FOOTBALL SHOWDOWN: Forest Park hoping for statement win against Gar-Field. PAGE 9
March 18, 2021 | Vol. 20, 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.
See PrinceWilliamTimes.com for coronavirus updates
Remembering ‘Mr. Z’
Students, staff mourn Gar-Field math teacher lost to COVID-19 By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
SUBMITTED
Gar-Field High School math teacher Richard Zuckernick with a group of his geometry students in 2019. Zuckernick died March 9 due to complications of COVID-19.
Richard Zuckernick was the kind of math teacher who would “air box” while playing the theme music from “Rocky” to psyche his students up for a big test. He was also known to be a bit goofy, like the time he told his students he’d wear a pink wig to school if enough of his students passed their tests. That was back in the fall of 2019. His students rocked their geometry tests, so “Mr. Z,” as his students called him, rocked an especially bright, neon-pink wig at school the next day. Maya Laws, a sophomore at Gar-Field High School, described Zuckernick as a “gentle giant” who favored corny jokes and made his students feel comfortable and confident about math, a subject that can be a struggle for many. “Mr. Z was hands down the most understanding teacher. He made us laugh, and he just made everyone feel so comfortable,” Laws said Friday. “He was just a really genuine person. That’s prob-
ably why it hurts so bad that he passed away.” Zuckernick died Tuesday, March 9, after a nearly two-month battle with COVID-19. He was Prince William County’s third school division employee and first teacher to die from complications from the disease. He was 59. Students and staff at Gar-Field High School, where Zuckernick taught for the last four years, spent the last week paying tribute to their beloved math teacher. They created an online memorial page and decorated two bulletin boards, located near his classroom, to share memories and stories about Zuckernick, who was known as “Zuck” to teachers and staff. At the Friday night’s football game, school officials called for a moment of silence and dedicated the coin toss in his honor, according to Gar-Field High School Assistant Principal Milly Polanco. Some of Zuckernick’s students and fellow math teachers wore pink wigs and bright green shirts, his favorite color, to school earlier that day. See ZUCKERNICK, page 2
County board OKs mid-county development plan
Supervisor says apartments bad for local GOP Supervisor calls leaked tapes ‘gotcha politics’
Independent Hill plan carves 40 acres from the ‘rural crescent’
By Daniel Berti
By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
As debate continues over how to address the county’s affordable housing challenges – and whether to develop the “rural crescent” – a 2019 recording has surfaced of a Republican Prince William supervisor saying that building more apartments will hurt local Republicans politically. The recording, which was leaked over the weekend by a local developer, has already prompted a back-
Supervisor Pete Candland, R-Gainesville lash from the Prince William Democratic Committee whose leaders say the statements made by Supervisor Pete Candland, R-Gainesville, are comparable to “redlining” and segregationist tactics historically used to keep racial and ethnic minorities out of certain neighborhoods or areas. See SUPERVISOR, page 6 INSIDE Classified............................................17 Lifestyle..............................................14 Obituaries...........................................15
Times Staff Writer
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors has approved a controversial plan that paves the way for new development around Independent Hill that would allow up to 200 new homes, a shopping center and significantly more acreage for industrial uses. The plan also carves about 40 acres from the existing “rural crescent” that could become a new data center. The board approved the plan at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning on a 5-3, Opinion.................................................7 Puzzle Page..........................................8 Real Estate..........................................14 Sports...................................................9
party-line vote with all five Democrats voting in favor and the board’s three Republicans voting against it. The debate over the proposal was marred by arguments between Democratic and Republican board members, and was nearly scuttled after two Republican supervisors – Yesli Vega, R-Coles, and Jeanine Lawson, R-Brentsville – abruptly left the meeting at 1 a.m. in what appeared to be an attempt to break the meeting’s quorum and delay the vote. Because Supervisors Pete Candland, R-Gainesville, and Victor Angry, D-Neabsco, were participating in the meeting virtually; it left only four Democratic supervisors to vote See INDEPENDENT HILL, page 4
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