explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks.

Participants should grab some paper and pencils, pens or crayons and join Mo to explore ways of writing and making together.

Daily at 1 p.m. Visit kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems to watch.

LIVEMUSIC

FRIDAY, JUNE 12 Tragic Schoolbus — 40-seat patio; first come, first serve.

Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Ste A Falls Church). 7 p.m. 703-858-9186

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 Super Funk 5 — 40-seat patio; first come, first serve.

Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Ste A Falls Church). 8 p.m. 703-858-9186.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14 Dead Jam — 40-seat patio; first come, first serve. Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Ste A Falls Church). 5 p.m.

703-858-9186.

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE NEWS-PRESS & HELP US KEEP COMMUNITY JOURNALISM ALIVE & WELL IN THE LITTLE CITY. Since 1991, the News-Press has been on a mission to provide independent and honest journalism to the Falls Church community. We recognize and appreciate the support the City, its businesses and residents have shown us for the past 29 years.

Now, we need your help to con�nue with our mission.

If you find value in our work and believe the News-Press contributes to the be�erment of the Falls Church community, please consider becoming a member today and help us keep you informed on all the happenings — big and small — in The Li�le City.

Never before has the fight to ensure a free press been more important.

Visit FCNP.com/members to become a member of the News-Press today

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

LO CA L

Fa l l s C h u r c h

Business News & Notes Businesses Start to Reopen with Caution As businesses continue to adapt and start to reopen, the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce urges community members to respect the policies and procedures developed by the business community. They are doing their best to adhere to Phase One requirements and they are instituting policies and procedures to keep their employees and customers safe. This is a stressful time for business owners, employees, and customers alike. It is important for all to exhibit kindness, patience, and compassion.

JUNE 11 - 17 , 2020 | PAGE 19

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Falls Church EDA Accepting Applications for Second Round Grants The Falls Church City Economic Development Authority is now accepting applications from small businesses and nonprofits for a second round micro grants to help meet urgent business needs during Covid-19.

Eligibility for these new $2,000 grants is similar to the first round of grants but nonprofits are now invited to apply and the gross revenue cap was lifted to $700,000. Businesses that received a grant in the first round are not eligible. Applications for the grants will be accepted through 11:30 p.m. on Monday, June 15. More information and the application are available at www.choosefallschurch.org/EDAGrant.

Fairfax County Creates Relief Initiative Grant Program Fairfax County has created the Fairfax Relief Initiative to Support Employers or Fairfax RISE, a new grant program that will offer up to $20,000 to qualified Fairfax County-based small businesses and nonprofits affected by COVID-19. The program will be funded using federal CARES Act funds provided to the County.

Applications will be accepted through June 15. Go to https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/economic-success/ for more information and the application.

Falls Church Distillers Has Opened with Patio Seating

Ad Network

Falls Church Distillers has opened up patio seating with a maximum capacity of 40 people in its parking lot. Hours of operation this week are Fridays from 3 – 11 p.m, Saturdays from noon – 11 p.m, and Sundays from noon – 9 p.m. The ABC store and cocktails to go will also be available Thursdays from noon – 7 p.m. Starting next week the patio will also be open Thursdays from 3 – 10 p.m. Visit Falls Church Distillers Facebook page or its website at www.fcdistillers.com for more information about their offerings, including their Aim High hand sanitizer.

Mission Lofts Opens in Falls Church Mission Lofts in Falls Church has opened and is the only live/work apartment community in Fairfax County. Each of the 156 one and two-bedroom loft style units include industrial finishes, tall ceilings, massive windows, huge showers, large closets, designer appliances, and light filled spaces. Amenities at this pet friendly community include several conference areas, a fitness center, an outdoor park and deck area, multi-floor garage, and flexible indoor lounge/kitchen/event space. Envisioned and created by Robert Seldin of Highland Square Holdings, Mission Lofts is a converted office building with units that can be used either as traditional apartments, as office space, or as combination of the two. Mission Lofts is located at 5600 Columbia Pike in Falls Church. For more information, or to schedule a virtual tour, go to www.livemissionlofts.com.  Business News & Notes is compiled by Sally Cole, Executive Director of Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at sally@fallschurchchamber.org.

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PAGE 20 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020 AUCTIONS ATTN. AUCTIONEERS: Advertise your upcoming auctions statewide and in other states. Affordable Print and Digital Solutions reaching your target audiences. Call this paper or Landon Clark at Virginia Press Services 804-521-7576, landonc@vpa.net

Cemetery Plots Cemetery plot for sale. $6400 or

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or by voicemail at (703) 248-5014 until 3 p.m. on the day of the public hearing.

Council members will attend the meeting through electronic means and members of the public may view the meeting at www. fallschurchva.gov/CouncilMeetings and on FCCTV (Cox 11, RCN 2, Verizon 35).

Video will be available after the meeting both online and on FCCTV. For copies of legislation, contact the City Clerk’s office at (703-248-5014) or cityclerk@fallschurchva. gov. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5014 (TTY 711).

CELESTE HEATH, CITY CLERK

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING CITY COUNCIL CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

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Affordable Print and Digital Solutions to reach Homeowners. Call Landon Clark at Virginia Press Services 804-521-7576, landonc@vpa.net

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Public Notice NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING CITY COUNCIL CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA The ordinance referenced below was given first reading on May 26, 2020. Public hearings are scheduled for Monday, June 8 and Monday, June 22, 2020, with second reading and final Council action scheduled for Monday, June 22, 2020 at 7:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matters may be heard.

(TO20-06) ORDINANCE FIXING AND DETERMINING THE FY2021-FY2026 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM BUDGET AND APPROPRIATING EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE FUNDS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2021 AND REPROGRAMMING OF PREVIOUSLY APPROPRIATED FUNDS Public hearings will be held electronically at www.fallschurchva.gov/CouncilMeetings.

Unless the Governor’s state of emergency is lifted, public comments will be accepted only electronically at cityclerk@fallschurchva. gov, until the end of the public hearing,

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The ordinance referenced below was given first reading on June 8, 2020.

Public hearing, second reading and final Council action is scheduled for Monday, June 22, 2020 at 7:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matters may be heard.

(TO20-16) ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCES 1995 AND 1996 AS PREVIOUSLY AMENDED BY ORDINANCES 2003, 2004 AND 2005 REGARDING THE BUDGET OF EXPENDITURES AND REVENUES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020 FOR THE GENERAL FUND AND THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM FUNDS This budget amendment will appropriate partial use of the CARES funding and FEMA funding for expenditures resulting from COVID-19 pandemic as well as reduce the transfer to the Capital Improvements Program Fund for facilities reinvestment.

Public hearings will be held electronically at www.fallschurchva.gov/CouncilMeetings.

Unless the Governor’s state of emergency is lifted, public comments will be accepted only electronically at cityclerk@fallschurchva. gov, until the end of the public hearing, or by voicemail at (703) 248-5014 until 3 p.m. on the day of the public hearing.

Council members will attend the meeting through electronic means and members of the public may view the meeting at www. fallschurchva.gov/CouncilMeetings and on FCCTV (Cox 11, RCN 2, Verizon 35).

Video will be available after the meeting both online and on FCCTV. For copies of legislation, contact the City Clerk’s office at (703-248-5014) or cityclerk@fallschurchva. gov. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5014 (TTY 711).

CELESTE HEATH, CITY CLERK

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We are pledged to the letter and spirit of Virginia’s policy for achieving equal housing opportunity throughout the Commonwealth.

We encourage and support advertising and marketing programs in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap.

All real estate advertised herein is subject to Virginia’s fair housing law which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.” This newspaper will not knowingly accept advertising for real estate that violates the fair housing law.

Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For more information or to file a housing complaint call the Virginia Fair Housing Office at (804) 367-8530. Toll free call (888) 551-3247. For the hearing impaired call (804) 367-9753.

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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1. He said “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest” 6. Did stable work 11. Recycling ____ 14. “Did you just see that?!”

16. Thompson of “Thor: Ragnarok” 17. He co-wrote “Heroes” with Bowie 18. He said “A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience” 19. ‘50s Ford flop 20. Doofus 21. The Pistons, on scoreboards 22. Org. for Mickelson and McIlroy 23. Death, in Venice 25. #1 bud 4 life 28. Words with math or honors 30. He said “And then I read this script called ‘NCIS’ ...”

31. Cut ____ (dance) 33. Snake in “The Jungle Book” 34. Crunchy, healthful snacks 35. Prefix with -hedron 37. “Edda” author ____ Sturluson 39. Riddle-me-____ 40. Keyboard symbols ... or this puzzle’s theme 43. Big ____, California 44. Do some self-grooming 45. Incessantly 47. Impatient gift recipients 49. Suffix with ranch 51. Native Nebraskan 52. He said “O Cleopatra, I am not grieved to be bereft of thee” 53. Texter’s “If this wasn’t on your

STRANGE BREW

radar ...”

55. Ingrid Bergman’s homeland: Abbr.

56. Big mushroom producer, in brief 57. I may follow these 58. Physicians’ org.

60. “Boy, am ____ trouble!”

61. Capri or Elba, locally 63. He said “Wait a minute ... If Luke is Princess Leia’s brother, does that make me royalty?”

67. Half of nine?

68. Vim’s partner 69. Maine’s ____ National Park 70. Part of XL: Abbr.

71. ____ salts 72. He said “I swam my brains out”

Down 1. The Blue Jays, on scoreboards 2. Start of many a “Jeopardy!” response 3. Clock setting east of Eastern: Abbr.

4. How many TV shows are shown nowadays 5. In the flesh?

6. ‘90s supermodel Seymour 7. Not give a definitive answer 8. Mount near Olympus 9. Suffix with Japan or Sudan 10. Black-and-white companion 11. Down times on Wall Street?

12. Enticement in some TV ads 13. What gibberish makes 15. “The Chosen” novelist Chaim 24. Earth, e.g., in poetry 25. Animal that uses echolocation

JOHN DEERING

Sudoku

JUNE 11 - 17, 2020 | PAGE 21

26. Visiting regularly 27. It’s used for what’s to come 29. Samples 30. Maim or mar 32. Miracle-____ 34. Ill-tempered 36. All ears 38. Play it like George Clooney, perhaps 41. Not right 42. Pooh pal 43. Cocker ____ 46. Ruby of “A Raisin in the Sun” 48. Some boxing wins 50. Midwestern birthplace of Malcolm X 53. “I” pad?

54. Apples since 1998 57. Obfuscates 59. “Do I need to draw you ____?”

62. Nurse in a bar 64. Ugandan dictator Amin 65. On 66. ____-Boy Last Thursday’s Solution P H Y L L I S

H O O T O W L

U R U G U A Y

R A C E S I N

A D O L P H E

F L O O R E R

B E R G S E X E R T B E T T I E E N E P T H I G H S H A D B L A S T B O O H O O A O R M I B S E L M I L T I X X I I E E E N D A R G E E T S E S I

C T S I C H A A N T I A N P S E I I N N A G N

S T A R O R M E L U E D S L C T T I E Y M A N P E S T E P O D T E I N I S L A N E R T A T I E A G S S S T

By The Mepham Group

Level 1 2 3 4

Solution to last Sunday’s puzzle

NICK KNACK

© 2020 N.F. Benton

6/14/20

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk. © 2020 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

LO CA L

PAGE 22 | JUNE 11 – 17, 2020

dog. lazy ick qu The fox sly p e d j u m the over dog. lazy is the Now for all time cows good co me to aid to the the ir of t u r e . pas

25 s Yearo Ag

BACK IN THE DAY

is the Now for all time cows good co me to aid to the the ir of t u r e . p a s is the Now for all time cows good me to to coaid of the their.

25 � 10 Y���� A�� �� ��� N���-P���� Falls Church News-Press Vol. XII, No. 12 • June 8, 1995

It is now the time fo r all good to go cows to aid of the p a s their ture . * * * Throw * * Pour it up. it up

Falls Church News-Press Vol. XX, No. 14 • June 10, 2010

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

C������ C����� 10 Year s Ago

It is now the time fo r all good to go cows to aid of the the ir pas ture . * * * Throw * * Pour it up. it up

State Commission Warns City Refusal to Respond May Help Virginia Power

With 3 Weeks to Go, Jockeying to Be F.C.’s Next Mayor Heating Up

After three months of contentious dispute between Virginia Power and the City of Falls Church over the City’s pursuit of options to municipalize its electrical power supply, Virginia Power announced results yesterday of a survey conducted last week, showing Falls Church residents are skeptical.

There is no doubt that when the three newly-elected or re-elected members to the Falls Church City Council are sworn in three weeks from today, the mood and priorities of The Little City’s leadership will change dramatically. That will become evident immediately on July 1.

N���-P����

TO LETTERS THE EDITOR Continued from Page 6

Teach our students about George Mason — the good as well as the bad. Being a slaveholder in his time, like so many others were, does not and should not cancel out his name and appreciation for his contribution to our Constitution.

The work now is rather to ensure the Constitution and the Bill of Rights apply to all Americans.

Win Singleton Falls Church

Lou Olom Should Replace Mason As New School’s Name Editor, Ms. Teates is right. This paper and many local citizens fought for Justice against a local high school named for a figure who fought for slaveowners and the institution of slavery. George Mason was the second largest slave owner in Fairfax County. If we know high schools shouldn’t honor men who

fought for slaveowners how can our own high school honor a slaveowner and the very reason for the Confederacy?

As for the “he was a man of his times” excuse, that one hears from time to time, George Mason was the consummate wealthy and powerful white man of his times in Virginia: a plantation owner with approximately 300 slaves he inherited from his father. Any and all anti-slavery rhetoric he many of espoused or “principled positions” he may have taken on the outside is belied by the fact he profited off the labor of his slaves during his lifetime. He never freed his slaves or make provisions to support them.

Other than GMHS there is only one other grade school named for Mason in the entire U.S. Traditionally new school buildings in FCCPS are named for local figures of importance to the school system. George Mason Middle School became Mary Ellen Henderson. I can think of no better time to once and for all disassociate the City from George Mason and instead honor Lou Olom. The

FCNP obit of Mr. Olom lists every reason he deserves the honor. If not him, the City of Falls Church HS should bear and honor the name of one of our own who was committed to FCCPS. When I dropped off my son’s books at GMHS there were protestors calling for a name change from George Mason the slaveholder to a new name. The issue of changing GMHS’s name for this very reason was brought to the Administration, School Board, and City Council a long time ago.

I wish they had taken action before the need to not have a slaveholder represent the City of Falls Church is so obvious.

Dave Rifkin Falls Church

[ TALK TO US ] Send us a letter and let us know what you think.

Email letters@fcnp.com Fax 703-342-0347

Mail or drop off Letters to the Editor, c/o Falls Church News-Press, 105 N. Virginia Ave. #310, Falls Church, VA 22046

Share Curiosity.

Read Together. www.read.gov

TAZZY, a 4-year-old schnauzer-shihtzu mix, was adopted by the Hodder family in Jan. 2019 and she continues to bring love and joy to their lives, especially during this pandemic season. She loves having her people around for extra cuddles and enjoys her leisurely walks each day around Falls Church. The sights of spring around town fill her with hope.

Just because you’re not famous doesn’t mean your pet can’t be! Send in your Critter Corner submissions to crittercorner@fcnp.com.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

JUNE 11 - 17, 2020 | PAGE 23

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PAGE 24 | JUNE 11 - 17, 2020

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