BATTLEFIELD BOYS LACROSSE, COLGAN BASEBALL LOSE IN STATE FINALS. Sports, Page 13
July 1, 2021 | Vol. 20, No. 26 | 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.
1000s of new homes proposed in land-use update
Landowners ask county to replan 1,000 acres in the rural crescent By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
FILE PHOTOS
The Route 66 P.T. Cruisers, pictured here in the last Dale City Independence Day parade in 2019, are regular participants in the parade, which will kick off this year at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 3.
Back with a bang By Aileen M. Streng Contributing Writer
After a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, Independence Day parades and celebrations are making a welcome return to the Prince William County area this year. The Dale City Independence Day Parade, one of the largest in the commonwealth, will kick off the weekend’s festivities on Saturday, July 3. “It’s exciting that we are getting back to normal,” said Ernestine Jenkins, a longtime Dale City resident and wife of the late Neabsco District supervisor John Jenkins, who has led the parade from its earliest years. “We have had [COVID-19] rules and regulations for over a year. Everyone is excited that they can be in the parade and still be safe,” she said. The parade will step off at 10 a.m. from Kirkdale Drive and will continue along Dale Boulevard to its terminus in the Dale City commuter lot at Center Plaza. As of last week, there were 100 groups signed up to participate. See FOURTH, page 2
Firework shows are set for Manassas, Manassas Park and Quantico
Tucked in the rolling hills near Manassas battlefield, Brad Smith’s family has hammered out a living raising cattle for five generations. The family’s 210-acre property doesn’t look much different than when Smith’s great grandparents bought it in 1903, but Smith says the surrounding area has changed drastically as more people have moved in nearby. “You don’t feel safe going up and down the road with equipment and machinery anymore. I’ve actually been hit twice on a tractor,” Smith said. See LAND-USE, page 4
What to know as Va. legalizes marijuana Staff Reports Over the past year, Prince William County police wrote 119 tickets, each carrying a $25 fine, in connection with the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The tickets, which amounted to civil penalties, took effect July 1, 2020, when Virginia first decriminalized simple possession of marijuana. State law is changing again on July 1, when possession of small amounts of marijuana will become legal in Virginia for the first time. But the new law comes with limitations. Here’s what one needs to know now: Virginia adults over the age of 21 can possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis for personal use. It can be used in private residences, but smoking or consuming marijuana in public will remain illegal. Buying and selling marijuana and marijuana seeds will remain illegal until 2024, when retail sales are expected to begin. Adults can privately share up to an ounce of marijuana, as long as it is given away and not sold. It’s illegal to use gifts of marijuana as an incentive to sell other products. See MARIJUANA, page 4
Meet the Class of 2021 valedictorians and salutatorians! See page 8
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