Falls Church News-Press Novemeber 20

Inside this edition is the News-Press’ Autumn 2008 Real Estate Guide with area housing market numbers, home improvement tips, decorating advice and much more.

SEE PAGE 21

George Mason High School’s basketball teams head back to the court this week. The Lady Mustangs will seek to make it back to the state finals as the boys look to improve upon their regional playoff appearance.

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At the beginning of every recession, there are people who see the downturn as an occasion for moral revival: Americans will learn to live without material extravagances. They’ll simplify their lives.

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The cult favorite “Twilight” book series comes to the screen with its much anticipated movie opening this Friday. The vampire drama/love story stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

SEE PAGE 34

City of Falls Church Mayor Robin Gardner notified the News-Press yesterday that she’s preparing a letter to Presidentelect Barack Obama and his family, inviting them to enroll their children in the Falls Church City Public Schools.

The Obamas have been touring selected private schools in the District of Columbia, with the intent to make a decision imminently on where to enroll their two girls in their family.

Gardner told the NewsPress her invitation will cite the nationally-renowned excellence of the small Falls Church school system, with its relative intimacy and small class sizes emulating private institutions in many ways.

“We offer an ideal environment in a public school system,” Gardner said, affirming the merits of public education. She also noted that the system’s new middle school facility is named for an early civil rights pioneer woman, Mary Ellen Henderson, an educator who was the wife of the founder of the first rural chapter of the NAACP. In another high-profile welcoming gesture by City of Falls Church officials to the newlyelected federal administration and the many new U.S. congressmen and their staffs, the City’s Economic Development office placed a full-page advertisement, slated for publication today in The Hill, a prominent newspaper circulated among government officials in the District.

With Congress in town for a “lame duck” session, and many of the newly-elected senators Continued on Page 4

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November 20 - 26, 2008

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Citizens of the City of Falls Church should provide a standing ovation to their leaders at City Hall this week for swift and decisive action to capitalize on a special opportunity to bring in some new economic growth. They’ve made a bold move to help redress the fiscal pressures the City faces, as do all jurisdictions in the region and nation.

As reported on Page One of this edition, the mayor, the City Council leadership, the city manager, the City’s Economic Development Office and others all found their way onto the same page in a rapid “outside of the box” action to promote the City as a destination for the thousands of new people planning to move to the Washington, D.C. region from all over the nation. They’re coming to fill posts in the new administration and in offices on Capital Hill and elsewhere.

The transition of presidential administrations, after eight years, and a whopping number of new Congressmen and Senators coming in, presents an opportunity for any jurisdiction in the region hungry for a shot in the arm that would come from a surge in home and condo sales or apartment rentals, and everything associated with that.

The prevailing wisdom in the metropolitan region is that the government turnover will add up to a mere blip on the overall regional radar screen. So, that prevailing wisdom can go ahead and hold, except in the case of a feisty, small jurisdiction confident that it has a lot to offer families new to the area, with enough gumption to step forward and recruit. That would describe the City of Falls Church this week.

First, Mayor Robin Gardner announced Tuesday that she will write a letter to the President-elect and his family, urging them to consider sending their children to the Falls Church City Public Schools.

In addition to being a genuine offer, this is a brilliant move that elevates the profile of the excellent Falls Church school system not only generally, but especially in the minds of those who will be joining the Obamas in moving here to serve in the new administration.

Second, acting quickly and flexibly (how often does that happen in the bureaucratic corridors of any government?), City Hall leapt on the news that all newly-elected Congressmen and their key staff people were due in Washington this week for an orientation, while the “lame duck” session of the existing Congress is convened. A full-page ad was pulled together for today’s The Hill newspaper, read by everyone on Capitol Hill, plugging Falls Church as a “great place to live.”

That kind of aggressive action to capitalize on a special opportunity is great government, done on behalf of all the citizens of Falls Church facing tough economic times and a serious budget squeeze.

It is not lost, as a compelling component of “selling” Falls Church to prospective new residents, on those who are mulling the options on where to locate, either. All in all, a fortissimo performance this week.

Editor, I would like to take a moment to express my deep gratitude to all in Falls Church who came to the polls on November 4th and also to all those that cast absentee ballots.

I want to thank the voters of Falls Church for coming out to vote and for supporting the Democratic slate of candidates; Barack Obama, Mark Warner and Jim Moran.

I would also like to thank everyone who worked with the members of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee during the campaign as volun-

teers. And, to those citizens who put in long hours of hard work at the Obama office here in the city – thanks to you too.

My messages to city Democrats throughout this campaign was always that if we all worked hard to get out the vote and everyone voted we would win Virginia and Barack Obama would be our next president. Everyone made sure that they, their family members and their friends voted in this election.

I would like to thank the State Theater and the Dogwood Tavern for allowing FCCDC to

use their wonderful establishments (respectively) as gathering places during Barack Obama’s convention acceptance speech and to watch the election night returns.

I want to thank the many many volunteers who helped work at the polls and stood in the rain. Finally I would like to thank the election officials for their superb efforts to make Democracy truly work in Falls Church.

During this campaign season voter registration drives added over 800 new voters to the Falls Church City rolls.

Out of the 2,026 absentee votes cast 1,634 (79.94%) were cast for Barack Obama.

(In 2004 there were just over 800 absentee votes). In total, of 8,237 active voters 6,750 cast ballots in this election and 4,695 (69.55%) voted for Barack Obama. The overall voter turnout for the city was

81.94.

Thanks to you all for you support and help. And to those that walked by members of the FCCDC at the Farmers’ Market and said, “No, you can’t.” Well, yes we did. We all did.

Betty Coll, Chair Falls Church City Democratic Committee

Editor, I’m writing because in all the media coverage given to rising energy prices, how they threaten to damage our economy, and the push to drill for more oil and gas, there has More Letters on Page 6

November 20 - 26, 2008

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November 20 - 26, 2008

and representatives and their staffs also here for preliminary orientation, the ad invites new arrivals to consider bringing their families to Falls Church.

The ad, headlined “Looking for a Great Place to Move to? Come to the City of Falls Church!” cites the City’s “great schools, great community, great

commute on the Orange Metro line directly to the Hill and White House, great new rental apartments and condos, great neighborhoods, great Farmer’s Market, the second highest percentage of college graduates in the U.S. and the greatest voter turnout in Virginia.”

The ad involved swift action, and was a collaborative publicprivate effort, with Falls Church

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resident Matt Smith, principal of the City-based marketing firm, Smith Gifford, designing the ad pro bono. City Manager Wyatt Shields and the City’s economic development office of Rick Goff and Becky Witsman were all involved. The cost of the ad was reportedly about $2,000.

The Falls Church News-Press took a similar approach this week, placing ads in three specialty newspapers in the District, congratulating President-elect Obama as the only Northern Virginia-based newspaper to endorse him before the election.

It states, “Uniquely serving the Northern Virginia region of the national capital area, the NewsPress promises to be a preferred read in the new Washington. It will be a powerful tool for those seeking to influence the new administration and Congress with news, commentaries and affordable, effective advertising.”

Real estate experts contend that the influx of new people into the Washington, D.C. Metro area as a result of the Nov. 4 election will not have a

Don’t know 6% Yes 30% No 64%

significant impact on the region, as a whole, but Falls Church leaders felt that by taking a proactive approach to attract them, given the City’s amenities and location, it could make a difference for the small jurisdiction.

There are over 7,000 jobs offered in the revered so-called “Plum Book” printed by the U.S. government after every change of White House admin-

istrations. People apply for jobs from all over the country, some hoping that references from people associated with newlyelected officials can help them land a job here.

There is also a large turnover of appointed staff persons associated with newly-elected officials, and in the make-up and personnel of the many public and private advocacy groups, the so-called

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November 20 - 26, 2008

lobbyists, who are a big part of the regional economy, as well.

City officials told the NewsPress there are other cost-effective measures also being taken to attract potential newly-arriving individuals and families to Falls Church, in addition to the on-going effort to attract new businesses, including advocacy groups, to the City’s newlyconstructed large scale mixed use projects.

Witsman noted the easy access of the City to the White House, K Street Corridor and Capitol Hill from the Orange Metro line, without requiring any transfers, is a particularly strong selling point for Falls Church as a preferred place to live and work.

The fact that it is also on I66, an interstate highway going directly to the District, adjacent the I-495 Beltway that makes it proximate to points throughout the D.C. Metro area, and equidistant between two major airports, Dulles and Reagan National, add to the City’s attractiveness as an ideal location.

The ad slated for publication in today’s The Hill newspaper marks the first professional marketing foray of its type in the City of Falls Church’s history, something that many in the community have been advocating for a long time.

However, it was done at a

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THIS FULL-PAGE AD appears in today’s edition of The Hill, produced by the City of Falls Church’s Economic Development office. minimal cost, including the good will of Matt Smith, and there remains to date no line item in the City’s budget for such marketing efforts, per se.

Mayor Gardner told the News-Press that even if her

invitation to the Obamas to attend school in Falls Church is not accepted, her initiative may help highlight the excellence of the City’s school system to those moving in to populate the “new Washington.”

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November 20 - 26, 2008

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been little exploration of how renewable technologies like wind and solar can simultaneously reduce our dependence on foreign oil, clean up the environment, and provide jobs for tens of thousands of Americans. If we had made these critical investments years ago we wouldn’t find ourselves in the bind we’re in today and America would lead the world in the clean energy technology sector. Fortunately, it’s not too late for us to change. With fossil fuel energy hitting record highs, we have an opportunity to shift

to clean renewable sources, but we need our leaders in Congress to act. I hope our newly elected local representative, Gerry Connolly, and Obama quickly follow through on their commitments to investing in the future of the economy and environment.

Whitney Altizer Falls Church

675 and 661 did just that during the recent “Scouting for Food” campaign. The boys collected and delivered over 6,600 lbs of food to the Falls Church Community Service Council Emergency Food Pantry. With requests for food assistance at an all time high this donation will help us feed our neighbors for many months. Thank you to all who donated and to the Scouts for helping us help others.

Karen Moore, President FCS Board

Editor, True to their oath “to do my best and to help people at all times”, local Boy Scout Troops 895,140 681 and Cub Packs

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Leading F.C. Figures Join Obama Transition Team Falls Church-based automobile dealer and former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Donald S. Beyer, Jr., and long-time Falls Church resident Richard McCall have been brought onto the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama, the News-Press has learned. A third Falls Church figure, Kyle Lierman, head of the Falls Church office for the Obama campaign through the election, has also joined the effort.

Beyer, a former president of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce who was the Democratic lieutenant governor of Virginia for two terms in the 1990s, was a leading fundraiser for Obama during his campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Beyer and wife Megan raised over $500,000 for Obama, and gave a total of $153,600 of their own money to federal campaigns this year. Beyer joined the Obama transition team specializing in science and technology policy, while McCall, former chief of staff to the director of the Agency for International Development (AID) during the Clinton administration, will work with the Obama transition on AID matters.

F.C. LWV Pushes for Non-Partisan Redistricting A bill to set up a non-partisan mechanism for redrawing state and federal election districts that passed the Virginia Senate but failed in a House of Delegates sub-committee on a partisan 3-2 vote last season will be back in the next session. The Falls Church League of Women Voters (LWV) chapter is joining its statewide organization and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to urge passage of the bill as the time is running out before the next census and 2011 redistricting of all state legislative and U.S. Congressional districts in Virginia. Sara Fitzgerald of the Falls Church LWV reported this in remarks before a joint luncheon of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce and Merrifield Business Association at the Italian Café Tuesday.

Fitzgerald cited cases of “gerrymandered” districts resulting from partisan machinations in redistricting that have often resulted in non-competitive races and resultant voter apathy. She said that progress is slow but steady as some states have reverted to a role for bi-partisan redistricting commissions devoted to a more balanced and rational approach. The Virginia Chamber supports the effort, she said, because noncompetitive districts tend to favor more extremist political candidates less accountable to the general needs of the state.

Moran Named to Dem Steering Committee U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who represents the 8th District of Virginia that includes the City of Falls Church, was elected by his Democratic colleagues Tuesday to serve on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

The committee’s role is to assist the Speaker of the House in deciding which members will chair and sit on more than 20 House committees. “We will have a robust majority in the 111th Congress, including 34 freshmen in the House,” Moran said in a statement. “The Steering Committee has its hands full determining how best to position our members to bring about the change the American people made clear they want.”

Mugging Reported Near East F.C. Metro A Falls Church citizen reported he was mugged last week, according to NewsPress sources, with his wallet and briefcase taken, by two young men claiming to be armed, as he walked to his N. Cherry Street home from the East Falls Church Metro station. The incident took place at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 at a bike trail bridge crossing Tripps Run. The assailants were reported as African-American men in their 20s. The victim reported being “roughed up” but not seriously injured. N. Cherry St. neighbors also report a pattern of break-ins of cars parked on their street.

‘News-Press Live’ Monday at 7 p.m.

“News-Press Live,” the bi-weekly live half-hour television commentary show hosted by Falls Church News-Press owner-editor Nicholas F. Benton, resumes on Falls Church Cable Television this Monday at 7 p.m., prior to the F.C. City Council meeting. Benton’s guest will be Sally Cole, executive director of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.

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November 20 - 26, 2008

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Q: What’s your favorite thing about Easy Readers?

“I like that we do all of these activities and meet new people,” said Trevor Kerr, 8.

“I like when we go on treasure hunts,” said Joseph Mego, 7.

“My dirt cake – it has gummy worms in it!” said Simon Kanazeh, 6.

Instead of chasing crushes and living up the end of his senior year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, 18-year-old Drew Tener decided to focus his time and energy on something a little more proactive – he’s teaching struggling first and secondgrade boys how to read.

He founded a six-week, freeof-charge program, coined Easy Readers, that teaches reading through hands-on activities, such as treasure hunts or food preparation.

“At our family table, we had a few discussions about how boys are increasingly dropping out of high school and once I read studies about how serious it was, it really hit home,” said Tener. “Growing up, I can attest to the fact that boys don’t learn the same way as girls do and I figured ‘Why not do something about it?’”

So, he did, and was recently honored for his efforts. Tener and his fellow high-school-aged volunteers – all of whom are close friends – were recognized

by Acacia Federal Savings Bank with the Horizons Award, part of the company’s Nice Guys awards ceremony that honors locals who give back to their

community through volunteer efforts. Along with the award, $1,000 was given to a charity of the boys’ choice, which they, in turn, gave to the folks who helped them start it all – the Friends of the Oakton Library.

Youth Services Manager of Oakton Library, Nancy Bronez, said, “We lose a lot of young male readers around fifth grade, so for me, this program was really ideal.”

For over a year now, young boys have been meeting with their student mentors to make “Dirt Cake” from whipped cream and gummy worms and go on scavenger hunts – all the while learning to read recipe and clue cards – what Bronez calls examples of the cornerstone of everyday communication.

“Boys in particular like to read factual information, which is 95 percent of the content we take in on a daily basis,” said Bronez of things like news and directions. “Non-fiction’s just dessert on the bedside table.”

When Tener was first getting the program off the ground, he visited five local elementary schools to pass out fliers that urged those schools’ reading specialists to recommend boys they felt would benefit from the program. Currently, during the second running year of Easy

“My favorite is when we get to learn,” said Nick Donner, 7.

“Making new friends and the chocolate pudding,” said Ethan Koons, 6.

(Photos: News-Press)

YOUNG PARTICIPANTS of the Easy Readers program make “Dirt Cake” from gummy worms, chocolate and whipped cream, as they learn to read recipe cards with a little help from their teenage mentors. (Photo: News-Press)

SEEN HERE are just some of the student leaders of the Easy Readers program. From the left, is the program’s creator, Drew Tener, with Andy Doyne, Dinh Tran, Jonny Coleman, Michael Meadows and James Hearde. (Photo: News-Press) Readers, Oakton Library oversees the program, hosting it in one of its meeting rooms.

“We aimed to get kids who would benefit the most from it,” said Tener, who noted that one of the boys recommended arrived shy but eventually was revealed as a quite talented reader.

“His teachers were like ‘Gosh, we had no idea he was this good,’” Tener told the News-Press.

According to Tener, surveys sent out to the parents of the children have come back with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Shelley Radomski has already seen noticeable improvements in her son Connor’s attitude towards reading.

“Now he sees reading as something that’s fun and the teenage mentors have made it just that with the planned activities instead of having the younger boys just sit there,” said Radomski.

Youth Services Assistant at Oakton, Vicky Soto, is impressed with the leaders’ involvement as well, saying that she wouldn’t be surprised if the children remember their mentors for years to come. Tener said he hopes for just that.

“Our mentor Mike Meadows’ kid liked him so much that he asked his parents to tutor him and that’s the idea – for these kids to

remember their leaders and form bonds with them,” said Tener.

The leaders make their icebreaking first impression during Week One of the program when they dress up in costumes resembling book characters for the children, all the way from “Star Wars” to “Clifford,” the big red dog. It’s interactions like these that easily-distracted young boys need in order to get excited long enough to grasp the benefits.

“It’s not rocket science; the way to improve literacy is through reading,” said Bronez.

“When you immerse a child in a concept, they can’t help but coming out smelling like it.”

Tener graduates from high school next spring and plans to take the program with him wherever he attends college, while his friends Danny Luciani and Drew Harrington make sure the program continues here locally.

“I’d love to spread this program all over the world. Every day I come here, I have fun with the kids and that’s why the volunteers come back each time,” said Tener. “And the activities – the older guys may not admit they like them but they do [laughs].”

Then again, what’s not to like about gummy worms and hunting for hidden treasure?

Play Benefits Falls Church·V Sister City Kokolopori, in the Democratic Republic of Congo Nov. 23 from 3:00 to 5:00 at the Senior Center Falls Church Community Center

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November 20 - 26, 2008

At the beginning of every recession, there are people who see the downturn as an occasion for moral revival: Americans will learn to live without material extravagances. They’ll simplify their lives. They’ll rediscover what really matters: home, friends and family. But recessions are about more than material deprivation. They’re also about fear and diminished expectations. The cultural consequences of recessions are rarely uplifting.

The economic slowdown of the 1880s and 1890s produced a surge of agrarian populism and nativism, with particular hostility directed toward Catholics, Jews and blacks. The Great Depression was not only a time of FDR’s optimism and escapist movies, it was also a time of apocalyptic forebodings and collectivist movements that crushed individual rights.

The recession of the 1970s produced a cynicism that has never really gone away. The share of students who admitted to cheating jumped from 34 percent in 1969 to 60 percent a decade later. More than a quarter of all employees said the goods they produced were so shoddily made that they wouldn’t buy them for themselves. As David Frum noted in his book, “How We Got Here,” job dissatisfaction in 1977 was higher than at any time in the previous quarter-century.

Recessions breed pessimism. That’s why birthrates tend to drop and suicide rates tend to rise.

That’s why hemlines go down. Tamar Lewin of The New York Times reported on studies that show that the women selected to be Playboy Playmates of the Year tend to look more mature during recessions – older, heavier, more reassuring – though I have not verified this personally.

This recession will probably have its own social profile. In particular, it’s likely to produce a new social group: the formerly middle class. These are people who achieved middle-class status at the tail end of the long boom, and then lost it. To them, the gap between where they are and where they used to be will seem wide and daunting.

The phenomenon is noticeable in developing nations. Over the past decade, millions of people in these societies have climbed out of poverty. But the global recession is pushing them back down. Many seem furious with democracy and capitalism, which they believe led to their shattered dreams. It’s pos-

sible that the downturn will produce a profusion of Hugo Chavezes. It’s possible that the Obama administration will spend much of its time battling a global protest movement that doesn’t even exist yet.

In this country, there are also millions of people facing the psychological and social pressures of downward mobility. In the months ahead, the members of the formerly middle class will suffer career reversals. Paco Underhill, the retailing expert, tells me that 20 percent of the mall storefronts could soon be empty. That fact alone means that thousands of service-economy workers will experience the self-doubt that goes with unemployment.

They will suffer lifestyle reversals. Over the past decade, millions of Americans have had unprecedented access to affordable luxuries, thanks to brands like Coach, Whole Foods, Tiffany and Starbucks.

These indulgences were signs of upward mobility.

But these affordable luxuries will no longer be so affordable. Suddenly, the door to the land of the upscale will slam shut for millions of Americans.

The members of the formerly middle class will suffer housing reversals. The current mortgage crisis is having its most concentrated effect on people on the lowest rungs of middle-class life – people who live in fast-growing exurbs in Florida and Nevada that are now rife with foreclosures; people who just moved out of their urban neighborhoods and made it to modest, older suburbs in California and Michigan. Suddenly, the home of one’s own is gone, and it’s back to the apartment complex.

Finally, they will suffer a drop in social capital.

In times of recession, people spend more time at home. But this will be the first steep recession since the revolution in household formation.

Nesting amongst an extended family rich in social capital is very different from nesting in a one-person household that is isolated from family and community bonds. People in the lower middle class have much higher divorce rates and many fewer community ties. For them, cocooning is more likely to be a perilous psychological spiral.

In this recession, maybe even more than other ones, the last ones to join the middle class will be the first ones out. And it won’t only be material deprivations that bites. It will be the loss of a social identity, the loss of social networks, the loss of the little status symbols that suggest an elevated place in the social order. These reversals are bound to produce alienation and a political response. If you want to know where the next big social movements will come from, I’d say the formerly middle class.

WASHINGTON – President Bush needs no reminder that his White House days are dwindling down. All he has to do is to look out his window and see the scaffolding being built for the presidential viewing stand for the Jan. 20 inaugural parade of the next president of the United States.

But all is not lost. Bush can do a lot in his waning time in office to repair his legacy and help the American people suffering from unemployment and loss of health insurance.

He can support a $25-billion bailout for the “big three auto-makers” whose top executives were in his corner during his two presidential elections and are now begging for help. But he is not inclined to do so.

It is not for the auto industry alone. Thousands of workers beyond the assembly line are affected by the threatened industry-related jobs.

I didn’t hear any screams of protest or observe a truckload of conditions when the financial sys-

tem was summarily handed a $700 billion bailout from taxpayers’ pockets. Did you?

But then what do you expect when a top Wall Streeter from Goldman Sachs like Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is running the show to an uncertain trumpet.

To also enhance his image, the president should focus on housing foreclosures.

Republican administrations headed by Ronald Reagan and both Bushes have shown little respect for the federal government and its workers, perhaps with the exception of the Pentagon.

The current president tried to privatize as many government jobs as he could in his eight years in office.

He also hired more than 100,000 private contractors to assist in the Iraqi war, paying them high wages. The generals in Iraq also drummed up a scheme to pay thousands of Iraqis not to fight the U.S. How do you like that? Some wars have been fought for great and legitimate causes.

Now we have mercenary wars that have yet to be explained or defended.

The irony is that scads of Bush’s political appointees throughout the government are movContinued on Page 46

The economic news, in case you haven’t noticed, keeps getting worse. Bad as it is, however, I don’t expect another Great Depression. In fact, we probably won’t see the unemployment rate match its post-Depression peak of 10.7 percent, reached in 1982 (although I wish I was sure about that).

We are already, however, well into the realm of what I call depression economics. By that I mean a state of affairs like that of the 1930s in which the usual tools of economic policy – above all, the Federal Reserve’s ability to pump up the economy by cutting interest rates – have lost all traction. When depression economics prevails, the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply: virtue becomes vice, caution is risky and prudence is folly.

To see what I’m talking about, consider the implications of the latest piece of terrible economic news: Thursday’s report on new claims for unemployment insurance, which have now passed the half-million mark. Bad as this report was, viewed in isolation it might not seem catastrophic. After all, it was in the same ballpark as numbers reached during the 2001 recession and the 1990-91 recession, both of which ended up being relatively mild by historical standards (although in each case it took a long time before the job market recovered).

But on both of these earlier occasions the standard policy response to a weak economy – a cut in the federal funds rate, the interest rate most directly affected by Fed policy – was still available. Today, it isn’t: The effective federal funds rate (as opposed to the official target, which for technical reasons has become meaningless) has averaged less than 0.3 percent in recent days. Basically, there’s nothing left to cut.

And with no possibility of further interest rate cuts, there’s nothing to stop the economy’s downward momentum. Rising unemployment will lead to further cuts in consumer spending, which Best Buy warned this week has already suffered a “seismic” decline. Weak consumer spending will lead to cutbacks in business investment plans. And the weakening economy will lead to more job cuts, provoking a further cycle of contraction.

To pull us out of this downward spiral, the federal government will have to provide economic stimulus in the form of higher spending and greater aid to those in distress – and the stimulus plan won’t come soon enough or be strong enough unless politicians and economic officials are able to transcend several conventional prejudices.

One of these prejudices is the fear of red ink. In normal times, it’s good to worry about the budget deficit – and fiscal responsibility is a virtue we’ll need to relearn as soon as this crisis is past. When depression economics prevails, however, this virtue becomes a vice. FDR’s premature attempt to balance the budget in 1937 almost destroyed the New Deal.

Another prejudice is the belief that policy should move cautiously. In normal times, this makes sense: You shouldn’t make big changes in policy until it’s clear they’re needed. Under current conditions, however, caution is risky, because big changes for the worse are already happening, and any delay in acting raises the chance of a deeper economic disaster. The policy response should be as well-crafted as possible, but time is of the essence.

Finally, in normal times, modesty and prudence in policy goals are good things. Under current conditions, however, it’s much better to err on the side of doing too much than on the side of doing too little. The risk, if the stimulus plan turns out to be more than needed, is that the economy might overheat, leading to inflation – but the Federal Reserve can always head off that threat by raising interest rates. On the other hand, if the stimulus plan is too small there’s nothing the Fed can do to make up for the shortfall. So when depression economics prevails, prudence is folly.

What does all this say about economic policy in the near future? The Obama administration will almost certainly take office in the face of an economy looking even worse than it does now. Indeed, Goldman Sachs predicts that the unemployment rate, currently at 6.5 percent, will reach 8.5 percent by the end of next year.

All indications are that the new administration will offer a major stimulus package. My own back-of-the-envelope calculations say that the package should be huge, on the order of $600 billion. So the question becomes, will the Obama people dare to propose something on that scale?

Let’s hope that the answer to that question is yes, that the new administration will indeed be that daring. For we’re now in a situation where it would be very dangerous to give in to conventional notions of prudence.

November 20 - 26, 2008

The news came yesterday that for only the seventh month since 1947, October 2008 marked a one-percent decline in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), suddenly raising the specter of things far worse than a mere recession, but a deflation and depression.

There’s no indication that there will be a turnaround any time soon, and public and private financial policies seem to be exacerbating, not correcting, the problem. Unabated financial exploitation to line the pockets of the super rich, while real wages for American workers have fallen in the decade, is the legacy of the worst U.S. administration in history that has brought us to the brink of another Great Depression. Aggressive government efforts targeted at preserving and adding jobs, keeping families in their homes and providing debt relief are the only ways to reverse the trend.

Even scarier than contemplating the amount of real insolvency there is out there in the global derivatives and related overly leveraged markets, is the thought of how the consumer bubble could contract in the U.S. in a very short period of time.

Obviously triggered by unemployment, falling wages, overburdened mortgages and other debts, and a lack of access to more credit, the American consumer, which is to say the average citizen, is already under heavy pressure to “do with less.”

All the attention is on what this may do to the holiday shopping season. It could be a veritable bloodbath for retailers that count so heavily on the generosity of Santa and his surrogates (the American consumer) between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

But that’s only the start of it. It’s downright chilling to think of how much of the average citizen’s spending is discretionary, not mandatory, once the mortgage, the car payment, other debts, insurance and taxes are stripped away.

Almost everything Americans eat, buy and use to entertain themselves are highly-overpriced luxuries by comparison with alternatives actually at their disposal.

How hard is it, really, to make coffee at home in the morning rather than to stop in at a Starbucks and pay $4 for a cup? How inconvenient is it to pack a lunch rather than blow $20 buying lunch at a restaurant? The same goes for dinner, and the same for drinks at a pub rather than having friends over.

How about enjoying that HD television in the comfort of home rather than spending $100 on a ticket to a Redskins game? Or watching a DVD instead of paying $150 for a ticket to a Madonna concert? Then, what about spending $7 on a pair of sneakers instead of $200 on some fancy pumped-up shoe? Then there’s the blue jeans and shirts you can get at the discount warehouse compared to the fancy designer brands. How about driving to a nearby park rather than flying the family to the Caribbean?

Of course, there are plenty of people who have always, out of financial necessity, taken the bargain route, rather than the other.

But the consumer economy of the U.S. is rooted, to an unnerving degree, in the more expensive spending habits of those making higher salaries and, especially, having easy access to credit.

As those millions lose their jobs (1.2 million so far in 2008 alone), have their salaries cut, find themselves upside down on their mortgages and can’t get more credit, their lifestyles are undergoing what Best Buy’s CEO has called a “seismic change.”

The only way to break this spiraling effect is to address it not at the Wall Street end, but at the Main Street, and the side street, end of the problem. Only by aggressive measures to secure people in their homes and jobs, and to provide debt relief, can the public’s capacity and confidence be restored to participate in the full potentials of the economy. In the context of declining housing values, government participation in mortgage rewrites and other forms of relief are essential.

Jobs represent another critical component. Not only does American industry require the aid it needs to stay productive, but the new administration will to have to look at models of large scale publicly-induced employment. This could be either in the form of the legislative package (the Homestead, Railroad, Greenback and Land Grant College acts) passed under Lincoln that expanded the Industrial Revolution, or the public works infrastructure-development agencies introduced by FDR in the Great Depression.

In the context of these, with the government having tremendous leverage over the banking system, it could also provide not only wages, but badly-needed consumer, including student loan, debt relief in exchange for public service participation.

Page 11

Bill Clinton was feeling grumpy toward Barack Obama.

Well, let me rephrase that.

Bill Clinton was feeling grumpier toward Barack Obama.

The ex-president was irritated, friends said, at all the unflattering comparisons between his slow, stumbling transition and Obama’s smooth, swift one.

As Karen Tumulty wrote in Time, “Obama has been quicker off the blocks in setting up his government than any of his recent predecessors were, particularly Bill Clinton, who did not announce a single major appointment until mid-December.”

And as John Podesta, Clinton’s chief of staff who’s now the chief of Obama’s transition team, told NPR: “President Clinton recognizes that, I think, he struggled at the beginning because he waited and named his White House staff quite late.”

Just as Bill elevated his sprawling, chaotic personality into a management style, so Barry is elevating his spare, calm personality into a management style.

But then Obama surprised Bill and Hillary by offering her a chance at the secretary of state job.

Maybe because the Clintonian perspective on anyone who opposes them tends to be paranoid, the couple wasn’t expecting such a magnanimous move and they were pleased to be drawn back in from the margins.

“This,” said one who knows Bill, “allows him not to be angry.”

At least Bill has the satisfaction of seeing that he has roiled the previously serene and joyous Obamaland. It may be Obama’s very willingness to take the albatross of Bill from around Hillary’s neck and sling it around his own that impresses Bill. Obama is overlooking all his cherished dictums against drama and leaking and his lofty vetting standards to try and create a situation where the country can benefit from the talent of the Clintons while curbing their cheesy excesses, like their endless cash flow from foreigners.

And in turn, Bill is doing all he can – he’s disclosing sketchy donors and business interests and figuring out how he could curb his global gallivanting to have fewer conflicts of interest – to help her get the job.

It says it all that, at the moment Washington became obsessed with news that Hillary was a contender for State, Bill was getting a half-million for an hour’s worth of chat sponsored by the National Bank of Kuwait, delivered from

behind a podium with a camel and Arabic lettering on it. Last year, Bill made $10.1 million in speaking fees.

If Hillary gets to be the Mistress of Foggy Bottom, Bill’s guilt over his primary tirades will be alleviated.

But 42 will probably always be somewhat steamed at 44. Not only because of the Obama camp calling him out on his racially coded poison darts in South Carolina. Bill is surely jealous that his Democratic successor got a majority of the popular vote with 53 percent; he always was fixated on the idea that, because Ross Perot was a pull on the vote and Bill only got 43 percent, he did not have a mandate, and that emboldened Tom DeLay and the Republicans to start investigating him.

After 9/11, Bill wistfully said that he wished he could have been a president during an epic global crisis. And, seeing Obama pictured on the cover of Time as the new FDR, he will certainly fret that the younger pol will eclipse the Clinton era, which devolved into small-bore issues and the inane impeachment battle.

Some critics say Hillary doesn’t have the foreign policy chops for the job but she would stop the pompous John Kerry from getting it, and that is a formidable recommendation. (You know he just wants to swan around in those striped pants.)

One person who famously opposed Hillary’s presidential bid thinks she’d make a great secretary of state.

“She’s smart and tough, a lot better than any of the old hacks like Holbrooke, Albright, etc.,” says David Geffen. “Barack Obama is going to run policy, and Hillary will be an effective communicator. It also takes Bill out of the game, completely turns him into an ally – and probably a help to both of them. I think Obama is very smart to get as many smart people into the room as he can, to bring in Rahm and to keep Lieberman and get Hillary into the Cabinet.

It brings an enormous amount of good will his way, and he’s going to need every ounce of it, given the wars and financial catastrophe America is facing. It’s getting bleaker every day. There are many, many, many more bubbles to burst.”

But why support Hillary for Madam Secretary if you don’t support her for Madam President?

“I don’t think they’re the same job at all, do you?” he replied.

I told him I agreed. Completely.

Page 12

Few people at the three Proposition 8 protest rallies I attended – two in New York and one in Chicago – were familiar. The ones I recognized were the hardcore advocates and tireless workhorses who have long carried the GLBT movement. However, these semi-spontaneous rallies had a different flavor. There was an injection of raw energy and an infusion of new inspiration that has eluded our movement for more than a decade. I peered into the great expanse and saw a wide-eyed sea of fresh new faces – neophytes who needed help to complete the old chant, Hey, hey, Ho Ho...(Homophobia’s got to go).

There has been a paradigm shift in the movement following marriage defeats in California, Florida and Arizona – as well as an anti-gay adoption measure passing in Arkansas. From seemingly out of nowhere, people who have sat on the sidelines are now making headlines at rallies across America.

The leaders of what is being billed as Stonewall 2.0 are not coming from large, established organizations, but Internet savvy activists who can use a mouse to mobilize the masses. While Internet activism is nothing new, the fact that this huge outpouring of organic outrage is not being channeled through official organizational channels has enormous implications.

Up until two weeks ago, major GLBT groups instructed people to write a check and then essentially instructed donors to check their activism at the door. Sometimes, one was asked to take their commitment a step further by sending e-mail or attending a dinner. I think this week’s protests mark the end of the Passive Era of gay politics. A sign at protests, “No More Mr. Nice Gay”, highlighted this monumental change.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Passive Era served its purpose. By the mid 1990’s exhaustion had beset the movement. Many leading activists had either died from AIDS or were worn out from fighting the culture wars. People felt deflated by the early Clinton years and dispirited after Newt Gingrich wrested control of Congress. Most of the tangible results during this period occurred in the courts, which produced historic victories, but relegated most GLBT people to cheering bystanders.

At this moment of malaise, technology afforded people the ability to engage in activism without leaving the house. While these notable advances have greatly aided the GLBT movement, they also allowed many people to be anesthetized by the Internet. It soon became a movement of elite movers and shakers, with little room for direct action.

The upside to the Passive Era was that aspiring gay insiders actually did sometimes get inside the halls of power and have a voice in the political process. Our organizations became more professional, better organized and institutionalized, which meant that they were not always on the brink of bankruptcy and had the ability to plan for the future.

But, make no mistake - we are not the same movement we were prior to Nov. 4. Having our marriage rights stripped away by a slim majority in California was a transformational experience for many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. I have lost count of those who have approached me to say that they never thought they were the political type – until now. These people will bring new ideas, untapped energy and significantly strengthen our work.

It is still unclear how this influx of fiery emotion will specifically change the movement. But, I will make the bold prediction that those organizations that do not adjust to this new reality will wither and die. Newer, sleeker models will replace those that remain stodgy and continue to fight by fax, without incorporating the heat on the street.

The new activism is a hybrid of direct action and digital activism. It is evolving, mutating and morphing by the day. And, whichever groups figure out how to be a conduit for this anger - and effectively turn it into a force – will lead the movement in the coming years.

This is a rare moment where the pain of Proposition 8 meets the possibility represented by Barack Obama. A great many people can now see that passion can lead to real progress – and they demand a role in creating change.

Lastly, the rules of the Mormon, Catholic and Evangelical churches are now enshrined into civil law. We are all unofficial members of these religious institutions and captive to their narrow, sectarian rules. They have effectively hijacked the state and now govern our personal relationships and private lives – whether we like it or not. I think people are finally awakened to this existential threat and willing to fight back.

On Nov. 8, I stood in freezing weather with hundreds of Chicagoans.

Last week in Washington, 900 protesters braved a tornado watch to rally in front of the Capitol. Far from a victory, anti-gay forces unleashed a ferocious storm with powerful winds of change that will only end with the sound of wedding bells.  Wayne Besen is a columnist and author of the book, “Anything But

Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”

November 20 - 26, 2008

The hurricane that is the financial crisis blowing across our economy has left no one untouched. The financial industry took the first major blows, stemming from the housing bubble and securitization of mortgage loans. Names steeped in tradition like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns disappeared overnight. This led to a tightening of the credit markets, making it harder for businesses to purchase inventory on credit and pay their employees.

At the same time, consumer confidence has dropped like a stone. October retail sales were down 2.8 percent and confidence in small business is at a 28 year low. Some of the biggest names in retail, from Linen’s N’ Things to Circuit City, have been forced into bankruptcy. Unemployment has risen to 6.5 percent and appears headed to eight percent.

Even Metro and the nation’s major transit agencies are twisting in the wind. Their lease back arrangements with banks to purchase rail cars have left them liable for hundreds of millions of dollars when analysts recently downgraded AIG’s creditworthiness.

Into the whirlwind now steps our long suffering U.S. auto industry. The big three, GM, Ford and Chrysler were hammered by a one-two punch starting with the summer’s sky-high gas prices, which undercut sales of their bread and butter SUVs and trucks, and followed by a global economic slowdown, rising unemployment and a domestic economy in recession that has decimated sales and driven these firms even deeper into debt.

GM in particular, appears to be in the worst shape. Once sell-

ing over half of all cars in the U.S., the past four decades have seen their market share erode to less than 1/5th of the market. This despite GM owning eight auto brands: Cadillac, Saab, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Chevrolet and Hummer as compared with Toyota’s three and Honda’s two, which comprise 30 percent of the total U.S. market. Estimates show that GM is $48 billion in debt. Most observers believe the company will go bankrupt within the next six months if something drastic does not change.

GM is in trouble for two main reasons 1) a failure to innovate in the face of competition and 2) labor costs which include pension and healthcare liabilities. Asian auto makers have been running circles around our American firms in terms of fuel efficiency and cost for years. The average wages of a GM employee in 2007 were $71/hour. Top competitor Toyota pays their U.S. workers $47/hour. When sales of SUVs and trucks were strong, this disadvantage was overcome.

The energy and economic crises slamming auto companies the world over, however, has laid bare GM’s competitive disadvantage, leaving them staring into the abyss.

Two paths appear left for GM’s future. One is for Congress to modify a previously passed $25 billion loan meant to help

Detroit produce more fuel efficient cars into a line of credit to cover short-term operating costs.

The hope is that they can ride out the economic downturn while they attempt to reform their business model. The second occurs if Congress does not approve an assistance package for the beleaguered firm, sending GM to almost certain bankruptcy. It’s a scary sounding proposition, but going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy could be of real benefit to their long term success. In Chapter 11, judges can modify labor contracts and debts and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) can assume responsibility for retirees’ pensions, ensuring retired workers continue receiving some level of guaranteed benefits while lifting the burden off the firm. It’s entirely possible that the firm could emerge stronger than ever before and ready to be competitive in the global market.

I support a hybrid of these two options. GM cannot be allowed to fail outright. Were the auto maker to no longer exist, 2.5 million jobs would be lost, having a devastating impact on the broader economy and bringing down with it many more firms.

To avoid this nightmare scenario, Congress should require GM or any auto maker looking for government assistance to agree to tough restructuring changes to increase competitiveness. Firms would have the option of taking this path or going into Chapter 11. Under either option, taxpayer dollars are better protected and the industry would be required to make long delayed business model changes that would allow GM and others to get back on track.

November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 13

There was some good news in the midst of Fairfax County’s dialogues on the current economy and next year’s anticipated budget challenges.

Last Friday, following an intense budget meeting with the Fairfax County School Board, both boards received the results of the 2008 Fairfax County Youth Survey. The survey, completed by more than 22,000 public school students in the 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th grades, included questions on youth behaviors, both healthy and risky. For the first time, the survey included a few ageappropriate questions on sexual behavior.

Almost all survey respondents reported that they have lots of opportunities to get involved in positive activities in and outside of school. Nearly a quarter of Fairfax County youth are physically active for at least 60 minutes every day. More than two-thirds of Fairfax County youth have not used any drugs or alcohol in the past 30 days, which continues the downward trend for all substance use since 2001.

Youth first trying alcohol at age 12 or younger has decreased by nine percentage points since 2001.

However, binge drinking was not uncommon among 12th graders. Inhalant use was more common among sixth and eighth graders than in high school grades. The survey also revealed that Fairfax County youth have slightly higher rates of depression and considering suicide than youth nationally. Similar to national trends, races and ethnicities other than White are more likely to report feeling depressed and considering suicide. Bullying is more common in early grades; 18 percent of 6th graders reported being bullied, taunted, ridiculed, or teased at least once a week.

Interestingly, the survey also found that 60 percent of female students are trying to lose weight, perhaps a reflection of our image-obsessed culture for teenage

Last Saturday I spent part of the day at Arlington’s Kenmore Middle School at “Community Conversation: Eliminating Achievement Gaps,” a comdialog ichard munity sponsored by Barton the Arlington Public Schools Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on the Elimination of the Achievement Gap and a number of schoolbased community organizations.

Under the magnifying glass were yearly statistical tables showing pass rates of students taking Standards of Learning tests, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and intensified courses for White, Asian, Black, and Hispanic students.

The principal statistics used in the meeting were ten years of assessments of the SOL grades achieved by students in grades 3 - 12. This spring, the school system administered 35,547 assessments of 32 different tests. The good news is that the overall pass rate was 90% in 2008, compared to 65% in 1998. There are gaps among ethnic groups, however. Whites had a 96% pass rate in 2008 (65% in 1998), Asians 95% (69%), Hispanics 82%, and Blacks 74% (37%).

The reason we were gather-

R

girls and young women.

On another positive side, 96 percent of youth report that they have never been in a gang. Overall, a lower percentage of students report ever having been in a gang for every grade level, both genders, and all reported ethnicities compared to 2001. Males are still more likely to belong to a gang than females, and most of those responding “yes” said that the gang had a name. The survey also noted that youth who have been involved in a gang are more likely to have been abused by an intimate partner or forced to have sex.

Building on the responses to the Youth Survey, county agencies and the school system will continue their collaborative approach to ensure a continued downward trend in substance abuse, implement evidence-based strategies related to middle school inhalant prevention, and support the mental health of children and their families. The plan should be completed and approved for implementation by the end of FY 2009. The complete report, as well as the ‘01, ‘03 and ‘05 youth survey reports may be found on-line at www.fairfaxcounty/gov/youthsurvey.

Now that the weather has turned colder, many local faith groups will house homeless persons overnight on an emergency basis through the winter. The hypothermia project relies on partnerships between Fairfax Co., non-profit organizations who administer the county shelters, and the faith community which provides both overflow housing and food. If you or your organization can provide meals for even one night, please contact Thornell Hancock, 703-820-7621, or email thancock@voaches.org for more information.  Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor,

in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov

ing, however, was that though pass rates have improved steadily every year, the gaps among ethnic groups also narrowed steadily until it pretty much leveled out in ‘04, particularly with Black students. Since then, all have made some improvements, but the gap has not narrowed significantly.

Washington-Lee Assistant principal Tyrone Byrd did an excellent job in presenting complex statistics to us so even he most statistics-challenged among us could understand.

Why has this happened?

Did we begin to do things differently in 2003-4? Should we have changed anything in promoting academic improvement?

Or have we done everything that can be done and we’re just facing something mysterious in natural law.

There is some difference of opinion in academic circles as to what a school system can do to improve academic improvement. One of the most prominent sociologists of the 20th century, James Coleman, conducted a series of major studies of educational equality among Blacks and Whites in the 1960’s. He maintained, after these studies, that the effort of school systems alone to improve the achieve-

ment of Blacks in relation to Whites would be only 20% successful. The thrust for change had to come from within the communities themselves.

A few years ago, scholars at the George Mason University School of Public Policy conducted studies of the New York School system. They came to the conclusion that the single most important factor in the achievement levels of students was their economic status, something a school system can do very little to affect. In other words, we must look to programs that improve the economic lives of the poor to ultimately raise achievement levels among all students, regardless of ethnicity.

In our breakout groups we concentrated on things the school system could do. One was to expand the SOAR (Success, Opportunity, And Results) program for 9th grade minority students. Another is to expand the Hispanic-oriented PESA (Parent Expectations Support Achievement) to other groups.

There were many other recommendations. The important thing, however, was that a large group reflecting the great diversity of our vibrant Arlington community is actively working on effective solutions.

Hard Times Having lived through the Great Depression, Studs would certainly have recognized the current state of our economy.

Times are tough and they are going to get tougher for our households and for government services.

Current Virginia revenues are far below what we anticipated. We had been expecting a $2.5-$3 billion shortfall of revenue.

However, I have heard talk that the House Appropriations Committee is anticipating the shortfall to be as high as $4 billion.

That is a lot to cut from a state budget that we have already reduced substantially.

In that case, almost every program may be reduced.

We are going to have to do all that we possibly can to protect school funding, which is our largest single item of funding.

We will learn more on December 17 when Governor Tim Kaine addresses the General Assembly money committees.

That is when he will propose changes to our two-year budget. We will then find out how hard the times are in Virginia.

Excitement on the Ballot What a marvelous feeling it was on election night to learn that Barack Obama was elected president.

Originally a John Edwards supporter, I went for Obama when Edwards dropped out of the presidential race on January 30.

Soon after, several of my colleagues and I announced our support for Obama at a Richmond press conference.

I do not know that any of us foresaw the tremendous excitement for Senator Obama or his strong victory on election night.

A week before the election, I traveled to an Obama rally at the Richmond Colosium. The crowd chanted and hollered as they waited for him.

The crowd was fired up and ready to go after Governor Tim Kaine and Senate candidate Mark Warner warmed them up.

But, when Senator Obama came out, the crowd went wild. I cannot remember such enthusiasm for a presidential candidate.

Of course, he will soon be President Obama and, God willing, he will be a great

president.

In the Footsteps of Greatness There was another Senator from Illinois who became president of the United States.

His name was Abraham Lincoln.

Yesterday marked the 145th anniversary of the address he made at the new national cemetery on the grounds of the Battle of Gettysburg.

At a time when orators spoke for hours at a time, President Lincoln was able to hone down in 272 words what it meant to be an American.

His Gettysburg address is one of the greatest speeches in American history and I repeat it below.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

“But in a larger sense we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Delegate Hull represents the 38th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.

He may be emailed at delrhull@state.house.va.us 

Page 14

Falls Church Shows Support for City PTA Stifel & Capra of Falls Church is hosting the Falls Church City Schools’ PTA Shop and Support Night.

When patrons shop, the PTA benefits. Stifel & Capra are donating a percentage of purchases to the Parent Teacher Association. The kick off will be Nov. 20 and savings extend through the end of the year.

For more information on Stifel & Capra (210 Little Falls St., Falls Church), visit www.stifelandcapra.com or call 703-5333557.

Children’s Turkey Chase Held in Arlington Join Arlington Parks and Recreation on Nov.

November 20 - 26, 2008

20 to hunt down turkey for Thanksgiving. The program will take a look at animals that use camouflage, and is a highly interactive program that includes a story, craft and a short hike. The activity is for ages: 3 – 5 years-old.

Parents are invited to stay and observe, or those with younger siblings may visit the rest of the building during the program, however parents must remain on-site. Registration is required. The program will be held Nov. 20 at Gulf Branch Nature Center (3608 N. Military Road, Arlington) and will be $3 per child. To register, call 703-228-4747.

Falls Church Rotary Club Holds Fruit Sale The Fall Church Rotary

ARGIA’S RESTAURANT was the only Falls Church restaurant among the scores of the region’s finest participating in the annual Capital Food Fight to benefit the D.C. Central Kitchen last week. Hosting their table offering samples of their fare at the event were co-owner Adam Roth, left, sous chef Loder Missina and waiter Mike Rosen. (Photo: News-Press)

invites the community to support their Annual Fruit Sale fundraiser. They will be selling cases and half cases of navel oranges, tangelos and grapefruit. Approximately 50 oranges, 40 grapefruit and 100 tangelos will be in each case. A case will sell for $25 and half cases for $13. Proceeds will support the Rotary Club and their various programs. The sale will be at Two Sisters Coffee House (255 W. Broad St., Falls Church) from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Nov. 22. For more information, call Joe Scheibeler at 202-268-5089.

Family Art Workshop Hosted by MPA McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) is hosting a Family Art Workshop called Wacky Machine Sculptures from 10 – 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 22 at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave. McLean).

The workshop is for ages 4 – 8 and is $10 per family. For more information, call 703-790-0123.

FALLS CHURCH’S MIKE CURTIN, right, executive director of the D.C. Central Kitchen, presents his program’s Partner of the Year award to Bob and Nancy Torray during the annual Capital Food Fight at the Reagan Building in D.C. last week.

The Food Fight is the major annual fundraiser for the D.C. Central Kitchen, showcasing food samples from scores of the region’s finest restaurants and “Iron Chef”-style competitions among some of the area’s top chefs. (Photo: News-Press) Hall of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (1545 Chain Bridge Road, McLean). For more information, call 703645-9182.

McLean Rotary to Hold Regular Meeting

Arts and Crafts at Center for Religious Science

The Mclean Rotary Club invites members to the Rotary Leadership Institute on Nov. 22. The Institute is located at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and costs $85 to attend.

Angie Granados will present “Rotary Youth Exchange” and will discuss her experiences as an exchange student from Columbia. The meeting is free and open to the public and will be held at noon on Nov. 25 in the Fellowship

Quilting, water colors, jewelry, note cards, oil paintings and more will be present at the craft show, as well as live music, beverages and food at the Gala. ‘Formal’ dress is requested. Admission is $10 for the evening Gala from 7 – 10 p.m. on Nov. 21. The art and craft viewing and sale is free from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Both events are open to the general public and will take place at The Celebration Center for Religious Science (2840

Graham Road, Falls Church).

For more information, call 703-560-2030.

Mary Riley Styles Offers Insight into Investment This hour-long class hosted

by S&P NetAdvantage, gives students a look into individual stocks and mutual funds, as well as markets, industries and sectors. The class teaches students how to compare mutual funds, screen for stocks or funds, access the ‘Outlook’ newsletters and more. This class is offered at Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church) and will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Nov 22. The class is free, but reservations are required and space is limited. For more

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November 20 - 26, 2008

information or to make reservations, call 703-248-5035.

Oakcrest Senior Seeks Girl Scout Gold Award Jeanmarie Melchert of Reston and a senior at Oakcrest School (850 Balls Hill Road, McLean) hopes to earn her Gold Award, the highest achievement for a Girl Scout. Melchert, who joined the Scouts in kindergarten as a Daisy, has been working on her Gold Award project since she was a sophomore.

A member of Troop 2568, Melchert has worked with several advisors including her troop leader, Nancy Willis. The Gold Award calls for a 60-hour project that creates a needed change in the scout’s environment and includes a project proposal that must be approved by the Girl Scout Council.

Melchert’s project, Space Chix, has brought together her interest in science and space to

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create a workshop for teenage girls looking into internships and career opportunities. For more information on Space Chix which will be presented on Nov. 22, email spacechix2008@comcast.net or call 703-475-1534.

M.C.C. Welcomes WorldFamous Talent The Alden Theatre will be hosting world famous musicians at 3 p.m. on Nov. 23 at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean).

Violinist Laura Kobayashi and pianist Susan Keith Gray have toured throughout the United States, South America and other parts of the world. Kobayashi has degrees from The Juilliard School, Yale University and the University of Michigan, while Gray holds degrees from Converse College, and the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan. The concert is free and open to the

DR. RAY SOLANO of Falls Church, left, hosted a food drive and fundraiser for the Capital Area Food Bank in his chiropractic office on Park Avenue last week that included some celebrities. Solano, left, was joined by former U.S. Olympic figure skater Michael Weiss, right, and moms of National Football League players, including Zelda Westbrook, who is the mother of Brian Westbrook, and Marylin Boley-Pointer, the mother of Michael Boley, shown here. Teresa Springs, mother of Shawn Springs, was also present. Solano was approached by Zelda Westbrook about holding the drive. (Photo: News-Press) public. Performances are subject to change at Alden Theatre.

For more information, call 703790-0123.

Dulin United Methodist Holds Organ Concert Music Director Mary Mateer and Pastor Dave Kirkland will present a music concert featuring solo organ, piano and organ duets and piano four-hand hymn tunes at a free concert open to the public. The concert will be held at 4 p.m. on Nov. 23 at Dulin Church (513 E. Broad St., Falls Church). For more information, call 703-532-8060.

Community Thanksgiving Service Jazz Artists

START SPREADIN’ THE NEWS. Kristin Cummings has agreed to wed former News-Press sports editor Mike Hume. The couple has spent a happy three-and-a-half years together to this point, with Kristin tolerating Mike’s late nights at the News-Press and Mike understanding Kristin’s dire need to be photographed with George Clooney at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

(Memo to George from Mike: “I win.”) Kristin and Mike relocated to New York City this summer and continue to pursue careers in publishing and journalism. Kristin works for The Atlantic, while Mike now works for ESPN the Magazine. A wedding date is Organ Concert ad 11/14/08 2:10 PM Page 1 to be decided. (Photo Courtesy: Mike Hume)

Award-winning jazz guitarist Rob Levit, and teenage gospel singer and songwriter Elizabeth Cumbest will join Gunnery Sergeant AnnaMarie Mottola of the The President’s Own and guitarist Nik Scott at the annual Falls Church Community Thanksgiving Service at 7 p.m. Nov. 23. A collection will be taken of nonperishable food items for the Falls Church Community

Dulin Church United Methodist

Service Council food closet and for Homestretch.

Monetary offerings will go towards the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast Region. This year’s service will be hosted at the ChristCrossman United Methodist Church (384 N Washington St., Falls Church).

For directions or more information, call 703-532-4026.

Falls Church Lions Club Discusses D.C. Goodwill Shanna Gidwani will present a program on the Goodwill of Greater Washington to the Lions Club of Falls Church at their regularly scheduled meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 25 at La Cote D’Or Café (6876 Lee Highway, Arlington). Meetings are open to the general public. First-time dinner guests are welcome free of charge. Contact Phil Loar at 703-698-0896 for reservations.

Sea Chanty Sing Along at Stacy’s Coffee Parlor The Chantymen originated from Ship’s Company, which is a living-history organization that interprets different aspects of

maritime life between 1775 and 1865. The singers, who perform at more than 20 events a year, began rehearsing songs at the Royal Mile in 1996. Now various Chantymen lead sea chantey sing-alongs and welcome participants. The Chantymen will be at Stacy’s Coffee (709 W. Broad St., Fall Church) at 7 p.m. on Nov. 25. For more information, call 703-538-6266.

F. C. Episcopal Reaches Out to Community Reverend Micheal Pipkin of The Falls Church Episcopal (225 E. Broad St., Falls Church), announced the appointment of the Reverend Cathy Tibbetts as Assistant Minister for Children’s Education earlier this month.

Tibbetts is a recent graduate of The Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria and previously served as the Lay Youth Minister at Trinity Episcopal Church located in Washington, Va. The Falls Church Episcopal uses an educational approach based on The Workshop Rotation Model of Learning, which allows children to participate in creative workshops.

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November 20 - 26, 2008

News Jack-the-Ripper Certified Arborists, Inc. won the business category of Fairfax County’s 2008 Environmental Excellent Awards which recognize advancement or support of Fairfax County’s environmental goals and policy statements; dedication of personal time and expertise beyond normal fiscal or civic responsibilities; and leadership as a role model for others. Additional award recipients include Chet McLaren in the resident category and the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter Project Management Team in the organization category. For more information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov.

Falls Church-based JDG Communications, Inc. has created a Web site for the Federal Trade Commission to help young consumers learn key consumer and business concepts and to protect themselves against fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices. Children under 12 are reported to spend billions of dollars on goods and services every year. The new Web site www.ftc.gov/YouAreHere takes kids on an experiential journey through a shopping mall to introduce them to key consumer and business concepts including advertising, branding and competition.

Kids can learn the rules of advertising by creating their own ad for a shoe store, become familiar with how supply, demand and production costs impact selling prices and gain an understanding of competition by comparing sales pitches. There is also a short movie that shows how Teddy Roosevelt became known as the “Trust Buster” and why the FTC was formed. JDG is a full-service marketing firm that specializes in strategic marketing services. For more information, visit jdgcommunications.com.

Mike’s Deli @ Lazy Sundae is now offering limited free lunchtime delivery to locations in Falls Church. The deli, owned and operated by David Tax and Rebecca Tax, offers a variety of deli style sandwiches available for eat in or take out The deli is open Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., weekends and holidays 9 a.m – 9 p.m. Delivery is available from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Mike’s Deli is located in Lazy Sundae at 110 N. West St. in Falls Church. For more information, call 703-532-5299.

WiGo Wireless is now offering new phone delivery and set up for Blackberrys and Smartphones. WiGo is an authorized AT&T retailer. Owned and operated by Rob Link, WiGo recently moved from its location in the Whitner Jackson building across the parking lot to 1112 W. Broad St. in Falls Church. Hours of operation are 10 a.m.

– 7 p.m. Monday – Saturday. To learn more stop by the new location, call 703-2419446 or visit wigowireless.com.

Events PNC Bank in Falls Church is hosting an autograph signing party with Washington Wizards Player Nick Young from 5 – 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4. A raffle will also be held for 2 tickets to see the Wizards and a $125 gift certificate for Argia’s. PNC Bank is located in The Read Building at 402 W. Broad St. Clay Café Studios and the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce are co-hosting the 8th Annual Family Fundraiser to benefit the Falls Church Emergency Homeless Shelter on Tuesday, Dec. 9. This event is a creative way to support this much needed facility and to make a handmade holiday gift for a loved one. For $25, attendees have the opportunity to paint an ornament, plate, bowl or mug from a select group and enjoy refreshments and door prizes. Space is limited. Stop by Clay Café at 101 N. Maple Ave. in Falls Church, or call 703-534-7600 to reserve seats. All profits are donated directly to the shelter.

Stifel and Capra is hosting its 2nd Annual Black Friday Champagne Brunch from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, during which the local independently owned shop offering “Art and Ornament for your Wonderful Life” is located at 210 Little Falls St., Suite 201. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday – Saturday. In December, the shop will be open until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon – 5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit stifelandcapra.com.

Businesses interested in participating in Falls Church City’s Watch Night festivities on New Year’s Eve can still do so by contacting event organizer Barbara Cram at greenscap@aol.com. Watch Night events, which are family friendly and free to the general public, include live music, dancing, karaoke and a wide variety of children’s activities such as a moon bounce and other inflatables. Volunteer and sponsorship opportunities are available for those interested in promoting their business and supporting the community.  The Business News & Notes section is compiled by Sally Cole, Executive Director of Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at sally@fallschurchchamber.org.

November 20 - 26, 2008

Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris released their annual report on the state of the world’s energy resources -- World Energy Review 2008.

As the world’s energy situation becomes more and more confused, with prices gyrating wildly, and with more voices warning of unprecedented problems just ahead, this 569-page report stands as the most authoritative description of what will happen to the world’s energy supply. The energy policies of the 28 countries that are members of the IEA in theory hinge on the report’s findings – and that is where the trouble comes in.

Until recently, the IEA’s forecasts have been based on the premise that there was plenty of oil or equivalent hydrocarbons left to extract. Forecasting future production was simply a function of extrapolating demand. However much oil the world needed and was ready to pay for, the oil industry would provide. This premise of course undercuts the notion of world oil production peaking anytime soon. As long as there is plenty of oil to extract in the foreseeable future, world production should not peak. It was this premise and associated judgments that serve as the basis for most of the world’s governments denying or at least avoiding discussing very loudly the idea that world oil production will soon be going into decline.

In recent years however, as world oil production stagnated, and as more attention was focused on rates of oil depletion vs. the likelihood of offsetting new production, the IEA’s basic premise became more and more untenable. This year the Agency succumbed to reality and addressed the issue of stagnating oil production head-on with detailed discussions of oil depletion around the world.

It must be kept in mind that the World Energy Review is not an academic search for truth, but a political document that forms the basis for energy policy in many countries and guides the expenditure of billions of dollars. The current travails of General Motors is a case in point. Given the importance of the document, it is

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naïve to expect a sharp reversal of its key judgments that the world’s oil supply will continue to grow for the next 20 years nor that oil prices will not become too burdensome.

In this respect the new release does not disappoint, for the Agency continues to forecast in what is called a “reference case” that world oil production will increase by another 20 million barrels a day (b/d) over the next 20 years.

With the “all will be well” formalities out of the way,

the Agency, however, breaks much new ground in providing data on world oil depletion and warning that supply problems are just ahead. As it has done for over a year now, the IEA bases its concerns for the future not on geology, but on the lack of sufficient investment to keep up with the steadily rising costs of extracting and processing oil from increasingly difficult places. If you want a mind boggling number, the Agency now says that it will cost $26 trillion (with a “T”) over the next 20 or so years to keep energy flowing at its current pace and to provide for some economic growth. If we don’t spend this much, then it is our own fault if supplies of oil, coal, natural gas, and electricity run short.

Perhaps the most interesting phenomenon surrounding the release of this year’s report is the veritable swarm of critics that descended on release day to dissect all 569 pages, word by word, graph by graph and chart by chart.

Dozens if not hundreds are involved in this effort and are already bombarding the report’s authors with demands for explanations of the dozens of inconsistencies that have already turned up.

While obviously stressful to those involved in producing the report, it is a healthy process for it serves to remind the Agency that its judgments are having a significant impact and that many knowledgeable people are watching and parsing the Agency’s every utterance.

For most commentators, the major flaw in the report is the

judgment that world oil production will continue to increase steadily for the next 22 years despite increasing rates of oil depletion, as well as growing environmental and fiscal problems. The Agency forecasts that production from currently producing fields will decline to about 50 percent of current production. This decline, they say, will be more than made up for by: developing new already discovered oil fields; finding new fields, using enhanced recovery techniques to get more oil out of existing fields; getting more oil from the Alberta tar sands; doubling natural gas production and extracting the liquids from the gas; and finally increasing the extraction liquids from coal. When, and if, all this happens, the world will be perking along nicely with 106 million b/d of oil vs. the current 86 million b/d.

As one cynic put it, the IEA was given the job of forecasting enough energy production to allow the world’s economy to continue to grow for the next 20 years, and then set about constructing a scenario, however implausible, of how this might happen.

After deriding the optimistic forecast, most of the commentary thus far has focused on the new data about rates of oil depletion and what they portend. Rates of oil depletion is a complicated, (for there are hundreds of major oil fields) yet important area of study as it is key to what is going to happen over the next few decades. The new information provided by the IEA, and more importantly the debate over this information, is likely to occupy the time until the next report comes out.

The best feature of this report is that the IEA seems to be responding to its critics and seems willing to engage in a genuine debate over the future of the world’s energy supply.

It is asking too much of agency that answers to 28 governments to embrace peak oil with the release of one publication.

However, if one reads between the lines and uses the data to draw one’s own conclusion, the new report simply screams that peak oil and all that it implies is just about here.  Tom Whipple is a retired government analyst and has been following the peak oil issue for several years.

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November 20 - 26, 2008

At this year’s Universal Dance Association (UDA) Fairfax Championship, held on Nov. 15 at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax, the J.E.B. Stuart High School Dance Team placed second out of six teams that competed at Saturday’s event. Dancers include Breanna Alexander, Eyerusalem Argaw, Rachel Boots, Blair Bullock, Cherelle Ford, Gerlys Norraine Gayona, Wanda Hernandez, Catherine Jackson-Banks, Jessica Jackson-Banks, Sasha Jiron, Azeb Legesse, Erika Moscoso, Alana Ogata and Nikkia Williams. The dance team coach this year is Alissa Wunder.

The Stuart girls brought their energetic hip hop routine to the dance floor at Paul VI. Teams were able to choose various categories for competition, and could place in any of those categories – jazz, hip hop and pom. Wunder said she “was very proud of their accomplishment.”

While this was their last performance at a competition for the 2008-09 school year, they will make appearances at J.E.B. Stuart pep rallies this December and next March. Thinking ahead about next season, Wunder is confident that the girls will continue and improve their winning streak. “I can guarantee they’ll be back at the UDA competition next year to move up,” she says. (Photo: Courtesy Maxine Williams)

Upcoming Falls Church Area High School Basketball Schedule

Starting this week, George Mason High School’s basketball teams head back to the courts.

Here is the latest on what Mustangs fans should expect in the coming weeks: George Mason Girls Team Coming off a remarkable season that ended with a playoff run and an appearance in the state finals last winter, the George Mason Mustangs girls Varsity Basketball team is gearing up for its 2008-2009 campaign with sky high expectations once again.

However, this year’s additional hype means nothing to the returning players who have no intentions of dwelling in their previous success.

“We’re a new team,” said junior Nicole Mitchell, one of the team’s two returning starters.

“It’s a new season, and I don’t think people should compare us to last year’s team.”

Mitchell’s humble statement carries a lot of significance due to the fact that the Mustangs experienced a great deal of turnover from last year. In addition to losing three of their ’07-’08 starters to graduation, long tenured head coach Bill Broderick moved on to take a coaching position at Elon University this past spring. Broderick’s replacement, LaBryan Thomas, is returning to coaching basketball after taking the winter off in 2007.

Thomas coached the boys ju-

nior varsity team at Mason for several years before stepping down from the job last winter to watch his daughter Chantal play.

Chantal, a former transfer from Garfield High School, enters her junior year projected to be one of the top players in the Bull Run District after becoming a solid contributor last season. Her incendiary speed and exceptional ball handling skills gave a spark to the Mustangs in their ’07-’08 post-season run. Thomas will be an even more crucial component to this year’s squad, as they will be very thin on experience at the point guard position.

With the exception of Thomas, they will be reliant on hybrid players such as Mitchell and junior Kelsey Kane filling in at spots normally suited for smaller players.

Along with a new head coach, the Mustangs brought in fresh faces with a trio of talented ninth graders in Bria Platenburg, Leah Roth and Lauren Kane. The freshmen are each expected to help bring some sort of depth to the Mustang’s sparse backcourt.

With the leadership of senior forwards Abby Stroup and Mayssa Chehata in the post, the Mustangs certainly have a shot to be in contention for another run at a state title.

The girls’ first encounter with another team is Nov. 22, when they travel to Heritage High School for a scrimmage.

George Mason opens their regular season with 12 non-district games, the first one on Dec. 2 at home against Lake Braddock before opening district play

against Madison County in an away game on Jan. 7.

George Mason Boys Team The Mustangs boys Varsity Basketball team ended their ’07-’08 campaign with a bang, finishing second in the district tournament, and earning a regional berth despite a disappointing regular season in which they finished 11-12.

Like the girls team, the boys are bringing back the majority of their talent. Senior Joel Chandler is healthy, and poised to have another monster year along with the sharpshooting Josh Brew. The high flying Anthony Andrianarison will give the team a boost inside the paint once again alongside 6-foot, 7-inches tall center Jordan Cheney, who is a junior.

In addition to their main scorers, the boys team brings a good amount of depth to the table with several versatile players coming off the bench. Junior forwards Michael Wolfe and Brian Lubnow both bring varsity experience to the table along with senior Tony Armstrong who missed all of his junior season due to injury.

Clarke County, last year’s Bull Run district champion figures to be back as Mason’s biggest competitor in the district along with Madison County who also split in two games with the Mustangs during the regular season.

The boys open their competitive schedule with a scrimmage against Falls Church High School in a home game at 7:30 p.m. this Friday night, Nov. 21.

Boys

Girls

McLean vs. Oakton 11/20 @ 7:30 p.m.

Falls Church vs. Dominion 11/21 @ 6:30 p.m.

J.E.B. Stuart vs. Lee 11/20 @ 7:30 p.m.

Marshall vs. Hayfield 11/21 @ 7:45 p.m.

George Mason vs. Falls Church 11/21 @ 7:30 p.m.

George Mason vs. Heritage 11/22 @ 4:30 p.m.

J.E.B. Stuart vs. Blake 11/22 @ noon

Falls Church vs. Annandale 11/25 @ 7:45 p.m.

McLean vs. Robinson 11/22 @ 7:30 p.m.

George Mason vs. McLean 11/26 @ 7:30 p.m.

George Mason vs. Thomas Jefferson 11/25 @ 7:30 p.m.

Falls Church vs. Fairfax 12/02 @ 7:30 p.m.

Marshall vs. Stafford 11/25 @ 7:45 p.m.

George Mason vs. Lake Braddock 12/02 @ 6 p.m.

Falls Church vs. Fairfax 12/02 @ 7:30 p.m.

J.E.B. Stuart vs. McLean 12/02 @ 7:30 p.m.

George Mason vs. Marshall 12/02 @ 7 p.m.

George Mason vs. Wakefield At Marshall 12/03 @ 7 p.m.

J.E.B. Stuart vs. McLean 12/02 @ 7:45 p.m.

George Mason vs. Loudoun Co. 12/04 & 12/05 @ TBA Falls Church at the Freedon H.S. Tip Off Tournament 12/05 & 12/06 @ TBA

Marshall vs. Lake Braddock 12/03 @ 7:30 p.m.

Falls Church vs. Centreville 12/05 @ 7:30 p.m.

J.E.B Stuart vs. Annandale 12/05 @ 7:45 p.m.

Marshall vs. Woodbridge At South County 12/05 @ 6 p.m.

McLean vs. South County At Langley 12/05 @ 6 p.m.

Home team in bold

Home team in bold

November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 19

Mr. Hume, Been wrapped up with racing lately (why can’t I get away from guys named Jimmie Johnson?) and haven’t watched much football. I heard about two losses in a row for the Redskins. Is it time to panic or keep the faith?

2008 All-Bun Run District Team Announced

Joe G.

After challenging football seasons all round for area high schools, two George Mason students were named to this year’s All-Bull Run District team. Senior Charlie Mann, who played running back, earned his place on the first team Offense, and junior Misael Benitez, a linebacker, joined the second team Defense.

Thomas Jefferson H.S. Runner Bests Competition On Nov. 15, freshman Sarah Stites of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology placed first in the USA Track and Field (USATF) Virginia Association Youth Division competition, held in Mechanicsville, Va. Stites won the 4-kilometer race in 15:25, 22 seconds ahead of the next runner, qualifying her to compete in the Dec. 13 USATF National Cross Country.

George Mason Hosts Wrestling Scrimmage As a prelude to the wrestling season, which begins the first week of December, George Mason High School is hosting a multi-school scrimmage at 3:45 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 20.

Competitors include wrestlers from McLean, Wakefield and Langley High Schools.

TJHSST Players Receive Honors Last week, members of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Volleyball team received district and regional level recognition of the team’s efforts this year. Suzy Hastings, who hails from Falls Church, was named to the first team All-District with an honorable mention at the All-Region level.

Along with Hastings’ double honors, Meghan Kelly, Angela Liu and Molly Patterson received honorable mentions at the All-District level.

J.E.B. Stuart Warms up Wrestling Season Ahead of their first season

ALL-DISTRICT TEAM MEMBER Suzy Hastings, of Falls Church, is a star volleyball player at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Hastings also received an AllRegion honorable mention. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria Linnell) match against Mount Vernon High School on Dec. 3, J.E.B. Stuart High School wrestlers will challenge Madison High School in an away scrimmage match at 3:30 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 20.

Marshall High School Sports Potluck Dinner All interested George C. Marshall High School student athletes are invited to a potluck dinner in the school cafeteria at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24.

Each team is responsible for bringing a food item to the dinner, and coaches will be able to inform students what items should be prepared.

Colonials Raise Money for Spring Training The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology boys Lacrosse team

is selling holiday poinsettias to raise funds for their spring training trip to Orlando, Fl. The deadline for orders is Friday, Nov. 21, and orders will be delivered to the high school for pick-up from 3 – 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Old Track Locker Room. The order form can be downloaded on the high school Sports Boosters web page, sports.tjhsst.edu/boosters.

Falls Church H.S. Parents Winter Sports Meeting At 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24, parents of any Falls Church High School winter sports athlete are invited to attend a special meeting with coaches at the high school, to discuss expectations of winter athletes in addition to laying out the sports schedules for the semester. For more information about the meeting, contact the school at 703-207-4000.

There are two ways of looking at Sunday night’s loss to the Cowboys. The first way is if you see the Cowboys as their owner Jerry Jones does – a playoffcaliber team ready to rattle off win after win and burst into the postseason. If that’s how you view Dallas, then yeah, Sunday’s loss was nothing more than the second straight game the surprising Skins have lost to a top tier team and isn’t worth worrying much about.

If you don’t adopt that rosy view of the Cowboys, and considering the Cowboys were annihilated by the 2-8 St. Louis Rams you probably shouldn’t, then it’s time to worry about Washington’s playoff chances.

For two consecutive games Washington’s offense has failed to break 225 total yards, a number the New York Giants nearly surpassed in the first half in their game against the Ravens Sunday. Both Dallas and Pittsburgh were able to get to Redskins QB Jason Campbell and attack him before he could make good decisions and/or accurate throws. It was also a prerequisite for him to evade a would-be tackler before taking any shot down field. What’s more disturbing is that Washington’s West Coast offense is based on short dropbacks and quick passes, meaning the offensive line has been about as effective as balsa wood holding back a battleship.

The line needs to buy Campbell some more time because the low-scoring Redskins positively must make the most out of each offensive chance they get. Washington is averaging just 18.1 points per game this season. Only Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Oakland have worse point production. And those teams are most certainly not heading for the playoffs.

Mike, How serious is the Nats’ interest in Mark Teixeira? And is it a good move for the club or will Mark hate himself if he signs there?

Scott B. Thanks for the questions, Scott, and thanks also for submitting them on a $100 bill.

That is some serious stationary you have there. Ben Franklin takes you to the top of the heap.

The Nats appear dead serious about signing him and I think it could be a mutually beneficial move for the Marylandborn first baseman and a team looking for a jolt.

At first glance Teixeira’s asking price, thought to be more than $20 million per year, doesn’t seem wise given the franchise’s current state of disarray. Not only are the Nats struggling mightily on the major league level, but all of those top draft picks they’ve been stockpiling with their last place finishes are progressing slower than expected. So if Washington won’t compete for the playoffs for another three years, why flush away $60 million-plus on the first three years of a long term contract to Teixeira?

It’s sound logic, but I don’t agree with that approach. If the Nats can get Teixeira to believe that Washington won’t always be a wasteland, they should sign him.

True, the Nats don’t have a pitching staff that can bring them to the playoffs yet, but if they can ink Teixeira they can at least make a putrid lineup far more respectable. With Teixeira, their top six of the order looks like this: Cristian Guzman, Lastings Milledge, Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Teixeira, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes.

Milledge, Zimmerman and Dukes are all on the upswings of their career. Teixeira is also young (currently 28) and will still be in his prime when the team’s top prospects finally blossom.

A signing of that caliber will also convince Washington’s fans that the Lerner family’s frugality to this point really has been driven by strategy rather than stinginess. And that goodwill could be invaluable given the team’s flagging TV ratings and disappointing attendance in the first year of the new ballpark.

But more importantly, by giving a long-term deal to Teixeira, maybe the Nats can avoid a long-term lease on the basement of the National League East.

Page 20

Island Illumination Aqui Estamos (Here We Are); Cuban Art, at H&F Fine Arts (3311 Rhode Island Ave., Mount Rainer, Md.). This exhibit runs through Nov. 30.

The gallery hours are from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

The gallery is closed Monday – Wednesday. Call 301-8870080, or visit www.hffinearts. com.

Cuban art shows are fairly rare events in the U.S., for obvious reasons. Having only seen two previous Cuban art shows, this is the second one curated by F. Lennox “Lenny” Campello, one of the most well known faces on the local art scene. Campello is a dealer, curator, and blogger (dcartnews. blogspot.com/) covering the art

November 20 - 26, 2008

scene in D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.

That being common knowledge in the art world, less known is Campello’s Cuban roots. His father was a political prisoner under the Castro regime, which led to the family’s arrival in New York City when Campello was 10-years-old. Needless to say, he can speak firsthand to Cuban oppression and the resulting exodus.

H&F Fine Arts, located just over the D.C. border in the emerging Mount Rainer arts district, hosts this showing of 26 art works by seven Cuban artists. It’s an interesting mix of disciplines that revolve around the inescapable subjects of repression, indoctrination and the Cuban exodus – past, present or longed for.

Americans often take their freedom of speech for grant-

ed, but the Cuban artists must tread lightly when dealing with dissenting opinions about the regime in power.

“Illumination” is often used as code for indoctrination, especially of the Cuban youth.

Aimeé Garcia Marrero conveys such by painting a large-scale upside down portrait of a child’s head as a light bulb in her canvas titled “Aliento (Breath).”

Sandra Ramos uses her mixed media etching to depict an outstretched mother mimicking the shape of the Cuban island itself. Floating below her is a child tethered by an umbilical chord representing the isle of youth, overlaid with nine lit candles.

The isle of Pines, renamed the Isle of Youth in 1978, was where Castro was imprisoned before the revolution, and where political prisoners were held after the revolution. Now it is the location of international schools for Cuban children.

While few, if any of these artists are known to us; they are known Cuban artists who have had major shows outside of Cuba.

Curiously, trade embargoes affect art materials even for these artists. Aimeé Garcia Marrero’s three large scale canvases use an oddly dark and muddy palette – seems she’s had trouble obtaining brighter

paint colors. Similarly, she also has two digital photos here that suffer badly due to poor printer quality ... the best available to her in Cuba.

One of the most insightful images here is “El Boat (The Boat)” by Ramos. This time we see a row boat/raft adrift under a star filled night sky. Sitting quietly in the boat, with her back to us, is a young Cuban girl dressed in the official red

school jumper uniform. Too small to reach both oars, and thus making her escape useless, she helplessly looks off into the night sky dreaming of things to come.  The Northern Virginia Art Beat is compiled by Kevin Mellema. See www.fcnp.com for photos and more. To e-mail submissions, send them to kevinmellema@gmail.com.

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Standing in line at the grocery store, glossy magazine covers of country kitchens and Mediterranean-style corridors stare many shoppers in the face just before they reach for coupons to take the edge off their tab. The current economy may not be in favor of the average homeowners’ visions to revamp their interior décor, but local design experts say that not all hope is lost.

“We’re all aware of what’s going on in the economic climate. Fewer people are buying cars or going on expensive vacations, but all in all, I think customers are still coming to us wanting to do the same types of projects as they were three years ago,” said Chandler Fox, president of the Falls Church-based

Though environmentally-friendly living is all the rage right now, local designers say that many of their customers aren’t yet convinced of the savings benefits.

“Our clients are aware of greener options, but if you run the numbers, it makes no sense to spend $25,000 on energy savings for your home if it’s only saving you $100 per month,” said Chandler Fox of Foxcraft Design Inc., noting the real reason is due to the short-lived nature of time that most people spend in one place while residing in the D.C. metro area.

Daniel Mattock of North Shore Design, LLC said the same of his own clients, but also that they are opting for the inexpensive changes such as double-panned, energy-saving windows.

“We’re actually going to be doing those in my parent’s home here very soon,” said Mattock.

However, Fox believes the benefits of going green are going to catch up soon.

“If you were going back to the homestead and knew you were going to be there for 30 years, then it would make sense for you to upgrade your heating system to the most efficient because it’s a longterm investment,” said Fox. “But in a transient market, the cost benefits don’t weigh out yet, but they’re going to. Utility costs are going to continue to increase.”

Page 23

Fox Design Group, Inc. For those who aren’t looking – or simply can’t afford – to drastically remodel, Fox said that changing the perception of a home’s interior space is the cheapest way to create a fresh feel. By focusing on minor details like lighting fixtures, paint schemes, cabinetry, countertops and hardware, renters and homeowners alike can turn drab into fab.

“And it’s not just perception – perception sounds like smoke and mirrors,” said Fox. “You’re getting better light, you’re getting better space and you’re getting more surface.”

Though most people are convinced they must remodel their home’s kitchen for it to be marketable in the future, Fox said that in most cases that all a kitchen needs is a little cosmetic spruce-up. He went on to note that homeowners won’t see a full monetary return if they spend the typical amount for a fully-remodeled kitchen.

“If you try to sell it the next day, you’re not going to get that money back, so my interior designer and I figured out that all you need to really do to resell is repaint the walls, perhaps even the cabinets, add more light and maybe even do a backsplash tile,” said Fox. Upgrading cabinetry hardware also makes a big difference, which Fox said can be done by homeowners themselves for around $100 for an entire kitchen. As far as getting the biggest bang for your buck, dimmer switches allow for dramatic lighting changes without a pricey commitment– introducing high levels of bright illumination for one room “which can be toned down when it’s too much,” according to Fox. The bathroom is another space where the dollar stretches.

Fox gave the example of the typical hotel bathroom, which somehow always ends up feeling a bit cozier than one’s loo back home.

“There are tricks that they’ve used; there’s lighting, bigger mirrors and countertops that extend to the toilet – or the shower curtain that curves outward to give you the perception of space. These have all been done on purpose,” said Fox. Not only are these intentional, but Fox said that they are easy changes to mimic in your own home.

For those with enough cash to take the plunge and remodel, Daniel Mattock of North Shore Design, LLC in Falls Church said that every client’s budget is adjusted throughout the process to ensure that their wallet can take the hit gracefully.

“We’re very upfront with people about their budget and what they can and can’t afford.

There’s nothing worse than starting a project and the client realizing halfway through that there’s not enough money to finish what they’ve started exactly how they had pictured it,” said Mattock.

When doing architectural design projects, North Shore typically walks its clients through three to four stages of drawings, throughout which repricings occur to see how the final changes affect the client’s budget. However, Mattock said he’s seen his fair share of customers who come in with dreams that are bigger than their current bank account.

“There are times like that and sometimes, we just have to say ‘Look, this won’t work,’” confessed Mattock.

Mattock said that while his clients have seemed slightly more concerned about budget in the last year, nearly 70 percent of customers walking through

THIS HOME AWAY FROM HOME serves as the office of designers working for Foxcraft Design Inc. on Great Falls Street in Falls Church. The house, built in the 1800s, was renovated to blend the old with the new. The crown molding and light fixtures were just a few of the accents added to complement the original front door. (Photo: News-Press) the door are still seeking multiroom remodels. Fox said the same of his own business, noting that his clients are very aware of their living situation and where their financial choke points are.

“There’s also been a tremendous boom in clients’ awareness of do-it-yourself home decorating because of the proliferation of not only cable and the internet, but all of these remodeling shows,” said Fox. “It’s good; it educates the consumer and sometimes they set realistic expectations and other times

they don’t [laughs].”

While shows like “Trading Spaces” and “While You Were Out” tend to inspire at-home viewers to take a hammer to those outdated cabinets, Mattock warns homeowners to realistically allocate their time for a project. He suggested asking knowledgeable friends over to lend a hand ... with some incentive, of course.

“Invite your buddy over who knows something about what he or she is doing and feed them pizza [laughs],” said Mattock.

“Make an event of it.”

THOUGH THE TWO KITCHENS ABOVE were both designed by North Shore Design, LLC in Falls Church, designer Daniel Mattock notes that the kitchen on the left cost the client about twice as much money as the owner of the kitchen on the right shelled out – just going to show that locals don’t have to break the bank in order to get quality results. “The younger couple who spent about half the amount saved primarily on the cabinetry. They went with a nice maple instead of a higherend cherry,” said Mattock. An attorney, the owner of the kitchen on the left, splurged on the flashier granite countertop, which cost him more than the couple’s more economical type of granite. (Photo: Courtesy Daniel Mattock)

November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 24

A Home Fit for a M C

ity of Falls Church Mayor Robin Gardner happily let the News-Press cameras invade her family’s home on Ellison Street. The Gardeners’ cats Junior and Toby were not as trusting, though they warmed up to the idea in the end.

Built back in 2004, the house sits on the same property of their original smaller home into which they moved back in 1996.

After letting this reporter snap photos – some of which were taken while standing atop one of the family’s kitchen chairs – Gardner and her husband, Michael, sat down for an interview to give an inside look into their day-to-day living routine.

News-Press: What’s your favorite room to relax in?

Robin Gardner: Just recently, it’s become our new downstairs which we just finished. But the place where I’m usually hanging out is right here in the kitchen – either on my computer, reading the newspaper or just enjoying watching the kids walk around.

Michael Gardner: I’m usually in the inglenook; I like to do a lot of reading in there. I can hear and see most everything in the house when I’m there, but I’m away from the … [laughs] … loved ones.

mom was ill – she’s no longer wi sitting here and having conversatio is where my memories are.

N-P: What part of the hous change?

Robin: I would change two thi between our kitchen and dining ro desk station where you could have mail station. We’re missing that o would be the cabinets – instead of doors, I would have done drawers. out of them and then I go to other p ing draw Mich of our p front wa other th every ro

N-P: Mich guy lov Rob at Chri but I h afraid are oth mixing stuff al for the and fin find co burden. ies and togethe big me but on much.

N-P: What’s your least favorite room to clean?

Michael: That’d be our neighbor’s. They make us go over there and clean their rooms all the time [laughs]. During election season, we just have to do what we have to do.

Robin: My daughter’s room – she clearly needs assistance and I’m sure other mothers experience THE GARDNER FAMILY: From left to right, a whirlwind daughter and that is Emma personified. She cannot enter is Michael Gardner, David Gardner, Falls a space without bringing herself and Church Mayor Robin Gardner and Emma everything that goes with her into Gardner. (Photo: News-Press) that space and then leaving it there.

N-P Michael: Mine’s actually my office. I feel like everything Michael? Are you a cook? that I work on or touch has some historic value so I hate Michael: [Laughs] No, not me. organizing it. Maybe I can put it all in plastic bins, put some Robin, but I did not marry Robin f Obama stickers on them and the museum can come pick them Robin: And that’s a good thing up.

Michael: We’re a busy family, cut is on the day-to-day meal pre N-P: What room or part of the house would you say has unfortunately are a lot about chick the most memories attached to it? food that they’ll eat that’s easy t Michael: For me, it’s our family room with the fireplace. to make sure and eat nice lunches My little brother was married there one Christmas Eve. It much about dinner. We sort of joke was sort of a last-minute wedding for him and it was great. shrink-wrap on the appliances.

Relatives flew in from all over and we turned the house into a Robin: Except the refrigerator! special place. Then, Governor Kaine was in that room in July Michael: Yes, to chill the beer when he was 18 points down. He stood next to the frog statue Robin: And I love my crock p and it was all up from there. pot, which I use at least once a we Robin: I’d say, on top of that room, our kitchen table because this is the gathering place when we have informal meals, or when the kids have their birthday parties. I remember hosting a tea party for Emma and her friends here and it’s kind of the heart of the house. When we built the house, my

November 20 - 26, 2008

Mayor

o longer with us – but I remember her conversations within the family, so this s are.

of the house do you wish you could

ange two things. There’s a butler pantry nd dining room. It should have been a u could have put a laptop or used it as a issing that on this first floor. The other – instead of the lower cabinets with the one drawers. It’s hard to get some things go to other people’s homes and I’m having drawer envy [laughs].

Michael: I would make some of our porches a bit deeper and the front walkway is kind of linear. But other than that, we use pretty much every room in the house.

t, ls ma

N-P: Kitchen: friend or foe?

Michael: Well, the Domino’s guy loves our kitchen [laughs].

Robin: It is a foe, except for at Christmas time. I love baking, but I hate cooking, and I’m not afraid to say it [laughs]. There are other people who just love mixing up big meals or doing stuff all day Sunday and freezing for the week, or coming home and finding it relaxing. I don’t find cooking relaxing; I find it a burden. But I like baking – cookies and cakes – and I like putting together Thanksgiving dinners or big meals for a group of people, but on an everyday basis? Not so much.

N-P: What about you, ook?

No, not me. Let me be clear here. I love arry Robin for her cooking. a good thing! busy family, and the big corner that we ay meal preparation. Our family meals about chicken nuggets for the kids and hat’s easy to prepare. So, I’ve learned nice lunches at work and not worry so e sort of joke that we could have left the pliances. refrigerator! hill the beer [laughs]. my crock pot. I’m all about the crock st once a week.

— By Natalie Bedell (Photos: News-Press)

Page 25

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November 20 - 26, 2008

As the economy continues to repair itself, many homeowners may find the do-ityourself spirit striking them.

According to local home-repair gurus – John Taylor, General Manager of Brown’s Hardware in Falls Church, Jesse Wertjes and Kevin Murphy, owner and General Manager of JW Home Improvement, and John Petersburg, owner of JP Handyman Services – here are the top 5 most common home improvement blunders.

1. Flushed Aspirations From understanding pipe connections to bursting water lines and the inevitable water damage, plumbing blunders seem to be the biggest stumbling block for homeowners.

“People get totally bewildered with plumbing problems,” said Taylor.

“The most common plumbing problem we get asked about is with drainage. For many problems, we recommend a local plumber that won’t take them for a ride,” Taylor said, emphasizing the importance of finding an experienced plumber.

The most common drainage problems involve disassembling pipes to clear pathways. The reconnecting process may not be as easy for homeowners as the disconnecting, often leaving them no choice by to call for professional help.

Taylor added that Brown’s Hardware feels it’s important to make recommendations of local, quality plumbers to customers.

2. ‘It’s Electric’ All of the interviewed contractors agreed that electrical work can’t be learned from a how-to book, warning to find a professional.

“When it comes to electrical work, usually people would like to live to see another day,” said Taylor.

Finding the grounding wire, avoiding crossing wires, wiring new appliances and steering clear of tripped breakers are always issues to approach with caution – especially when it’s not your forte.

The most common electrical mishaps are affiliated with wiring.

Murphy noted that many homeowners contact their company about wiring lights and outlets.

“Electrical work is a more high-tech thing that you need to

get just perfect,” said Taylor.

Electricians must be licensed, a certification that most homeowners lack.

3. Covering All Bases Whether it’s tile and grouting or pre-finished flooring, experience is key for covering the ground we walk on.

“One thing most people don’t know about wood flooring is that it moves,” said Wertjes.

“On one job, a guy had not left enough space between the boards. The floor bubbled and he ended up paying me $1,600 to just fix the flooring when I would have normally charged that much for the whole project.”

Petersburg suggested researching every flooring project to get a sense of what is needed before hand.

“Go to Home Depot and get a how-to book or search step-by-step videos on YouTube where they show you the whole project from beginning to end,” said Petersburg.

4. Not So Cut and Dry Drywall concerns are something handymen interviewees said they frequently receive calls about. It’s a job that most

HANDYMAN JOHN TAYLOR of Brown’s Hardware store, right, and his co-worker are experienced when it comes to addressing customers’ concerns about doing their own home improvements. (Photo: News-Press) homeowners are able to start but struggle to finish.

“People don’t know that you’re not supposed to be able to see where the drywall meets,” said Wertjes.

Contractors agreed that drywall involves a lot of techniques that an experienced hand may be able to produce better than a homeowner.

“It’s all about knowing how to use the materials,” said Murphy.

5. Painting Particulars Believe it or not, the last item on the list – painting – is something that handymen do not dis-

courage homeowners from trying, though they warn them to research the project first.

Painting is an ideal corner to cut in order to save money, but Murphy warns that “it’s messy and requires steps.”

According to Murphy, the four steps to remember are to use primer on whatever it is being painted, to sand the item or area down to achieve an even surface and follow-up by cleaning the surface thoroughly prior to adding the first coat.

“If you skip one, two and three you’re not going to get the quality you’re looking for,” said Murphy.

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While the Falls Church area has managed to escape the severity of the foreclosure crisis that plagues much of Northern Virginia today, the foreclosure market in the Greater Falls Church area still remains lucrative.

According to Ryan Davis, the Director of Real Estate Assessment for the City of Falls Church, the city has seen fewer than 20 foreclosures this calendar year, noting that the city lumps together in their calculations both foreclosures and short sales, or pre-foreclosed homes whose owners cannot afford mortgage payments.

To get a feel for that market in Falls Church and what prospective buyers should do to procure a foreclosed home, the News-Press spoke to realtors with the experience. Stacy Hennessey of Long and Foster Realty and Shaun Murphy of Remax Allegiance shared their knowledge of the area market, and the how-to and don’t-do’s when it comes to purchasing a foreclosed home.

A foreclosed home is a property whose owners can no longer sustain payments of their mortgage. When those owners go into default, the bank repossesses the house, transferring the deed to the bank’s name.

“The owners overpaid in 2005, 2006 for these big homes, and now prices have dropped, so they foreclosed,” says Hennessey, who represents buyers looking for homes, including many foreclosures across Fairfax County, where she says the markets are “inundated” with foreclosed homes.

“I’ve seen houses in the $150,000 – 200,000 range or less. That’s a big drop from $500,000 and up.”

As far as Falls Church properties go, with the city’s fairly stable housing market, Hennessey says she has yet to see many steep price drops, noting only one house she has seen below $400,000.

Page 27

For Murphy, the market is even busier, as he doubles his role as an agent for buyers and a listing agent for IndyMac Bank.

“There are a lot of foreclosed homes and a lot of buyers purchasing them,” he says. “Twothirds of the homes I’ve dealt with are bank-owned homes.”

Foreclosures may be a sign of hard times in the economy, but as Hennessey and Murphy can attest, it is “the best time to buy” a foreclosure.

Hennessey adds that the buyers market also translates to a renters opportunity, as well.

“Buy a home for a little, rent it out: that makes for a great investment,” she says.

Here are the basics to finding that bargain dream home: #1: Have the Patience Unlike its cousin, the normal house transaction, in which buyers might find and settle a home purchase within a month or two, the path to owning the deed to a foreclosed home is by comparison tangled and lengthy.

Above all, patience is key.

Hennessey cautioned, however, that while buyers should not “sit around and wait” to find the ideal home, they can only make one offer at a time.

“You can’t make more than one offer, so find the house that’s perfect for you and go with it,” Hennessey says. “Hope that they respond; nag them, get your loan approved and follow the selling bank’s contingencies without adding any of your own. The less hassle, the quicker the sale.”

#2: Secure Financing Prospective buyers should “make sure finances are all set up,” according to Murphy.

“You don’t want to go into a deal without finances.”

“Cash is king,” Hennessey says. “The banks love cash because there’s no risk involved.”

Otherwise, the buyer should

FORECLOSURES ARE ON THE RISE, predict real estate experts around Greater Falls Church.

The essentials for prospective home buyers are having patience and experienced real estate agents to get them through the lengthy process of purchasing a foreclosed home. (Photo: News-Press) shop around the lending banks and find the rates and terms that are best for them, says Murphy.

“You want to be pre-approved before you go shopping for a foreclosure.”

When banks are considering multiple offers, it becomes the bank’s decision to find “the highest and best offer,” Murphy says, pointing out that the best deal might not translate to the highest bid.

“Say there were two offers for one home: one is cash, $275,000 and ready to close, and the other is a loan, $280,000 and to be settled in a couple of months. The bank would more likely take the cash settlement.”

He adds that it also depends on the sort of loan, which might delay the process even more.

Murphy says that another source of buyer’s vexation comes from the post-signing, when the bank may take between 5 – 10 days to approve the contract, leaving the buyer in a tight spot with their mortgage lender.

In addition to outside lenders, Murphy says that banks might offer their own pre-approved loans to beat out competition with favorable interest rates. He advises buyers to “explore your options early because the rates

are constantly changing.”

#4: Settle Safely

#3: Examine the Deal In addition to the regular home-buying paperwork, foreclosures involve a special tedious contract between the buyers and the bank – a bank addendum, which stipulates the bank’s conditions for purchasing the house.

“The bank addendum doesn’t protect the buyer; it protects the bank,” Murphy explains. “Since it’s not really favorable to the buyer, you want to ensure that the house under the market price is worth the risk.”

The addendum reinforces the bank’s sale of the property “as is,” meaning even with a housing inspection, the buyer will be purchasing the house without any needed repairs.

In the bank addendum, banks will often give buyers an inspection period clause, Murphy says, that allows buyers a grace period of 7 – 10 days to back out of a contract if they find the house is in poor condition or that repairs would be cost-prohibitive.

“You want to make sure it’s a good investment and that the roof is not collapsing,” Hennessey says.

Before settling the contract, it’s imperative for buyers to protect themselves not only from damaged goods, but from potentially damaging liens left on a foreclosed property. Hennessey suggests that the buyer’s agent should clear only “clean titles” for consideration.

Even so, she and Murphy emphasize the need for title insurance. “It’s very important that you’re not stuck with liens on the house from previous owners,” says Murphy.

Liens might include old mortgages and loans taken out for the maintenance of the property, but were left unpaid by earlier tenants.

“You wouldn’t want to find this great deal out there, and find that there’s $300,000 still owed on it,” Hennessey says.

Besides liens, the next challenge for buyers will be to find a good settlement company, which will depend on the buyer’s agent and suggestions from the bank.

Choosing a competent, experienced buyer’s agent helps to insure against struggling with a difficult settlement company, they say.

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November 20 - 26, 2008

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We are pleged to the letter and spirit of Virginia’s policy for achieving equal housing opportunity throughout the Commonwealth. We encourage and support advertising and marketing programs in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap.

All real estate advertised herein is subject to Virginia’s fair housing law which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.”

This newspaper will not knowingly accept advertising for real estate that violates the fair housing law. Our readers are herby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For more information or to file a housing complaint call the Virginia Fair Housing Office at (804) 367-8530. Toll free call (888) 551-3247. For the hearing impaired call (804) 3679753.

Email: fairhousing@dpor.virginia.gov.

Web site: www.fairhousing.vipnet.org

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Page 30

November 20 - 26, 2008

22041 ADDRESS

22046 ADDRESS

LIST PRICE

CLOSE PRICE

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1111 Lincoln Ave 513 W Broad St #314 312 Sycamore St 7306 Pinewood St 7374 Lee Hwy #202 209 S Oak St 2814 Lee Oaks Pl #202 287 Gundry Dr 314 Sycamore St 407 Sherrow Ave 513 W Broad St #402 513 W Broad St #709 7306 Pinewood

$960,000 $499,900 $997,500 $450,000 $151,900 $669,000 $285,000 $499,000 $998,700 $499,500 $589,000 $652,250 $475,000

$937,000 $470,000 $987,500 $455,000 $147,500 $669,000 $278,000 $490,000 $995,000 $499,500 $553,900 $652,250 $455,000

Oct 24 Oct 27 Oct 17 Oct 31 Oct 17 Oct 7 Oct 30 Oct 30 Oct 28 Oct 31 Oct 15 Oct 31 Oct 31

$295,000 $250,000 $339,900 $524,500 $549,000 $390,000 $255,000 $469,900 $399,999 $275,500 $399,900 $449,900 $135,000 $327,000 $589,600 $274,900 $279,900 $290,000 $310,000 $410,000 $349,500 $229,900 $159,777 $320,000 $310,000 $475,000 $395,000 $450,000 $369,900 $499,900 $449,500 $325,000 $324,900 $284,900 $399,000 $440,000 $430,000 $499,900 $444,211 $324,900 $349,900 $289,900

$290,000 $235,000 $355,000 $515,000 $495,000 $390,000 $265,000 $455,000 $355,000 $260,000 $400,000 $449,900 $107,000 $327,000 $578,000 $259,500 $265,000 $290,000 $310,000 $400,000 $360,000 $225,000 $147,777 $305,000 $288,000 $449,000 $370,000 $475,000 $350,000 $475,000 $433,000 $317,000 $320,000 $275,000 $402,000 $427,500 $420,000 $485,000 $429,606 $321,000 $330,000 $315,000

Oct 24 Oct 20 Oct 24 Oct 30 Oct 31 Oct 31 Oct 2 Oct 13 Oct 31 Oct 3 Oct 9 Oct 31 Oct 28 Oct 17 Oct 10 Oct 30 Oct 17 Oct 20 Oct 30 Oct 22 Oct 30 Oct 22 Oct 27 Oct 24 Oct 10 Oct 3 Oct 30 Oct 29 Oct 24 Oct 31 Oct 21 Oct 24 Oct 28 Oct 17 Oct 24 Oct 21 Oct 15 Oct 24 Oct 20 Oct 29 Oct 21 Oct 17

22042 7023 Oak Ridge Rd 3297 Annandale Rd 7202 Normandy Ln 6348 Crooked Oak Ln 3023 Cedar Hill Rd 3215 Holly Berry Ct 3019 Greenway Blvd 3231 Holly Ct 2850 Brook Dr 7000 Oak Ridge Rd 3028 Fenwick Rd 2908 Harrison Rd 2856 Annandale Rd #306 2910 Brook Dr 6902 Jefferson Ave 3153N Anchorway Ct #N 7781 Willow Point Dr #7781 2837 Cameron Rd 7002 Chestnut Ave 3207 Korte Ct 7002 Hickory Hill Rd 7609 Lee Hwy #304 2907 Charing Cross Rd #16 3024 Kadala Pl 3150N Anchorway Ct #N 2812 Marshall St 7001 Jefferson Ave 6630 Costner Dr 7216 Roosevelt Ave 8141 Skelton Cir 3322 Elm Ter 3151 Covewood Ct #C 7422 Marc Dr 2911 Adams Pl 6924 Custis Pkwy 2840 Woodlawn Ave 7507 Chrisland Cv 2850 Monroe St 7430 Brad St 2839 Summrfield Rd 2753 Marshall St 3132 Dashiell Rd

LIST PRICE

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$147,000 $490,000 $255,000 $350,000 $310,000 $190,000 $218,000 $420,000 $235,000 $480,000 $330,000 $190,000 $160,000 $700,000 $475,000 $300,000 $1,050,000 $445,000 $380,000 $455,000 $222,000 $272,500 $255,000 $530,000 $117,800 $190,000 $405,000 $200,000 $230,000 $460,000 $315,000 $275,000

Oct 1 Oct 21 Oct 18 Oct 25 Oct 28 Oct 27 Oct 27 Oct 22 Oct 22 Oct 17 Oct 10 Oct 24 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 29 Oct 3 Oct 8 Oct 15 Oct 10 Oct 10 Oct 31 Oct 30 Oct 27 Oct 16 Oct 24 Oct 6 Oct 30 Oct 13 Oct 30 Oct 27 Oct 17 Oct 20

$1,275,000 $259,900 $269,900 $595,000 $405,000 $299,000 $479,000 $329,000 $359,900 $415,000 $585,900 $795,000 $424,987 $569,000 $875,000 $434,500 $674,900 $269,900 $475,900 $349,900 $284,900 $332,900 $479,000 $469,000 $789,900 $474,900 $124,900

$1,200,000 $259,900 $250,000 $548,000 $395,100 $308,000 $459,000 $305,000 $340,000 $415,000 $567,000 $758,000 $420,000 $559,000 $850,000 $425,000 $655,000 $260,000 $450,000 $325,000 $295,000 $330,000 $470,000 $442,000 $750,000 $455,000 $124,900

Oct 3 Oct 20 Oct 15 Oct 24 Oct 7 Oct 20 Oct 17 Oct 27 Oct 9 Oct 8 Oct 24 Oct 15 Oct 27 Oct 22 Oct 7 Oct 20 Oct 7 Oct 17 Oct 29 Oct 29 Oct 3 Oct 31 Oct 15 Oct 3 Oct 17 Oct 28 Oct 29

$1,045,000 $119,900 $629,500 $109,900 $549,000 $159,900 $589,900 $114,500 $499,990 $225,000 $449,000

$964,000 $105,000 $600,000 $95,000 $500,000 $164,800 $586,000 $117,500 $457,000 $226,000 $410,000

Oct 16 Oct 20 Oct 3 Oct 24 Oct 2 Oct 31 Oct 31 Oct 10 Oct 31 Oct 9 Oct 27

6139 Leesburg Pike $147,900 6352 Columbia Pike $595,900 5722 Magnolia Ln $274,995 3825 Larchwood Rd $379,900 3508 Tyler St $299,900 5505 Seminary Rd #407N $199,900 5573 Seminary Rd #403 $224,950 3352 Lakeside View Dr #5-6 $429,900 5565 Seminary Rd #205 $249,900 3526 Gordon St $524,900 3829 Birchwood Rd $324,900 3701 South George Mason Dr #1513N $199,900 3245 Rio Dr #401 $139,900 3316 Longwood Dr $699,000 3804 Sleepy Hollow Rd $455,000 5839 Lewis Ln $319,000 6406 Lakeview Rd $1,345,000 6505 Oakwood Dr $449,900 3317 Garland Dr $380,000 3303 Spring Ln $475,000 5505 Seminary Rd #2014N $225,000 5573 Seminary Rd #301 $284,500 3871 B Steppes Ct $259,900 3408 Nevius St $530,000 6143 Leesburg Pike #102 $117,800 3332 Spring Ln #C-12 $190.000 3902 Whispering Ln $429,900 5505 Seminary Rd #1417N $199,900 3701 South George Mason Dr #1317N $249,900 3810 Munson Rd $489,000 6360 Lakewood Rd $345,000 3201 Magnolia Ave $279,900

22043 2138 Hilltop Pl. 7568 Wood Mist Ln 7000 Falls Reach Dr. #208 6609 Rosecroft Pl. 7024C Falls Reach Dr #302 2230 George C Mashall Dr #1022 2018 Dexter Dr 1917 Griffith Rd 1936 Leonard Rd 7068 Falls Reach Dr #302 2004 Highboro Way 2682 Hillsman St 7336 Howard Ct 2209 Leeland Dr 7119 Gordons Rd 7517 Fisher Dr 6706 Beacon Ln 2230 George C Marshall Dr #627 1826 Peabody Dr 1935 Pimmit Dr 2230 George C Marshall Dr #928 7519 Magarity Rd 2059 Gervais Dr 1803 Pimmit Dr 7599 Holly Bush Way 6512 Roosevelt St 7614 Savannah St #14/103

22044 6501 Dearborn Dr 3101 South Manchester St #314 3041 Heather Ln 6001 Arlington Blvd #213 6102 Brook Dr 3101 Manchester St S #105 3108 Faber Dr 3100 Manchester St #412 6146 Vine Forest Ct 3111 Patrick Henry Dr #620 3035 Hazelton St

Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. Copyright © 2008 Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. For more information on MRIS, visit www.mris.com.

November 20 - 26, 2008

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tact Chris Wadle at cjwadle@ aol.com or Laura Warren at meadowmac@aol.com.

Marshall Model UN Travel to Montreal Oakcrest School Presents Madeline’s Christmas Oakcrest Middle School is showcasing “Madeline’s Christmas,” a musical based on the book by Ludwig Bemelmans.

“Madeline’s Christmas” is directed by Brittney Sweeney, with musical direction by Anne Miller and choreography by Kathryn Kelly. Tickets for Friday and Saturday night are $10 for adults and $5 for students; the Saturday matinee is $5 per person and $20 per family, with a post-show talk with the cast and crew. The play will be at Oakcrest Middle School (850 Balls Hill Road, McLean) in the G. Lloyd Bunting Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 22. For more information, call 703-7905450 or visit www.oakcrest.org.

Superintendent Proposes Plan of Budget Cuts In separate presentations to the Fairfax County School

Board and Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Jack D. Dale has proposed a threetiered plan of budget cuts to enable the school system to address a budget shortfall for Fiscal Year 2010. For more information, visit www.fcps. edu/news/fy2010.htm.

IB Students Prepare for Group 4 Project International Baccalaureate (IB) Science students at George C. Marshall High School are preparing for the IB Group 4 Project. The project is designed to have students work in cooperative, inter-disciplinary groups to solve a global problem. In all, 234 Marshall students are involved in one of the largest Group 4 Projects in the world. The problem the students have been tasked with solving is a population change issue as it relates to a country.

Students wereB:5.7” divided into 20 groups of 12-13 students. Each T:5.7” group was randomly assigned S:5.7”

a country. They are to investigate an issue that is affected by that countries changing population. Project results will be presented Dec. 8 at Marshall High School for parents, administration and the public. For more information, email Kanwaljit Sachdeva at Kanwaljit.Sachdeva@fcps. edu.

McLean Crew Leaf Raking Fundraiser The fall leaf raking, the first of the three major fundraisers run by the Crew Club, will be from Nov. 22 – 23. Rower participation is mandatory. Family members are also encouraged to participate, since these fundraisers are vitally important in order to hold down the cost of club dues, to fund equipment purchases and maintenance.

Last year, the club was able to raise over $4,500 through this event. Ten points can be earned for each volunteer hour contributed. For more information on this fundraiser, con-

Eight members of the George C. Marshall High School Model United Nations Club traveled to Montreal, Canada, earlier this month for the Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium (SSUNS) and returned gaining three major awards.

The McGill University’s International Relations Students’ Association hosted and attracted 1,100 students from 53 high schools in the Americas, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago. Marshall was the only school attending from Virginia.

Marshall senior Samantha Plotner also received an award, the Lester B. Pearson

Award for Peacekeeping, for her representation of presidential advisor Clark B. Clifford in President Lyndon Johnson’s National Security Council.

Senior Jessica Levine won the Pearson Award for Peacekeeping representing the Republic of Georgia in the World Health Organization.

Marshall sophomore Olivia Baskerville won the Nellie McClung Award for Advocacy representing the Minister of Immigration in the conference’s French-speaking simulation of the Quebec Cabinet.

Also competing for Marshall in Montreal, were seniors Alex Blomme, Lauren Hahm, Emily Moonan, Matthew Martz and junior Hannah Goldberger. For more information on the competition, email Kanwaljit Sachdeva at Kanwaljit.Sachdeva@fcps. edu.

‘O ROMEO, O ROMEO’: McLean High School presents their upcoming production, Romeo and Juliet, at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 20 – 22. Staged in the late 19th century Impressionist period in Paris, McLean’s cast aims to put a fresh twist on the famous Shakespearean drama. Senior Michael Robinson and junior Vanessa Bretas play the titular characters, with a supporting cast and crew of nearly forty McLean students. Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults at the door. Contact Denise Perrino for presale ticket information at denise.perrino@fcps. edu. (Photo: Courtesy Julia Katz)

Holiday Pricing Special at Sunrise of Falls Church T:7”

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BELVEDERE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS completed a candy drive for U.S. troops serving abroad, collecting over 225 pounds of candy. Collected candy was donated to Neighbors International Foundation, based in Great Falls, which will ship the candy to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The project was sponsored by the PTA and the Student Council Government. (Photo: Courtesy Jenna Caudillo)

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ent Sunrise Senior Living-falls church # 934 — 08 — e holiday pricing te Issued 11/4/2008 Date Due ed None Trim tter None Folds @

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6174_AL_A_2010_Winter_Open_House.indd Modified 11-4-2008 1:23 PM JG AD None Fonts & Graphics None Design None Goudy (Bold, Old Style, Oldstyle Italic; Type 1), Avenir (85 Heavy, 45 Book, 65 Medium; Type 1), Times (Regular; True Type) None Studio JB AL_A_2010.eps (Gray; 228 ppi; 131.95%; 1.3MB), SAL_logo_bw.eps None Scale 100% (538KB), EHOlogoblk-small.eps (319KB), Wheelchair.eps (290KB) None None

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November 20 - 26, 2008

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Dean Brundage’s Equestrian Enterprises a small stable in nearby Great Falls, Virginia noted for its excellent horses, has openings in its

‘Refresher Course for Adults’.

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“HILARIOUS!“ ‘Bolt’ is the perfect holiday movie.”

Pete Hammond, HOLLYWOOD.COM

If you’re a vampire, it’s all about you. Why is Edward Cullen obsessed to the point of erotomania by Bella Swan?

Because she smells so yummy, but he doesn’t want to kill her.

Here’s what he tells her: He must not be around her. He might sink his fangs in just a little and not be able to stop.

She finds this overwhelmingly attractive. She tells him he is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. I don’t remember Edward ever saying that to her.

Maybe once. He keeps on saying they should stay far, far apart because he craves her so much.

Should a woman fall in love with a man because he desires her so much? Men seem to think so. It’s not about the woman; it’s about the man’s desire. We all know there is no such thing as a vampire. Come on now, what is “Twilight” really about?

It’s about a teenage boy trying to practice abstinence, and how, in the heat of the moment, it’s really, really hard. And about a girl who wants to go all the way with him and doesn’t care what might happen. He’s so beauti-

ful she would do anything for him. She is the embodiment of the sentiment, “I’d die for you.”

She is, like many adolescents, a thanatophile.

If there were no vampires in “Twilight,” it would be a thinblooded teenage romance, about two good-looking kids who want each other so much because they want each other so much.

Sometimes that’s all it’s about, isn’t it? They’re in love with BEING in love. In “Twilight,” however, they have a seductive disagreement about whether he should kill her. She’s like, I don’t especially want to die, but if that’s what it takes, count me in. She is touched by his devotion. Think what a sacrifice he is making on her behalf. On prom

night, on the stage of the not especially private gazebo in the public gardens, he teeters right on the brink of a fang job, and then brings all of her trembling to a dead standstill.

The movie is lush and beautiful, and the actors are wellchosen. You may recall Robert Pattinson (Edward) as Cedric Diggory, who on Voldemort’s orders was murdered in a graveyard in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” Maybe he was already a vampire. Pattinson is not unaware of how handsome he is. When Bella and Edward, still strangers, exchange stern and burning looks in the school cafeteria, he transfixes her with a dark and glowering -- nay, penetrating -- stare. I checked Pattinson out on Google Images and found he almost always glowers at the camera ‘neath shadowed brow. Kristen Stewart’s Bella, on the other hand, is a fresh-faced innocent who is totally undefended against his voltage.

Bella has left her mom and stepdad in hot Arizona, clutching a potted cactus, to come live in the clammy, rainy Pacific Northwest, home of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Her dad (Billy Burke) is the chief of police of the very small town of Forks, Wash. (pop. 3,120).

His greatest asset: “He doesn’t hover.” At high school, she quickly notices the preternatu-

disney.com/bolt Text BOLT to DISNEY (347639) Data rates may apply

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For Theatres and Showtimes: Check local listings or Text BOLT with your ZIP CODE to 43KIX (43549) SORRY, NO PASSES or Visit Disney.com/BOLT VISIT GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF “BOLT” WITH DISNEY’S MOVIE SURFERS ON DISNEY CHANNEL.

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November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 35

cession into dirgeland, and in fact, director Arnaud Desplechin sometimes works with a wink. Rating: Three and a half stars.

H

Mini Movie Reviews

A

CHRISTMAS TALE (Drama, not rated, 151 minutes).

Catherine Deneuve stars as a woman dying of liver cancer and

considering a bone marrow transplant which could also kill her. At Christmas there’s a reunion with her large family, including some who are possible donors. Her serenity prevents the film from being a pro-

ANCOCK (Action, PG-13, 92 m., 2008). Will Smith plays a Skid Row drunk with super powers and a super hangover, Jason Bateman is the PR man who wants to give him a new image, and Charlize Theron is the PR man’s wife, who starts looking at Hancock oddly the moment she sets eyes on him. And no wonder, as we discover the origins of this most confused of superheroes, who may save a man from being hit by a train, but ends up causing a train wreck. Sounds like slapstick comedy, but has an unexpected serious turn. Rating: Three stars.

F

rally pale Cullen clan, who in some shots seem to be wearing as much Max Factor Pancake White as Harry Langdon.

Edward is 114 years old. He must be really tired of taking biology class. Darwin came in during his watch, and proved vampires can’t exist.

There are other strange youths around, including American Indians who appear not too distantly descended from their tribe’s ancestors, wolves. Great tension between the wolves and vampires. Also some rival vampires around.

How small is this town? The Forks high school is so big, it must serve a consolidated district serving the whole table setting. The main local Normal Kid is a nice, sandy-haired boy who asks Bella to the prom.

He’s out of his depth here, unless he can transmogrify into a grizzly. Also there are four gray-bearded coots at the next table in the local diner, who eavesdrop and exchange significant glances and get big, significant close-ups, but are still just sitting significantly nodding, for all I know.

Edward has the ability to move as swiftly as Superman.

Like him he can stop a runaway pickup with one arm.

He rescues Bella twice that I remember, maybe because he truly loves her, maybe because he’s saving her for later. She has questions. “How did you appear out of nowhere and stop that truck?” Well might she ask.

When he finally explains that he is a vampire, he goes up from 8 to 10 on her Erotometer.

Why do girls always prefer the distant, aloof, handsome, dangerous dudes instead of cheerful

chaps like me?

“Twilight” will mesmerize its target audience, 16-year-old girls and their grandmothers.

Their mothers know all too much about boys like this. I saw it at a sneak preview. Last time I saw a movie in that same theater, the audience welcomed it as an opportunity to catch up on gossip, texting and laughing at private jokes. This time the audience was rapt with attention. Sometimes a soft chuckle, as when the principal Indian boy has well-developed incisors. Sometimes a soft sigh.

Afterward, I eavesdropped on some conversations. A few were saying, “He’s so hot!” More floated in a sweet dreaminess.

Edward seemed to stir their surrender instincts.

The movie, based on the Stephenie Meyer novel, was directed by Catherine Hardwicke. She uses her great discovery, Nikki Reed, in the role of the beautiful Rosalie Hale. Reed wrote Hardwicke’s “Thirteen” (2003) when she was only 14. That was a movie that knew a lot more about teenage girls. The girl played by Reed in that movie would make mincemeat of Edward. But I understand who “Twilight” appeals to, and it sure will.

Note: Now playing around the country is the much better and more realistic teenage vampire movie “Let the Right One In,” a Swedish import scheduled to be “Twilighted” by Hollywood. In this one, the vampire girl protects the boy and would never dream of killing him. That’s your difference right there between girls and boys. Warning: This is very R-rated.

RED CLAUS (Comedy, PG, 114 m., 2007). Vince Vaughn plays Santa’s older brother in a case of sibling rivalry. When he hits up Santa (Paul Giamatti) for a $50,000 loan to finance an off-track betting parlor, he walks into a crisis at the North Pole, and is just in time to save the day. With Rachel Weisz as Fred’s meter-maid girlfriend, Kevin Spacey as a mean accountant, and Ludacris as the elves’ favorite deejay. Oh, and Miranda Richardson as Santa’s wife. Rating: Two stars.

S NOW PLAYING

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT

WWOR-TV PAT COLLINS

GENE SHALIT

IT’S TIME FOR A GOOD TIME!”

“

NOW PLAYING

PACE CHIMPS (Animated adventure, G, 80 m., 2008) is a goofy animated space opera that sends three U.S. chimpanzee astronauts rocketing to a galaxy, as they say, far, far away.

There they encounter strange life forms and the evil Zartog, who has captured an earlier space probe.

Not in the same science fiction league as “Wall-E,” but successful, with lots of whiz-bang action and some witty dialogue. Rating: Three stars.

W

ALL-E (Animated comedy, G, 98 m., 2008). The animated story of the last surviving solar-powered robot, in a world so filled with garbage that humans have escaped into orbiting spaceships. Directed by Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed “Finding Nemo,” it shares that film’s ability to appeal to the whole family, in a story that’s original, ingenious and touching. Rating: Three and a half stars.

T

ROPIC THUNDER (Comedy, R, 106 m., 2008). A troupe of actors, thinking they’re making a Vietnam War movie, gets lost in the jungle and is captured by druglords who think the actors are narcs. Very funny, with a terrific performance by Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian actor who seems to think he is black. Directed by Ben Stiller, who stars along with Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride and Brandon T. Jackson. Rating: Three and a half stars.

T IMAX® AMC

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HE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 (Drama, PG-13, 117 m., 2008). Everything “Sex and the City” wanted to be. It follows the lives of four women, their career adventures, their romantic disasters and triumphs, their joys and

Continued on Page 36

Page 36

November 20 - 26, 2008

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sadness. These women are all in their early 20s, which means they’re learning life’s lessons; “SATC” is about forgetting them. Lots of warmth and heart, romantic cliches, seductive locations. With America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively and Amber Tamblyn. Rating: Three stars.

K

UNG FU PANDA (Animated adventure, PG, 91 m., 2008).

A fat, fuzzy panda competes to become the Dragon Master and face the archenemy of the Valley of

Peace, in a cute but not compelling animated adventure. The characters are one-dimensional, except for the wise old master voiced by Dustin Hoffman. Entertaining for younger audiences. Rating: Three stars.

title role, and del Toro’s imagination provides a new array of fantastical creatures, and a Troll Market that reminded me of the saloon on Tatooine. Rating: Three and a half stars.

H

ELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (Fantasy action, PG13, 120 m., 2008). Imagine the forges of hell crossed with the extraterrestrial saloon on Tatooine and you have a notion of Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.” In every way the equal of his original “Hellboy” (2004), although perhaps a little noisier, it’s another celebration of his love for bizarre fantasy and diabolical machines.

Ron Perlman is strong again in the

Buyers are doing well in this real estate market! www.buyandsellwithbethany.com Bethany Ellis- Long and Foster Buyer Representative and Realtor® 703-307-7003 preferred 703-534-9660 office

Christmas…it’s all here!

PENNSYLVANIA CHRISTMAS and GIFT SHOW Dec. 3 thru Dec. 7 • Harrisburg, PA

25th Annual

DON’T MISS THIS BIG HOLIDAY EVENT • HUGE GIFT SELECTION (750 VENDOR BOOTHS) • SANTA, MUPPET SHOW, TRAINS, STAGE SHOWS • FREE ENTERTAINMENT • 600-SEAT CAFETERIA AND FIVE SNACK BARS

Opens Wed., Dec. 3, 2008 at: Pa. Farm Show Complex 2301 North Cameron Street Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

(2 Blocks South of Exit 67A on I-81)

Telephone: 717-233-5100 DATES: Wednesday, December 3 to Sunday, December 7, 2008

FARM SHOW

SHOW HOURS: 10 am to 8 pm – Wednesday, Thursday & Friday 9 am to 8 pm – Saturday 10 am to 5 pm – Sunday

www.pachristmasshow.com

ADMISSION: $6.00 General Admission $4.00 Senior Citizens (over 62) $3.00 After 4 pm for Everyone (no discounts after 4 pm) Children under 12 FREE with parent

*

NEW AT EDEN CENTER!

CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT Saturday, November 22, 2008 3:00-5:00pm BALLOON SCULPTOR Saturday, November 29, 2008 3:00-5:00pm FACE PAINTING

Try the famous taste of HoneyBaked Ham on Sample Saturday, November 22nd.

*

Visit us all season long

Rain or shine Bring the entire family, and stay for dinner at one of Eden Center’s fine restaurants!

November

10-22

Win Nutcracker tickets. A holiday tradition for your family.

22

*

Sample Saturday.

Taste everything in the store.

HONEYBAKEDFORYOU.COM

December

25

Free Side Dish to our first 20 Half Ham buyers.

1-7

Holiday recipes demonstration.

Meet Carson from Mix 107.3–FM.

9 -12

Acts of subway kindness. Free ham giveaway to random riders.

20

Sample Saturday.

Taste everything in the store.

22

Store Party.

Fun. Prizes.

Washington, D.C. Area Locations | Call for store hours | www.HoneyBakedForYou.com Reston (703) 733-3860 Fairfax (703) 764-3200 Falls Church (703) 556-4455 Alexandria (703) 922-7200 Chevy Chase (301) 657-1900 Silver Spring (301) 598-3600 Forestville (301) 735-2595 At Participating Stores only.

15608-4 washington suburban samp1 1

11/13/08 10:38:12 AM

Page 38

November 20 - 26, 2008

Anthony’s Restaurant 309 W. Broad St., Falls Church • 703-532-0100 • Type of Food: Greek, American & Italian Cuisine • Features: Breakfast (Sat. & Sun. Only) • Hours: Mon. - Thur. -10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m. -12 a.m., Sat. 8 a.m. - 12 a.m., Sun. 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Argia’s Restaurant 124 N. Washington St., Falls Church • 703-5341033 • www.argias.com • Type of Food: Italian • Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants, Zagat Rated, Full Bar, No Reservations • Hours: Lunch: Mon. - Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Dinner: Mon. - Thur. 5 - 9:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 5 - 10:30 p.m., Sun. 5 - 9 p.m.

Bear Rock Cafe 2200 Westmoreland St. (Westlee Condominium Building), Arlington • 703-532-0031; Catering: 703-532-0118 • Type of Food: American • Features: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Kids' Menu, Alcoholic Beverages; Catering, Free Indoor Parking • Hours: Mon. - Sat. 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Bubba’s BBQ & Catering 7810-F Lee Hwy, Falls Church • 703-560-8570 • Type of Food: American/Family, Salads w/ Meat & Ribs • Features: Best BBQ East of Mississippi • Hours: Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Dogfish Head Alehouse 6363 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church • www. dogfishalehouse.com • 703-534-3342 • Woodgrilled food, speciality ales • Hours: Mon. - Wed. 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m., Thu. - Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Harvest Moon Restaurant and Lounge 7260 Arlington Blvd. (Graham Center across from Loehmann’s Plaza), Falls Church • 703573-6000 • www.theharvestmoonrestaurant. com • Type of Food: Chinese • Features: Lunch / dinner buffets, banquet facilities up to 700 people • Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily.

Hoang’s Grill and Sushi Bar 502 W. Broad St., Falls Church • 703-536-7777 • Type of Food: Pan-Asian • Features: Single and Mingle Thursday Nights. • Hours: Mon. - Thur. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. - Sat. 11 a.m.

- 10:30 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Hunan Lion 2070 Chain Bridge Road, next to J. Koons Buick Pontiac, Tysons Corner, Vienna, Va. • 703-7349828 • www.hunanlion.com • Zagat Rated Best Peking Duck in Town, Top 100 Asian Fusion Restaurants in USA • Type of Food: Chinese • Featuring: Banquet Facilities, Catering, Carryout • Hours: Mon. - Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Ireland’s Four Provinces 105W.BroadSt.,FallsChurch•www.4psfallschurch. com • 703-534-8999 • Type of Food: Irish • Features: Full Bar, Live Entertainment, Sunday Brunch • Hours: 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. daily.

Ledo Pizza Restaurant & Pub 7510 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church • 703-8475336 • Type of Food: Pizza & Pasta, American/ Family • Features: Full Bar, Wine Menu, 5 TV’sSports • Hours: Mon. - Thur. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Sun. 12 - 10 p.m.

Narita Sushi & Rice Bowl 8417 Old Courthouse Road (accross from Residence Inn), Vienna • 703-893-2008 • Type of Food: Sushi • Features: Lunch & Dinner Box specials • Hours: Mon.–Thur. 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 4 - 10 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 4 - 10:30 p.m., Sat. noon - 10:30 p.m., Sun. noon - 9:30 p.m.

The Original Pancake House 370 West Broad St., Falls Church • 703-891-0148 • www.originalpancakehouse.com • Type of Food: American/Family • Features: Breakfast, Weekday Specials - Breakfast & Lunch • Hours: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily.

Panjshir 924 W. Broad St., Falls Church • 703-536-4566 • Features: Authentic Afghan Cuisine • Hours: Lunch 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Dinner, 5 - 10 p.m.

Pilin 116 W. Broad St., Falls Church • www.pilinthairestaurant.com • 703-241-5850 • Features: Authentic Thai Cuisine • Hours: Mon. - Thurs., 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., 5 - 10 p.m., Fri. - Sat., 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., 5 - 11 p.m., Sun. 5 - 9 p.m.

Sea Pearl Restaurant 116 W. Broad St., Falls Church • www.seapearlrestaurant.com • 703-372-5161 • Types of Food: Contemporary American Cuisine • Features: Daily Happy Hour, Late Night Menu, Banquet Room • Hours: Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m.

- 11 p.m., Thur. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Sign of the Whale 7279 Arlington Blvd. (Loehmann’s Plaza), Falls Church • 703-573-1616 • Type of Food: American • Features: Seafood Night and Steak Night • Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 2 a.m., 7 days a week.

Sweet Rice Thai Restaurant 1113 W. Broad St. (next to Don Beyer Volvo), Falls Church • 703-241-8582 • Type of Food: Thai Cuisine • Features: Free delivery ($15 min., limited area) • Hours: Mon. - Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Dinner: 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri. 11:30 am - 11 p.m.; Sat. Noon - 11 p.m.; Sun. Noon - 10 p.m.

Velocity Five 8111 Lee Hwy. (Merrifield Plaza, Lee Hwy. and Gallows Rd.), Falls Church • www.velocityfiverestaurant.com • 703-207-9464 • Type of Food: American Grille • Features: 50 HD TVs, Private Banquet Rooms, DJ after 9:30 p.m. • Hours: Sun. - Mon. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.

Page 40

TEQUILA, Mexico – Deep below the public areas of the LaRojena distillery that produces the numerous expressions of Jose Cuervo tequila lies family history.

Here, in a stone cellar few get to see, urns of Reserva de la Familia tequila sit undisturbed, some behind bars and stone pillars and arches since as far back as 1890.

Thick layers of white dust coat many of the containers, some of which are unadorned glass, others that have been wrapped in basket-like coverings made from agave leaves to protect against breakage. They sit in marked contrast to their newer cousins, contained outside the barred area in pristine American oak casks that have been cellared in more recent years.

This is the pride and joy of Jose Cuervo, now in its 250th year of existence, still family owned, owd the world’s largest producer of Hearst Newspapers tequila, from the inexpensive but popular expressions such as Cuervo Gold to the treasured anejo tequilas that make up the Reserva, the top of the line.

I had the opportunity last week for a private tour and tasting with several fellow journalists in the cellar, hosted by Juan-Domingo Beckmann, the 40-year-old heir apparent to the Cuervo empire when the transition of responsibility from his father, Don Juan Beckmann, is completed next year.

The younger Beckmann, an informal, affable sort who is a sixth-generation tequila maker, makes no bones about the fact tequila isn’t the only spirit he enjoys.

“I’m a Scotch drinker,” he said, “plus, of course, my tequilas. The profile of the Reserve de la Familia is similar to that of a fine single malt or even a cognac. That’s why we recommend it as an after-dinner drink. An anejo tequila on the rocks or with a little splash of water gives me the same expression as many Scotch whiskies. It’s all depends on the occasion.

“But, when you serve it is really a matter of taste, just as is your selection of what sort of tequila you like. Some people swear by the blanco, others the reposado or an anejo and won’t drink any other kind.”

What is Beckmann’s attraction to the Reserva de la Familia?

“With this anejo, because it is finished in oak barrels, you can have the elements of both the agave and the wood notes usually found in whiskies,” he said.

Before the cellar visit we had a tasting of three other Cuervo tequilas: the Platino (a blanco), the Tradicional (a reposado), and the Jose Cuervo Black (an anejo). The first two are 100 percent blue agave products, the third made with a touch of sugar cane.

Cuervo also makes the Maestro, 1800 and Centenario brand tequilas as well as Matusalem rums. Under the younger Beckmann, Maestro is attempting to usher in a new tequila category – diamond vodka – to go with the traditional styles.

It’s Maestro Dobel Diamond Tequila was released in August to select American markets.

While Cuervo’s 250th anniversary boxed tequila set won’t be on the market in the U.S. until 2009, the special tequila already has been taken from the barrel, thus meeting the 250-year marker.

It commemorates the issuing in 1758 of a land grant to Don Jose Cuervo by King Carlos IV of Spain, allowing him to plant and harvest blue agave lilies for the production of tequila. Thus, the birth of an industry.

Each year, Cuervo commissions a different Mexican artist to create its special tequila bottle boxes as well as various posters and other original art. The 2009 collection is the work of Marco Arce, who has a gallery showing at LaRojena that now is open to visitors.

Much of Arce’s work is in the form of multiple-panel works grouped in triptychs, quartets, polyptychs and an occasional diptych. One of his most ambitious is called “The Tiger Series,” composed of hundreds of small, hand-painted watercolors, framed in sets of four. One portion, “Tigre deCaminante,” for example, is made up of 225 paintings over five panels.

Tigers are a recurring theme in Arce’s work. NY Arts magazine said of this aspect of his varied works: “Arce has created a highly surreal habitat that magically transports us, sometimes playfully, sometimes a bit menacingly, from circus to zoo to jungle. One could say that the artist also answers William Blake’s time-honored question, ‘Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night. What Immortal hand of eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ Why Marco Arce, of course.”

November 20 - 26, 2008

I like to peruse the Full Contact Poker online forums to read and comment on posts about interesting poker hands and whether they were played properly. I find that many of the contributors consistently suffer from the same problem: they are far too preoccupied with statistically insignificant aspects of a poker hand.

My point is that the minor details of many poker hands are often unimportant and simply not worthy of in-depth analysis.

Worrying about these insignificant details won’t have much effect on your bankroll at the end of the year.

You see, the best way to improve your poker game is to focus on the important aspects of the game, like eliminating big mistakes. Instead, I see too many players fretting about whether they are a 56.2 percent favorite or a 51.8 percent favorite.

Obsessing about statistics won’t make you a better poker player. In fact, you’ll end up wasting too much valuable time on that stuff when you should be concentrating on crucial issues, like getting a read on your opponents and studying the psychological aspects of the game.

If you want to plug leaks in your game, plug the biggest leaks first. Here’s how to get the job done.

Don’t call a big all-in bet on a whim. Unless you have a powerful hand, or you have some reason to suggest that you know your opponent is bluffing, there’s no reason to make what’s known as a hero call.

Any call that jeopardizes a big chunk of your chip stack just because you think your opponent might be on a bluff is flatout wrong.

Don’t bluff off all of your chips. This is a common mistake made by impatient players.

Sure, you might get away with a big bluff once in a while but when you do get caught – and eventually you will – it could mean the end.

Protect your hand when you’re confident you’re in the lead. Don’t be greedy and try to milk your opponent for a few more chips when the pot is already large. The turn of a single card can change the lead fast. Toss out a big bet rather than let your opponents beat you for free.

When making a bet or call that represents, say, five percent of your chip stack, you just don’t need to worry about whether it’s the correct play.

For example, I see many

players with average skills waste too much mental energy deliberating whether to play K-J from early position. That intellectual power is better spent focusing on the other players at the table.

Here’s the bottom line: A decision to fold, call, or raise with K-J from early position won’t have a significant effect on your long term results. It doesn’t matter if your play was inappropriate. If it was, you committed a marginal error at worst.

Okay, so how should you play K-J from early position?

Arguments can be made in favor of all three options.

If the other players at the table are super-aggressive, raising when you call a bet or reraising when you raise, the correct play is to fold. If the other players

are excessively tight, the correct play is to raise. And if the table is filled with bad players who won’t fold to a raise and tend to make big mistakes after the flop, the correct play is to call.

Look, in poker as in life, don’t sweat the small stuff.

Instead, focus your mental energy on those more important factors that will definitely affect your bottom line.  Visit www.cardsharkmedia. com/book.html for information about Daniel Negreanu’s newest book, More Hold’em Wisdom for All Players. © 2008 Card Shark Media. All rights reserved.

November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 41

Level: 1 3

2 4

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

11/23/08

© 2008 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

1. Assess 5. Priest of the East 9. Goldman ____ 14. Dressed 15. One logged in 16. Out of shape 17. Wind 19. Pooh’s creator 20. Learn about 22. “Here it is!”

23. Speechify 27. “Tiger Rag” pianist 29. Rink confrontation 32. “Steady as ____ goes” 33. Kunis of “That ‘70s Show” 34. Wax producer 36. Chopin works 41. Sex appeal 44. “Page Six” newspaper, for short 45. Pay-____-view 46. Actor Jacques 47. Part of TGIF 49. Acetaminophen is its active ingredient 51. Site of a small school, perhaps 56. Rub out 57. Best Actress of 1997 58. Sunday songs 61. “I Should’ve Known” singer Mann 63. City in which to get a tour of the original 1867 Heineken Brewery 68. Substitute players 69. Indian bread 70. Bell sound 71. ____ voce 72. Former Concorde fleet 73. Part of a molecule (or an apt description of 17-, 27-, 41-, 51- and 63-Across)

Down 1. Color TV pioneer 2. His last professional fight was 1981’s “Drama in the Bahamas” 3. Paving material 4. Bradley and Begley 5. Tackle box item 6. On the briny 7. Anne of “Awakenings” 8. Protects with heavy metal 9. Dim ____ 10. Baker who’s a singer

1

2

3

4

5

14

6

7

8

15

17

24

25

21 27 30

33

31

34

41

35

48

54

36

37

49

40

65

66

67

50

58 62

56 59

60

63

64

68

69

70

71

72

73

Across

11. B’s equivalent

1.

12.Assess Gandhi, for one

5. of the 13.Priest Cook, as East broccoli

18.Goldman Red Sox general man9. ____

ager Epstein 21. Confed. stronghold cap15. One logged in tured in 1862 16. of shape 23.Out Darwin’s “The Descent ____” 17.

Wind 24.Pooh's Like much 19. creatorSeattle weather 20. Learn about 25. At ____ (without stopping) 22. it is!"

26."Here Pedro’s “I love you” 23.

28.Speechify Head of Paris?

30."Tiger Feature of pianist a certain pen 27.

Rag" 31.

Relatives: Abbr.

29. Rink confrontation 35. Knock 32. "Steady as ____ goes" 37. Say 33. of "That '70s Show" 38.Kunis William and Harry’s mum 34. producer 39.Wax These, in Tijuana 14. Dressed

39

46

55

57 61

38

28

43

47 53

13

22

45

52

12

32

42

44

51

11

19

26

29

10

16

18 20

23

9

© 2008 David Levinson Wilk

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk

ACROSS

40. It’s good to crack one 42. Saudi Arabia province 43. “____ it?”

48. Sontag and Sarandon 50. Suffix with Congo 51. “____ Wife” (2001 bestseller based on a Herman Melville novel) 52. Capital in the Andes 53. Like some goals 54. Really annoyed 55. Half of a ‘60s group 59. Some coll. seniors take it 60. The Adirondacks, e.g.: Abbr.

62. Comic Philips 64. Vitamin label amt.

65. Period 66. “Can I take that as ____?”

67. ____ Grand Casino

Last Thursday’s Puzzle Solved 36. Chopin works M E N S A P D A R O A E R O I V A M A S S P E A P I N K I L L E R S Q M I S P O R N I L S A G E O F L D R I P S H E L L F I P E N A L T R E S E A S G O O D G A S O A K C R I B F E E H I T O D O N H O M Y S T A R S L O C O P A A S E A T S E R B G I W A N N A S W I N G S T A T E N O P A V E M E I E L I S D E S T E N A L T E

S E A N N D T O A W F E E D U N D A T E D

T A S T E R S

© 2008 N. F. Benton

Page 42

November 20 - 26, 2008

Yard Sales GARAGE SALE - Nov 22 & 23. Noon to 4pm. Furniture, glassware & household goods. 2300 North Quantico St (off lee highway - Arlington)

For Sale BUILDING LOT FOR SALE Heart of Falls Church City Residential, Level, 8150 Sq. Ft Great Schools, Metro, W.O.&D Trail

HOUSE FOR RENT Cape Cod, three bedrooms, 2 baths, hardwood floors, a/c, fireplace, laundry rm, fenced yard, $2100

OFFICE FOR RENT - 4 large offices, 2nd floor, 750 s.f., available immediately, heat included, $1350/mo. call 703-573-3029

PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING

PRIME SUBLET OFFICE SPACE in

On Monday, December 1, 2008, the City of Falls Church Planning Commission, at 7:45 p.m. will hold a public hearing during their regularly scheduled meeting, in the City Council Chambers of City Hall, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia 22046, on the following application:

Falls Church available for small business (1,837 RSF) Contact Syed @ 703-207-0933 ext 112 or sali@jdgcommunications.com

Services CHILD CARE Experienced childcare pro-

Shirley Nieves 703-690-3733 Re/Max Allegiance

vider provides quality care for your infant in F.C. home. (703) 241-0605.

GIFT IDEA! Records, tapes transferred to CD

Trash, Yard Debris, Appliances, Furniture & Estate clean-ups. Call 703-533-0094. We will beat most competitors prices!

tracks seperated $18. VHS home movies to DVD with cool menu screen $12/HR 703-263-9212

STEEL BUILDINGS Super Discounts,

Complete: Foundation, Permit Plans, Can Erect. www.scg-grp.com Source# OS. Phone: 571-2362891

Help Wanted ACCOUNTANT/BOOKKEEPER-

Falls Church City business seeks an experienced accountant/bookkeeper. Part Time or Full Time.

Please send resume with references to jlemen@ wgsoffice.com.

CHILDCARE Fitness First is hiring for our

GIT RID OF IT For Removal of Junk,

GREAT CLEANING SERVICE Residenttial and Commerical, affodradble rates, great references, excellent job call Maria 703.277.1098/703.626.0665

HONEY-DO HANDYMAN

Cosmetic Home repairs and inspections. Painting, plumbing, electrical service, carpentry. Bsmts and bathrooms finished. Problem solver with references. Gutter cleaning & repair. Subpumps, drainage, snaking. Tree removal, leaf removal , and expert landscape service by Certified Arborist. Decks, fencing, siding, roof repairs & leaf raking. Service calls for appliances. 703-560-0799.

New Arlington Location. All shifts available morning/evenings & weekend shifts. Experienced preferred, but will train the right individual. Parent with child welcome to apply. Please page Barbie at 301-208-3643/ or call 301-972-4800

HOUSE

DENTAL HYGIENIST for general dentist

HOUSE CLEANING SERVICES. Low rates. Good references. Call Dolores 571/232-1091.

in Falls Church (near Tyson Corner); part time hours; Call 703.533.1733 / email:tysondentist@ yahoo.com

DRIVERS: - Local CDL-A Career

Training Swift Transportation Trains and Employs!

Dedicated, Regional & OTR Fleets.

800-397-2423

ELDER CAREGIVER - Looking for an

honest and very reliable person to take care for a sick, elderly disabled lady. Location: 2311 Idlywood Tower East Falls Church, VA 22043. Time: 7:00PM to 7:00AM/7 days a week. Compensation: Negotiable. Contact: (703) 635-4009

PUBLIC NOTICE CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

CLEANING

(TR8-60) Resolution Amending And Reenacting Resolution 2008-17 Amending Special Exception SE04-0162 For Mixed Use Development At 400-412 South Maple Avenue, Known As “500 South Maple Avenue” To Atlantic Reality Companies, Inc. and Their Successors (Pearson Square) by TMP Pearson Square LLC (First floor Retail - request to also allow service and medical office uses)

News-Press Classifieds

$20 for up to 20 words 50¢ each additional word Add a box - $10

Deadline: 2 p.m. Tuesdays (two days before publication) Fill out our Classified Ad form online at www.fcnp.com Phone: 703-532-3267 • Fax: 703-342-0352 E-Mail: classads@fcnp.com Mail: 450 W. Broad St. #321, Falls Church, VA 22046 Please include payment (check or money order) with your ad or call us to arrange payment by credit card.

For public & legal notices, please email legalads@fcnp.com

The Falls Church News-Press accepts no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements. Advertising which has minor discrepancies such as misspelling or small type transposition, but which do not affect the ability of the reader to respond to the ad will be considered substantially correct and full payment is required. The Falls Church News-Press is not responsible if the original copy is not typewritten or legible and clear. The Falls Church News-Press is not responsible for copy changes made by telephone.

Interested persons may appear and present their views. Information on or copies of the proposed Resolution may be viewed in the City’s Planning Division at City Hall, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 703248-5040.

This location is fully accessible to persons with physical disabilities and special services or assistance may be requested in advance.

VA Relay System 1-800-526-0857

SERVICE

www.fcnp.com

� � EE �� � D

Available 7 days a week. Week, biweekly, monthly or one time. Good references in Falls Church City.

10 years experience. For further information call me at 703-901-0596. Senior discount, Ask: Susy.

� ���!

JEWELRY REPAIRS Broken clasp?

String stretched out? Call Hazel (703-901-3738) for a costume jewelry repair estimate. Visit www. ofallthebeads.com

PET SITTING Going out of town?

Have a kitty you can’t medicate? Call Cattastic Pet Sitting Quality care for felines Over 25 years of experience Bonded and insured 703-899-5084

Public Notice

LIFEGUARDS WANTED Certified life-

guards wanted for pool in Falls Church. Great Pay! Apply online at www.americanpool.com or 410-363-6800.

MARKETING focused position at small Falls

Church international services firm. Requires heavy phone contact with potential clients and some office administrative tasks. Seek smart, upbeat individual with marketing experience, strong attention to detail, and interest in learning our business.

Offers flex hours 30-40 per week. Fax cover letter and resume to 703 532-4991 or email intvat@ aol.com.

For Rent 3 BR/1 BA FOR RENT 3 BR/1 BA 3 lvls,CAC, FC City Schools, 8 blocks to WFC Metro. Nr bike trail. Avail 1 DEC. $1800/mo + util. own/lic agent 703-989-6873

CONTRACTORS OFFICE - includes

drive-in bay and offices, excellent location easy (inside) beltway parking, available immediately, $2500/mo. 703-573-3029

FC ROOM FOR RENT 2 rooms and bath in private home. Looking for a senior lady 60 yrs or older ONLY. Also looking for someone to be available in evenings & weekends for company Non smokers only need apply. 571-330-4466.

Ask for Marlene.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that there will be a public hearing on the following resolution on Monday, November 24, 2008, 2008 at 7:30 p.m., Official Time, or as soon thereafter as may be heard.

SPECIAL YEAR-END SAVINGS � EXCELLENT FINANCING!

Call Now 1-866-685-2720

All public hearings will be held in the Council Chambers, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia. Copies of legislation may be obtained from the City Clerk’s office (703248-5014) or at cityclerk@fallschurchva.gov.

This location is fully accessible to persons with physical disabilities. Special services or assistance to persons with disabilities may be requested in advance. To speak at a public hearing, fill out a speaker slip and give it to the Clerk at the left front table.

Speakers will be called forward by the Mayor at the appropriate time.

2ATED /NE OF THE 4OP #HARITIES IN !MERICA

KATHLEEN CLARKEN BUSCHOW CITY CLERK

behaved dog excellent credit and references looking to rent a nice house in Falls Church City within FCC school district Starting December 2008, Call 707-834-8588 or jsmithmiller02@yahoo.com

4 Bedroom, 2 Bath, includes basement suite/ apartment with additional kitchen and separate entrance, large fenced yard, 1 mile from metro, available immediately, $2500/mo. 703573-3029

streams, springs, mountain views & wildlife galore.

Perfect for weekend getaway.

(1) Public Hearing: (TR8-59) Resolution Granting Certificate Of Public Convenience And Necessity To Murphy Brothers, Inc. Through 2010 (Harry Reitze, Chief of Police)

HOME TO RENT IN FALLS CHURCH Professional Couple, 1 child, 1 well-

HOUSE FOR RENT - House for rent,

CALL NOW for list of land bargains with woods, meadows,

www.FCNP.com

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We are pleged to the letter and spirit of Virginia’s policy for achieving equal housing opportunity throughout the Commonwealth. We encourage and support advertising and marketing programs in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap.

All real estate advertised herein is subject to Virginia’s fair housing law which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.”

This newspaper will not knowingly accept advertising for real estate that violates the fair housing law. Our readers are herby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For more information or to file a housing complaint call the Virginia Fair Housing Office at (804) 367-8530. Toll free call (888) 551-3247. For the hearing impaired call (804) 3679753.

Email: fairhousing@dpor.virginia.gov.

Web site: www.fairhousing.vipnet.org

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November 20 - 26, 2008

Professional Services

Page 43

Professional Services

Home Improvement

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Other Services Make a Joyful Splash!

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SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING PAYROLL SERVICES INDIVIDUAL AND BUSINESS TAX PREPARATION BUSINESS CONSULTING

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•Injury cases & Death cases •Medical/Legal malpractice •Breach of contract •Commerical/Insurance • Car accidents Free Consultation 703-448-0073 Hablamos Español 703-798-3448

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Cleaning Services Mike’s Carpet Cleaning 5 Rooms deep cleaned only $98 •Stretching•Mold Remediation •Oriental Rugs•Upholstery•Pet Problems • 24 Hour Emergency Water Damage We Clean the White House!

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Page 44

November 20 - 26, 2008

The Week

Mayor Vice Mayor City Council

Robin S. Gardner . . . . . . . . . . 703-534-8644 Harold Lippman. . . . . . . . . . . 703-237-9089 Nader Baroukh. . . . . . . . . . . . 703-992-9433 Daniel Maller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-731-8433 David F. Snyder. . . . . . . . . . . . 703-241-0419 Daniel X. Sze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-538-5986 Lawrence Webb . . . . . . . . . . . 703-532-1043 City Manager Wyatt Shields. . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-248-5004* Home Page <www.fallschurchva.gov> * Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

city calendar

novemBER 20 City Meals Tax Due (Commissioner of the Revenue) Story Hour, 10:30 a.m.

Human Services Advisory Council, 7:30 p.m.

22 Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-Noon 24 Special Collections Story Hour, 10:30 a.m.

City Council, 7:30 p.m.

Tree Commission, 7:30 p.m.

Volunteer Fire DepartmentTraining, 7:30 p.m.

25 Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court in Session Refuse & Recycling Collection for Tuesday & Thursday Collection Areas Story Hour, 10:30 a.m.

26 General District Court NOT in Session/ Offices Close at Noon Refuse & Recycling Collection for Wednesday & Friday Collection Areas Story Hour, 7 p.m.

27 City Hall, Community Center, Courts, DMV Select, Library, Schools, Senior Center, Sheriff’s Office Closed No Refuse, Recycling, or Leaf Collections Thanksgiving Day 28 City Hall, Courts, DMV Select, Library, Schools, Senior Center, Sheriff’s Office Closed Community Center Open No Refuse, Recycling, or Leaf Collections Thanksgiving Holiday (observed) 29 Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-Noon Civil War Thanksgiving Reenactment, Cherry Hill Farmhouse, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Leaf Collection Schedule City crews are collecting loose leaves through Dec. 24, 2008. Residents who wish to have their loose leaves collected by the City are advised to rake their leaves to the curb, but avoid gutters and sidewalks wherever possible.

• Monday, Nov. 17 through Friday, Nov. 28. Areas north of Broad Street (Thursday and Friday Collection Zones) • No collection on Thursday, Nov. 27 (Thanksgiving) or Friday, Nov. 28 (Holiday) Residents must keep all other collection material at least 5 feet away from leaf piles. Do not mix brush or other items with leaves. These items may injure City crews, damage equipment, damage private property, and cause delays.

For more information and to view the complete collection schedule, visit www.fallschurchva.gov.

Register for the City’s Online Newsletter at www.fallschurchva.gov

Register to Receive Emergency Alerts

provided as a public service by the city of falls church

Questions or Comments? City of Falls Church, Harry E.Wells Building, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church,VA 22046 703-248-5003 (TTY 711) The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act.This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5003 (TTY 711).

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule COMMUNITY CENTER CITY HALL DMV SELECT OFFICE MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY SCHOOLS SENIOR CENTER COURTS SHERIFF’S OFFICE GEORGE LOCAL TRANSIT REFUSE & RECYCLING COLLECTIONS

CLOSED Nov. 27 OPEN Nov. 28 CLOSED Nov. 27-28

CLOSED AT NOON Nov. 26 CLOSED Nov. 27-28 NO SERVICE Nov. 27 REGULAR SERVICE Nov. 28 NO PICKUPS Nov. 27-28 REFUSE & RECYCLING will be collected Tuesday, Nov. 25 for the Tuesday & Thursday collection area.

REFUSE & RECYCLING will be collected Wednesday, Nov. 26 for the Wednesday & Friday collection area.

For information about collections, call 703-248-5081 (TTY 711) or 703-248-5176 (TTY 711).

Travel Back in Time at a Civil War Thanksgiving Reenactment—Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008 Visitors are welcome to stop by Cherry Hill Farmhouse (312 Park Ave.) any time between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to see what an 1862 Civil War Thanksgiving was like in Falls Church.

Spectators can watch costumed reenactors portray actual Falls Church residents from the Civil War era as they host the holiday meal and entertain friends and soldiers in the parlor with period games. Free admission. Donations appreciated.

This event is sponsored by the Recreation & Parks Division and the Victorian Society of Falls Church.

For more information, please call

FOR THE WEEK of

Classes and Events Classes & Activities Paid registration required. Call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711) for more information or visit www.fallschurchva.gov to register online.

Pilates With Props (Ages 18 & up) Tuesdays Nov. 25-Jan. 13, 7-7:55 p.m.

Pilates with Props employs small apparatus including resistance rings, flex bands, spongeballs and weighted bars to extend the range of intensity of Pilates mat exercises.The latter weeks of class add an element of balance work through use of the Swiss ball.

Teen Center Activities For more information,call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711).

ESPN Zone Tuesday, Nov. 25, 3-7 p.m. for Ages 14-18 Enjoy large screen televisions, air hockey, bowling, basketball, arcade games and great food! Please bring money for the metro, games and food. Fee is $20.

Teen Council Meeting (Students grade 5-7) Tuesday, Nov. 25, 3:30 p.m.

Community Center Become a member the Falls Church Teen Council and join in the efforts to help our community and improve teen programs. Meetings are held monthly and individuals should register through the Community Center. Membership fee is $15.

City of Falls Church Farmers Market Every Saturday from 8 a.m. - Noon

Growing Green Leafcycling This fall, instead of raking leaves to the curb try“leafcycling.”Mow over fallen leaves and leave them in place to create a nutrient rich,natural fertilizer for your lawn. Leafcycling enriches soil, saves time (less raking),saves money (no need to buy fertilizer or mulch),and reduces pollution (fewer leaf-collection truck trips). Follow these simple leafcycling tips: • Mow at least three times during the fall.

• Before mowing, rake leaves across your lawn to avoid large leaf piles.

• Set mower height to three inches and watch for larger twigs and branches.

• Mow when the leaves are dry.

• Rake excess mulch around the base of trees and shrubs.

Helping the Homeless

703-248-5171 (TTY 711). The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711).

Calling All Investors!

The Mary Riley Styles Public Library is offering a free one-hour class on its S&P NetAdvantage investment database on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 9:30 a.m. Available from either your home or Library computer, S&P NetAdvantage provides detailed information on individual stocks and mutual funds as well as markets, industries, and sectors. Learn how to compare mutual funds, screen for stocks or funds, access the Outlook newsletter, and more.For more information or to register, please stop by the Library’s Reference Desk or call 703-248-5035 (TTY 711).

What issues would you like the General Assembly address in 2009?

Is it a statewide smoking ban at restaurants, or the prohibition of dangerous weapons on City-owned property?

City Council is developing its 2009 Legislative Program and needs your recommendations. The adopted Legislative Program provides the foundation for positions on bills that will impact the City. It is a living document and can be amended during the General Assembly session as issues surface, so continual input is welcomed. Call 703-248-5042 (TTY 711).

A public hearing on the 2009 Legislative Program is scheduled for the Monday, Nov. 24 City Council meeting.

The City of Falls Church offers a variety of services to homeless individuals through direct services and contract arrangements. These include emergency shelters, day programs, outreach, case management, food resources, employment information, health care, mental health and substance abuse services,linkage to benefits offered by the Veterans Administration and Social Security Administration, and social services such as food stamps, General Relief and Medicaid.

Homeless individuals may have mental health and or substance abuse issues, but may often refuse needed services. Only when individuals are breaking the law or threatening to harm themselves or others can law enforcement intervene.

There are many effective ways you can help homeless individuals: • Volunteer at a shelter or help at a food distribution site.

• Do not give cash to homeless individuals. Instead, refer those in need of food, shelter, transportation, or other services to the Police Department or the Housing and Human Services Division.

• Do not give rides to individuals. This is a safety issue. Refer individuals that need transportation to City Hall.

• Call the Police Department at 703 241-5050 to report inappropriate or suspicious behaviors.

Trust your instincts – if you feel uncomfortable something is probably wrong.

Alert Falls Church Get real-time updates and instructions on what to do and where to go during an emergency in Falls Church City, by registering for Falls Church Alert.You will receive alerts from the City via portable electronic devices and e-mail, only in the event of an emergency.Sign up for this free service at alert.fallschurchva.gov. You can also visit alert.fallschurchva.gov to update your profile, and add or delete devices from the emergency distribution list.

Falls Church Recreation & Parks Division 223 Little Falls Street Falls Church, VA 22046 703-248-5077* Phone Numbers Open Gym/Weather Hotline 703-248-5125* Special Events Hotline 703-248-5178* Fax 703-536-5125 Senior Center 703-248-5020*/21* Community Center Hours Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Friday 8 a.m. - Midnight Saturday 8:30 a.m. - Midnight Sunday Noon - 6 p.m.

Open Gym Hours Open Gym hours are updated on a bi-weekly basis and are also posted on the Open Gym Hotline, 703-248-5125*. All hours are subject to change. * Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

November 20 - 26, 2008

Page 45

ly Focus

Chairman: Ronald Peppe II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-534-4951 Vice Chairman: Susan Kearney . . . . . . . . . . . 703-532-0321 School Board Rosaura Aguerrebere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-536-8638 Kathryn Chandler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-536-7564 Charlotte Hyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-237-6993 Kieran Sharpe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-536-3130 Joan Wodiska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703-533-1248 Superintendent: Dr . Lois Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . 703-248-5601*

government and the falls church city public schools

NOVEMBER 20-26, 2008

For more news about the Falls Church City Public Schools visit: www.fccps.org

New PRIDE Survey Indicates Overall Drop in Substance Abuse Results from the latest Pride Survey of nearly 1,000 Falls Church City students indicate tobacco, alcohol and drug use continues to decline and in all instances abuse levels are far below national averages. While the results paint a positive picture overall of drug and alcohol education efforts, two areas of continuing concern remain. Of the 11th and 12th grade students who responded to the survey, 61 percent reported using alcohol within the past year and one third of those same students reported smoking marijuana at levels above the national average.

“George Mason High School students are drinking to high levels of risk with respect to alcohol use, FCCPS Student Services Coordinator Judy Becker said. “Many students have indicated to me that it is no longer the goal of drinking to get high but to drink until passing out or becoming unconscious.”

Of the high school students who responded that they drink alcohol, 12 percent reported having 5 or more glasses of alcohol within a few hours and usually at home or at a friend’s house during the weekend. The survey indicated that students are least likely to use substances at school, where zero-

tolerance expectations and consequences are made very clear, and the rules are strictly enforced.

“Students reported that parents had the lowest disapproval rating for alcohol,” Becker said. “They indicated that 18% of parents did not disapprove of the use of alcohol by high school students. A phrase I hear frequently from parents is that their students ‘work hard, party hard’ and as long as grades are high, and there is no legal involvement, their drinking is acceptable.”

The following shows the percentage of the 980 middle and high school students surveyed who indicated they have used substances in the past year:

Tobacco Use Alcohol Use Illicit Drug Use

MEHMS Grds 6-7 2.9% 11.3% 5.5%

National GMHS National Average Grds 8-12 Average 10.3% 23.5% 32.3% 20.3% 37.0% 53.6% 9.0 % 22.3% 26.5%

The survey, which included 123 questions, was conducted on September 28th. Complete survey results are available at www.fccps.org/board/ reports/pride.

FCC-TV Spotlight: Rich & Friends Rich Massabny interviews movers and shakers in the community, interesting personalities in the entertainment field, and top area chefs . Rich shares his 20+ years experience as a noted theatre, arts and restaurant reviewer .Rich & Friends airs on FCC-TV at the following times: • Wednesdays at 1:00 a .m . & 8:00 p .m . • Saturdays at 5:00 p .m . • Sundays at 10:00 a .m .

FCC-TV airs on Cox Channel 12, Verizon Channel 35 and RCN Channel 2 . For more information about FCC-TV, or complete schedule of the variety of community programs on FCC-TV, visit www.fcctv.net or call 703-248-5538 .

BIE Partner of the Week

* Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

MEHMS Book Fair Dec. 5th The fall MEHMS PTA book fair is set for Friday, December 5th, from 6 - 9 p .m . at Barnes and Noble, Seven Corners .

The fair is an excellent opportunity to get a head start on holiday shopping while supporting Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School at the same time . Middle school musicians will be performing throughout the evening and free coffee and home baked goods will also be available .

Those unable to attend can present the code “356865” at any Barnes and Nobel store in the country during the weekend of December 5th-7th and purchases will be credited to the fall MEHMS PTA fundraiser .

For more information, contact Jane Cashin at (703) 534-5247 or by e-mail: cashinjl@hotmail .com .

The George Mason High School Scholastic Bowl team makes its annual fall appearance on the popular “It’s Academic” television show this weekend on NBC4. The program, now in its 48th season, is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running quiz show of its kind in the world.

The Mustangs take on the Maret School of Washington and DeMatha High from Hyattsville, Maryland. The program features a half hour of nerve-racking questions and answers. It was taped earlier this year for broadcast this Saturday, Nov. 22nd at 10:30 a.m. WRC-TV, Channel 4.

School content published in The Weekly Focus is written and edited by the Falls Church City Public Schools. For more information, contact the Falls Church City Public Schools Communications Office. Phone: (703) 248-5699 Fax: (703) 248-5613.

7:30 p.m. “Brigadoon” Performance (GM) 21

7:30 p.m. Falls Church @ Mason (B Basketball – Scrimmage) 7:30 p.m. Mason @ Heritage High (G Basketball – Scrimmage) 7:30 p.m. “Brigadoon” Performance (GM)

22

10:30 a.m. GMHS Scholastic Team on “It’s Academic” (NBC4) 7:30 p.m. “Brigadoon” Performance (GM)

24

7:00 p.m. National Honor Society Inductions (GM)

25

7:00 p.m. School Board Work Session (City Hall) 7:30 p.m. Thomas Jefferson High @ Mason (B Basketball - Scrimmage) 8:30 p.m. School Board Regular Meeting (City Hall)

26

Early Release – All Schools 7:30 p.m. McLean @ Mason (G Basketball – Scrimmage)

27-28 Thanksgiving Break (Schools closed/Day Care closed) 29

10:00 a.m. Mason @ Loudon Co. (Wrestling) December 1 5:00 p.m. Madison Co. @ Mason (Scholastic Bowl)

7:00 p.m. Special Ed. Advisory Committee (TJ) (MD) Mt. Daniel School (TJ) Thomas Jefferson Elementary (MEH) Mary Ellen Henderson Middle (GM) George Mason High (CO) Central Office

School Involvement: Kristin is a math teacher at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School . She also coaches “Girls on the Run .”

Why Kristin is a BIE partner: “We needed pumpkins for a seventh grade community-building activity . Sam’s Farm is just across the street, and they generously helped us afford pumpkins for the whole seventh grade . As coach of “Girls on the Run”, I am thrilled that so many girls are training to run a 5K race in December . It makes sense to work with Road Runner Sports, a local business whose expertise is running .”

For more information about sharing your expertise through the BIE Partnership, visit www.fccps.org or contact Marybeth Connelly at connellym@fccps .org .

In 2007, the Falls Church Education Foundation funded the visit of Farah Ahmedi to Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School . Ahmedi is a 20 year old Afghan refugee who lost one of her legs when she stepped on a land mine . She eventually left her homeland to make her way to the United States and a new life . Her story is chronicled in her autobiography, The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir, and in a news report aired on NBC earlier this year when she finally realized her dream of becoming a U .S . citizen . To view the video, please see www .msnbc .msn .com/id/3032619/ vp/22730965#22730965 .

The Foundation is registered as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization . For information about the Falls Church Education Foundation, visit www.fcedf.org or contact Donna Englander at denglander@fcedf .org .

6:00 p.m. TJ Art Exhibit (Styles Library)

6:00 p.m. Athletic Booster Awards Night (GM)

Mary Ellen Henderson MS

MEhMS assembly speaker Farah Ahmedi becomes u.S. citizen

DATES ARE SubjEcT To chAngE Testing 12/1-12/5 SoL for Transfer Students & Students Retesting (gM) November 20 3:45 p.m. McLean @ Mason (Wrestling)

Mason on “It’s Academic” Saturday

Kristin White

Foundation Footnotes

SCHOOL CALENDAR

Check the FCCPS Web site for more calendar information. www.fccps.org

Curriculum Studies Beginning in December The George Mason Mustang Scholastic Bowl team appearing this weekend on “It’s Academic” are (l to r) Asher Morse, Amelia Nemitz (captain) and Katie Beunneke.

Mac McGarry is the program’s host.

The Falls Church City Public Schools regularly conducts curriculum studies for all academic program areas . In December, the Career Technology Education and Health/Physical Education curriculum studies will begin .

FCCPS is in need of a parent from each of the four schools as well as interested members of the community to participate in this comprehensive process . For more information, contact Assistant Superintendant Gloria Guba at (703) 248-5607 or by email at gjguba@fccps .org . Committee membership applications are available at www.fccps.org/cia .

Page 46

laz y The dog. c k q u i fox sly p e d jum e r o v lazy the g . d o is Now time the all for o d g o to cows

15 s Yearo Ag

to come aid the ir of there. pa stu is Now e the timall for o d g o to cows to come aid the ir of there. pa stu

November 20 - 26, 2008

It is no the timw e for g o all o cows d to go to the aid of the ir pa stu re. *** **

Falls Church News-Press Vol lll, No. 36 • November 25, 1993

Falls Church News-Press Vol VIII, No. 37 • November 26, 1998

‘Hull Likes Light Rail To Disney - Concept Could Put Falls Church Metro on Tourists’ Path’ “Falls Church’s representative to the Virginia State Assembly, Bob Hull, told the News-Press Tuesday that he joins other northern Virginia law makers in support for the concept of a light rail that would link the greater Washington, D.C. metro system directly with the projected Disney America theme park, planned for completion 20 miles west of here by...”

Helen Thomas Continued from Page 10

ing quickly into top level Civil Service career positions for their personal job security and maybe to keep their hands on a Cabinet department’s conservative policies.

Those policies affect regulatory initiatives that concern drinking water standards; air quality and fisheries limits, among other issues.

The Washington Post said Tuesday that the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted a half a dozen key deputies – who may have been involved in controversial environmental decisions – into senior Civil Service posts.

The Post – quoting anonymous sources fearful Of affecting their careers-- said the shifts to Civil Service represent the Bush administration’s effort to leave a lasting imprint on environmental policy.

The administration’s moves to give job security to outgoing loyal aides and jump them into career Civil Service posts is not unique. It even has a name – “burrowing” – and is a longtime practice by outgoing administrations.

On the foreign policy front, it would be the worst of folly for Bush to attack Iran before he leaves office. Two wars are

10 Year s Ago

Thro w it up.

Pour it up It now is the time for all go od cows to go to the aid

‘COUNCIL WANTS NEW AUDIT Former Mayor Brangman Contends Arlington Debt Was Never a ‘Surprise’’ “Alan Bragman, who retired after a two-year stint as mayor of Falls Church last June, weighed in as a qualified and impartial resource yesterday to assert that characterizations of the $2.9 million the City owes to Arlington County as a ‘surprise to the City officials’ is ‘unfair.’

‘When I was on the City Council, we...”

enough at this time.

Despite his failures, particularly the unprovoked 2003 invasion of Iraq which led to more than 4,000 American deaths and 30,000 wounded for life, along with tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, Bush shows no remorse and still speaks of a military victory.

He has said often that he expects to be vindicated as time goes by. But he should first vow to do no further harm as he walks out the White House door.

As for jobs, neither Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney have to worry about their future.

Both men have enormous

family wealth and fat government pensions.

Cheney recently built a new home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland next door to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He has another home under construction in McLean, Va., right across from the CIA and close to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Cheney also has a home at Jackson Hole in his native Wyoming.

The president doesn’t have to fret about his future either.

He has said he wants to make money when he leaves the White House. He will.

PET THERAPY DOG, Evette Pendell, explores the statue outside of Don Beyer Volvo in Falls Church. She eagerly checks out the bucket being used to feed the pigs, upon whose back Evette is happily perched. Sadly, there are no goodies inside to be found. Evette also makes regular visits to see her friend Cheryl at the Powhatan Retirement Center and she can by found playing with the seniors at Sunrise Retirement Home in Falls Church. Often, Evette enjoys the outdoors by participating in the many activities at Columbia Baptist Church, where she regularly attends. Although she is carried for most of the way, Evette is also a veteran of the Don Beyer Memorial 3K fun run. She is one busy poodle.

Thanksgiving Dinner Enjoy our delicious turkey dinner Which includes: cornbread dressing green bean casserole • loaded smashed potatoes gravy • rolls • cranberry sauce • apple cobbler!

Items can be purchased separately Other savory side options available!

Authentic Afghan Cuisine 1/2 OFF ENTREE

Reserve your dinner now!

Only $149.99 Serves 10-12

www.entreevous.com

Buy One Entree, Get A 2nd Of Equal Or Lesser Value 1/2 OFF. One coupon per party. Not valid with any other offer.

Valid with Valpak. coupon only.

2200 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington, VA 22213

703.532.1515

JP Handyman Services

703.987.1688 FREE ESTIMATES

*Dry Wall *Plumbing *Electrical

*Painting *Full Remodeling *Honey To Do List

Licensed and Insured Email: jphandymanservices@live.com

Drs. Hauptman & Rowhani “Best Dentist” Washingtonian & Checkbook Magazines

Implants • Cosmetic • TMJ Treatment Family Dentistry No Interest Financing

311 Park Ave, Falls Church, VA 22046

703.241.0666 www.docrondds.com

/XQFK DP SP 'LQQHU SP SP

: %URDG 6WUHHW )DOOV &KXUFK 9$ Ć &ORVHG 6XQGD\ Ć 3KRQH

Need Exercise?

Don’t want to join a gym?

TRY PERSONAL TRAINING!

LCS Fitness Personal Training and Yoga

Private, friendly, studio.

Individual or group training, seniors, yoga.

Linda Crump, CPT 703-309-8500

linda@lcsfitness.com www.lcsfitness.com

Call Linda for a Complimentary Consultation

November 20 - 26, 2008

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Accounting

Diener & Associates, CPA. . . . . . . . . 241-8807 Eric C. Johnson, CPA, PC . . . . . . . . 538-2394 Hassans Account & Tax Services . . . 241-7771 Mark Sullivan, CPA . . . . . . . . . . . 571-214-4511 Walsh & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448-0073 Hahn & Associates, PC, CPAs . . . . . 533-3777 n

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ASSisted living

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Attorneys

Bose Law Firm: Former Police . . . . . 926-3900 Mark F. Werblood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-9300 Janine S. Benton, Esq. . . . . . . . . . . . .992-9255 n

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BCR Binders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-9181 n

BUSINESS SERVICES

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fINANCIAL Advisor

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catering

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interior design jewelry

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lawn & garden

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masonry

Mottern Masonry Design . . . . . . . 571-212-1711

All numbers have a ‘703’ prefix unless otherwise indicated.

real estate

Merelyn Kaye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .790-9090x218 www.helpfulmortgage.us . . . . . . . . . . 237-0222 Casey O’Neal - ReMax . . . . . . . . . . . 824-4196 Rosemary Hayes Jones . . . . . . . . . . .790-1990 Leslie Hutchison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .675-2188 The Young Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .356-8800 Shaun Murphy, Realtor . . . . . . . . . . 868-5999 www.TheJeffersonatBallston.com . . . 741-7562 Susan Fauber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395-8741

insurance

Caliber Mower Service & Repair . . . . 691-2995 Dragon Fly Farms . . . . . . . . . . . . 240-353-8404 Sweet Garden Lawn Care . . . . . . . . . 627-7723 Weaver Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323-9251 Lawn Care Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 691-2351

pet services

Dog Trainer - Nicole Kibler . . . . . . . . 593-6340 n

immigration services

www.ofallthebeads.com . . . . . . . . . . . 901-3738

music

Academy of Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938-8054 World Children’s Choir . . . . . . . . . . . 883-0920 Columbia Institute - Fine Arts . . . . . . 534-2508 CARR Piano Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 750-2256 Foxes Music Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533-7393

design2follow llc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-1610 n

Galleria Florist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536-0770 Falls Church Florist, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 533-1333 Art and Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-4202

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Bob Snyder - Life/Health/Disability . . . 449-0117 State Farm Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-5105

FLorists Framing

home improvement

medical

Dr Gordon Theisz, Family Medicine . 533-7555 The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy . . . 536-4042

CGA Immigration Associates, LLC. . . 578-3556

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Wertime Financial Service . . . . . . . . . 237-0003

carpet CLEANING

Bubba’s Bar-B-Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560-8570

Eyewear

Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-6500

Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning . . . . . . . . 652-0675 Mike’s Carpet Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . 978-2270 n

Equipment REntal/Sale

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home care

Arlington Color Consultants . . . . . . . 241-8548 Masonary Specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443-2308 Williams Remodeling . . . . . . . . . 571-263-6405 Andy Group Construction . . . . . . . . . 503-0350 Joseph Home Improvement . . . . . . . 507-5005 FC Heating & Air Service . . . . . . . . . 534-0630 Shiner Roofing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560-7663 J & S Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448-1171 The Vinyl Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793-3111

Counseling

VA Outdoor Power Equipment . . . . . 207-2000 EZ Tool Rental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531-4700 Ace Tool & Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . 532-5600

Jon Rizalvo, PAYCHEX . . . . . 698-6910 x27045 n

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massage

Healthy by Intention, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 534-1321 Massage & Hair Removal . . . . . . . 571-282-4522 Sheraton Premiere Women’s Massage 403-9328

Human Touch Home Health . . . . . . . 531-0540

Construction

Drs. William Dougherty, Julie D. Tran 532-3300 Drs. Mark A. Miller, Melanie R. Love . . 241-2911 Dr. Nimisha V. Patel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533-1993

barber

book Binding

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Computer services

Dentists

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health & FItness

Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536-0140 Sacred Well Yoga and Healing . . . . . 989-8316

Carol S. Miller, LCSW . . . . . . . . . . . . 395-4980 Josette Millman, APRN . . . . . . . . . . . 855-0396

Barber Shop & Hair Style . . . . . . 571-641-3200 n

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Alba Construction, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 204-0733 n

banking

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. . . 519-1634 BB&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-3505 Acacia Federal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506-8100

Cleaning Services

Gifts

Stifel & Capra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407-0770

NADsys - Computer Sale & Repair . . . . . 534-3800 Systems Management Technology . 891-1491 x14

Automotive

Beyer Volvo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-5000 Swedish Motor Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-0988

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Direct Cleaning Services . . . . . . . . . 858-4589 Pressure Washing/Deck, Siding . . . . 980-0225 Liberty Chem Dry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533-0239 A - Cleaning Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892-8648 Maid Brigade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823-1922 Carpets, Ducts, Windows . . . . . . . . . 823-1922

Sunrise of Falls Church . . . . . . . . . . . 534-2700 n

chiropractor

Dr. Solano, solanospine.com . . . . . . 536-4366

ANTIQUES & cOLLECTIBLES

Falls Church Antique Company . . . . 241-7074 Antique Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-9642 n

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tailor

Tailor Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-8886

Travel

All Travel & Cruises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970-4091 n

Tutors

Your Computer Tutor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204-2821 TCY Learning Solutions, LLC . . . . . . 371-9067

Page 48

November 20 - 26, 2008

Huge 15,448 Sq Ft Lot

Priced at $749,950

Large Living Room w/FP

Falls Church City

Updated Kitchen

Walk Out Rec Room

Merelyn Kaye Selling Falls Church Since 1970

Life Member, NVAR TopProducer Member 20+ Million Dollar Sales Club Top 1/2% of all Agents Nationwide

Pristine 4 Bedroom, 2 bath charmer on gorgeous lot. Loads of updates including 2 new baths, Kit with marble counters, custom cabinets and top appliances. HW floors, sunny LR w/FP & built-in bookcases, stunning WO lower level w/large nearly new Rec Rm, BR & full bath. Private screen porch overlooks peaceful lovely yard. Walk to express bus to Metro

Home 241-2577 Office 790-9090 X418 Mobile 362-1112

Just Google “Merelyn” For Your Real Estate Needs

1320 Old Chain Bridge Road McLean, Virginia 22101