SPORTS: Woodbridge wrestling maintains Cardinal District dominance. PAGES 10, 12
January 25, 2024 | Vol. 23, No. 4 | 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.
State Sen. Jeremy McPike, left, greets Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham, center, and Jemny Marquinez, right, after a Va. Senate committee hearing in Richmond. COURTESY PHOTO
‘Dreaming’ of a police badge
Local lawmaker carries bill to open law-enforcement jobs to DACA recipients By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
When Jemny Marquinez was 12, she participated in the Prince William County Police Department’s annual “Santa Cops” charity event and received a bicycle as a Christmas gift. She’s wanted to be a police officer ever since but can’t in Virginia because she’s not a citizen. “My heroes quickly became the ones that I shopped with, and the officers that let me play
with the sirens and lights on the cruisers,” Marquinez said. “Now that I am older, I realize the impact that small gesture had on my life.” At the request of Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham, state Sen. Jeremy McPike has introduced a bill to allow DACA recipients, such as Marquinez, to serve as police officers, deputy sheriffs and jail officers in Virginia. See DACA, page 5
Voters trickle in as Va. primaries begin Early turnout shows low energy for March 5 presidential primary By Cher Muzyk
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
Virginia residents began voting in party primaries for president last week, but if you didn’t, know you’re not alone. As of Monday, almost nobody had turned out to vote.
Biden’s Manassas rally interrupted by protesters President’s ‘Restore Roe’ event sought to energize supporters By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
voters. In Fauquier County, there were 15 voters by midday Monday from among more than 50,000 who are registered.
President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “Restore Roe” rally in Manassas Tuesday sought to energize supporters and highlight Democrats’ top issue in the 2024 campaign — restoring reproductive rights. But the event went off track as pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly interrupted the president’s speech. Biden and Harris criticized the likely GOP nominee in the race, former President Donald Trump, blaming him directly for the Supreme Court’s rollback of abortion rights in its June 2022 Dobbs decision.
See PRIMARIES, page 4
See RALLY, page 2
“2024 may go down as one of the least exciting presidential nomination cycles in half a century.” STEPHEN FARNSWORTH, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
Just 10 Prince William County voters came to the polls on Friday, Jan. 19, the first day of early voting. That’s 10 out of more than 320,000 registered
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/CHER MUZYK
President Joe Biden, flanked by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, waves to the crowd at the Hylton Performing Arts Center.
Freedom H.S. adds new ‘pregovernor’s school’ specialty program, page 3
Anita’s restaurant returns to Manassas, page 7
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