OPENING KICKOFF LOOMS: A preview of some Prince William County football teams. SPORTS, Pages 10-12
August 25, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 34 | 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.
Sticker shocked? Property tax bills rise despite targeted relief By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
Many Prince William County residents are likely facing higher personal property tax bills this year than they paid on the same vehicles in 2021, despite the temporary tax relief the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved earlier this year. Tax bills arriving in mailboxes over the past two weeks assess vehicles at only 80% of their value rather than the customary 100%. The county board took that step in April in an attempt to mitigate rising used car values driven by pandemic supply chain delays. Still, increasing used car values have driven tax bills higher. PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
Students stream out of buses and toward Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge on the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 22.
Superintendent: Hoping for a year without pandemic ‘distractions’ Prince William schools whittle teacher vacancies down to 168 By Aileen M. Streng Contributing Writer
The new school year began Monday morning in Prince William County with students piling out of school buses anxious to see friends and greeted by waiting teachers, anxious to start teaching them. Prince William County Public School Superintendent Dr. LaTayna McDade was at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge Monday morning. “We are just excited to be returning back
See TAX, page 4
‘It breaks everybody’s heart’ Friends mourn former Potomac H.S. basketball star Kyle Honore, who was hit by a train in N.C.
to school, and I think what I am hopeful about is embracing a really positive school year, focused on teaching and learning,” she said. McDade said she hopes to be getting away “from some of the distractions” of the last couple of years due to the pandemic. “Having students return to some normal routine so we can really focus on the core business of education,” she added, “because there have been so many distractions in the past.” While the worst of the pandemic appears to be over, new variants continue to emerge, and the possibility remains that COVID-19 could again disrupt schools and learning.
Friends and family are rallying to support the Honore family in the wake of the tragic loss last week of former Potomac High boys’ basketball star Kyle Honore, who was struck and killed by a train two days after his parents dropped him off at the campus of Wingate (N.C.) University for the start of his freshman year.
See SCHOOLS, page 4
See HONORE, page 2
UPCOMING EVENTS: The President’s Own U.S. Marine Corps Band to peform Wednesday, Aug. 31. See Page 9
By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Fun at the 2022 PWC Fair, See page 8
88 DULLES, VA
It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com
PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
Former Potomac H.S. basketball star Kyle Honore, 19, averaged nearly 20 points a game as a senior and was first team all-Class 6 and Cardinal District Player of the Year. He won a scholarship to play basketball at Wingate University.