NEWS
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | October 31, 2018
Warner, longtime dean of the Virginia GOP, says he supports Cockburn By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Former Sen. John Warner, who spent 30 years representing Virginia as a Republican, is lending his support to Leslie Cockburn, a Democrat and former investigative journalist vying to represent the 5th District in the U.S. House. Warner endorsed Sen. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, in his race against GOP nominee Corey Stewart in September. Warner appeared with Cockburn and Sen. Mark Warner at a fundraiser at Kinloch Farm in The Plains Saturday. “I’m still a Republican. I’m going to tell this gang, I’m still a Republican,” the elder Warner said in an interview before the event. “You can’t take that away from me. But you’ve got to have the courage to do what’s right for the country and what’s right for your state.” Warner, 91, took out his iPhone to scroll through Cockburn’s platform as he talked about why he’s publicly backing Cockburn over her GOP opponent, Denver Riggleman. Warner called Cockburn “an exceptional candidate” and said he agrees with her positions on health care and “commonsense gun laws.” “I’ve got a closet full of guns,” said the Navy and Marine Corps veteran who served in both World War II and the Korean War. “I know guns pretty well. And there’s things we’ve got locked in, they’re just wrong. I don’t know how were going to break that one.” Warner, who spent decades in Fauquier County while he served as secretary of the U.S. Navy and later as senator, spoke of his love for
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Manassas Ballet theatre Leslie Cockburn and Sen. John Warner the state. After attending Sen. John McCain’s funeral, Warner said he revised his will to dictate his ashes be “spread over the valley” in Virginia. Warner said his endorsement of Kaine is rooted in his lifelong friendship with Kaine’s father-in-law, former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, the first Republican elected Virginia governor in the 20th Century. Warner acknowledged the political tide might be turning in Virginia but called the state “fundamentally conservative.” “The state stands for firm principles and leans a little bit on the progressive side,” he said. Cockburn, who served on the board of the Piedmont Environmental Council for a decade, said her strong support for conservation and environmental issues has won her support among rural Virginia’s more moderate Republicans. “There are many people who would consider that their very top issue,” Cockburn said of conservation. “And that’s why they [are] gravitating to me.”
Committee backs plan to level hills on U.S. 29 By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
Members of a community panel working with the Virginia Department of Transportation in Warrenton support an idea to even out two humps and raise the grade in dips on U.S. 29 near Vint Hill, in an effort to make that intersection safer. “We’ve run into fatal flaws before,” cautioned VDOT Chief Engineer Garrett Moore. But before spending serious money on engineering, he wanted to know the idea had community backing. He got it from the members of Route 29 New Baltimore Advisory Committee on Oct. 25. “This is the best shot we’ve had in 15 years,” said Peter Eltringham, a member of the Fauquier County Transportation Committee. He said the hill-leveling would address the sightline obstruction problem. Other committee members had questions but were onboard. Committee members representing homeowners associations in Brookside and Vint Hill were going to brief residents. Members of the Buckland Preservation Society will be apprised. Unless a “fatal flaw” with the concept is found that would make it engineeringly unsound and/or too expensive, work on the intersection could start as early as the summer of 2019
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or 2020. “What can we do to get it in 2019?” asked Ike Broaddus, co-owner of Old Bust Head Brewery and a member of the advisory committee. “Consensus. Agreement where everybody is happy, and they feel like they’re getting something from it,” replied Moore. The aim of the project is to give drivers traveling north on U.S. 29 toward Prince William County a clearer view. Currently, the view is obscured by two rises in the topography. Rumble strips were placed in the roadway and a caution light blinks when the traffic light ahead at the intersection with Vint Hill Road turns red to cut down on rear-end and cross traffic collisions. VDOT dropped a plan to create a restricted crossing at Vint Hill Road with U-turns after it was criticized by county officials and community members. VDOT wants to avoid having to acquire land outside the right of way. That would add cost to a project Moore hopes to bring in under $5 million. “This is a very tight fit to make it work,” Moore said of the existing right of way. Innovative construction strategies will be explored to reduce the cost of lowering the hills. Reach James Ivancic at jivancic@ fauquier.com
with
the Manassas Ballet theatre Orchestra in
December 13-23 Twelve shows to choose from TICKETS STARTING AT ONLY $35
Box office hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 6 pm 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110
www.hyltoncenter.org 703-993-7759 Information on ticket discounts, MBT, and the affiliated Academy: 703-257-1811 • info@manassasballet.org
manassasballet.org &
@manassasballettheatre
Manassas Ballet Theatre is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Prince William County, and the City of Manassas
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