Prince William Times 03/17/2022

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SECOND IN RICHMOND: The Osbourn Park girls and Battlefield boys were state basketball runnerups. SPORTS Pages 19-20

March 17, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 11 | 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.

Firefighters rally for more pay, residents decry new meals tax By Kipp Hanley

Contributing Writer

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGGIE NEALL

Forest Park High School students, most in masks but some without, gather after school to prepare for their upcoming Suicide Awareness Walk in May.

Local students, teachers slow to shed their masks By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Most Prince William County students and teachers are still wearing masks in schools despite the new state law banning school mask mandates signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in February. At least half, if not more, are still donning them, according to recent interviews with students, teachers, parents and some school board members. The school division stopped enforcing its mask mandate on Feb. 17, the day after Youngkin signed Senate Bill 739, which gave students the option of wearing masks in schools. Superintendent LaTanya Mc-

Dade dropped the mask mandate for staff on Friday, Feb. 25, the day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its metric for assessing COVID19’s impact in local communities. The move effectively lifted the CDC’s previous recommendation on mask-wearing in about 90% of the country, including Prince William County. Under the new “COVID-19 community level” measure, Prince William County has remained at a “low” level of COVID-19 impact since late February, according to the CDC.

See MASKS, page 2

Need help with websites? Look to the library Page 9

“No new meals tax” was a popular refrain among Prince William County residents during the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ first public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1. Many of the more than 30 people who spoke during the two-hour hearing, held Tuesday, March 15, expressed their disappointment with the proposed 4% tax on restaurant meals. If adopted, the new tax is expected to raise $24.5 million in revenue for the county next year. Many Northern Virginia cities, towns and counties – including Alexandria, Manassas, Fairfax, Dumfries, Haymarket and Arlington

and Stafford counties all have meals taxes. Locally, the money is needed to support Prince William County schools’ proposed budget, which will offer average staff raises of 7%. See TAX, page 2

Thoroughfare historic cemetery in limbo By Cher Muzyk

Contributing Writer

The status of the “Scott Cemetery,” a historic burial ground initially thought to contain an estimated 75 to 100 graves in the Thoroughfare area of western Prince William County is in limbo after two archaeological investigations found no proof of human burials. Prince William County officials shared that information Monday, March 14, during a community meeting at the Gainesville Haymarket Library. The meeting was part of a series of actions taken by the county to advance preservation efforts in Thoroughfare, a historic community in Broad Run that was first settled by freed slaves See CEMETERY, page 6

Upcoming Events Pages 12-13

88 DULLES, VA

It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com

PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN

Mitch Nason, president of Prince William Professional Firefighters.


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