Prince William Times 06/23/2022

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SPORTS: A recap of Prince William Countyโ€™s top-performing teams of the spring. PAGES 11-12

June 23, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 25 | 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.

Yesli Vega wins 7th District GOP primary County supervisor will face U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger in November By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega has won her partyโ€™s her partyโ€™s nomination to run for for U.S. Congress in the newly drawn 7th District and will challenge two-term Democratic incumbent Abigail Spanberger in November. In a statement released Tuesday night, Vega noted that sheโ€™s the first political conservative of Hispanic descent to win a congressional primary in Virginia. โ€œThis is a historic moment for Hispanics across Virginia and our nation. I want to thank my family, friends, volunteers and all the voters who believe in our message of liberty, safety and economic prosperity,โ€ Vega wrote.

With about 95% of the precincts reporting Tuesday evening, Vega was leading the six-way race with 10,875 votes or nearly 29% of the ballots counted. Derrick Anderson was trailing Vega by about 1,950 votes. Anderson, a former Army Green Beret and a native of Spotsylvania County, had garnered 8,925 votes or about 24% of the ballots counted, according to still unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. State Sen. Bryce Reeves was the third-highest vote-getter with 7,557 votes or about 20% of the ballots counted in the race. See VEGA, page 2

PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN

Yesli Vega, 36, was the first Latina elected to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in 2019.

Report fuels debate on rural-area data centers By Peter Cary

Piedmont Journalism Foundation

PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD

Joann Bagnerise and Norma Fields, sitting on the bench, left and right, watch as Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood, center right, pulls the black cover from the new historical marker at the Dumfries Slave and Free African American Cemetery.

โ€˜These people were cared about, they were lovedโ€™ By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Their names have been lost to history. But the 30 or more enslaved and free Black men and women who were laid to rest centuries ago on a hill that now lies behind Dumfries Elementary School are cared about, honored and remembered โ€“ even today. Thatโ€™s the message advocates for the Dumfries Slave and Free African American

Cemetery say they hope will be understood now that the cemetery has been formally designated by a Prince William County historical marker. About 200 people gathered outside Dumfries Elementary School on Saturday, June 18, for a Juneteenth ceremony to unveil the new marker, led by Prince William County Supervisor Andrea Bailey, D-PoSee CEMETERY, page 2

New Manassas public safety building named for fallen police officer, page 3

A consultantโ€™s report to the Prince William Board of Supervisors on future land needs for the countyโ€™s targeted industry sectors has added more fuel to the already fiery debate over whether the county should open its rural area to a massive new data center development. Those favoring the Prince William Digital Gateway, a proposal to replan 2,100 acres along Pageland Lane to allow for data centers, argue that the May 13 report by Camoin Associates of Saratoga Springs, New York, supports their arguments. Some opposed to the Gateway find justification for their position

Battle Street Live returns to Old Town Manassas, page 9

88 DULLES, VA

Itโ€™s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com

PHOTO BY PETER CARY

Signs promoting the โ€œPW Digital Gatewayโ€ dot Pageland Lane in western Prince William, where 102 landowners have asked the county to replan their land for data centers. in the report too, and still others fault in the reportโ€™s basic assumptions. See CENTERS, page 7


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