GET TO KNOW COACH BUCK: Q&A with the new Falcons football coach. Sports, Page 15
January 23, 2019
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During shutdown, nonprofits step up By Karen Chaffraix Times Staff Writer
Road corridor,” Smith said. “The entrance is also too close to a blind curve, which could be dangerous and lead to accidents.” The site is within the district Smith represents on the planning commission. A staff report presented at the start of the hearing estimates Meetze Road would see a 50-percent increase in traffic around the time of the Jalsa Salana, resulting in a total of 2,000 trips on the road a day. County staff predicted the other three retreats would generate a 10-percent increase, resulting in 420 daily trips. The inability of two-lane Meetze Road to handle the traffic of the four events was mentioned repeatedly by those in opposition, who made up the majority of the 37 people who spoke during the public hearing.
Life disruptions and stresses caused by the federal government shutdown are as unique as the people experiencing them. Shirley Miller has been a program manager at the Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years. The wife and mother of three was at home on Tuesday, catching up on computer work and doctor appointments and driving the kids around, “making lemonade out of lemons.” Miller, who lives in the Bristow and Gainesville area, is a longtime member of Oak Shade Baptist Church in Catlett. “People have been sharing with us where you can get food in the area, where you can get a loan – above and beyond helpful,” she said. Miller has been filling out substitute teaching applications and is considering working in a friend’s tea room. “I’m not above making ends meet to take care of my family,” she said. Her family is living frugally, dependent entirely upon her husband’s non-government salary. “It’s a hardship, missing a paycheck when you’re a homeowner with three kids,” she said. “But my mother and grandmother taught me to live ‘beneath your means.’ We’ve always been frugal.” On Miller’s to-do list is calling her family’s health insurance company, issued through her job. “We haven’t received any information from them, and they obviously aren’t being deducted from my paycheck, since there is no paycheck.” One local government employee – a passport specialist – is enduring a different kind of stress. She hasn’t lost any income due to the furlough. “Our source of funding comes entirely from passport fees, so we’re not affected.” But the employee, who has to remain anonymous because “we were instructed not to talk to the press about the furlough” accepted a job at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington,
See RETREAT, Page 4
See SHUTDOWN, Page 4
TIMES STAFF PHOTOS/CINDY GOFF
Members of the Fauquier County Planning Commission discuss a special-exception permit for an Islamic retreat site on farmland outside Warrenton.
Planning Commission votes against permit for Islamic retreat site near Warrenton By James Ivancic and Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writers
Concerns about maintaining Fauquier County’s rural character and questions about whether twolane Meetze Road can accommodate large events prompted the Fauquier County Planning Commission to vote unanimously last Thursday against a request to hold four annual Islamic retreats on farmland outside Warrenton. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community applied for a special-exception permit to hold its Jalsa Salana, or annual convention, and three additional yearly events on seven parcels totaling 515 acres near Meetze and Turkey Run roads. The group, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, has a contract to purchase the property for the events, the
Harris Zafar, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, speaks the Fauquier County Planning Commission Thursday, Jan. 17.
largest of which would be the Jalsa Salana, an Islamic retreat held in July. The group estimates no more than 5,000 would attend the Jalsa Salana and about 1,000 would attend the other events, also threeday Islamic retreats held between August and October. The matter was before
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the planning commission Thursday, Jan. 17, for a public hearing and possible vote. The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors will have the final say on the application, if members of the Ahmadiyya Community decide to go forward. In his motion to recommend the application’s denial, Planning Commissioner Matthew Smith (Cedar Run) said the events would be inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, which aims to preserve agricultural areas and rural character. He also said the retreats would “adversely affect” neighboring property owners because of visual impact, noise, light and traffic. “The proposed use would generate additional traffic that would have a negative impact on the existing and anticipated traffic on the Meetze
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