HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Standings, region rankings, this week’s schedule. SPORTS, PAGE 10
October 13, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 41 | 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.
Citing partisan tension, elections chief says he’ll resign By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
Citing ‘debilitating stress,’ Prince William County’s recently hired Director of Elections Eric Olsen said Friday he’ll leave his post after the Nov. 8 election. Olsen made the announcement during a heated electoral board meeting during which tempers flared over whether there would be an equal partisan split of chief and assistant chief election officers assigned to each of the county’s 103
voting precincts on Election Day. Olsen, 46, said he was recently diagnosed with a heart condition and needs to prioritize his health and can’t continue doing his job in the current political climate. “It’s not a good time to be an election official right now,” he said during the meeting, held Friday, Oct. 7 at the Old Courthouse in Manassas. “I think there’s legitimate fear about what could come down the road for people that are just trying to
do their jobs.” Olsen’s announcement came after Denny Daugherty, chair of the Prince William County Republican Committee, said during public comment time that the committee had retained legal counsel and was seeking to compel the electoral board to make changes to Election Day worker assignments at several polling places. See CHIEF, page 4
County historical commission urges denial of ‘digital gateway’ plan
Fatal police shooting deemed ‘justified’ By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
By Jill Palermo
larly significant because the area lies within the battlefield’s “congressional boundaries,” meaning Civil War activity occurred there despite it not being formally part of the Manassas National Battlefield Park. In 2006, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service defined “the Manassas Battlefield Historic District” as spanning 6,400 acres, of which only 5,073 acres are contained by the park’s boundaries. Another 1,396 acres lie along the Pageland Lane corridor and within the 2,133-acre area that would be replanned for data centers if the supervisors approve the PW Digital Gateway comprehensive plan amendment. A final vote is scheduled for Nov. 1.
A Sept. 1 police shooting that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Woodbridge man was deemed “justified and reasonable” by an independent criminal investigation as well as a separate review by Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth, Prince William County police announced Oct. 7. Jaiden Malik Carter, 19, of Woodbridge, was killed in the incident, while Shane Dareon Pollard, 30, of Woodbridge, suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. The two were struck by gunfire during a multi-agency, undercover police buy of the deadly opioid fentanyl that took place in a Dale City townhome development and devolved into an exchange of gunfire between three suspects and police, according to 1st Sgt. Jonathan Perok, a Prince William County Police Department spokesman. Four police officers fired their weapons during the incident: two Prince William County detectives and two City of Manassas detectives. The law-enforcement investigation into the shooting was conducted by the regional “Critical Incident Response Team,” which is comprised of investigators from multiple
See COMMISSION, page 2
See SHOOTING, page 5
Times Staff Writer
Citing threats to historic resources of national significance, the Prince William County Historical Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to urge that the board of supervisors not approve the “Prince William Digital Gateway” as proposed and instead shield key areas from development. Those areas include land within the Manassas Battlefield Historic District as well as the birthplace and gravesite of Jennie Dean, a local icon who was born into slavery and later founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth, Northern Virginia’s first high school for African American students. During more than four hours of discussion that spanned two meetings – held Monday, Oct. 3, and Tuesday, Oct. 11 – the historical commission reviewed research about the Pageland Lane area, including its role in the First and Second Battles of Manassas, both pivotal in the Civil War, and the area’s use as an encampment for Confederate troops after the First Battle of Manassas. Among other things, the commission discussed how troops training in the Pageland area from North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama were beset by measles in the late summer and early fall of 1861, leaving more than 200 men dead, according to several sources. The commission noted that the southern portion of the Digital Gateway study area, which it defines as between Little Bull Run and U.S. 29, is particu-
Eric Olsen
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JILL PALERMO
Blaine Pearsall, in tan jacket, second from right, urges his fellow Prince William Historical Commissioners to press county officials on why they want to open areas in the Manassas Battlefield Historic District to data centers.
What’s cooking at Prince William libraries, page 8
Sudley Elementary celebrates its 50th anniversary with a fall festival, page 9
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