Fauquier Times 07/17/2024

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SPORTS: Xavier Jenkins and Aya Mason are 2024 Wakefield School Athletes of the Year. Pages 10-12 July 17, 2024

Our 207th year | Vol. 207, No. 29 | www.Fauquier.com | $2.00 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2023

No AC? Fauquier County has few options to cool down By Tate Hewitt Staff Writer

In June, a woman visited the Fauquier Free Clinic for help managing a chronic condition, but her doctor immediately noticed she was dehydrated and fatigued — likely due to heat exposure. The woman was living in her car and had no way to avoid the high temperatures. She wasn’t sick enough to be sent to the hospital emergency room, and it was too late to arrange a room at a shelter, but the clinic team believed the patient shouldn’t be sent back into the heat either. So, the clinic paid for a motel room for the night. Hers was an extreme case of heat exposure, but not a rare one for the clinic. Every day for the past few weeks, at least one patient at the clinic has had heat-related symptoms, executive director Rob Marino said. “It’s not always the presenting problem; it just exacerbates other problems,” Marino said.

TIMES STAFF PHOTO/FLORENCE SHEN

Construction worker Kevin Good, 41, stands with coworkers Michael Sellers, 45, and Brian Martin, 55 (obscured).

Youngkin, local officials react to shooting at Trump rally

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, local officials and other Virginia lawmakers reacted to Saturday’s shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania — where former President Donald Trump and two others were injured and two people, including the shooter, were killed — by denouncing political violence. Youngkin thanked God for “protecting” Trump in a statement Sunday afternoon and condemned “this evil violence.” The shooting occurred just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where Trump announced his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Monday. Visit fauquier.com/news/ politics for more reactions to the shooting from local officials and ongoing coverage of the BY CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS/VIRGINIA MERCURY 2024 election season.

Fauquier County has been under a heat advisory on and off over the past few weeks, with temperatures in the 90s and heat indexes well above 100 degrees. At the same time, the region is in the midst of a drought, and cautious use of water has limited options for cooling down. Hot weather can be dangerous; it’s linked to increases in heart and respiratory-related illness, according to the Virginia Department of Health. As temperatures have soared in recent weeks, so have heat-related illnesses, according to state data. State and county governments provide little heat-relief aid beyond communicating the risks of exposure. Though Fauquier County has issued safety tips, such as encouraging people to stay inside air-conditioned spaces, the most vulnerable — the elderly, people experiencing homelessness and those who work outdoors — often don’t have that option.

See HEAT, page 6

Developer withdraws application to rezone for Catlett data centers Board of supervisors expressed opposition to the project By Peter Cary

Piedmont Journalism Foundation

The developer proposing to rezone property in Catlett to make way for a data center complex has withdrawn its application. “After careful consideration, we have decided not to proceed with the rezoning,” Tony Calabrese, the attorney for Headwaters Development, wrote in a letter to Fauquier County chief planner Adam Shellenberger dated July 15. Shellenberger sent an email to the press and interested local organizations saying, “the application will be closed,” ending, at least for the short See APPLICATION, page 4

COURTESY OF HEADWATERS SITE DEVELOPMENT

Headwaters’ Catlett data center project would have been located about nine miles south of Warrenton near Catlett, as seen in this map. The developer withdrew its application to rezone the property for the proposed project on Monday, July 15.

The Fauquier Fair is back! See page 8 for details

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