ATHLETES JOIN PROTESTS: Two former Prince William County football players marched last week. PAGE 9
June 10, 2020 | Vol. 19, No. 24 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Superintendent calls to rename ‘Stonewall’ schools By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Prince William County School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef says he agrees with Superintendent Steven Walts’ call to rename Stonewall Jackson High School and Stonewall Middle and believes the school board will take action to do so before the new school year begins in August. “I think it very well will [happen before next school year] and I think that it should,” Lateef said in an interview Friday. In a letter to staff, parents and students, Walts said the proposed changes are in response to recent events, locally and nationally, that “have shown that the voices of many in our community are not being heard.” “We can no longer represent the Confederacy in our schools,” Walts said. “It is an insult and an affront to our students, especially in schools where the majority of the students are students of color.” Lateef said the full board supports changing the schools’ names. He said he and his fellow board
members have privately discussed the Stonewall schools’ names for weeks in exchanges that first began after Ahmaud Arbery’s death hit the national airwaves. Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in February after two white men chased him down while he was jogging in a Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood. Police filed no charges in the case until May. Arbery’s death is one of three high-profile killings of black Americans that have sparked protests across the nation in recent days. The May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis only intensified the school board’s discussions, Lateef said. “We have been talking about it with the superintendent and his staff. … Having a building named for someone who offends so many people goes to the heart of who we are and what we’re putting out there to others,” Lateef added. “We decided that the school board needs to take this up soon.” See STONEWALL, page 2
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A lonely goodbye Beloved coach and father, lost to COVID-19 By Robin Earl
Times Staff Writer
Only 17 people attended the funeral of Milford “Glen” Cordell, 79, who lived in Vienna and then in Fauquier County before spending his final days at The Wellington at Lake Manassas Glen Cordell in Gainesville. His wife, Carol Cordell, said If it weren’t for COVID-19 there likely would have been more than 200. Cordell coached youth sports in Vienna for more than 40 years and was inducted into the Vienna Baseball Hall of Fame and the Washington Home Plate Club for his contributions to the game. Cordell moved to the memory care unit at The Wellington at Lake Manassas after suffering two strokes. He first showed symptoms of COVID-19 on May 3 and died exactly one week later. See CORDELL, page 2
Arsheki Berry spoke before the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on June 2 about her arrest May 30 during a protest in Manassas.
Police action at issue during protest arrest By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
PHOTO BY ALFREDO PANAMENO, SKY’S THE LIMIT MEDIA
LIGHTS FOR JUSTICE: After more than a week of Black Lives Matter protests, marches and demonstrations across Prince William, more than 100 people gathered at the Sean Connaughton plaza in Woodbridge Sunday night for a different type of event: One that tried to pivot from what’s wrong to what’s next. (Full coverage at princewilliamtimes.com.)
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A Manassas protest against police brutality on May 30 ended with six police officers injured, several vehicles damaged and six arrests. Now, a local woman arrested for unlawful assembly says police officers used excessive force against her and her husband. In comments made to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday, June 2, Arsheki Berry, of Manassas, said she and her husband, Carl Berry, were arrested that night as they left a Best Buy parking lot in the area of the protest at Sudley Road and Sudley Manor Drive in Manassas. See PROTEST, page 5
Opinion.................................................5 Puzzle Page..........................................6 Real Estate..........................................12 Sports...................................................9
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