Septe m b er 1 - 7 , 2 0 1 6
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. 28
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. is Getting Its Very Own Distillery
On Wednesday, Falls Church Distillers signed a lease for 3,400 square feet in the Washington Market center, taking over the former Mobu Kids space at 442 S. Washington Street. See page 17
F.C. Veterinarian Dr. Steve Rogers to Retire
Dr. Steve Rogers, former Falls Church vice mayor, councilmember and head of the Chamber of Commerce, announced his plans to retire from Falls Church Animal Hospital at the end of September.
F.C. Mayor Tarter Upbeat About Future in ‘State of City’ Interview Annual Discussion With News-Press Yields Optimism
by Drew Costley
Falls Church News-Press
The Lasso and later republished as a guest commentary in the August 4 edition of the NewsPress entitled, “Time to End Prior Review at George Mason High.” That was followed by an interview with her published online by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), where she was described as “a passionate voice for free press” who “has vowed to work for the repeal of the school’s prior restraint policy,”
City of Falls Church Mayor David Tarter won reelection to the Falls Church City Council last November and was reelected by the City Council in January by a unanimous vote. Amid a highly contested election in 2015, Tarter came out as the candidate with the most votes. A little over eight months after the start of his second term on the City Council and as Falls Church City’s Mayor, Tarter sat down with the News-Press for its annual State of the City interview. We asked him about how he’s handling his duties as Falls Church City Mayor, how he thinks the City Council, Falls Church School Board and various other boards and commissions are working together, real estate and economic development in the City, the elections in Falls Church in 2017 and his perspective on the future of Falls Church. News-Press: What is different about how you approached your first term as Mayor and how you’ve approached this one so far? Tarter: I’ll tell you, first off, I spend a lot of time [in] and I put a lot of time into this. I seek input from all sorts of folks. We’ve got some great boards and commissions. My council is great. The City Council has got a lot of people with diverse experience and knowledge, so we all work together as a team and I think we’ve had some pretty good results. N-P: You were talking about working together with City Council and the commissions. How well do you think City Council is working with other groups like the School Board and the Planning Commission?
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See News Briefs, page 9
David Brooks: Making Modern Toughness
“Today’s students are more accomplished than past generations, but they are also more emotionally fragile.” See page 12
Press Pass with LAYNE
Layne Putnam and Alex Rosca of pop-rock duo LAYNE created an entire world, they call it “The In Between,” to live inside while making their new album, The Black Hills, which was released last Friday. See page 16
CITY OF FALLS CHURCH Mayor David Tarter visited the office of the News-Press this week for his annual “State of the City” interview. (Photo: News-Press)
Mason High Newspaper Editor Challenges Censorship Policy by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10-11 Comment......... 12-15 Food & Dining......17 Calendar.........18-19
Classified Ads .....20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........21 Business News....22 Critter Corner.......22
On the eve of a new school year in the City of Falls Church, School Board members and administrators are already well aware of an important issue that the “rising senior” editor of the George Mason High School student newspaper will bring to them this fall. She has already met informally with a couple School Board members and is working on a formal statement to
bring before the School Board in the next couple months. Kate Karstens, editor of The Lasso, Mason’s mostly-online newspaper, is going after the Falls Church City Public Schools School Board Policy 9.46, which permits the school principal to review and censor news and commentary items before they are published in the paper, a policy known as “prior restraint.” Karstens signaled her intentions by joining with student colleagues to publish an editorial in