Falls Church News-Press 1-21-2010

Januar y 21 - 27, 2010

Falls Church, Vi r g i n i a • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free

Founded 1991 • Vo l . XI X N o . 47

Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads

Inside This Week Mason High Holds Haiti Fundraiser Today George Mason High School students and staff will be holding a series of events to raise money for the Haitian relief effort, beginning with a day-long opportunity today at Flippin’ Pizza.

See School News, page 21

Business Leaders Hail ‘The Little City’ Brand

Matt Smith, principle of SmithGifford marketing firm, laid out the rationale for the group’s selection of “The Little City” as the new “brand” for the City of Falls Church to the monthly luncheon of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Tuesday.

F.C.’s Fund Balance Could Fall Below 0 Without Big Tax Hike

Judge’s Injunction Adds to Shortfall

Due to Recession

by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

See News Briefs, page 7

David Brooks: The Pragmatic Leviathan In times of crisis, Americans rally around their government, but most of the time they have treated it as a supporting actor in national life.

See page 12

‘35 Shots of Rum’

About four people who have known each other in one way or another for a long time, and how their relationships shift. Ebert calls the movie “a delicate study of human affection.”

See page 26

President Barack Obama greets students as he and Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan (standing in the background) visited Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church where they held an event to discuss their “Race to the Top” education initiative, Tuesday. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)

President’s Visit Re-Kindles Graham Road School Re-Location Concerns

by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

Index

Editorial..................2 Letters.................2,8 Community News & Notes..............10-11 Comment........12-15 Business News & Notes...................16 Sports.............18-20 Calendar.........24-25 Roger Ebert....26-28

Restaurant Spotlight ............................30 Comics, Sodoku & Crossword...........33 Classified Ads......34 Business & Services Directory..............35 Critter Corner.......36 Business Listing..37 City Focus......38-39

A controversy over the planned relocation of the Graham Road Elementary School in a Greater Falls Church area of Fairfax County flared up yesterday following the high-profile visit to the school by President Barack Obama Tuesday.

A statement from the executive director of the Arlington Boulevard Community

Development Association (ABCD), issued following the President’s visit, charged that the decision last year by the Fairfax County School Board to relocate the school could have had racial overtones, a charge adamantly denied by school officials.

While 95 percent of the students at the school are AfricanAmerican, Latino or Asian and 90 percent walk to the school at its current location, many of them coming from the Kingsley

Commons, the new location “was lobbied for by a small group of non-minority parents living proximate to the proposed relocation site,” causing “ninety percent of students to be bussed as a result,” wrote Sharyn Franck, ABCD’s executive director. She said that a petition signed by 500 citizens opposing the move was ignored.

But School Board member Continued on Page 4

The grim parameters of a budget slammed by sharp recessiondriven revenue shortfalls and a court order prohibiting use of profits from its water system was presented to a joint work session of the Falls Church City Council and School Board Tuesday night.

The City of Falls Church’s fund balance could actually go into the red by summer if a hefty tax increase is not instituted in the Council spring budget decisions and reflected in tax bills that will be due in May, the group was told.

That “worst case scenario” will prevail if the injunction by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge R. Terrence Ney issued earlier this month is meant to deny water profits to the City for two fiscal years, not one.

Given an apparent discrepancy between the content of the judge’s decision and the wording of his injunction, the matter remains unclear pending a clarification, City officials were told.

The judge’s decision could cost the City either $2.2 million, or double that amount.

Even though the Council has authorized a court appeal of the judge’s ruling, it cannot await the outcome of that to make plans to address the shortfalls in the current fiscal year budget, and those projected for the next.

The bottom line is that the Council will be forced to consider a combination of deep budget cuts, including layoffs, and real estate Continued on Page 5

Page 2

January 21 - 27, 2010

EDITORIAL

Blackwell J. Hawthorne



An Independent & Certified Newspaper Of Record Serving Northern Virginia

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Founded in 1991

Vol. XIX, No. 47 January 21 - 27, 2010 • City of Falls Church ‘Business of the Year’ 1991 & 2001 • • Certified by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Publish Official Legal Notices • • Member, Virginia Press Association •

Nicholas F. Benton Owner & Editor-In-Chief nfbenton@fcnp.com

Jody Fellows Managing editor

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Natalie Bedell Staff Reporter

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Dean Edwards Staff Reporter

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Joe Fridling Ad Director

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Lou Emery, Advertising lemery@fcnp.com

Jim Bishop, Advertising jbishop@fcnp.com

Nick Gatz, Graphics ngatz@fcnp.com

Marilyn Austin, Classifieds maustin@fcnp.com

Diana Glazer, Staff Julio Idrobo, Circulation Manager

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www.fcnp.com The Falls Church News-Press is published weekly on Thursdays and is distributed free of charge throughout the City of Falls Church and the Greater Falls Church area. Offices are at 450 W. Broad Street #321, Falls Church, VA 22046. Reproduction of this publication in whole or part is prohibited except with the written permission of the publisher. ©2010 Benton Communications Inc. The News-Press is printed on recycled paper.

Blackwell J. Hawthorne died hours before his 88th birthday last Friday night at his home in North Arlington, a stone’s throw from the City of Falls Church. “Blackie,” as he was affectionately known to everyone, served from October 22, 1998 to March 17, 2009 in the advertising department of the Falls Church News-Press, before the onset of a longterm illness prevented him from coming to the office any more. His 10 and a half years of unbroken employment at the News-Press made him the second-longest serving News-Press staffer, besides the owner-editor himself, in the newspaper’s 19-year history.

“Blackie” made quite an entrance when he first showed up at the News-Press office in late October 1998 at the age of 76. He was “mad as a wet hen,” he exclaimed, because his employer, a newspaper in Fairfax County where he’d worked for many years, cut him loose, and he wanted a job. Astonished by his sudden appearance, the News-Press editor shared glances with the only other person in the office, the two constituting the full staff of the paper at the time. “What great gift has just befallen us?,” they both thought.

From that day until last March, “Blackie” worked tirelessly as the director of advertising for the News-Press, bringing his lifetime of experience, charm, dignity, good humor, fierce loyalty and “street savvy” to his work. To many of the scores upon scores upon scores of new advertisers he brought to the paper, he was the face of the News-Press, the man they connected with it who always showed up to cajole them into advertising, to help them improve their ads, or to deliver papers to them each week to help grow the readership and the response levels to their ads. The NewsPress could ask for no more superb an emissary in that role.

As he progressed into his mid-80s, “Blackie’s” energy and dedication were a marvel. While being known and loved by so many among local Falls Church business owners, he commanded the attention of everyone at the monthly luncheons of the local Chamber of Commerce when it came his turn to stand up and say a word about his business. In his inimitable style with his Southern Virginia drawl, he made it clear that if someone had a business and was not advertising in the News-Press, they were making a grave error.

“Blackie” was an inspiration to all who came to work at the NewsPress, including the young high school and college interns and part-time workers. When word of his passing was circulated to current and former News-Press folks last weekend, it was poignant that among the first and most heartfelt condolences came back from those who were college students when they shared the small News-Press office with him.

We found ourselves saying most often about “Blackie,” with the highest degree of appreciation and admiration, simply, “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore!” We all loved him very much.

Letters to the Editor

Shame on All Who Denigrate Civic Activists Editor,

In your most recent editorial, you praised city council members for standing up to citizen activists. This position was taken by several council persons over the course of the debate about the election. I have had enough of it.

I am left unsure how I can best express my opinion when formal channels such as speaking at a council meeting are no lon-

ger valid and those who remain officially silent are cited as the majority. As a concerned citizen who spoke at several council meetings, I remain shocked that the elected officials and you, the editor, would find it so easy to dismiss what those of us who are active in the city have to say.

Without its citizen activists, the City would have no-one volunteering on any boards or commis-

Platform 1. Keep the news clean and fair.

2. Play no favorites, never mix business and editorial policy.

3. Do not let the news columns reflect editorial comment.

4. Publish the news that is public property without fear or favor of friend or foe.

5. Accept no charity and ask no favors.

6. Give “value received” for every dollar you take in.

7. Make the paper show profit if you can, but above all keep it clean, fearless and fair.

Advertise in the

The News-Press is delivered to every household and many businesses in the City of Falls Church (22046), and to many homes and businesses (but not all) in the adjacent 22041, 22042, 22043, 22044 and 22205 zip codes. Its total circulation of 30,500 per issue is greater than any other newspaper in the distribution area, including dailies. For complete advertising information, call us or check out our web site.

Call 532-3267 or visit www.FCNP.com

All original and some syndicated content is accessible via the Falls Church News-Press online site, www.FCNP.com.

FCNP.com also includes photos, stories, ads and more not appearing in the print edition.

For information on online advertising, please contact Nick Gatz at 703-532-3267 or ngatz@fcnp.com.

www.FCNP.com sions, no-one organizing community service organizations like Falls Church Arts and Citizens for Better City, no-one organizing community wide events like Watch Night or summer concerts, no-one participating in city clean-ups or ivy pulls, and noone finding their way to step up and serve as an elected official.

It is a fact that what makes this place, this City, so great is its volunteers.

Shame on you and shame on the council for denigrating these volunteers for simply asking that more study be put into the election issue or for true consideration of a referendum.

Gordon Theisz Falls Church

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Kick-Off Event Saturday For the Race Editor,

Last May, the Falls Church community exceeded all of our expectations when 84 teams, many of them made up of high school and middle school students, participated in the 2009 Falls Church Relay For Life and raised more than $171,000 to support the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer. This more than doubled the number of teams participating and the amount raised Continued on Page 8

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 3

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January 21 - 27, 2010

Obama Visits Graham Road School, Cites Its Exemplary Achievements Continued from Page 1

Jane Strauss told the News-Press yesterday that the planned move was due simply to the “very small footprint” of the Graham Road (GRES) school’s current location, which made expansion impossible. The new location, the former Devonshire School a half-mile away, has more than twice the space, she said.

“When you make decisions to spend millions to renovate for something that will last 30 years, it is always tough,” she said. “We tried to acquire more land at the current location, but couldn’t.”

The renovation of the Devonshire School, which has been used in recent years as administrative offices for the Fairfax Schools, is expected to begin this summer, said Paul Regnier, spokesman for the school system, and students from

GRES will be relocated there beginning in the fall of 2012.

Notwithstanding all that, Obama’s appearance at GRES, where he made a major announcement on his push for another $1.3 billion for his federal education initiative, Race to the Top, underscored the extraord i n a r y achievements at the school in JANE STRAUSS recent years.

Despite Fairfax County the fact School Board that close to 80 percent of students there qualify for free or reducedprice meals, making it one of the lowest-income student bodies in the county, in 2008 “all of the school’s sixth graders met

Virginia’s reading standards and 96 percent met math standards,” according to a White House statement.

Departing the White House in a motorcade at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday, the President and Education Secretary Arne Duncan arrived at Graham Hill at 9:59. The President walked into a classroom where sixth grade students and teachers Mary Olmstead and Amanda Shopa awaited him and said, “Hey guys, hello!”

He shook hands with all the approximately 30 students and said, “Good to see you.” The two sat on stools in the front of the class and Duncan asked, “Who is never going to wash their hands again!” to a lot of laughter. They began a 20-minute conversation by asking the students about their schoolwork.

The President and Secretary Duncan then moved to an adja-

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Should Fairfax County relocate Graham Road School?

• Yes • No • Don’t know

Vote on-line at www.FCNP.com Last Week’s Question: How bad will budget cuts be for the City of Falls Church?

The FCNP On-Line polls are surveys, not scientific polls.

cent classroom with a brightlydecorated sign reading, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look at the Letters We Know in This Room!”

When he entered the room to find news photographers sitting in chairs meant for very young children, he quipped, “You guys look really cute in those chairs.”

In addition to his formal remarks, Obama said the Graham Road school “is one of Virginia’s finest” and “used innovative approaches to teaching.” He added, “Offering our children an outstanding education is one of your most fundamental obligations.”

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 5

F.C Faces ‘Perfect Storm’ Budget Crisis Continued from Page 1

tax increases. School Board members present stressed that decisions on cuts will need to take into account their impact on the students in the City’s schools.

“This is a perfect storm,” exclaimed Vice Mayor Hal Lippman Tuesday. “This is worse than awful. There’s going to have to be dramatically higher taxes, reduced services and we’re going to have to fire people.”

Mayor Robin Gardner said, “Last year, we didn’t have to take a real bite out of everything, but this year we will have to cut much deeper. It’s a big nut, but we signed up for this job.”

“This means that the City will not be able to do things it used to do,” said Councilman Nader Baroukh. “It will take years to come out of this.”

“This is an extraordinarily difficult financial situation” said City Manager Wyatt Shields, noting that the fund balance will be drawn far below the Council’s policy limits, “and now we’re at

the bottom.”

He said the City faces three major challenges: resizing the operating budget, capital planning realism and “guarding the City’s overall financial condition.”

In his “FY 2010 Mid-Year Report of Financial Condition” presented Tuesday, Falls Church’s Chief Financial Officer John Tuohy built his numbers on the expectation of a $2.2 million deduction from water profits, and under that scenario, the City faces a current-year shortfall $9 million below the amount in last spring’s adopted budget.

That is, instead of the expected $67.4 million in revenues this year, Tuohy now estimates the number will come in at $58.4 million.

That is a 13 percent drop. Even with deep cuts in outlays already instituted this year, through freezing all capital expenditures among other things, the deficit currently stands at $5.7 million.

Aside from the water ruling, the biggest cause of the deficit, Tuohy said, is an anticipated steep decline in commercial real estate

assessments, with sales and use tax receipts also expected to be well below the numbers included in the adopted budget. Other factors include low yields on the City’s deposit accounts and the fact that a major winter storm wiped out retail sales on the weekend just prior to Christmas.

Even while freezing $4.698 million in capital improvements and not filling any existing City positions, the shortfall will leave the City with only $1.882 million in its fund balance, or approximately 3.25 percent of revenues.

This is in contrast to the City’s official policy of keeping at least 8 percent in its fund balance.

But if the judge’s ruling means the City must deduct not $2.2 million, but $4.4 million from its revenue column, then that would draw the fund balance below zero.

Matters could worsen, as well, if revenues from the state fall significantly below current expectations.

The only recourse to avert insolvency, in that case, will be to vote a hefty tax rate hike in the

CITY OF FALLS CHURCH Chief Financial Officer John Tuohy (left) and F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields at a City Council and School Board work session Tuesday night. (Photo: News-Press) spring to raise more revenue.

Tuohy presented an array of tax hike scenarios, indicating how they’d impact the budget bottom line. For example, an increase in the real estate tax rate of 20 cents (above the current rate of $1.07 per $100 of assessed value) will still leave the City with the need for $3.567 million in cuts, and that is based on the lesser number being involved in the water profits decision.

Councilman Dan Maller noted that with the median income in Northern Virginia being $100,000 for a family of four, a stiff added tax bite would be affordable.

“After all, such a hypothetical family has children going to the schools, as well” to cause them to support a tax hike, he noted.

“We’d have to balance this hypothetical family with reductions in the salaries of City employees,” he suggested.

Page 6

January 21 - 27, 2010

Blackwell J. Hawthorne, News-Press Advertising Director, Dies at Age 87

by Nicholas F. Benton & Dean Edwards Falls Church News-Press

Blackwell J. Hawthorne, 87, for two years a World War II POW and for 10 and a half years the Director of Advertising at the Falls Church News-Press, died at his North Arlington home on the eve of his 88th birthday after a long illness last Friday night.

A graveside service for Hawthorne with a military contingent will be held Saturday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m. at the Oakwood Cemetery on N. Roosevelt St. in Falls Church. It will be followed by a memorial service in the historic chapel at The Falls Church, where Hawthorne was a member for many years, at 115 E. Fairfax St. at 11 a.m.

Hawthorne is survived by his wife of 58 years, Elizabeth Hawthorne, and was the father of five daughters, one deceased, and a son. His four surviving daughters – Diane, Laura and Marion Hawthorne and Julia

McDonnell – all live in Northern Virginia and assisted their mother in attending to his needs in his final days. His son, Blackwell Jr., lives in Montana and is currently in Northern Virginia, and a fifth daughter, Nan Hawthorne, is deceased.

Hawthorne came to work at the News-Press at age 76 in October 1998. He continued his employment with the newspaper until March 2009, when his illness prevented him from coming to the office. For many years until the advertising department began to add additional sales executives, he single-handedly built the NewsPress’ advertising base. His name remained on the News-Press masthead until this week.

Popular with the entire Falls Church business community, and a regular fixture at all News-Press public events and the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheons, social mixers and annual banquets, Hawthorne was remembered in remarks by NewsPress owner Nicholas Benton

HAWTHORNE WITH a copy of the Falls Church News-Press in 2006. He worked at the paper selling ads for over 10 years.

and Chamber chairman Dr. Ralph Perrino at the Chamber’s luncheon this Tuesday, and a moment of silence was observed on Hawthorne’s behalf.

In recent weeks, Hawthorne agreed to two extensive interviews at his home with News-Press reporter Dean Edwards. Edwards wrote up his account of the conversations is as follows: Several weeks ago, the NewsPress sat down with Hawthorne to allow the longtime Northern Virginia resident and World War II veteran to share stories from his experience in newspapers and as a prisoner of war in the last years of Nazi Germany.

Born Jan. 16, 1922 in the heart of Virginia tobacco country, in the town of Kenbridge, two hours south of Richmond, Hawthorne was one of four boys who helped their father maintain the family tobacco farm.

Despite growing up around tobacco, managing day laborers and preparing the tobacco leaves himself, Hawthorne said he was never a smoker, finding cigarettes “were not my sort of thing.”

In 1937, Hawthorne traveled to Virginia Beach where he worked as a drug store clerk and making saltwater taffy, spending the summer of 1938 in the pantry of a hotel on Atlantic Avenue.

The experiences “taught me more than anything about the livelihoods of average Americans,” Hawthorne said.

In the prelude to U.S. involvement in World War II, Hawthorne shared a common experience of men his age and joined the Virginia National Guard in 1939, where he served for three years.

The 22-year-old then decided to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942, and with his skills as a typist, Hawthorne was sent to Marpa, Texas, the first of many stops across the United States in his training to become a pilot.

Serving as an Army office clerk, Hawthorne took a test to qualify as a pilot, noting that “the only way to get into flying was by becoming a cadet.”

His first training assignment sent him to balmy Miami at a boot camp where the young Hawthorne was drilled daily before getting the chance to attend a technical school to learn the basics of flying. Given a choice of schools, Hawthorne picked the University of Vermont

in Burlington, an experience that Hawthorne recalled as one of his fondest.

“We used to wake up early as a group and sing some tunes on the way to class,” Hawthorne said.

“Those classes were such a revolution in how I learned things. The instructors would use projections on a screen to explain their trade, and I thought it was the greatest learning tool I’d ever seen.”

Hawthorne took several courses in biology and chemistry while in Burlington, and he learned how to fly as well. “I had to compensate for my lack of depth perception,” he noted. “I had to learn how to keep the plane steady for landing without bouncing the plane.”

Following training school, Hawthorne was sent to Nashville, Tenn. “They were backed up with pilots,” he recalled. “So they told us that the way to get us onto a crew was to sign up for gunnery school.” Gunners would man the gun turrets of the U.S. bomber fleet, which played a crucial part in the Western theater of World War II, with the destruction of German air bases and armament factories.

Hawthorne endured numerous tests during gunnery school, having to take guns apart and then reassemble them while blindfolded. Then the gunners were put on to trucks and taken in circles around stationary targets to practice firing at the airplanes they’d be fighting over Germany.

“Man, those guns would get so hot,” Hawthorne said. “You’d

fire a couple rounds, rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat, and then have to give the gun a couple seconds to let the chamber cool down.”

He added it was easier for him to handle Army guns “being a farm boy rather than one of those city folk.”

“Growing up, we used to hunt with our father, and then when he’d be away from home, he’d entrust us boys with the shotgun,” Hawthorne said. “It was second nature to me, so it was amusing to watch them city boys with those guns, firing away till they got red hot.”

Hawthorne spent the next few months traveling to Lincoln, Neb., Casper, Wyo., and spent a couple of weeks in Denver, as part of his gun training.

Finally, Hawthorne shipped off on a train to New York City, where a fleet of U.S. transports would ferry Hawthorne to join the 445th Bombardment Group in Norfolk, England, on the southern coast.

En route to New York, Hawthorne recalled seeing one of his brothers in Washington, D.C., at Union Station.

“Now, we weren’t supposed to be talking to anyone outside of the Army, but when the train had stopped on the way to Washington, I slipped a note to a guy standing outside the train and told him to call my brother and let him know I was on the next train in,” Hawthorne said. “When we got there, my brother and his wife Continued on Page 22

January 21 - 27, 2010

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BOSCH Panasonic F.C. Business Leaders Hail ‘The Little City’ Brand Falls Church City resident Matt Smith, principal of the City-based Smith-Gifford marketing firm, laid out the rationale for the group’s selection of “The Little City” as the new “brand” for the City of Falls Church to the monthly luncheon of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, and the response was enthusiastic from the business leaders present.

The controversy surrounding the unveiling of the brand last month has contributed to its success, he said. The brand reflects “being close to an urban environment but not in it,” he said. “This is not frivolous. We can’t afford not to do this” to spur new economic development, given the economy, he said, adding the design of the new “flower building” at 800 W. Broad “is what the City stands for.” The “iconic” building is wonderful and emotional,” compared to something nondescript, he said. “There is a little bit of a grunge aspect.

People like it.” “The Little City” brand compares to the roll-out of the slogan, “Virginia is For Lovers,” Smith said. That one met with a lot of opposition, including a governor who refused to acknowledge it, but it is now fully embraced. One business leader exclaimed, “This is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen.”

F.C. Grants $3k to Help Promote Wammies The City of Falls Church’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) voted to grant $3,000 to help fund the 24th annual Wammies Award Show at the State Theatre in Falls Church on Feb. 28. The event, which draws hundreds of D.C.-area music industry attendees to Falls Church each year, is produced by the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA). The Wammies recognize significant career achievements by area musicians and, in the process, raise awareness of the D.C.-area music scene in a night of entertainment and celebration. Over a hundred Wammie Awards are presented each year spanning every category of music, including Classical, Country, Hip Hop, Folk and Rock. In granting funds for the Wammies, the EDA board said it “recognizes the direct economic impact of the event for local businesses that provide dining, gathering and entertainment venues for attendees, in addition to the State Theatre.” Also, several city businesses are hired to provide services in the production of the Wammies.

F.C.’s Pension Plans ‘Among Best Performing in U.S.’ The Falls Church City Council was told by the Chicago-based consultant to the City’s Retirement Board Tuesday that the investment performance of the City’s basic and police retirement plans “are among the most stellar performers in the country,” despite the negative consequences of the steep market downturn prior to last spring. City resident Gordon Daisley, chair of the Retirement Board, introduced Howard Pohl of Becker, Burke consultants who made the assessment to the Council.

Indecent Exposure Incidents on W&OD Trail Reported Arlington Police have reported a string of indecent exposure incidents along the W&OD bike trail during the week of Jan. 11-15. According to police, a white male subject has exposed himself to women at various sections along the trail. Police are responding to the incidents by increasing patrols along the bike paths. They urge people who spend time on bike trails and other secluded areas to be cautious and aware. They advise women to avoid walking or running alone, and encourage them not to use devices such as headphones that prevent hearing someone approach. They recommend that bike trail users carry cell phones and call police as soon as incidents occur. Anyone with any information about this case is asked to contact Detective Comer at (703) 228-4243 or Detective Austin at (703) 228-4241.

‘News-Press Live’ Budget Discussion Monday This Monday’s “Falls Church News-Press Live” TV show on Falls Church Cable Television will center on a discussion of the dire conditions facing F.C.’s City Council in its budget deliberations this spring. The show airs live at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25.

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January 21 - 27, 2010

GUEST COMMENTARY

Why I Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

by Edwin B. Henderson, II Special to the News-Press

I gave my 7th grade history students’ an assignment a few days before the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday. The assignment was to bring to class a quotation made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The only caveat was that the quote not be taken from the “I Have A Dream” speech.

My hope was that the students would look beyond the speech that is, perhaps, the one for which he is best known and explore other speeches and read more of Dr. Kings’ works. Although “The Dream” has been called the greatest of the twentieth century; Dr. King was so much more than that. So many more speeches, books and battles encompass his total body of work. It is the summation of those works and deeds for which we admire and honor Dr. King. As I prepared for my students homework assignment, I compiled fifteen pages of quotations from Dr. King. Dr. King’s mastery of the use of metaphor and simile paint a clear picture of what he wanted his audience to visualize. He could draw a picture with his words. These 15 pages of quotes did not come from the “The Dream” speech and reflected many nuances of his hopes and dreams for America. I hope that my students chose quotations that show his character, his integrity and his commitment to justice.

I also believe that it is all too easy to become fixated on this single speech and

Continued from Page 2

from together the year before.

Altogether, more than 800 community members took part in this inspiring overnight event at the George Mason High School track.

On Sunday January 24, we invite the community to join us for the Kickoff Event for this year’s Relay at the cafetorium at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle High School from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

This will give interested persons the chance to find out more about what Relay For Life is all about, join or start a team and share fundraising ideas. We are also actively recruiting volunteers to help out in a variety of capacities with this year’s event, which will be held on May 22-23.

Finally, we want to encourage cancer survivors to join us, both for the Kickoff Event and at the

narrowly define one of the most dynamic personalities of the modern civil right era. Most people who claim to “know the speech” only know the final one-third of the speech Dr. King made that day. The final third of “The Dream” is repeated several thousand times each January.

However, the speech does not begin with, “I Have a Dream”.

Rather, it begins “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

The next paragraph begins “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.”

The first two thirds of Dr. Martin Luther Kings’ speech is about the state of affairs or the plight of “Negroes” in America in 1963 and is a call for racial harmony in America.

Things hoped for.

With all due respect, Dr. King, Jr. did not begin the struggle for civil rights. There were others before him that fought for Civil rights or citizenship rights. The mold for civil rights was cast in the creation of the Declaration of Independence when Thomas Jefferson wrote, “…we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that

T

among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

One hundred years ago last year (1909), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a group of mostly white progressive muckrakers decided to establish an organization that would use litigation and social discourse to address the challenges of violence against African Americans during a period of very harsh racial disharmony. At the time segregation was law (Plessy vs. Ferguson) and vigilante law (lynching) were commonplace.

Through non-violent protest and use of the judicial system the NAACP fought for equality. The NAACP sought solutions to problems affecting minorities in this country and called for a change in government policy and laws to protect individuals’ civil rights.

Very much like Dr. Martin Luther King, and the NAACP, there were people living in Falls Church who envisioned educational opportunities, equality and justice for all right at the turn of the twentieth century. The history of civil rights here in Falls Church, Virginia is a triumphant story of a

he history of civil rights here in Falls Church is a triumphant story of a community coming together.

relay itself. Relay For Life is designed to remember those who have died from cancer, as well as celebrate those who have survived the disease. The theme of this year’s Relay is “More Birthdays.”

We are committed to working to build a world where fewer of our friends and family members die of cancer, and more birthdays are celebrated. If you are a cancer survivor, please consider celebrating with us!

For more information on the Falls Church Relay and how to get involved, please check out www. fallschurchrelay.org.

Katie Clinton & Terri Rollo Co-Chairs, Relay for Life Falls Church

Valleybrook is Now Montessori School of No. Va. Editor, Last week, Falls Church NewsPress reader Bill Lucas wrote in a Letter to the Editor about his fam-

ily memories of the Valleybrook School in Falls Church and the wonderful people who made it the special place it was. A parent at our school read his letter and brought it to my attention.

Longtime Valleybrook owners Charlie and Monica Flynn retired and closed Valleybrook at the conclusion of the 200708 school year. In August 2008, Mr. and Mrs. Flynn agreed to sell Valleybrook to the Montessori School of Northern Virginia.

MSNV, located in Annandale, was the first Montessori school founded in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

After a lengthy special exception process with Fairfax County, MSNV gained permission to operate the school under new ownership. MSNV will renovate the building with green features and a unique natural playground. MSNV Valleybrook is scheduled to open as a second campus for students ages 2-5, in Fall 2010. Applications for the inaugural class are being accepted and we look forward to seeing even more students from the

community coming together and defeating a measure that would clearly be seen as unacceptable in today’s America.

In 1915, when certain elected officials in the Town of Falls Church proposed enacting a residential segregation ordinance the community reacted swiftly and boldly.

The community living on Tinner Hill and other areas of Falls Church established the Colored Citizens Protective League, (CCPL) which evolved into the first rural branch of the NAACP. This branch set a precedent of national significance. Rural county branches account for the vast majority of the cases of gross inequality in this country. It took a lot of courage for African Americans to challenge the status quo in a small rural segregated town in the South in the early 1900’s. Just like Dr. King, they each put their lives and their livelihood’s on the line to fight injustice. We have reflect upon the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. Kings Birmingham jail cell and protest, the March on Washington, to Selma, to Memphis, the accomplishments of one of the civil rights greatest heroes.

On the corner of S. Washington and Tinner Hill Roads is a fifteen foot pink granite arch, a memorial dedicated to our own Falls Church heroes.

On the day we remember Dr. King, I too, remember the Falls Church civil rights pioneers whose struggles and sacrifices make a day of celebrating the American Spirit worthwhile.

Falls Church community.

On a warm afternoon in early November 2009, parents, alumni and staff representing both MSNV and Valleybrook gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking. For those who attended, including some neighbors, this was a wonderful way to acknowledge the many years of happy memories created at this lovely meadow campus and launch the future of MSNV-Valleybrook.

Betsy Mitchell Head of School, Montessori School of Northern Virginia

Parent Thanks Reporter for Sports News Editor, I just wanted to take a moment to thank Alex Prewitt for all his George Mason High School sports coverage in the News-Press, both on line and in print, during the last few weeks. Not only is it great to have the coverage, but Alex does

such a great job capturing the key moments of the game and making the article a great read. I certainly hope he continues practicing the journalist craft. He is exceptional.

Thanks Alex.

Craig Cheney Falls Church

[ TALK TO US ] The deadline for Letters to the Editor is 5 p.m. Monday each week. Letters should be 350 words or less.

All letters printed become property of the Falls Church News-Press and may be edited for clarity and length.

Email letters@fcnp.com Mail or drop off Letters to the Editor, c/o Falls Church News-Press, 450 West Broad St. #321, Falls Church, VA 22046 Please include full name, address and telephone number with your letter.

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January 21 - 27, 2010

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January 21 - 27, 2010

MEH Hosts 1st F.C. Relay For Life Meeting Sunday

more information, call 703-2485034.

A meeting will be held in the cafeteria of Mary Ellen Henderson (MEH) Middle School (7134 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church) this Sunday, Jan. 24 to discuss the 2010 Falls Church Relay for Life from 2:30 – 4 p.m.

This year’s relay will be held May 22 – 23 at George Mason High School and raises money for the American Cancer Society.

For more information, visit www. fallschurchrelay.org.

Teens Invited to Dance the Night Away in F.C.

New F.C. Club Embraces ‘Twilight’ Frenzy, Fans Next Wednesday, Jan. 27 marks the beginning of a new monthly Twilight Club to be held at Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church) for fans of the book-turned-cinematic hit.

Meetings will be held the last Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Registration is required. For

The City of Falls Church Teen Center’s monthly middle school dance will held this Saturday, Jan. 23 from 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. at the center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). Sixth through eighth graders are invited to “dance, socialize and chill.” Refreshments will be sold and admission costs $5. For more information, call 703-248-5307.

Last F.C. Lions Club Citrus Fruit Sale to be Held The last Falls Church Lions Club citrus fruit sale of 2010 will take place this Friday, Jan. 22 from 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m., and again on Saturday, Jan. 23 from 8 a.m. until goods sell out. For sale will be navel oranges, pink seedless grapefruit, honeybell tangelos, pecans, maple syrup and brooms.

The fruit sale will take place at the Falls Church property yard (7100 Gordon Rd., Falls Church) near Don Beyer Volvo. For more information, visit live.fallschurchlions.com.

Music Month ‘Plays On’ with Mad for the Road Creative Cauldron’s “Play On” Music Month at ArtSpace (410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church) continues this Saturday, Jan. 23 with a performance by Mad for the Road, a traditional Irish band, at 7:30 p.m.

The band has performed together since 2007 in such venues as the Falls Church Summer Concert Series in Cherry Hill Park, City of Fairfax First Night, The International Children’s Festival at Wolftrap and Jammin’ Java, as well as local Irish pubs and festivals.

Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, visit www.creativecauldron.org.

State Theatre Hosts Monday Movie Nights in F.C. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church) will show the movie “This Is Spinal Tap” on Monday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with tickets costing $3. For more information, call 703-2370300.

Free Showing of Ms. Va. Senior Pageant Hits Aurora

Small hand gripping big hand, new Falls Church resident Jacob Paul Rubin (above) greets the world. Son of Stuart Rubin and Amy Rogers, Jacob was born on Jan. 7 and is the grandson to Steve and Glenda Rogers. (Photo: Courtesy Steve Rogers)

If anyone missed the Ms. Virginia Senior America Pageant last July, a free showing of the DVD version will take place this Friday, Jan. 22 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. at the Aurora Hills Senior Center (735 18th St. S., Arlington). Falls Church resident Charlotte Allen won the title of Ms. Congeniality, as voted on by her peers.

Attendees will be able to meet the Virginia State Queen, Maureen Ribble, who hails from Alexandria and was one of the top five finalists at the national pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. To register, call 703-228-5722.

Rotary Club Welcomes Mary Wharton to Speak

by an adult. To register, call 703228-4747.

The Falls Church Rotary Club will welcome Rotarian Mary Wharton, Learn and Grow Chair of Rotary District, tonight, Thursday, Jan. 21. Wharton will demonstrate computer-assisted learning at a dinner meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Harvest Moon Restaurant (7260 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church).

Dinner costs $11 and visitors are welcome. For more information, visit www.fallschurchrotary. org.

MPA Reception Opens 3 New Exhibits

Falls Church Resident Makes Dean’s List Andrew Keys Parker of Falls Church has been named to the dean’s list at the University of the South. To earn a place on the dean’s list, a student must earn a minimum grade point average of 3.625 on a 4.0 scale. Parker is the child of Cheryl Lynn Keys and George D. Parker.

F.C. Chamber of Commerce Throws Business Mixer On Tuesday, Jan. 26, the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce will host a mixer at Art and Frame of Falls Church (111 Park Ave., Falls Church) from 5 – 7 p.m. The event, which is in celebration of the 100th FIRSTfriday of Falls Church, is free and open to friends of the business community. For more information, call 703-5321050 or visit www.fallschurchchamber.org.

Squirrels Come in for Landing at Long Branch For $5 per person, children and their families are invited to “Flying Squirrel Lore & More” at the Long Branch Nature Center (625 S. Carlin Springs Rd., Arlington) this Saturday, Jan. 23 from 5:30 – 6:45 p.m. After an indoor presentation about the nocturnal acrobats, attendees will tiptoe outside to see the little pixies glide in for an evening meal.

Children must be accompanied

A reception and gallery talk will be held tonight, Thursday, Jan. 21 from 7 – 9 p.m. at the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean) for three opening exhibits. They include “New Synergy: Sculpture by Nicole Fall” in the Emerson Gallery, “Terry Schupbach-Gordon: Artist Books, Prints and Drawings from Catbird (on the Yadkin) Press” in the Atrium Gallery and “New Works by Gretchen Schemerhorn” in the Ramp Gallery.

All three new exhibits will be open for viewing through March 6. For more information, call 703-790-1953.

Arlington Resident Teresa Downing Promoted Arlington resident Teresa Downing was recently promoted to BeautiControl’s Independent Director, one of the company’s leadership levels in its field sales organization. Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, BeautiControl, Inc. is an international partyplan direct-sales company with Independent Consultants throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

McLean’s OFTC Hosts Comedy Sportz Improv The Old Firehouse Teen Center (OFTC) (1440 Chain Bridge Rd., McLean) will present a Comedy Sportz Interactive Improv Show on Friday, Jan. 22 from 7 – 10 p.m. Two teams will battle for laughs and points as they make up songs and scenes on the spot in the spirit of “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” The audience will shout out suggestions and vote for the winners, while the referee calls the fouls.

The cost is $5 for OFTC members and $10 for non-members.

An OFTC non-member waiver must be filled out and signed

January 21 - 27, 2010

by a parent or guardian. No tickets or pre-registration is required.

Parents are reminded that pick-ups begin at 9:45 p.m. For more information, visit www.mcleancenter. org.

Westover Library Hosts Free Teen Wii Gaming Night Today, Thursday, Jan. 21, teens can wind down after their studies by participating in Teen Gaming Day. Free Wii game competitions of Rock Band will be held at 3 p.m. at Westover Branch Library (1644 N. McKinley St., Arlington) at 3 p.m. Board games will also be available. No registration is necessary. For more information, call 703-228-5260.

‘Spanish Siesta’ Encouraged At Local Wine Shop Red, White & Bleu Wine & Gourmet Shop (127 S. Washington St., Falls Church) presents “Spanish Siesta” this weekend, Saturday, Jan. 23 – Sunday, Jan. 24.

Patrons are invited to smell, sip and savor wines, cheeses and charcuterie of Spain. The shops’s tasting room hours are noon – 8 p.m.

Saturday and 1 – 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 703533-WINE (9463).

‘Puss n’ Boots’ Steps its Way to Synetic Synetic Family Theatre (4041 Campbell Ave., Arlington) will present “Puss n’ Boots” this Saturday, Jan. 23 at 12:30 p.m.

With a one-hour run time and suitable for ages 4 and up, an adaptation of the classic fairy tale runs through March 14.

Performances will be held Saturdays and Sundays at 12:30 p.m., with shows held Jan. 30, Feb.

Page 11

6, 13 and 20; and March 6 at 3:30 p.m. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door and $10 for parties of 10 or more. For more information, visit www.classika.org.

Artist & Film Series Light Up Alden Theatre Alden Theatre (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean) will present TAP Kids this Sunday, Jan. 24 as part of its Professional Artists Series.

Eight of the nation’s most talented young tap dancers take to the stage at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $16-20.

More information on the performers can be found at www.tapkids. com.

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, Alden’s Travel & Adventure Film Series will continue with a showing of “Wales: Land of Song” at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $8-10. For more information on either of these events, call 703790-0123.

“PLAY ON,” Creative Cauldron’s month-long music event continued last Saturday, Jan. 16 at ArtSpace in Falls Church with a dance performance by the Hui O Ka Pua ‘Ilima group. Up next is a performance by Mad for the Road this Saturday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. (Photo: Derrick Holman)

Sacred Well’s Charity Yoga Nights Continue Friday Sacred Well Yoga Studio (450 W. Broad St., Ste. 320, Falls Church) will host its usual Charity Yoga Night this Friday, Jan. 22 from 6 – 7:15 p.m.

Suggesting a donation of $10, those interested are reminded that 100 percent of the proceeds will go towards local charities. For more information, call 703-9898316 or visit www.swys.net.

MCC Hosts Family Bingo Night this Saturday Family Fun Bingo comes to McLean Community Center (MCC) (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean) this Saturday, Jan. 23 from 2:30 – 4:45 p.m. Advance registration is required. For more information, call 703-790-0123.

The City of F.C. Teen Center hosted its monthly Midnight Madness event last Friday, where local fifth through seventh graders played games, ate food and watched movies at the community center until midnight. The Teen Center will host a dance for sixth through eighth graders this Saturday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the center, located at 223 Little Falls Street in Falls Church. (Photo: Courtesy Amy Maltese)

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January 21 - 27, 2010

The Pragmatic Leviathan When I was in college, I was assigned “Leviathan,”

by Thomas Hobbes. On the cover was an image from the first edition of the book, published in 1651. It shows the British nation as a large man. The people make up the muscles and flesh. Then at the top, there is the king, who is the head and the mind.

When the Pilgrims left Britain to come to America, they left behind that metaphor as well.

For these settlers, and the immigrants who have come since, the American nation is not a body with the NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE government as the brain. Instead, America has been defined by its vast landscape and the sprawling energy of its entrepreneurs, scientists and community-builders.

In times of crisis, Americans rally around their government, but most of the time they have treated it as a supporting actor in national life. Americans are an unusual people, with less deference to central authority and an unparalleled faith in themselves.

They seem to want a government that is helpful but not imperious, strong but subordinate.

Over the years, American voters have reacted against any party that threatens that basic sense of proportion. They have reacted against a liberalism that sought an enlarged and corrosive government and a conservatism that threatened to dismantle the government’s supportive role.

A year ago, the country rallied behind a new president who promised to end the pendulum-like swings, who seemed likely to restore equilibrium with his moderate temper and pragmatic mind.

In many ways, Barack Obama has lived up to his promise. He has created a thoughtful, pragmatic administration marked by a culture of honest and vigorous debate. When Obama makes a decision, you can be sure that he has heard and accounted for every opposing argument. If he senses an important viewpoint is not represented at a meeting, he will stop the proceedings and demand that it gets included.

If the evidence leads him in directions he finds uncomfortable, he will still follow the evidence. He is beholden to no ideological camp, and there is no group in his political base that he has not angered at some point in his first year.

But his has become a voracious pragmatism.

Driven by circumstances and self-confidence, the president has made himself the star performer in the national drama. He has been ubiquitous, appearing everywhere, trying to overhaul most sectors of national life: finance, health, energy, automobiles and

David Brooks

transportation, housing, and education, among others.

He is no ideologue, but over the past year he has come to seem like the sovereign on the cover of “Leviathan” – the brain of the nation to which all the cells in the body and the nervous system must report and defer.

Americans, with their deep, vestigial sense of proportion, have reacted. The crucial movement came between April and June, when the president’s approval rating among independents fell by 15 percentage points and the percentage of independents who regarded him as liberal or very liberal rose by 18 points. Since then, the public has rejected any effort to centralize authority or increase the role of government.

Trust in government has fallen. The share of Americans who say the country is on the wrong track has risen. The share who call themselves conservative has risen. The share who believe government is “doing too many things better left to business” has risen.

The country is now split on Obama, because he is temperate, thoughtful and pragmatic, but his policies are almost all unpopular. If you aggregate the last seven polls on health care reform, 41 percent support it and 51 percent oppose.

Many Democrats, as always, are caught in their insular liberal information loop. They think the polls are bad simply because the economy is bad. They tell each other health care is unpopular because the people aren’t sophisticated enough to understand it.

Some believe they can still pass health care even if their candidate, Martha Coakley, loses the Senate race in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

That, of course, would be political suicide. It would be the act of a party so arrogant, elitist and contemptuous of popular wisdom that it would not deserve to govern. Marie Antoinette would applaud, but voters would rage.

The American people are not always right, but their basic sense of equilibrium is worthy of the profoundest respect. Obama has shown himself to be a fine administrator, but he erred in trying to make himself the irreplaceable man in nearly ever sphere of public life. He erred in not sensing that even a pragmatic government could seem imperious and alarming.

If I were Obama, I would spend the next year showing how government can serve a humble, helpful and supportive role to the central institutions of American life. Even in blue states like Massachusetts, voters want a government that is energetic but limited – a servant, not a leviathan.

Democrats Get Wake Up Call WASHINGTON – President Obama is a much wiser man as he starts his second year in office.

When he arrived at the White House, Obama inherited an insurmountable legacy of a deep recession and two wars in the Middle East. These Hearst Newspapers are issues hardly adaptable to instant solutions for an impatient public.

He was flying high as a presidential candidate offering “change” from the heavy hand of conservatives empowered from the days of Ronald Reagan, who had turned the country to the right.

Since those halcyon inaugural days the presi-

Helen Thomas

dent surely has learned that there is no such thing as bipartisanship. The Republicans in Congress have formed a solid wall of opposition to all of his first year initiatives, especially universal health care.

The plan to provide affordable medical security for millions is now in great jeopardy with the surprising victory of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in the special election for the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Brown has vowed to vote against the health care bill when he takes his Senate seat. His election also means that Senate Republicans now will have 41 votes, enough to block any effort to end filibusters.

Continued on Page 36

Learning From Europe Lately many people have been second-guessing the Obama administration’s political strategy. The conventional wisdom seems to be that President Barack Obama tried to do too much – in particular, that he should have put health care on one side and focused on the economy.

I disagree. The Obama administration’s troubles are the result not of excessive ambition, but of policy and political misjudgments.

The stimulus was too small; policy toward the banks wasn’t tough enough; and Obama didn’t do what Ronald Reagan, who also faced a poor economy early in his administration, did – namely, shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations.

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE About the stimulus: it has surely helped. Without it, unemployment would be much higher than it is. But the administration’s program clearly wasn’t big enough to produce job gains in 2009.

Why was the stimulus underpowered? A number of economists (myself included) called for a stimulus substantially bigger than the one the administration ended up proposing. According to The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, however, in December 2008 Obama’s top economic and political advisers concluded that a bigger stimulus was neither economically necessary nor politically feasible.

Their political judgment may or may not have been correct; their economic judgment obviously wasn’t. Whatever led to this misjudgment, however, it wasn’t failure to focus on the issue: in late 2008 and early 2009 the Obama team was focused on little else. The administration wasn’t distracted; it was just wrong.

The same can be said about policy toward the banks. Some economists defend the administration’s decision not to take a harder line on banks, arguing that the banks are earning their way back to financial health. But the light-touch approach to the financial industry further entrenched the power of the very institutions that caused the crisis, even as it failed to revive lending: bailed-out banks have been reducing, not increasing, their loan balances. And it has had disastrous political consequences: the administration has placed itself on the wrong side of popular rage over bailouts and bonuses.

Finally, about that narrative: It’s instructive to compare Obama’s rhetorical stance on the economy with that of Ronald Reagan.

It’s often forgotten now, but unemployment actually soared after Reagan’s 1981 tax cut. Reagan, however, had a ready answer for critics: everything going wrong was the result of the failed policies of the past. In effect, Reagan spent his first few years in office continuing to run against Jimmy Carter.

Obama could have done the same – with, I’d argue, considerably more justice. He could have pointed out, repeatedly, that the continuing troubles of America’s economy are the result of a financial crisis that developed under the Bush administration, and was at least in part the result of the Bush administration’s refusal to regulate the banks.

But he didn’t. Maybe he still dreams of bridging the partisan divide; maybe he fears the ire of pundits who consider blaming your predecessor for current problems uncouth – if you’re a Democrat.

(It’s OK if you’re a Republican.) Whatever the reason, Obama has allowed the public to forget, with remarkable speed, that the economy’s troubles didn’t start on his watch.

So where do complaints of an excessively broad agenda fit into all this? Could the administration have made a midcourse correction on economic policy if it hadn’t been fighting battles on health care? Probably not. One key argument of those pushing for a bigger stimulus plan was that there would be no second chance: if unemployment remained high, they warned, people would conclude that stimulus doesn’t work rather than that we needed a bigger dose. And so it has proved.

It’s important to remember, also, how important health care reform is to the Democratic base. Some activists have been left disillusioned by the compromises made to get legislation through the Senate – but they would have been even more disillusioned if Democrats had simply punted on the issue.

And politics should be about more than winning elections. Even if health care reform loses Democrats votes (which is questionable), it’s the right thing to do.

Paul Krugman

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 13

Without Jobs, There Is No Recovery During an extraordinary live interview with billionaire businessman Warren Buffett on CNBC-TV yesterday, he politely dismissed a barrage of ideologically-driven questions to present a very simple and practical assessment of the economy and the current political landscape.

The only problem was that he didn’t spell out a clear pathway to recovery, except to say generally that everything will “right itself” somewhere between five and 10 years out. Maybe there really isn’t one.

Speaking from his Omaha headquarters on the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration, Buffett conceded the depths of the crisis that hit the markets and the economy in October and September 2008, and credited Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke Falls church news-press for extraordinary efforts to forestall a wholesale collapse at that time. He said he’d “vote twice,” if he could, for the re-confirmation of Bernanke a Federal Reserve chief.

With candid simplicity, he pin-pointed exactly the cause of the crisis, as out-of-control leveraging, the spiraling out of control of debt of the entire U.S. economy from individual households to the most elaborate hedge funds, and that the process of de-leveraging is painful and is far from over.

He said that as long as unemployment remains as high as it is, there will be no recovery and the political turmoil of the nature that led to the upset victory for the Republicans in Massachusetts Tuesday will only increase.

A “throw the bums out” mentality driving the vote Tuesday and driving down the president’s approval ratings on the first anniversary of his presidency is fueled by the double-digit unemployment crisis, with the official numbers masking the deeper problems associated with underemployment, total discouragement and the fear of the imminent loss of many more jobs.

As long as that’s the case, de-leveraging individual households will not drive an economic recovery. They will simply not expend the dollars at the levels needed for a traditional form of rebound.

Buffett added that exotic interpretations of the impact of government policies have nothing to do with the problem. He’d have no problem hiring people, he said, if the orders were there to demand it. “I am not going to hire people to just stand around,” he said. “But if the orders are coming in requiring me to step up production, then I will gladly hire people to meet that demand.”

But the Catch-22 lies in the fact that without the unemployment numbers coming down, there will be no orders for increasing production, therefore no incentive for hiring. Buffett noted that there need to be 100,000 new jobs a month just to keep the unemployment rate from continuing to rise.

Buffett offered no solution to break this cycle, except to stress there will be no quick recovery, putting that off five or 10 years.

While no recovery plan is on the horizon, on the other hand, there are indications that, from an employment perspective, things will soon be getting a lot worse, starting this spring as state and local governments face the impact of steep revenue shortfalls derived from the collapsed economy, especially the devaluation of commercial real estate, which will lead to huge numbers of new layoffs.

Federal stimulus efforts forestalled some of those layoffs a year ago, but there are no expectations that a similar intervention will occur this go-around, especially as Republicans are more emboldened with their recent victories in Virginia and Massachusetts.

The stock market, too, may be careening toward another nosedive, as it again begins to manifest the behavior known as the dreaded “Hindenburg Omen.” This column identified that “omen” in early July 2008, a couple months before the Fall 2008 meltdown began.

Having a more than 90 percent accuracy rate since 1975, the “Hindenburg Omen,” as I wrote on July 9, 2008, is “based on carefullyscrutinized market trends,” that reflect a “fundamental instability in the markets...a sort of wobble effect.”

This past week, with the Dow down over 100 points Friday, up over 100 points on Tuesday and down over 100 points yesterday, manifests the kind of “wobble effect” that may portend the much-feared “double dip” is looming.

Nicholas F. Benton

 Nicholas Benton may be e-mailed at nfbenton@fcnp.com.

The Trials Of Gavin Newsom SAN FRANCISCO – Gavin Newsom still looks glossy, like someone who’d play JFK in a Lifetime original movie.

But the 42-year-old mayor of San Francisco sees his once glowing political future in less glamorous terms.

“I mean, oh, God,” he said, sipping green tea in his elegant office. “In a couple of years, you’ll see me as the clerk of a wine store.”

It’s easy to picture the lithe and charming Newsom – with the well-cut suits, the electric Tesla, the beautiful blonde wife and baby – advising a Pacific Heights couple on a cabernet with aromas of eucalyptus NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE and mint. Before he got into politics, after all, he started a boutique wine shop in Napa Valley that blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business.

So how did this onetime poster boy for the new face of the Democratic Party get to the point where he couldn’t raise the money to compete with the oldschool Jerry Brown in the governor’s race, and why is he leaving politics just when he feels as though he’s getting better at it?

“This is it. God bless. It was fun while it lasted,” he said of his career, with a rueful smile. “Guys like me don’t necessarily progress very far, which is fine.”

If Newsom feels a little sorry for himself these days, it’s perfectly understandable.

In a courthouse a few blocks from City Hall, Ted Olson and David Boies are defending same-sex marriage in a landmark case substantially financed so far

by David Geffen and Steve Bing. While the mayor contemplates life as a wine clerk, the two lawyers are becoming bipartisan folk heroes to gays and lesbians and were lionized in a Newsweek cover story and a Diana Walker photo spread in Time.

Boies told The New Yorker that the “powerful images” of gay couples flocking to San Francisco to tie the knot had helped move him to get involved in the case to overturn Proposition 8.

Like many pioneers who go first – from the “Ellen” sitcom to the Hillary drama – the mayor who staked his career on giving equal rights to gays may have to settle for paving the way. The lawyers get praised, but he got pilloried?

“Grand understatement,” he said dryly, noting that he still remembers press coverage from before

Maureen Dowd

the 2004 same-sex marriage eruption about shooting stars of the Democratic Party.

“There were five of us,” he said, with a teasing nostalgia. ‘`A guy named Obama. I’m like ‘Why is he in here? This is ridiculous. I mean, he’s a state senator. I’m kind of insulted.’ Life was really good, and then it came crashing down. ‘You’re not going to be speaking at the convention. We overbooked.’

And then it becomes the house of cards with the Democrats excusing themselves from visits to this city and being in the same room with me. ‘’I went in with the beginner’s mind. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I never imagined 4,036 couples getting married over a month. And this is by no means an excuse for the governor’s race. But you just couldn’t escape from the perception ‘he’s just a single-issue person.’ I remember standing there at the window, and I swear to you, I resigned myself to not even being re-elected mayor. This is a much more conservative town than people give it credit for.`` And now Jerry Brown might be governor redux? ‘’It’s frustrating,“ Newsom admitted. ”It’s not a critique, but he wasn’t particularly helpful at the time.

I think he came around very recently, and I think there was some pragmatism to that as well, candidly.`` I asked whether President Barack Obama, who said at a Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration that the civil rights movement was partly about ‘’changing people’s hearts and minds and breaking out of old customs and old habits,`` had disappointed him given that the president is a triumph of civil rights himself. ‘’Oh, I can’t get in trouble here,“ Newsom said with a playful wince. ”I want him to succeed. But I am very upset by what he’s not done in terms of rights of gays and lesbians. I understand it tactically in a campaign, but at this point I don’t know. There is some belief that he actually doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage. But it’s fundamentally inexcusable for a member of the Democratic Party to stand on the principle that separate is now equal, but only on the basis of sexual orientation. We’ve always fought for the rights of minorities and against the whims of majorities.`` He said the promise of Obama sparking an ‘’organic movement“ has faded and ”there’s a growing discontent and lack of enthusiasm that I worry about. He should just stand on principle, put this behind him and move on.`` The mayor, who met with Olson and Boies the day after we talked, said he wanted to go to court and see them in action. After all, they’re the local heroes.

Page 14

January 21 - 27, 2010

Insecure Men A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that if a modern woman’s place is in the kitchen – it’s likely in a restaurant that she owns, while her less educated husband toils at home and plays “Mr. Mom.” “Men now are increasingly likely to marry wives with more education and income than they have, and the reverse is true for women,” said Paul Fucito, a spokesperson for the Pew Forum. In 1970, only 4-percent of married women surpassed their husband’s salary. By 2007, the number had risen to 22-percent.

This dynamic is changing the definition of traditional marriage in a far more profound way than allowing gay couples to marry. While the religious right has been preoccupied with queers, they’ve completely missed the impact ambitious wives with careers are having on families. nything The main issue is that this is creating a problem for a significant subset ut traight of men who feel like loser if a woman is the breadwinner. A New York Times

By Wayne Besen story features a quote from a man who jokes that his female friend’s success will make it more difficult for her to find a husband. “You are confident, have good credit, own your own business, travel around the world and are self-sufficient,” he tells her.

“What man is going to want you?”

It seems the ego of men may be the biggest threat to traditional marriage, as the number of educated women skyrockets. If groups like Focus on the Family were serious about promoting marriage, they would help men adjust to the reality of the contemporary family.

Instead, Focus on the Family is stuck in a time warp, which is evidenced by an article on their web site, “The Real Job of Moms.”

“What about a mom’s primary job?” the article asks. “It’s not cooking dinner, changing diapers or helping a preschooler glue colored macaroni on a coffee can as a Father’s Day gift. The most important assignment a mom has is to nurture her children.”

For fathers, the organization has an article, “Balance Work and Family,” that makes the false assumption that men are still wearing the pants.

“Don’t expect corporate America to recognize how much fathers are needed at home,” says the article. “The employee’s family life isn’t a part of the annual report, nor can it be measured on the bottom line.”

On their web site, fathers are stereotyped as workaholic businessmen and women as nurturing homemakers. Focus on the Family is doing an amazing job preparing families for life in the 1950’s. They offer very little for the countless families where a wife brings home the bacon instead of cooking it.

The Southern Baptist Convention is even more backward, approving a resolution in 1998 claiming a man has authority in the household, while a wife must “submit graciously” to his leadership. This family model does not work so well when the financial purse strings, really do come in the form of a purse.

Given this antiquated view of “sex roles”, it is no surprise that marriages are more likely to fail in The Bible Belt. The five states that have the highest proportion of men married at least three times are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. The states with the lowest number of men at least thrice married are Minnesota, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Perhaps, these men have to keep remarrying because women are not as gracious in their submission as they were when “Leave it to Beaver” was on the air. Time and again, the states that have the most fundamentalists are the ones where marriages are more likely to be fundamentally flawed.

It is also important to note that Minnesota, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts all have significant protections for their gay and lesbian residents. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian people are treated as second-class citizens in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.

If right wing organizations were smart, they would abandon restrictive gender roles and embrace same-gender families as role models. Gay men, in particular, have had to learn to swallow their egos and accept that one partner must produce more income – unless they have identical jobs. These men learn to divide chores and support each other by building relationships based on trust and equality.

As well-educated, highly paid women climb the career ladder, groups that work to allegedly help families must change course or risk becoming irrelevant. Fundamentalist men who are sexually immature and emotionally insecure have a lot more to worry about than their gay neighbors next door.

It’s time to start focusing on their own families or have lives without wives.

S

Congressman Moran’s News Commentary

By James P. Moran Virginia’s 8th Congressional District Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives

Many civilian federal employees risk their lives to serve in America’s embassies and consulates in some of the world’s most dangerous, war-torn countries.

Yet, US personnel currently serving in these high risk posts are not being provided the proper security. In the same way we make protecting our troops serving in harm’s way a top priority, we must also provide an adequate level security for our diplomatic corps.

While American embassies have become much more secure since 9/11, concerns about the personal security of employees serving at high threat missions have risen. Although an employee may work at a very secure, wellguarded embassy, he or she often lives in a leased residence in the community and often has to commute to and from work without armed guard.

Moreover, questions have been raised about apparent disparities in the level of security provided to different agency staff serving at certain high risk embassies.

An employee from one agency may be provided armored transport to and from work, whereas an employee of another agency might be forced to drive to work in a personal car.

Because of these concerns, I sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday asking her to review the

The fact is that every man adequacy of personnel security measures for all federal employ- and woman in Iraq, Afghanistan, ees at U.S. embassies, regardless Pakistan, Yemen, and many other dangerous places around the of parent agency or grade.

The State Department’s dip- world have put his or her life on lomatic security agents (known the line to protect and advance abroad as regional security offi- the interests of this country. And cers), who are charged with man- all of them – regardless of rank or aging the security of our embas- branch of government service – sies and consulates, are true can be potential targets.

I look forward to working with professionals who do extraordinarily challenging work. They the State Department to address face resource and regulatory con- this issue and identify ways to prostraints that may limit their ability vide all federal employees serving to provide all employees the same at high threat diplomatic missions level of security protection and adequate personal security supmust often ration limited security port. Every government worker funding by providing employees that’s putting his or her life on deemed to be more likely tar- the line overseas deserves equal gets, like the ambassador, 3.5 within.access to security – whether it’s on or off the clock. increased security.

There’s no place like USA.gov.

It’s the official source of federal and state government information. It can make you as all-knowing as the Wizard of Oz.

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January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 15

A Penny for Your Thoughts

News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

It might be the middle of winter, but things are “blooming” in Mason District. The grand opening this week of a new Bloom grocery store in the Annandale Shopping Center signifies an important investment in revitalization.

According to its web site, Bloom, which is operated by Food Lion, promises “fun” in the grocery shopping experience. A taste of that fun appeared a couple of weeks ago when a giant shopping cart, about 8 feet tall, appeared in the parking lot at the corner of Columbia Pike and Gallows Road.

Bedecked with information about the opening this week, the cart contains a three-foot long bunch of carrots, a huge quart of milk, and what looks like a very large pastry. Following the celebratory opening for invited guests on Tuesday, Bloom opened to the public on Wednesday.

The store replaces a Magruder’s, which had occupied the corner site for decades. More than two years ago, in the face of declining revenues, Magruder’s moved out of the shopping center. A lengthy search for another anchor store identified Bloom’s interest in siting a new grocery store inside the Beltway.

The new store needed a larger footprint than the old Magruder’s, however, which required a shop or two to move to other locations in the shopping center so that space could be consolidated. The existing space was gutted to the steel superstructure, so everything you see at the new Bloom is brand new. During the past several months, the question on everyone’s lips was “when is that new store going to open?” Now we know the answer: January 20. Congratulations to the McWhorter Family, long-time owners of the Annandale Shopping Center, and to center manager Carol Zach Reuss. Their motivation to attract a first-class, national-chain grocery store to the Annandale Revitalization District, and their patience with a myriad of local and state regulations, reaffirms

Annandale and Fairfax County as a great place to live, work, play, and do business.

The devastation and resulting human tragedy following the earthquake in Haiti last week leaves one nearly speechless. It is hard to imagine the chaos and misery that now is commonplace in that small island nation. In the United States, we rely on our local, state, and federal government distribution systems that, fairly quickly, can provide basic assistance in the face of manmade or natural disasters. Yes, the systems failed to address the severe problems in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, but even if you think back to those difficult days, it was amazing to see the outpouring of help in moving people to safety in Texas and other states, in just a few days.

The emergency planning of local and state jurisdictions is so important, and testing those plans, as desk top exercises or in the field, is extremely important.

Late last fall, I was asked to participate in a latenight training exercise with our Virginia Task Force 1 urban search and rescue team. I was given the role of a provincial governor who was supposed to interact with the team leaders after a nuclear plant explosion wiped out the generating capacity for the province.

I was pretty aggressive with the team members, demanding why they hadn’t solved the problem yet, and pushing them to move farther and faster. It was supposed to be reality for the team, interacting with a government official whose input was unanticipated.

It was play-acting for me, but the lessons came home very quickly this week, as the same urban search and rescue team is facing the same demands from Haitian officials: “thank you for your help, but please do more, and faster.”  Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be e-mailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Week of January 12 - 18, 2010 Destruction of Property, 700 blk.

Poplar Dr., January 12, 11:01 a.m., unknown person(s) spray painted the hood of a vehicle.

Destruction of Property, 500 blk.

W Broad St., between January 12, 12:00 p.m. and January 14, 8:59 a.m., unknown person(s) unknown person(s) wrote graffiti on a door.

Destruction of Property, 200 blk.

Gibson St., January 14, 1:59 p.m., unknown person(s) slashed the rear tire of a vehicle.

Larceny, Shoplifting, CVS, 134 W Broad St., January 14, 3:21 p.m., police arrested a female, 45, of Washington, DC for stealing (2) bottles Zest body wash, (2) bottles Lever body wash and a bag of Doritos.

Robbery, Nasa Federal Credit Union, 1130 W Broad St., January 15, 12:32 p.m., unknown person(s) entered the establishment and demanded money by passing a note. The suspect is described as a B/M, approximately 45 years old, 170 – 175lbs, wearing a black

leather jacket dark jeans and a buffalo bills baseball cap.

Urinating in Public, 400 blk. S Maple Ave., January 15, 8:47 p.m., police arrested a male, 24, of Falls Church, VA for Urinating in Public.

Destruction of Property, 400 blk.

N Washington St., January 16, 4:09 p.m., unknown person(s) damaged a Dominion Power utility pole.

Larceny, Shoplifting, CVS, 1150 W Broad St., January 16, 7:35 p.m., unknown person(s) entered the establishment and stole an 18-pack of Heineken beer.

Destruction of Property, 900 blk.

W Broad St., January 17, 1:24 a.m., police arrested a male, 20, of Arlington, VA; and a male, 26, of 326 N Oxford St., #4, Arlington, VA for Destruction of Property.

Drug/Narcotic Violation, 800 blk. E Broad St., January 17, 6:16 a.m., police arrested a male, 25, of Washington, DC for Possession of Marijuana.

Disorderly Conduct, 900 blk. W Broad St., January 17, 10:50 p.m., police arrested a male, 52, of Annandale, VA for Disorderly Conduct and DIP.

From the Front Row: Kaye Kory’s

Richmond Report Today I complete my first week as the Delegate from the 38th district to the Virginia House of Delegates. One of my highest priorities in this role is to inform and engage the citizens of the 38th in the sometimes opaque legislative processes that unfold in Richmond.

One note of caution, though.

I have heard it said that there and two things you don’t want to see in the making: sausages and laws!

I very much appreciate NewsPress editor Nick Benton’s offer to continue to publish a regular column from Richmond that addresses the interests and concerns of the district.

As a freshman, I have a steep learning curve to climb; but, after 10 years as the Mason District Member on the Fairfax County School Board, I am very motivated by this new challenge.

I have been assigned to two legislative committees: Counties, Cities and Towns and Science and Technology. I had hoped my School Board experience would qualify me for the Education Committee, as well. However, Committee assignments for all 100 Delegates—Democrats and Republicans-- are the exclusive prerogative of the Speaker of the House, currently Delegate William Howell (R-28th). Still, I intend to be very active in the discussions and debates on education policies and funding that are sure to arise in this very challenging fiscal environment.

During this first week, I have offered a number of pieces of legislation, including one to further restrict the possession of guns on public school property and one to provide public school funding sufficient for Virginia’s teacher salaries to at least equal the national average (Virginia is currently in the bottom half of states in this regard).

Finally, I have given strong support to an omnibus bill to reform Virginia’s conflict of interest statutes for the first time in 20 years. This legislation is long overdue. Integrity and transparency in government

is fundamental, and one of my longstanding priorities.

House and Senate Democrats introduced this piece of legislation on Monday. The bill would create a single five-member Ethics Advisory Panel. Members of the panel would be appointed by the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and by the Governor. Currently, the House and Senate each have their own review panels to investigate inquiries about their members.

The new panel would be required to hold its proceedings in public and would continue its investigations even if a legislator resigned office.

The bills would also deem a legislator in violation if he or she knew or should have known actions were in violation of ethical standards, rather than requiring proof that the legislator knew beforehand.

Democratic lawmakers introduced the legislation in response to the ethical problems of former lawmaker and ranking Republican member of the House Appropriations Committee Phil Hamilton that were revealed last year.

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong (D-Henry) is carrying the legislation in the House of Delegates (HB657).

Senator Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) is carrying the accompanying bill in the Senate (SB186). He asked all members of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to join in tightening Virginia’s conflict of interest laws.

There are few things more important in government than for citizens to know that they can have faith in the honesty and integrity of their representatives.

I will also support other reform measures offered this year to promote transparency about legislators’ financial interests.  Delegate Kory represents the 38th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. She may be emailed at DelKKory@house. virginia.gov.

Visit us Online at www.fcnp.com

Page 16

January 21 - 27, 2010

News Mike’s Deli at Lazy Sundae now has a Web site at www.mikesdeliatlazysundae. com. The deli, which is owned and operated by Rebecca Tax and David Tax who also own Clare & Don’s Beach Shack, offers free delivery in the City of Falls Church from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on weekdays. Mike’s Deli features breakfast all day, homemade soups, half-lb. burgers, and specialty sandwiches. They also now offer custom cakes for any occasion featuring Lazy Sundae’s homemade ice cream. Visit the above Web site for more information and a menu. Mike’s Deli at Lazy Sundae is located at 112 N. West St. in Falls Church.

Events Falls Church’s Flippin’ Pizza and George Mason High School are raising funds for Haitian earthquake victims on Thursday, Jan. 21. From 11 a.m. – 10 p.m., Flippin’ Pizza will donate 20 percent of the day’s revenues to the GMHS’s Haiti Relief Fund. GMHS Principal Tyrone Byrd will make an appearance behind the counter during dinner hours.

Flippin’ Pizza is located at 800 W. Broad St. in Falls Church.

Curves of Falls Church and Arbonne International, Inc.’s Mary Anne Carlson have joined together to bring women of the Falls Church area tips to get healthy in the New Year. The Healthy Happy Hour will take place Friday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. It will include a demonstration of the Curves exercise program, information about detoxifying your body and Curves’ weight management program, samplings of energy drinks, protein shakes and skin care products. The event will take place at Curves, 240 West Broad St. in Falls Church.

Call 703-536-0140 for more information.

Art and Frame of Falls Church is hosting the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce’s January Networking Mixer from 5:30 – 7 p.m., Jan. 26. The event will celebrate the 100th FIRSTfriday of Falls Church which will take place the first Friday in February. Refreshments, including a cake from Kendall’s Cakes, will be provided along with FIRSTfriday T-Shirts while supplies last. A caricaturist will also be on hand. The event is free and open to Chamber members and friends of the local business community. Art and Frame of Falls Church is located at 111 Park Ave. For information, visit www.artandframeoffallschurch.com or www.firstfridayoffallschurch.com.

The Bath & Idea Center by Noland Company is hosting a red carpet grand opening for its new showroom in Falls Church on Thursday, Jan. 28 from 4:30 – 7 p.m. The event will include hors d’oeuvres, an opportunity to see the latest luxury bath and kitchen products and a check presentation to the Ronald McDonald House. Please RSVP by phone at 703-241-2371 or by e-mail, yrsarraga@noland.com. The Bath & Idea Center is located at 157-A Hillwood Ave. in Falls Church.

Virginia Commerce Bancorp will host a teleconference call for the financial community at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to discuss its fourth quarter 2009 financial results which will be released that morning. The general public is invited to listen by calling 866-227-1607 at least 10 minutes prior to the call. A replay of the call will be available at 2 p.m. on Jan. 26 by calling 888-266-2081 and entering access code 1428686. The Falls Church branch of Virginia Commerce Bank is located at 7115 Leesburg Pike.

The Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Awards Gala and Silent Auction will take place Saturday, March 6 at the Arlington Hilton. Nominations are being sought for the Chamber’s Pillar of the Community Award, Carroll V. Shreve Award, James S. Elkin Award for Humanitarianism, Chamber Appreciation Award, and the 2nd Annual Business in Education Partnership Award. For more information, call 703-532-1050, e-mail info@fallschurchchamber.org or visit www.fallschurchchamber.org.  The Business News & Notes section is compiled by Sally Cole, Executive Director of Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be e-mailed at sally@fallschurchchamber.org.

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 17

Fewer Locals Getting H1N1 Vaccine Since Supply Increase

by Natalie Bedell

Falls Church News-Press

Though supply of the H1N1 vaccine in Fairfax County is now readily available, demand has plummeted since mass vaccination clinics in the area became open to everyone, Fairfax County Health Director Dr. Gloria AddoAyensu said this week.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported last Friday that for every one American vaccinated against H1N1, four are not.

Locally, the number vaccinated per day at Fairfax County clinics has dropped from the thousands to the hundreds since last November, when the influenza subtype hit its second wave. A limited supply of the H1N1 vaccine was administered to CDC priority groups at that time.

Addo-Ayensu attributed the decrease in H1N1 vaccination clinic patrons to a lack of media hype, but warned the flu season does not peak until February or March.

Therefore, she said, it’s essential for those four out of five remaining people to get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as possible.

“When people were under the impression there was a limited availability of the vaccine, a lot of them wanted it — it’s human nature. I think now a lot of people assume the threat is over,” said Addo-Ayensu.

Though no states are claiming widespread influenza activity, Virginia remains one of nine states

that continue to report regional activity. Last week, the Fairfax County Health Department advised anyone left unvaccinated to get the H1N1 vaccine during National Influenza Vaccination Week.

On average that week, 500 people per day were vaccinated at the five Fairfax County Health Department clinics, a significant decrease from the 7,000 per day at one central location last November when the vaccine was harder to come by.

According to Addo-Ayensu, pandemics historically appear in

‘‘ I

cautioned, however, “I don’t want people clamoring at [clinic] doors, creating chaos and panic” like last November.

Marilyn Oliver, 74, of Alexandria and her 78-year-old husband were both vaccinated for H1N1 this Tuesday at the Fairfax County Government Center.

Oliver told the News-Press it was the first time they’d attempted to get vaccinated, but were surprised by the short wait.

“We were in and out. I think it’s a personal choice whether or not to get vaccinated. A lot of people are concerned about the possible side effects and complications, but we came here at the recommendation of our doctor to make sure we’re protected today,” said Oliver.

Addo-Ayensu said the H1N1 vaccine takes about two weeks to take effect, adding that’s why it isn’t advisable for people to wait until they see people around them becoming ill.

When long lines and turnedaway vaccination clinic patrons last November left some area residents distraught, it took its toll on local healthcare workers. AddoAyensu is relieved those days are over, for now.

“In November, people would call me and tell me about their daughter who had a medical condition but didn’t fit the criteria.

You could sense their pain and it wasn’t always easy saying no, but we had to stick with the criteria,”

f people get vaccinated now, we can build herd

”

immunity to avert a potential third wave of infection. two to three waves in the course of a year. With last April and November considered H1N1’s two peak periods, she said that medical experts can’t predict if a third hit will occur, but it’s imperative residents get vaccinated in case another widespread infection strikes in the coming months, causing another vaccine shortage.

“If people get vaccinated now, we can build herd immunity, which means if enough people in our region are immune, we’ll avert a potential third wave of infection,” said Addo-Ayensu, who

Fairfax County R.N. Leah Deike (right) administers an H1N1 vaccine to an 83-year-old patient from Alexandria. (Photo: News-Press) she said. “Otherwise, we would have opened the floodgates to do something unsustainable.”

When the H1N1 vaccine was in limited supply last year, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended the vaccine be given to the high-risk groups, including pregnant women, people caring for children younger than 6 months, health care and emergency medical services personnel, anyone 6 months – 24 years of age, and people ages of 25 – 64 years of age with chronic health conditions.

Now that the vaccine has become widely available, however, the CDC encourages all who remain unvaccinated, including people 65 and older, to get the vaccine if their local supply

allows them to do so.

“H1N1 has disproportionately impacted the younger generation, as well as people with underlying conditions. In terms of severity, it’s about the same as seasonal flu so far. We hope it continues to stay that way, but you never know. The flu is notorious for changing,” said Addo-Ayensu.

Between last April and December, H1N1 took 11,160 lives nationally. Its estimated the seasonal flu kills 36,000 people annually in the U.S. The H1N1 vaccine is available on a walk-in basis for free to anyone who wants it through the Fairfax County Health Department’s five district offices.

To find locations, visit fairfaxcounty.gov.

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Page 18

January 21 - 27, 2010

Mason Wrestlers Get Mixed Results from Cavalier Duals

by John Pitas

Special to the News-Press

GEORGE MASON’S CHANTAL THOMAS (left) calculates a throw at Friday night’s 47-20 victory for the Mustangs over the Mountaineers. (Photo: Alex Prewitt/News-Press)

Lady Mustangs Improve 2-0 In Bull Run District Tourney

by Alex Prewitt

Falls Church News-Press

For the second straight night, George Mason High School girls varsity basketball held its opponent to two first-quarter points and did not cede a field goal for over nine minutes. And for the second straight night the Mustangs won running away.

Mason will enter its toughest stretch of the season on the heels of a scrappy 47-20 victory over visiting Madison County High School in the Mustangs’ second Bull Run District contest. From the opening tip, the Mustangs dominated the scoreboard and the floor. But not without a substantial fight from the Mountaineers.

“We’re always in a dogfight when we play Madison County,” Mason coach LaBryan Thomas said. “They say it’s a curse but we never play well against them. It’s their style, they just try to slow the game down.”

A full-court press that allowed no field goals for 10:32 to start the game helped pad an offense that poured in its second-lowest point total of the year. Sophomore Bria Platenburg had 12 points to lead all scorers while classmate Lauren Kane chipped in 10 and four boards.

On Saturday, after the concluding day of December’s Battlefield Tip-Off Tournament was delayed due to a snowstorm, the George Mason High School varsity girls

Mustang Swimmers Deliver Double Wins

by Alex Prewitt

Falls Church News-Press

Senior captain Kelley Frank broke the 200-yard freestyle record by just over two seconds as the George Mason High School girls’ swim team rolled in its final home meet of the year Friday, besting AA Dulles District opponent Park View 128-35.

The Mustangs boys team also tasted victory Friday, winning 112-58.

Dual individual winners for the meet included junior Will Doty, who won the 50-yard freestyle by nearly three seconds and the 500yard free by well over one minute.

Senior captain Sam Parker won the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley as the

basketball team made up the final and bested AAA powerhouse Robinson High School in a rare Saturday night slate 46-43.

In what Mason coach LaBryan Thomas referred to as a great allaround effort, the Mustangs bested the Rams (8-5) behind Kane’s 16 points. The defending single A state champions held off Robinson, the largest public school in Virginia with a high school enrollment of just under 3,000.

The Mustangs, in the middle of a six-contest winning streak, hit the court next with the biggest two-game stretch of the year. Mason went on the road Tuesday to rival Clarke County before hosting undefeated and state-ranked No. 1 Strasburg High today.

Mustangs captured first in all but one event.

On the girls’ side, the 200yard medley relay of Frank and sophomores Gen Jordan, Carolyn Schmitt and Leah Thirkill put on a dominating performance, winning by 10 seconds. In addition to winning the 100-yard butterfly, Jordan was part of three victorious relays.

The Mustangs will next enter the pool on Saturday in a district matchup on the road with Freedom High School at Claude Moore, the site of the Dulles District Championships, held on Feb. 5.

It was a long couple of days for the wrestling Mustangs of George Mason High School last Friday and Saturday at the Cavalier Duals hosted by Spalding High School in Severn, Md. “That was one tough dual meet extravaganza,” said Mason Head Coach Bryan Harris, when asked about his team’s performance at the tournament, where his Mustangs wrestled eight dual matches in two days, losing all eight.

“Every team there was of top caliber and the lineups were filled with guys who will be on the ‘All Met’ page of the Washington Post at the season’s end, so we can’t feel too bad,” Harris said. “Still, it exposed our weaknesses and showed us just how far we have to go if we are to become a team at that level.”

In the weekend’s individual matches, most of Mason’s wrestlers emerged with losing records.

The Mustang’s season victory leaders, senior Manuel Veiga-Diaz and sophomore Danny Seidita, each found the going rough and emerged with 3-5 records.

Last week’s co-stars, senior Sam Dittmar and junior Mike Larcamp, came away 4-4. The only Mason wrestler to finish with a winning record was senior Teddy Rueckert, who went 6-1.

“Teddy was fantastic,” said Harris. “He finally wrestled the way we knew he was capable.”

Rueckert’s sole loss was to Old Mills’ Ron Vaughter, the

top-ranked wrestler in the Metro area according to the Washington Post’s rankings.

One of Rueckert’s cousins, Harris explained, was a two-time University of Maryland state champion and the other is now the top-ranked wrestler in Maryland at 145 pounds. “So Teddy’s starting to feel a little pressure at this point to step it up,” Harris joked.

Mason’s results were a far cry from last week’s home meet successes, but Harris said he was surprisingly upbeat.

“There were two matches in which we were blown out,” he explained. “Saturday’s first match against Old Mill (Maryland 4A/A champion) and the one against Glenelg (Maryland 2A/1A champion) were no contest.”

He continued, “They were better than us up and down the line.

But we held our own in the others and in four of them we were within a match or two of coming away with a victory.”

He added, “We just couldn’t make it happen though.”

In a strange turn of events, Mason’s first opponent Friday was the Statesmen of George Marshall.

“Fifty miles to wrestle ‘The Battle of Route 7’,” Harris joked.

In that crosstown match-up, Marshall came out the victor by a 50-18 margin to claim the bragging rights this year.

“They are a very good team,” continued Harris, “but especially at 112, 189 and 215. The guys they have at those weights will probContinued on Page 20

MASON’S SAM DITTMAR (TOP) managed to break even at last weekend’s meets. (Photo: Courtesy John Pitas)

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 19

Madison Mountaineers Deny Mustang Boys Bull Run Upset

by Alex Prewitt

Falls Church News-Press

In a packed Mustang Gymnasium, the George Mason High School varsity boys basketball team overcame a horrendous first-half shooting effort, staging a furious rally and storming back from a 15-point halftime deficit to come within six points of tying the state’s No. 1 team Friday night.

Though Madison County High School (13-0), the defending Region B and Bull Run District champions, ultimately pulled out a 61-49 win, the Mustangs’ best effort of the season proved them capable of nearly upsetting the highflying, star-studded Mountaineers.

“It feels like we let this one get away,” Mason Head Coach Chris Capannola said. “I don’t know what our mind set was but we played like we needed to play.

These guys believed they could win and all we had to do was shoot Continued on Page 20

MASON SENIOR BEN STEWART (right) makes the jump for the basket against Madison County. (Photo: Alex Prewitt/News-Press)

Generals Eek Past Jaguars, 57-55

by Milan Gotcher

Falls Church News-Press

Despite a fourth quarter rally, the Falls Church High School boys varsity basketball team narrowly lost, 57-55, to the Washington and Lee Generals last Friday.

The Falls Church Jaguars have struggled season-long to make high percentage shots, and Friday’s game was no different.

The Jaguars trailed the Generals, 19-7, going into the second quarter when the team made a 11-0 run in the last two minutes of the quarter, sparked by a three-point shot by junior shooting guard Bo Walker. The run cut the Generals’ lead and the Jaguars managed to narrow the gap to 32-31 by halftime.

With heavy play by senior forward Pranav Gangele and a threepointer by Michel Medlej in the last minute of the game, the Jaguars were down by two when time ran out.

Jaguars junior Nizar Alamin led all scorers with 13 points “Whenever we lose by so little

NIZAR ALAMIN (left) kept Friday’s game against the Majors close.

Jaguar Scott Slocum stands to the right. (Photo: Milan Gotcher) it’s disappointing, but I am extremely happy we were able to rally twice,” said Jaguars Head Coach T.C. Papageorge.

He added, “With being down by nearly double digits and then

having an opportunity to win toward the end, I’m pleased with our progress.”

The Jaguars faced the Mount Vernon Majors on Tuesday, and travel to J.E.B. Stuart this Friday.

Mark McGuire & Barry Bonds Second, much like the reported Let’s face it. Forgiveness is one of this country’s specialties. Whether jealousy in 1998, it must kill Bonds it’s due to some deep compassion that we, as the sporting public, are within our national spirit, or simply willing to forgive McGwire. After because our short-term, news-cycle all, Bonds has known very little driven memories let slip the sinister sympathy when it comes to PEDs. details of past misdeeds, it’s what we Even as he chased the record, stodo. Just as we can excel at casting ries were printed linking Bonds blame (Is Tiger Woods on the cover to steroid use and as he stalked of the New York Post again?!?!), we both Maris’s and Hank Aaron’s also excel at granting our collective records. He was greeted with vast pardon (Michael Vick heard a lot of skepticism, rather than the wonder we assigned to the McGwire-Sosa cheers this year, didn’t he?).

So when news breaks carrying chase.

So, when it athlete apologies, as comes to forgiveness, well as athlete transgressions, it’s inter- Picking Splinters what’s the difference between McGwire esting to see how the By and Bonds? First, public reacts.

Mike Hume more time has Mark McGwire’s elapsed in McGwire’s return to baseball and his subsequent admission of case. It’s a cliché, but the phrase, steroid use present an interesting “time heals all wounds,” exists for a case for the forgiveness paradigm. reason. Since McGwire’s exit from Since his confession, the response the game we’ve learned that other has largely been supportive for the players, clubhouse attendants, hot slugger. But is that right? Are we dog vendors, ballpark organists were all okay with accepting that the all using PEDs. The “everyone’s home run chase of 1998, one of doing it” argument may not satisfy the greatest baseball seasons ever, your mother’s “if everyone jumped was a fraud? And are we all okay off a bridge ... ” counterpoint, but it with what appears to be a double makes the behavior understandable.

McGwire has also enjoyed a standard on the forgiveness front?

Barry Bonds must be seething number of nationally known charsomewhere for several reasons. The acter references, namely Tony La first relates to an article I read about Russa and Bob Knight, vouching Bonds’ use of performance enhanc- that he’s a good and decent man. ing drugs (PEDs) a while back from Those sort of endorsements really ESPN The Magazine. The article help. Just look at what Tony Dungy’s cited the recollection of Bonds’ support of Michael Vick accomthen-girlfriend as saying he was plished. Bonds, on the other hand, infuriated by watching McGwire likely has far fewer people willing and Sammy Sosa chase after Roger to vouch for him. Why? Because in Maris’s record in 1998, and the addition to his reputation as a steroid adoration that was showered upon user, he also carries a reputation as a them. Bonds firmly believe the pair Grade A jerk. If there’s a line of highwere juicing and that’s when Bonds profile people willing to publicly allegedly began his relationship back Bonds, it might be shorter than with BALCO and his pursuit of the the Slurpee line in an Anchorage 7-11 – in January. record (read: PED use) in earnest.

So, where does this leave Bonds?

Now, while Bonds broods in his lair claiming he was blackballed from Probably in limbo. Just like your baseball, he’s watching McGwire mother after you broke her favorite tearfully admit to transgressions we vase, the American public is waiting still hold against the all-time home for an apology, one Bonds may not run king. And while McGwire is be able to give – even if he wants welcomed back as the hitting coach to. The public still scowls at the for the St. Louis Cardinals, Bonds unapologetic Roger Clemens – who blamed alleged HGH use on his remains in the shadows.

This must be utterly indigestible wife, rather than take the hit himto Bonds. Even if Bonds wanted to self – and it will forever frown on take the same route as McGwire, Bonds until he can come clean.

So, double standard? I don’t he likely can’t. Given the legal implications of Bonds’ case, having think so. It’s merely that while stated under oath that he never used McGwire’s situation left him with PEDs, he would purger himself to an avenue of escape, Bonds has now admit it. Contrition, even if it backed himself into corner he may never be able to leave. was genuine, is likely off the table.

Page 20

January 21 - 27, 2010

Area High School Sports Roundup

Results Mixed

Jaguar Swimmers Dominate Mt. Vernon; Statesmen Trounce Stone Bridge, 85-68

Continued from Page 18

FALLS CHURCH H.S. Jaguars Down 2 Games on Court, Face Stuart Rematch The Falls Church High School boys basketball team suffered consecutive close losses, falling to Mount Vernon 66-64 on Tuesday, and 57-55 against Washington & Lee last Friday, to drop its record to 4-11. The squad is at Stuart this Friday at 7:45 p.m., and the girls team welcomes Stuart on Friday at 6 p.m., both rematches of December contests the Jaguars lost.

Nearing End of Season, Jaguars Dominate Mt. Vernon Swimming

Stone Bridge 85-68 on at home on Tuesday to improve its record to 7-7. The team is at Fairfax on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The girls team dominated Thomas Jefferson 63-43 last week, and welcome Fairfax this Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Statesmen Take Mixed Results At Cavalier Duals The Marshall High School wrestling team had mixed results at the Cavalier Duals at Spalding High School on Saturday. The Statesmen defeated Broadneck 38-32 and dominated Northeast High 54-18, but came up short against Calvert High School 38-36 and fell to the host school Spalding 58-25. Marshall had a big match after deadline against McLean on Wednesday, and is at Madison on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The Jaguar swim team defeated Mount Vernon last week.

For the boys, seniors Alex Howe and David Blincoe led the way, and Jesse Kane was also won two events. For the girls, Sydney Langer, Laura Schwartz and Maggie Cullather each won two events; and Cullather, Katie Porter, Hannah Wilkerson and Emily Sturges paced the diving events. The team wraps up the regular season against rival Stuart on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

The Statesmen swim and dive team faced off against Stone Bridge last week, with the girls losing 180-106 and the boys losing 151-134. The team wraps up the regular season at Madison High at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Jaguars Wrestlers Face Mason, Head to District Duals

Marshall Gymnastics Hosts Monday Meet

The Falls Church wrestling team had a dual meet against rival George mason after deadline on Wednesday, and is back on the mat this Friday at Saturday for the District Duals at Hayfield.

The Marshall gymnastics team is hosting a meet on Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Jaguar Gymnastics Back to Mats With Two Competitions This Week The Falls Church gymnastics team hasn’t seen much action lately, but makes up for it in a big way this week. The Jaguars last participated in a competition on Jan. 6, but compete at West Springfield on Friday and at Edison on Monday.

GEORGE C. MARSHALL H.S. Statesmen Boys Basketball Even Season Record, 7-7 The Marshall High School boys basketball team dominated

Marshall Swim & Dive Team Face Doubles Losses

J.E.B. Stuart H.S. Stuart Basketball Teams Look to Repeat Wins This Friday, both the Stuart High School boys and girls bas-

ketball teams have rematches with rival Falls Church.

The Raider boys defeated the Jaguars 58-51 a week before Christmas, and are at Falls Church on Friday at 7:45 p.m. The Stuart girls also plan to continue their winning ways against Falls Church, a team they beat 49-42 in December and host on Friday at 6 p.m.

Raiders Lose Boys & Girls Meets in the Pool Against Washington and Lee High, the Stuart boys swim team lost 166-149, and the girls team fell 207-104. The team returns to the pool on Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Providence.

MCLEAN H.S. McLean Boys Fall to Fairfax, Girls Hoops Take the Win The McLean High School boys basketball team narrowly loss to Fairfax 59-53 on Tuesday, dropping its record to 6-8. The team welcomes Langley on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The girls team defeated Fairfax 45-37 to improve their record to 8-6. The team hosts Langley on Friday at 5:30 p.m..

ably be state medalists this year.”

“Three of the matches were decided by one point, and two of those went into overtime. I think we held our own against them overall,” Harris said.

He added, “We’ll definitely be better prepared next year.”

Harris was quick to point out that valuable lessons can be learned in this weekend’s defeat.

“It’s easy to forget that we are

Mustangs Fall Continued from Page 19

a decent percentage and we would have won this game.”

With 1:07 to play, Mason senior Ben Stewart cut the Madison lead to six, but after a quick timeout, Mountaineer senior Casey Campbell came off an inbounds pass to cement the victory with a wide-open layup.

Madison opened up a 32-17 lead at halftime thanks to 14 points by senior Logan Terrell, who was a near-perfect 7-for-8 from the field at the break. Despite holding Madison to zero points for the first 3:10 of play, Madison broke open a 14-11 game with an 18-6 run in the second quarter behind a dominating display in the paint and some cold shooting by the Mustangs.

Mason senior Aaron Young was

still a young inexperienced group at this point in time,” he said, noting, “We are just about where we thought we would be success-wise.”

In going forward, Harris said “our guys now have a better appreciation of what it takes to wrestle at such a high level. They are pumped to improve because they see there is nothing that stands between them and their own success but hard work.”

The Mustangs wrestle next on Saturday, Jan. 23, when they will travel to Madison County for the Bull Run District Duals. Start time is 10 a.m. the lone deep threat for Capannola’s unit, who shot 5-for-20 from beyond the arc. All five came from Young, who finished with 15 points.

The Mustangs shot 6-for-26 from the field in the first half alone, but nearly overcame a stagnant first 16 minutes to upset VirginiaPreps.com’s top-ranked squad.

“We had a bunch of good looks but we just couldn’t convert one,” Capannola said.

Terrell led all scorers with 20 while senior David Falk added 19, including a tomahawk, onehanded slam that brought the house down and even had some Mason fans bowing in respect.

The Mustangs (6-9, 1-1) now turn their attention to rival Clarke County (8-5, 2-0), winners of three straight including a 63-48 victory over Manassas Park, in a battle between the two squads that should battle for second place in the district.

Highlanders Winter Sports Tackle Meets This Week The Highlanders swim team wraps up the regular season on Friday at 6 p.m. against Stone Bridge; the wrestling team had a match on Wednesday against Marshall after deadline, and returns to the mat at Georgetown Prep on Saturday; and the McLean gymnastics team is at Marshall on Monday starting at 6:30 p.m.

Calling All Parents & Coaches: Help the News-Press keep up the coverage!

Submit game notes & photos of local high school sports for publication.

e-mail: sports@fcnp.com

Mason JUNIOR BRANDON ALEXANDER (left) faces off against a Mountaineer Friday night. (Photo: Alex Prewitt/News-Press)

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 21

George Mason High Holds Haiti Relief Fundraiser

Congressional Va. Schools Hosts Open House

at 703-527-5423 or visit www. saintagnes.org/school.

Twenty percent of all sales revenue at Flippin’ Pizza in Falls Church (800 West Broad, in the “Flower Building”) today, Jan. 21, between 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. will go toward the George Mason High School Haiti Relief Fund.

Principal Tyrone Byrd will join the pizza shop staff behind the counter from 6 – 10 p.m.

The Congressional Schools of Virginia is holding an open house for grades 1 – 8 on Monday, Feb. 1, from 8:30 – 10 a.m. The open house includes guided tours and a chance for parents to see dayto-day operations during a normal school day. Reservations are required, and parents are asked to RSVP to Karen Weinberger at 703-533-9711, ext. 307, or by e-mail at kweinberger@csov.org.

The Congressional Schools of Virginia is located at 3229 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church.

Area Schools Recognized With Va. Governor Awards

Bishop O’Connell H.S. Raises Funds for Haiti The students of Bishop O’Connell Catholic High School are raising funds for their sister school, Louverture Cleary School, in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Proceeds from several functions at the school this weekend will go directly to the effort.

Money will be collected at the varsity basketball game against Gonzaga High this Friday, Jan. 22, in Godley Gym. All proceeds from tickets for the Drama Club’s staged readings of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” will be donated. The performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22; 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24. At last Friday’s basketball game, Bishop O’Connell managed to raise $1,600. For more information, visit www.bishopireton.org.

St. Agnes Invites Parents To Open Houses St. Agnes Catholic School, a 2009 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, is holding an open house on Tuesday, Feb. 2, from 10 – 11 a.m. for parents of all prospective students. Another open house for parents interested in pre-K and kindergarten will be held on Sunday, Feb. 7, from 10:30 a.m. – noon. Both events offer guided tours of the school and a meeting with the principal, pastor and current parents.

The open houses will take place in the school library, at 2024 N. Randolph St., Arlington. For more information, call the school office

Haycock Elementary and McLean High were among 36 Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to receive the 2010 Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence from Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. The honor is the highest that the Virginia Board of Education can bestow under the Virginia Index of Performance incentive program.

For a complete list of schools awarded, visit www.doe.virginia. gov or contact the FCPS at 571423-1200.

St. James H.S. Teacher Wins Washington Portrait Sixth grade teacher Pat Moran of St. James Catholic High School was one of three teachers to win a raffle held for members of the Mount Vernon Teachers Institute. Her prize: a full-size replica of the famous George Vincent Peale portrait of President George Washington. Moran receives her prize at 2 p.m. this Friday in the school’s Heller Hall, with representatives from Mount Vernon present, in addition to George Washington himself.

Seventh grader Evan Drake (left) won the Geography Bee held at McLean’s Langley School, and will advance to the state-level competition. The national competition is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Here, Drake is standing next to Social Studies Department Chair Diane Charnov (center) and runner-up Danny Rodriguez (right). (Photo: Courtesy Sharon Ifft)

Page 22

January 21 - 27, 2010

‘Blackie’ Hawthorne, News-Press Ad Director, Dies Continued from Page 6

had a whole bag of goodies for us on board. When the sergeant asked if I’d told him to meet me there, I said that my brother’s family came by the station all the time to see the troops off to war.”

Arriving in New York, Hawthorne said the phenomenon of people cheering them on from the high rises “was just such a sight to behold.”

“On board those transports, we’d hear the escort ships drop depth charges into the harbor where they were afraid German submarines might be hiding,” he said. “And, man, when those charges went off, they’d rattle you to the bone, but we’d just go on playing poker and keeping ourselves entertained.”

On base in England, where Hawthorne flew alongside

HAWTHORNE during World War II.

Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart, as part of the 445th, Hawthorne served aboard a B-24 Liberator, one of the U.S.’s largest heavy bombers in the war. He recounted how “because of my Southern accent, they wouldn’t make me a radio operator so I had to man the lower guns aboard the B-24.”

It was during one of his missions over the factories near Hamburg, Germany that Hawthorne’s plane was shot down by a German jet plane – a late development for the German air force that caught Hawthorne and his crew by surprise. “It came out of nowhere from our blind spot and whizzed past us,” he said. “Next thing, the plane was rattling and I knew we’d been hit.”

As the plane began to descend, Hawthorne threw on his parachute packet which on an impulse he had nabbed from the base before leaving. “I hadn’t been given a parachute before taking flight, so I managed to find one and take it,” he said.

Hawthorne was fortunate: while the pilots had chutes and escaped, the bombardier and radio operator had no chutes and went down with the plane.

As Hawthorne began to jump, he recalled the radio operator running up to him frantically, exclaiming, “I don’t have a chute!”

“It’s one of those memories I carry with me to this day,” he said, “whether I could have helped him strap onto my pack

and take him down with me.”

Once landed in the middle of hostile territory, Hawthorne was escorted by a contingent of German soldiers and Hitler Youth, who he said “were barely 13 years-old.”

Interrogated and kept without food for three days in a German war prison, Hawthorne said the first drop of soup he tasted “was the best meal I have ever tasted.

You go without food and not knowing whether you’ll ever eat again, and it’s funny what your tastebuds will do to food.”

Hawthorne was shipped off to a POW camp in northern Germany where he spent the remaining two years of the war.

He recalled joining 10,000 fellow Allied soldiers – Americans, British, Australians, Canadians and Russians – for routine checks by the Germans.

“Americans weren’t trusted,” Hawthorne said. “They were always messing with the German guards during roll call.”

Hawthorne remembered spending most of his free time in conversation with other prisoners while in their barracks. There was “little time spent outside, due to the fear that we’d try to escape,” he said.

After being liberated by Russian soldiers in 1945, Hawthorne returned to Virginia Beach and eventually took up the offer of a college education funded by the GI Bill, attending business school at Bluefield College in Virginia.

Stephen Michael David, Longtime Falls Church Resident, Dies at 67

Stephen Michael David, a math teacher at St. Veronica’s School in Chantilly, died January 16, 2010 at his home in Falls Church.

He was 67.

David was born October 7, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio, the first of four sons and one daughter to Ms. Anne Vorpe and Lt. Col Stephen David, a P-39 pilot with the Army Air Corps during WWII who was deployed in New Guinea at the time of his son’s

birth. The family moved to Falls Church in 1957.

Stephen Michael, or “Mike” as he was known, attended St. James School in Falls Church where he excelled in athletics, winning the inaugural Father Malarky Award for the school’s best athlete. At Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell High School Mr. David excelled in mathematics as well as swimming, track, and basketball and won the first Scholar Athlete Award given by the school in 1959. He attended Catholic University on a swimming scholarship - setting several pool records - and graduated with

a degree in Economics.

Mr. David began his professional career as a physics teacher at Flint Hill School in Fairfax. A skilled carpenter, Mr. David also worked as professional stagehand, building contractor, home builder, and real estate developer before returning to the classroom in 2005. He remained active in athletics throughout his life as both a player and a coach.

Mr. David was also a devoted parishioner of St. James in Falls Church.

A Catholic service will be held at St. James in Falls Church on Saturday, January 23 at 1 p.m.

‘BLACKIE’ HAWTHORNE with his wife of 58 years, Betsy, at a Falls Church Chamber of Commerce gala.

He met his wife, Elizabeth, and raised a family in Northern Virginia, working in advertising departments for several publications, including the Alexandria Connection and the Fairfax Journal, before coming to the Falls Church News-Press.

In addition to his wife, son and daughters, Hawthorne is survived by a brother, William Hawthorne of Dundee, Virginia and was preceded in death by brothers Robert

S. and Richard C. Hawthorne. His is survived by grandchildren Anna and Jesse Yashinski, Dean and Susie Hawthorne, Grace Jackson and Madeline McDonnell.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675. Funeral arrangements are being made by the Murphy Funeral Home of Falls Church.

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 23

Not Avg. Cookie Jar “Pandora’s Boxes” by Marcia Koski Finnerly, in the Mini Gallery of Lee Arts Center (5722 Lee Hwy., Arlington). The exhibit runs through Jan. 28. The gallery is open 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Monday; 9:30 a.m. – 9 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday; Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more details, call 703-228-0560 or visit www. arlingtonarts.org/venues/lee-artscenter.aspx.

And now for something completely different: Marcia Koski Finnerly is showing 23 ceramic pieces in Lee Center’s Mini Gallery.

The “different” part is that these works are handmade cremation urns. While Finnerly sees them as being cookie jars before their ultimate use.

Stylistic devices run the gamut from Art Nouveau to some of the better works here that seem to be influenced by the historic architecture of Thailand or India. Quality within the collection of 23 pieces varies a good bit. Editing down the number shown, or ensuring more time spent on fewer pieces, may have better served Finnerly.

The use of generic drawer handles for some of the lids seems to strike a particularly off-note. It’s difficult to ignore them seeing how as they sit atop the piece, and as such are the first things you see when looking down at them.

Any successful comic will tell you timing is everything. What may be the worst case of bad timing ever is found right here in the piece titled “Vignette – Tea with Dear Old Dad.” Here we find a tea caddy with tea pot and two labeled jam jars sitting next to it. One jar contains jam, the other... Let’s just say this is a joke only Keith Richards could appreciate.

While uneven, the show does have its merits. Finnerly has certainly hit upon a unique market.

However, the works and their presentation could use a little refinement before their next showing.

In Perspective “Sculpture Now 2010,” at the Edison Place Gallery (702

DETAIL OF SIMPKINS-CAMP’S “Financial Disaster.”

8th St NW, Washington, D.C.).

The exhibit runs through Feb. 12.

The gallery is open Tuesday – Friday, noon – 4 p.m., and is also open during the same hours on Saturday, Jan. 30. For more details, call 202-872-3396 or visit www.pepco.com/welcome/community/artgallery/calendar.

The Sculpture Now 2010 show is a Washington Sculpture Group show hosted by Pepco in their ground-floor gallery space on the backside of the Pepco building.

If you have trouble finding it, the section of 8th St NW in question is directly in front of the North facade of the American Art Museum. It’s a quirky spot for an art gallery, but Pepco makes the space available for art shows by non-profit arts organizations.

Can’t fault that.

Sculpture Now 2010 is a rather uneven group show, but there are several significant pieces here.

One of the best pieces is a dirigible model skinned in multicolored Monopoly money. The little green houses serve as passenger compartments, while the bigger red hotel pieces serve as engine housings. Titled “Financial Disaster,” you don’t have to do much head-scratching to figure out what John Simpkins-Camp is getting at with this seven-footlong piece.

A good bit of the genius behind this work is its tacit allusion to the Hindenberg and the way a bolt of lighting destroyed that airship after a transatlantic flight.

Monopoly is also about as close to the ultimate American board game as you can get, and its pastel-hued money is akin to the sort of Third World currency we look down upon. You have to think Simpkins-Camp isn’t talk-

ing about housing or stock market bubbles, but rather the currency bubble that still remains. The Depression era/WWII generation saw “Buy American” as a matter of national security. To do otherwise was a tacit form of treason. The past generation has, on the other hand, seen exporting American jobs as good business.

You get stupid answers to obvious questions like this when you have companies operating in corporate isolation instead of acting as an integral part of the community at large.

If the currency bubble pops the way the housing market bubble did, “Oh, the Humanity of it all...” will have a whole new meaning.

Another excellent piece here is the six-foot-long black crow sculpture by Karen Bondarchuk, crafted entirely from old car tire inner tubes. The materials used have a dense matte black finish that supports the sinister, foreboding feel of this dead crow.

Elizabeth Whiteley has one of the simplest, yet playfully entertaining pieces here, titled “Drift 2.” Whiteley has taken a section of black fiberglass residential window screening and draped it against one of the white gallery walls. You’d be hardpressed to find a cheaper, or easier, way of making a sculpture. Its overlapping folds have a layered blackon-black effect that intensifies its play on the white ground.

Similarly, its tiny black grid work contrasts with the flowing, amorphous overall shape.  The Northern Virginia Art Beat is compiled by Kevin Mellema.

See www.fcnp.com for photos and more. To e-mail submissions, send them to kevinmellema@gmail.com.

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January 21 - 27, 2010

Community Events Thursday, January 21 Alexandria Restaurant Week. The best restaurants throughout Old Town offer $35 pris fixe dinners, some offering $35 dinners for two.

Old Town Alexandria (between King & Royal Streets, Alexandria).

Ends Sunday, Jan. 24. www. visitalexandriava.com.

Teen Gaming. Teens can relax after school with Wii game competitions and other activities at the new library. Westover Branch Library (1644 N. McKinley St., Arlington).

Free. 3 p.m.

Rotary Presentation. Rotarian Mary Wharton demonstrates Computer Assisted Learning at the Rotary Club’s dinner. Harvest Moon Restaurant (7260 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). Dinner is $11, visitors are welcome. 6:30 p.m.

Opening Reception. Sculpture artist Nicole Fall presents her series “New Synergy,” in the Emerson Gallery.

Juror’s talk and reception to follow.

Artist Terry Schupbach-Gordon’s work is on display in the Atrium and Gretchen Schermerhorn’s in the Ramp. McLean Project for the Arts (1234 Ingleside Dr., McLean). Free.

Send community event submissions to the News-Press by e-mail at calendar@fcnp. com; fax 703-532-3396; or by regular mail to 450 West Broad Street #321, Falls Church, VA 22046. Please include any photos or artwork with submissions. Deadline is Monday at noon for each week’s edition.

7 – 9 p.m. 703-790-1953. www. mpaart.org.

for the Road performs jigs, reels, classic tunes and more, part of Creative Cauldron’s month-long music series. ArtSpace (410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church). $10 for adults, $5 for children.

Friday, January 22 Fruit Sale. The Falls Church Lions Club is runnings its yearly citrus sale, with fresh navel oranges, tangelos and grapefruit. Falls Church City Property Yard (near Gordon Road & West Broad Street, Falls Church).

Prices vary. 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. Also Saturday, Jan. 23, from 8 a.m. till sold out.

Teen Comedy Night. The Old Firehouse Teen Center brings 7th and 8th graders into the spotlight during an interactive night of comedy with area improv troupe Comedy Sportz. McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Dr., McLean). $5 for members, $10 for the public. 7 – 10 p.m. 703-7900123.

Irish Folk. Area Irish folk band Mad

&

Sunday, January 24

Saturday, January 23

Yoga For Charity. 100 percent of proceeds go toward local charities.

Sacred Well Yoga Studio (450 West Broad St., Suite 320, Falls Church).

Suggested donation, $10. 6 – 7:15 p.m. 703-989-8316. www.swys.net.

and socialize. Refreshments are sold. Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). $5. 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. 703248-5307.

Falls Church City Farmers Market.

City Hall (300 Park Ave., Falls Church). Free. 9 a.m. – noon.

Meet & Greet & Autograph. Author Diane Welland, M.S., R.D. discusses nutrition and healthy food preparation and her book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Clean.” Barnes & Noble Tysons Corner (7851 L Tysons Corner Center, McLean). Free. Noon.

Family Fun Bingo. Parents and children over 3 play together.

Registration required, no walk-ins.

McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Dr., McLean). $10 for McLean residents, $15 for general admission; children under 2, free.

2:30 – 4 p.m. Register at 703-7900123 or www.mcleancenter.org.

Teen Dancin’. The Teen Center invites 6th – 8th graders to come dance

F.C. Relay for Life Kickoff. Attendees will learn about plans for the 2010 Relay, which will be held May 22 – 23. Open to the public. Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School (7134 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church). Free.

2:30 – 4 p.m. www.fallschurchrelay. org.

Wednesday, January 27 Premiere Twilight Club. Fans of the popular vampire series gather to share stories and more. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Registration required.

Free. 7:30 p.m. 703-248-5030.

Travel Series Film. Part of its international series, Alden Theatre presents the film, “Wales: Land of Song.” McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Dr., McLean). $8 for McLean residents, $10 for the public. 7:30 p.m. 703-790-0123.

Theater Fine Arts Thursday, January 21

‘I Am My Own Wife.’ The real story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who attempts to avoid persecution in Nazi Germany, in this Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Signature Theatre (4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington). 8 p.m. $47 – 71. 703-820-9771. www.sig-online.org.

Friday, January 22

‘Mahalia.’ Bernardine Mitchell returns to the role of the “Queen of Gospel Music,” Mahalia Jackson, for which she won the 2005 Helen Hayes Award, in this musical biography. MetroStage (1201 N. Royal St., Alexandria). 8 p.m. $50. 800-4948497. www.metrostage.org.

Saturday, January 23 ‘Ta’ziyeh/The Spectators.’ The 14th annual Iranian Film Festival at the Smithsonian’s Meyer Auditorium presents Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarsotami’s dramatization of the battle of Karbala, where Muhammad’s grandson, Husayn, and his followers are killed. Freer Gallery of Art (1050 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C.). Free. Limit of 2 tickets per group. Firstcome, first-serve. 1 & 3 p.m. today, with a 2 p.m. showing on Sunday, Jan. 24. 202-633-100.

Sunday, January 24

‘Stick Fly.’ Things go awry on Martha’s Vineyard in this family comedy when an African American man, Kent LeVay, brings his white girlfriend home to meet the family at their summer home.

The Chicago Tribune calls it “an impressively ambitious play.” Arena Stage in Crystal City (1800 S Bell St., Arlington). Tickets range from $50 – 55. 6 p.m. 202-488.3300. www. arenastage.org.

‘Will Success Spoil Rocker Hunter?’ American Century Theater and director George Axelrod present a modern adaptation of Faust, the classic German tale of a man who sells his soul to the devil for success and happiness. In this modern reinvention, the setting is 1950s Hollywood. Gunston Arts Center (2700 S. Lang St., Arlington). $26 – 29, with discounts available; children are free. 2:30 p.m. 703-9984555. www.americancentury.org.

Robert Klein. The stand-up comedian and Second City alum brings his latest routine to Alexandria.

Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $35. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500.

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 25

live_music&nightlife THURSDAY, January 21 Songwriters Association of Washington. Bangkok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $5. 7 p.m.

703-534-0095.

24th Annual WFMA Benefit Concert. Many performers contribute to this World Folk Music Association event. Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $44.50 – 59.50. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500.

More details at www.wfma.net.

Peter Mulvey. With Jeffrey Foucault.

Seated show. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $15. 7:30 p.m. 703-255-1566.

We Are Scientists. With Uninhabitable Mansions. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $15 in advance, $17 at door. 8 p.m. 202667-4490.

Freelance Whales. With Animal Tropical, Faces on Film. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $10 in advance, $12 at door.

8:30 p.m. 202-667-4490.

Locksley. Iota Club and Café (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $10. 9 p.m.

703-522-8340.

Friday, January 22 Mike Terpak Blues Explosion. Bang-

kok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $7, includes later show. 7 p.m. 703-534-0095.

Enter the Haggis. With Adam Ezra Group. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $15. 8 p.m. 703-2551566.

The Junior League Band & Justin Jones and The Driving Rain. With Luke Brindley. 9:30 Club (815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $10 – 15. 8 p.m. 202-265-0930.

Haiti Aid Concert. Performances by Brother Shamus, Helo, Tom McBridge, The Walkaways and more.

Iota Club and Café (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). Donations encouraged. 8:30 p.m. 703-522-8340.

Third Wave Dance Hall – Ska Dance Party. With movie, “The Harder They Come,” playing at 7:15 p.m.

Ages 18+. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church). $10. 9 p.m. 703-237-0300.

Sockets Records Showcase. With The Cornel West Theory, Hume, Imperial China, Buildings, Big Gold Belt. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $12. 9 p.m. 202667-4490.

Blues On The Side. Bangkok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $7, includes earlier show. 10 p.m. 703534-0095.

SATURDAY, January 23 Gloria Kim. With Michael Butler.

Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $8. 2 p.m. 703-255-1566.

Blue Book Value. Yorktown Bistro (5171 Lee Hwy., Arlington). 6 – 10 p.m. 703-532-6060.

Scott Ramminger and The Crawstickers. Bangkok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $7, includes later show. 7 p.m. 703-534-0095.

E, Vienna). $7. 5 p.m. 703-255-1566.

Blues Jam. With Hot Rods and Old Gas and Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). Free. 6 p.m. 703-534-0095.

XMC. With The Formers. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $8. 9 p.m. 202-667-4490.

Monday, January 25

Bruce in the USA. Tribute band to Bruce Springsteen. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church). $18. 9 p.m. 703-237-0300.

This Is Spinal Tap. Monday Movie Night. Ages 18+. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church). $3. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., movie starts at 7 p.m. 703-2370300.

Laura Tsaggaris. With Dawn Landes and The Hounds. Iota Club and Café (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $12.

9 p.m. 703-522-8340.

Dale Watson. With Justin Jones. Iota Club and Café (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $15. 8 p.m. 703-5228340.

Two Tears. With Eyes of The Killer Robot, The Electricutions. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $10. 9 p.m. 202-667-4490.

Choptank Murphy. Bangkok Blues (926 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $7, includes earlier show. 10 p.m. 703534-0095.

SUNDAY, January 24 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest Awards Gala. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave.

Wednesday, January 27 Chris Ayer. With Shane Cooley.

Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $10. 8 p.m. 703-255-1566.

Thursday, January 28 Of Montreal. With James Husband.

9:30 Club (815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $25. Doors open at 7 p.m.

202-265-0930.

Planning Ahead...

P

repare to get schooled on the wines and cheeses of France next Tuesday. Hosted by the Alliance Française, the largest network of French language and social centers in the world, this French Wine & Cheese class and tasting will be hosted by Laurent Guinand, president of GiraMondo Wine Adventures. During the class, Guinand will cover the different wine regions in France, including the wine making process and techniques of each, the cheese making process and how to create the perfect pairing of French wines and cheeses. And to top it all off, the class will be completely taught in French. Yup, if you’re not up to speed on the ‘ol language of love, you better go rent some Gérard Depardieu flicks or spring for Rosetta Stone. General admission will run you $39, members get in for $30.

What: French Wines and Cheeses Class and Tasting in French When: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Alliance Française de Washington,

2142 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20008 Call 202-234-7911 for reservations or see francedc.org for more info

Friday, Jan. 29 – World Hunger Benefit Concert. Bluegrass bands converge on Columbia Baptist to make some music and raise funds for Columbia’s Spend Yourself for World Hunger Fund. Performances by King Street Bluegrass Band, Andrew Acosta and the New Old-Time String Band with Speedy Tolliver. Columbia Baptist Church (103 W. Columbia St., Falls Church). Free. 7:30 p.m. www.spend-yourself.org.

Wednesday, Feb. 3 – GMHS Students Vs. Faculty Basketball. The students of George Mason High School (GMHS) challenge their teachers and staff during this yearly event. All proceeds will benefit the George Mason High School Haiti Relief Fund. George Mason High School (7124 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church). $3. 7 p.m. 703-248-5500.

Calendar Submissions Be sure to include time, location, cost of admission, contact person and any other pertinent information.

Event listings will be edited for content and space limitations. Please include any photos or artwork with submissions. Deadline is Monday at noon for the current week’s edition.

Email: calendar@fcnp.com Fax: 703-342-0347; Attn: FCNP Calendar Mail: 450 West Broad Street, #321, Falls Church, VA 22046

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January 21 - 27, 2010

Mini Reviews Continued from Page 27 ties to explore the premise. Rating: Two and a half stars.

B

RIGHT STAR (Romantic drama, PG, 119 m., 2009).

Jane Campion’s beautiful and wistful film shows John Keats and Fanny Brawne submerged blissfully in a love that exists almost entirely of their idealism. The great young poet and the younger girl who found his poetry difficult live in two halves of a tiny cottage in Hampstead and drown in nature and Romanticism, in a film with its own visual poetry. Abbie Cornish is entrancing as a determined seamstress who supports herself, which is more than Keats can do. Rating: Three and a half stars.

W

HIP IT (Sports action, PG-13, 111 m., 2009). Ellen Page (“Juno”) is plucky and enchanting in Drew Barrymore’s directing debut. She plays a smalltown Texas girl, sick of the beauty pageants her mother fires her into, who sneaks off to Austin one night, sees a roller derby and gets a whole new idea of herself. Page, doing her own skating, is small but fast, and earns the respect of her teammates, in an unreasonably entertaining coming-of-age comedy that sees the modern version of roller derby as a sort of gothic-punk-warrior woman ritual. Rating: Three and a half stars.

T

CLIENTS

1

02:18

5/22/02

HE BOYS ARE BACK (Comedy drama, PG-13, 103 m., 2009). When he suddenly loses his beloved second wife, an Australian sportswriter (Clive Owen) becomes the single dad of a 6-yearold. His theories of parenting lean toward permissive anarchy, which disturbs both a woman he eventually starts to date and his son from the first marriage. Directed by Scott Hicks (“Shine”), who expects us to like the character more than he really deserves. Rating: Two and a half stars.

THE

R E’S

NO

T

HE HURT LOCKER (War drama, R, 127 m., 2009). A great film. Jeremy Renner stars as a bomb-defusing specialist who dismantles bombs under fire in Iraq. Not a phony action movie, no false alarms, but almost unbearable suspense in a story that asks: Why does he do it? Why MUST he do it? With Anthony Mackie as the head of his support team, who is driven crazy by what he considers Renner’s reckless approach to the job. Director Kathryn Bigelow, a master of intelligent action (“Strange Days,” “K-19: The Widowmaker”), superbly creates suspense out of the traditional tools of performance, story, timing and editing. In a movie about bombs, this one doesn’t depend for its effect on blowing things up. Rating: Four stars.

T

HE INVENTION OF LYING (Comedy, PG-13, 99 m., 2009). In its amiable, quiet way, a remarkably radical comedy about a world where everyone always tells the truth. When Ricky Gervais discovers he can lie, this gives him incredible power. Jennifer Garner plays the great beauty who informs him truthfully that he’s short and fat and not an ideal genetic match. He agrees. Then he discovers by accident a suggestion that inspires joy and gratitude from the entire world. Its implications are radical, but the movie is so wellmannered and laid-back that it gets away with it. Rating: Three and a half stars.

D

EPARTURES (Drama, PG-13, 130 m., 2009). A WV jobless 85 classical DOLEV musician takes a job in “encoffinment,” the Japanese ritual preparation of the dead. The film is lovely, moving and wise, and the actors embody their roles – the young man, his fond wife, his wise boss and the boss’s encouraging, quietly sad assistant.

Directed by Yojiro Takita. Winner of the 2009 Oscar for best foreign film.

Rating: Four stars.

*127599*

(c) 2009 The Ebert Co.

GH ART IN OUR S NOT ENOU CHO

WONDER

“G E S U N D H E I T ”

PEOPLE

O L S.

S AY

WHEN YOU

S AY

“TCHAIKOVSKY.” For more information about the importance of arts education, please contact

www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

(For Official Campaign Partner or Sponsor Use Only: Insert logo and/or organization name here.)

NOTE TO PUB: DO NOT PRINT INFO BELOW, FOR I.D. ONLY. NO ALTERING OF AD COUNCIL PSAS. Americans for the Arts - Newspaper 4 1/4 x 3 1/2 B&W AFAWV1-N-05217-F “Tchaikovsky”, localizable 85 line screen (ad contains non-repro blue copy indicating where localization info can be placed) Film at Schawk: 212-689-8585 Reference #: 127599

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 29

Jan

21 ay

sd Thur

Peter

Mulvey Jammin’ Java 7:30 p.m.

227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna 703-255-1566 • jamminjava.com

Locksley Iota Club & Café 9 p.m.

2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington

703-522-8340 • iotaclubandcafe.com

22 ay

d Satur

Maura Kennedy Birchmere 7:30 p.m.

3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria 703-549-7500 • birchmere.com

24 ay

Sund

Bruce In

by Mike Hume

Falls Church News-Press

Maura Kennedy is a kind of accidental solo artist.

A long time half of The Kennedys with her husband Pete, the origins of her solo side project began with a stint staying with her relatives, gently brushing the strings of her guitar while her extended family slept. From there it blossomed into a full length album and a tour that will take her to two stops in the D.C. region next week.

“Even when I was in the midst of writing and recording these, I didn’t have any desire to make a solo album,” Kennedy says. “It sort of happened as the result of my fans online. I’d post a song up and the response would be like, ‘This is great, I’m going to wait for the album.’

And I’m thinking, I’m not planning on making a solo album. I had no plans to do it. But they were persistent and a lot of my fans haven’t gotten to the downloading paradigm yet. So, I kind of bent under pressure.”

Thirteen tracks later, one per month, Kennedy had her album, her first solo venture after 10 releases with The Kennedys.

From the staccato singing on opening track “The Thing With Feathers,” to the retro-pop, WWII-era ballad closer “Shadows with the Lonely,” Maura puts her personal stamp on the album with her energetic persona.

“I’ve always lived like that and been excited by music,” Kennedy says. “It probably goes back to my childhood. I lived in a family of nine with seven siblings, all a year apart. There was always energy in our house. Our parents were very supportive of all of us and encour-

aged us and gave us permission to have that zest for life.

“I’m kind of ansty all the time. I love the night, I love to hear rock music and I love the noise of the city. That’s just my natural state I guess.”

That energy carries over into the album, Parade of Echoes, where it carries a more pop-rock fingerprint (“New Way to Live” and “Sun Burns Gold” serve as perfect examples) than the more Americana compositions of The Kennedys.

“Pete is little more rootsy, bluesy,” Kennedy says. “This stuff is more pop and rock because it’s just me. And in terms of subject matter, when we write together the songs seem to be more of a universal level, whereas these songs [on Parade of Echoes] feel more on a personal level.”

Part of that may extend from Kennedy’s journalistic approach to the album. Writing out a new tune a month, she tended to write about how she felt in a particular moment. What she was listening to at the time, even the time of year had an influence on the album.

“Because I wrote these songs over the course of the year. The summer songs sound like summer and the winter songs feel like winter. I wasn’t trying to convey that, the mood just happened. “Sun Burns Gold” is so much a winter song and “October” is very much a fall song, not just because of the title, it has that emotional feel to it. They were just little snapshots of what I was feeling and listening to at the moment.”

Though unexpected, and maybe even a little uncomfortable (“The thought going on stage alone had me breaking out in a sweat,”

The USA State Theatre 9 p.m.

This week, the FCNP crew bit down on these tracks:

220 N. Washington St., Falls Church 703-237-0300 • thestatetheatre.com

Nicholas Benton- Killer Queen by Queen

 

Jody Fellows- Long December by Counting Crows 

Natalie Bedell- Spaceship by Puddle Of Mudd 

Dean Edwards- Telephone by Lady Gaga

Maura Kennedy

(Photo: Courtesy Melani Rogers)

Kennedy says.) Kennedy has embraced her sudden solo status, pledging to pursue the angle in conjunction with her usual work with Pete.

“It really surprised me how much I enjoy doing this. I never imagined I’d be playing solo shows, but I love it, absolutely love it,” Kennedy says. “I feel energized by the fact I could make this by myself and be really proud of it and have people like it. I’d love to keep doing it and of course The Kennedys will keep going, doing our thing, but there’s room for both.”

Immediately that means a short stint at The Birchmere on Jan. 22, part of the WFMA Annual Concert. She’ll play a long set a week later, hitting the stage at Jammin’ Java in Vienna.

• For more on Maura Kennedy, visit www. maurakennedy.com.

Page 30 Featuring PHO WHY SPEND $5 ON A FOOT LONG???

January 21 - 27, 2010

Restaurant Spotlight 395

Saigon Saigon Featuring PHO

WHY SPEND $5 ON A FOOT LONG???

The First Name in Pancakes

395

Ar my

Navy D r.

Saigon Saigon 1101 S. Joyce St.

1101 South Joyce Street, Arlington, VA saigonsaigonpentagonrow.com • 703-412-0822

Arlington

F re e

Parking

Saigon Saigon in Arlington is just one of the many decent Asian-cuisine options at Pentagon Row. From on-point seafood entreés, soft summer rolls and beach www.edencenter.com vacation-inspired cocktails, the Vietnamese hason a fresh baguette!

Also weekdays: Free Wi-Fi Try a Bahnrestaurant Mi sandwich at selected locations and a new Senior Menu! everything diners need to take their palates on a to tropical Only $2.50 $3.00 per sandwich, MANY OF WASHINGTON'S 7700 Wisconsin Ave. 12224 Rockville Pike BEST RESTAURANTS getaway ... or at least fake it for a brief hibernation fromCenter locations: at the following Eden Bethesda, MD Rockville, MD WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE AND the chilly outdoors.

301-986-0285 301-468-0886 WASHINGTON POST REVIEWED It’s to say, however, that the best thing about Saigon Saigon — perhaps even more so than the quality flavor of its fare — is the fact it’s one of the coziest restaurants on the Row, another refreshing aspect to induce that mental Authentic Afghan Cuisine Call for Reservations hiatus from the hustle and bustle of the area’s urban surroundings.

124 N. Lunch: 11 am-2:00 pm With candlelit tables, wall sconces and an overall serene atmosphere, think: 1) good date night out; Washington St. Dinner : 5 pm-10 pm Falls Church, VA and 2) good party-of-one night out like everyone’s staring. Saigon Saigon has got the 105 W. Broad St. Falls Church, VA 22046 Trywithout a Bahn feeling Mi sandwich on a fresh baguette!

By the intersections • Sunday 5-10 • elbow room Thaiphoon lacks and the quiet environment Chammps Americana can’t even begin to proOnly $2.50 to $3.00 per sandwich, of Rt. 7 & 29 vide with its overzealous amount of TV sets.

Free Parking in Rear at the following Eden Center locations: Phone: (703) 536-4566 An ideal starter for patrons’ faux island vacation is the Garden Roll ($4.95 for 2). The softer rice(703) 534-1033 924 W. Broad Street Falls Church, VA 22046 paper rolls are stuffed with pork, shrimp, mint leaves, crunchy vermicelli and vegetables. Served up with a side of Vietnamese-style peanut sauce, these rolls are anything but wimpy despite their twosome serving size.

The Spicy Seafood Fried Rice ($12.95) comes in a heaping bowl of grains mixed with scallops, shrimp and calamari, boasting hints of garlic and red pepper. Though this dish isn’t hot enough to send anyone into a sweat, there’s enough of a kick there to intrigue the taste buds.

Restaurant & Lounge Another seaside favorite worth checking out is one of Chef Vu’s laundry list of menu specialties, the Ginger Salmon ($13.95). Pieces of fresh Atlantic salmon filet, slow-cooked in country-style ginCall for Reservations ger sauce, comes mixed in a bowl of steamed vegetables and with a sprinkling of jasmine rice. Not 1/2 OFF ENTREE to be confused with the side of white rice that accompanies this dish, the abundance of ginger sauce www.theharvestmoonrestaurant.com Buy One Entree, Get A 2nd Of Equal Or Lesser Value 1/2 OFF. is best absorbed by the slow addition of white rice throughout one’s meal so as not to overpower the 105 W. Broad St. Falls Church, VA 22046 (Graham Center across from Loehmann’s Plaza) One coupon per party. Not valid with any other offer.

7260 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA 22042 strong flavor.

Valid with Valpak. coupon only.

Ideal to pair with the salmon is the Golden Sunrise ($8), a cocktail mixture of Absolut Citron vodka, orange liqueur and orange juice, all garnished with a lime, lemon and, yes, a paper umbrella.

BISTRO But Saigon Saigon’s seaside-esque dinner entreés and dreamy cocktails aren’t the only things to rave des Célestins about. Serving lunch as well, steals include the restaurant’s 20 different lunch box-style combos ($8.95).

Each of them — from Curry Tofu to Chicken Penang — include a crispy spring roll, small house salad and steamed jasmine rice in a tray resembling the average bento box. There’s also hanoi beef noodle CA F È soup, or pho, available for both lunch ($7.95-8.95) and dinner ($8.50-10.50).

Tel: (703) 538-3033 Aside from Saigon Saigon’s craving-inducing spread and welcoming atmosphere, the service has Fax: (703) 573-0409 been consistently satisfying. Having been there multiple times, not once was an order incorrect, cooked 6876 Lee Highway wrong or too slow to arrive to the table. On top of that, the staff is happy to get plates out of the way Arlington, Virginia 22213 and box up anything customers would like to take with them. www.lacotedorcafe.com Saigon Saigon’s sister restaurants, also at Pentagon Row, are Zen Bistro & Wine Bar (1301 S. Joyce St., Suite. D9, Arlington) and Asia Bistro (1301 S. Joyce St., Suite D7, Arlington), both of which offer happy hour specials on the other side of the Row’s courtyard behind the outdoor skating rink.

As its Web site boasts, if Saigon Saigon is truly a “taste of Vietnam” diners should pack their appetites’ bags and get ready to escape — if only for a sip of sunrise on the rocks.

370 West Broad St. Falls Church,VA 703-891-0148

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(703)534-8999

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January 21 - 27, 2009

Page 31

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Page 32

January 21 - 27, 2010

This Week’s Wine: 2003 Boots Grenache “I am fascinated by the nuances and subtleties of grenache,” declares Kellermeister winemaker Trevor Jones. It shows in his downright gorgeous 2003 Boots Grenache (about $16 at wine shops and big-box stores), a stunner from South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

This is a much more complex and structured grenache than many, at least those at this price point.

That is evident immediately in its heady aroma, compounded of ripe blackberry and rich chocolate with just a hint of something sweetly floral, maybe elderberry or, as the

By Colette & John Bancroft winemaker suggests, violets. The New York Times complexity really ramps up after you’ve swirled this purple beauty in the glass and sipped. Red currant, black cherry and chocolate come on full force with a nice kick of black pepper and nuanced leather undertones. The light, bright top notes one expects in a grenache are present but the body is fuller, warmer and more mouth-filling.

Soft tannins accentuate this difference. The finish is clean and dry.

We liked this one a lot in concert with a cabbage, leek and feta gratin asserted by a piquant mustard cream sauce, but it also would be swell with cheeseburgers, pizza and mac and cheese, as well as on its own.

Wine of the Week

 Colette Bancroft is the New York Times’ book editor, and John Bancroft is a freelancer specializing in food, wine and travel.

Magical Spades or Ugly Spades I played in a monstrous $400$800 No Limit Hold’em game with Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari when this hand was played.

Antonio limped in from under the gun followed by another limper and me. I had Ks-2s in the cutoff – the position one seat to the right of the button.

The flop came 7s-6h-5s. The big blind bet out $5,000 and Antonio and I both called.

The turn was the 8s, a magical card for me as I made the second nut flush.

The big blind checked, Antonio bet $10,000 and I just called. The other player then folded.

The 3d came on the river and The Magician bet $30,000. Again, I just called, saying, “Well, I can’t fold, and I’m not going to raise it up.”

That’s when Antonio showed his nut flush As-Qs. So sick!

What a cooler!

Let’s take a closer look.

Antonio used a play that I occasionally roll out when he called with his As-Qs before the flop. The true power of this play is that when As-Qs hits a fortunate flop, you’ll often have your opponent completely buried.

Say the flop comes Q-10-3 and your opponent has a queen.

By not making a pre-flop raise – and taking the $1,200 in blinds and antes right there – you risk losing the hand later on, or even getting buried yourself if your opponent has Q-10. That’s why the standard play is to raise preflop with As-Qs under the gun.

My $800 pre-flop call was a little loose but still an acceptable play.

Antonio’s call on the flop was standard. Though the more aggressive line would have been to raise on the flop with his nut flush draw plus two overcards, I still prefer the call. Why raise on the flop only to have your opponent reraise with trips, two pair, or a made straight?

My call on the flop was the standard play.

On the turn, I like Antonio’s $10,000 bet although my call was a bit weak. Most players would have opted to raise with a kinghigh flush in that position.

But what are the chances that you’re playing against an acehigh flush? It’s much more likely that you’re facing a smaller flush, a straight, or even trips. You have to extract maximum value out of any of those hands.

It’s true that you risk losing some action if the last card is a spade or pairs the board. In fact, it’s possible that you might actu-

ally lose the pot to a paired board.

That’s another reason why the best play in this situation would have been to raise Antonio’s bet on the turn.

In my defense, though, I really did think that Antonio could have had As-Xs. He limped into the pot in first position and he did bet on both streets after he hit his flush.

And another reason for just calling on the turn was that any raise might have eliminated the other player who was probably drawing dead.

I love Antonio’s $30,000 bet on the river. I had no choice but to make the call. In fact, I definitely would have raised in that position before ever folding my hand. Antonio easily could have had a queen-high flush, a smaller flush, or even been bluffing – especially given our playing history.

Look, it was a terrible hand for me but it could have ended up much worse had Antonio checked on the turn or the river. As it turns out, my weak call turned out to be a great play. Yes, I lost the minimum, but a $50,000 loss sure doesn’t seem like peanuts to me!  Learn more about Phil Hellmuth at www.PhilHellmuth. com and www.PokerBrat.com.

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 33

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Across

1. Brand whose ad mascot speaks with a Groucho Marx voice

51

ACROSS 1. Brand whose ad mascot speaks with a Groucho Marx voice 7. Offer?

15. Tuba sound 16. Board 17. Sinful novelist?

19. Slope 20. Trophy shape 21. Chinese cookware 22. Grasp 23. ____ Beta Kappa 24. Printer problem 25. Dandy dresser 28. Sinful actress?

31. Not well, perhaps 34. Extra NBA periods 35. Say ____ (refuse) 36. They may be proper 37. Hosp. employees 38. Quashed 39. Bush not seen much these days 40. Droop 41. “Old MacDonald” refrain 42. Sinful judge?

46. Little green men, for short 47. “To Kill a Mockingbird” writer Harper 48. Sort 49. Union inits. since 1886 52. Suffix with client 53. Bother 54. Quito’s land: Abbr.

55. Sinful president?

60. Spaghetti ____

THE QUIGMANS

37. Broccoli ____ 38. Go after 40. Show contempt for 43. Barkin and Burstyn 44. Six Flags attraction 45. Fielded a baseball 49. Without ____ in the world 50. Truffles et al.

51. Weighed down 52. Pop singer Sands 53. “It’s too bad, really” 54. Alt. 55. “Today” rival, initially 56. Coll. dorm figures 57. Sun or moon, to bards 58. ____-Magnon man 59. Genre of rock’s Fall Out Boy

61. Surface 62. Danger in old homes 63. Attacked with zeal Down 1. Electrical units 2. Sarge’s superior 3. Stubborn as ____ 4. Bar in a grill 5. “____ in Icarus” (1979 French thriller) 6. “Happy Days” role 7. “Without delay” 8. Hog heaven?

9. Shipping routes 10. Poise 11. Belt 12. ____ Balls (snack brand) 13. Cousin ____ of “The Addams Family” 14. Commandment word 18. Naturalist who appears on the California quarter 23. Third degrees?

24. Super Bowl III champs 25. “To Kill a Mockingbird” screenwriter Horton 26. First Holy Roman emperor 27. Stereo receiver button 28. Mister abroad 29. The vowel sound in “dude” 30. Studio sign 31. Amazed 32. Like some diets 33. Aaron and Raymond

Last Thursday’s Solution R I C A

I D I E

F E R N

G L A S S

P E T C O

S A M O A

C O R D

O M O O

O N A N

L A C E D H O O P S K I R T

E L L I E S

B U L B

A I D A L S A T E G A M E W E M D A F S P T E M O E L A L S I X E D Z E R O D O T P O B Y E O O K L R I N G L A S I T T E T E

A E R O

O N E E G G

B A N D W A G O N S N A R L

O R E E

M E D I

B A S T

C L U E S

L E T N O

E D S E L

I D E O

N E T S

S R A S

Buddy Hickerson

7. Offer?

15. Tuba sound 16. Board 17. Sinful novelist?

19. Slope

Level: 1

2

3 4

20. Trophy shape 21. Chinese cookware 22. Grasp 23. ____ Beta Kappa 24. Printer problem 25. Dandy dresser 28. Sinful actress?

31. Not well, perhaps 34. Extra NBA periods 35. Say ____ (refuse) 36. They may be proper NICK KNACK

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

1/24/10

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk

© 2010 N.F. Benton

© 2010 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Page 34

January 21 - 27, 2010

Announcements WOMEN’S OVER 30 Basketball - JCC

in Annandale, Sunday nights, www.jccnv. org 703-323-0880 Jan 24 (8 weeks)

For Sale CEMETERY LOTS - 2 turf topped crypts in National Memorial Park, Falls Church, VA, in Evergreen Gardens, Unit #622, levels A and B (including bronze memorial vase).

Market value $8465. Price negotiable. Call 540-891-4348.

For Rent 3 BR APARTMENT in Fall Church City condo community. $1,500 plus utilities. Call 703 517 0115.

Services CHARLES JENKINS TREE Service -

Seasoned firewood delivered by the cord.

703-830-2654; 571-287-1086. Quick service. Reasonable rates. Licensed & Insured.

CHILD CARE Experienced childcare provider provides quality care for your infant in F.C. home. (703) 241-0605.

DOG SITTING in my home. Reasonable rates. Excellent references Call 703-577-1734 EAST COAST LAWN Service, LLC, Repair & Renovation Division, 571-239-3385.

Roofing, Gutters, Siding, Minor Plumbing, Electrical, Painting, Tree/Brush Removal, Drywall, Carpentry, Tile, Licensed & Insured. James Thomas, Owner HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE Avail-

able 7 days a week. Week, biweekly, monthly or one time. Good references in Falls Church City. 10 years experience. For further information call me at 703-901-0596.

Senior discount, Ask: Susy.

Public Notice PUBLIC AUCTION: NOTICE is hereby

given that the contents of the following rental storage spaces located at Fort Knox Self Storage will be offered for sale: 175: Christian Gonzalez Co.; 205: Mark Jackson; 246: Richard Souther; 307: Mark Helton; 690: Fadi Akroush; 701: Richard Greaux; 767: Paul Aune; 810: Maria Jackson. Sale will be held at: 2933 Telestar Ct., Falls Church, VA 703-698-0022, Thursday January 28, 2010, 1:00 P.M. TERMS: Cash Only. Locks cut at auction

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The Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Falls Church, Virginia will hold a public hearing on February 11, 2010 at 7:45 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 300 Park Avenue, for consideration of the following subject: U1488-08 (MUNIS #20080767) an application for a Special Use Permit by BB& T Bank for a bank drive-through facility as an accessory use to proposed construction at 1230 W. Broad Street, such accessory use not otherwise permitted by right and as provided by Code Sections 38-23(b)(10) and 38-37(4) [recodified as Sections 48-454(10) and 48-867(4)], on the premises known as Lot 1 Broadwater Estate RPC #51-219-011 of the Falls Church Real Property Map Zoned B-1, Limited Business. The Planning Commission forwarded its recommendation for denial to the Board of Zoning Appeals on September 8, 2009 and the Board of Zoning Appeals had originally scheduled the public hearing for September 17, 2009.

Information on this item is available in the Zoning Division, City Hall, West Wing 301, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA.

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WHAT A CHILD LEARNS ABOUT VIOLENCE A CHILD LEARNS FOR LIFE.

Please include payment (check or money order) with your ad or call us to arrange payment by credit card.

For public & legal notices, please e-mail legalads@fcnp.com

The Falls Church News-Press accepts no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements. Advertising which has minor discrepancies such as misspelling or small type transposition, but which do not affect the ability of the reader to respond to the ad will be considered substantially correct and full payment is required. The Falls Church NewsPress is not responsible if the original copy is not typewritten or legible and clear. The Falls Church News-Press is not responsible for copy changes made by telephone.

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Resolution (TR10-09) was given first reading by City Council on January 11, 2010.

Ordinances (TO10-03) and (TO10-04) were given first reading by City Council at the continuation of its meeting on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. All three items were referred to the Planning Commission and other boards and commissions for recommendations.

Listed below is the schedule for public hearings and action for each item: (TR10-09) Resolution To Grant A Special Exception For Residential Development Within Mixed Use Projects Under Section 48-90 In A B-2, Central Business District On .64 Acres Of Land Located At 350 South Washington Street [FCHC Wilden] February 1, 2010 - Planning Commission public hearing - 7:45 p.m.; Council Chambers February 16, 2010 - Planning Commission public hearing - 7:45 p.m.; Council Chambers February 22, 2010 – City Council 2nd reading & public hearing - 7:30 p.m.; Council Chambers (TO10-03) Ordinance To Amend Chapter 48, Zoning, Of The Code Of The City Of Falls Church, Virginia, By Adding A New Section 48-455(3), Special Exceptions In The B-1, Limited Business District; Section 48-488(4), Special Exceptions In The B-2, Central Business District; And Section 48-523(3), Special Exceptions In The B-3, General Business District Uses; In Order To Allow By Special Exception, With Approval Criteria, Modifications To The Off-Street Parking And Loading Requirements.

February 1, 2010 - Planning Commission public hearing at 7:45 p.m.; Council Chambers February 8, 2010 – City Council second reading and public hearing; Council Chambers (TO10-04) Ordinance To Amend Chapter 48, Zoning, Of The Code Of The City Of Falls Church, Virginia, By Adding A New Section 48-1142(F) In Order To Provide For An Administrative Site Plan Amendment Process To Allow The Planning Director To Permit, With Approval Criteria, The Construction Or Modification Of A Patio Or Attached Open Deck Or Porch In Site Planned Communities Where Such Features Were Not Shown On The Approved Site Plan.

February 1, 2010 - Planning Commission public hearing at 7:45 p.m., in Council Chambers February 8, 2010 – City Council second reading and public hearing; Council Chambers The following ordinances were given first reading on January 11, 2010 and are scheduled for public hearing and second reading at the City Council Meeting of January 25, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as may be heard.

(TO10-01) Ordinance To Amend The Budget Of Expenditures And Revenues of the General Fund, Water Fund and Capital Improvement Project Fund For The Fiscal Year 2010 (John Tuohy, CFO) [1st Reading 1-11-10] (TO10-02) Ordinance to Amend Chapter 28 of the Falls Church City Code, “Miscellaneous Offenses”, Article VII, “Weapons”, Sections 28-190 and 28-191, Carrying Dangerous Weapons – Prohibited. (John Foster, City Attorney) [1st reading 1-11-10] All public hearings will be held in the Council Chambers, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia. For copies of legislation, contact the City Clerk’s Office at cityclerk@ fallschurchva.gov or by calling 703-248-5014. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703 248-5013 (TTY 711).

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Page 36

January 21 - 27, 2010

BACK IN THE DAY laz y The dog. c k q u i fox sly p e d jum e r o v lazy the g . d o is Now time the all for o d g o to cows

15 s Yearo g A

to come aid the ir of there. pa stu is Now e the timall for o d g o to cows to come aid the ir of there. pa stu

10 & 15 Years Ago Falls Church News-Press Vol lV, No. 45 • January 26, 1995

‘GROUNDBREAKING DOWNTOWN - Groundbreaking For Downtown Improvements’ “A large contingent of Falls Church City officials, ranging from Mayor Jeff Tarbert and Vice Mayor Merni Fitzgerald, to other members of the City Council, the Planning Commission, and staff from the City Manager’s and Public Works Departments, along with President Mike Diener of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce, crowded around a pile of ceremonial dirt with some ceremonial...”

Helen Thomas Continued from Page 12

Obama also has learned that party loyalty is not a high priority among some Senate Democrats, including Evan Bayh of Indiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Congressional Democrats are worried about the November mid-term elections in the aftermath of Brown’s victory and Republican wins in gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey.

The trend portends bad news for other reforms that Obama hopes to make in the financial world. Other progressive plans for energy, education and global warming may be blocked by supporters of the status quo.

But not to worry, the president will have all the Republican backing he needs to pursue a hard line foreign policy and possible military interventions in Pakistan, Yemen and Iran.

As for his first-year performance, Obama gives himself a

in the

News-Press

Falls Church News-Press Vol IX, No. 46 • January 27, 2000

It is no the timw e for g o all o cows d to go to the aid of the pa stu ir re. *** **

10 Year s Ago

Thro w it up.

Pour it up It now is the time for all go od cows to go to the aid

‘Schools Need $730,000 More For Fields, Enrollment Woes’ “The Falls Church City Council gave preliminary approval Monday to provide an additional $730,000 to meet emergency needs for the Falls Church Public Schools.

Cost overruns in the project to renovate the George Mason High School/Middle School athletic fields and urgent needs to configure new space for the burgeoning enrollment increase were causes for the request by School Superintendent Mary Ellen Shaw and School Board chair...”

B-plus. That seems about right to me.

On the plus side, Obama has introduced the world to a more caring U.S. image, compared to his predecessor who violated international law against torture.

Obama also gave a hand to the beleaguered auto industry in hardhit Detroit and other parts of the Midwest.

He pushed through Congress the child health program that the Bush administration had rejected.

He also was successful with some of his social agenda, including unemployment benefits.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama has “an awful lot to be proud of.”

The chief executive also rose to the occasion with an immediate humanitarian response to the earthquake catastrophe in Haiti.

Gibbs acknowledges some missteps by the White House and said “nobody believes you can pitch a perfect game.”

Obama has disappointed members of the liberal wing of his party. And he has yet to fulfill

the promise of more openness in government.

Gibbs said the president’s top priority during the year is “to get the economy back on track, and ``creating jobs will be a top priority.”

My suggestion as he starts his second year in the White House: Get tough. Learn to fight back against political foes.

Think the Real Estate Market Has Gone to the Dogs?

Ask Suzanne for the Real Scoop!

Suzanne can save you $, ask how!

-Scout

Suzanne Fauber, Realtor Buck & Associates, Inc. Call (703) 395-8741

Suzanne@Buckrealtors.com www.suzannefauber.com

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703.532.3300

Mojo enjoys posing for pictures. He loves living with his family, the Brooks, in a dog-friendly community in Falls Church.

His mom says that “this little entertainer loves to snuggle when he is not playing soccer or chasing squirrels in the park.” As for toys, Mojo loves anything that squeaks or rolls around the room.

His other favorite pastime is cuddling with his family. Mojo doesn’t need to get anything back, because he already has it all going on with his family and his loving attitude!

www.DoughertyDDS.com

@ FCNP For the Best Updates on Falls Church, D.C. and Northern Virginia

January 21 - 27, 2010

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Page 37

ACCOUNTING

Diener & Associates, CPA. . . . . . . . . 241-8807 Eric C. Johnson, CPA, PC . . . . . . . . 538-2394 Mark Sullivan, CPA . . . . . . . . . . . 571-214-4511 Peter J. Gouvis, CPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966-8418 Hassans Accounting & Tax Services . 241-7771 Hahn & Associates, PC, CPAs . . . . . 533-3777

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES

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CATERING

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HAULING

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CLEANING SERVICES

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HEALTH & FITNESS

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HOME CARE

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HOME IMPROVEMENT

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Falls Church Antique Company . . . . 241-7074 Antique Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-9642

ATTORNEYS

Mark F. Werblood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-9300 Janine S. Benton, Esq. . . . . . . . . . . . .992-9255

AUTOMOTIVE

Beyer Volvo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-5000 Integrity Tire & Auto Repair . . . . . . . . 639-0700

BANKING

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. . . 519-1634 BB&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-3505 TD Bank/www.TDBank.com . . . . . . . 237-2051 Acacia Federal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506-8100

Sam’s Catering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580-7511 Pressure Washing/Deck, Siding . . . . 980-0225 Affordable Carpet Resoration . . . . . . 978-2270 Maid Brigade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823-1922 Carpets, Ducts, Windows . . . . . . . . . 823-1922

COMPUTER SERVICES

Fast-teks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496-7807

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COUNSELING

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DENTISTS

Carol S. Miller, LCSW . . . . . . . . . . . . 395-4980 Josette Millman, APRN . . . . . . . . . . . 855-0396 Dr. William Dougherty . . . . . . . . . . . . 532-3300 Dr. Nimisha V. Patel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533-1733

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EQUIPMENT RENTAL/SALE

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EYEWEAR

VA Outdoor Power Equipment . . . . . 207-2000 Ace Tool & Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . 532-5600

BOOK BINDING

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FLORISTS

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BUSINESS SERVICES

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FRAMES

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CHIROPRACTOR

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GIFTS

BCR Binders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-9181 Jon Rizalvo, PAYCHEX . . . . . 698-6910 x27045 Dr. Solano, solanospine.com . . . . . . 536-4366

Falls Church Florist, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 533-1333

Joseph Home Improvement . . . . . . . 507-5005 Ram Home Improvement . . . . . . . . . 641-5892 Doug’s Handyman Services . . . . . . . 556-4276 Ambassador Home Improvements . 499-7095 FC Heating & Air Service . . . . . . . . . 534-0630 N.G. Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312-0032 Millennium, USA Painting . . . . . . . . . 409-8563 The Vinyl Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793-3111

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LAWN & GARDEN

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MASONRY

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MEDICAL

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MUSIC

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OPHTHALMOLOGY

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PHARMACY

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PLUMBING

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REAL ESTATE

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REAL ESTATE SERVICES

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TAILOR

Human Touch Home Health . . . . . . . 531-0540

INSURANCE

Art & Frame of Falls Church . . . . . . . 534-4202 Stifel & Capra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407-0770

Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536-0140 Sacred Well Yoga and Healing . . . . . 989-8316

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Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-6500

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Junk B Gone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395-5522

State Farm Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . 237-5105 Morales Landscaping and Lawncare 502-3990 Sweet Garden Lawn Care . . . . . . . . . 627-7723 Gabriel Lawn Service . . . . . . . . . . . . 691-2351 Seven Brothers Landscaping . . . . . . 241-4990 Masonry Specialist LLC . . . . . . . . . . 443-2308 Jeff L. Cadle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698-1390

MASSAGE

www.healthybyintention.com. . . . . . . 534-1321 Sheraton Premiere Women’s Massage403-9328

Dr Gordon Theisz, Family Medicine . 533-7555 The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy . . . 536-4042 Academy of Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938-8054 World Childrens Choir . . . . . . . . . . . 883-0920 Columbia Institute - Fine Arts . . . . . . 534-2508 Foxes Music Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533-7393 John Karickhoff, MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536-2400 Broad Street Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . . . .533-9013 The Wiz LLC Plumbing Services 703-268-4228 Merelyn Kaye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .790-9090x218 www.helpfulmortgage.us . . . . . . . . . . 237-0222 Casey O’Neal - ReMax . . . . . . . . . . . 824-4196 Rosemary Hayes Jones . . . . . . . . . . .790-1990 Kim Maller, kimworksforyou.com. . . . .606-2762 Leslie Hutchison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .675-2188 The Young Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .356-8800 Shaun Murphy, Realtor . . . . . . . . . . 868-5999 www.TheJeffersonatBallston.com . . . 741-7562 Susan Fauber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395-8741 Potomac Land Research . . . . . . . . . . .864-4150 Tailor Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534-8886

All numbers have a ‘703’ prefix unless otherwise indicated.

To see your business here, call us at

Visit

703-532-3267, fax 703-342-0352 or E-Mail us at ADS@FCNP.com

Make Your Pet a Star!

Just because you’re not famous doesn’t mean your pet can’t be!

Januar y

Snap a pic of your critter and email it to:

, HURCH FALLS C IA VIRGIN • COM FCNP. WWW. • FREE

2008 17 - 23,

D

FOUNDE 1991 • VII VOL. X NO. 46

WEEK INSIDE THIS

$ FOR UPPORTS NVTA S IN F.C. GARAGE PARKING Virginia

The Northern Authority met School Transportation Mason High all the at George and approvedFalls last week by projects submitted One of the Phase Church for massive transportation region’s plan.

SEE PAGE

City OK for New cil Preliminary ted by Coun Center Gran HER

4

STICKING

TOGET

Vote Unanimous Plan Moves F.C. Reality Closer to

KATERS FIGURE S AUL NO. VA. ST. P at the LOOK TOWARD men’s event

Falls Churcha The ambitious project received thumbs-up City Center unanimous The senior Figure Skating Monday. critical, City Council 2008 Eastern looked like and resolufrom the ChampionshipsD.C.-area get 7-0 votes All six ordinances passed by only a Washington, skaters from tions were standing-room with together and before a in Council chambers Fairfax, Alexandria the medals. audience sweeping project Annandale at City Hall. million 19 feet of SEE PAGE The $317 of million square adding a to 8.7 acres : comHOMAS new development downtown HELEN T PLAY Falls Church’swill now undergo GENDER RACE & mercial area, review by various ROLES gender of 40 days POLITICAL and and commissions not, race City boardsof public hearings, choice Like it or the roles in the and a set back to will play The of a Democratic standard before coming approval. for final vote on the presidential Council can’t be hopes to 25. bearer. It Council even though

by Feb. gone avoided, final version which has leading candidates The project, of modifications hatchet. the party’s of series to bury the through a have decided original parameters the City 10 since the between SEE PAGE a partnership its Economic Church, and the & LATIFAH of Falls Authority was LANE, HOLMES MONEY’ Development a AD Realty Company, (right) addresson Atlantic out last fall.

GO FOR ‘M the new comedy Alex Ovechkin stars took time hammered building heights & Louise” “Mad Money,” (left) and even The Caps’ While by “Thelma follows Mike Green on its residential directed Arlington. of the game of hockey, $124 Khouri, CAPITALS’Middle School in came downbuildings, hotel plans 13-year, writer Callie Reserve employees signed a the intricacies and office recently commentary students to accommodate THE WASHINGTON at Williamsburg three Federal beat the Ovechkin the local player. For ) structure, students attempt to go were expanded to teach of the kids. crowd of 180-room to an NHL PHOTO: NATE TAYLOR and their afternoon could possibly with some ever given a first-class hall and banquet -PRESS Wednesday in a scrimmage system. What the largest page 18. (NEWS with meeting a six-level parking Capitals, on the and wrong? participating with Splinters” 26 facilities, thrown in. The numSEE PAGE million contractdeal, see “Picking rental units deck was on the historic 412, and ber of residential down to condominiwas scaled captured more age-restricted were added. the team twice ums, up to 134, six years cover both of last added to championship, the up and once Retail was Maple bringing the state almost unheard as runner of S. the team’s square feet, finishing has sides total to 53,000 place. streak fifth success. a little history straight in retail In winning of 17,000.

Here’s added to While the up from very proud Jamie Scharff: from coach years, the Mason made the coach not-so-secret These modifications INDEX Harris Teeter a high six won Spotlight kids, Scharff’s one — have the plans a major a six-story the last team has Restaurant smarter than and every his is a simple Are you High academic Editorial.................26 ............................32 supermarket 5 six strategy and practice. a George the district championship Sodoku ...............35 school student? on Page Letters...............2, in the past smart kids gather twice a week not, if it’s ........5 Continued Probably School academic year. Four times team has won Comics................35 Crime Report Students ..........35 of — 21 Comment.......10-13& CrosswordAds.....38 Mason High is the home So years, Mason’s on Page News championshipother Classified Continued Community regional athletes. the bowler. GMHS & Services academic record is the finished second the Notes .............14-15& Business .............39 in champion News Directory 1 Business season their though the they years. Three times Focus 40-4 far this 20-0, Notes ..................16 Weekly of two Corner......42 an impressive just a fraction Sports ............18-20 Critter are ...26-28 Business Listing .43 20 wins Roger Ebert

Mason’s

.........29 Press Pass Calendar........30-31

s

stic Succes

‘Silent’ Schola

CRITTERCORNER@FCNP.COM OR mail it to Critter Corner c/o Falls Church News-Press

VISIT US ONLINE

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450 W. Broad Street #321

Critter

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Corner

News•Photos•Online Polls•Sports E-Issuu • Twitter • and More

Page 38

January 21 - 27, 2010

for the week of January 21-27, 2010

It’s Winter – Are You Ready?

It’s been colder than normal this winter. With weeks to go before spring, do you know how to handle the extreme cold?

city

• If the power goes out and you have no heat: Depending on how well your home is insulated, and how cold it is outside, it could take as few as 4-6 hours before you would be uncomfortably cold and need blankets or sleeping bags for warmth.

• If you decide to stay in your home during an extended power outage: You need a minimum of three days of food that doesn’t need electricity. If you depend on well water, the electric pump will not work. Pipes could freeze so have at least three gallons per person for three days on hand. Choose a room that will be the easiest to heat, and close it off. This should be the room with a fireplace or some other heating unit. Dress in several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight clothing, and wear a hat and mittens.

• If you use kerosene or propane heaters: These are a fire hazard and should be used with much caution. The room must be ventilated by opening a window. A ceiling fan is not enough ventilation. Keep heaters at least three feet away from flammable objects such as curtains, blankets, furniture, and carpets or rugs. Refuel them outdoors after they have cooled.

• If you have pets: Bring them inside. If they must stay outside, be sure they have shelter and insulation from the cold. Don’t use electric heating pads, kerosene heaters or other heating appliances because they can burn your pet.

Make sure your pet has enough food and unfrozen water; they may need more during cold temperatures.

• If you must drive during a winter storm: Most traffic crashes happen within the first two hours after a storm begins. Snow plows start on roads that carry the most traffic and then move to smaller roads. Try to stay off the road to give plows time and space to work. Wait until daylight to drive so that sunlight can warm the roads.

Buckle up every time you drive.

• If the power is out and roads are blocked: Get a battery and/or crank operated radio with Weather Band so you can hear local stations and reports from the National Weather Service. You can buy these radios at electronics and sporting goods stores, department stores, boat and marine accessory stores, through catalogues and on-line.

Prices range from $25-100.

Go to www.ReadyVirginia.gov for more about preparing for winter weather emergencies.

Mentors Needed to Help City Youths

Submit Your Nomination for Memorial Day Grand Marshal

The Falls Church City Alliance for Youth is in need of volunteers, especially males, to mentor a City youth and make a difference in both of your lives. Anyone who is willing and able should consider becoming a mentor through the 1-2-1 Mentoring Program. Studies have shown that mentored students are more likely to stay in school, improve their grades, go on to college, and become more trusting of their own parents or guardians.

The 1-2-1 Program matches volunteers with middle schoolaged kids from the City. Right now there are kids waiting for mentors, especially male mentors. The program is site-based and all meetings are conducted at the Community Center.

Mentor and youth meet once a week on Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. for a minimum of one year. This time commitment is needed to help develop a lasting and caring relationship.

If you’d like to become a mentor or want more information, contact Monica Arispe at Northern Virginia Family Service at 703-219-2106 or marispe@nvfs.org.

The 2010 Falls Church City Memorial Day Parade & Festival Committee is seeking nominations for the Grand Marshal of this year’s parade. Please contact Jenny Elmore in the Recreation & Parks Division at 703-248-5077 (TTY 711) or jelmore@fallschurchva.gov with nominations or questions.

Leaf Collection Ends Jan. 29 The City leaf collection period has been extended to Jan. 29, 2010.

Residents who wish to have their loose leaves collected by the City are advised to rake their leaves to the curb, but avoid gutters and sidewalks wherever possible. Crews will continue to pass throughout the City until the Jan. 29 cutoff date.

For more information, call the Operations Division at 703-248-5281 (TTY 711).

2009 Memorial Day Parade Grand Marshal Jessie Thackrey.

Recycling Christmas Trees The City collects Christmas trees for brush recycling at no charge on Mondays in January and February. Place the tree loose at the curb after removing plastic bags and all decorations, including tinsel.

Condo, townhouse, and apartment residents receiving private trash and recycling service may take their trees to the brush collection area at the Fairfax County Citizens’ Disposal and Recycling Facility, located at 4618 W. Ox Road, Fairfax, for a small fee.

Sign up for e-FOCUS The e-FOCUS is the City’s online newsletter that highlights the City’s financial, environmental, transportation, economic development, public safety, and housing issues.

Check it out or subscribe online at www.fallschurchva.gov.

www.fallschurchva.gov - The official site for City of Falls Church news m.

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Questions or Comments?

City of Falls Church, Harry E. Wells Building 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046 703-248-5003 (TTY 711) The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5003 (TTY 711).

January 21 - 27, 2010

Page 39

School Board Begins Budget Work Saturday

Mason Students to Launch Haiti Relief Effort

This Saturday, during the first of four scheduled FY11 budget work sessions, the school board will hear detailed information regarding four budget scenarios presented by Superintendent Lois Berlin that range from a best-case scenario of a 1.8 percent reduction ($651,000) to a worst-case scenario of an 8.6 percent ($3,129,900) reduction. The proposed reductions come as the result of a dismal economic forecast for the immediate future. Berlin presented the options to the board during last week’s regular work session.

The options presented include varying degrees of reductions in non-personnel costs, staff work days, staff positions, employee benefits, instructional programs, extracurricular stipends and tuition assistance programs.

Work sessions and school board meetings are open to the public.

Saturday’s FY11 budget work session will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Central Office conference room, 800 W. Broad St., Suite 203, Falls Church, Va. Dr. Berlin’s videotaped budget presentation and other budget materials, including the budget calendar are posted online at www.fccps.org/budget. Community members may also submit comments via the Web page.

George Mason High School students are in the process of organizing a fundraising campaign to help children who survived the recent earthquake in Haiti. It all started GMHS students present a check to Save the last week with a Children during a special assembly in the suggestion that school auditorium on March 29, 2005 to help proceeds from the Indonesian children who survived the tsunami three months earlier. upcoming students vs. faculty basketball game be donated to the cause. Since then, students and faculty have come up with many other fundraising ideas and are working out the details.

The students vs. faculty basketball game will be held on Wednesday, February 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in the “Pit” gym at George Mason High School. Tickets will be available at the door for $3.00, and additional donations will be welcome.

Five years ago, George Mason High School students raised nearly $35,000 through a three-month series of fundraising activities to help Indonesian children who survived the December 2004 tsunami.

Tune in to Falls Church City Television (FCC-TV) to see the George Mason High School International Baccalaureate Forum. In this program, past and current George Mason High School students share their experiences in the school’s International Baccalaureate program. You can catch the GMHS IB Forum on FCC-TV at the following times: • Friday, January 22nd at 1:00 p.m.

• Monday, January 25th at 5:00 p.m.

• Wednesday, January 27th at 5:00 p.m.

You can now see FCC-TV programming live at www.fcctv.net anywhere in the world! FCC-TV also airs in the greater Falls Church area on Cox Channel 12, Verizon Channel 35 and RCN Channel 2.

BIE Partner of the Week Theresa Wells Stifel Stifel and Capra

Call for Nominations: BIE Partner of the Year It’s time to recognize an outstanding business that supports the Falls Church City Public Schools. Last year, the school division launched the Business in Education (BIE) Partner of the Year award in conjunction with the school division’s 60th anniversary. For nomination criteria and to download a form, visit www.fccps.org or call 703-248-5699.

The nomination deadline is February 5th.

Calendar for January 21-29, 2010 School involvement: Donated prize to the GMHS Poetry Out Loud competition; participated in the New Teacher Scavenger Hunt and the MEHMS Career Week.

Why Theresa is a BIE partner: “It is a perfect fit for Stifel and Capra to support the Poetry Out Loud program.

We have a poet-in-residence, and we were able to donate one of her handmade journals to a student who loves poetry. Art should be a part of everyday life, and we enjoy bringing it to the people of Falls Church.”

For more information about sharing your expertise through the BIE Partnership, visit www.fccps.org or contact Marybeth Connelly at connellym@fccps.org.

Foundation Footnotes End of year surge for Dollar-a-Day Campaign The Falls Church Education Foundation’s Dollar-a-Day Campaign experienced a dramatic increase in contributions this year. At the end of 2009, the campaign generated approximately $16,000 in contributions; an increase of $8,500 over last year’s total. Proceeds benefit the foundation’s Legacy Endowment Fund, which provides support for the Falls Church City Public Schools.

The foundation is a registered 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. For more information, visit www.fcedf.org or call (703) 538-3381.

School content published in The Schools Focus is written and edited by the Falls Church City Public Schools. For more information, contact the Falls Church City Public Schools Communications Office. Phone: (703) 248-5699 Fax: (703) 248-5613.

Testing 25-28 Midterm Exams (GM) January 21 7:00 p.m. Student Health Advisory Board (MEH) 7:30 p.m. Strasburg @ Mason (G Basketball) 22 7:30 p.m. Strasburg @ Mason (B Basketball) 23 8:30 a.m. Budget Work Session #1 (CO) 10:00 a.m. Mason @ Madison Co. (Wrestling) 5:45 p.m. Mason vs. Freedom (Swimming) (Claude Moore Rec. Center) 26 8:15 a.m. Special Education Parent Meeting (GM) 6:30 p.m. School Board Work Session (City Hall) 8:00 p.m. School Board Regular Meeting – Public Hearing #1 on Budget (City Hall) 27 6:30 p.m. ESOL Advisory Committee (CO) End of 2nd Quarter 28 6:00 p.m. McLean @ Mason (Wrestling) 7:30 p.m. Family Life Education Advisory Committee (CO) 29 Professional Day (Schools Closed / Day Care Open) For more calendar information, visit www.fccps.org/calendar.

(MD) Mt. Daniel School (TJ) Thomas Jefferson Elementary (MEH) Mary Ellen Henderson Middle (GM) George Mason High (CO) Central Office www.fccps.org - The official site for Falls Church City Public Schools news

Schools

FCC-TV Spotlight: GMHS IB Forum

Page 40

January 21 - 27, 2010

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