ALL-STATE FOOTBALL: Freedom (Woodbridge) places 10 players on all-Class 6 team. PAGE 10
January 12, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 2 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
PW digital gateway opponent launches bid for county chair Jefferson warns against ‘overdevelopment’ By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
COURTESY PHOTO
The Carroll-Gatling siblings in a photo posted to a GoFundMe account launched for them on Jan. 5.
Family hit by fatal shooting recently lost their mother
3-year-old girl killed, 4 teens wounded are improving, friends say By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
The Dumfries family shattered by a domestic shooting that resulted in the death last week of Journee Carroll-Ward, 3, was already grieving the recent loss of their mother, who died in September, according to a family friend. The latest tragedy has been “devastating” for the eight children, who were still recovering from the September death of their mother, Portia Carroll, who was just 32 when she succumbed to diabetes, said Alix Grimm, a Montclair resident and a friend of Carroll’s and the children’s grandmother. “Everyone is in shock,” Grimm said. “There was so much grief and shock when Portia suddenly died – and now this.” See SHOOTING, page 2
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JILL PALERMO
Alleged shooter had prior weapons arrests, page 2.
Neighbors left a memorial of stuffed animals and balloons reading “I love you” on the Carroll-Gatling family’s front steps.
Retired general joins the electoral board, page 3
When Deshundra Jefferson moved from Alexandria to Prince William County in 2015, she was looking for more space for herself and her young son. When she happened upon a townhome in Montclair, Deshundra Jefferson she was smitten. “I was like, ‘This is home,’” Jefferson said in a recent interview. “And I loved it because I saw all these kids running around, kids who were my son’s age, and it was walking distance from my son’s elementary school.” Jefferson, 47, has since bought a larger home and has come to love both Montclair, a community of about 15,000 residents in eastern Prince William, and the county as a whole. But recent land-use decisions by the board of supervisors have Jefferson worried that overdevelopment – particularly the numerous data centers recently approved by the board’s Democratic majority – could make Prince William County unlivable. That’s why Jefferson is challenging Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler, a fellow Democrat, in the June 20 primary. “I understand the need to grow. I understand the desire to bring in more revenue,” Jefferson said. “But there’s a saying: Not all money is good money. … True leadership requires you to learn when to say ‘no.’” Jefferson said she is especially concerned about the Prince William Digital Gateway, which would open 2,139 acres adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park to data center development. The plan, now at the rezoning stage, proposes to raze See COUNTY CHAIR, page 4
MLK oratorical contest airs Jan. 16, page 7
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