Septe m b er 1 5 - 2 1 , 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. 30
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week World War II Hero Roger Neighborgall Dies World War II hero, long time City of Falls Church resident and community activist Roger Neighborgall died Tuesday on his 93rd birthday after a short illness. See page 4
Fall Food & Dining Special Section Inside
Tet Trung Thu mooncakes, a farmers market family and the Eden Center’s best bánh mi are all featured inside this special Food & Dining edition of the News-Press. Plus, the Taste of Falls Church is this Saturday!
Fairfax Commissioners OK F.C.’s Mt.Daniel Expansion Plan At Last
Scaled Back to 660 Students, Latest Plan Won Over Key Vote
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
2016
See pages S-1–12
David Brooks: The Avalanche of Distrust
I’m beginning to think this whole sordid campaign is being blown along by an acrid gust of distrust. The two main candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are remarkably distrustful. See page 12
Press Pass with The Dhol Foundation
Dhol Foundation founder Johnny Kalsi takes journeys between making albums and records his stories from those journeys in the form of audio anecdotes. See page 29
DEREK MAY, PROJECT MANAGER for Virginia’s Department of Criminal Justice Services, hailed the accreditation standards that the Falls Church Police Department attained before the F.C. City Council this Monday. At the far right is Police Chief Mary Gavin. (Photo: News-Press)
Va. Criminal Justice Head Hails Stellar F.C. Police Accreditation
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10-11 Comment...12, 25-27 Food & Dining.S1-12 Sports..................28
Calendar.........30-31 Classified Ads .....32 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........33 Business News....34 Critter Corner.......34
“Everybody wants to be Falls Church because they are just that good.” So proclaimed Derek May, the project manager for Virginia’s Department of Criminal Justice Services, in reporting the re-accreditation of the City’s police department at Monday’s F.C. City Council meeting. Falls Church, he said, “is a darn good place.” Falls Church Police Chief
told the Council that she is “tickled pink” by the news, which underscored the department’s professionalism. Council member David Snyder said, “I couldn’t be prouder of our police department and its approach to the community in a positive and constructive way.” At the Sept. 12 Council Meeting, the City’s Police Department was awarded the Certification of Accreditation in recognition of their successful completion of the certification
process through the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission. According to a statement from City Hall, to obtain accreditation, a law enforcement agency must meet all applicable program standards, maintain their accreditation files on an ongoing basis, and provide annual verifications of compliance as required by the commission. For an agency to maintain accredited
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By a unanimous vote with one abstention last night, the Fairfax County Planning Commission approved the application by the Falls Church City Public Schools to expand and renovate the Mt. Daniel Elementary School located a few blocks outside the City in the McLean area of the county. The recommendation of approval by Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder was key as it is the habit of commissioners to go along with the recommendation of one of them concerning matters in the jurisdiction of that one. Falls Church School Superintendent Toni Jones told the News-Press after the vote last night that she “is extremely pleased,” and appreciative of Ulfelder’s “ongoing willingess to work with us to get to this point.” At the beginning of the commission’s consideration of the item, Ulfelder remained poker faced on a matter that many people felt in the last analysis it would not approve. But Ulfelder then cited changes the Falls Church Schools made to its request last month, including to reduce the maximum number of students from 742 to 660, and then slipped in the announcement of his support, in concurrence with the county’s Planning Staff. The decision came well over a year after the initial submission and ends a tough and anguishing process for the Falls Church Schools, which announced another major enrollment increase as fall semester classes began this week.
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