Loudoun Now for April 16, 2020

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VOL. 5, NO. 22

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n PUBLIC NOTICES

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APRIL 16, 2020

Nonprofits See Shifting Fundraising Amid Pandemic

BY RENSS GREENE

rgreene@loudounnow.com

Photo by Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now

Father John Heisler prays just before Easter Sunday Mass begins at Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church.

See story on page 14.

County Defends Action Under Emergency Rules; Plans Public Hearings

BY RENSS GREENE

rgreene@loudounnow.com

Despite state law that prevents elected bodies from conducting business as usual through electronic meetings, the county Board of Supervisors has continued to hold meetings and public hearings on proposals like

adding a car wash to a 7-Eleven and rezoning 60 forested acres along Goose Creek to industrial use. And last week, the Planning Commission held the first public hearing over electronic means in Loudoun County history.

State law allows elected bodies like the Board of Supervisors to meet electronically during a

declared state of emergency if the emergency—such as the current COVID-19 pandemic—makes it unsafe to meet in person, and if the purpose of the meeting is “to address the emergency.”

But interpretations of that EMERGENCY HEARINGS continues on page 21

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“So very happy we switched to Hunt Country. My only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner. How much money we would have saved…However, we finally made the right choice about our propane.

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At the same time that the COVID-19 pandemic has put more people in need, the organizations that support them are seeing a fundraising landscape that is shifting beneath their feet.

The American way of life for many people changed in a matter of days as federal, state and local agencies and businesses began scrambling in response to the viral pandemic. And charitable nonprofits, where people can turn when most in need, are feeling the change just like everyone else. While some donations have gone up, so has the need.

“I think certainly front-line organizations have been able to raise some money specifically for COVID response, but I think they will expend that, and are expending money at a higher rate than they normally would,” said Loudoun Hunger Relief Executive Director Jennifer Montgomery, who leads the Loudoun Human Service Network.

Some types of fundraising have disappeared entirely—such as events-based fundraisers like sports tournaments or galas. Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties Director of Grants and Nonprofit Programs Nicole Acosta said nonprofits that were relying on that funding “are having to pivot very quickly.”

Other nonprofits collect fees for their services—either from the clients themselves, or through reimbursements from government programs like Medicaid. If those nonprofits aren’t able to serve clients ordered to stay at home out of group settings, they aren’t able to bill, and don’t get any funding.

Meanwhile, as businesses are affected, so is their charitable giving.

“Some of our large corporations, businesses, I’ve seen on Facebook make some really large, generous gifts,” Acosta said. “But I think some of our smaller businesses who are super community-minded and are giving back all the time, they’re giving back the ways they can, but they’re just not going to be able to give in financial contributions to nonprofits at the rate they were before.”

And Montgomery said while there has been an outpouring of giving, there are also some regular donors to nonprofits who have either lost their jobs or are just holding onto their money right now to make sure they have enough for their family—“which is completely understandable.”

FUNDRAISING SHIFT continues on page 8

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APRIL 16, 2020

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APRIL 16, 2020

PAGE 3

Greenway Opposes Delay in Toll Increase Review; SCC Cancels Local Hearings

BY RENSS GREENE

rgreene@loudounnow.com

The Dulles Greenway’s attorneys have argued the State Corporation Commission, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, should not pause its deliberations on an application to raise rates for the next five years.

And while the SCC this week ruled partly in favor of the county government, delaying those hearings by nine weeks because of the pandemic, it has also canceled local hearings on the tolls.

Loudoun County government had asked the SCC to pause proceedings while the county’s senior staff respond to the health and economic emergency, but Greenway representatives objected.

It would be “simply inappropriate” to halt proceedings “absent the potential for actual harm to be imposed upon interested parties,” the Greenway’s attorneys wrote of its proposal to increase tolls on the state’s only private highway by 30 to 36 percent in the next five years.

County Administrator Tim Hemstreet has told county supervisors his staff is strained to keep up with the COVID-19 response, with many on administrative leave or working from home to practice social distancing and slow spread of the virus. Meanwhile, in many ways, county government has had to change the way it does business, from shutting down parks and libraries, to figuring out new ways for departments to serve customers, to changing the way the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meet.

The previous deadline for the county to file its arguments in the Greenway case was April 24, more than a month before Gov. Ralph Northam’s stay-at-home order ends June 10. The county requested an extension to Oct. 2, arguing the Board of Supervisors “currently anticipates that it and County employees, including the County Attorney and County Administrator, will be fully engaged in responding to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic through at least the end of the summer.”

“There is no need to suspend this proceeding simply because resources may need to be allocated differently than initially envisioned or practiced in the past,” the Greenway’s lawyers wrote, arguing the county also has outside counsel and could hire traffic experts to argue on its behalf.

County Attorney Leo Rogers said “we were a little surprised” by the Greenway’s response. And Hemstreet said the company that owns the Greenway, TRIP II, a subsidiary of Australian company Atlas Arteria, “is refusing to work with us.”

“I think part of what they have responded with is they don’t believe there is any disruption going on, they don’t understand why the county would be otherwise busy right now,” Hemstreet said during the April 7 Board of Supervisors meeting. He noted that part of the evidence the county will submit would be traffic counts—which, he said, may not be typical right now.

Greenway’s Drive for Charity Ending

BY RENSS GREENE

rgreene@loudounnow.com

Nonprofit leaders say they’ve been told the Dulles Greenway will end its annual Drive for Charity, which dedicates one day of toll revenues to nonprofits and last year raised close to $327,000.

Greenway spokesman Terry Hoffman said the company hasn’t yet made an announcement, but “more than likely” will end the Drive for Charity.

“I think we’re leaning toward having like a 10K or 5K run on the Greenway to raise money for local nonprofits, and we’ll probably open it up to all of the nonprofits in Loudoun County, but we haven’t officially DRIVE FOR CHARITY continues on page 23

TOLL REVIEW continues on page 23

Makersmiths to the Rescue Local Nonprofit Gets Creative with PPE Micro-Manufacturing

BY JAN MERCKER

jmercker@loudounnow.com

If necessity is the mother of invention and crisis inspires creativity, members of Loudoun’s Makersmiths community is literally on the cutting edge.

Around the county, 3D printers are humming and sewing machines are buzzing to produce protective equipment for area medical professionals and first responders. With their spaces in Leesburg and Purcellville effectively closed to the public, members of the Makersmiths nonprofit are finding creative ways to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The maker community has the ability to do quick micro-manufacturing and quickly scale it,” said Makersmiths founding member Brad Hess. “People have just shifted their resources and said, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ That’s how this came about: we said, ‘What can we do to help and what’s the need?’”

One team, led by Hess and Maker-

Norman K. Styer/Loudoun Now

Makersmiths co-founder Brad Hess inspects face shields that were made in the nonprofit’s Royal Street workshop in Leesburg, just before they are sterilized and packaged for distribution. On Saturday, a small team assembled another 150 shields.

smiths president John Dubelko, is focused on making protective plastic face

shields while another team led by instructor Jessee Maloney produces in-de-

mand cloth masks for healthcare workers and families with babies in neonatal intensive care.

For the face shields, the makers have been using an open-source design by the Prague-based 3D printer company Prusa3D. The project involves cutting large sheets of PET plastic with the makerspace’s laser cutter for the shield, while individual members use more than 25 3D printers at home to craft the headbands for the equipment. A small crew then assembles the shields in the nonprofit’s Leesburg studio.

“It’s kind of decentralized manufacturing. Everybody’s printing at home,” Dubelko said. “It’s neat to see people helping each other out. ... People are donating their time and their resources to this project.”

The shield-making team is adapting as they move forward, Dubelko said.

MAKERSMITHS continues on page 16

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APRIL 16, 2020

Loudoun

Supervisors Reverse Course, Move to Expand Aldie Historic District

BY RENSS GREENE rgreene@loudounnow.com

Last year, county supervisors began to pull property from the Aldie Historic District amid opposition to building a new fire station on the grounds. Now they’ve abandoned that plan and have voted instead to expand the Aldie Historic District to include more county-owned land.

It is a victory for Aldie residents and preservation organizations that fought the county’s plans to build the fire station next to an old tavern in Aldie at every step.

Supervisors up until last June had plans to replace the outdated Aldie fire and rescue station with a new one next door, on the site of a historic tavern building inside the village’s historic district. People in the village opposed those plans, and won a small victory when the Historic District Review Committee denied the county government’s application to demolish two structures and build the firehouse on that property.

Supervisors pressed ahead anyway, voting to appeal that decision. They also set county staff members to work getting around that problem by removing the property from the Aldie Historic District.

District Supervisor Tony R. Buffington (R-Blue Ridge), Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd (D-Leesburg) and then-supervisor Geary M. Higgins (R-Catoctin) opposed the move, and Buffington said work was ongoing to find another site. Later

that month, that work came to fruition when supervisors agreed to buy 11.7 acres at the southwest corner of John Mosby Highway and James Monroe Highway for $875,000, opposite the weekly Gilbert’s Corner farmers market, for the new fire station.

It was only the latest twist in the county’s long search for a site for the fire station. Even before the Aldie tavern site, the county had to abandon plans on another site at the intersection of Rt. 50 and Roundup Place, in front of the Little River Farms subdivision, when neighbors living around it successfully blocked the project in court. The 12 acres near Gilbert’s corner brought the total the county government has spent on land for the new fire station to $2.25 million, including the two previous sites where the county’s plans have been chased out—$475,000 for the tavern site in Aldie, and $1.2 million for a site east of town at Little River Farms.

While the Aldie fire station appears finally ready to move ahead, the new Board of Supervisors on April 7 agreed unanimously to expand the Aldie Historic District to include two more properties to the west of the tavern. Those properties, in fact, were already mostly surrounded by the district, but not included. They are also the other two parcels of three that the county purchased for the fire station’s tavern site.

Buffington wrote in his newsletter that his office and County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large)’s office pro-

posed the expansion after requests from the Aldie Heritage Association, the Mosby Heritage Area Association and other local preservation organizations.

Randall said expanding the historic district still may not be enough to protect the properties, and any historic preservation societies or other groups that were looking into the properties to preserve them should keep doing so.

“I would really encourage any groups who want to ensure that those structures remain, to keep having those discussions,” Randall said.

A county staff report notes the parcels are in the footprint of the existing historic district and says they have “a high degree of historical and cultural significance.”

“Their ‘Main Street’ location, terrain features as the ‘Gateway’ to the Historic Aldie Tavern, existing structures and other features, make them important additions for the preservation and continued protection of the Historic Aldie Tavern, the existing Historic District, and the historic Village of Aldie’s unique history as the small village named after Scotland’s Aldie Castle; as home to the Aldie Mill; as a strategic early 1800’s travel and commerce location within a gap of the Bull Run Mountain; as home of Ashby’s Gap Turnpike (Route 50) and beginning of Snickersville Turnpike; and as site of the strategic 1863 Civil War Battle of Aldie,” the report reads.

Expanding the historic district is also in line with the new county comprehen-

sive plan’s goal to protect historic villages, according to the report.

Steve Price, who chaired the Mosby Heritage Area Association during the firehouse battle, said the Aldie tavern “goes back to the earliest days of the village.”

“It was a high-priority mission for us to preserve it and find an alternative site for the firehouse,” Price said. “Despite the best efforts of the county to come up with an architectural plan that was compatible with the village, an 18,000-square-foot firehouse just didn’t fit there, as well as the fact that the topography is not hospitable.”

The property is backed by a steep slope.

Price said he is “tickled pink” that the historic district will be expanded. And now that the county will sell the property, he said, “we want to make sure that there are protections placed upon the property, the first step of which is placing it in the historic district so that any structures or alterations have to be approved by the county Historic District Review Committee”—the same stumbling block the Board of Supervisors hit last summer.

Price said the village’s advocates are also pushing the county to put other protections on the property before relinquishing it, such as placing it under easement or seeking its inclusion in the nearby national Aldie Mill Historic District.

“Whether the county will go to those lengths, I don’t know,” Price said. “I mean, they have a lot of things on their plate now, but we remain optimistic.” n

Supervisors Lower County Flag to Honor COVID-19 Victims

BY PATRICK SZABO pszabo@loudounnow.com

County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large), alongside Supervisors Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian), Mike Turner (D-Ashburn) and Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg), gathered at the Lansdowne Public Safety Center on Tuesday to lower the county flag in honor of the county’s five coronavirus victims. Turner, the supervisor with the most service in the military, did the honors of hoisting the flag to full-mast and then lowering it halfway.

Randall said the point of the ceremony was to humanize the coronavirus statistics.

“These are human beings,” she said of

the virus’ victims. “I don’t want to lose that humanity. … People right in Loudoun County have lost their lives.”

Randall noted that while first responders signed up to help others knowing they might be placed in life-threatening situations, other essential employees, like grocery store workers, did not sign up for that.

In Virginia, 154 people have died of the virus since Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency on March 12. As of Tuesday, Loudoun was the fifth most coronavirus-stricken county in the commonwealth, with 344 cases reported.

Randall said that Loudoun flags outside of all county buildings will be lowered to half-staff every Monday moving forward. n

Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now

Supervisor Mike Turner (D-Ashburn) prepares to hoist the Loudoun County flag at the Lansdowne Public Safety Center to full-mast before lowering it down halfway to honor the county’s five victims of coronavirus.

APRIL 16, 2020

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Coronavirus Deaths Climb in Virginia As health officials predict a leveling off of new cases in the days ahead, the number of COVID-19 related deaths in Virginia tripled during the past week, reaching 154 on Monday evening.

Five deaths had been reported in Loudoun County as of Tuesday. Each of those patients was 65 years old or older.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Loudoun increased to 344 by Monday, up from 188 the previous week.

Most of the outbreaks have occurred in long-term care facilities at 56 locations statewide, including six in Loudoun County, as of April 14.

Four of the fatal Loudoun cases were residents of Falcons Landing, the nonprofit retirement community for military veterans and retired government employees in Sterling, where 12 residents and 15 staff members have tested positive of the infection, according to an April 13 update. At least one resident has completed quarantine and tested negative for the virus.

“COVID-19 is testing our strength and resilience in ways I could never have imagined,” CEO Barbara Brannon wrote in a statement last week. “Residents and staff are united and working together to get through these dark days. We mourn the loss of those who have died and remain steadfast in our efforts to support and protect our Falcons Landing family.”

It is only one of Loudoun’s retirement

Loudoun Hunger Serves 400 Families in a Week Loudoun Hunger Relief, the county’s largest hunger nonprofit, has continued serving families in need even as they take additional precautions to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Last week, the nonprofit served around 400 families—a third of them coming to the food pantry for the first time. Those numbers were reported on Friday, with Saturday still left to go. According to the nonprofit, the need is increasing, with 13,306 Loudoun residents filing for unemployment in the last four weeks.

Families are being served in the parking lot, both at the Sterling Community Center on Monday afternoons and at the pantry in Leesburg Tuesday through Saturday.

To contribute to Loudoun Hunger Relief, go to loudounhunger.org.

Loudoun Deputies Pick Up a Different Type of Drug Duty The Loudoun County Sheriff ’s Office is rolling out a new community polic-

communities forced to take additional steps against the outbreak. The communities are limiting outside visits and taking additional precautions among staff, but Loudoun Health Department Director Dr. David Goodfriend told county supervisors last week that retirement communities have faced challenges keeping the coronavirus from spreading among their populations.

Part of the problem is that many of the staff members tend to be low-paid, without health benefits, and work at more than one retirement community.

“A number of facilities are finding the staff just not showing up, and that becomes a significant challenge, as they have a fixed population,” Goodfriend said.

As of Tuesday morning, the Virginia Department of Health reported that 37 patients were undergoing treatment in a hospital. Fairfax County reported the highest number of hospitalized patients, 235—24 percent of the statewide total. More than 15 percent of all COVID-19 tests processed statewide have been administered in Fairfax. There have been 6,618 test results reported in Fairfax, compared with 1,766 in Loudoun.

According the latest report, 138 of the 154 COVID-19 related deaths statewide were patients age 60 or older. Fourteen residents in their 40s and 50s have died from the virus and two deaths involve patients in their 20s or 30s. n ing program of sorts. In addition to its drug-busting duties, the agency is offering a drug delivery service.

Under the program, uniformed Sheriff ’s Office employees will pick up and deliver prescription medication to senior citizens and those who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.

To participate, residents must contact the Sheriff ’s Office at 703-777-1021. Participants must pre-pay for the prescription and confirm that their pharmacy allows third-party pick-up for the medication. Deliveries will be made during normal business hours. The agency will not deliver to assisted living communities, care facilities, senior centers or group homes.

In making deliveries, Sheriff ’s Office members will wear personal protective equipment and maintain social distancing based on CDC guidance.

“We want to ensure residents who are physically unable to get to their pharmacy and are in critical need of their medications can receive their prescriptions in a safe manner,” said Sheriff Mike Chapman.

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APRIL 16, 2020

Education

It’s Back to Class–Virtually–for Teachers, Students

BY NORMAN K. STYER nstyer@loudounnow.com

Spring break is over—did you know last week was spring break?—and it’s time to get back to work. This is the week that distance learning ramps up for homebound for teachers and students in Loudoun.

After two more days of teacher training Monday and Tuesday, Loudoun County Public Schools was scheduled to kick off its virtual classes Wednesday.

The teachers working to master new online instruction skills got another challenge last week when the School Board directed that students will be offered the opportunity to strengthen their year-end grades if they put in the work.

School division staffers have worked in recent weeks to get Chromebooks into the hands of students who didn’t yet have them, and to begin handing out 1,500 hotspot devices for students—and teachers—who don’t have reliable internet access at home. Teachers also have been offering review work assignments for students to complete at home.

Administrators across the state have been wrestling with how much weight to give the online-only work during the fourth quarter, with the direction leaning toward a no-grades assessment approach. However, the School Board said Loudoun’s teachers should create higher expectations.

Specifically, the board set a policy that teachers could improve their students’ grades if they demonstrate a mastery of the material in the weeks ahead.

Administrators at the state and local level, and some School Board members, resisted that concept because of concerns that online course offerings wouldn’t provide a level playing field for all students.

During the April 7 debate, Chairwoman Brenda Sheridan (Sterling) was among the opponents of the proposal. She said that students who will be called upon to babysit their siblings or have to find jobs to help support their families during the economic crisis would be at a disadvantage. Concerns also were raised that special education students may not be able to fully participate in the online environment.

“This could create an even greater opportunity gap than we have right now,” Sheridan said.

However, Beth Barts (Leesburg), the chief proponent of the change, said it was unfair to essentially freeze students’ grades based on work completed before schools closed on March 11 as part of the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Students and parents want ways to improve the grades, she said.

Other board members agreed, saying they wanted to keep students engaged— and motivated—in their studies over the

next two months. Several noted that athome learning will not be able to address the needs of each student, but they said efforts to achieve equity under the unprecedented circumstances should not come at the expense of broader educational goals.

Jeff Morse (Dulles) was among those willing to trust teachers to use their professional judgment in assessing students’ performance. “Let’s give kids a little opportunity to recoup if they need it,” he

said.

After a motion to delay a decision until a future meeting failed, the board voted 7-2, with Sheridan and Leslee King (Broad Run) opposed, to allow teachers to improve grades based on fourth quarter work.

More details of the distance learning program and information on how grades will be calculated can be viewed at lcps. org/ContinuityOfEducation. n

Seniors Will Celebrate Graduation, Eventually Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Williams announced Monday that plans are in the works for all high schools to hold in-person graduation ceremonies, although it is not yet clear when those will occur.

Williams said the events will be scheduled “when it is safe to do so.”

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“We do not know yet when the ceremonies will be held, but each high school with a graduating class WILL hold a graduation ceremony. You have our word,” Williams wrote in an email sent to staff members and parents Monday night.

He said there also may be virtual ceremonies earlier.

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“As an initial step, not as a substitute, each high school with a graduating class will hold a virtual celebration of the Class of ‘20 in June,” he wrote. Principals will work with students to plan the virtual programs, which will be designed to provide opportunities to promote class unity and connection. n

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APRIL 16, 2020

Public Safety 2 Sought in Sterling Robbery

Sheriff ’s Office app.

The Loudoun County Sheriff ’s Office is investigating the robbery of a Sterling convenience store Sunday afternoon.

The victim reported that two males entered the Exxon gas station located at 45601 Falke Plaza. The first suspect was purchasing a drink and jumped over the counter when the clerk opened the register. The second suspect went around the counter and removed a cash from the register. No weapons were displayed during the robbery.

Both suspects fled the store on foot.

The first suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 5-foot, 8-inches tall, with a slim build, wearing blue jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt. The second suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 5-foot, 6-inches tall, with a slim build, and wearing gray sweatpants with black cuffs and a black hooded sweatshirt.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Detective T. Rodriguez at 703-777-1919 or submit a tip through the Loudoun County

Authorities Seek Suspect Who Shot Cat in Hamilton Loudoun County Animal Services officers are seeking the public’s help in finding the person who shot a pet cat in the Hamilton Estates neighborhood April 6.

According to the report, gunfire was heard in the area of Vannes Court shortly before 4 p.m. April 6. A short time later, a white, short-haired cat was found with wounds that appeared to have been inflicted by a firearm.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the agency at 703-777-0406.

Under a state law that took effect in July, those suspected of injuring or beating dogs or cats may be charged with a Class-6 felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

After more than $1,000 in veterinarian bills, the cat is recovering at home.

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Fundraising shift continued from page 1 And Montgomery said there are also organizations that are not front-line nonprofits like Loudoun Hunger Relief or HealthWorks for Northern Virginia, but which are still important for dealing with a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There will be nonprofits that are teetering on the brink of closure, and those nonprofits are going to be important in a few months when hopefully things are better,” she said. “And they’re really important to the fabric of a healthy community.”

At the same time, nonprofits are changing how they do business.

One such nonprofit is on the frontlines of the pandemic, offering medical care and COVID-19 testing to low-income and uninsured people: HealthWorks for Northern Virginia.

Executive Director Carol Jameson said the nonprofit started offering COVID-19 testing on March 12, and decided at that time to focus their efforts on patients who are ill.

“If somebody happened to have an appointment for an annual physical, we would just reschedule that, so the only well visits we’re doing are the newborns

ALWAYS ONLINE AT LOUDOUNNOW.COM and the well child checks,” Jameson said.

Although they’ve also been doing some telemedicine, and they are still taking new patients, without regular checkups they are also seeing fewer patients. But they are also funded through a number of sources, including federal funding, and have some reserves.

“As a Federally Qualified Health Center, we have benefitted from income that has come to all of the Federally Qualified Health Centers in the US through two of the stimulus bills, and that has certainly helped,” Jameson said. “And I think that has been done in recognition of the fact that the community health centers are on the front line, caring for people who are low-income and don’t have insurance.”

Meanwhile, A Place to Be, a nonprofit offering music therapy, had to rethink how they provide their services, said co-founder and creative director Tom Sweitzer.

“About four weeks ago we sat there in an office and, because we were all in shock and fear of what this all could be and we had to brainstorm, my team brainstormed for four hours straight,” Sweitzer said.

“How do we pivot in this kind of world?

Because we work with vulnerable populations, music is live, and we’ve known there’s been teletherapy, but part of A Place to Be is we really pride ourselves on

APRIL 16, 2020

personal touch.”

A Place to Be, too, has had some luck— including a large donation from a private donor, who asked to remain anonymous, allowing the nonprofit to offer its services to needy people in the public school system for free for eight weeks. That kept the lights on, staff paid, and let the nonprofit reach close to 300 more people, Sweitzer said. Beyond that, there’s a rainy day fund—“but we don’t have a rainy day fund for long. We’re just like every other nonprofit,” Sweitzer said.

And already some plans have had to be put on hold.

“We were ready to expand to Leesburg to a very large space,” Sweitzer said. “We were ready to expand to double our client load, and all of that stopped within 24 hours. And we will not be able to go back to that right away. It will be a time.”

But Sweitzer is irrepressible, and his staff has adapted to keep up their work.

He said their work is as important during social distancing as ever.

“A Place to Be is a place where we hopefully help people feel like they belong, and a lot of our individuals know very much what it’s like in isolation, and now the whole world is feeling a whole lot of what they feel,” Sweitzer said. “So, for our clients, I can’t even begin to tell you

how happy—as clunky as Zoom can be sometimes, they are so happy to see their therapist, or see their friends in groups.”

In fact, he said, they even managed to cobble together a rehearsal for a play they were working on—no easy task when singing along with two-second delays.

“I am a real believer that we must be together as humans, especially for my individuals who feel so isolated,” Sweitzer said. “This is difficult for all of us, but imagine being in a wheelchair and you hardly felt like you got to go anywhere.”

“Everyone wants to know how to volunteer, which is wonderful, but right now a lot of them can’t,” Acosta said. “Volunteering, at least in person, presents a lot of challenges.” Instead, she said, the best way to help out your favorite nonprofit is to send them a few dollars.

And a great opportunity to do that is coming up.

“I think the most important thing we’re focusing on right now is Give Choose,” Acosta said. The Community Foundation’s 24-hour marathon of giving, Give Choose gathers dozens of nonprofits together and collects hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. Last year, Give Choose raised more than $320,000 for 92 FUNDRAISING SHIFT continues on page 9

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Fundraising shift continued from page 8 local nonprofits.

Give Choose is scheduled this year for May 5, but early giving begins April 21.

Donors can give as much or as little as they can, and can choose which nonprofit to support.

“I think for Give Choose, that day, it will be really important to say pick whatever is important to you and to be able to give,” Montgomery said. “If cats are important to you, the cat people are still helping cats.

Loudoun Literacy [Council] is still trying to find ways to educate people in new and different ways, and nonprofits are being innovative and creative, and trying to find ways to deliver their services in any way that they can. Figure out what you really like and what you’re passionate about, and even if it’s 10 bucks, 10 bucks is helpful.”

“We’re really proud that we have a role that we can play,” Jameson said. “It does feel like something of an honor to be in a position where we can help the community.”

“This is all going to awaken so many beautiful things,” Sweitzer said. “I think at every nonprofit, not just ours.” n

PAGE 9

Community Foundation, 100WomenStrong Announce $225K in Pandemic Response Grants The Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties has issued the first grant from its Emergency Relief Fund, a $25,000 grant to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, which is collaborating with Loudoun Cares to give monetary assistance directly to people impacted financially by the COVID-19 crisis.

The foundation also made a grant from the Tourism and Hospitality Relief Fund to support those individuals.

Catholic Charities and Loudoun Cares will jointly rotate staff to respond to requests for financial assistance through a newly established COVID-19 Emergency Fund and Helpline. Starting Thursday, April, 9, Loudoun residents who need help paying rent as a result of lost wages can call the COVID-19 Emergency Fund and Helpline at 703-669-5040.

“The strong partnership between Catholic Charities and Loudoun Cares allows funds to be distributed strategically and efficiently to those in need,” said Amy Owen, president of the Community Foundation. “Working together, these organizations pooled their resources to make sure we all are able to maximize the impact of

the funding we have available. We ask our community to keep giving to the fund, if you can. The fund is designed for response, relief and recovery.”

The Community Foundation is still accepting gifts to the Community Emergency Relief Fund at communityfoundationlf.org/ emergencyrelief and to the Tourism and Hospitality Relief Fund at https://communityfoundationlf.org/product/tandhfund.

Meanwhile, local philanthropic organization 100WomenStrong has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by refocusing its giving on groups that are filling immediate essential needs for food, shelter, and healthcare.

The organization has distributed $199,500 to nine nonprofits, and to purchase personal protective equipment for first responders. 100WomenStrong will also continue to distribute funds to nonprofits it has vetted and approved from past and current competitive grant rounds.

The group also will continue to monitor COVID-19 relief efforts on a monthly basis, and invite some of its current or past grant recipients to apply for funding based on what they will need for the next month.

“The global COVID-19 pandemic not

only has threatened lives, but also has forced businesses to close and threatened the livelihoods of millions,” said 100WomenStrong Founder and President Karen Schaufeld.

“The people losing jobs and shuttering businesses are our next-door neighbors and friends, and the financial and emotional toll is very high.”

In the first round of grants, awardees include: Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, Leesburg office, $15,000; Loudoun Hunger Relief, $10,000; Dulles South Food Pantry, $10,000; HealthWorks for Northern Virginia, $10,000; Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers, $7,500; Good Shepherd Alliance, $7,000; the Loudoun Free Clinic, $5,000; and the Loudoun Homeless Services Center, $5,000.

Up to $50,000 also has been allocated for the purchase of personal protection equipment for area volunteer firefighters and EMTs. They plan to allocate a second round of funding in early May and will continue to provide funding on a monthly basis to organizations that are invited to submit applications. n

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Our Towns Lovettsville Brewery Honors Faith, Fallen Soldiers On Good Friday last week, One Family Brewing team members erected a life-size wooden cross on the brewery’s 27-acre property near Lovettsville to commemorate their Christian faith and planted more than 500 American flags in the ground to honor the nation’s fallen soldiers. The brewery will continue to install the flags until Memorial Day, at which point the team will read the names of the fallen soldiers aloud. Family members of those soldiers are invited to purchase flags at onefamilybrewing.com/blogs/ news/memorial-day-2020.

Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now

VML, Candidates Oppose Delay in Elections

BY PATRICK SZABO pszabo@loudounnow.com

Gov. Ralph Northam’s request for the Virginia General Assembly to consider moving the May 5 municipal elections to Nov. 3, the same day as the 2020 General Election, has prompted opposition from the Virginia Municipal League and concern from many of the 28 candidates running in Loudoun.

In an April 10 letter to the governor, the league wrote that it was “very disappointed” in Northam’s request, which he made in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It asks Northam to “strongly consider the position of the localities” participating in the May election. In Loudoun, that’s the towns of Hamilton, Lovettsville, Middleburg, Purcellville and Round Hill. All five are VML members.

The league pointed out that moving the election would mean absentee ballots that have already been cast would be thrown out—wasting thousands of dollars already spent to distribute and process them. Many voters this year have chosen to vote absentee to comply with social distancing protocols.

Loudoun County General Registrar Judy Brown said that as of Monday, the county had received 1,213 requests for absentee ballots, which accounts for about 13 percent of the 9,523 registered voters in those five towns.

“Voters across Virginia submitted their

choices for local leadership in good faith that their voices would be heard,” the VML letter reads.

The league went on to suggest that Northam’s proposal to keep incumbent officials in office past their normal June 30 term expirations “presents questions of adherence to the Code of Virginia,” and that allowing voters who might be eligible to vote in November the chance to also vote in a postponed local election, regardless of their voting eligibility on May 5, “produces alarming constitutional questions.”

Several of the five mayoral and 23 town council candidates in Loudoun have noted their concern regarding a potential move to November, since they won’t know what the General Assembly decides until it meets again on April 22—just 13 days before voting is scheduled to occur.

Incumbent Middleburg Town Councilman Kevin Daly said he agreed with VML’s stance and that delaying the elections to November, while not knowing whether or not the pandemic will subside by that point, would be a poor decision and that voters should vote absentee in May. “I think it’s reprehensible to put people in jeopardy,” he said. “I’d rather err on the side of safety for the community.”

Round Hill Vice Mayor Mary Anne Graham said that changing the date of the election this late in the game would “only add confusion.”

Incumbent Middleburg Town Councilman Bud Jacobs said the lack of communi-

cation from the governor’s office has been unacceptable.

“It seems to me the governor’s staff could have reached out to affected jurisdictions with at least a ‘heads-up,’ and it is a significant failure on their part not to do so,” he said.

Purcellville Town Council candidate Erin Rayner said the requested move concerns her because, under Virginia law, an election can be delayed by only 30 days at the request of a local government.

“I believe that moving the election date to November threatens the important nonpartisan nature of our town elections,” she said.

Purcellville mayoral candidate Beverly Chiasson said that pushing the election into November would give her more time to meet with more residents, but that the added time could also make it more difficult for candidates to keep current with town voters.

“It sure does make a long, long time to keep the voters engaged,” Chiasson said.

Purcellville Town Council candidate Mary Lynn Hickey said that in addition to possibly diminishing voter interest, a delayed election might put a strain on campaign resources. She said she hopes that if the election is postponed, it will be pushed to a Tuesday before June 30—the date when the terms of the town’s three incumbent ELECTION DELAY continues on page 12

Hillsboro Eyes Earlier, Longer Rt. 9 Closure Starting May 4

BY NORMAN K. STYER nstyer@loudounnow.com

The Town of Hillsboro announced today an agreement with VDOT for the acceleration of planned full closures of Rt. 9 within the town to coincide with Gov. Northam’s ongoing stay-at-home executive order, which has resulted in a significant reduction in daily traffic.

Under the agreement, the full closure of Rt. 9 within the town and implementation of local and regional detours will begin on or about May 4 and last into mid- to late-June.

During the full road closure, the town also will install new drinking water mains to replace temporary above-ground lines that were laid out after a series of main breaks that occurred earlier this month.

The Virginia Department of Health has urged the town to accelerate the water main installation to protect public health. That work had been scheduled to occur during the summer months.

Under the original plans, the first partial closure of the road had been expected after Labor Day, with the first of up to three planned periods of full road closures totaling 60 days not expected until November. But project managers, seeing a recent reduction of daily traffic by at least 40 percent, hope the schedule change ultimately will result in less disruption to the community.

“During this extraordinary time of sheltering in place, shuttered schools and businesses and a dramatic reduction in traffic on Rt. 9, taking this action now will lessen the impacts to residents, schools, businesses and motorists later,” said Mayor Roger Vance, who also is the ReThink9 road project manager.

“We, of course, did not anticipate the global pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders. But as the project management team and in full agreement with VDOT—recognize RT. 9 CLOSURE continues on page 12

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APRIL 16, 2020

TOWN Notes LOVETTSVILLE Town Gauges Pandemic’s Impact on Businesses The Town of Lovettsville is working to understand how much the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting area businesses and what potential solutions are.

Mayor Nate Fontaine announced last week that most town restaurant and food service businesses are operating with 3050 percent lower revenue than last year and have had to lay some employees off.

He also mentione some ideas he’s heard to help the situation. Those include advertising that the town is still open for business; implementing a temporary meals tax holiday; using meals tax revenue to support businesses; suspending late fees; and concentrating all funding on a large town event to kickstart the local economy when the coronavirus crisis is over.

To get a better grasp on the situation, the town also released a survey last Friday to home-based businesses to document impacts and collect ideas. That information was to be discussed at an emergen-

cy meeting of the Commerce and Business Development Committee Monday night and used to create recommendations for the Town Council, which will meet this Thursday night.

PURCELLVILLE Meals Tax Collection Suspended Through June The Purcellville Town Council last Wednesday night voted unanimously to ratify an ordinance to eliminate the town’s 5-percent meals tax collection for the months of April and May. The council launched that initiative with a March 24 vote of adoption.

According to staff estimates, the town will lose up to $800,000 in revenue from the tax by the end of the fiscal year. The town plans to again collect on the tax on June 1.

Town Manager David Mekarski emphasized that the meals tax holiday did not waive the town’s right to file for federal or state financial relief. He noted the town did not waive its right to collect on the meals tax in full, but because Gov. Ralph Northam disallowed dine-in meal service in Virginia the town merely waived its right to collect on the portion of meals tax

accrued via limited meals service—curbside and takeout orders.

For more information, call the town at 540-338-7421.

Police Department Steps Up Safety Protocols in Pandemic The Purcellville Police Department has implemented additional safety protocols as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a recent statement from the department, the majority of those prevention measures were executed internally and included additional disinfecting, increased social distancing and enacting teleworking options. Additional personal protective equipment was also distributed to officers. The department announced that residents might see more officers wearing face masks, since they might not always be able to maintain six feet of social distancing.

The department is also encouraging residents to report non-violent crimes online to minimize in-person contact. That can be done at loudoun.gov/4596/ReportA-Crime.

For more information, call the department at 540-338-7422.

PAGE 11

ROUND HILL Patriot Disposal Resumes Yard Waste Collection Patriot Disposal announced last week it would continue collecting yard waste from in-town residents beginning April 13, following its previous announcement that it would cease that collection.

The resumed pickup comes with a few limitations. All yard waste must be placed in and wholly contained in paper yard waste bags for pickup. Each household is limited to a maximum of three bags of yard waste. Yard waste in plastic bags or in other containers will not be picked up.

Patriot does not accept tree stumps, bundles or loose branches, food waste, lumber, treated wood, pallets, sawdust, dirt, mulch and sod.

According to an April 9 statement from Patriot, yard waste restrictions are needed to help the company to maintain a healthy workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information, contact Patriot at 703-257-7100 or customerservice@patriotdisposalservices.com.

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PAGE 12

Middleburg Set to Spend $150K to Election delay continued from page 10 Support Town Retail Businesses

BY PATRICK SZABO pszabo@loudounnow.com

The Town of Middleburg is already spending $182,000 to support residents, utility customers, restaurants and nonprofits amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, it’s set to spend another $150,000 to support retailers.

The Town Council on Thursday, April 9 voted 6-0-1 to authorize the creation of a town retail business support program that will see the town reimburse businesses for half of the amount of their mark-down prices during sales. That financial relief will be capped at 30-percent-off sales and $3,750 per participating business, based on the sale of up to $25,000 worth of merchandise. Councilman Philip Miller abstained from the vote because he works at Highcliffe Clothier in town, a business that could qualify for the program.

If a business marks its prices down 30 percent and sells $1,000 worth of merchandise, meaning it makes $700, the town will reimburse that business 15 percent of the value of the merchandise it sold—$150. If a business marks its prices down by 40 percent, the town will still re-

imburse only 15 percent of the merchandise it sells.

The town is prepared to reimburse a total of $150,000 to all 40 in-town retail businesses, granted they each sell $25,000 during the duration of the program, which will last 30 days. That would mean Middleburg businesses generate $1 million in sales by next month.

To qualify for the financial support, businesses must enter into an agreement with the town and must “aggressively” market and promote their sales, in part by using the town’s newly created brand and horse logo. The town will also work to drive additional customers to those businesses’ storefronts and websites.

This is the second time in two weeks Middleburg has implemented a large financial relief package to benefit the public. On March 26, the Town Council voted to approve a four-piece package that is providing the town’s nearly 500 utility customers with $200 credits, sending 429 in-town households 13 $20 meal vouchers for town restaurants, giving restaurants more time to remit money collected via the 4-percent meals tax and contributing $16,750 to three area nonprofits. The relief package is costing the town $181,750. n

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council members and Mayor Kwasi Fraser expire.

“That would be the cleanest solution that doesn’t create new issues arising from having council members serving past the expiration date of their elected term of service,” she said.

Fraser said he recommended to the Office of Elections last month that it consider turning May 5 into an absentee-voting-only election by proactively mailing out absentee ballots to all registered voters. Fraser said that if the General Assembly does vote to move the election, he would “adamantly oppose discarding any ballots that have already been cast.”

Incumbent Lovettsville Town Councilman Mike Dunlap echoed that sentiment, stating that, if the elections were to be delayed, he would hope every vote is counted and every voter has access to vote.

Lovettsville Town Council candidate Sheryl Frye and Purcellville Town Council candidate Christopher Bertaut said they would run their campaigns as usual until the General Assembly makes a decision

Rt. 9 closure continued from page 10 that with fewer motorists on Rt. 9 and with schools closed—we needed to actively explore and now be able to implement road construction work that takes advantage of less traffic,” said Vice Mayor Amy Marasco.

Vance said area businesses, residents and officials have been supportive of the schedule change. “This is a great example of common sense and nimble decision making,” he said.

It is not yet clear how the new direction will alter the detailed construction sequencing of the project, but the work is still on track for completion by May 2021, town leaders said.

“We are extremely pleased with the cooperation and coordination we’ve had with VDOT and our contractor Archer Western to adjust the schedule and sequencing of work to make this possible,” Vance said. “By continuing to use a data-driven decision-making process, the managers at VDOT and the town project team are ensuring this will not only allow higher productivity and efficiency, but most critically it will improve the safety for residents, workers, school children and motorists.”

As for the detours, nearly 100 detour and construction signs, including several remotely controlled electronic message

APRIL 16, 2020 next Wednesday.

On the other side of the debate is the entire Hamilton Town Council. Mayor Dave Simpson said the council Monday night unanimously supported the position to postpone the elections to November in an effort to keep the community safe from the spread of coronavirus.

“It’s about the protection of the poll people,” Simpson said, emphasizing that the council’s stance is not politically driven, but simply is a response to communal health.

“We are in favor of that.”

Simpson said the Town Council would soon be sending VML and Northam a letter outlining its stance. Only one of the three Hamilton Town Councilmen whose terms expire June 30 are seeking re-election— Vice Mayor Kenneth Wine. Councilwoman Catherine Salter is also running for election to the council in a special election.

Daniel Davies, Del. Dave LaRock (R-33)’s legislative assistant, said on Friday that House of Delegates Minority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert (R-15) was working with Northam to amend his request for a postponed May election. Davies said LaRock would most likely vote against moving the election to November. n boards, will be installed across Loudoun and Clarke counties and into West Virginia. During the closure, Rt. 9 in town will be restricted to town residents, first responders and delivery trucks. Through truck traffic will be directed to use the regional detour of Rt. 7 and Rt. 340. No through trucks will be permitted on the local detour route, which will use Stony Point Road, Woodgrove Road, Allder School Road and Hillsboro Road. Only local traffic will be permitted to use Cider Mill Road. All motorists originating west of Hillsboro will be directed to return to Rt. 9 eastbound via the Hillsboro detour rather than following Rt. 719 into Round Hill to access Rt. 7.

“With three-week’s advance notice, we are confident our local and regional partners and the traveling public will be well informed and prepared for this change in plans,” Vance said, adding the town will be holding several virtual meetings with residents and businesses in the coming days to provide logistical details and to answer questions.

Vance is encouraging residents, businesses and local and regional officials to stay informed on the project at the ReThink9.com website, where detour maps, project updates, traffic alerts and project details are posted. Those interested also may sign up for the ReThink9 Dispatch email updates. n

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APRIL 16, 2020

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APRIL 16, 2020

LoCo Living

Holy Days Go Virtual As COVID-19 Response Keeps Pews Empty

BY KARA C. RODRIGUEZ

krodriguez@loudounnow.com

As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life for people around the world, it also dramatically altered the look of recent religious holidays.

Last weekend’s Easter holiday, for example, had a decidedly different look.

As one of the biggest services of the year for all Christian denominations, packed pews and standing-room-only assembly halls gave way to wide open spaces, with priests or pastors talking to their congregations through a phone or computer camera in the midst of empty sanctuaries.

As Round Hill United Methodist Church Pastor Daniel Wray prepared for Good Friday services April 10, and looked ahead to the weekend, he admitted he was in for a much different experience. The church typically draws around 70 to 75 attendees to its 10 a.m. Sunday worship service, but since the pandemic has seen religious institutions curtail in-person services, he’s instead engaging the community via Facebook Live.

“It was strange at first. Sometimes you tell jokes in a sermon and you don’t get any response when you’re by yourself,” he said with a laugh.

Losing out on being together as a church community during the Easter holiday was a big blow when reality sank in, Wray admitted. But the pastor has seen the silver lining of sometimes being able to reach an even larger audience via the internet. He’s witnessed an active comment section during service live-streams, and even family members of congregants, or those who have not attended a church service, participating.

“I think however we can get the good news out there is good. I’m always for physically gathering and being with one another. But if more people are hearing the message and may not have normally come to gather but are hearing what Jesus is doing for them in their life then absolutely it is a good thing. We have seen some of that benefit,” he said.

The benefit has been big enough for the church to even consider extending its livestream service, even when social distancing guidelines are relaxed, and church gatherings resume.

“We’re in discussions [about extending the livestream]. We have seen the benefits of it during this time. If it can help us to

Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now

Father Kevin Larsen, the pastor of Saint John the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Leesburg, celebrates the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, which was streamed to parishioners via Facebook Live.

share that message and to reach people that may not normally have heard it, we are certainly going to be considering it,” Wray said.

The internet has also been a blessing of sorts for Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation in Ashburn during the Passover holiday, which began April 8 and runs through Thursday. On Saturday evening, the faith community hosted a Seder, with 75 participants joined in from the comfort of their homes.

“For many, the technology of the internet and web platforms like Zoom redeem social media’s vaunted [capabilities] by providing such a vibrant way to connect with one another across distances,” said Rabbi Amy Sapowith. “This has even allowed family members and friends who wouldn’t normally celebrate this holiday together to be together—across oceans, across the country—and this is truly joyous.”

It helps to counter the loneliness many are experiencing during this period of social isolation, she said. The pandemic also draws an ironic comparison to the history of the eight-day Jewish holiday, which commemorates the Israelites’ escape from slavery in ancient Egypt that was preceded

by God’s infliction of 10 plagues upon the Egyptians.

“The fear, confinement and prevailing sense of risk that characterize the ancient story is, this year, palpable,” Sapowith said.

Traditionally, the Seder meal ends with

Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now

Father John Heisler walks into an empty church during Easter Sunday services at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church.

a declaration of “Next year, in Jerusalem.”

This year, owing to the unusual circumstances, Sapowith said they also added, “Next year, in person.”

Faith leaders at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Sterling are also preparing for a decidedly different-looking Ramadan observance. The 30-day period of fasting, prayer, and reflection begins this year on April 23, and concludes with the Eid celebration May 23-24. A major tenet of Ramadan is also bringing together the community, with nightly iftar dinners, when the day’s fast is broken, and gathering as a congregation for evening prayers.

Typically, the ADAMS Center serves 500 meals a night during the month of Ramadan, said Hurunnessa Fariad, ADAMS’ head of outreach/PR and interfaith. In addition to the meals offered at ADAMS Center, many of the 25,000 the mosque serves plan nightly iftar parties, with invitations going out months in advance. Obviously, those plans have all been squashed.

“We’re trying to let people know that although we’re not doing that on a communal level you can still do prayers at home, fasting and breaking fast with your family.

It’s a time to reflect, dig deeper into yourself and to connect yourself on a much more spiritual level with God and also to give back to your community,” Fariad said.

“The essence of Ramadan doesn’t really change; it’s just the community part that is going to change.”

Fariad acknowledged that the loss of community gathering can be a big blow for some members of the ADAMS community, particularly those who live alone. She said the mosque’s staff of a dozen counselors have been reaching out to its members, checking up on them to ensure they are still taken care of. Although the large iftar dinners will not happen, Fariad said ADAMS is still coordinating meals for those on its monetary assistance program, even networking with local Muslim-owned restaurants that offer halal food.

The five daily prayers said by Muslims do not translate well to an online offering, since they involve physical movements, but the mosque is offering daily sermons or lectures via its Facebook page as a way to still connect to its faith base, Fariad said.

The financial toll the pandemic has had on religious institutions, many of whom rely on in-person giving during worship services, also cannot be ignored. Fr. James Gould, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, said he anticipates a “profound” impact on church coffers, with weekend Masses typically bringing in $10,000 to $12,000 weekly in collections. Despite many turning to online giving, or even slipping donation envelopes under church doors—sometimes with encouraging notes inside—Gould doubts the past few weekends have been anywhere near those usual numbers. However, he’s confident the parish will be fine, since it runs a lean operation with a small staff.

EMPTY PEWS continues on page 15

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APRIL 16, 2020

PAGE 15

Obituaries

Empty pews continued from page 14 It was a “terrible loss” to not be able to celebrate Easter with the 1,600-family congregation, he said, noting that Easter is typically sees some of the highest attendance rates of the year, along with Christmas.

“People by their nature are communal,” Gould said. “That’s kind of a key element of what this is all about.”

Still, the weekend’s Masses, including services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Saturday’s Easter vigil Mass, had healthy livestream viewership, with Gould’s early Sunday morning Mass drawing around 180 viewers. Gould pointed to the Mass’ centerpiece, the church’s ornately decorated and brightly colored altar, a marking of the Renaissance age that followed the Dark Ages. Another centerpiece of the Mass, the chalice used in Communion, has its own interesting history. The chalice that Gould uses during his Masses was once used by his great-great-great uncle, a priest who celebrated Mass during the 1918 influenza pandemic. These, he said, can serve as a hopeful reminder for viewers and those who come to the church privately to pray for a future that holds promise.

“Easter is all about resurrection. Our experience is like [moving from the Dark

“The big question people are going to ask is, ‘will anyone ever come back when the pandemic is over?’”

— Fr. James Gould, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church Ages into] the Renaissance, coming alive again. It’s a rebirth in the faith,” he said.

Gould followed that thought with what could be an open-ended question for many faiths as the world considers a future of post-social isolation, and with warnings of a second outbreak of coronavirus later this year, or next.

“The big question people are going to ask is, ‘will anyone ever come back when the pandemic is over?’ On the opposite side, the number of people affected and disenfranchised from any church, will they come back?” he asked. “I’m hoping so.” n

Bernard N.O. Thompson, Jr. Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend Bernard N.O. Thompson, Jr., 27, passed away at his home on April 7, 2020. Bernard was born in Arlington, VA on September 11, 1992 to Priscilla E. Thompson and the late Bernard N.O. Thompson, Sr. He graduated from Loudoun Valley High School in 2010.

While at Loudoun Valley, he served as the captain of the football team, the captain of the track & field team, and was a member of the Student Council Association.

Bernard attended Northern Virginia Community College and Coastal Carolina University.

Bernard had an infectious personality – his smile and laugh could light up an entire room. His ability to make anyone feel welcome and to make strangers feel like friends will be missed by all who knew him. He enjoyed jobs that allowed him to connect and engage with people. He worked in sales, in retail, as a soccer referee, and as a personal trainer. Most recently, Bernard worked as a server at Anthony’s and Velocity Wings in Purcellville. In his free time, he enjoyed working out, making

and listening to music, and spending time with his friends and family.

He is survived by his mother Priscilla E. Thompson, his sister Florence Thompson, and his dog Champ. His uncles Michael Thompson, Joseph Brown, and Jonathan Thompson; his aunts Esther Chalmers, Matilda Thompson, Sheila Wemegah, and Evelyn Brown; and his cousins Margaret Thompson, Marilyn Brown, Hilda Thompson, Jason Thompson, Jacqueline Brown, Stephen Eshun, Jasmyn Thompson, Stephanie Eshun and Rapheal Brown; and a host of other relatives and friends in the United States, Italy, and Ghana.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak his family will hold a small, private burial service on Saturday, April 18th at 11 a.m. at the Hillsboro Cemetery 37125 Charles Town Pike Purcellville, VA 20132. The service will be streamed for family and friends online. A Celebration of Life will be held for Bernard in September.

Arrangements by Lyles Funeral Services, serving Northern Virginia, Eric S. Lyles, Direct, Lic MD VA DC 1800-388-1913.

Susan Yates Mills

Susan Yates Mills, 73 of Leesburg, Virginia passed on Thursday, April 9, 2020, at Heritage Hall in Leesburg, Virginia. Born Friday, January 10, 1947, she was predeceased by her parents William Lindsey and Dorothy Woods Yates of Apex, North Carolina and her sister Gayle Yates Reid of Winston Salem, North Carolina.

She is survived by her husband Wayne C. Mills of Leesburg, VA., son Jeffrey (wife Tina) Mills of Fort Ashby, WV.,two grandchildren Joseph and Sarah of Sterling, VA, a brother David (wife Barbara) Yates of Graham, North Carolina and two nieces Tiffany McEwen of Mebane, North Carolina and Whitney Yates of Snow Camp, North Carolina.

Susan spent 35 years as a teacher and administrator after graduation from Campbell University with a bachelor’s degree in 1969 in Elementary Education. She earned a Master’s degree in Education from VPI in 1974. She began her teaching career at Sterling Elementary in 1969. In 1973 she moved on to become a Reading Specialist.

She was chosen to help open Sugarland Elementary as an Assistant Principal in 1975. She entered the administrative field as Principal of Aldie Elementary School in 1978. Her next administrative post was the Alternative School at Douglass School as an Assistant Principal in 1982. Susan moved on to her next administrative post in 1985 at Sterling Elementary were she was appointed as Principal; the same school where she started her teaching career. She finished her career at Catoctin Elementary

School where she spent the next 15 years from 1989 -2004 when she retired.

After retiring Susan continued working part-time for the Loudoun County Public Schools on special projects for the Personnel Department for the next 14 years.

She was an avid volunteer. After recovery from breast cancer in 2005 she helped to establish the Loudoun Breast Health Network in 2007. She spent the last 14 years raising funds to help breast cancer survivors who need financial assistance. LBHN is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Their mission is to assist residents in Loudoun County diagnosed with breast cancer through outreach and support.

Another volunteer group that Susan was very fond of was The Ladies Board of Inova Loudoun Hospital of which she was a member and President of the organization at the time of her passing. For the past 10 years she was one of the chairpersons in the famously organized Book Barn at The Ladies Board annual Rummage Sale in October each year. She and her volunteers would organize about 40,000 books by author or subject, both hardback and softback and sell about half of them. Her volunteer worked tirelessly for a successful sale each year.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made on her behalf to the Loudoun Breast Health Network, P.O. Box 6154, Leesburg, VA 20178 or a charity of your choosing Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic a memorial service will be held in the future.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.loudounfuneralchapel.com

Clinton Eugene Brown “Moe” Age 63, of Sterling, Virginia.

Departed this life on Apr. 07, 2020 at Inova Loudoun Hospital.

Clinton was preceded in death by his grandparents, Edward and Carrie Brown, his step-father, Nathaniel Winston. He leaves to cherish his memory and to celebrate his home-going his loving mother, Thelma B. Winston of Charles Town, WV, uncle Edward M. Brown , Jr.(Francis) of Leesburg, VA; devoted wife, Karen S. Brown, daughter, Tiona Natalie Brown of Fresno, CA, son, Clinton Everett Brown (Katisha) of Ashburn, VA, grandson and best buddy, Elijah Dominique Neal of Sterling, VA, brothers, Reginald R. Brown, Sr. ( Cynthia)of Ashburn, VA, Jerry Glenn

(Jennifer) of Sterling, VA; sisters, Benita Smith ( Rene’) of Leesburg, VA, Pamela Brown (Art) of Sterling, VA; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Graveside services and Interment for the family will be privately held at the Solon Cemetery, Middleburg, VA. with Rev. Lonnie Washington officiating. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National Kidney Foundation (www.kidney.org), or the Lung Cancer Foundation of America (www.lcfamerica.org).

Arrangements by: LYLES FUNERAL SERVICE, Serving N. Virginia. Eric S. Lyles, Director. Lic. VA/MD/ DC. 800-388-1913.

PAGE 16

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Makersmiths continued from page 3

Looking for a Few Good Loudoun Fellows Are you spiritually hungry? Do you want to LIVE your Christian faith in a more challenging and effective way? Are you ready for more study, so that you can deepen your relationship with Christ and further the work of God’s kingdom on earth? Then you are invited to join the Fellows Program, a year-long discipleship program from the CS Lewis Institute – Loudoun County, designed for those men and women who are ready to be intentional about spiritual growth and God’s work.

The Fellows Program’s life-changing opportunity is designed to be The Fellows Program dramatically spiritually transformative. works! A survey of our It runs for one academic year Fellows found that 76% (September – June), with summer would be willing to lead readings beforehand, and a retreat a discipleship group in in September to formally initiate the their home; 100% exyear. Each month examines a different perienced an increase biblical theme, with an overall focus in their involvement in on spiritual formation, apologetics, ministry to their family evangelism and our call to serve and community; 88% others. A combination of dynamic increased their involvement in workplace minteachers and writers, experienced istry; and 84% said the mentors, effective small groups and program had “transactive engagement with Scripture formed or significantly produces mature believers who can impacted their life.” articulate, defend and joyfully live out their Christian faith in every aspect of their life. It is a true feast for hungry souls seeking “more.”

Please prayerfully consider joining us for this exciting next step in your journey with Christ. We will be accepting Loudoun County applications through May 15, 2020.

Cost of the Program -- due to generous support of the program, there is no tuition cost to the Program. Each Fellow is only responsible for their books, materials and the cost of the retreat. For more information about the CS Lewis Institute and the Fellows Program, please go to www.cslewisinstitute.org or contact Tim Bradley at t.bradley@cslewisinstitute.org.

They’re currently experimenting with an NIH-approved face shield design which would allow them to expand the reach of their donations. The team is also looking at a new approach to making the headbands for the equipment, which would allow them to switch from time-consuming 3D printing to making headbands on the workshop’s CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) mill. While a 3D printed headband takes 3 to 4 hours, the CNC version could take as little as 2 minutes.

“We’re really able to crank them out,” Hess said.

The makers are also looking at changing the plastic shield material down the road, as the material they’re currently using is in high demand and hard to find.

While the makers have material on hand to make several hundred more shields, they’re already looking at new options for the future. The team is testing a design using readily available 3-ring binder page separators as a possible replacement, Hess said.

The face shields are carefully assembled at Makersmiths Leesburg space using the 3D printed and laser cut components, then put in sealed bags for distribution. Hess’ daughter Sidney, a sophomore at Tuscarora High School in Leesburg, is helping with face shield assembly along with other teen volunteers.

So far, Makersmiths has donated 120 shields to local medical and dental practices and first responders and has requests for at least 375 more. The makers are also starting to 3D print headbands which keep standard surgical masks from putting pressure on healthcare workers’ ears.

Meanwhile, across the Potomac in Brunswick MD, Loudoun Makersmiths instructor Jessee Maloney is leading efforts to make cloth face masks with Loudoun-based colleagues Erin Werling and Teresia Scott.

“We’re sewing non-stop,” Maloney said.

The makers are donating masks to hospitals around the region. Maloney’s masks go to nurses in the forensic medical unit of a Maryland hospital who work with rape, domestic violence and human trafficking victims. The donations allow precious N95 respirators to be reserved for emergency room and intensive care unit use, Maloney said. Maloney is also selling masks to neighbors for personal use, with proceeds going back to Mak-

APRIL 16, 2020

ersmiths for face shield materials and has raised around $200 for the project through mask sales. Makersmiths also accepts donations for the project through its website, Maloney said, and has so far received around $1,600 in donations.

Maloney, who runs a prototyping company called Art School Dropout, does quilt prototypes for fabric companies and uses leftover fabric samples for the masks, including funny and crazy patterns favored by the forensic nurses working with traumatized patients.

“They asked for weird ones because it helps start conversations with people,” Maloney said.

Even as an experienced sewist, it took Maloney a few tries to get the pleating and elastic done right.

“It was kind of a learning curve,” Maloney said. “It was something I’d never done, especially with the elastic... It’s not fast.”

Maloney now has an assembly line approach, but each mask still takes 25 to 30 minutes to produce. As of last week, she had made 175 masks. Maloney says her mother, Denise Simmons, who has made more than 1,000 masks in her community, is a role model. Simmons is a wellknown seamstress in Columbia, MD, who was featured on the social media show “Returning the Favor” with Mike Rowe for her volunteer work with brides after a local bridal shop closed its doors in 2017. Maloney has come up with a social distancing-compliant delivery method with her 10-year-old daughter as they do deliveries in their community.

“The smile on people’s faces because they’re scared, and masks are about a month and a half wait on Amazon,” Maloney said. “I got back from the first delivery and told my husband, ‘That felt amazing!’”

While Makersmiths has closed for classes and gatherings, Dubelko says members are coming up with creative ways to connect online. Makersmiths is also taking time during the in-person instruction hiatus to build up content on their YouTube channel. So far, the space has posted two fun baking videos by charismatic welding instructor Jim Waldron with several more videos in the works.

For more information or to donate, go to makersmiths.org. Check out the Makersmiths channel on YouTube for chocolate chip cookies Makersmiths style. n

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APRIL 16, 2020

PAGE 17

Legal Notices PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE OF IMPOUNDMENT OF ABANDONED VEHICLES

AT&T proposes bring the existing 150’ temporary monopole facility at 311 North Maple Avenue, Purcellville, VA into Section 106 compliance (20200330). Interested parties may contact Scott Horn (856-809-1202) (1012 Industrial Dr., West Berlin, NJ 08091) with comments regarding potential effects on historic properties.

This notice is to inform the owner and any person having a security interest in their right to reclaim the motor vehicle herein described within 15 days after the date of storage charges resulting from placing the vehicle in custody, and the failure of the owner or persons having security interests to exercise their right to reclaim the vehicle within the time provided shall be deemed a waiver by the owner, and all persons having security interests of all right, title and interest in the vehicle, and consent to the sale of the abandoned motor vehicle at a public auction.

YR.

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA VA. CODE § 8.01-316

JJ038628-13-00

Loudoun Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court

2003 2005

VIN

1J4GL48K33W649838 1GNDT1358523131957

STORAGE

DOUBLE D TOWING DOUBLE D TOWING

PHONE#

703-777-7300 703-777-7300

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

Case No.:

Case No.:

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA VA. CODE § 8.01-316

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA VA. CODE § 8.01-316

JJ044071-01-00, 02-00

Loudoun Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court

The object of this suit is to hold a 5th permanency planning hearing and review of Foster Care Plan pursuant to Virginia Code §§ 16.1-282.1 and 16.1-281 for Sanay Elliyoun-Yousefabad.

It is ORDERED that Shahnaz Zabihi Khodapasand, mother, appear at the abovenamed Court and protect his or her interests on or before May 12, 2020 at 3:00 pm.

4/2, 4/9, 4/16 & 4/23/20

,

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA VA. CODE § 1-211.1; 8.01-316, -317, 20-104

,

Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Abigail Rivera Hernandez

Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Isaiah Matos

Loudoun County Department of Family Services /v.

Nelson Bismarck Rivera Espinoza, putative father and Rosibel Hernandez Zepeda, mother

Loudoun County Department of Family Services /v.

Earl Marshal, putative father

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce.

It is ORDERED that Brandon Lawrence Salyer, appear at the above-named Court and protect his interests on or before Friday June 5, 2020.

,

The object of this suit is to hold a dispositional hearing and review of foster care plan in connection with permanent foster care disruption pursuant to Virginia Code §§ 16.1-281 and 63.2-908(H) for Isaiah Matos.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, Earl Marshal, putative father appear at the above-named Court and protect his interests on or before May 19, 2020 at 2:00 pm.

It is ORDERED that Nelson Bismarck Rivera Espinoza, putative father and Rosibel Hernandez Zepeda, mother appear at the above-named Court and protect their interests on or before April 29, 2020 at 3:00 pm for Adjudication, and June 3, 2020 at 3:00 pm for Dispositional Hearing.

Heather Elizabeth Salyer /v.

Brandon Lawrence Salyer

JJ024579-08-00

Loudoun Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court

The object of this suit is to hold an adjudicatory hearing pursuant to Virginia Code § 16.1-252 for Abigail Rivera Hernandez, and hold a dispositional hearing for review of initial Foster Care Plan pursuant to Virginia Code §§ 16.1-278.2 and 16.1-281 for Abigail Rivera Hernandez.

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

Loudoun County Circuit Court 18 East Market St., Leesburg VA 20176

MODEL

LIBERTY TRAILBLAZER

04/16 & 04/23/20

Loudoun County Department of Family Services /v.

Shahnaz Zabihi Khodapasand, mother

19-1188

MAKE

JEEP CHEVROLET

,

Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Sanay Elliyoun-Yousefabad

Case No.:

INCOME AND EXPENSE SURVEYS DUE JUNE 1

This notice shall also advise the owner of record of his or her right to contest the determination by the Sheriff that the motor vehicle was “abandoned”, as provided in Chapter 630.08 of the Loudoun County Ordinance, by requesting a hearing before the County Administrator in writing. Such written request for a hearing must be made within 15 days of the notice.

ORDER OF PUBLICATION Case No.:

ATTENTION LOUDOUN COUNTY COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OWNERS

To facilitate the establishment of accurate real estate assessments for tax year 2021, as authorized by Virginia Code § 58.1-3294, I am requesting that owners of income-producing real estate provide a 2019 calendar year certified statement of income and expenses. This information, which shall be kept confidential in accordance with Virginia Code § 58.1-3, will be utilized to determine fair market values for tax assessment purposes. The survey forms are available online at www.loudoun. gov/income-expense and should be returned to my office by email, or postmarked, by June 1, 2020.

Commercial property owners are encouraged to review and verify our record of property characteristics online at www.loudoun.gov/ parceldatabase to assist us in ensuring fair and equitable property valuations.

For additional information or assistance, please visit www.loudoun.gov/cor or contact my office at commercialre@loudoun.gov or 703-777-0260. You may also stop by my offices weekdays, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Robert S. Wertz, Jr. Commissioner of the Revenue Loudoun County Government Center Office 1 Harrison St. SE, 1st Floor, Leesburg Loudoun Tech Center Office 21641 Ridgetop Circle, Ste 100, Sterling MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 8000, Leesburg, VA 20177-9804 Phone: 703-777-0260 E-mail: commercialre@loudoun.gov Website: www.loudoun.gov/cor

4/16, 4/23,4/30, & 5/7/20

4/16 & 5/21/20

4/16, 4/23, 4/30, & 5/7/20

4/2, 4/9, 4/16 & 4/23/20

NOTICE OF ABANDONED BICYCLES Notice is hereby given that the bicycles described below were found and delivered to the Office of the Sheriff of Loudoun County; if the owners of the listed bicycles are not identified within sixty (60) days following the final publication of this notice, the individuals who found said bicycles shall be entitled to them if he/she desires.

All unclaimed bicycles will be handled according to Chapter 228.04 of the Codified Ordinances of Loudoun County.

Description

Case Number

Recovery Date

Recovery Location

Phone Number

White and green Tony Hawk bicycle

SO160004386

11/14/2016

Stablehouse Drive, Sterling

571-258-3497

White and black Haro Bikes Backtrail bicycle

SO160004386

11/14/2016

Stablehouse Drive, Sterling

571-258-3497

Red NEXT Wipeout bicycle

SO180019641

10/22/2018

S. Concord Court, Sterling

571-258-3497 4/16 & 4/23/20

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APRIL 16, 2020

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APRIL 16, 2020

Opinion Sorry for Your Inconvenience Early during the COVID-19 shutdown, Attorney General Mark Herring made it clear to local elected leaders that state law provides a very narrow exception to conduct public meetings remotely without a quorum of members physically present in a publicly accessible location.

In essence, the Freedom of Information Act allows remote meetings to deal with an immediate emergency that prevents a county board or town council from meeting together. Generally, it was written to allow rapid response during local disasters, such as during a blizzard or an earthquake, when travel is not possible. In his opinion, Herring may have even provided a little more wiggle room than the law’s authors intended, allowing the consideration of issues in which a delay “could result in irrevocable public harm.”

Many of our local governments have pushed the envelope even more, and there is danger in those actions.

The Board of Supervisors’ vote to adopt a resolution of commendation for a local taekwondo demonstration team is unlikely to spur a legal challenge of its validity. But would the adoption of the county budget in what amounted to an April 7 Board of Supervisors conference call withstand such a challenge? Also last week, Loudoun’s Planning Commission held the first ever public hearing with the public expected to watch online and call in on their phones if they wanted to participate.

Is the approval of a permit for a Sterling pet hospital a critical action to address the COVID-19 pandemic? That’s a tough case to make.

In response to the pandemic, businesses have been shuttered, the administration of justice has largely been placed in limbo, and families have been asked to isolate at home. Why should our governments be spared the simple inconvenience of waiting to conduct the public’s business until the public can be present around the table? When did access to an internet connection become an expectation of involved citizens?

Gov. Ralph Northam next week is asking the General Assembly to change the commonwealth’s open meeting laws to allow localities to address more routine issues during a declared emergency. While that amendment may authorize the business-as-usual approach that some local leaders already have adopted, it remains a poor substitute for open public meetings.

Such authority should be used sparingly and reserved for only the most critical, time-sensitive tasks. We can celebrate the accomplishment of our meritorious martial arts students at a later time when we can gather with them in the board room to help applaud their efforts. n

Norman K. Styer, Publisher and Editor nstyer@loudounnow.com Published by Amendment One Loudoun, LLC 15 N. King St., Suite 101 Leesburg, VA, 20176 PO Box 207 • Leesburg, VA 20178 703-770-9723

EDITORIAL Renss Greene, Deputy Editor rgreene@loudounnow.com

LETTERS to the Editor Not Helping Editor: My wife and I own three brick and mortar retail companies under the banners lou lou, Crème de la Crème and Zest. We operate 34 store locations and employ 210 people which equates to 100 FTE, since the majority of our staff is part time.

Just when the coronavirus came in sight, the retail business we own got ready for the transition to spring and summer. Seasonal product was bought and we were in the process of merchandising the stores.

Then the weekend of March 14 and 15 came along. Nice weather on the East Coast and the stores were ready for spring. It was supposed to be a good shopping weekend. However, when we

Jan Mercker, Reporter jmercker@loudounnow.com Kara C. Rodriguez, Reporter krodriguez@loudounnow.com Patrick Szabo, Reporter pszabo@loudounnow.com

got the traffic reports by store on Monday morning, the numbers were devastating.

America was hunkering down.

By Tuesday, March 17, we decided to close all of our 34 store locations.

The full-time employees were put on a two-week paid “Corona” leave, including the majority of our warehouse and office personnel. By Thursday, March 19 we had two of the 210 employees remaining.

So here we were. Millions of dollars in spring summer merchandise. Some of it got canceled, but a large portion was in the warehouse or in the stores. And no date in sight to start opening the stores again.

Then the government assistance programs were drafted. Two were relevant for us: The Small Business Disaster Loan LETTERS continues on page 22

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APRIL 16, 2020

Emergency hearings continued from page 1 law by Attorney General Mark Herring and County Attorney Leo Rogers have expanded that narrow language to include many normal functions of government, even as the state Freedom of Information Act Advisory Council advised that may not be allowed, and weeks before the General Assembly will vote on an amendment to state law to allow it.

On March 19, state Sen. Richard H. Stuart (R-28), chairman of the Virginia FOIA Advisory Council, wrote to Gov. Ralph Northam asking him to take action, advising that state law currently “does not appear to allow for the conduct of other business necessary to ensure the continuity of government and essential government services, such as consideration of the annual budget for a locality.”

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors adopted its budget during a meeting conducted electronically on April 7.

“During emergencies that are short in duration, such as most weather-related events, this limitation has not posed a problem in the past,” Stuart wrote. “However, the novel coronavirus pandemic appears to present unprecedented difficulties in that its duration is unknown and physically-assembled gatherings, including public meetings that require a quorum to be present in a single location, present a heightened public health risk.” He asked Northam to take steps either through executive action or proposing amendments to state code.

Northam has since proposed such an amendment to the state budget bill to allow those electronic meetings “to discuss or transact the business statutorily required or necessary to continue operations of the public body.”

That proposal, which the General Assembly won’t consider until April 22, more closely resembles what Loudoun’s supervisors, School Board and Planning Commission are already doing.

Two days after Stuart’s letter, Herring published guidance on how to interpret public bodies’ emergency powers under state law. Herring interpreted the language “to address the emergency” to mean not just meetings that deal directly with the emergency, but also “decisions that must be made immediately and where failure to do so could result in irrevocable public harm.”

Rogers said he has interpreted state law and Herring’s guidance to mean ensuring “continuity of government.”

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“What we’re looking at is, what do we need to do to continue the business of the county now during this pandemic,” Rogers said.

Loudoun Officials Plow Ahead The Board of Supervisors April 7 meeting included ceremonial resolutions recognizing an accomplished internationally competing taekwondo team, a courthouse chief clerk’s 35 years of public service, and National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

Rogers advised supervisors it was their call whether to take those votes, which passed unanimously.

“A ceremonial resolution is certainly in the board’s discretion whether to do or not,” Rogers told supervisors. “It is not truly an action of the board. It is the board recognizing something that could also have been done through a proclamation.

So, I don’t see a way to exactly challenge that particular action. I think it’s in the board’s discretion to say whether or not it should be doing the ceremonial resolutions.”

As the pandemic continues, he said, essential business for the board may change.

“Those essential functions of government might change as the disaster progresses,” Rogers said. “What may not have appeared to be essential in April, if this disaster is continuing in the fall, would be more essential.” He said that night’s vote on the county budget was a good example—“You need to adopt the budget.”

Land use applications, he said, are less clear.

While the county has a deadline to decide on land use applications put before it, the board’s emergency ordinance passed March 25 states the deadlines requiring action by a public entity—such as the deadlines to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for government documents—are suspended, “however, the Public Entities, officers and employees thereof are encouraged to take such action as is practical and appropriate to meet those deadlines. Failure to meet any such deadlines shall not constitute a default, violation, approval, recommendation or otherwise.”

The ordinance also holds that non-emergency public hearings may be postponed as long as public notice is given so that the public knows when and how to present their views, and that the public can now participate in meetings electronically in addition to in-person.

But Rogers told supervisors on April 7 that applicants could force the county board to act anyway. And the Board of Su-

“I think it’s in the board’s discretion to say whether or not it should be doing the ceremonial resolutions.”

— Leo Rogers Loudoun County Attorney pervisors scheduled eight public hearings for this week.

“A lot of things that [were] on the agenda [April 7] are things that were on the agenda four, six weeks ago, requests that came in,” Rogers said. “And I think that what we’re trying to do is trying, as much as possible, to get our business done during very trying circumstances.”

And on April 8, the Loudoun County Planning Commission held the county’s first-ever public hearing under the newly relaxed government transparency procedures, after canceling public hearings last month.

The hearings included an application to put an animal hospital in the Town Center Plaza shopping center in Sterling; a request to rezone 18 undeveloped acres at Loudoun County Parkway and Beaumeade Circle to a more recent zoning ordinance to join the nearby office parks and data centers; a request to add a sign outside an assisted living facility in Lovettsville; an application to put a data center on Rt. 50 near the Harris Teeter in South Riding; and an application to put a 199-foot communications tower east of Lovettsville.

One person participated in that public hearing, arriving in-person in the county boardroom. Nobody spoke to the Planning Commission over the electronic means offered on the county website.

Then on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors’ finance committee met without a single member present in the county boardroom.

PEC Pushes Back The county board was scheduled to hold hearings Wednesday on proposals like adding a car wash to a 7-Eleven and rezoning 60 forested acres along Goose Creek to industrial use. And while residents are still permitted to speak in the boardroom in person, they have also been

PAGE 21

encouraged to participate electronically, and the number of people in the county boardroom at one time has been restricted.

The board has already faced some pushback on those plans. Calling in to participate in last week’s meeting remotely, Gem Bingol, of the Piedmont Environmental Council, urged supervisors “to pause and reflect on the importance of the ‘public’ in public process before moving forward with nonemergency items.”

Seven of the board’s public hearings Wednesday, she said, could be postponed.

“If your emergency ordinance regarding extensions of deadlines during the disaster and postponing nonemergency public hearings is inadequate, please consider asking your applicants to extend their deadlines in the short term,” Bingol said. Applicants to the Board of Supervisors can voluntarily extend those deadlines.

The public hearing scheduled for April 15 included revisions to county ordinances governing the Combined Fire and Rescue System; a proposal to abandon a section of road at a neighborhood culde-sac near Aldie; a request to expand the Loudoun Mutual office building in Waterford; a plan for a new, illuminated sign at the Hamilton Safety Center; a request to rezone 60 acres along Cochran Mill Road and Goose Creek to industrial uses; a request to add a car wash to a 7-Eleven in South Riding; and a proposal to build a service station, retail shopping and restaurants on Rt. 50 near the Fairfax County border.

One more public hearing is scheduled on the county’s emergency ordinance. Although the county is required statutorily to hold a public hearing and pass the ordinance through a normal process within 60 days of its enactment, as an emergency ordinance it took effect as soon as supervisors voted on it March 25.

In some of those applications, the county government is also the applicant.

“Ask yourself, who is the ‘public’ that we need for a healthy public process to occur, and are they able to participate effectively?” Bingol said. She pointed to people who are out of work, or public safety and health workers whose jobs are keeping them busy during the COVID-19 crisis, or who do not have reliable internet service to participate remotely.

“Every Loudoun citizen deserves an opportunity to participate in the public process, and even in extraordinary times, we shouldn’t ignore the obstacles to participation,” Bingol said. n

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PAGE 22

LETTERS to the Editor continued from page 20

Program, and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), as part of the CARES act.

So we applied as soon as we could….

We went on the SBA disaster loan website, submitted all extensive financial information and finished the application on March 19. Since we did not hear anything on the progress of this application, we called the help desk on March 31, only to find out that they had changed the forms due to high demand and that

the status of our application was put on in-active. We were advised to re-apply, which we did the same day. Checking back in this week, we were told that this process could take months, time we do not have.

In addition, we applied for the PPP loan application, as soon as it became available on April 4. As we were awaiting approval for the loan, we reviewed the details of the forgiveness portion of this program. It became clear that this program must not have been written with small retailers and restaurant operators in mind. The way the “forgiveness formula”

APRIL 16, 2020

works does not seem to make sense for retailers and restaurant owners like us, who will unlikely be able to re hire all staff, especially part timers. Too much of a reduction as result of the formula (number of pre and post FTE, which includes FT and PT) results in the company having to contribute to the employee expenses, without any work that can be done (since all the stores are closed).

Without being forgiven any payroll expenses that have no added value at all for us at this time, we would only do the government a favor by re-hiring. Most of our employees seem happy to stay on

unemployment insurance since the $600 per week “Corona” contribution creates a higher pay rate than we are able to offer.

So, with all good intentions Uncle Sam, your programs currently in place do not help small retail and restaurants business and will likely result in many bankruptcy filings once this terrible pandemic fades. Next time a disaster programs get rolled out it may be better to keep your “customer” in mind, just like we all do in the retail and restaurant business.

— Ben Wegdam, Middleburg

Legal Notices OFFICIAL VOTING INFORMATION

TOWN OF LEESBURG DEPARTMENT OF UTILITIES NOTICE OF WATER MAIN FLUSHING The Town of Leesburg will conduct controlled flushing of water mains throughout the Town beginning April through June 30th, 2020. This preventative maintenance program is essential for maintaining the Town’s high standards of water quality.

Water mains are flushed by opening fire hydrants and allowing them to flow freely for a short period of time. The flushing cleans out sediment, removes air which may accumulate in the water mains and restores chlorine levels in areas of limited use, thereby, reducing the potential for bacteriological contamination.

Water is safe to drink and safe to use during flushing. However, flushing may result in temporary discoloration and sediment in the water. If discoloration or sediment is evident, the Town recommends residents avoid doing laundry until the discoloration subsides. Flushing may also introduce air into the water, which may temporarily cause erratic flow. If this occurs, open your cold water tap until a clear steady flow of water is observed.

Town Elections – Tuesday, May 5, 2020 FINAL DAY TO APPLY FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT

By Mail - Tuesday, April 28, 2020, by 5 p.m.

In Person – Saturday, May 2, 2020, by 5 p.m.

The Voter Registration Office located at 750 Miller Drive, SE, Suite C, Leesburg, Virginia, is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and will also be open on Saturday, May 2, 2020, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. for curbside absentee voting ONLY. The absentee ballot application and additional information can be found on our website at www. loudoun.gov/vote or by calling the Voter Registration Office at 703 777-0380.

Town voters are encouraged to vote by mail (if time permits). Apply for an absentee ballot online using the Virginia Department of Elections website at www.elections.virginia.gov.

POLLING PLACES WILL BE OPEN AT 6:00 A.M. AND CLOSE AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2020.

For more information, call 703 777-0380 Judith Brown, General Registrar 750 Miller Drive, SE, Suite C Leesburg, Virginia 20175-8916 Email: vote@loudoun.gov

Some residents and businesses may experience lower pressure during the flushing in their neighborhood. The Town regrets any inconvenience the flushing operation may cause.

Please call the Utilities Department at 703-737-7075 for further information. For after-hour emergencies, call the Leesburg Police Department at 703-771-4500.

4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 5/7, 5/14, 5/21 & 5/28/20

Town of Leesburg Continues Water Valve Exercise and Maintenance Program Public Notification The Town of Leesburg is continuing a preventative maintenance program to protect the longevity and operation of the water system infrastructure and valves. This valve exercise program requires closing, then opening each main line valve and service line valves in specific distribution areas.

The purpose of the program is to exercise main line valves throughout the distribution system to assure reliable operation and maintain water quality. During this program, crews will exercise the valves by operating each valve through a full cycle and returning it to its normal position. Where valves are exercised, a fire hydrant will be flowed to ensure that the water in the main remains clear.

During the valve turning exercise, customers may experience some sediment or discolored water for a short period of time. Water is safe to drink and safe to use during this period. If this condition is noticed, we recommend running several cold water taps at full force for a period of 1-2 minutes. It may be necessary to repeat this process after 30 minutes. In addition, the closing and opening of valves may introduce air into water lines which can cause temporary erratic water flow. If this occurs, open your cold water tap until a clear steady flow of water is observed.

The valve exercising will occur April through November during the hours of 7 a.m. – 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Town regrets any inconvenience the maintenance program may cause. If you have any questions regarding our valve exercising program, or have any concerns about water quality, please call the Utilities Department at 703-737-7075. For after-hour emergencies, please call the Leesburg Police Department at 703-771-4500.

4/9, 4/16, 4/23 & 4/30/20

Please Note: All town voters are reminded that strict social distancing measures will be in place on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at all polling places. Voters should remain at least 6 feet apart and only 10 people will be allowed in the polling place at any given time. Voters should expect delays when voting in person on Election Day. The Town of Purcellville election for Mayor and Town Council has been moved to the Bush Tabernacle Skating Rink for Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

The Town of Lovettsville election for Mayor and Town Council has been moved to the Lovettsville Game Protective Association (Game Club) for Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

Town elections for Hillsboro and Leesburg have been moved from May to November.

4/16 & 4/23/20

LoudounNow.com

APRIL 16, 2020

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Drive for charity

The decision comes the same year the Greenway’s owners applied to the State Corporation Commission to increase tolls every year for the next five years, resulting in a total increase of 30 to 36 percent over today’s rates.

The Drive for Charity money was also a particularly valuable kind of funding— unrestricted funding, which is sometimes hard to find for nonprofits. Grant funding is often restricted to specific programs or projects, meaning it can’t be used for overhead expenses like offices and administration.

“A lot of our funders want the funding to go directly to services for clients, so the Greenway funding covered overhead costs, which is a huge loss to our organization,” Hanley said. “And even though it’s a small percentage of our overall budget of $2.6 million, it’s still a significant chunk of money that we needed for overhead.”

Other nonprofits with smaller budgets will feel the loss even more keenly.

“About a quarter of our operating rev-

enue from last year came from the Drive for Charity, and it’s been similar for previous years,” said Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy Executive Director Michael Myers.

“So, what that means for our organization is, it supports and enables us to conduct pretty much all of our programs.”

His organization also has other ties to the Greenway, leading walking tours of the company’s 149 acres of privately held wetlands, conducting bird counts, and other programs.

“We look forward to whatever iteration of their charitable giving, because we have a strong relationship with them that goes deeper than just the financial benefits,” Myers said.

Although the word went out about six months ago, long before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the country into lockdown, for nonprofits weathering the storm, it’s just one more bit of bad news.

“To their credit, they gave us months of warning,” Donohue said. ECHO, which is funded largely through fees collected from the state or Medicaid for services to their clients, has felt the impact particularly hard as many clients can into the nonprofit amid the current social distancing protocols. For fee-for-service nonprofits buffeted by COVID-19 pandemic, Donohue said, “it’s almost surreal.”

“That $50,000, right now—I never could have imagined saying this, but that seems like kind of nothing, because we’re doing our billing right now for March services, and it’s less than half of normal,” Donohue said. “And this time in a month, when we bill for April, based on the way things are going, it’s going to be almost nothing. And we’re a $6 million organization, so our monthly cashflow is pretty

significant, of which $50,000 in May is a tiny piece.”

ECHO also offers transportation for their clients with a fleet of buses and vans, and the Drive for Charity money went directly into that part of the budget.

“At the time, it represented a budget deficit that we were going to have to figure out how to get around, but compared to the COVID budget deficit … it’s really just one piece of the tsunami,” Donohue said.

Nonprofit leaders were grateful for the support they’ve had in previous years, and are still figuring out how they will fill those holes in their budget.

“Corks [for a Cause, a Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter fundraiser] last year brought in about $40,000 net, and the [annual LAWS] golf tournament brought in about $20,000, so even our events don’t make as much as the Greenway was donating to us,” Hanley said. “We are incredibly thankful that we’ve been a recipient for 13 years.”

“I bear no ill will towards the Greenway, I mean 10 years of about $50,000 is phenomenal, and I certainly appreciate all the drivers in the area that jumped on the road every year to do that,” Donohue said. “…. They were kind of called out for, ‘how can you raise tolls and then give money away to charity, you should cut your tolls and forget the charity.’ I guess they’re playing hardball.”

“Just as the Dulles Greenway is reimagining their charitable giving to local nonprofits, we’re sort of reimagining our fundraising strategy,” Myers said.

“So, this is an opportunity with their alternative event. It’s an opportunity for us to engage with our local donors and local business.” n

dropping off as businesses are closed and people stay home to practice social distancing, he said that data is not likely to be accurate.

“If the Greenway’s usage is down, then our traffic studies are not going to be reflective of normal traffic,” Rogers said.

He also said he would ask the SCC to reschedule public hearings. He said local public input would be “critical.”

“There’s so many things that I’m finding are happening not just in Virginia, but around the country, where public hearings can be held through these virtual meetings where people can express their views,” Rogers said. “In some ways, it could even be more open. You could do it from the privacy of your own home, as opposed to coming out to a hearing and being physically present.”

The Greenway is asking the state to

grant annual toll increases for the next five years, ranging from a 5-percent increase on off-peak traffic for 2022 to a 6.8-percent increase on peak hour traffic in 2025.

If approved, tolls would stand at $6.15 per one-way trip in off-peak hours, and $7.90 in peak hours by 2025. A commuter traveling twice a day on the Greenway during rush hour, five days a week, 52 weeks a year would pay $4,108 in tolls annually.

Today, tolls on the Greenway are $4.75 and $5.80. The Dulles Toll Road, which is connected to the Greenway’s eastern toll plaza and owned by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, costs up to an additional $4.75 to proceed to the I-495/I-66 interchanges.

With legislation guaranteeing annual toll hikes on the Greenway having expired this year, the toll road is now governed by older laws that hold, among other things,

that the Greenway’s toll hikes cannot discourage use. This year, those laws, which in the past did not discourage even higher toll hikes, will be put to the test—traffic on the Greenway has not increased as much as other major roadways in Loudoun.

The company’s tolls are also supposed to give owners no more than a “reasonable rate of return,” but the company’s finances are not fully disclosed. This year the General Assembly once again voted down legislation that would have provided a standard to measure the traffic impacts of tolls, and provided more transparency and guidelines to the company’s finances.

A Dulles Greenway spokesman relayed a request for comment to the highway’s ownership, Australian company Atlas Arteria. n

continued from page 3 made an announcement or anything like that,” Hoffman said.

In 2019, that money was distributed among the March of Dimes, ECHO, the Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter, Fresh Air/Full Care, the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, the Loudoun Free Clinic and Loudoun Hunger Relief. The collection also funds the Dulles Greenway Scholarship Program, which provides $2,000 to a graduating senior at each of Loudoun’s 16 public high schools.

Last year, the Drive for Charity resulted in donations of more than $42,000 to each nonprofit. While they were grateful for the reliable funding they have received over the years, ending the program will leave holes in their budgets. And nonprofit leaders don’t believe the replacement event will bring in the same kind of funding.

“I don’t want to be a pessimist, but based on what I’ve heard so far, I don’t think it’s a $50,000 event,” said disability services nonprofit ECHO Executive Director Paul Donohue.

And, he said, ECHO already does two fundraising events of its own, the ECHO Tennis Classic and the Tour de ECHO— ”We don’t really have the bandwidth to do a third event.”

And some nonprofit leaders say they won’t be able to participate in the Greenway’s new event at all.

“We have our golf tournament at around the same time, and I wouldn’t switch my sponsors from our golf tournament to sponsor an event on the Greenway,” said Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter Executive Director Judy Hanley.

Toll review continued from page 3 “The basic premise that life is normal, as being asserted by the Greenway’s owners right now, is a little bit different with perspective to what’s going on in the world,” Hemstreet said.

SCC Hearing Examiner D. Mathias Roussy Jr. sided in part with the county, delaying deadlines—although not as far as the county requested—but also canceling scheduled local public hearings.

Instead of Oct. 2, Roussy moved the deadline for the county to file back to June 26. Rogers said he worries that delay may not be long enough, especially since the county plans to file traffic counts with its evidence. With traffic across the region

PAGE 23

“…. They were kind of called out for, ‘how can you raise tolls and then give money away to charity, you should cut your tolls and forget the charity.’ I guess they’re playing hardball.”

— Paul Donohue ECHO Executive Director

ALWAYS ONLINE AT LOUDOUNNOW.COM

PAGE 24

MIDDLEBURG REAL ESTATE

APRIL 16, 2020

ATOKA

PROPERTIES

S I M P LY B E T T E R .

10000 MOUNT AIRY RD | UPPERVILLE

36585 SAWMILL | PURCELLVILLE

$2,775,000 | Extraordinary brick colonial on 50+ gorgeous acres in prestigious Greystone. Over 9,000 sq ft of spectacular living space featuring three beautifully finished levels. Heated pool, tennis court and brilliant gardens overlook a picturesque pond with fabulous mountain views in a private location.

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Well-appointed home w/ 12,000+ finished sqft.

Peter Pejacsevich 540.270.3835

Marcy Cantatore 540.533.7453

Scott Buzzelli 540.454.1399

2486 LONGMARSH RD | BERRYVILLE

34332 BRIDGESTONE LN | BLUEMONT

$1,590,000 | Rock-solid and bulletproof stone & log home at center of 120 AC for peace & quiet. Full basement w/ cistern, redundant well, escape door & wood furnace. Fully-fenced, 4 wells, 9 hydrants, 50x100 shop w/ electric doors & 220v. 3-car garage, barns, run-in shed. Revolutionary War era stone fences w/ electric wire on top & drainage. Primarily pastures w/ some trees, seasonal pond & stream.

$1,500,000 | Incredibly private equestrian dream near Middleburg, Virginia in beautiful Bluemont.

Tucked neatly in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains you’ll find the most incredible place to call home. Just 40 minutes from Dulles International Airport and only an hour west of Washington, D.C. Leave the stress and chaos of the city behind and imagine being here, being home.

John Constant 703.585.6278

John Constant 703.585.6278

17 W FEDERAL ST | MIDDLEBURG

2299 SCUFFLEBURG RD | DELAPLANE

$1,300,000 | Beautiful, modern open 2 story office offering in the heart of historic Middleburg. Large open workspace for communal work environment, as well as individual office spaces to accommodate for multiple types of work preferences. Bright and open throughout. Small kitchen space, 2 bathrooms, and back patio.

$799,000 | Built in 1781, this 3BD/2.5BA historic log cabin on 6+ acres features a smokehouse, modern cistern & original HW floors. Cozy & complete w/ 4 fireplaces, wood stove, wooden beams & built-in bookcases. Pond, pool w/ hot tub, raised-bed gardens, basketball/tennis court. Also available for purchase on 60+ AC.

Peter Pejacsevich 540.270.3835

Peter Pejacsevich 540.270.3835

Scott Buzzelli 540.454.1399

S I M P LY B E T T E R . | AT O KA P R O P E R T I E S . C O M MIDDLEBURG: 540.687.6321 | PURCELLVILLE: 540.338.7770 | LEESBURG: 703.777.1170 | ASHBURN: 703.436.0077 CORPORATE: 10 E WASHINGTON ST, MIDDELBURG, VA 20117 | 540.687.6321 | LICENSED IN VA + WV

Scott Buzzelli 540.454.1399